Of this latter description, the fusillades of Toulon come first, where
the number of those who are shot largely surpasses one thousand;[34]
next the great drownings of Nantes, in which 4,800 men, women and
children perished,[35] the other drownings, for which no figures may
be given;[36] then the countless popular murders committed in France
between July 14, 1789, and August 10, 1792; the massacre of one 1,300
prisoners in Paris, in September, 1792; the long train of
assassinations which, in July, August and September, 1789, extends
over the entire territory; finally, the dispatch of the prisoners,
either shot or sabered, without trial at Lyons and in the West. Even
excepting those who had died fighting or who, taken with arms in their
hands, were shot down or sabered on the spot, there were 10,000
persons slaughtered without trial in the province of Anjou alone:[37]
accordingly, the instructions of the Committee of Public Safety, also
the written orders of Carrier and Francastel, direct generals to
"bleed freely" the insurgent districts,[38] and spare not a life: it
is estimated that, in the eleven western departments, the dead of both
sexes and of all ages exceeded 400,000.
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