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them. D'Elbée, Bonchamp, Cathelineau, Stofflet, and all the leaders, agreed in telling him that all was lost; and he returned alone and hopelessly to St. Aubin. The peasantry, as soon as they heard of his appearance, crowded to him, entreating him to lead them on ;-the country, they said, would rise at his name, and on the morrow he would have ten thousand men under his command. Roche Jaquelein did not hesitate a moment: all night the summons went about,-men forsook their beds to take the field; and on the morrow the promised numbers were almost collected, but miserably armed with reaping-hooks, spits, and stakes: there were not more than two hundred fowling-pieces among them. A mason had purchased sixty pounds of powder for quarrying, and this depôt was a treasure. In the morning Roche Jaquelein put himself at their head, and addressed them in words which will be remembered as long as the memory of heroic actions shall be preserved by history. Friends!-if my father was here, you would have confidence in him. I am only a boy; but by my courage I will show myself worthy of commanding you. If I advance follow me!--if I give way, kill me!—if I fall, revenge me!' These were his genuine words; and no finer are to be found in the annals of any age or country. 'Mes amis, si mon père étoit ici, vous auriez confiance en lui. Pour moi, je ne suis qu'un enfant; mais par mon courage, je me montrerai digne de vous commander. Si j'avance, suivez-moi; si je recule, tuez-moi; si je meurs, vengez·moi !'

Most of these peasants had never been in action-those who had, had seen their own party defeated. In spite, therefore, of their zeal, the Marchioness says there was a prevailing sense of fear, which their want of arms was not likely to remove. But their leader had the intellect, as well as the heart, which is required for a hero he perceived at once the manner in which, with such forces, war must be carried on in such a country; and he was at that age when the mind is full of school-boy expedients suited to the activity and redundant strength of adolescence. The Blues had occupied Aubiers on the preceding eve. Roche Jaquelein approached the village in silence, and surrounded it under cover of the hedges: he himself, with a dozen good marksmen, crept into a garden near the place where the republicans were stationed; and then loaded under the hedge, fired as fast as his people could supply him with their loaded guns. Having been a keen sportsman, he took sure aim; and it is affirmed that in this manner he fired nearly two hundred times. Being thus annoyed on various parts, the Blues expected a general attack, and made a movement in order to form upon a rising ground in their rear. Roche Jaquelein cried out-They fly! The peasants believed him, and

rushed through the hedges on all sides, shouting Vive le Roi! The enemy were astonished, terrified, and broken;-they took flight-left their two pieces of cannon behind them, and were pursued to within half a league of Bressuire, leaving seventy dead. Inclination and feeling would now have led Roche Jaquelein toward his friends at Clisson; but he knew that it was of more importance to encourage the Anjou royalists with the news of his success. He marched, therefore, all night, to join D'Elbée and Bonchamp, carrying with him the guns and artillery which he had taken. This seasonable reinforcement restored the cause of the insurgents in that quarter:-they re-assembled in great force; attacked the republicans; beat them every where; and acquired consistence, confidence, reputation, and strength. With this army it was that Roche Jaquelein drove the enemy from Bressuire, and performed his promise of delivering his friends.

It was now determined that while the men of the family joined the army, the women and the aged should remove to the Chateau de lay Boulaye, between Les Herbiers and Chatillon; that situation being thought the safest, as in the centre of the insurgents' country. Clisson was left as a place of refuge to the patriots who chose to take shelter there. The Marchioness, who had been accustomed to the military fopperies and parade of Versailles, was not a little surprised at the appearance of Vendean soldiers :--no uniform-no regard to stature or uniformity of any kind,—the pomp of war was not thought of-the dreadful circumstances were present-a man's inches were of no import-the head and the heart were all. Some of the cavalry were mounted on pack-saddles, with ropes for stirrups, and wooden shoes instead of boots. Their swords were suspended by pack-thread instead of belts. "Some wore white cockades, some green, some black, as they wished to denote their loyalty, their hopes, or their determination to die in the cause. Every man had a bead strung at his button-hole, and a sacred heart sewed upon his dress. The epaulette and tricoloured cockade of the republicans which had fallen into their hands, they fastened to their horses' tails. When the Marchioness returned to Bressuire, on her way to the intended place of refuge, Bressuire was occupied by about 20,000 such troops as these; rather more than a fourth of whom were armed with muskets: the others were armed with clubs, spits, knife-blades, and sickles. fastened in long handles, and scythes so mounted as to form a frightful weapon. They were intoxicated with joy, believing themselves invincible all the bells were ringing, and there was a bonfire in the market-place, wherein they were burning the Tree of Liberty and the papers of the administration. Delighted at having delivered Madame Lescure, they would insist upon her

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seeing and embracing Marie Jeanne, a beautiful twelve-pounder, covered with ornaments and inscriptions in honour of Louis XIII. and Cardinal Richelieu; by the latter of whom it had been mounted at his castle: from thence the Blues had taken it, to employ it against the insurgents, and the insurgents having won it in battle, had given it this name; and believing that it was a certain pledge of victory, had begun to regard it as something miraculous; so that they had adorned it with flowers and ribands, and embraced it,as the Marchioness did also at their desire. She saw about fifty of them kneeling before a Calvary, and absorbed in religious exercises. At evening all who were in the same house with her knelt down, and said their beads after one of the party who recited the prayers aloud. Thrice a day they always performed this act of devotion. No cruelties were practised at this time-no excesses of any kind no pillage. Marshal Donnissan seeing two officers gambling and about to fight, seized one by the arm, and exclaimed, Christ pardoned his murderers-and would a soldier of the Catholic army kill his comrade! The men immediately embraced each other.

