CHAPTER X.

Expedition to Quiberon 1795-Ingratitude of the Emigrants-Captureof Fort Penthièvre-Death of Count Sombreuil-Sir John Warren summons Belleisle, and attacks Noirmourtier-Retreats-Lands at Isle D'Yeu-Joined by the Princes of Bourbon-British fleet withdrawsDeath of Charette and Stofflet-Capture of Sir Sydney Smith-Jason, Dutch frigate, taken into Greenock.

NOTWITHSTANDING the misfortunes which had befallen the royalists, the British Cabinet and the Princes of Bourbon began to entertain hopes, in the spring of 1795, that an impression might be made on the republic in the western part of France, by an armament composed of emigrants and assisted by British ships of war. It had been represented, probably with too little regard to truth, that the Chouans* of the Morbihan and the country in the vicinity of Quiberon Bay, required but small excitement to induce them to rise in arms against the new government, and that a simultaneous movement would take place in La Vendée, where Charette and his ill-fated partizans had once more displayed the royal standard. Glad of an opportunity to employ a corps of emigrants recently taken into our service, the ministers listened to the proposition with eagerness and attention. An expedition was immediately planned; the naval part was placed under the command of Sir John B. Warren; that of the land forces was confided to the Count du Puissaye, an emigrant nobleman, who, whatever might have been his other good qualities, certainly was no soldier. He had, to assist him, the Counts D'Hervilly and De Sombreuil. No expense was spared; artillery, small

* The Chouans were in Bretagny on the right bank of the Loire: the Vendeans on the left, in what was called Le Bocage.

arms, ammunition, and provisions, were furnished in abundance; transports to convey them, and a squadron of ships of war ordered to attend their landing.

They reached Quiberon Bay on the 25th of June, and were joined by a few hundreds from the broken and dispersed army of Condé, and the royalists collected at Coblentz, who had found their way to the Elbe, and embarked on board the British frigates, Venus,* Captain Halsted; Leda, Captain Woodley; and Lark, sloop, Captain Ogilvy. These ships, proceeding to Spithead, were joined by some transports, and the whole reached Quiberon Bay on the 16th of July, after the landing of the great body was effected, and unfortunately only in time. to partake of the general calamity that awaited them. The forces collected to fight for the Bourbons amounted to between eight and ten thousand men; and it was calculated that an equal number would receive them on their arrival, and only require arms and clothing to take the field. Fatal illusion! which never had the semblance of reality from the moment an anchor was let go in Quiberon Bay. If there had ever been any real spirit of loyalty or affection to their kings in Bretagny, this was the time when it would have manifested itself; when every obstacle, as far as depended on the English government, was removed by an abundant supply of all the articles they had required, and by the presence of a strong body of their countrymen in arms: but unhappily for them, and for Europe, it proved in the sequel, that all which the English had effected for their relief had only contributed to increase and establish the very power it was intended to destroy. The men to whom the wisdom of the council had refused passports from Jersey in 1793, were, perhaps, the greatest enemies to the cause: and their detention, which excited the indignation of Mons. de Tinteniac, was founded in solicitude for the safety of himself and his friends. That ministers yielded to the persevering solicitations of the leaders of the royalists in 1795, is not surprising; the King of England had the same desire to restore Louis the Eighteenth to his throne, as the ancestor of this monarch had shown in the cause of James the Second: the means employed were alike ineffectual, because public opinion was against both

*The Author was third lieutenant of the Venus

on this occasion.

those unfortunate princes; and the utmost that could be done in 1795, procured, for the humane and magnanimous George the Third, the odium of wishing to sacrifice the royalists in Bretagny, whom the laws would not permit him to murder in England. Such were the remarks made by those men in my hearing, when every thing had been done by our government and its forces, and after all had been lost by their own cowardice and disaffection. "C'est la dernière ressource de Monsieur Pitt pour se défaire de nous :" and Mons. Bail says, speaking of the massacre on the beach," C'étoient toujours des Français; qu'importoit aux Anglais ?"

The bay of Quiberon is one of the finest on the coast of France, or perhaps in the world, for landing an army. It is a capacious and secure anchorage of five or six miles in extent, where ships of war may ride in perfect safety out of the reach of shot or shell. It is protected from the western and south-west gales by the peninsula of Quiberon, the islands of Houat and Hedic, and the Cardinal rocks, the whole of which extend in a south-east direction towards the mouth of the Loire, and the little river Vilaine : a hard sandy beach, seldom disturbed by a surf, borders the whole bay; and the islands of Hedic and Houat, which are always at the mercy of invaders, afford an abundant supply of fresh water, cattle, and vegetables.

