HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



93 



tbat were hourly arriving to their 

 aid. Disordered and fatigued by 

 their long pursuit, th^ royaliats had 

 no time to rally, and were unabitf 

 to stand the charge of fresh troops. 

 They were pet to the rout, and a 

 prodigous slaughter was made of 

 them by the republican cavalrj', 

 which followed them in iheir flight 

 as far as the central division. Here 

 was the baggage, t'le provisions, 

 and all the -ammuiiition ar.d stores 

 of the inSHr,-!Mrt army, with the 

 aged, the sicJi, and the wounded. 

 Thw division, unprepared for so 

 unforeseen an attack, was instantly 

 brokc.i through, and thrown into 

 irrecoverable conf tsion. No quar- 

 ter was given; and the massacre ex- ■ 

 tended iudiscriminately to young 

 and old. Those who escaped to the 

 first division, threw it, by their re- 

 ports, into such const emation, that 

 U lost all courage and presence of 

 mind. Larocheand Stoflet united 

 their efforts to re-ani;nate them; 

 but a!! was in vain : such a panic 

 bad seized them, that th.y thought 

 no longer pfarfy thing but fliglit. 

 In order to be the less encumbered, 

 they even threw away th^ir arms, 

 and dispersed on all sides over the 

 face of the country. But they 

 were chaced with the most bar- 

 barous fury to every s-;ot where 

 they had sought conci-alinent, and 

 uninercifally slaughtered, without 

 distinction of age or sex. Accor- 

 ding to accounts reputed authentic, 

 this inhuman execution extended 

 to ffiore than one huiidr^d miles. 

 The space through which they 

 were pursued vi-ai strewed with 

 the dead bodies of thos? unfor- 

 tunate meo ; and the computation 

 inoreUi.411 V>Jers slaui amii tinted to 

 three ?jarts lOOO, which was nearly 

 ' in four of their whole 



nnmber. So eag^r were the v;c- 

 torsinthi-s work of destruction, th:it 

 the searching out and execution of 

 this multitude was completed in 

 fifteen days. The manner in which 

 numbers of them were put to 

 death vvas so atrocious, as almost 

 to stagger belief. They^cre shut 

 up by hui:dred« in barn?, wherera 

 they were burnt alive; others were 

 thrown by whole companies into 

 rivers ; and ?uch of them as kept 

 above -water, or got ashore, were 

 shot. 



General Westerman being novr 

 called to the bar of the Conven- 

 tion, informed them, that of the re- 

 bel army, whicli had been 90,000 

 strong ill the distiict of Mons, not a 

 single combatant had escaped. 

 "Chiefs, officers, soldiers, bishops. 

 Countesses, Marchionesses, and 

 Princesses, had all perished by the 

 sword, by the fianies, or by the 

 waves." This report was heard 

 with applause in the galleiies, mix- 

 ed '.vith bursts of laughter. 



Some part of the insurgents, who 

 had, through more coolness and de- 

 termination than the rest, effected 

 a retreat, and escaped the fate of 

 their companions, finding it im- 

 practicable to return to their coun- 

 try by crossing the Loire, made the 

 best of their w?y to the district of 

 Morbihan in Brittany; of which 

 the inhabitants were well know.i 

 to be in the royal interest. But the 

 destiny of their unhappy <;omp3- 

 nioiis overtook them. Tiiey were, 

 alt *r a variety of adventures, as- 

 S3i!.:d and overcome by numbers, 

 a-id perished all together, as the 

 others had done before them. 



Wiiile the insurgent army under 

 Laroche and SloilirL were suffering 

 so many disjsters, that body com- 

 manded by Chareite had success- 

 fully 



