nerals, priests, and civilians, assembled at Chatillon, and not only directed all the operations of the army, but concentrated all authority within itself. Bernard de Marigny was the president at this board; while Lescure, Stofflet, D'Elbée, Fleuriot, Beauchamp, and others, gave their assistance. The ancient laws were substituted in the place of the new code, all acts of authority were proclaimed in the name of Louis XVII., and no assignat was suffered to have currency unless sanctioned by their signature. The exclusive establishment of the catholic religion, and the plenary restoration of royalty, were the views of all. The insurgent army assumed a new form, and the peasantry were classed into communes and divisions, styled the "defenders of the altar and the throne." Regular battalions of infantry, squadrons of cavalry, and seven regiments of artillery, were formed from among the foreign deserters; some of these were, in point of discipline, equal to the first troops in England; and they were regularly paid, and even billetted. But, notwithstanding this regularity, and the unity of sentiment which prevailed, the leaders differed frequently about the means of effecting their wishes; and many of them, actuated by ambition, aspired to the supreme rank, to the entire exclusion of their colleagues. Talmont and D'Autichamp imagined that their birth entitled them to superiority; Charette thought his military talents, and the number of his followers, should recommend him; however, D'Elbée, who boasted of both parentage and abilities, was elected generalissimo. In consequence of this difference among the chiefs, two distinct bodies of troops were formed; the catholic and royal army of Anjou and Upper Poitou, under the direction of D'Elbée; and the army of Jesus, or Lower Poitou, led by Cha rette. The convention, in order to oppose this formidable rebellion, sent detachments from the northern departments, and several battalions of national guards, cavalry, and chasseurs; which, being collected together, was entitled the army of the West. These republican troops, drawn up in form of a semicircle, endeavoured to pierce the revolted provinces on all points, but on all points were constantly defeated. The Vendéans, becoming assailants in their turn, appeared on the plains in large unbroken companies, from 20 to 30,000 men; while one army, under Charette, menaced Nantes, and advanced under the cannon of Les Sables, June 9: another seized on Saumur, after a battle in which the republicans lost, as imagined, 23,000 men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. General Chalbot, beaten under the walls of Fontenay, lost 1500 men, a vast quantity of 71 1795. fire-arms, and from twenty-five to thirty cannon. BOOK II. and then directed their march towards the right insurgents were in the height of their power; and At the epoch when Nantes was attacked, the its capture would have been considered as a signal of general insurrection in Brittany. Had that event taken place, the castle of O, and Painbœuf on the Loire, and all the fortified ports on the coast would have fallen into the hands of the Vendéans. The cause of the miscarriage origiand partly in their ignorance of the art of attacknated partly in the disputes among the leaders, ing fortified places. dispatched for the purpose of terminating this Biron, a general of experience, having been war, obtained, on his arrival, some advantages at quarters at Niort, where he collected about 16,000 Lucon, and soon after established his headchosen men. Having confided his advanced the attack on the Tuilleries, this officer surprised guard to Westermann, who had commanded at sion of Parthenay; but soon after he was himself one of the Vendéan chiefs, and obtained possessurrounded, and with great difficulty escaped at the head of his horse, his cannon having been taken and his infantry cut to pieces. Westerand General Biron, who was suspected of remann was consequently deprived of his command; maining inactive, while his van was sacrificed at Chatillon, and one of his detachments completely BOOK II. beaten at Vihiers, was recalled, and expiated his ill fortune by a premature death, through the enCHAP. II. mity of his accusers. 1795. The rebellion of La Vendée still continued formidable, and the ruling party became alarmed. On the arrest of Biron, generals of another description were sought, it having been determined that none but plebeians should for the future be entrusted. In September, Rossignol, formerly a journeyman goldsmith, was accordingly appointed to the command of the army of Brest, who immediately established his head-quarters at Saumur, where he collected his scattered forces. Soon Soon after he took the field, and commenced his operations by the capture of Doué. At this critical time, the chiefs of the insurgents were again divided by their personal jealousies. The Prince de Talmont, who possessed large estates on the right bank of the Loire, and had achieved some brilliant