84 ANNUAL register; 1794. 



selves from the vengear.ce of an 

 irritated government, they ti-an- 

 sportcd into the most remote and in- 

 accessible parts of their country, 

 their wives, children, and aged rela- 

 tions, together with the most valua- 

 ble of their property, and especially 

 every necessary article of siib'sist- 

 en.ce. Here they were guaidcd by 

 a force of 50,000 men stationed in 

 those passes through which the ene- 

 my could not penetrate. Thus de- 

 livered from the anxiety naturaliy 

 /v'sulting troni the dangers to which 

 all that was dearest to them must 

 otherwise have been exposed, their 

 whole attention was employed in 

 resisting and annoying their ene- 

 mies. The heads of the Conven- 

 tion were fully sensible of the ne- 

 cessity of an immediate suppression 

 of this dangerous insurrection. All 

 the troops, and all the best officers 

 that could be spared from, the ar- 

 mies in Flanders and Germany, 

 were sent against the Vendcans ; 

 but, however experienced and ac- 

 tive, the soldiers and ccm.manders 

 who engaged those desperate in- 

 •iirgents, found them more than an 

 equal match for all their courage 

 and capacity. The accounts daily 

 received frcm this quarter, and 

 which found their way into a'l the 

 coimtries in Europe, excited their 

 universal astonishment. A parti- 

 cularity well deserving of notice, 

 was, that in the midst of ihe con- 

 tinual successes attendir.g tlie amis 

 of those insurgents, it !'j;ig remain- 

 ed undiscovered who were their 

 Jmncipal leaders , the motives that 

 ed theEe to conceal tlumselvcs 

 were equally modest and discreet. 



• There are in Poictou, or L^ Vendee, a threat many fami'ie? of the name of 

 Charettc. In this country '"i m the HieMaiiili, iind some oitisr patu of Scotland, 

 4ljD0«t a'll the oativei of k«ine ui:ili ,cta h^vc iLc same n^HCti. 



formed 



Being persons of respectable fcmi- 

 lies, and many of their relatives 

 being in the power of government, 

 they dreaded to become known, 

 lest the vcngesiice of their enemies, 

 unable to reach them, should be 

 wreaked upon their ^friends ar-d 

 relations. Thus they sacrificed the , 

 renown they might acquire by their 

 actions, to the generous fcehngs of 

 humanity. 



The m.ore effectually to conceal 

 themselves, they attributed the ho- 

 nour of their exploits to a fictitioua 

 chief, upon whom they conferred a 

 name of great celebrity in the 

 annals of France. This lianie \v:a 

 Gaston, borne at dificrent periods 

 by some of the first and most cele- 

 brated personages in the kingdom. 

 But the real truth was, that the 

 principal instigator and actor in tliis 

 great and formidable insurrection, 

 was the famous and unhappy Cha- 

 re tte*. He was <^iginally an of- 

 ficer in the navy, where his talenti 

 andcharaeterd;6tinguishcd him con- 

 spicuously. He was at this period 

 in the flower cf youth, little more 

 tlianei^ht-and-twenty years of age: 

 but the opinion of his capacity was 

 so well est:;blishcd, that all eyes 

 were fixed en him as tiie properest 

 person to assume the chief com- 

 mand. He was accordingly ac- 

 knowledged as such } and in virfue 

 of that character, on th.e 10th of 

 M?.r..h, 1/93, he publicly erect&d 

 the royal stan)3a:d, and proclaimed 

 the infai.t son of the unfortunate 

 Lewis XVI. Kirg of France, by 

 the name of Lew^s XVII. 



'I'his was neither a vain nor an 

 ostentatious ceremony. It was per- 



