XII. 1793. sequestered country; to be allowed, in memory of the CHAP. war, to have a white flag on each steeple; to be permitted to furnish a detachment for the body-guard of the sovereign, and to have some old projects for the improvement of the roads and navigation of the country carried, 1 Laroch. into effect, constituted the sole wishes of those whose 104, 105. valour had so nearly accomplished the restoration of the 390, 391. monarchy.1 Jom. iii. was extin The early successes of the Vendeans, and their enthu- 27. siastic valour, did not extinguish the humanity which their Their humadispositions, and the influence of religion, had nourished nity, till it in their bosoms. In the latter stages of the war, the the Repubatrocities of the Republicans, the sight of their villages in licans. flames, and their wives and children massacred, excited an inextinguishable desire of vengeance, and deeds of blood were common to both sides; but during the first months of the contest, their gentleness was as touching as their valour was admirable. After entering by assault into the towns, they neither pillaged the inhabitants, nor exacted either contribution or ransom; frequently they were to be seen, shivering with cold or starving with hunger, in quarters abounding both with fuel and provisions. "In the house where I lodged," says Madame de Larochejaquelein, at Bressuire, "there were many soldiers, who were lamenting that they had no tobacco; I asked if there was none in the town. 'Plenty,' they replied, but we have no money to buy it.' Under our windows a quarrel arose between two horsemen, and the one wounded the other slightly with his sabre; his antagonist quickly disarmed him, and was proceeding to extremities, when M. de Larochejaquelein exclaimed from the windows- Jesus Christ pardoned his murderers, and a soldier of the Christian army is about to kill his comrade!' The man, abashed, put up his sabre, and embraced his enemy.' These touching incidents occurred in a town recently carried by main force, occupied at the time by twenty thousand insurgents, and peculiarly XII. 1793. CHAP. obnoxious to the Royalists, from the cruelty which its national guards had exercised towards the peasantry. "In this town," she adds, "I was surprised in the evening to see all the soldiers in the house with me on their knees at prayers, and the streets filled with peasants at their devotions when they were concluded, they led me out to see their favourite cannon, called Marie Jeanne, their first trophy from the Republicans, which, after having been retaken, had again fallen into their hands; it was decorated with flowers and ribbons, and the peasants embraced it with tears of joy." When Thouars was carried by assault, the Republican inhabitants were in the utmost consternation, as they anticipated a severe retaliation for the massacre perpetrated by them upon the Royalists in that town, in the August preceding. What, then, was their astonishment when they beheld the soldiers, instead of plundering, or committing acts of cruelty, flocking to the churches, and returning thanks to God at the altars for the success with which he had blessed their arms. Even the garrison was treated with 1 Laroch. 90, the most signal humanity. Twelve only were retained i. 163, 164. from each department as hostages, and the remainder, Vend. i. 89. without either ransom or exchange, dismissed to their 1 Guerres des 28. early atro cities in Lower Poitou. homes. 1 In one district only the insurrection was early stained Frightful by the most frightful atrocities. In the marshes of Lower Poitou the peasants were seized with an incontrollable thirst for vengeance, in consequence of the cruelties exercised by the Republicans on the Royalist leaders after the insurrection of the ensuing year. Machecoult was captured during the absence of Charette; and, under the influence of revolting news of the Republican cruelties at Nantes and Paris, the prisons were forced by a furious mob, and above eighty prisoners massacred in one day. Nearly five hundred Republicans fell victims to the rage of a Royalist committee, at the head of which was a wretch named Souchu, who soon after hoisted his XII. 1793. true colours, and joined the Republicans, but fell a victim CHAP. to the just indignation of the widows of those he had murdered. Charette, on his return, was horror-struck at these atrocities, and, finding his military authority not yet sufficiently established to coerce them, he had recourse to the clergy to aid his efforts. They fabricated a miracle at the tomb of a saint to influence the minds of the people, and, while they were prostrated round the altar, conjured them, in the name of the God of Peace, never to kill but in the hour of combat. At the same time Charette forbade any prisoner to be slain in his army, under pain of death, and concealed in his own house several zealous Republicans, whose heads were loudly demanded by his soldiers. By these means, the cruelty which at first had stained the Royalist cause in Lower March 19. Poitou was arrested, and a reply made, in a true Chris-Pièces tian spirit, to the savage decrees of the Convention, which Beauch. i. had ordered every Vendean taken in arms to be put to Th. iv. 172. death without mercy in twenty-four hours.1 Just. No. 10. 