XII. 1793. CHAP. tions, seconded by the most heroic exertions on the part of the peasants, was the invasion of six armies, amounting to a hundred thousand regular troops, part of whom were the best soldiers of France, besides an equal force of national guards, defeated, and losses inflicted on the Republicans incomparably greater than they had suffered from all the Allies put together since the commencement of the war. A striking proof of the admirable skill with 304-307. which the Vendean chiefs had availed themselves of their 1 Jom. iv. central position, and peculiar mode of fighting, to crush the invading forces, and a memorable instance of what can be effected by resolute men, even without the advantages of regular organisation, if ably conducted, against the most formidable superiority of military force.1 Laroch. 202-210. Beauch. ii. 28-32. 60. exertions of ment at Paris. But the Vendeans had to contend with a redoubtable Vigorous adversary, and unfortunately the invading army from the govern- which most was to be apprehended, was that which had suffered least from their attacks. The Convention made the most vigorous efforts to meet the danger. Barrère, in a report to the Convention, declared, "The inexplicable La Vendée still exists; twenty times since this rebellion broke out have your representatives, your generals, the committee itself, declared that it was stifled, and yet it exists more formidable than ever. We thought we could destroy it; the tocsin sounded in all the neighbouring departments; a prodigious number of armed citizens was assembled to crush the insurrection; and a sudden panic has dissolved the whole like a cloud. You must change your system; one despotic chief must head your armies; an end must be put to the existence of the brigands. Like the giant in the fable, who was invincible only when he touched the earth, you 2 Hist. Parl. must sever them from their native soil before you can xxx. 17, 19. Jom, iv. 308, 309. destroy them."2 In pursuance of this suggestion, General Beauch. ii. Léchelle was appointed generalissimo: the Brest fleet was ordered to sail, to co-operate with the armies; and a proclamation was addressed to the troops, enjoining 56, 57. La roch. 218. them to exterminate the Vendeans before the 20th of CHAP. October. XII. 1793. 61. humanity of Meanwhile the peasants, as usual, seeing the present danger over, returned to their homes; the standards of Continued their generals were almost deserted. Te Deum was sung the Vendcan in all the parishes, amidst the joyful acclamations of the chiefs. inhabitants. M. de Lescure, at the ceremony in his own parish church, knelt behind a column, to withdraw himself from the admiring gaze of his countrymen. On learning the massacres which the Republicans were making of their countrymen who had been taken prisoners, and which were commanded by the decrees of the Convention, forbidding them to give quarter, the Royalist soldiers loudly demanded reprisals upon the numerous captives who were in their hands; but the leaders expressed such horror at the proposal, that they always succeeded in preventing it from being carried into effect. The formidable bands of Mayence, at this time, were so much disgusted with the savage proceedings of the Convention that they offered, if their pay was guaranteed, to join themselves in a body to the Royalist cause; but the large sum required for this purpose, amounting to 400,000 francs (£16,000), joined to the suspicions of the Royalists that some treachery was intended, frustrated a coalition which, if executed, would have given a decisive preponderance to the Vendean forces. Where was England, whose government could so easily have procured this sum, which was beyond the reach of the peasants of La Vendée, and thereby secured an inestim- 50-52, 66. able support to the Royalist arms in the west of 219. France ?1 1 Beauch. ii. Laroch. 218, visions of Unfortunately at this time, when their enemies were 62. concentrating under one able hand the whole conduct of Ruinous dithe Vendean war, the Royalist chiefs, divided about the the Royalpoints to which their forces should be directed, separated ists. their troops-Charette drawing off towards the island of Noirmoutier, while Lescure and Beaurepaire took post near Châtillon to make head against Westermann, who was advancing with a powerful force, massacring without distinction all the inhabitants, and burning every edifice that his soldiers could reach. Lescure, Stofflet, and Larochejaquelein, united, had only six thousand men at Moulin-aux-Chêvres, a little in front of Châtillon, where they were attacked by a column of twenty-five thousand Republicans under Westermann: the superiority of his force was such that he drove them into the town, which was speedily captured by his forces. But this success was of short duration. Bonchamp and Larochejaquelein having roused the peasantry, and reassembled the whole Grand Army, two days after, made a general attack upon the Republicans, totally defeated them, and drove them out of Châtillon, with the loss of above ten thousand men and all their artillery. After the rout, Westermann, who saw that the Royalists in Châtillon were almost all drunk, and kept no look-out, conceived the bold design of re-entering the town, and cutting to pieces its garrison. This