IGG] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



and tiie unconquerable will, though 

 forced to retreat and conceal him- 

 self from a hostile and irresistible 

 force, was count Lewis de Frotte, 

 the hero most distinguished by va- 

 lour, magnanimity, and firmness, 

 among all the loyalists, since the ce- 

 lebrated Charette, of La Vendee. 

 The count had written a letter to 

 the republican general Guidat, pro- 

 posing a general pacification of all 

 the Chouans, to which letter he 

 had received an insignificant and 

 evasive answer. This negociation 

 was protracted beyond the last of 

 the days fixed for the armistice, and 

 the acceptation of the terms of peace 

 offered to the royalists ; and count 

 Lewis de Frotte, retiring with his 

 staff and some other officers, k)"^ con- 

 cealed in an ancient castle in the 

 department of Ome. A letter of 

 one of his aides-de-camp, intercept- 

 ed by a republican, discovered his 

 retreat. He was taken, together 

 with six of his staff-officers, the faith- 

 ful companions of his concealment. 

 These were Messieurs de Cau- 

 marque, Hugon, and De Verdun, 

 commandants of legions ; Monsieur 

 de Cassincux, aide-de-camp to ge- 

 neral Frotte ; and Messieurs Segui- 

 rat and St. Florent, his aides-ma- 

 jors. The count, with his six com- 

 panions, was sent, by general Cham- 

 berthac, to Vermeuil, where they 

 were all of them judged by a mili- 

 tary tribunal, and condemned to 

 be shot, within twenty-four hours, 

 by the orders of general Lefevre, 

 once a seijeant in the French guards. 

 The ground on which M. de Frotte 

 was condemned was,oneof his letters 

 which was found in the possession of 

 one of his unfortunate companions ; 

 in which letter he devoted himself 

 totlic cause of royalty witlj the most 

 heroic enthusiasm, llic count, and 



all his unfortunate companions, met 

 death with the most undaunted cou- 

 rage. They would not permit ban- 

 dages to be put on their eyes. — 

 Monsieur de Cassineux, his aid- 

 de-camp, being only wounded by 

 the first fire, and still able to stand, 

 said calmly, to the soldiers on duty, 

 fire again ; vi'hich they did, and dis- 

 patched him. 



The unhappy aid-de-camp, whose 

 note was the occasion of this mourn- 

 ful catastrophe, driven to the extre- 

 mity of grief and despair, by his in- 

 voluntary indiscretion, blev/ out his 

 own brains with a pistol. 



When news of the final termina- 

 tion of the rebellion, by the cap- 

 ture and death of count Lewis de 

 Frotte, was received by Buonaparte, 

 he communicated it, without de- 

 lay, to the legislative assembly ; in 

 which Rcederer I'ose up, and said, 

 " You will leani, with pleasure, that 

 that part of the French territory, 

 which was put out of the law, is 

 rcstoi-ed to the republic, by the de- 

 struction of the rebels that held pos- 

 session of it. ' The first consul has 

 given it in charge to me to acquaint 

 you that Frotte, with his staff-offi- 

 cers, has been taken in a castle, in 

 the department of Orne. There 

 were found upon him a cross of St. 

 Lewis, a seal, with the arms of 

 France, and some poinards, of the 

 manufacture of England." — All the 

 members of the legislative body, on 

 this, rose up, and cried, " Five la 

 repuhlique." 



Thus, by a wise union of mode- 

 ration with firmness, and of aspirit of 

 conciliation witli a mighty anned 

 Ibrce, the royalist party, in France, 

 was totally annihilated ; and thus, 

 also, there was an end of the royal 

 and illustrious family of the French 

 Bourbons; the pillars of whose power 



