100 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



vigour and invincible rwolution, 

 afforded him. tlie strongest expec- 

 tatiou of rendering tbis second ih- 

 surrecti(jn in favour of the royal 

 cause, of moie efficacy th;in the 

 first. 



Certain it is, however, that 

 with very little admixture of tac^ 

 tics, the Vendtans had, in their 

 first iiMurrection, performed such 

 feats of arms, as excited the utmost 

 surprise of all the military men 

 who witnessed thcro. Their man- 

 ner of fighting was peculiarly their 

 own. It was by no means framed 

 in conformity to any of those mo- 

 dern plans, so learnedly described 

 and recommended by the most ce- 

 lebrated professors of the art of 

 war. It arose from tlje circum- 

 stances of the moment. Their con- 

 stant aim, in every engagement, 

 was to close in witii the enemy, 

 and to fight man to man. For this 

 they were admirably qualified by 

 their bodily strength, and the vi- 

 gour and dexterity with which they 

 exerted it. Fearless and almost ig- 

 norant of the danger they were 

 about to ' encounter, they ru^had 

 with all the lapidity and viohnes 

 they could collect, into ihc ranks 

 . of the enemy ; and without em- 

 ploying scientific movements and 

 evolutions, fought only by main 

 strength andcourage to break and 

 tbrpw him into disorder. Such a 

 mode of engaging was necessarily 

 attended, with great bloodshed : 

 but this- was iw object to- the Ven- 

 deans. Their inijiu'tion in battle 

 arose from their detestation of ihe 

 enemy, and the conviction that to 

 destroy him was Ihe noblest duty 

 they could perform. 



,.In .consequence of this pcrsua- 

 iiou, the battles fought between 

 the V^tlf^aus and the republican 



I 



troops were dreadfully destructive;; 

 as both pariicsfought with extreme 

 obstinacy. The slaugllter was pro- 

 digious. The regular valour of the 

 republican troops, and tlicir cool 

 dexterity in the use of their arms, 

 always occasioned a terrible loss of 

 men to the Vcndeans before they 

 coftld engage them so closely as 

 to decide the contest by personal 

 strength and re»o!ution. Bui here 

 it wa& that tihe Vendeans were sure 

 to triumph. Fired with rage and 

 fearless of their enemies, they fell 

 upon them with a confidence of 

 victory and a torrent of exertion, 

 to which these were utter strangers 

 iii all the othcrscenes of their wav- 

 fiire, and which never failed to sur- 

 prise and put them in confusion. 

 1"iie carnage that followed was uo- 

 avoidable. Mixed with their ene- 

 mies, the Vendcaus dealt the surest- 

 destruction among tliem y and it 

 was witli the utmost difficulty that 

 these could disentangle themserve*- 

 and have recourse to flight. In no- 

 theatre of the war was so much de- 

 struction known as in La Vendee. 

 In less than a twelvemonth it was- 

 complained of in the Convention, 

 that through the mismanagements 

 of their Gcncr;ds, the republican 

 armies were diminished by two- 

 hundred thousand men. Of the- 

 royalists also vast numbers fell.- 

 Ihe fact was, that La Vendee was 

 the ground chosen, as^ it were, tO" 

 decide tlix; contest between the re- 

 publicans and the royalists. Hitlier 

 the latter eagerly repaired from all 

 parts of the kingdom. The ma- 

 jority of the officers and com-- 

 manders of the Veiideans came' 

 from thence ; and of common men 

 an immense proportion consisted of 

 those who flocked to them iif- 

 crawds from the neighbouring pro- 

 vinces', ^ 



