[Forum Game] Destiny of the Republic

[viola]

As a practicing Catholic loyal to the Holy Father, General de Loiollac wishes to make it clear that any forced secularization at the hands of any party whatsoever will lead to his resignation, as well as the resignation of quite a few sympathetic officers and enlisted men. He has no intention of serving under a government of perjurers, which any member adopting the Jacobin plan will end up doing.

Such a thing would be treason, plain and simple.

Such menacing declarations makes me doubt about de Loiollac's loyalty to the Revolution: is he serving the French People or the Roman Pope? One can't do both in the current situation. Once the Austrian advance is stopped we should ask the good general to come back to Paris to question him about his allegiances, his words and his fanaticism have proved that he can't be fully trusted.

- André Bouchard, Secretary of State of the Navy

 

[Syriana]

23-28 October
Enemies of the State​

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Few governments would have the bravery to call for an election in the midst of war, upheaval and potential bankruptcy. But on 23 October, this is precisely what Renaud de Cartelège had done. The Revolutionary Government had yet to receive the mandate of the people it claimed to serve - a dangerous predicament, considering the fate of the Feuillant ministry. And with the enemy marching from the east, this would be the last chance for most Frenchmen to participate. And so the Legislative Assembly was dissolved. Elections were to be held immediately, with the deadline for ballots set for Thursday 30.

But at the end of October, the French people had more pressing concerns than who ruled in Paris. The harvest of 1791 was as poor as any of the preceding years. Another harsh winter had made short work of what was left, devastating the cereal crops upon which France was dependent. Shortages were exacerbated when Cartelège, eager to spur recruitment for the Revolutionary Army, prioritised precious grains for volunteers, conscripts and their families. Scarcity turned to famine. Soon, France was visited by the horrendous spectre of entire families perishing at the roadsides. In their desperation, the peasantry were reduced to eating chaffs of wheat blackened with ergot. But they did not blame their plight on the weather. They saw a more sinister, human hand at play - nothing less than an orchestrated aristocratic plot against the Revolution. Deprived of their privileges and prerogatives, the aristocrats had clearly turned to hoarding grain in their grand estates, leaving the people starve in the streets! This pacte de famine had to be stopped. Roving the countryside in packs, the peasants drove out or butchered their overlords, seized whatever food they could find and then torched their properties. Rural retribution was unyielding and indiscriminate; accused nobles were condemned regardless of birth or politics. These disturbances were unorganised, unprompted and entirely based on needs rather than abstract principles. But that did not stop the revolutionary press from seeing a theme: France as a once healthy and prosperous field, despoiled by infestation, which provoked mayhem wherever it appeared. What was the aristocracy if not a fungus of the nation, superfluous and malignant, spreading its pestilence wherever it reached? It would be foolish, and disloyal, to let such infestation continue; the roots must be cut out. The narrative of the 'Great Fear' was born.

It was a narrative that was quickly seized upon. In the aftermath of Sedan, General Charles Augereau despatched an exculpating account to Paris, blaming the defeat on "subversive monarchist elements" within the army - an assessment with which the Representative-on-Mission concurred, albeit with additional unflattering jabs at the general's hubris. The Rhine Army fell back to Rethel, where Augereau set about purging its officer corps of those deemed to be royalists. Anyone with a title was deemed suspect, as were those who had urged caution at Sedan or pulled their regiments out early. Under the charged atmosphere, fair process was impossible; dozens of innocent men were demoted in favour of 'loyalists' from the ranks. By the end of the day, between defections and demotions, ninety percent of the old officer corps had been dismissed. Following his defeat at Sedan, Augereau was able to conjure a triumph at Rethel - the conquest of the Rhine Army for the republic. And while he fell short of the elections for commanders that the radicals had demanded, he had gifted them a potent weapon: the power to attribute any natural failure to the unseen hand of aristocratic malice.

Augereau's razor was soon wielded against the throats of the enemies of the State. Prior to the dissolution of the Assembly, Naval Secretary Andre Bouchard pushed through the Counter-Revolution Act, making "contempt for or ridicule [of] the Revolution" a criminal offence. He then imitated Augereau in purging the Navy of "Monarchists and Counter-Revolutionaries" (which proved to be a nebulous and elastic category). Stymied by the legislature in his efforts to centralise judicial authority, the Lord Chancellor Pierre Le Goff brandished the Counter-Revolution Act as a sword against the regional courts; thousands of jurists were arrested for their past criticism of the overthrow of Louis-Auguste. When this rendered the courts incapable, as Le Goff intended, hundreds of his own men stood for juror elections, asserting his supremacy over the judiciary. At the Contrôle, Antoine Durand similarly exploited the sweeping Emigrants Act to order mass seizures of private property. Since no time limit on absence had been specified, even those nobles only temporarily away from France were targeted - their families dared not complain, for fear of being tarred as collaborators. Durand used the proceeds of this anti-aristocratic crusade to plug the gap in French finances, which had continued to widen as he spent days away from his office campaigning for the Phrygian cause. Only the Foreign Secretary, Henri de La Costa Leroux, failed to gain a windfall from the Sedan debacle, which exposed the frailty of Revolutionary France and doomed his chances of securing foreign support. Spain was characteristically quiet. Having expressed his desire to see Louis-Auguste restored, King Carlos III severed ties with the New France, though he seemed content to leave the Austrians to usher it to the grave. The Dutch Republic was a natural ally (both historically and ideologically), but stadtholder Willem van Oranje had not forgotten French support for the Patriot revolt against his rule that had been crushed only with Prussian assistance. Amsterdam continued to float French bonds, but The Hague had shut its doors to Paris. A dispatch to the United States would go unanswered for weeks - by which time, La Costa Leroux despaired, no one would be left to receive it. The Revolution may have been obsessed with internal columns, but it was the very real foreign columns that would stamp it into dust.

