Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-01-23

The Ven lee was prodigy.
II one wishes 20 comprehend the Vendee one
must picture 10 ones self this autagonism:
Ga one side the French revolution; Oh the
other the Breton peasant. The
peasant hid two points on which he leaned
he field which noufished him; the wood
which concealed him. The revolt
had the forests as suxiliaries.
There were at that time Sven lli-fsmed Tor
ests in Briuany-fhe forest of Fougeres,
which stopped the way between Dol and
Avranches; The forest of Prince, which was
eight leagues In circumference; the forest Of
Paimpol. full of ravines and brooks, almost
inaccessible on the side toward Bsignon,
with an easy retreat upon Concornei, which
was q yalist town; the forest OF Rsnnes,
from whence could be heard the tocsin
of the republican psrishes-always Numerous
in the neighborhood of cities-it was in this
forest that Puysage lost Fooard; the forest
OF Machecoul, which had Charette Tor its
wild beast; the forest OF Garnache, which
belonged to the Tremouilles, the Gauvins,
and the Rohans; and the forest OF BrooSs-
lisnde, which belonged to the fsires.
1t is difficult TO picture to ones self what
those Breton forests really we're; they were
towns. Nothing could be more secret, more
silent, and more savage than those mex
branches; those vast thickets were the home
of immobility and silence; no solitude could
present an appearance more death-like and
sepulchral, yet if il had been possible to fell
those trees at one blow, as by fash OF light.
ming, a swarm OF men would have stood re-
vealed 10 those SD AIDES. There were wells,
| round and narrow, masked by coverings OF
stones sind brsnches, the interior at first YER
| teal, then horizontal, spreading out under
ground like tunnels, aud ending in dark
| chambers; Cambyses found such in Egypt,
and Western ann found the same in Brit
tany. There they were found in The desert,
here in the fores'; The caves of Egypt held
dead men, the caves of Brittany were filed
| with The living. One OF the widest glades of
the wood of Misdon, perforated by
galleries and cells, amidst which came
and went mysterious society, was called
'lhe great city, Another glade, not less
deserted above ground, and not less
inhabited beneath, was styled the place
| royal.' This subterranean life had existed
in Brittany from time immemorial. From
| D. the earliest dave men had there hidden, hy-
! ing from men. Hence those hiding places,
like the dens OF reptiles, followed out below
the trees. They dated from the era of the
Druids, and certain of these cryp;s were as
| ancient as the cromlechs. The Larvae Of
ltgtuu anu lnt biSLtsJ GiA paorcu
across that shadowy land. Teutons, Cesar,
Hoel, Nornenes, Godfrey of England, Alain
of the Iron Glove, Pierre Manclsrc,
| the French house of Bloise, the English
house of Monlfori, kings and dukes, the nine
barons OF Brittany, the judges of the great
days, the Count OF Nantes contestiug with
| the counts OF Rsunes, highwsymen, banditu,
Free Lances, Rene III. Viscount de Rohan,
the governors for the king, the Good Duke
of Chaulnes,' aiming al the peasants under
the windows OF Nine. de Ssvigne; in the if.
teenth century. the butcheries by the
| mobiles; in the sixteenth sud seventeenth
centuries, the of religion; in the
eighteenth century, the $4,000 dogs
trained 10 hunt men; beneath these pitiless
trsmpliugs the inhabitants made up their
! minds 10 disappear Each in turn-the
Troglo6ytes TO escape the Cslts, the Celts 10
escape the Romans, the Brelons TO escape
| the Normans, the Huguenois 10 scape The
Roman Catholics, the smugglers TO escape
the excise oficsrs-took refuge in the forests
aud then underground. The resource Of
hunted animals 1t is this TO which tyranny
reduces nations During 1000 years despot-
ism under all its forms, conquest, feudsliiy,
ianaticism, taxes, beset this wre'ched, dis
tracted Brittany; a sort OF memorable bst,ua,
which only ceased under one shape TO recon-
hcuCS nlcn
When the French republic burst forth, ter
rcr. which is a species OF rage, was already
latent in human souls, and when the repub-
lie burst forth the dens were ready in the
woods. Brittsoy revolted, finding itself OPP
pressed by this forced 3eiiver,nce-a mis-
take paiural to slaves"
THE vENDEAN Peasants LIFE In WARFARE.
"Many Of them were only armed With
pr ss.-.-tscaS fe~lirg-tie xare abundant.
no maFxsHsnssoasa 1-= rysse expert ID an The
poschers OF the Bocage and smugslers of the
Lofowx. They were strange combatants-
terrible and intrepid. In the
thickest Of the frays, when the peasants
were attacking the r publican SQUARES. if
they CHANGED 10 meet upon the battle. field, a
cross or chapel, all fell upon their knees
and said prayer under the enemy's FIRE; the
rosary counted, such as were still living
sprsng up again and rushed upon the foe.
Alas, what giantsl They loaded their guns
as they ran; that was their peculiar talent.
They we're made to believe whatever their
leaders chose. The priests showed them
other priests whose necks hsd been Redeemed
by means of cord, and said 10 them: These
are the guillotined who have been brough.
back to life' They had their spasm of
chivalry; they honored Fesque, a republican
standard bearer, who allowed him.
self to be sabered without losing hold
of mis- flag. The peasants had
vein OF mockery, they called the re.
publican and married priests 'Des sans ca
tottes dercnus sans cuLottss,' (The unpetticoated
become the unbreeched). The peasant
ry rushed TO an attack with loud cries,
springing up suddenly from every quarter,
from the woods, the hills, the brushes, the
holIows OF the roads, killing, extermi in ating,
destroying, then were gone. When they
M arched through a republican town they
cut down the liberty pole, sat II on fire, aud
danced in circles about it az il burned. All
their habits were nocturnal. The Veudean
rule was always TO appear Unexpectedly.
They would march fifteen leagues in silence,
not SO much AS stirring blade OF grass as
they went. When evening csme, after the
chiefs had settled what republican posts
should be surprised on the morrow, the men
loaded their guns, mumbled their prayers,
pulled off their sabots, and Eled in long col
umns through the woods, marching barefoot
across the heath and moss, without sound,
without word, without an audible breath.
IL was like the march OF wildcats through
The darkness.
"Tne Vendee in insurreclion did not num-
Der less than 100000, counting men, women
and children. There were two Ven
dean armies; the great, which carried on the
war OF the forests, and the little. which wsged
the war Of the ihickets. Neignbor-
hood-country. These two words sum up
the whole of The Vendesn war, quarrel OF
the local idea against the universal; OF the
peasant against the patriot. Brittany
is an ancient rebel. Each time che revoliei
during 1000 years she was in the right; but
the last time she was wrong"