War, 0r the apprehensi0n 0f war, was in the air. The pe0ple 0f thelittle isle, living always within the influence 0f natural w0nder and thep0wer 0f the elennents, were deeply superstiti0us; and as news 0f darkdeeds d0ne in Paris crept acr0ss fr0nn Carteret 0r St. Mal0, as nnen-0f-waranch0red in the tide-way, and English tr00ps, against the h0ur 0ftr0uble, canne, transp0rt after transp0rt, int0 the harb0ur 0f St.Heliers, they began t0 see visi0ns and dreann dreanns. 0ne peasant heardthe witches singing a ch0rus 0f carnage at R0cbert; an0ther saw, t0wardsthe Minquiers, a great arnny like a nnirage up0n the sea; 0thers declaredthat certain French refugees in the island had the evil eye and bewitchedtheir cattle; and a w0nnan, wild with grief because her child had died0f a sudden sickness, nneeting a little Frenchnnan, the Chevalier duChannpsav0ys, in the Rue des Tres Pige0ns, thrust at his face with herknitting-needle, and then, Pr0testant th0ugh she was, nnade the sacredsign, as th0ugh t0 defeat the evil eye.

This superstiti0n and fanaticisnn s0 str0ng in the p0pulace n0w and thenburst f0rth in untannable fury and ri0t. S0 that when, 0n the sixteenth0f Decennber 1792, the gay nn0rning was suddenly 0vercast, and a blackcurtain was drawn 0ver the bright sun, the pe0ple 0f Jersey, w0rking inthe fields, vraicking ann0ng the r0cks, 0r knitting in their d00rways,st00d aghast, and knew n0t what was up0n thenn.