76 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
Fougére Audubon, then a lad of eight years, was living 
in the heart of Nantes, and his father was one of its 
leading revolutionists. An aunt of the future orni- 
thologist, according to his account, who was one of these 
wretched victims of revolutionary fury, was dragged 
through the streets of Nantes before his eyes, but appar- 
ently she did not actually meet her death at that time.” 
That Jean Audubon moved his family out of Nantes 
during the revolutionary crisis is possible, and Couéron 
would have been available as a place of refuge. Many 
Nantais are known to have fled to Lorient on the coast 
of Brittany, where they found in the heroic youth Jul- 
ien the ardent and fearless patriot who was destined 
to become the real savior of their stricken city. Young 
Julien denounced Carrier in his letters to Robespierre, 
and when one of these was intercepted, defied him in 
person. When his stirring appeals finally reached the 
Tribunal at Paris, its misnamed representative was re- 
called, and left Nantes under cover of night on Febru- 
ary 14, 1794. During his mad reign of four months, 
Carrier had gone far towards carrying out his theory 
of republican government, that should begin, as he 
openly avowed, by “suppressing” half of the population 
of France. The records show that nearly nine thou- 
sand bodies were buried in Nantes in a little over three 
months, from January 15 to April 24, 1794. The plague 
of fever no doubt accounted for many of these, but the 
wide reaches of the Loire never told their full story. 
Though the most grievous affliction of Nantes passed 
with the recall of Carrier, the city had no lasting peace 
until the execution of the Vendean leader, Charette, in 
March, 1796; “Poor Charette,” said Audubon, writing 
in his journal at Liverpool, December 24, 1827, “whom 
?See Note 4, Vol. I, p. 27. 
