HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



[163 



general Brune was appointed to 

 the chief command of the western 

 army, in the council of state, heing 

 a member of that body, he rose up 

 and said, " In the two-fold cha- 

 racter of a sieneral ofRcer and a 

 counsellor of state, I am flattered 

 with the choice which, on the pre- 

 sent occasion, has been made of 

 me, by the first consul. The task 

 imposed on me is a painful one, but 

 I will undertake to unite the Fre'ncli 

 whatever may be their opinions. — 

 Those who are not to be influenced 

 by reason, I will reduce by force of 

 arms. Those who have been led 

 into error, I Avill pardon. These 

 shall be the principles of my con- 

 duct ; but, I vi'ill never forget that 

 weakness is not less an enemy to 

 moderation than to firmness. It is 

 that which is the ruin of the repub- 

 lics: ma)"- the deluded inhabitants 

 of the west return into the bosom of 

 their country ; but, may they re- 

 turn as penitent children." 



The conciliatory measures pur- 

 sued by the French government, 

 and particularly the second procla- 

 mation of Buonaparte, on the 

 eleventh of January, produced the 

 desired effect on part of the loy- 

 alists, while others continued still 

 in the resolution to maintain their 

 cause. General Autichamp, who 

 had accepted the armistice at the 

 same time with Chatillon, employed 

 his influence among the Chouans, 

 in the department of Deux Levres, 

 in favour of peace, with success. 

 The armistice he told them was pro- 

 longed, and he conjured them to 

 do nothing in violation of its con- 

 ditions. They listened to his ad- 

 vice, and remained peaceably at 

 their respective homes. The ex- 

 ample of d'Autichamp, was success- 

 fully imitated by Bourmont and 



other chiefs. Few parlies of Chou- 

 ans were to be seen in departments 

 where they had lately appeared in 

 great force. The courier between 

 Nantz and I'orient reported, as 

 somethingexlraordinary, on the fif- 

 teenth of January, that he had not 

 seen a single Chouan all the way 

 between these cities. 



General Brune, on arriving at 

 his head- quarters, of Angers, in a 

 letter to the minister-at-war, dated 

 the twenty- first of January,said, " I 

 enter this day on my command of 

 the army. General Hedovillehas 

 been pleased to act as my lieute- 

 nant ; he commands the left wing 

 of my army. The inestimable ge- 

 neral Hedovillehas united the inha- 

 bitants of La Vendee in peace ; I 

 shall henceforth find the Chouans 

 tractable." Thus every thing, in 

 some quarters, wore a peaceful 

 aspect. This was by no means the 

 case in every district and depart- 

 ment, A body of six hundred 

 Chouans was cantoned at Soublans, 

 with the design of rousing the in- 

 habitants to arms : this party v^as 

 dispersed by^^general Nevot, with 

 the loss of one hundred muskets, 

 and some prisoners. Considerable 

 parties of Chouans, in the depart- 

 ment of the Eure and Loire, were 

 dispersed by the arrival of a move- 

 able column at Noyent le Ration ; 

 but, in other parts, the war on the 

 part of the loyalists assumed a 

 more serious aspect. In the prin- 

 cipal towns and villages of the de- 

 partment of Dinan, in Britanny, 

 the following injunctions were pub- 

 lished, in placards or hand-bills, 

 stuck up on the high walls, and in 

 all the places of general resort : 



1st. All public officers, not being 

 priests, who shall receive any act 

 of marriage, at the hands of men, 



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