D'Hervilly landed at Carnac, and with five thousand men attempted to surprise the republican works at St. Barbe, but was defeated; he then retreated along the edge of the bay to the fort of Penthièvre, of which he gained possession: and thus the Chouans had the entire command of the peninsula of Quiberon, on the northern extremity of which this fort is situated, occupying one end of the isthmus, or narrow neck of sand, about a quarter of a mile in width, and connecting it with the main land. The fort stands on a hill, which, in the opinion of the best informed officers, might have been made to endure a siege of considerable length, but its fortifications were neglected by the royalist general, and, except by the English, no steps were taken for its defence. It was capable of containing from fifteen hundred to two thousand men. Our seamen and marines, with the assistance of some of the Chouans, repaired the works as well as circumstances

would admit; and seven thirty-two pounders from the lowerdeck of the Robust were landed, and placed in battery, to cover the isthmus and check the approach of the enemy.

The Chouans, without control or restraint of discipline, were lying under hedges and in ditches, loaded with the bounty of the English government: every man had a musket marked "Tower," with a bayonet, on which were spitted two or three pieces of salt beef and pork. Casks of rum from the transports had been landed on the beach, and left to the mercy of those who chose to take it. Sixteen pieces of brass ordnance were deposited, with intrenching tools, ammunition, clothing, arms, and accoutrements; the whole of which was seized by the republicans, who had very accurate intelligence of all our movements. English guineas were found in great plenty among these people; and I have every reason to believe that £1,500,000 would not have defrayed the cost of this ill-fated expedition.

The republican army under General Hoche, consisting of ten thousand good troops, occupied the ground north of the isthmus, and within shell-range of the fort. The royalists were ill-disciplined, and badly officered; and the soldiers, being most of them republicans in their hearts, could scarcely be trusted. The officers, as in La Vendée, were always planted sentinels on any important post; when they began to throw up entrenchments in front of Penthièvre, the workmen deserted, taking their intrenching tools along with them, to the republican camp. With desertion came despondency, the certain presage of the ruin of the royal cause in Bretagny.

The late Captain John Woodley, who then commanded the Leda, and whose acute judgment led him to make observations which, had they been attended to, might have at least retarded if not prevented the fatal catastrophe, foretold the probable consequence of the base treachery of the soldiers, and the supine indifference of the leader. The first dark and rainy night, he said, the fort would be attacked and carried; the event within twenty-four hours exactly followed the prediction. The night of the 20th of July, 1795, and the morning of the 21st, were precisely such as was contemplated; in the midst of heavy rain, thunder, and lightning, the fort was taken. The republicans at first met with some resistance; a firing

commenced, and the shipping in the bay were on the alert, while Du Puissaye slept in the cabin of the Pomone.

The dawning light displayed the forlorn and wretched state of the royalists; the tri-coloured flag had displaced the white on the ramparts of Penthièvre. The republicans had advanced towards the south-east point of the peninsula, and with some field pieces were driving before them the scattered royalists, who threw away their arms, stripped off their clothes, and plunged from the rocks into the sea, swimming to the boats which were sent to receive them. Lieutenant (now Rear-admiral Nicholas) Tomlinson, in the Pelter schooner, ran in and covered the retreat of the royalists about six miles along shore. She was supported soon after by the Lark, but both were compelled to desist, lest they should destroy friends as well as foes; hundreds of the royalists fell, and their dead bodies covered the beach; but the greater part surrendered upon a promise of pardon. Many officers were taken prisoners, and shot on the following day at Quimper: among others the unfortunate and lamented Count de Sombreul, who also foretold that the cause was lost from treachery and want of exertion, but persisted in exposing himself, and was taken fighting at the head of his regiment. Meanwhile the boats of the British squadron brought off as many of the Chouans as could be rescued from the slaughter; and such of them as were placed on board the transports plotted on the same night to cut the ships adrift, and run them on shore on the Morbihan; and, though prevented, the fact shows the little confidence we could repose in them. Under these discouraging circumstances the British government did not abandon all hopes of success in La Vendée, with which this affair had very little connexion. Every exertion was made by the British officers to save the unhappy emigrants, who were received on board the ships with most unbounded kindness and hospitality. Lieutenant Tomlinson received the public thanks of Sir John Warren on the quarter-deck of the Pomone for his gallant conduct on this occasion.

Count de Sombreul, after his capture, wrote a letter (given at length in Schomberg) to Sir John Warren, in which he bitterly inveighed against his Commander-in-chief, Monsieur du Puissaye, for having first ordered him to occupy