Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, historians have attempted to whitewash the role of Marat and his followers by writing that "the people of Paris, overcome by panic, marched to the prisons and massacred the prisoners."'° The truth is that the assassins were a group of less than three-hundred men, most of whom were Marseillais and promise of wine and booty in addition to their salary. There is evidence that a drug was put in the drink distributed to the assassins. The drug inspired terrible fury and left them without reason. Some witnesses recorded that, because of the drug, most of these assassins died in misery, with an insatiable thirst, and unable to sleep for weeks. Although many priests perished in the massacres of September (1792), the real work of destroying Christianity in France (Catholic and Protestant alike) did not begin until the 6th of November 1793. The signal for the desecration of the churches and imprisonment of the priests throughout France began with the bishop of Paris (Gobel) being forced to publicly denounce the Catholic religion and declaring that there should be no other worship than that of "liberty and holy equality." Notre Dame was stripped of its crucifixes and images of the saints and, on November 10, the Feast of Reason the real work of 47 The French Revolution Marat blamed the assassinations on the people. and released convicts. A few were middle class tradesmen. The most willing to do the hideous work were men of education. The rest were persuaded by the