Page:The Works of Honoré de Balzac Volume 29.djvu/31

Rh The departments of Mayenne and Ille-et-Vilaine were then in command of an experienced officer, who, being on the spot, determined that now was the opportune moment for arranging to draw his contingents out of Brittany, and more particularly from Fougères, which was one of the most formidable centres of Chouan operations, hoping in this way to diminish the strength of these districts from which danger threatened. This devoted veteran availed himself of the delusive provisions of the law to proclaim that he would at once arm and equip the requisitionaries, and that he held in hand for their benefit a month's pay, which the Government had promised to these irregular forces. Although Brittany declined every kind of military service at that time, this plan of operations succeeded at the first start on the faith of the promises made, and so readily that the officer began to grow uneasy.

But he was an old watch-dog, and not easily put off his guard, so that, as soon as he saw a portion of his contingent hurrying to the bureau of the district, he suspected that there was some hidden motive for this rapid influx of men; and, perhaps, he had guessed rightly when he believed that their object was to procure arms for themselves. Upon this he took measures to secure his retreat upon Alençon, without waiting for the later arrivals. He wished to be within call of the better affected districts, though even there the continual spread of the insurrection made the success of his plans extremely problematical. In obedience to his instructions, he had kept the news of the disasters that had befallen our armies abroad a profound secret, as well as the disquieting tidings that came from la Vendée; and on the morning when this story begins, he had made an effort to reach Mayenne by a forced march. Once there, he thought to carry out the law at his leisure, and to fill up the gaps in his demi-brigade with Breton conscripts. That word conscript, which became so well known later on, had replaced for the first time, in the wording of the law, the term Requisitionary, by which the Republican recruits had at first been described.