HISTORY OF EUROPE, 



[7 



tions. As the republican force in 

 that quarter was but wcal^, and 

 the spirit of discontent and revolt^ 

 general and ardent, the insurrec- 

 tion spread so rapidly, that, in a 

 short space of time, no less than 

 twenty departments were, more or 

 less, in a state of insurrection. 



Their principal place of strength 

 was, at first, Meins. This how- 

 ever, on the ajjpearancc of the 

 republican troops, they were forced 

 to evacuate, after pillaging it, and 

 taking hostages. But, by this 

 time, the flames of insiUTCction had 

 spread far and wide. The insur- 

 gents were, for a while, in posses- 

 sion of Nantes, the capital of the 

 department of the Nether Loire, 

 and Port-Brieux, that of the de- 

 partment of the northern coasts. 

 From this last place they did not 

 retreat without carrying off' all 

 the public money, and also the 

 principal inhabitants as hostages. 

 A regular chain of posts was 

 formed from the Bay of Biscay 

 ahnost to the walls of Paris. The 

 insurgents published manifestoes, 

 demanded supplies of men, money, 

 and provisions, ,^d, in a word, 

 assuming the title of the royal and 

 catholic army, exercised within 

 the sphere of their influence and 

 power all the functions of govern- 

 ment. This army, which covered 

 so great an extent of country and 

 amounted in all, to about a hun- 

 dred thousand men, was formed 

 into five grand divisions. The 

 province of Normandy (for we 

 presume that the old divisions of 

 France will yet be more intel- 

 ligible to most of our readers than 

 the new) was under the orders 

 of count Lewis Frotte : the pro- 

 -▼ince of Maine was occupied by a 

 formidable army, under the count 

 dc 13ounuout. The jnarquisiscs of 



Scepeaux, Chatillon, d'Audigne, 

 and Turpin, commanded in Anjou 

 and Biitanny, as far as Morbihan ; 

 generals Georges and de Sol, the 

 Lower Britanny ; le Mercier, the 

 districts lying towards St. Brieux, 

 The count d'Autichamp was at 

 the head of the army of Poictou, 

 and of tlic country on the left 

 bank of the Loire to the confines 

 of Aunis ; and inider him were 

 the generals Su^annet, Sapineau, 

 Soyer, and Berlier, Of all the 

 great towns throughout these pro- 

 vinces the royalists were in pos- 

 session, and they were all of them 

 stored with ammunition and pro- 

 visions: supplies of which, had, 

 from time to time, been landed, 

 on such parts of the coast, as were 

 under their influence and sway, 

 by the English. On the whole, 

 the French nation was in a state 

 of discoritent, alarm and anxious 

 expectation. The noble families 

 and clergy were proscribed and 

 persecuted ; the men of property 

 were harassed with requisitions; 

 the jacobins were excluded from 

 the public councUs, and ready to 

 attempt any enterprize that might 

 throw all things into confusion, 

 however despertite and dangerous. 

 Some measures had indeed been 

 taken for modifying, not repealing, 

 the law of Hostages, and for de- 

 stroying one dreadful engine of 

 despotism, in the hands of the late 

 directory, by closing the list of 

 emigrants: other measures too, had 

 been taken for alleviating the pub- 

 lic distresses, but the whole were 

 feeble, and in their operation tardy 

 and inefficacious. The nation was 

 in a state of distraction ; the go- 

 vernment, if not altogether in a 

 state of langour, indecision, and 

 stupefaction, rather watched and 

 sought for au opportunity of 