exploits after crossing that river, still aspired to the supreme command, although he had been released from a dungeon in Angers by the general-in-chief, D'Elbée. Lescure, who was rescued by Stofflet from a similar confinement in the prison of Bressuire, was another candidate, in consequence of the skill and bravery he had displayed in an action before Thouars two years before. Chevaliers D'Autichamp and Charette were also other candidates. Had these leaders been cordially united, they might not only have been a match for the plebeian general, now elated with his succes at Doué, but they might have regulated the fate of France. The republican army had been considerably increased by fresh reinforcements from all parts of the empire; and the garrison of Mentz, which had not been precluded by the King of Prussia serving at La Vendée, added to their strength. The convention at this time adopted measures most shamefully severe. Fire, as well as the sword, was to be carried into the recesses of La Vendée; the banditti, as they were entitled, were to be pursued to their most secret retreats; the villages which afforded them occasional shelter, were to be destroyed, the granaries to be burned, the windmills and ovens to be thrown down, the cattle and crops to be seized, and the peaceable part of the inhabitants to be removed. Such were the measures recurred to, which neither justice nor policy could sanction. A council of war, consisting of eleven deputies and eleven officers was convoked by the representatives on mission, in order to deliberate on the expediency of a general assault. Different opinions, however, arose among the members concerning the side on which the enemy ought to be attacked. Canclaux was for commencing operations by the west, which was opposed by Menou; others thought Doué was the point whence they could begin with the greatest advantage; while Turreau observed," that as the country occupied by the rebels formed a kind of square, of which the sea and the Loire constituted two sides, they ought to close upon and drive them into the angle formed by these two natural barriers, by commencing the assault from the opposite quarter." As the plan proposed by Canclaux was preferred, the direction thereof devolved on that general, who entered La Vendée on the side of Nantes with three columns; and after carrying Sainpen Lege and Machecoul, intended to unite all his forces, and proceed against Chollet, the centre of the rebellion. Notwithstanding their private disputes, the Vendéan leaders now united their efforts against the republicans. Accordingly General Beysser, who led one of the invading columns, was surprised at Montaigu; Canclaux, who by this time had obtained possession of Clisson, on being informed of Beysser's misfortune, prepared to fall back; but being also attacked, he effected his retreat in disorder, and was obliged to take shelter under the cannon of Nantes, while he beheld his baggage carried off and his wounded men strangled. Soon after this, Rossignol was assaulted at Doué by a division of the grand catholic and royal army, but was indebted entirely to General D'Ambarere, an officer of engineers, who arranged the troops, disposed the artillery, and took post on a commanding eminence, for having obtained an easy victory over the Prince de Talmont and M. D'Autichamp. In order to profit by this success, Santerre, formerly a brewer in Paris, advanced against Coron with a body of troops forming a single column, and headed by the representatives of the people. Though the insurgents were driven from Coron, Santerre was soon after attacked in this town by a body of about 30,000 men, who advanced in form of a crescent, and counteracted the effects of a battery of two 12-pounders and two mortars, erected on the great road, by three 8-pounders stationed in their centre. The republican army, after an engagement for nearly an hour, was routed. Bouchet, then minister of war, having invested Lechelle, originally a fencing-master at Saintes, with the chief command of the army of the West, that general penetrated to Chatillon. After taking that place, he was attacked, October 16, by D'Elbée, Bonchamp, and Stofflet, who had assembled the wreck of the catholic and royal army, which still amounted to 40,000 men. During an engagement of two hours, victory seemed to in cline to the assailants; but Merlin and the other deputies placing themselves at the head of the troops, and D'Elbée, Bonchamp, and some of the principal royalists, being wounded, the Vendéans were at length defeated. Their cause appeared at this time desperate, as the Prince de Talmont and Charette had declined either to form a junction with or to support the confederates by means of a diversion. But notwithstanding the insurgents disappeared, they were not destroyed. At length the Vendéans, burning with implacable fury to renew the contest and recover their glory, retaliated on their adversaries; and Lechelle, who had hitherto triumphed in opposition to