FRA 
pofleffion of the ifiand of Corfica, by the invitation and 
co-operation of general Pao'ii; and this ifland was for a 
time annexed to the dominions of the king of Great Bri¬ 
tain. See the article Corsica, vol. v. p.232. 
On the fide of Spain, the war produced nothing of im¬ 
portance ; and in the mountainous country of Piedmont 
it went on fiowly. Nice and Chamberry were (till re¬ 
tained by the French ; but more terrible fcenes were aft- 
ing in other quarters. In la Vendee a mod bloody war 
was perfi(red in by the royalifts. In that quarter of the 
country the language of the reft of France is little un- 
derftood ; the people were fuperftitious, and had ac¬ 
quired little idea of the new opinions that had lately 
been propagated in the reft of the empire ; they were 
chiefly headed by priefts, and regarded their caufe as a 
religious one ; their mode of warfare ufually was, to go 
on in their ordinary occupations as peaceable citizens, 
and fuddeoly to affemble in immenfe bands, infoffluch, 
that at one time they were faid to amount to one hundred 
and.fifty thoufand men. They befieged Nantz and the 
city of Orleans, «ud even Paris itfelf was not thought al¬ 
together fafe from their enterprife's. The war was incon¬ 
ceivably bloody : neither party gave quarter; and la Ven¬ 
dee proved a dreadful drain to the population of France. 
On the 28th of June, the conventional general Biron, 
drove the royalifts from Lucon ; and Nantz was relieved 
by general Beyder. After fome fuccefs, general Wefter- 
rnan was furprized by them, and compelled to retreat to 
Parthenay. In the beginning of Auguft, the royalifts 
were defeated by Roflignol ; but, on the 10th of that 
month, under Charette, their commander in chief, they 
again attacked Nantz, but fuffered a repulfe. See the 
article Charette, vol.iv. p 109. 
It would be tedious to give a minute detail of this ob- 
feure, but cruel, war. The royalifts were often defeated, 
and feemingly difperfed, but as often arofe, in crowds, 
around the aftonilhed republicans. At laft, however, 
about the middle of Odtober, they were completely de¬ 
feated, driven from la Vendee, and forced to divide into 
fep.arate bodies. Thefe royalifts had long expected af- 
fiftance from England ; and an armament, under the earl 
of Moira, was actually fitted out for that fervice, but it 
did not arrive till too late, and returned home without 
attempting a landing. The Mountain party always dif- 
graced their fucceftes by dreadful cruelties. Humanity 
is (hocked, and hiftory would almoft ceafe to obtain cre¬ 
dit, were we to date in detail the unrelenting cruelties 
which were exercifed againft the unfortunate royalifts, 
chiefly by Carrier, a deputy from the convention, fent 
into this quarter with unlimited powers. Multitudes of 
prifoners were crowded on-board veffels in the Loire, 
after which they were funk. No age nor fex was fpared; 
and thefe executions were performed with every circum- 
ftance of wanton brutality and infult. 
On the fide of the Rhine, a great variety of events 
occurred during the months of Auguft and September. 
Several engagements at firft took place, in which the 
French were, upon the whole, fuccefsful. In September, 
however, Landau was inverted by the combined powers ; 
and it was refolved to make every poffible effort to drive 
the French from the ftreng lines of Weiffembourg. On 
the 13th of October, the Auftrian general, Wurmfer, 
made a grand attack upon thefe lines, and took them al¬ 
moft without refiftance. The French retreated to Ha- 
guenau, from which they were driven on the i8th ; and 
fuffered two other defeats on the 25th and 27th. The 
principal citizens of Strafbourg now fent a private depu¬ 
tation to Wurmfer, offering to furrender the town, to be 
preserved for Louis XVII. Wurmfer refufed to accept 
of it upon thele terms, infilling upon an abfolute fur- 
render to his imperial majefty. In confequence of the 
delay the negociation was difeovered, and the citizens 
concerned in the plot were feized by St. Juft and Lebas, 
commiflieners from the convention, and brought to the 
fcaffold. Prodigious efforts were now made by the French 
Vol. VII. No. 469. 
