HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
561 
At day-break, the 25th of April, the alarm was beat in the town by the drum¬ 
mers of the national guard; and every one eagerly flew to the post that had been 
assigned him; confident that this day would decide the fate of the colony. 
In the course of the night, every means had been prepared to attack the soldiers, 
who, fortunately, had remained in their quarters. In a moment, the whole na¬ 
tional guard of the colony was assembled; a battery of four pieces of cannon and 
two howitzers, were planted upon a hill which commanded the court of the bar¬ 
racks, where the soldiers were still in arms. Twelve field-pieces, served by the 
young people of the colony, who had been particularly instructed in this service, 
and four columns of the national guard, advanced each on different sides to attack 
the quarters. The companies of this national guard, in which there were some 
Sans-culottes , were posted so as to be kept in awe. All these dispositions having 
been executed with the greatest celerity, General Malartic, accompanied by the 
members of the Committee of Public Safety of the Colonial Assembly, and at the 
head of the national guard, summoned the mutinous companies of the grenadiers, 
to embark immediately on board the Seine frigate, to go on a cruize ; informing 
them, at the same time, that if they persisted in their refusal, he would employ the 
force which he possessed. The matches were lighted on both sides, and cartridges 
distributed; the muskets were loaded, and every thing announced the disastrous 
consequences of such a combat. The grenadiers, however, persisted in their 
refusal, when providence, who watched over the colony, suggested to the members 
of the Committee of Public Safety of the Colonial Assembly, to cause an order to 
be given by General Malartic, to the two regiments to embark for France; to which 
they should be carried by the Seine frigate and by another large merchant vessel; 
which would be prepared for them; granting them till noon, to make up their 
knapsacks, collect their linen, and depart. The soldiers, after much hesitation, 
accepted of this order or proposal, and the same day at noon, April 25, 1798, the 
Isle of France was freed from 800 armed stipendiaries of the French republic, who 
had conspired its overthrow, but which the good conduct of their officers, the 
greatest part of whom remained behind in the colony, added to the courage and 
reuniting of the inhabitants, preserved from the destruction that threatened it. * 
The Isle of France being, as it were, miraculously delivered from the two agents 
whom the Directory had sent there, with about a thousand soldiers inflamed with 
* This frigate. La Seine, was taken off the coast of France, and carried to England. 
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