all the rules of war, was overcome under the walls of Chollet, the scene of his former success. Hereupon he was suspended from all his functions by the representatives with the army, and having been imprisoned at Nantes, he died soon after of a broken heart. Taking advantage of the absence of the army of Rochelle, Charette, who had lately declined to succour the other chiefs, now marched at the head of the insurgents of Lower Poitou, and seized on the islands of Bouin and Noirmoutier; and although he was successively defeated by Haxo, Dutruy, and Dufour, and even lost the former of these acquisitions, yet his army still appeared vigorous and formidable. The major part of the republican forces having crossed the Loire in search of the Prince de Talmont, the Vendéans crept forth from their places of concealment, began to assemble in bodies, and in a short time resumed all their former audacity. On the contrary, the diminution of the army of the west was daily apparent; the cavalry decreased with incessant toil, and numbers of the infantry perished by fatigue of forced marches in a close country; in short, the number of commissioned and non-commissioned officers in many of the corps, exceeded that of the soldiers, so that 157 squadrons, battalions, or regiments, formed scarcely 40,000 men. A division of 10,000 men had been indeed dispatched from the army of the north, to supply the loss of the garrison of Mentz, most of which had beeu already cut off. In addition to these disadvantages, the commanders, who were frequently changed, were wholly unacquainted with the art of war as well as with the manners of the people against whom they marched. The place of Lechelle was supplied by Danican, who commenced his military career under auspicious circumstances, and displayed a degree of moderation which in times like these was deserving of the highest praise. However, as this general was defeated at Martigné, he was suspected of a secret attachment to the cause of the royalists; his remonstrances on this occasion were productive of no benefit; and although he afterwards overcame the same enemy before Angers, December 5, he was recalled and disgraced. The provisional command was then given to Marceau, a general of division, and scarcely twenty-four years of age; who soon after his ap 1794. pointment, December 12, fought a long and san- BOOK II. guinary battle, in which he defeated the insurgents led by the Prince de Talmont. The slaugh- CHAP. II. ter of the Vendéans during this engagement was immense; and had it not been for the exemplary conduct of a young royalist, Laroche Jacquelin, who gallantly secured the retreat of the fugitives, and succeeded in conducting them back to the almost inaccessible roads, these unfortunate people would in all probability have been nearly exterminated. After this victory, Marceau was immediately recalled on purpose to superintend the operations of the army of the Ardennes. Turreau, who succeeded him, had formerly acted as adjutant-general in the insurgent departments, and since commanded the troops in the eastern Pyrenées. As he had received instructions from the ministers at war to retake Noirmoutier, situated at the mouth of the Loire, he made a descent for that purpose with a body of about 3000 light troops; while Carpentier, in pursuance of his orders, attacked Charette at Machecoul, in his way to the relief of that island. Having effected a landing with the loss of a few men, he proceeded against the principal village, placed in the midst of salt-pits, and protected by about 1200 men and nearly twenty pieces of artillery; but although the garrison at first exhibited a show of resistance, yet being unacquainted with the defence of fortifications, they abandoned the lines without firing a single shot. This act of cowardice sorely embittered the last moments of D'Elbée, the celebrated Vendéan chief and generalissimo of all the forces beyond the Loire; who, in consequence of a mortal wound, was now languishing in his bed. Some of the leaders, particularly Villaud and D'Hauterive, were made prisoners; and Catheliniere, one of Charette's confidential officers, was also taken by Turreau, who had distinguished himself by this brilliant exploit. The wreck of the grand catholic and royal army having been collected and re-organized by the remaining chiefs, it was divided into three circles, in consequence of the death of D'Elbée, and commanded by Stofflet, Laroche Jacquelin and Bernard de Marigny; while Charette, who seemed to have been rendered more valiant by having endured thirty successive defeats, still maintained the terror of his name at the head of body of faithful followers. Two detachments of the republicans having penetrated to Chollet, the intrepid Laroche Jacquelin glided with a body of troops, during night, between two others, fell on the rear of Turreau, and seized on the town of Chemillé, the garrison of which abandoned it without firing again. General Turreau, however, ordered the two