power; but it was
October before he translated the papal Latin to the generals. They
resolved to take no notice, but the detected pretender ceased to say
Mass. La Rochejaquelein intended to put him on board ship and get rid
of him at the first seaport. They never reached the sea. To the last,
at Granville, Guyot was seen in the midst of danger, and his girdle
was among the spoils of the field. Though the officers watched him,
the men never found him out. He served them faithfully during his six
months of precarious importance, and he perished with them. He might
have obtained hope of life by betraying the mendacity of his
accomplices, and the imbecility of his dupes. He preferred to die
without exposing them.

In June, when the victorious Vendeans occupied Saumur, it was time
that they should have a policy and a plan. They had four alternatives.
They might besiege Nantes and open communications with English
cruisers. They might join with the royalists of the centre. They might
raise an insurrection in Brittany, or they might strike for Paris. The
great road to the capital opened before them; there were the prisoners
in the Temple to rescue, and the monarch to restore. Dim reports of
their exploits reached the queen, and roused hopes of deliverance. In
a smuggled note, the Princess Elizabeth inquired whether the men of
the west had reached Orleans; in another, she asked, not unreasonably,
what had become of the British fleet. It is said that Stofflet gave
that heroic counsel. Napoleon believed that if they had followed it,
nothing could have prevented the white flag from waving on the towers
of Notre Dame. But there was no military organisation; the troops
received no pay, and went home when they pleased. The generals were
hopelessly divided, and Charette would not leave his own territory.
Bonchamps, who always led his men, and was hit in every action, was
away, disabled by a wound. His advice was known. He thought that their
only hope was to send a small corps to rouse the Bretons. With the
united forces of Brittany and Vendee they would then march for Paris.
They adopted a compromise, and decided to besiege Nantes, an open
town, the headquarters of commerce with the West Indies, and of the
African slave trade. If Nantes fell it would be likely to rouse
Brittany; and it was an expedition in which Charette would take a
part. This was the disastrous advice of Cathelineau. They went down
from Saumur to Nantes, by the rig