And just as when Paris sneezed, France caught the cold, so too did the provincial fear of counter-revolutionary intrigue find its way to the capital. Inheriting his father's trait for hedging, Louis-Charles I - or rather the man behind the throne, Francisque de St Denis-Paternoster - had defused the last crisis by vowing to deliver his hated mother to India and surrender control of the Swiss Guard to Jacques Nazaire Aulard. One would be hard-pressed to find anyone who was wholly satisfied with this compromise, but having secured the removal of Marie-Antoinette and her poisonous influence from the Tuileries, the protestors dispersed. The Vigilants obeyed their commanders in the Hôtel de Ville to stand down, while the recalcitrant Phrygians were forcibly ejected by Vincent Parént's gendarmes. But as the city was simultaneously buffeted by news of the chaos in the countryside and defeat at the front, the Parisians did not hesitate to discern a common origin. France had not been defeated; it had been betrayed. Her manoeuvres had been fed to the enemy. Conspirators in the provinces had been activated to weaken the nation, divide her strength and aid the enemy’s advance. Every pitfall experienced by the Republic in the last week had been masterminded and orchestrated from her very heart. All accusations returned to a hydralike "Austrian Committee" operating from the Tuileries - and few doubted who sat at its head. The Archduchess of Austria was not being forced into exile; she was being allowed to escape. Having done her duty to subvert France and disrupt the war effort, all that was left for her to do was to abandon the capital to its fate. But she would have no amnesty.

A few days after their retreat, the mob had returned to the streets, greater and more merciless than ever. The Austrian Embassy was naturally the first victim. They were even encouraged by the municipal authorities, who believed this to be a healthy discharge of patriotic vigour. But the enemy at home was as dangerous as the enemy abroad. In the course of their rampage, the mob turned to the Tuileries. At this time, having heard of Sedan and expectant of an anti-Austrian response, Marie-Antoinette was hurriedly preparing for evacuation. Lafayette, recalled to the capital for his martial expertise, was summoned to the Palace where he received orders to protect the Queen Mother as she left for Le Havre. Caught between the mob and the Monarchy, he made his choice. He affirmed his loyalty to the King and left to call up the National Guard. This was a risky strategy as the Guard technically answered to the War Secretary. But the Guardsmen were still composed of the same middle-class professionals who were all too eager to follow their old commander back into battle. Lafayette was distraught, however, to discover that their entire cannon and most of their cavalry - the essential tools of peacekeeping - had been requisitioned for the frontlines. He would have to make do.

Hurrying back with the Guard, Lafayette found the Tuileries surrounded. The multitude must have been almost a thousand strong. He confronted the mob, declaring that the Queen Mother would be personally escorted to the harbour and thence to India, and appealing to them not to stain the palace of the people with unnecessary bloodshed. He had lost much of his splendour since the halcyon days of 1789, but he was still Lafayette the patriot, vice-president of the National Assembly, thwarter of the Day of Daggers and living heart of the Fête de la Fédération. But in the eyes of the mob, he was the Marquis de Lafayette, cousin to the traitor Bouillé, butcher of the Champs de Mars, accomplice to the tyrant's flight to Varennes. And here was his final betrayal: standing with the Austrian arch-traitor against the people. And they all knew the penalty for treason. Far from being pacified, the mob became enraged. They swarmed the Guard - but this time, the Guard did not yield. And they were supported by the Swiss, who unleashed a volley from their positions in the Tuileries. Caught between this withering crossfire, the mob disbanded. It was the first victory for French stability since the storming of the Bastille, but it was bought with a price. French citizens had been slaughtered in full view of their King; the Garden of the Tuileries had been drenched with blood.

