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Plan for invading Brittany.

PROPOSAL OF COUNT DE PUISAYE. CH. XXXVI.

occupied in providing for the military occupation of the vast territory, of which, in conjunction with Frederic of Prussia, she had recently despoiled the Poles. Under these circumstances, England was not in a condition to engage in extensive military enterprises; and the only military adventure in which she did embark ended in disaster and confusion. In the autumn of the preceding year, the Count de Puisaye, a Breton nobleman, and chief of a Chouan band, had submitted to the English Government a project for raising a Royalist insurrection in Brittany. He proposed that an expedition, comprising ten thousand English troops, and a corps of emigrants should enter the province at different points, and effect a junction at the capital city of Rennes, the possession of which would put the expeditionary force in possession of ample magazines and munitions of every kind, if it did not, as was probable, insure the immediate success of the enterprise. From Rennes, the insurrectionary army was to extend its operations to Normandy, Maine, and Poitou; and, finally, it was intended that the Count d'Artois should be invited to assume the chief command.

The British Cabinet having consulted Lord Cornwallis, the first military authority in the service, approved of this plan; and it was determined that the British contingent should be commanded by the Earl of Moira, the officer who had served with so much distinction as second to Cornwallis in the American war.

Failure of the plan.

Many months, however, were consumed in this negotiation, notwithstanding the urgent representations of De Puisaye that every day's delay was injurious to the cause. The Bretons, already in arms, were dispirited by the protracted absence of their leader. The emigrants in London, who were not admitted to the counsels of the Chouan

1795.

MISMANAGEMENT OF THE EXPEDITION.

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chief, became jealous of his secret correspondence with the British Government, and sought to frustrate his efforts. Through the envy, if not the treachery, of these people, intelligence reached Paris, and preparations were set on foot to counteract the formidable enterprise which had been planned at London. Cormatin, who commanded the Chouan bands in the absence of De Puisaye, following the example of Charette, made peace with the Republicans; and the Royalist levies dispersed and returned to their homes. Such were the unhappy results of hesitation and delay. The British Government, taking advantage of their own wrong, retracted the promise of immediate military aid, and confined their assistance to a small sum of money, and a supply of stores. The gallant spirit of the Chouan chief bore up even against this last cruel disappointment; and it was ultimately decided that the attempt should be made with a few French regiments in British pay, amounting to between four and five thousand men. If these could hold their ground, hope was held out that they would be reinforced by the British contingent, upon the original co-operation of which the plan of the Royalist General had been principally based. Not content with thus dashing down, at the last moment, the hopes with which they had so long amused these devoted men, the English Government interposed objections with regard to the conduct of the expedition. De Puisaye wished to land on the northern coast of Brittany, where he was sure of being surrounded by friends and followers; but the Cabinet of St. James's determined that he should land in the south, and Quiberon was chosen as affording a convenient station for the fleet. The chief of the expedition was not permitted even to select his second in command; and, instead of an officer in the vigour of life, with enthusiasm and dash, the essential qualities for such a service, the Ministry named

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IMPROPER APPOINTMENT OF A LEADER. CH. XXXVI.

a certain Count d'Hervilly, an old military formalist of the monarchy, without an idea beyond routine, a General who might have commanded a division in a campaign upon the Rhine without discovering his incapacity, but who was destitute of every qualification which enabled the Bonchamps, the Cathelineaus, and the Larochejaquelins to guide the ardent peasantry of the Loire. That nothing might be wanting to complete the unfortunate character of this appointment, it so happened that D'Hervilly had commanded in Brittany before the Revolution; and, by the rigour with which he suppressed a local disturbance, had earned a reputation extremely odious to the common people.

The transports which conveyed this expedition were under the convoy of a squadron com

The Channel fleet.

manded by Sir John Borlase Warren. The French, who were well informed of the movements of the Royalists, sent out a fleet to intercept them; but Lord Bridport, who commanded the Channel squadron, kept the French Admiral in check, and took two of his ships. The crews of these captured ships were, with rash precipitation, drafted into the ranks of the Royalist regiments intended for service in Brittany.

