VE 
Hictrospect of £ vench: Literature History, 
where La Charette for along time main- nesses, to follow the fortunes of a favous 
ae i h ; 
. ae 
, 615 
: 
tained an undisputed dominion... The rite leader in the interior, or to range 
canals, which are from fifteen to twenty 
feet wide, presented the most formidable 
obstacles to the progress of an enemy; 
nor did the insurgent, who wisely made 
warinstrict conformity with the nature of 
his country, neglect to reap all possible 
advantage from ‘Tocak circumstances. On 
the appearance of the foe, he prepared 
to act as the occasion required; he sel- 
dom attacked except when a manifest ad- 
vantage presented itself; dnd, like the 
Parthian of old, was never more terrible, 
than when Be fled. 
two modes of escape oe them- 
selves. Attaching his musket, to which 
suspended by a belt the bandoieers con- 
taining his gunpowder, he leaped, by 
means of a long pole, to the opposite 
bank, wath equal quickness and dexte- 
rity, $0 as to defy the most expert vete- 
ran. Butwhenthe sudden approach and 
favourable position of the enemy exposed - 
him to their fre, he immediately darted 
down the bank, and throwing himself in- 
to his niole*, a boat peculiar t to the coun- 
try, steered himself across with all the 
dexterity of an Indian, and instantly 
concealed himself cn the other side, 
After this he suddenly appeared behind 
a mound of earth, and inflicted, at his 
leisure, a deadly wound, while he him- 
self remained sheltered in safety. The 
traverses formed by the canals presented 
so mzny fortifications, rendered difficult 
of approach by means of broad and deep 
ditches, and the moment that the invad., 
ers appeared intimidated, or ready to 
give way, the enemy seemed to rise out 
of both land and water, and by means of 
their savage yells, and menacing atti- 
tudes, added to the veneral terror. ey hus, 
while the Vendean in the upper coun. 
try made war after the method ef the. 
Americans, and, like the southern babes: 
took, from behind a tree, which rendered 
him invulnerable, a deadly aim at his 
aqgesety the native of the ) eushag 
ions traversed the surrounding wae 
Pa with all the facility of the inhabi- 
tants of the northern lakes, and found 
unmediate protection within the recesses 
of an immense morass, Or an impene- 
Tree le § swamp. Nor did the mhabitants 
Wer remain on the detensive, for they 
at times ‘sallied forth from their fast- 
a. Ee as 
* The nile somewhat resembles the En- 
giish punt, with this difference, that it is 
more narrow, more light, and more manage- 
able; it differs also in respect to the prow, 
which is pointed like the Norwegian prame, 
‘ 
In the latter case, 
} the sea; 
alone the coast, witha view of” facilitat- 
ing the arrival of supplies from abroad. 
Thus the Vendeans in general prac- 
tised a mode of fighting practicable per= 
haps in their own Country alone, because 
peculiar to the nature of the soil, and the 
genius of the inhabitants. To these cha- 
racteristic advantages are to be added an 
inviolable attachment to their party; an 
unlimited confidence in their chiefs, whe-- 
ther vanquished or victorious; a fidelity 
_ and obedience that made amends for the 
neglect of discipline; an enthusiasm He Wad 
fully supplied the want of tactical knosv- 
ledge;) an invincible courage, equally 
proof against danger, fatigue, and fa- 
mine: such were the me en, who fora long 
time fancied) that victor y was attached 
to their standards, and who, uniting a 
multituee of heroic qualities, only w at 
ed humanity to render themselves mas 
dels among warriors. Fighting some- 
times as solitary individuals; at other 
times acting in immense masses, accord. 
ing to circumstances, they by degrees ex- 
tended the theatres of their hostilities, 
and, no longer confined to the Bucage and 
Retoux, that first’ witnessed their ex- 
ploits, they at length for their north 
boundaries had. the Loire; to the west 
to the south Fontenay, Lugon, 
Les Sables fad Niort; and to the east 
Part h renay,T houars, andDoué. Altho en, 
totally unacquainted with the attackief 
fortified fe es, and checked at the sight a 
AG 
ofa rampart or a ditch, they yet found: 
means to make themselyes masters of” 
Saumuriand Angers; and had they not 
miscarried” before Nantes, they might 
probably have 
band of peasants and banditti would bave- 
achieved a new revolution in behalf of 
the dethroned Bourbons, the exiled. poe 
bies, and the proscribed priests. bs 
So destitute were they of arms, that 
the malcontents hegan the war* with 
pitchforks and bludgeons; the castles of 
the nobility soon furnished double-bar- 
relled guns, carabines, and blunderbusses, 
while some of the insurgents actually 
and those rude, engines of destructio 
which were introduced into E UPOPe “On » 
the decline of chivalry, At length, howe 
ever, they obtained muskets, but were at 
no period regularly supplied with allithe 
accoutrements belonging te’ regular in- 
22» 1793. : ey 
fantry, 
took the feld with that Aieastic ar cco 
* September 
realized the theories ef » 
some ot their leaders, and an’ ‘anomalous 
ty 
a; 
bi, 
ig 