The events of 26 October were seized upon by the republican press with especial virulence. Marie-Antoinette was claimed to have ordered the Swiss to fire upon the crowd. Her old epithet of "Madame Déficit" was now supplanted by "Madame Massacre". The Swiss commander, Major von Bachmann, was denounced as an agent of Austria or the Pope. Lafayette in particular was showered in malice, caricatured in the dailies as "Général Fusillade", accused of butchering more than four scores of innocent patriots and of conspiring to overthrow the republic and reinstall Louis-Auguste at the behest of his Austrian harlot. Lafayette had always been a curious mixture of virtue and vainglory. Now, he had lost both. The incident was inevitably linked to the national aristocratic plot, with many radical journals claiming that an attempted coup had been narrowly averted by the engaged citizenry - who had paid the ultimate price for their fidelity. Even Aulard received a drubbing, as the Swiss and National Guards were both under his authority. The Phrygians reiterated their offer to replace them as the King's bodyguard (or jailors, as Paternoster retorted). Still, Marie-Antoinette was successfully whisked away from the city with a detachment of Swiss bodyguards. But on the road to Le Havre she was intercepted by a deserting seaman who told her of Bouchard's purges. Realising that the Navy could not be trusted, she made instead for Brest, where she hoped to receive safe passage to India. But while the intention was to show that, despite 26 October, the Royal Family would be true to its word, in the eyes of their enemies the failure of the Queen Mother to present herself at Le Havre was clear dishonesty. When it became apparent that a crofter had spotted a royal carriage under the protection of the Swiss (in their distinctive red uniforms) heading towards notoriously royalist Bretagne, it even became feared that she was intent on raising a counter-revolutionary host. Petitions arrived at the Grand Châtelet demanding that a warrant be issued for her arrest. Similar demands were made for Lafayette, who had been forced to take refuge in the Tuileries in fear of his life. The National Guard were held in a similar state of dishonour, and they dared not patrol. The people had been swept from the streets, but they had not been defeated. The agitators merely retreated to the shadows, left to brood and plot as the mood of the city became progressively uglier. The aristocrats had won the Battle of the Tuileries - but the people would have their revenge.

And it was not just in Paris that official action had provoked violent reaction. As was so often the case, the fear of treachery proved self-fulfilling; the heavy-handed methods employed by the French State created far more enemies than they crushed. Ironically, it was in the areas where feudalism lingered strongest - and therefore where the local people were expected to be grateful for their liberation from aristocratic licence - that the progress of the Revolution was most sharply resented. Peace between landlord and tenant had prevailed in Bretagne, Maine, Poitou and Provence. Indeed, it was in provinces such as Alsace, where the revolutionary zeal was strongest, that the violence was worst. Yet the architects of those atrocities were ignored or even abetted by the State, while the innocent gentry were accused of conspiracy against the people. If there was any conspiracy, they grumbled, it was that of a metropolitan elite seeking to dominate its provincial rivals: Paris versus France. Having already abandoned the Revolution out of loathing for its radicalisation, they now sensed - quite accurately - that it was about to turn on them. And unlike their fellows elsewhere, who were helpless in the face of rustic revolts, they had the people behind them. The royalist bastions were predominantly rural and composed of scattered communities. Unity was provided only by the Church - and the Church was under assault. The Clerical Constitution had been the first broadside; most of the peasantry refused to be attended by the constitutional parsons, favouring clandestine services with their refractory rivals. Then came the Papal command, abjuring them of their obedience to a heretical State. Even so, they would have been content to merely shun the State if the State had had the courtesy to do likewise. But the Revolutionary Government arrogantly presumed to speak for the people, and in the name of the people, thousands were drafted from their localities to serve in the Revolutionary Army. On 23 October, a clash between draft enforcers and residents of a Poitevin village ended in unlikely victory for the latter. The local National Guard was deployed, but by then this act of defiance had inspired copycats across the region, and the heavily outnumbered Guard was compelled to retire without a fight. A deceptive peace reigned, as the rebels mustered their strength. Then, on the morning of 25 October, the rebel forced marched on Poitiers and captured it after only a few hours; the recalcitrant Guardsmen were massacred. By 26 October, the entire valley of the Vendée had been lost to rebellion. Two days later, similar symptoms were manifesting themselves in neighbouring Bretagne, and then Maine. Much like their peasant equivalents, there was no common organisation for these insurrections; they were merely the natural product of common circumstances. News of the French defeat at Sedan suggested that an army of the Saint-Empire might soon arrive, so that the rebels no longer feared reprisal. And the increasingly anticlerical tone of the Parisian press confirmed their view that they were locked in an existential struggle for their precious faith. The organisers of these insurrections had mostly been lowborn but literate professionals, and they were soon joined by the landed aristocracy, uniting the causes of Church and King. Just as Paris was threatened by eastern invasion, its western flank had suddenly become vulnerable.

