"That members should use the privilege of the House to utter such diabolical slanders in it fills me with disgust," said Roger angrily. "But may I ask, Sir, why you did not stiffen these inexperienced French with some regiments of well-disciplined British troops?"
"You well may," the Prime Minister replied bitterly. "That was my original intention, but those stiff-necked French aristocrats would have none of it. They were ready enough to accept British money, British arms and a British fleet to put them safely ashore; but they insisted that, in the initial operation at least, only Frenchmen should be allowed to set foot on the sacred soil of France. For a year or more General the Earl of Moira's force had been standing by in the Channel Islands held ready for just such an employment; but I was brought to agree that it should be used only as a follow-up when the invasion was well under way. In consequence, apart from a few score of our Marines, the landings were entirely French.
"Their reception by the Breton people could not have been more enthusiastic. De Puisaye's optimism in that respect was amply justified, except in one important respect. M. de Charette, who has proved himself the most able and resourceful of the Vendeean leaders, refused to join in the revolt from personal jealousy. Nevertheless, on the day following .the landings, the Bishop of Dol, who had accompanied the expedition, celebrated a Mass in the open which was attended by many thousands of persons, all of whom declared their willingness to lay down their lives for the church and monarchy.
"Thus, apart from de Charette's churlish aloofness, the campaign could not have had a more favourable beginning. It was with the opening of military operations that serious dissensions first threatened its success. It had been the Cabinet's intention that de Puisaye should assume the over-all command; but, most unfortunately, their Lordships of the Admiralty had issued a document which could be read by the Comte d'Hervilly as giving him the command of the French forces raised in England. Had de Puisaye accepted that it would have left him with authority only over the Chouan bands which had risen at his call. In consequence, the two nobles were soon at loggerheads; and not solely over the question of command either. De Puisaye was all for taking the utmost advantage accruing from the surprise landings by an immediate advance inland, whereas d'Hervilly favoured first consolidating their position and taking a fortress that dominated the Quiberon peninsula.
"The fortress soon surrendered and, with almost unbelievable folly, d'Hervilly allowed some of the men in it who protested their monarchist sympathies to remain there as part of its new garrison. In the meantime the energetic General Hoche had rallied the Republican forces, driven in de Puisaye's Chouan outposts and bottled up the Royalists by entrenching his men across the peninsula's neck.
"With Sir John Warren's willing collaboration, de Puisaye then despatched a force under his most trusted Lieutenant, de Tinteniac, by sea, to land farther up the coast and attack the Republicans in the rear. At the time I was, of course, unaware of it, but later it transpired that, in approving the arrangements for the campaign, the Bourbon Princes were using de Puisaye only as a cat's-paw, because he favoured a Constitutional Monarchy. Being set for absolutism they intended to cast him aside as soon as he had served their purpose by raising his followers in Brittany. But the treacherous fools acted prematurely. In order to discredit de Puisaye as a General, the Princes' agents in Paris sent instructions to his Lieutenant on landing that there had been a change of plan and he should now make for St. Malo. Tinteniac, believing that he was acting in accordance with de Puisaye's wishes, obeyed. In consequence, when the Royalists made their attempt to break out of the peninsula, the attack on the Republican's rear, on which they had counted to aid them, never matured,"
Roger groaned. "What a shocking tale of mismanagement and perfidy."
"It is not yet done." Mr. Pitt pushed aside his plate with an angry gesture. "The attack in the isthmus was made on July the 16th. That morning the transports bringing fifteen hundred veteran emigre's from Germany, under the young Comte de Sombreuil, arrived in Quiberon Bay. From fear that de Sombreuil might deprive him of sole credit for a victory d'Hervilly insisted on attacking before there had been time to disembark these reinforcements. His volunteers were routed, and the pursuit of them by Hoche's cavalry was checked only by the heavy fire brought to bear by Sir John Warren's gunboats.
"On being informed of the Royalist dispositions de Sombreuil pressed to be allowed to take over the fortress, which was the key to the whole position, and substitute for its garrison some of his seasoned troops; but d'Hervilly would not hear of it. His refusal led to his own final defeat and that of everyone else concerned.
"Some of the men of the original garrison who had pretended to have monarchist sympathies went secretly to General Hoche, and suggested to him a plan by which the fortress could be retaken. On the night of July the 20th, under cover of a storm, that by ill-fortune had forced Sir John Warren's ships to withdraw from the rocky coast to the safety of the open sea, these traitors led Hoche's men along the beach past sentries, who were also in the plot, to the fortress. There, aided by other traitors within, they were hauled up over the battlements, and in the dawn took by surprise those of the garrison who had remained loyal.
"Simultaneously Hoche, no longer having to fear a bombardment from the British Fleet, launched a resolute attack upon the Royalist positions. The fortress fell, and its guns were turned upon d'Hervilly's men. He and his regiments of volunteers, the Chouans, and with them hundreds of women and children, were driven back into the sea. De Sombreuil and his veterans threw themselves into a smaller fort, but instead of having the sense to hang on there until our ships could rescue them, they surrendered. As a result of this debacle the Republicans took over six thousand prisoners, near seven hundred of them being emigres, to whom they later gave a mockery of a court-martial and then shot."
Roger nodded. "This ghastly business puts then a final end to any hope of embodying the Vendeeans in a future army of liberation."
The Prime Minister selected a peach and began to peel it "Not quite; but as nearly as in my opinion makes little difference. It had been agreed that the British troops under my lord Moira should follow de Puisaye to Quiberon and that with them should go the Comte d'Artois. At the news that His Royal Highness meant to assume command of the expedition in person, Charette suddenly emerged from his fit of sulks and declared that the presence of a Prince of Blood was all that was needed to ensure a victorious campaign by his partisans. Accordingly, we had d'Artois and his feckless, venal household conveyed to the Isle of Yeu, which lies some distance off the coast of Brittany. But there he sits, and I am convinced has not the courage to join Charette in the new revolt that temperamental but gallant man is now leading."
"I trust Sir," said Roger with an uneasy glance, "that you have no thought of despatching me to His Highness, with the idea that I might induce him to put himself at the head of the Royalist forces, then act as adviser to him?"
"Good gracious, no!" Mr. Pitt gave a pale smile. "I set a better value on your talents than to ask you to waste them in an employment like to prove so unprofitable. Yet it was, in part, this Quiberon disaster which caused me to send for you."
"How so, Sir?"
"For once I acted on an impulse. It was on July the 22nd, which may be accounted the blackest day that Britain has known for many a year. That morning the Spanish Ambassador had informed my lord Grenville that his country found herself so hard pressed that she was compelled to withdraw from the Alliance. Then in the evening there arrived the news that the Quiberon expedition, the spearhead of the invasion on which we had pinned such hopes, had been completely annihilated. That night I wrote the order for your recall."