columns at Chollet to attack Charette by the east, while two others, still more numerous, were to advance CHAP. II. 1794-5. BOOK II. against him by the west. Charette, remarkable for his sagacity, was not to be found by his antagonists. In avoiding General Duquesnoy, now in full pursuit of him, he fell upon Legé, the advanced post of General Haxo, which he carried, occupied, and abandoned in succession. At length overtaken at Pont James, he was compelled to give battle; and although defeated, with the loss of 8000 men, he safely conducted the main body of his army to the Brocage, still remaining, notwithstanding all his disasters, unsubdued. Stofflet also appeared before Chollet, in order to attack it. The garrison, alarmed at the ferocity of his followers, fled after the first discharge of musketry, though threatened and intreated by Moulin, the general of division, who commanded there, to stay and defend the place. Indignant at the cowardice of his troops, Moulin, who was at the same time wounded by two shots from the enemy, snatched a pistol from his belt, and put an end to his miserable existence. No sooner did intelligence of this event reach Paris, than the convention decreed, that the memory of Moulin was dear to his country; and orders at the same time were given for the erection of a tomb to his memory at Tiffanges. The general-in-chief, Turreau, once more marched to attack Charette at Luc; but on advancing against that place, he found that the Vendéan chief had gained his rear, and taken post at St. Philibert-de-Boué. Having by a rapid counter-march reached the neighbourhood of the latter station, to his great mortification Charette had already decamped. An action, however, commenced on the part of the marksmen of the republican army; but, as usual, Charette avoided a general engagement. At length, being pressed and pursued on every side, he was overtaken April 26, and defeated by a body of troops commanded by General Haxo. The Vendéans, however, remained in the same district as before; and Haxo killed himself, like Moulin, apprehensive of falling into the hands of the enemy. Stofflet twice overcame General Grignon, and was also twice defeated by that general. Charette was once more foiled at Challans; but retreated, with his usual good fortune, into the strong woody country called the Bocage. Adjutant-general Dusirat was, about the same time, beaten by Stofflet and Marigny, near Mount Glône. The cruelty of Turreau was at this period taken great notice of. This general, on his commencement, is said to have addressed his soldiers in the following language :— "We are about to enter the country of the insurgents. You are to burn every thing, and bayonet all the inhabitants. There may be indeed some few patriots among them; but, notwithstanding that, the whole must be sacrificed." Other republican generals were equally as cruel; and some of the deputies sent to those devoted departments acted more like executioners than legislators. Francastel assisted Carrier in the massacre of the priests at Nantes; and he himself is said to have issued an order to bind sixty-one of the clergy of Nievre together, and drown them, by means of a vessel sunk for that purpose. The following were his directions toGeneral Grignon: "You must make the robbers tremble, and give them no quarter. Our prisons are crowded. What! prisoners in La Vendée !-It is necessary to burn all the lone houses, the mills, and, above all, the castles; in short, to transform the whole country into a desert-no mildness, no clemency. Such are the intentions of the convention." The Vendéans retaliated these cruelties, even with the approbation of the priests, and with the assistance of the women. All the republican prisoners, even those who had not carried arms, finished their existence in dreadful and prolonged tortures. Every cruel device which the most rancorous enmity could invent, was perpetrated on the mutilated bodies of their expiring enemies, in the name of the catholic faith and of Louis. XVII. Turreau being unable to finish this war, notwithstanding his plausible system of entrenched camps and moveable columns, was recalled. Conciliation was adopted, as the best means of terminating these miseries. Hoche, at the head of a powerful army, extended the olive-branch of peace with one hand, and the sword of war with the other; and while he willingly received the peasantry under his protection, on a simple promise of submission, he gained over several of the leaders by commissions. A treaty was accordingly signed at Jaulnaye, near Nantes, by Charette on the part of the Vendéans, and Carmartin on behalf of the Chouans. For about a fortnight, Stofflet refused to affix his signature as chief of the army of Poitou; but he at length consented. Substance of the treaty of peace, signed by Charette on the part of the inhabitants of La Vendée, and the commissioners of the National Convention: Article I. The representatives of the people promise, in the name of the