On the frontlines, however, the Revolutionary Army was too concerned with external enemies to worry about those in the interior. Compelled to abandon an ambitious plan to lay siege to Austrian Breisach, the Baron de Loiollac instead dispatched a meagre force of 1,000 men to try and overawe the fortress into surrender. Though this expedition contained half of his artillery in order to be credible, a prolonged siege was impossible, and when it became apparent the Austrian garrison would not yield, the venture was already a failure. The rest of the Army of Alsace was squatting across the river in Neuf-Brisach, awaiting the Reserve Army. By 28 October, General Lémieux had reached Mulhouse - only a handful of miles away from the Alsatian Army. But by this time, General Loiollac was under arrest. The Representative-on-Mission had harboured suspicions about the commander since the day he arrived. He was an aristocrat, for one thing, and inappropriately indulgent of the non-juring clerics, having even intervened to shield refractory priests in Alsace. As aforementioned, Alsace was a stronghold of republican fanaticism; by protecting the priesthood, Loiollac had earned himself many enemies amongst the local patriotic clubs. Once they received word of the Counter-Revolutionary Act, their commissioners accused the general of being a royalist agent. Indeed, the Army of Alsace had continued to fly the Bourbon colours when all other armies had switched to the Tricolour. This was evidence enough of disloyalty to the Revolution. The Representative subsequently detained the general. It was an embarrassing episode for the New France, exposing its ideological contortions to the world. But worse, it tied up the Army of Alsace and prompted confusion and dejection amongst its soldiery.

If these were difficult times for the revolutionary cause, however, they were happy days indeed for the partisans of the old regime. None had expected Sedan to be such a one-sided engagement, although the drips and drabs arriving at Coblenz every day had confirmed French military weakness. Now, the victories seemed to tumble relentlessly into their lap. The second Austrian Army, under the command of Feldmarschalleutnant Blasius von Bender, had captured Montmédy shortly after Longwy and then went on to invest Verdun on 25 October, which fell three days later. Meanwhile the Comte de Nogaret-Lefebvre, frustrated in his efforts to secure a commission with the Austrians (who thought about as highly of the French émigrés as they did of the heathen Turks), received a jubilant dispatch from the King's Council: the Archbishopric of Trier, encouraged by Austrian success, had moved from merely hosting the princes to actively backing their cause. Under the Archbishop's patronage, the exiled princes had been able to raise an army of 25,000 men - mostly aristocratic officers expelled from the Revolutionary Army. This Royal Army (the princes' peons, sneered Paris) was to march in support of the Austrian advance under the command of the Duc de Bourbon. Nogaret, who had already been created Lieutenant-General of Lorraine by the Comte de Provence, was appointed by Condé to command a division of 5,000 troops. He was automatically derided as the "Marshal of Terror" by the Cordelier Cesaire Dequand, par for the course of a revolutionary propaganda campaign that similarly accused the Comte d'Arberg-Valengin and his "Monarchist Collaborators" of butchering the French prisoners from Sedan and marauding the countryside with demonic wildness. But for all their contumelious disdain, there was something of desperation in the prolific tracts of the republican press. The House of Bourbon had finally realised what they should have known all along: that by acquiescing to the Revolution they had lost everything, but in suppressing it they had nothing to lose but the love of the people, which was hardly an adequate defence against force of arms. For the first time since the Estates-General, the ancien régime was striking back.

If the princes were possessed by a renewed sense of purpose and enthusiasm, it was precisely the opposite for their republican opponents. Having reached Rethel, the Army of the Rhine was staying put. Some of the officers, fearful of Austrian pursuit, urged retreat. But General Augereau knew another forced march would have been the death of the Army - or of himself. So he resolved to make the best of a poor situation. Eager to replace his dismissed officers with loyal confidants, he issued two communiques: one to his old friend Jean Absolon Guillory, requesting he take command the Rhine Army's cavalry wing; and one to the Duc de Richelieu, a fellow Templar, requesting the same for the artillery (which now existed only on paper). Both rode hard for Rethel, where they found the Army, in Richelieu's words, "thoroughly demoralised". The Duke was a curious appointment in several ways. First, despite a dearth of martial experience, he was not only given command in the Rhine Army but simultaneously appointed deputy to the War Secretary. Second, he was the scion of a famous French dynasty, and therefore his rise was something of an embarrassment to the republican regime; Aulard elided over this by referring to him only as "Citoyen Emmanuel-Philippe du Plessis". Taking the axiom of the pen being mightier than the sword to extremes, Richelieu spent more time at Rethel crafting correspondence than waging war. He dispatched a personal plea to Feldmarschall D'Arberg to spare the lives of the French prisoners of Sedan (it was received with bemusement in the Austrian camp, as contrary to Parisian propaganda, the prisoners had simply been recruited for the French Royal Army). In the belief that the Austrians were aiming to take Reims as a psychological blow to the nation, he urged the withdrawal of the Rhine Army to the river Aisnes, against Augereau's desire to hold position. But before this could come to anything, Absolon's cavalry returned with news that the Austrians were almost upon them. D'Arberg had no desire to march against Paris with a French army at his rear. Remembering Sedan (and how a river to your back was both a boon and a burden), Augereau instead ordered the Rhine Army to withdraw further south towards Reims. His men had no desire to march, but they had even less of a desire to fight. The Army eventually arrived at Bétheny, where Augereau had his first good turn since the campaign began: reinforcement by the National Guard and Phrygian volunteers, which replaced some of his losses. But with the Austrians fast behind him, he was still in a perilous situation. If he stood his ground to hold Reims, with his exhausted troops and untested Guard, he risked a second Sedan; if he retreated, Reims would fall to the Empire and with it the road to Paris. The ever-proliferant Richelieu impressed this situation on the War Secretary, who in turn conveyed it to the First Minister. Alarmed by these developments, Cartelège wrote back to his colleague saying that it was "absolutely essential" that the Army of the Centre transfer its artillery to Augereau's army.

