#8 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



republicans, wlio, not expecting an 

 attack from men w hem tliey looked 

 upon as entirely subjugated and dis- 

 pirited, were taken by surprise, and 

 near totally destroyed. 



This was a signal for a n'w insur- 

 rection : all that remained of the 

 royalists scatteredover the province, 

 repaired immediately to Charrtte. 

 He was ipined soon after by Laroche 

 andStoflet, who brought with them 

 ill they could collect of their disper- 

 sed followers. Thtrr strength gradu- 

 ally increased to nearfv' forty thou- 

 sand nien ; and they began to en- 

 tertain hopes of renewing their 

 former successes. They proceeded 

 accordingly to clear the countries 

 :\round them of all the republican 

 troops, whom they attacked every- 

 where with their former resolution, 

 and with additional rancour for the 

 miseries they had experienced from 

 their barbarity. They quickly ex- 

 pelled thL-ra, and gained posses- 

 sion of their countr)' ; but it was in 

 a statf of desolation. Their villages 

 were in ruins, the fields stripped of 

 rheir produce, their families fled, 

 arid themselves deprived of all 

 those domestic comforts for the 

 defence and preservation of which 

 men are most ready to venture 

 their lives The chief motive re- 

 maining to inspirit them was re- 

 venge. They had no other choice 

 but of submitting to the foe, or of 

 bidding him deliunce. Submission 

 and death they exjicrimentally knew 

 to h-' the same thing ; and it was 

 certainly preferable to die like sol- 

 diers in the bed of honour. Sucli 

 was the language of Charette and 

 his fellow-chiefs ; and they found 

 no. kind of ditSculty in persuading 

 their followers to adopt those sen- 

 tifjrients; -which indeed v/ere found- 

 er! urj tlip btrictect propilcty, as -no 



others could be suited to their pre- 

 sent conditiun. 



They were not, however, entirely 

 destitute of favourable prospects. It 

 was precisely at this period, that the 

 Chouans In-gan to make their ap- 

 pearancein Brittany. They took this 

 name fromthrteyoungmen, the sons 

 ofasubstantial owner of several iron- 

 founderies, who had put themselves 

 at the head of a number of men, 

 whom they had prevailed on to 

 take up arms for the royal cause. 

 This happened at the time when the 

 royalists, defeated by tlie repubh- 

 cans, had crossed the I>oire, and 

 entered Brittanv. They at first 

 shewed themselves in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Fougeres, and, em- 

 boldened by the example of the 

 VcndJans, \rere emulous to imitate 

 them. Like these, they fell with 

 great courage on the republican 

 troops, over whom they obtained 

 many advantages ; but on the ap- 

 proach of the numerous forces dis- 

 patched against them by the Con- 

 vention, those whom they had 

 defeated were enabled to rally, and, 

 together with those reinforce- 

 ments, composed a strength which 

 the Chouans could not resist. They: 

 were put to the rout, and compelled' 

 to take refuge in the woods and' 

 fastnesses thickly spread over that 

 country. The terrible overthr6\v- 

 of the royalists near Mans, and the 

 subsequent disaster at Savenai, by 

 dispersing the Vendean army, helped 

 powerfully to recruit the Chouans.- 

 Unable to rally, and closely pur- 

 sued by the republican army, the 

 fu'jilives saw no other moans of 

 sr.fety than to direct tlieir flight to 

 Brittany,- and join the Chouans. 

 But their numbers united were not 

 t-ufficiently strong to cope with the 

 republican ti-oops;,«aiid they were 



a wluli: 



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