t
fight, they chose to fight in a cause which they loved. They hated the
Revolution, not enough to take arms against it, but enough to refuse
to defend it. They were compelled to choose. Either they must resist
oppression, or they must serve it, and must die for a Government which
was at war with their friends, with the European Conservatives, who
gave aid to the fugitive nobles, and protection to the persecuted
priests. Their resistance was not a matter of policy. There was no
principle in it that could be long maintained. The conscription only
forced a decision. There were underlying causes for aversion and
vengeance, although the actual outbreak was unpremeditated. The angry
peasants stood alone for a moment; then was seen the stronger
argument, the greater force behind. Clergy and gentry put forward the
claim of conscience, and then the men who had been in the royalist
plot with La Rouerie, began to weave a new web. That plot had been
authorised by the princes, on the _emigre_ lines, and aimed at the
restoration of the old order. That was not, originally, the spirit of
La Vendee. It was never identified with absolute monarchy. At first,
the army was known as the Christian army. Then, it became the Catholic
and royal army. The altar was nearer to their hearts than the throne.
As a sign of it, the clergy occupied the higher place in the councils.
Some of the leaders had been Liberals of '89. Others surrendered
royalism and accepted the Republic as soon as religious liberty was
assured. Therefore, throughout the conflict, and in spite of some
intolerant elements, and of some outbursts of reckless fury, La Vendee
had the better cause. One Vendean, surrounded and summoned to give up
his arms, cried: "First give me back my God."

Bernier, the most conspicuous of the ecclesiastical leaders, was an
intriguer; but he was no fanatical adherent of obsolete institutions.
The restoration of religion was, to him, the just and sufficient
object of the insurrection. A time came when he was very careful to
dissociate La Vendee from Brittany, as the champions, respectively, of
a religious and a dynastic cause. He saw his opportunity under the
Consulate, came out of his hiding-place, and promoted a settlement. He
became the agent and auxiliary of Bonaparte, in establishing the
Concordat, which is as far removed from intolerance as from
legitimacy. As bishop of Orleans he again appeared in the Loire
country, not far from the scene of