But even if Aulard had sent an order to this effect to Blois, there would have been no one left to receive it. The Central Army was long gone. Not to be outdone by Augereau, General Valjean had spent his first days in command ruthlessly ferreting out known monarchist officers. Those that remained were required to swear the Cordelier creed against counter-revolution. Except for a detachment of 1,000 men dispatched to secure the Pyrenees, General Valjean - joined by his comrade Francois Rousseau - departed Blois to rove southern France in the pursuit of revolutionary purity. Whereas Valjean had been surprisingly fair on his own officers, demanding evidence of royalist sympathies before he would order their dismissal, he was harshly intolerant of dissent from others. He frequently intervened in the countryside, supporting peasants against their "avaricious" landlords. The arrival of the Central Army outside a city was always followed by mass trials of alleged traitors and saboteurs within its confines. Monarchists were forced out of every office; the apparatus of government was cleansed of royalist contagion. Conveniently, these actions also provided succour to the Cordelier clubs, which used the intimidation provided by the Central Army to seize control of local councils. When the Army entered Lyon, where Valjean intended to establish a new base of operations, its mere presence caused the downfall of Mayor Louis Vitet and his patron Jean-Marie Roland. Although Roland was a famous revolutionist and Jacobin, he had used Vitet's administration to protect his business interests against populist calls for universal taxation and thus made himself an enemy of the popular revolutionary societies, who hoped that Valjean would settle the score. Before it came to that, the Rolandist faction hastily fled to the hinterland and the radical Joseph Chalier declared his Central Club to be in control. Although Valjean's antics circumvented his superiors and disturbed southern French society, they made him highly popular amongst the sans-culottes and their revolutionary allies, with Marat proclaiming him as "the Just General". Of course, in the midst of all this proselytising and rendering of revolutionary justice, there was not much time for recruitment or training. But even as the Austrians marched on Rheims, the war against the enemies of the people remained the supreme priority.




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Player Actions Needed:

On the domestic front:

The Counter-Revolutionary Act has passed.

Poitou is in rebellion. Similar sentiments are developing in Bretagne and Maine. Lorraine and Northern Champagne are under enemy occupation.

The majority of the French countryside is in disorder. Roving bands of peasants possessed by revolutionary hysteria, hunger or opportunism are attacking the propertied classes. Food is scarce everywhere and the price of bread in Paris is rising.

An anti-Austrian mob has been fired upon outside the Palais de Tuileries by the Swiss Guard and the National Guard. Demands have been made for the arrest of Marie-Antoinette (who is in Bretagne) and the Marquis de Lafayette. As Mayor of Paris and Secretary of State for War, Jacquies Nazaire Aulard ((Maxwell500)) is also facing criticism for failing to protect the people. King Louis-Charles I ((Ab Ovo)) is under pressure to dismiss those responsible. Paris is gripped by anti-Austrianism and is on the verge of uprising.

On the foreign front:

The Electorate of Trier has joined the war against France.

The First Austrian Army is advancing on Reims. The Second Austrian Army has captured Montmédy and Verdun and is advancing on Metz. The French Royal Army is based at Coblenz. Jacques, Comte de Nogart-Lefebvre ((G.K.)) can make suggestions to the Prince de Condé as to its destination. In the event of a battle, he will control 5,000 men. He can also choose to detach his force from the Royal Army and pursue independent objectives. Either way, he will need to provide me with a battle plan.

The Army of the Rhine is at Bétheny, just outside of Rheims. It has been successfully reinforced by the National Guard (military statistics will be updated to reflect this). Unless they retreat, they will imminently face a battle with an Austrian army of under 20,000 men. General Charles Augereau ((baboushreturns)) must decide whether to fight or retreat. If he chooses the former, he must create a battle plan.

The Reserve Army has joined with the Army of Alsace at Neuf-Brisach. Generals Valérian Lémieux ((Watercress)) and Ignace, Baron de Loiollac ((aussieboy)) must decide whether to continue with their plan to move up the river to relieve Longwy or to create another. They must both submit battle plans to this effect. However, General Loiollac has been arrested under accusations of counter-revolutionary behaviour. Unless his release is secured, he shall be unable to submit orders or participate in battles.

The Army of the Centre has moved to Lyon and a separate detachment has garrisoned Villefranche-de-Conflent (military statistics updated). General Javert Valjean ((alexander23)) does not have to submit orders for the War Update as he is too far away from the affected regions.

For everyone else or those who didn't get a mention this time around, don't worry: all campaigning, electioneering and domestic activity will be reflected in the Election Update, which is due after the War Update.