N C Ec 793 
to recover their ground in this quarter. General Irerru 
bert was (hot at the head of the army on the 9th of No¬ 
vember, upon a charge, probably ill-founded, of treachery 
in the affair of the lines of Weiffembourg. On the 14th, 
however, Fort Louis was taken by the allies, not without 
fufpicion of treachery in the governor. But here the 
fuccefs of Wurmfer might be faid to terminate. On the 
2 iff, the republican army drove back the Auftrians, and 
penetrated almoft to Haguenau. An army from the Mo- 
felle now advanced to co-operate with the army of the 
Rhine. On the 27th, the Pruftians were defeated near 
Saarbruck. Next day, their camp at Bliefcaftle was 
ftormed, and the French advanced to Deux Ponts. On 
the 29th and 30th, the French were repulfed with great 
lofs in two violent attacks made on the duke of Brunlwick 
near Lantern. But it now appeared, that the French had 
come into the field with a determination to conquer, what¬ 
ever it might coft. Every day was a day of battle, and 
torrents of blood were (lied on both Tides. In military 
(kill, the French officers and thofe of the allies were per¬ 
haps nearly equal; but the French army was by far the 
moft numerous ; and, although not a match in point of 
difeipline, yet it derived no fmall fuperiority from the 
enthufiafm with which the troops were animated. On the 
8 th of December, under the command of general Pichegru, 
the French carried theredoubts which covered Haguenau 
by means of the bayonet. 
This modern inftrument of deftrudtion, againft which 
no defenfive weapon is employed, is always moft fuccefs¬ 
ful in the hands of the moft intrepid ; and it was now a 
dreadful engine in the hands of the French. The fined 
troops that ever Europe produced were unable to with- 
ftand the fury of the republicans, which feemed only to 
increafe in proportion to the multitude of companions 
that they loft. On the 22d, the allies were driven, with 
terrible (laughter, from Haguenau, notwithftanding the 
immenfe works they had thrown up for their defence. 
The entrenchments on the heights of Reiftioften, Jauden- 
ftioffen, &c, were confidered as more impregnable than 
thofe of Jemappe. They were ftormed by the army of 
the Mofelle and the Rhine, under generals Hoche and 
Pichegru. On the 23d and 24th, the allies were purfued 
to the heights of Wrotte. On the 26th, the entrench¬ 
ments there were forced by the bayonet, after a defperate 
conflict. On the 27th, the republican army arrived at 
Weiffembourg in triumph. Wurmfer retreated acrofs 
the Rhine, and the duke ofx Brunfwick haftily fell back 
to cover Mentz. The blockade of Landau, which had 
lafted four months, was railed. Fort Louis was evacuated 
by the allies, and Kaiferflautern, Germerffieim, and 
Spires, fubinitted to the French. During this laft month 
of the year 1793, the lofs of men on both Tides in this 
quarter was unexampled in the hiftory of mo'dern war. 
Violent efforts were in the mean time making at Paris 
by the new adminiftration, eftabliffied under the aufpices 
of the Jacobin club, and of the party of the Mountain. 
The new republican conftitution had been prefented to 
the people in the primary affemblies, and accepted. The 
bufinefs, therefore, for which the convention was called 
together, that of forming a conftitution for France, was 
at an end; and it was propofed that they (hould diffolve 
themfelves, and order a new legiflative body to affemble, 
according to the rules preferibed by that conftitution. 
This was, no doubt, the regular mode of procedure • 
but the ruling party confidered it as hazardous to convene 
a new affembly, polleffing only limited powers, in the 
prefent di drafted ftate ot the country. It was indeed 
obvious, that France, at this time, (food in need of a 
didtatorffiip, or of a government poffeffed of more abfolute 
authority than can be enjoyed by one that arts, or even 
pretends to aft, upon the moderate principles of freedom. 
It was therefore determined, that the convention (hould 
remain undiflolved till the end of the war ; and that a re¬ 
volutionary government, to be conducted by its meml 
bers, (hould be eftabliffied, with'unccntrouled powers. 
9 Committee* 