project was completely successful. Taking a hundred intrepid hussars, with a grenadier mounted behind each man, he returned at midnight to Châtillon, where the Vendeans, as usual, had placed no sentinels, broke into the streets, cut down great numbers of the Royalists, who, between sleep and intoxication, were incapable of making any resistance, set fire to the town, and after a scene of unequalled horror and blood, withdrew before daylight in the morning.1 Hardly was this invasion repulsed, when the Vendeans were called on to make head against a more formidable enemy in another quarter. The redoubtable bands of Mayence, reinforced by several other divisions, in all forty thousand strong, were advancing into the very heart of the country, and had already nearly reached Chollet, while the unhappy divisions of the Vendean chiefs detained in other quarters a large proportion of their forces. Notwithstanding the most urgent representations from the XII. 1793. other leaders, Charette persisted in his system of separate CHAP. operations, and wasted his force in a fruitless expedition to the Isle of Noirmoutier. Lescure and Bonchamp, however, hastened to support M. de Royrand, who was retreating before the invaders. It was arranged that the former should await the enemy in front, while the latter, by a circuitous route, assailed them in flank. But the Republicans having advanced more slowly than was expected, Lescure came up with them before Bonchamp was ready to support him; and though they yielded in the first instance to the furious attack of the Vendeans, yet the inferiority of their force, and a desperate charge in flank made by Beaupuy when disorded by success, threw them into confusion, and they fell back to Beaupreau, while the Republicans bivouacked on the field of battle. The next day the victorious army entered Chollet, which the discouraged Vendeans could not be prevailed on to defend. The Royalist loss was not severe; but they sustained an irreparable misfortune in a wound of M. Lescure, who was shot through the head when leading on 1 Beauch. ii. his men, as usual, at the commencement of the action. 75, 78, 83. The wound proved mortal after several weeks of suffering, 314. Lawhich he endured with the wonted heroism and sweetness 230. of his character.1 Jom. iv. roch. 229, ists resolve to cross the Loire. Bat let. The Vendeans were cruelly discouraged by this disaster: 64. the more so, as the enemy's columns had now penetrated The Royalthe country in every direction, and the ravages they had committed gave no hope of maintaining the contest longer of Chol in their native land. It was resolved, therefore, to cross the Loire, and carry the war into Brittany: but, previous to this, it was deemed advisable by all the chiefs to make one desperate effort to crush the invading force in the neighbourhood of Chollet. The action took place two days after, and was contested with the utmost fury on both sides. The forces were nearly equal, the Royalists having forty thousand men, and the Republicans forty-one thousand; but the latter were greatly superior in their CHAP. artillery, which consisted of thirty pieces, and cavalry, which amounted to three thousand men. XII. Oct. 17. Moreover, the 1793. infantry included the best troops in France. The combat was felt on both sides to be, what in effect it proved, decisive of the fate of the war. At three in the morning on the 17th October, the sound of artillery awakened the army, and the soldiers hastened to hear grand mass from the curate of the village where the headquarters were placed. The ceremony was performed by torchlight: the priest, in fervid and eloquent terms, besought them to combat courageously for their God, their King, and their children; and concluded by giving absolution to the armed multitude. The darkness of the scene, and the discharges of cannon which interrupted his discourse, filled all hearts with a gloomy presentiment of the disasters which were about to follow. The Republicans were drawn up in three divisions, the garrison of Mayence, with the cavalry, 84, 85, 87. forming the reserve. On the Royalist side, Stofflet comLac. xi. 13. manded the left, d'Elbée and Bonchamp the centre, and Larochejaquelein the right. 1 Jom. iv. 315, 316 Beauch. ii. Laroch.232. 65. Battle of Chollet, and Royalists. Boi and Bonchamp mortally wounded. 1 The action commenced at ten o'clock. On this occasion the Vendeans marched for the first time in close column, defeat of the like troops of the line, but they had no artillery. Henri de Larochejaquelein and Stofflet, after a short exchange of bullets, precipitated themselves on the centre of the enemy, routed it by the vehemence of their attack, and drove it back in disorder into the town of Challot, where the great park of artillery was captured. The battle seemed to be lost, and the Republicans, panic-struck by the furious onset of their enemies, were flying on all sides, when Léchelle, as a last resource, ordered his cavalry to charge, and the reserve, composed of the garrison of Mayence, to advance. The charge of horse took place from right to left through the whole Royalist army, now disordered by the rapidity of their attack, and at the same time the iron bands of Mayence emerged through the fugitives, and checked the pursuit of the victors. In an |