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When the agitation of the public mind in La Vendée first occupied the attention of the government, Petion proposed that a force should be sent there sufficient to overawe the people, and thus spare the effusion of blood. This was before the king had been brought to trial; and Danton spoke in favour of moderation, more probably for the sake of opposing the Brissotines than from any better motive. He ascribed, as was indeed the case, the cause of these first commotions, to the injudicious measures against the clergy. A decree,' said he, 'upon the Catholic worship has been presented to you, which it is true has been dictated by wisdom and philosophy; but wisdom and philosophy alarm the people, who still retain their prejudices: the poor man suffering under the vexations of the rich, consoles himself with the thought that he shall be revenged in the other world; if you take from him this consolation, you yourselves give him the signal for rebellion. Leave him then to his prejudices, and take no great measures till the torch of philosophy shall have penetrated even into the cottage!' The torch of French philosophy reached those cottages but too soon :-we shall have occasion to remember that phrase hereafter. Danton and the ruling party had ceased to preach of moderation when the tidings of this more general insurrection reached the Convention. It came, indeed, from all sides -one cry of alarm. The circular letter of the administration of the Lower Loire to the adjoining departments has been copied by two of the writers whose works are lying before us, as indicating the panic which prevailed at this time. Friends and

brothers, to our succour ! our department is in flames !—a general insurrection has just manifested itself!-every where the tocsin is sounded ;-every where they plunder, they assassinate, they burn. Every where the patriots in small numbers fall victims to the fury and fanaticism of the royalists. Have you troops to lend us means of defence with which to furnish us? Have you soldiersmen-weapons? send them to us,--never was there greater need.' The Convention upon this intelligence passed their first law against La Vendée-the first of the bloody laws which have entailed eternal infamy upon those who enacted, and those who carried them into execution. They outlawed every person who should have taken part with the counter-revolutionists, mounted the white cockade, or given any outward sign of rebellion: the institution of juries was suspended: every man taken with arms was to be put to death within four and twenty hours; and the evidence of a single witness, before a military commission, was to be considered proof sufficient. Death and confiscation of property were also decreed against the nobles and priests.

The Convention at this time was far from comprehending the full extent of their danger. The revolutionary rulers, indeed, were as decided in their measures as they were detestable for their cruelties and crimes; but it was more owing to the errors of their enemies than their own exertions, that they were not overthrown by the insurgents of La Vendée. The army which Lescure had joined was under D'Elbée's command; this was called the Grand Army: it consisted of Angevins, of Poitevins from that part which is adjacent to Anjou, and of the peasants whom Lescure had raised. Their usual force was about 20,000; on important expeditions the number was nearly doubled. Bonchamp had a division of from 10 to 12,000 men, raised upon the Loire on the side of St. Florent, and including some Bretons who had crossed that river; he acted in concert with the Grand Army, and might perhaps be considered as forming part of it; but his chief business was to defend himself against the republicans who occupied Angers. Charette commanded in the Marsh and upon the sea-coast: he had to resist the garrison of Nantes on the one side, and of Sables on the other; and the utmost force which he could ever assemble was estimated at 20,000 men. Royrand, who was opposed by the Blues at Luçon, had about 12,000 men; and there were from 3 to 4000 under M. de Lyrot and d'Isigny, between Montaigu and Nantes. These provisions protected the rear of the Grand Army; but on the north, the east, and the south, it was exposed to danger along an extensive line. Of the leaders who were attached to the Grand Army, the man of the most military genius was the wool-dealer Cathelineau. All who knew him, concur in asserting that a man

of more gentle manners, more unaffected modesty, more natural eloquence, and military talent-is seldom or never to be found. He was thirty years old-an age in which the intellectual faculties are matured, while the bodily powers have lost none of their elasticity. The troops loved and almost adored him: they called him the Saint of Anjou; they believed that there was safety in battle in being near him,-that one so pious and virtuous must needs be under the especial protection of Providence; and that those who stood, as it were, under the shadow of his wings, might expect to be covered by the same shield. Lescure also was called the Saint of Poitou, and regarded with a sort of religious veneration. D'Elbée mixed too much of ostentation with his piety: he preached too much to the people; he carried images about him; and though in reality a devout and, perhaps, a superstitious man, so much appeared to be done for the sake of appearances, that he was nick-named General Providence, that sacred word being too often in his mouth. Nevertheless he was much respected, and the army was deservedly attached to him: he had no great or comprehensive views; his military talents were not remarkable, and his vanity was easily offended; but he was a brave, honest, and good man. Bonchamp was a far better officer: he had served with distinction in India under Suffrein; and of all men in the army, his opinion had the most weight. Bonchamp. had every requisite, except the important one of good fortune; he scarcely ever went into action without receiving a wound; and thus he was often rendered incapable of serving when his services would have been of most im portance. Stofflet was brave, active, and intelligent; the soldiers obeyed him better than any other leader, probably because they feared him more; this made him very useful, and the generals had great confidence in him; but the men disliked him, for he was of a hard and brutal nature. At this time he thought only of exerting himself in the common cause; his ambition afterwards became excessive, and produced the most deplorable consequences to himself and to better men. Time would have made Roche Jaquelein a consummate general: he had the eye which sees every thing at a glance-the promptitude which instantly decides upon the wisest mode of action. But he had still too much of the ardour of youth, or rather of boyhood; a noble principle, a loyal, religious, and heroic sense of duty drew him to the field; but when he was there, an animal delight in the sport of war seemed for the time to possess him wholly. Why would they make me a general?” said he 'I wish to be nothing more than an hussar, that I may have the pleasure of fighting.' In action he loved to single out an enemy, and engage in personal combat with him: in pursuit, he was eager to an extreme of rashness; but when the toil and the

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