La Vendée | Page 6

too
quickly appreciated the signs of the time; they had gone before the
revolutionary tribunal had had time to form itself. They were gone, and
their names for a season were forgotten in Paris; but Henri
Rochejaquelin was right--before long, the National Assembly did hear
of them; before twelve months had passed, they were more feared by
the Republic, than the allied forces of England, Austria, and Prussia.
CHAPTER II
ST. FLORENT
Nothing occurred in the provinces, subsequently called La Vendée,
during the autumn or winter of 1792 of sufficient notice to claim a
place in history, but during that time the feelings which afterwards
occasioned the revolt in that country, were every day becoming more
ardent. The people obstinately refused to attend the churches to which
the constitutional clergy had been appointed; indeed, these pastors had
found it all but impossible to live in the parishes assigned to them; no
one would take them as tenants; no servants would live with them; the
bakers and grocers would not deal with them; the tailors would not
make their clothes for them, nor the shoemakers shoes. During the
week they were debarred from all worldly commerce, and on Sundays
they performed their religious ceremonies between empty walls.
The banished priests, on the other hand, who were strictly forbidden to
perform any of the sacerdotal duties, continued among the trees and

rocks to collect their own congregations undiminished in number, and
much more than ordinarily zealous, in their religious duties; and with
the licence which such sylvan chapels were found to foster,
denunciations against the Republic, and prayers for the speedy
restoration of the monarchy, were mingled with the sacred observances.
The execution of Louis, in January, 1793, greatly increased the
attachment which was now felt in this locality to his family. In Nantes
and Angers, in Saumur, Thouars, and other towns in which the
presence of Republican forces commanded the adhesion of the
inhabitants this event was commemorated by illuminations, but this
very show of joy at so cruel a murder, more than the murder itself,
acerbated the feelings both of the gentry and the peasants. They were
given to understand that those who wished well to their country were
now expected to show some sign of gratitude for what the blessed
revolution had done for them--that those who desired to stand well with
the Republic should rejoice openly at their deliverance from thraldom.
In fact, those who lived in large towns, and who would not illuminate,
were to be marked men--marked as secret friends to the monarchy--as
inveterate foes to the Republic--and they were told that they were to be
treated accordingly. Men then began to congregate in numbers round
the churches, and in the village squares, and to ask each other whether
they had better not act as enemies, if they were to be considered as
enemies; to complain of their increasing poverty and diminished
comfort; and to long for the coming time, when the King should enjoy
his own again.
The feeling with the country gentry was very generally the same as
with the peasantry, though hitherto they had openly expressed no
opposition to the ruling Government. They had, however, been always
elected to those situations which the leaders of the revolution had
wished the people to fill exclusively with persons from their own ranks.
They were chosen as mayors in the small towns, and were always
requested to act as officers in the corps of the National Guards, which
were formed in this, as in every other district of France. On this account
the peculiar ill-will of the Republican Government was directed against
them. In France, at that time, political inactivity was an impossibility.

Revolt against the Republic, or active participation in its measures, was
the only choice left to those who did not choose to fly their country,
and many of the seigneurs of Anjou and Poitou would not adopt the
latter alternative.
In March, the Commissaries of the Republic entered these provinces to
collect from that district, its portion towards the levy of three hundred
thousand men which had been ordered by the Convention. This was an
intolerable grievance--it was not to be borne, that so many of their
youths should be forcibly dragged away to fight the battles of the
Republic--battles in which they would rather that the Republic should
be worsted. Besides, every one would lose a relative, a friend, or a
lover; the decree affected every individual in the district. The peasants
declared that they would not obey the orders of the Convention--that
they would not fight the battles of the Republic.
This was the commencement of the revolt. The troops of the Republic
were, of course, put in motion to assist the officers who were entrusted
with the carrying out of the conscription.