Fourteen hundred priſoners, who had ſurrendered at Savenay, among whom were many women and children, were ſhot, by order of the deputy Francaſtel, who, together with Hentz, Richard, Choudieu, Carpentier, and others of their colleagues, ſet an example of rapine and cruelty, but too zealouſly imitated by their ſubordinate agents. In ſome places, the inhabitants, without diſtinction of age or ſex, were put indiſcriminately to the ſword; in others, they were forced to carry the pillage collected from their own dwellings, which, after being thus ſtripped, were conſigned to the flames.*
* "This conflagration accompliſhed, they had no ſooner arrived in the midſt of our army, than the volunteers, in imitation of their commanders, ſeized what little they had preſerved, and maſſacred them.—But this is not all: a whole municipality, in their ſcarfs of office, were ſacrificed; and at a little village, inhabited by about fifty good patriots, who had been uniform in their reſiſtance of the inſurgents, news is brought that their brother ſoldiers are coming to aſſiſt them, and to revenge the wrongs they have ſuffered. A friendly repaſt is provided, the military arrive, embrace their ill-fated hoſts, and devour what they have provided; which is no ſooner done, than they drive all theſe poor people into the churchyard, and ſtab them one after another." Report of Faure, Vice-Preſident of a Military Commiſſion at Fontenay.
—The heads of the priſoners ſerved occaſionally as marks for the officers to ſhoot at for trifling wagers, and the ſoldiers, who imitated theſe heinous examples, uſed to conduct whole hundreds to the place of execution, ſinging "allons enfans de la patrie."*
* Woe to thoſe who were unable to walk, for, under pretext that carriages could not be found to convey them, they were ſhot without heſitation!—Benaben.
The inſurgents had loſt Cholet, Chatillon, Mortagne, &c. Yet, far from being vanquiſhed by the day appointed, they had croſſed the Loire in great force, and, having traverſed Brittany, were preparing to make an attack on Granville. But this did not prevent Barrere from announcing to the convention, that La Vendee was no more, and the galleries echoed with applauſes, when they were told that the highways were impaſſable, from the numbers of the dead, and that a conſiderable part of France was one vaſt cemetery. This intelligence alſo tranquillized the paternal ſolicitude of the legiſlature, and, for many months, while the ſyſtem of depopulation was purſued with the moſt barbarous fury, it was not permiſſible even to ſuſpect that the war was yet unextinguiſhed.
It is only ſince the trial of the Nantais, that the ſtate of La Vendee has again become a ſubject of diſcuſſion: truth has now forced its way, and we learn, that, whatever may be the ſtrength of theſe unhappy people, their minds, embittered by ſuffering, and animated by revenge, are ſtill leſs than ever diſpoſed to ſubmit to the republican government. The deſign of total extirpation, once ſo much inſiſted on, is at preſent ſaid to be relinquiſhed, and a plan of inſtruction and converſion is to be ſubſtituted for bayonets and conflagrations. The revolted countries are to be enlightened by the doctrines of liberty, fanaticiſm is to be expoſed, and a love of the republic to ſucceed the prejudices in favour of Kings and Nobles.—To promote theſe objects, is, undoubtedly, the real intereſt of the Convention; but a moraliſt, who obſerves through another medium, may compare with regret and indignation the inſtructors with the people they are to illumine, and the advantages of philoſophy over ignorance.