All military orders are due by tomorrow.

 

[baboushreturns]

((I'm openly weeping right now why is it me who'll get blamed if France is destroyed.))

 

[viola]

The events at the Tuileries are abominable!

The Austrian whore had no intention to exile herself in India, not at all! She has fled to Bretagne with her private army and is fomenting revolt and Counter-Revolution against France! In the meantime her allies have taken control of the National Guard with the help of the traitor and butcher Lafayette, it's evident that there is an Austrian conspiracy ready to take control of Paris through a military coup with the help of the Aristocrats, the Austrian whore and the National Guard, we must react and destroy this Counter-Revolutionary plot!

First of all the Jacobin club asks for the arrest and trial of Marie-Antoinette, traitor of the People! Then we must disband both the Swiss and National Guard and arrest the butcher Lafayette for their evident Monarchist and Counter-Revolutionary activity! At last we should enlist the brave farmers that have taken arms against their Feudal overlords, by offering them food and shelter we could convince them to fight for the Revolution against her internal and external enemies.

The events in Poitou have clearly been encouraged, directed and financed by Marie-Antoinette, nobles and foreign mercenaries have taken control of the land aiming to butcher the French farmers and Revolutionaries, we must crush this Aristocratic plot before they can join forces with the Austrians!

More than ever the French People risks to be exterminated by vengeful and arrogant nobles, we must stand united and conscript as many men and women as possible to stop this Reactionary wave!
Aux armes, citoyens!

- André Bouchard, Secretary of State of the Navy

 

[EmperorGrimm]

Upon hearing of the massacre at the Palais de Tuileries, Antoine Durand convenes his council of Phrygians.

"We have yet to make our way out of the wilderness. It is time that we take control of the situation. The fatherland is falling apart and it needs strong leadership if the revolution is to succeed. Mobilize your regiments, send word to the mobs that we will support them in their quest for Liberty!"

Antoine Durand mobilizes the Phrygian Guard across Paris and the countryside. He orders them to join the mobs in fighting the royalists. In Paris the Phrygians shall march to the Palais de Tuileries and take it over with the mob. Phrygians have been ordered to search and apprehend Marie Antoinette and the Marquis de Lafayette if possible. Make a show of it all for the people.

At The Legislature

Durand appears before the assembly of deputies, many with the look of despair.

"Fellow deputies, the Revolution is not yet finished! In a Republic of Virtue it is not enough for the citizens of the fatherland to simply have a say in who governs them and what policies shall be enacted but it must be led by citizens of character and talent. It is with sadness that I must call for the resignation of Monsieur Jacquies Nazaire Aulard from his position as war minister. We must quell the discontent of the people with quick and decisive action, I thank Monsieur Aulard for his dedicated and honorable service."

La Phrygian, Issue III

On The Discontent of the Nation

And

How Best To Restore Tranquility and Prosperity

By Antoine Durand, "Paladin de la liberté"

Heil Citizens! The time has come for new leadership of the Fatherland! The German menace marches toward our lands like a monsterous cyclopes ready to devour the people! Our war efforts have faultered and its failure rests on the shoulders of the Minister of War Jacquies Nazaire Aulard! I have called for his removal from that position immediately and I call on you to demand it as well.

The countryside is awash with the rightfully discontent, their children starve while their older brothers are off dying against the Austrian mongrels. Is this is Justice? Is this what we envision a Republic of Virtue to be? I say NO! I have toiled without sleep and little food for many nights to use the powers of my office to bring relief to you. I argue endlessly against those who grasp for tyrannical powers LIKE A KING NO LESS! I hear the cries of hungry children and I see the sorrowful glares of mothers and fathers who have already lost so much due to the incompetence of the local administrations and the war ministry.

I say to you now! Join the Phrygians, wherever you see the Phrygian cap atop a fellow brother or sister's head you embrace them as such and join in the singing of songs of Liberty! Use your new found power to make me your Servant of the Nation and elect us Phrygians into the legislature so that we can rid ourselves of the stench of the bloated aristocrats who as you read this hoard food and arms to support the growing royalist army. We must stand together as one to face the German slave armies and their royalist puppets!

 

[Gen. Marshall]

((I'm openly weeping right now why is it me who'll get blamed if France is destroyed.))

((Whoever bumps into the stone, sending it over the cliff, gets the blame for killing the persons below. Those who pushed it all the way up the hill with malicious intent silently back off and get away.

Also, damn this update. I'll have to let this one sink in before writing an IC...))

 

[viola]

The calls for the resignation of Citizen Aulard are misguided, he couldn't know of the Austrian infiltration and we can't let our armed forces to be divided and left leaderless. Instead we Revolutionaries, all Jacobins and Cordeliers, Phrygians and Socials, should work together and help Citizen Aulard in his fight against the Germanic hordes!

We fight united or we die alone!

- André Bouchard, Secretary of State of the Navy

 

[baboushreturns]

((Whoever bumps into the stone, sending it over the cliff, gets the blame for killing the persons below. Those who pushed it all the way up the hill with malicious intent silently back off and get away.