116, 123. Bonchamp. M. Bonchamp, chief of the army of Anjou, was the 29. most distinguished of the Royalist leaders. To the Character of heroic courage of the other chiefs, he joined consummate military talents, and an eloquence which at once gave him an unlimited sway over the minds of the soldiers. Had he lived, the fate of the war would, in all probability, have been widely different, and the expedition beyond the Loire, which led to such disastrous results, been the commencement of the most splendid success. Gentle in manners, humane in conduct, affable in demeanour, he was adored by his soldiers, who were at once the most skilful and best disciplined of the Vendean corps. In the midst of the furies of a civil war, and the dissensions of rival chiefs, he was the enemy of intrigue; free from personal ambition, he was intrusted with an important command solely from his personal merits. His character may be appreciated from the words which he addressed to his young and weeping wife, when he put himself at VOL. II. 2 R CHAP. the head of his troops. XII. "Summon to your aid all your courage; redouble your patience and resignation; you 1793. will have need for the exercise of all these virtues. We must not deceive ourselves; we can look for no recompense in this world for what we are to suffer; all that it could offer would be beneath the purity of our motives, and the sanctity of our cause. We must never expect human glory; civil strife affords none. We shall see our houses burned; we shall be plundered, proscribed, outraged, calumniated, perhaps massacred. Let us thank God for enabling us to foresee the worst, since that presage, by redoubling the merit of our actions, will enable us to anticipate the heavenly reward which awaits those who are courageous in adversity, and constant in suffering. Beauch. i. Let us raise our eyes and our thoughts to heaven; it is there that we shall find a Guide who cannot mislead, a Laroch. 93. force which cannot be shaken, an eternal reward for transitory grief." 1 1 Bonch. 25. 98. Jom. iii. 392. Th. iv. 176. neau. 30. Cathelineau, a peasant by birth, and a charioteer by Of Catheli- profession, was the first of the chiefs who acquired the unlimited confidence of the soldiers. To an extraordinary degree of intelligence, and the strongest natural sagacity, he joined a nervous eloquence, admirably calculated to influence the soldiers. His age was thirty-four years; his disposition modest and retiring. He was without either ambition or cupidity; humble and unassuming, he sought only to do his duty. He acquired influence without either desiring or intending it; and got a lead in the armies he knew not how-a situation in which its noble leaders had the patriotism and judgment at once to confirm him. Such was his reputation for piety and rectitude, that the peasants called him the Saint of Anjou, 2 Laroch.95. and earnestly sought to be placed in battle by his side, decming it impossible that those could be wounded who were near so unblemished a man.2 Beauch. i. 91, 92. Henri de Larochejaquelein, son of the Marquis de Larochejaquelein, was the leader of all the parishes which XII. 1793. 31. were situated round Châtillon. He refused to follow the CHAP. general tide of emigration, and, on the contrary, repaired to Paris to defend the constitutional monarchy; and when the revolt on the 10th August overturned the of Henry de Larochejathrone, he set out for La Vendée, exclaiming, "I will quelein. retire to my province, and soon you will hear of me!" Though still young, he acquired the confidence of the soldiers by his invincible courage and coolness in action, which gained for him the surname of the Intrepid. He was reproached for being too forward in battle, carried away by his ardour, and forgetting the general in the soldier. Frequently before making a prisoner, he offered to give him the chance of escape by a personal conflict. Councils of war, or the duties of a commander, fatigued his buoyant disposition, and he generally fell asleep after giving his opinion, and answered to the reproaches of his brother officers, "Why do you insist upon making me a general? I wish only to be a hussar, to have the pleasure of fighting." Notwithstanding this passion for danger, he was full of sweetness and humanity; and when the combat was over, no one was more generous to the vanquished. Even after his eminent services, he formed only the most humble wishes for himself. "Should we replace the King on the throne," said he, "I hope he will give me a regiment of hussars." He performed the most eminent services in the war, and at its most critical period was unanimously elected to the supreme command. After innumerable heroic actions, he fell in an obscure skirmish, and was interred in the cemetery of St Aubin. "Chance,' says the annalist," has covered his tomb, as well as that Genoude, of his brother Louis, with the Flower of Achilles; and 41. Laroch. never did it blossom over remains more worthy of the iii. 393. name." 1 47. Bonch. 96,98. Jom. 32. Lescure. M. de Lescure, the cousin and intimate friend of Henri de Larochejaquelein, was distinguished by a bravery of a of M. de totally different character. Cool, intrepid, and sagacious, he was not less daring than his youthful comrade; but |