88 ANNUAL REGIST ER, 1794. 



rnarchad, and assaulted it on the 

 20th of June with their usual ar- 

 dour : but the inhabitants were 

 prepared for them. Supported by 

 a large garrison , they made so re- 

 solute a defence, that the insur- 

 gents were entirely foiled, and com- 

 pelled to abandon this rash u/tider- 

 taking. They retired after losing 

 a number of their bravest men. — 

 This was a check, that restored, in 

 gome measure, the spirit of their 

 enemies. 



These transactions' and others, 

 sometimes pnispcrons, sometimes 

 adverse to the Vcnoeaiis, happened 

 between the beginning of Mwrch 

 and thelatter end of August. Tlu y 

 were oi a nature to excite the ut- 

 nnostsolicitude in theruhng powers, 

 who clearly ^*'-ceivcd that unless 

 the Insurgents were immediately 

 suppressed, the) rsucccsses would en- 

 courage others to fol'ow their ex- 

 ample, and raise at last snch an host 

 of internal foes, as would enable the 

 foreign combination to recover it- 

 Etlf, and shortly to renew its efforts 

 against the French Republic with 

 better hopesof success than before. 

 It had happened, luckilv for the re- 

 publican inten Ft, t^at by the arti- 

 cles of the capitulation of Meut/., 

 when itstirr ndcred tothe Prussians, 

 the garrison h^ul only engaged not 

 to serve a^^aiiist the .combined 

 powers; and was tlierefore at the 

 French government's disposal in 

 other respects. It did' not fail to 

 avail itself of this favourable cir- 

 cumstance, and ordered that garri- 

 son to hasten with all speed against 

 the insurgents ol La Vendee. This 

 veteran body, reiniorced by several 

 ethers, some of whom consisted of 

 tried soldiers, recommenced hosti- 

 lities against the Vcndeans in the 

 beginning of September; when 



these imagined they had nothing to 

 apprehend till the spring of the en-« 

 suing year. They re -assembled, 

 however, th'^ir scattered forces, and 

 fell upon the enemy with such fury 

 that they could not resist it ; and 

 were defeated every v\ here with 

 prodigious slaughter. What ren- 

 dered those defeats totally unex- 

 pected, the Vendeans encountered 

 the troops acting against them with 

 far inferior numbers. Five or six 

 <thousahd of those resolute insur- 

 gents att"ckcd arjd put to the route 

 twenty.five thousand of the troops 

 of the liiie ; of wh<!ro they made a 

 tcirible carnage. Another body of 

 them, consiitinof of much the same 

 nunbcr, had the boldness Jo assail 

 an army of forty thousand men ; 

 who were defeated, with the loss 

 of a great part of their artillery and 

 baggage. 



Equally exasperated and astonish- 

 ed at these endless disajpoinimcnts 

 of all their endeavours to en.; h this 

 fcrmidab.'e insurrection, the Fvpuch 

 g.ivcrnn^nt now determined' to 

 adopt the most atrocious mc.-n? to 

 combat it with effect. Their Ge- 

 nerals were commissioned to iav?.de 

 instaPitly the country of La Vcnciee 

 at the ht^ad of all the troops that 

 could be collected for that purpose, 

 and to set fire to every thing they 

 met with on their march. These 

 sanguinary mandates were execu- 

 ted with a barbarous fidelity. No- 

 thing was spared. What escaped 

 the sword perished by the flames. 

 The immensity of numbers, and 

 the precautions taken by the re- 

 publican Generals were such, that 

 the Vendc?ns were no longer able 

 to resist the destructive progress of 

 their Ciiemy, who moved forward 

 deliberately, furnished with every 

 engine of destruction, and guarded, 



bv 