Lequinio, one of the moſt determined reformers of the barbariſm of La Vendee, propoſes two methods: the firſt is, a general maſſacre of all the nativeſ—and the only objection it ſeems ſuſceptible of in his opinion is, their numbers; but as he thinks on this account it may be attended with difficulty, he is for eſtabliſhing a ſort of perpetual miſſion of Repreſentatives, who, by the influence of good living and a company of fiddlers and ſingers, are to reſtore the whole country to peace.*—
*"The only difficulty that preſents itſelf is, to determine whether recourſe ſhall be had to the alternative of indulgence, or if it will not be more advantageous to perſiſt in the plan of total deſtruction. "If the people that ſtill remain were not more than thirty or forty thouſand, the ſhorteſt way would doubtleſs be, to cut all their throats (egorger), agreeably to my firſt opinion; but the population is immenſe, amounting ſtill to four hundred thouſand ſouls.—If there were no hope of ſucceeding by any other methods, certainly it were better to kill all (egorger), even were there five hundred thouſand. "But what are we to underſtand by meaſures of rigour? Is there no diſtinction to be made between rigorous and barbarous meaſures? The utmoſt ſeverity is juſtified on the plea of the general good, but nothing can juſtify barbarity. If the welfare of France neceſſitated the ſacrifice of the four hundred thouſand inhabitantſ of La Vendee, and the countries in rebellion adjoining, they ought to be ſacrificed: but, even in this caſe, there would be no excuſe for thoſe atrocities which revolt nature, which are an outrage to ſocial order, and repugnant equally to feeling (ſentiment) and reaſon; and in cutting off ſo many entire generations for the good of the country, we ought not to ſuffer the uſe of barbarous means in a ſingle inſtance. "Now the moſt effectual way to arrive at this end (converting the people), would be by joyous and fraternal miſſions, frank and familiar harangues, civic repaſts, and, above all, dancing. "I could wiſh, too, that during their circuits in theſe countries, the Repreſentatives were always attended by muſicians. The expence would be trifling, compared with the good effect; if, as I am ſtrongly perſuaded, we could thus ſucceed in giving a turn to the public mind, and cloſe the bleeding arteries of theſe fertile and unhappy provinces." Lequinio, Guerre de La Vendee. And this people, who were either to have their throats cut, or be republicanized by means of ſinging, dancing, and revolutionary Panſ and Silenuſ's, already beheld their property devaſtated by pillage or conflagration, and were in danger of a peſtilence from the unburied bodies of their families.—Let the reader, who has ſeen Lequinio's pamphlet, compare his account of the ſufferings of the Vendeans, and his project for conciliating them. They convey a ſtrong idea of the levity of the national character; but, in thiſ inſtance, I muſt ſuppoſe, that nature would be ſuperior to local influence; and I doubt if Lequinio's jocund philoſophy will ever ſucceed in attaching the Vendeans to the republic.
—Camille Deſmouins, a republican reformer, nearly as ſanguinary, though not more liberal, thought the guillotine diſgraced by ſuch ignorant prey, and that it were better to hunt them down like wild beaſts; or, if made priſoners, to exchange them againſt the cattle of their country!—The eminently informed Herault de Sechelles was the patron and confidant of the exterminating reforms of Carrier; and Carnot, when the mode of reforming by noyades and fuſillades was debated at the Committee, pleaded the cauſe of Carrier, whom he deſcribes as a good, nay, an excellent patriot.—Merlin de Thionville, whoſe philoſophy is of a more martial caſt, was deſirous that the natives of La Vendee ſhould be completely annihilated, in order to furniſh in their territory and habitations a recompence for the armies.—Almoſt every member of the Convention haſ individually avowed principles, or committed acts, from which common turpitude would recoil, and, as a legiſlative body, their whole code haſ been one unvarying ſubverſion of morals and humanity. Such are the men who value themſelves on poſſeſſing all the advantages the Vendeans are pretended to be in want of.—We will now examine what diſciples they have produced, and the benefits which have been derived from their inſtructions.
Every part of France remarkable for an early proſelytiſm to the revolutionary doctrines has been the theatre of crimes unparalleled in the annals of human nature. Thoſe who have moſt boaſted their contempt for religious ſuperſtition have been degraded by an idolatry as groſs aſ any ever practiced on the Nile; and the moſt enthuſiaſtic republicanſ have, without daring to murmur, ſubmitted for two years ſucceſſively to a horde of cruel and immoral tyrants.—A pretended enfranchiſement from political and eccleſiaſtical ſlavery has been the ſignal of the loweſt debaſement, and the moſt cruel profligacy: the very Catechumens of freedom and philoſophy have, while yet in their firſt rudiments, diſtinguiſhed themſelves as proficients in the arts of oppreſſion and ſervility, of intolerance and licentiouſneſs.—Paris, the rendezvous of all the perſecuted patriots and philoſophers in Europe, the centre of the revolutionary ſyſtem, whoſe inhabitants were illumined by the firſt rayſ of modern republicaniſm, and who claim a ſort of property in the rightſ of man, as being the original inventors, may fairly be quoted as an example of the benefits that would accrue from a farther diſſemination of the new tenets.