Also, damn this update. I'll have to let this one sink in before writing an IC...))

((Hold me! I didn't want to purge my officer corp ))

 

[Terraferma]

(Dang it Battle of Sedan...)

 

[Dadarian]

Vincent quietly lit a pipe in the back of the parliament, where many Jacobin and Cordelier parliamentarians were in the midst of hysteria due to the latest events while the Phygrians shifted blame on everyone but themselves.

He quietly stood up and began to address the parliament.

"Bonjour gentlemen, I am sure you all understand the gravity of the situation right now. However all is neither lost nor completely gone to merde. Descending to hysterics or forcing the blame onto others to seize political initiative is not the answer. We must consolidate, work together and fight the Austrians as a United Front.

We have three main issues currently, notwithstanding the whole being invade by Austria. All of which act like a cancer upon our nation, the symptoms of which are curable only through radical surgery.

The first symptom is a lack of men and artillery. Men are not getting together, organising and getting to the front, and even if they did they would have artillery. This cuts our defenses, weakens us to outside and inside troubles. This needs to be immediately rectified.

The second issue is the collapse of our economics. The veins of our nation, food is not being harvested and distributed. Wares are not being made, managed and sold. Our people are roving, hungry and poor. This needs to be immediately rectified.

Lastly we are suffering from secondary infections. Anger, hate and troubles have resulted in the loss of control in many areas of the nation. This is perhaps the most dangerous of them all, as they are gaining and we are losing in every increasing numbers. This needs to be immediately rectified.

As such I propose the following bills for the consideration of the parliament.

Emergency Bill on the Stability of France and it's Territories​

I. The National Gendarme and the Judiciary are hereby given the powers to ensure the stability of France and it's Territories against internal divisions
II. The National Gendarme are subject to the discretion of the local Police Chief, who shall oversee fair treatment of the Gendarme in each police district
III. All police chiefs are subject to the discretion of the local judge, who shall oversee the enactment of justice in each community
IV. Each local judge will be subject to the discretion of the local magistrate, who shall ensure that justice is enacted by each judge
V. Each local magistrate will be subject to the discretion of the provincial governor, who shall ensure that justice is enforced by the local magistrate
VI. Each provincial governor will be the subject of the Lieutenant-General of Police and Lord Chancellor, who shall ensure that grievous violations are dealt with
VII. The Lord Chancellor can remove any judge or magistrate without warning if proper reasoning is given
VIII. The Lieutenant-General of Police can remove any police chief without warning if proper reasoning is given
IX. Any citizen may complain to the local magistrate if a grievous abuse of authority occurs
X. All arrested citizens must be tried before a judge and a jury of at least three men

Emergency Bill on the Production of Artillery​

I. All Churches in the Republic will be consulted on the purchase of their bells.
II. All Church bells purchased will be brought to the nearest production facility of artillery and be melted down for it's iron
III. The Government of the Republic of France shall create the Committee of Armaments
IV. The Committee of Armaments shall be comprised of selected individuals from the Controller-General, as well as the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior.
V. The Committee is dedicated to the standardisation, production, distribution and quality of artillery in the nation
VI. The members of the Committee are subject to the judgement of the Secretariat of War, Secretariat of Finance, Secretariat of the Interior and the First Ministry

Emergency Bill on the Possession and Distribution of Food Stuffs​

I. The Republic of France shall immediately begin the purchase of excess foodstuffs from it's neighbours
II. The National Gendarme shall be stationed at large production farms to ensure their defense against bandits
III. Those found engaged in banditry shall be tried for banditry, and if found guilty, guillotined
IV. The raiding of private or public farms in search of food shall now be defined as banditry under French Law

Bill on the Creation of the Secretariat of the Interior​

I. The Secretariat of the Interior shall be created
II. The Secretariat of the Interior shall be responsible for the overseeing and management of all production and distribution of nationally held interests in France
III. The Secretariat of the Interior shall be appointed by the First Minister during the creation of government following an election
IV. The Secretariat of the Interior shall be held to the same level of quality performance and the same expectations as the other Secretariats of the French Government

I hope these bills will help us in our time of need and ensure the members of this government that all is not lost."

 

[DensleyBlair]

"Now they should realise the importance of Blair's proposed reforms", remarked a closet Feuillant member of the Plain.

 

[Harpsichord]

I hereby volunteer to raise men and supplies with the aim of restoring order to the Vendee once I have a sufficient force. Any reinforcements to bolster my efforts will be more than welcome, and will no doubt hasten the restoration of stability in the afflicted regions.

 

[Dadarian]

"Now they should realise the importance of Blair's proposed reforms", remarked a closet Feuillant member of the Plain.

"There was an opportunity, so it was seized. Too bad Blair was too weak to live in our new world order", rebuked a closet Templar member of the Plain.