convention, that the sum of eighty millions shall be granted to the inhabitants of La Vendée, to indemnify them for the losses, burnings, and devastations they have suffered.. II. Forty millions shall be immediately paid and distributed. III. All the contracts entered into between the generals and inhabitants of La Vendée shall be discharged by the French republic. IV. The sum of ten millions shall be deposited for that purpose. V. The inhabitants of La Vendée acknowledge the French republic. VI. and VII. General Charette shall have the command of a body of 2000 men, in the pay of the republic, consisting of three battalions, to be stationed at Machecoul, Challans, and a third town to be determined hereafter. VIII. A list shall be given of such persons as shall be banished from La Vendée; that list to be drawn up and presented by General Charette. IX. The free exercise of the catholic religion shall be permitted; ground may be purchased for the building of a church, but there shall not be any bells or exterior ceremonies. X. XI. and XII. The banished nonjuring priests may return, but can only be restored to their patrimonial estates. There shall be no districts or municipalities, but only a national agent in La Vendée, in which no requisitions shall take place for the space of five years. Summary of the treaty, signed by Carmartin, between the inhabitants in Brittany, known by the name of Chonans, and the French Convention: Article I. The laws for the freedom of religious BOOK II. worship shall be put in execution. II. The Chouans, who have neither profession CHAP. II. nor estate, shall be received into the armies of the republic. III. The inhabitants of the insurgent departments shall be allowed to organize a body of chasseurs, not to exceed 2,400 men. IV. and V. The youth of the first requisition shall remain at home; and the contracts entered into by the chiefs for defraying the expences of the war, shall be liquidated to the amount of one million five hundred thousand livres. Thus terminated, for the present, the war of La Vendée, with disgrace to the French convention, who had ordered a speedy annihilation of the country. How far the republic were faithful to the above treaties, may be seen by referring to the preceding chapter; when the reader will find, that some of those leaders who had been beguiled by promises, were guillotined; and by the renewal of hostilities, as will be hereafter recorded.. 1795. CHAPTER III. Preparations for a Campaign.-Disposition of the French Armies.-Commencement of Hostilities.Surrender of Luxemburg.-Jourdan crosses the Rhine.-Pichegru follows him.-Capture of Dusseldorff, Berg, and Manheim, by the Imperial Army.-Retreat of Jourdan and Pichegru.-The French worsted on all Sides.-Campaign in Italy.-Cursory Remarks. A SUBSIDIARY treaty having been signed at Vienna between Great Britain and Austria, May 4, as the Emperor and King of Great Britain were equally convinced of the necessity of acting with vigor and energy against the common enemy, in order to procure to their respective dominions a safe and honorable peace," the latter engaged to guarantee the regular payment of the halfyearly dividends, on the sum of four millions six hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be raised on account of his Imperial Majesty; who, in return, stipulated to employ in his different armies, in the ensuing campaign, a number of troops which should not be under the number of two hundred thousand men, to act against the common enemy. The emperor, according to this agreement, immediately re-united his forces, strengthened his garrisons, and prepared a numerous and well-disciplined army for the field. Equal preparations were also made on the part of the French. The army of the Sambre and Meuse was confided to Jourdan; the army of the North to Moreau; and the army of the Rhine and Moselle to Pichegru, who, in case of a junction, was to act as generalissimo. The armies of the Alps and Italy were united under Kellermann ; the army of the eastern Pyrenées was to be led by General Scherer, and that of the western by Marceau; while Conclaux was to command a body of troops in the neighbourhood of the insurgent department, and Hoche to have the direction of the joint armies of the coasts of Brest and Cherbourg. Such was the disposition of the French armies. As the French were unable to secure the possession of the Austrian Netherlands, without previously procuring Luxemburg, they were determined to make a bold attempt on that fortress, which they had formerly taken; but by the treaty of Utrecht it had been restored to the house of Austria, and was now rendered nearly impregnable. The republican generals, aware that its reduction was extremely difficult, and would be easier effected by famine than by the sword, cut off all supplies, and left a numerous garrison to subsist entirely on its own magazines. This place was under the command of Field-marshal Bender, a veteran general; but as it was regularly in |