smaller island, Yeu, farther out at
sea. There the 5,500 troops, miserably cramped and underfed, waited
until the Comte d'Artois should make good his boast of throwing himself
into a boat, if need be, in order to join his faithful Charette. It was
soon apparent that he preferred to stay in Yeu with his mistress, Mme.
Polastron. In vain did the Bretons under Puisaye and Vauban, and the
Vendeans under Charette, beg him to join them. Meanwhile, amid the early
autumn rains the troops deteriorated, and the royalist rising at Paris
proved a miserable fiasco, some 30,000 National Guards being scattered
by a small force well handled by Bonaparte and Barras (5th October).
Finally, a deputation of Bretons proceeded to Yeu, and begged Artois to
place himself at the head of the numerous bands of devoted gentlemen and
peasants who still awaited his appearance. All was in vain. _Je ne veux
pas aller Chouanner_ (play the Chouan) was his reply (12th November). On
the morrow he informed Vauban that he had received orders from England
to return at once. This assertion was at the time generally believed to
be false; the letters of Grenville to the Prince prove it to be grossly
exaggerated. To the despair and disgust of his soldiers he departed, and
finally sought refuge from his creditors in Holyrood Castle. The British
and French royalist regiments were withdrawn with much difficulty during
the storms of December 1795. Nearly all the horses had to be destroyed.

Undoubtedly Pitt and Grenville had become disgusted with the torpor of
Artois and the follies of the French Royalists. In particular the absurd
failure at Paris seems to have prompted the resolve of the Cabinet to
withdraw the British troops from Yeu. Pitt's letters of the latter half
of October also evince a desire to pave the way for some understanding
with the French Directory. As that Government was firmly installed in
power, an opportunity presented itself, for the first time since the
opening of the war, of arranging a lasting peace. These hopes were to be
blighted; but it is certain that Pitt cherished them; and, doubtless,
among the motives operating in favour of peace the foremost was a
feeling of disgust at the poltroonery of the French Princes and the
incurable factiousness of their followers, in whom the faculties which
command success were lost amidst vices and perversities sufficient to
ruin the best of causes. Pitt continued to support the Chouans by money
and arms