Page images
PDF
EPUB

XIII.

1793.

condemned to death. Chalier, who, during the period CHAP. he was in power at Lyons, had showed himself equally sanguinary and fanatical, evinced remarkable sensibility in prison, and even shed tears as he caressed a favourite turtle-dove, which his mistress had brought to be the companion and solace of his captivity. His death, which took place by the guillotine, was attended with circumstances peculiarly shocking. Four times the axe descended without severing the head from the body, and at the intervals he was seen to cast a look of reproach on the unskilful executioner. He behaved with great firmness in his last moments. From that time these cities. were declared in a state of insurrection: the Girondist leaders, perceiving that the Royalist party had gained the ascendency in Lyons, withdrew, and the citizens openly espoused the Royalist cause. They immediately began to 55. Lam. cast cannon, raise intrenchments, and make every pre- Gir. vii. 133. paration for a vigorous defence.1

1

Th. v. 142,

143. Toul.

iv.

Hist. des

surrection at

The general discontent first broke out into open violence 86. in Marseilles. At the first intelligence, Kellermann des- Abortive inpatched General Carteaux to prevent a corps of ten Marseilles. thousand men, from that city, from effecting a junction with the volunteers from Lyons. Had this junction been effected, there can be no doubt that the whole of the South of France would have thrown off the yoke of the Convention. But Carteaux, after overawing Avignon and Pont St Esprit, encountered the Marseilles corps, first at Salon, and afterwards at Septèmes, where he totally defeated it, and the following day entered Marseilles. Terror instantly resumed its sway; the prisons were emptied; all the leaders of the Girondists thrown into confinement, and the guillotine, ever in the rear of the Republican armies, was installed in bloody and irresistible sovereignty.2

A large proportion of the citizens of Marseilles fled to Toulon, where they spread the most dismal accounts of the sufferings of their fellow-citizens, and the fate which

2 Toul. iv.

63,66. Th.

v. 74. Jom.

iv. 208, 209.

XIII.

1793.

87. Revolt at Toulon, which opens

the English.

7th Aug.

CHAP. awaited that important town if it fell into the hands of the Republicans. It already possessed a population of twenty-five thousand souls, and was warmly opposed to the Revolution, from the suffering which had involved its population ever since its commencement, and the number its gates to of officers connected with the aristocracy who had enjoyed situations in the marine under the ancient government. In the extremity to which they were reduced, threatened by the near approach of the Republican forces, and destitute of any adequate means of defence, the inhabitants saw no alternative but to open their harbour to the English fleet, which was cruising in the vicinity, and proclaim Louis XVII. as king. The primary sections were accordingly convoked, and the proposal was unanimously agreed to. The Dauphin was proclaimed; the English squadrons entered the harbour, and the crews of seven ships of the line, who proved refractory, were allowed to retire, while those of the remainder joined the inhabitants. Shortly afterwards a Spanish squadron arrived, bringing with it a considerable reinforcement of land troops, and the Allied forces, eight thousand strong, took possession of all the forts in the city. The conduct of the British on this occasion showed that their government was actuated by very different principles from those which had been agreed to at the conference of Antwerp, and exemplified in the case of Valenciennes. Admiral Hood engaged in the most solemn manner, in two different proclamations, to take possession of Toulon solely and 209, 211. exclusively in the name, and for the behoof, of Louis XVII., and to restore the fleet to the monarchical government of France on a general peace.1*

1 Jom. iv.

Toul. iv.

67, 68.

* In the first proclamation, Admiral Hood said, "If the people declare openly in favour of a monarchical government, and they resolve to put me in possession of the harbour, they shall receive all the succours which the squadron under my command can afford. I declare that property and persons shall be held sacred; we wish only to establish peace. When it is concluded, we shall restore the fleet to France, agreeably to the inventory which shall be made out." In the second he was equally explicit: "Considering that the sections of Toulon, by the Commissioners whom they have sent to me, have made a

CHAP.

XIII.

1793.

88.

siege of

[ocr errors]

Carteaux immediately ordered a detachment of his forces to advance against the insurgents, but the garrison, supported by a body of the national guards of Toulon, marched to meet them, and the Republicans, surprised, Revolt and were obliged to fall back in confusion. This check proved the necessity of more energetic measures; a large portion of the army of Italy was recalled from the Alps, the national guards of the neighbouring departments were called out, new levies ordered, and the directions of Robespierre immediately began to be acted upon, that Lyons must be burned and razed to the ground, and then the siege of Toulon formed. At the first intelligence of the revolt of 29th July. Lyons, Kellermann assembled eight thousand men and a small train of artillery to observe the place. But this force was totally insufficient even to maintain its ground before the armed population of the city, which soon amounted to thirty thousand men. A military chest was formed; a paper currency, guaranteed by the principal merchants, issued; cannon in great numbers were cast at a foundery within the walls; and fortifications, under the direction of an able engineer, erected upon the beautiful heights which encircle the city. The command was by common consent conferred on M. DE PRÉCY, a Royalist gentleman of moderate principles, who, in their extremity, had the courage to accept the command of the besieged Lyonnese.* The deputation which was sent to offer him