When the transports were under weigh, De Puisaye Disappointment congratulated himself on having at length of De Puisaye. surmounted his most formidable difficulties. But he soon found he was mistaken. Before the troops were landed, D'Hervilly insisted that his commission entitled him to the command of the expedition, and positively refused to abate his claim without fresh instructions from the British Government. As it was impossible to await the result of a reference to London, De Puisaye was compelled, for the present, to yield the point, though not without apprehension that it might involve the fate of the enterprise. On the 25th of June, the fleet anchored

1795.

IMBECILITY OF D'HERVILLY.

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in Quiberon bay, and two Royalist officers of rank came on board to report that everything was prepared for the reception of the troops and the co-operation of the native forces. De Puisaye proposed, therefore, that the disembarkation should be effected immediately. But D'Hervilly, tenacious of his newly asserted authority, would by no means consent, until he had himself reconnoitred in due form. It was in vain De Puisaye urged that he might rely on the reports of competent officers, and that he could form no opinion for himself without landing. The punctilious pedant, nevertheless, sailed deliberately round the bay, glass in hand, although, from the nature of the coast, he could see nothing.

The troops and their officers, mad with impatience, were still detained on board by the petty Landing in scruples of their Commander; and had it Quiberon bay. not been known that the Count was as loyal and honest as he was dull and formal, it might have been thought that he intended to ruin and betray the whole undertaking. At length, finding nobody to listen to hist difficulties, D'Hervilly gave the order to disembark; and on the morning of the 27th of June, the troops were safely landed before the small garrison town of Carnac. A force of two hundred Republican soldiers, which occupied the place, offered resistance; but a body of Chouans advancing on their flank, they dispersed without a shot having been fired on either side.

The troops were welcomed by the country people with the greatest enthusiasm. Those who were on the beach rushed into the sea with loyal shouts, and would hardly permit the boats to land before they took out the chests of arms and ammunition; others, men, women, and children, harnessed themselves to the gun-carriages, and dragged them ashore. Cartloads of provisions and other necessaries arrived from the interior, and were eagerly forced upon the

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CONFUSION AMONG THE SOLDIERS. CH. XXXVI.

soldiers. D'Hervilly was shocked at these irregular proceedings, so contrary to the usage of war, and so subversive of discipline. A slight accident had nearly been aggravated by the folly of the Royalist General, into a serious rupture between the troops and their irregular allies. A stand of arms, intended for the service of D'Hervilly's own regiment, had, by mistake, been distributed among a band of peasantry; and a dispute arose, in consequence of an attempt of the French sergeant to disarm the Breton regiment by force. D'Hervilly, hearing the commotion, ordered the drums to be beat, and the boats to be got ready for re-embarkation, loudly declaring that the Chouans were attacking his soldiers. Fortunately, however, the men on both sides had more sense and temper than their Commander; and when De Puisaye, with several other chiefs hastily summoned, arrived at the scene of disorder, they found good humour and cordiality restored.

The first military operation was to take possession of the fort Penthièvre, which connected the small peninsula of Quiberon with the mainland. D'Hervilly, however, could not think of approaching a fortified place without a battering train; but when De Puisaye ridiculed the idea of a siege, and offered to take the place with a handful of Chouans, the old General, satisfied by the proposal of an assault, a mode of offensive warfare justified by military precedent, consented to the undertaking. The garrison, which consisted of seven hundred men, many of whom were supposed to be well affected to the royal cause, offered no resistance, and surrendered at discretion. Four hundred of the prisoners immediately availed themselves of the permission offered them to assume the white cockade.

De Puisaye, knowing that inaction must be fatal to the enterprise, and hopeless of moving his slow and punctilious colleague but by regular steps, him

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