Paris was disarmed, and several leaders of the insurrection
were sentenced to death. The Revolutionary Tribunal was suppressed.
Toleration was proclaimed for all priests who would declare their
obedience to the laws of the state. Royalists began to count upon the
restoration of young Louis the Dauphin, otherwise Louis XVII.; but his
health had been ruined by persevering cruelty, and he died on the 10th
of June.
Progress of the war.
The Thermidorian government also endeavoured to pacify the rebels of the
west. Its best adviser, Hoche, recommended an amnesty and the assurance
of religious freedom. On these terms peace was made with the Vendeans at
La Jaunaie in February and with the Chouans at La Mabilais in April.
Some of the Vendean leaders persevered in resistance until May, and even
after their submission the peace was ill observed, for the Royalists
hearkened to the solicitations of the princes and their advisers. In the
hope of rekindling the civil war a body of _emigres_ sailed under cover
of the British fleet and landed on the peninsula of Quiberon. They were
presently hemmed in by Hoche, and all who could not make their escape to
the ships were forced to surrender at discretion (July 20). Nearly 700
were executed by court-martial. Yet the spirit of revolt lingered in the
west and broke out time after time. Against the coalition the Republic
was gloriously successful. (See FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS.) In the
summer of 1794 the French invaded Spain at both ends of the Pyrenees,
and at the close of the year they made good their footing in Catalonia
and Navarre. By the beginning of 1795 the Rhine frontier had been won.
Against the king of Sardinia alone they accomplished little. At sea the
French had sustained a severe defeat from Lord Howe, and several of
their colonies had been taken by the British. But Great Britain, when
the Netherlands were lost, could do little for her allies. Even before
the close of 1794 the king of Prussia retired from any active part in
the war, and on the 5th of April 1795 he concluded with France the
treaty of Basel, which recognized her occupation of the left bank of the
Rhine. The new democratic government which the French had established in
Holland purchased peace by surrendering Dutch territory to the south of
that river. A treaty of peace between France and Spain followed in July.
The grand duke of Tuscany had been admitted to terms in February. The
coalition thus fell into ruin and France occupied a more commanding
position than in the proudest days of Louis XIV.
Constitution of the year III. The Directory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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