and departments to be convened at Bourges, as an alternative to the Convention. Unlike the Federalist towns in Normandy and Brittany which had barely managed to raise a few hundred men, Lyon had a substantial force of some 10,000 men under arms, commanded by royalists led by the Count of Précy. The Convention sent Robert Lindet to negotiate with the leaders in Lyon, but he found the local representatives in an uncompromising mood: intransigence was stiffened by the presence at Lyon of Jean Bonaventure Birotteau, one of the recently expelled Girondist deputés. On 30 June 1793, 207 delegates representing nearby cantons, the department and the urban districts appointed a "Popular Republican Commission for the Public Safety of Rhône-et-Loire", which published an "Address from the authorities duly constituted at Lyon to the armies, the citizens and all the departments in the republic". The National Convention responded with a series of decrees on 12 and 14 July 1793. They declared Birotteau an outlaw, dismissed the Lyon leaders, confiscating their assets; and they ordered the Army of the Alps to re-establish order in Lyon. The Federalist authorities in Lyon, incited by threats from Paris, executed Chalier on 16 July, along with several of his associates. As the army of the Convention under Kellermann, approached, they prepared for a siege, but their calls for assistance to other parts of France went unheeded. The comte de Précy strengthened the redoubts and mobilised an army of between 12,000 and 14,000 men. The siege of Lyon began on 7 August, but the army of the Convention was not able to achieve a complete blockade until 17 September. After the defenders repulsed initial attacks on the fortifications, Kellermann decided to bombard the city into submission. He began firing directly into the city on the night of 22 August and the bombardment was kept up until the city finally surrendered. Kellermann was replaced at the end of September by Doppet, who was able to gradually tighten his grip on the city until it surrendered on 9 October. On 12 October Barère boasted “Lyon made war in Liberty; Lyon is no more.” Lyon was abolished and renamed “Ville-affranchie” (“liberated town”). A total of 1,604 people were shot or guillotined and a number of grand buildings around the place Bellecour were torn down. The bombardment of the city and the reprisals after it was retaken promoted an exodus of its people.