solemn declaration in favour of Louis XVII. and a monarchical government, and that they will use their utmost efforts to break the chains which fetter their country, and re-establish the constitution, as it was accepted by their defunct sovereign in 1789; I repeat, by this present declaration, that I take possession of Toulon, and shall keep it solely as a deposit for Louis XVII., and that only till peace is re-established in France, which I trust is not far distant." -Proclamation, 28th August 1793; HARD. ii. 357, 359. These were the true principles of the Anti-revolutionary war; very different from those proclaimed by the Austrians on the taking of Valenciennes and Condé. Nor was the subsequent destruction of the fleet, when Toulon was retaken by the Republicans, any departure from good faith in this transaction. England was bound to restore the fleet to a monarchical government and Louis XVII., but not to hand it over to the Revolutionary government, the most bitter enemy of both.

* M. De Précy was a gentleman of moderate fortune, of the district of

XIII.

1793.

[ocr errors]

CHAP. the command found him in his garden, engaged, with a spade in his hand, in the cultivation of his flowers. He at first hesitated to accept it, alleging his advanced years, and the magnitude of the efforts which the Convention would make for their subjugation. "We know them all," replied the deputation; " but we have deliberately weighed the scaffold against the oppression of the Convention, and preferred the scaffold." "And I," said Précy, accept it with such men." He forthwith took down his coat, which was hanging from the branches of a fruit-tree, re-entered his house, embraced his young wife, girded on his arms, disused since the 10th August, and set out. Such enthusiasm was for long invincible. The troops of the Republicans, though daily increasing, were for six weeks unable to make head against forces so considerable, supported by the ardour of a numerous and enthusiastic population. During the whole of August, accordingly, and the beginning of September, the siege made little progress, and the batteries of the besiegers were scarcely armed. The besieged, meanwhile, made 1 Jom. iv. proposals for an accommodation; but the Commissaries for the Convention returned for answer "Rebels, first Ann. show yourselves worthy of pardon, by acknowledging 406. Toul. your crime; lay down your arms; deliver up the keys Lam. Hist. of your city, and deserve the clemency of the Convention, by a sincere repentance."1 But the inhabitants, well aware of the consequence of such submisCharolais, and had formerly been colonel of the regiment of the Vosges mountains. He belonged to that portion of the old noblesse, unhappily so small, who, throughout the convulsion, adhered to Royalist principles without disgracing themselves, or endangering it by emigration. He had served in Corsica, in Germany, and in the Constitutional Guard of Louis XVI. On the 10th of August, being without a command, after the dissolution of that force by the Girondists, he hastened with the faithful noblesse to offer to the monarch the aid of his single arm. After the overthrow of the throne, he retired to his property of Semur in the Brionnais, alike disdaining to join the ranks of the victorious Jacobins, or follow the general desertion of their country by the Royalist nobles. His air was martial, but his voice and expression of countenance mild and gentle. He had the gift alike of winning the heart and commanding the respect of all who knew him.-See LAMARTINE, Hist. des Girondins, vii. 139.

186, 187.

Th. v. 310,

Reg. xxxiii.

iv. 68, 71.

des Gir. vii. 140.

[ocr errors]

66

sion, returned for answer,
Conduct so atrocious as
yours proves what we have to expect from your clemency;
we shall firmly await your arrival; and you will
never capture the city but by marching over ruins and
piles of dead."

CHAP.
XIII.

1793.

89.

of the Re

duction, and

duct of the

No sooner were the Convention informed of the entrance of the English into Toulon, than they redoubled their Great efforts efforts for the subjugation of Lyons. They indignantly publicans rejected the advice of several of their members, in whose for bosoms the feelings of humanity were not utterly extinct, cruel confor an accommodation with the inhabitants, and took the besiegers. most energetic measures for the prosecution of the siege. A hundred pieces of cannon, drawn from the arsenals of Besançon and Grenoble, were immediately mounted on the batteries; veteran troops were selected from the army on the frontiers of Piedmont, and four corps formed, which on different sides pressed the outworks of the city. In a succession of contests in the outer intrenchments, the Lyonnese evinced the most heroic valour; but although success was frequently balanced, the besiegers upon the whole had the advantage, and the horrors of war, which they had so strenuously endeavoured to keep at a distance, at length fell on the devoted city. On the 24th September, a terrible bombardment and cannonade, with red-hot shot, was commenced, which was continued without intermission for a whole week. Night and day the flaming tempest fell on the quarter of St Clair, and speedily involved in conflagration the magnificent hotels of that opulent district, the splendid public buildings which had so long adorned the Place Bellecour, and the beautiful quays of the river. Soon after, the arsenal blew up with a terrific explosion. At length the flames reached the great Hospital, one of the noblest monuments of the charity of the past age, now filled with the and dying, from every quarter of the town.1 A black 75. Th. v. flag was hoisted on its summit to avert the fury of the xi. 105. besiegers from that last asylum of humanity, but this only

wounded

1 Jom. iv.

187, 189.

Ann. Reg.

xxxiii. 408.

Toul. iv. 71,

306. Lac.

« PreviousContinue »