 

[Gen. Marshall]

Citizens of France, fellow beneficiaries of the Revolution, why do you not see that we fight for your cause? Or are these rebellions simply induced by a refusal to fight for your own cause? We will end this famine, whatever it takes. Join the Army and your family will be taken care of, while we take steps to purchase food and extend aid to the entirety of the population. As First Minister, Jacques Nazaire Aulard will ensure that these plans will be carried through and stability restored.

I am deeply saddened by the Phrygian's call for Secretary Aulard's resignation. Our only failure in this brief war, the one at Sedan, was not his fault. One could even argue that the tempering influence of the War Secretary has prevented our Army of the Rhine from utter destruction, and that his swift reaction afterwards has allowed us to replenish our forces and regroup with higher morale than ever. No, Citizen Aulard is a brilliant strategist, and he will make for an even better First Minister.

Monsieur Parént's bill to improve the food situation is absolutely essential. I have tried to achieve similar aims by means of executive order, but only through legislation can we truly improve the situation and relieve the famine that terrorizes France. His Bill on the Production of Artillery and the Bill on the Creation of the Secretariat of the Interior also have my explicit support.

As for the military situation; I have the fullest confidence in our Generals and in the men of the Army of the Rhine to defend what is rightfully France's.

- "Le Préfet" Renaud de Cartelège

 

[viola]

Parént's bills have my support, even the Stability Act, now that a new government will have to be elected the risk of empowering the Templar faction is no longer present.

I must oppose the parts III and IV of the Emergency Bill on the Possession and Distribution of Food Stuffs as they are far too draconian and harsh: the farmers are desperate and are forced to take from those who refuse to share, to condemn them to death would be unjust and would only create more dissent and infighting. Instead I propose to enlist them in the army offering them the food and shelter they rightfully want, in this way both the demands of the nation and the People will be satisfied.

Furthermore we still have to address the criminal actions of the Swiss and National Guard, of Lafayette and the Queen. The massacre at the Tuileries must be punished!

- André Bouchard, Secretary of State of the Navy

 

[m.equitum]

RICHELIEU
VÉRITÉ SANS PEUR

REPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR
29 Octobre 1791​

Situation in Rheims
Latest reports to Paris indicate that the Army of the Rhine has successfully withdrawn across the River Aisne, and has commenced hurried preparation for the defence of Rheims. There is great unease in Paris as news of Austrian advances spread through the capital. The city of Rheims cannot fall. Such a loss would surely trigger a revolt in Paris.

Although the Austrian vanguard is advancing swiftly, word has not arrived as to whether the Hapsburg Armies have successfully crossed the Aisne. Pending further information as to the Austrian position vis-à-vis the Aisne, it seems advisable to issue orders for the French Engineering Corps to destroy the bridges spanning the river.

Moreover, while the Austrian cavalry and infantry may have given hot pursuit to the retreating French Army of the Rhine, the Hapsburg artillery will surely encounter difficulty in navigating the dense forests of Ardennes. This natural obstacle may offer our soldiers precious time to solidify the defences of Rheims – especially by maximising the use of our own artillery through strategic positioning – before the Hapsburg guns can be brought to bear against us.

Current Positions of French Armies

Monarchists Purges
A memorandum from the Armée du Centre came across my desk which indicated that General Valjean has commenced politically motivated purges of his fighting men. This sort of behaviour warrants strong condemnation and strict discipline. While the Secretary of State for War may share the political leanings of Monsieur Valjean, it seems wholly inappropriate that the national army should be called to swear allegiance to anything other than France. Bearing in mind that France remains a Constitutional Monarchy facing foreign invasion, it is with considerable concern that I must draw your attention to the irregularities in the conduct of General Valjean regarding the recent purges of the Armée du Center.

Rising in the Vendée
The rising of the Vendée is an unfortunate by-product of increasing radicalism. Indeed, growing radicalism spurs a reciprocal rise in reactionary sentiments. The people’s entrenched loyalty to the Ancien Regime cannot be uprooted, even with the bayonet, and will surely remain a feature of the political landscape of France that we can ignore at our own peril. At this time, pursuing a military solution to the Situation in the Vendée appears highly unadvisable. Notwithstanding the immediate need for the full strength of the French armies to repel the foreign invader, there is also a deep mistrust amongst our people of any government that employs arms against the citizenry.

I have commenced preparations to travel to the Vendée to engage, if possible, in preliminary discussions with the leaders of the rising, with the intent of both discovering their grievances and, more immediately, persuading them to lay down their arms. It warrants mention that legislative provisions regarding the preservation of the Constitutional Monarchy and the maintenance of the Established Church – which are, in fact, confirmations of the status quo – would go far in addressing the concerns of the citizens of the Vendée who are reacting simply to the uncertainty of the changing times.

While their steadfast commitment to the old-order is somewhat problematic , there is little question as to the sincere faith of these people. Sharing a common bond of faith, we cannot rule out the possibility – however remote – of being reconciled with the Vendéenes. Additionally, as you know, I have some personal interests in areas not far from the Vendée that I would very much like to see secured from damage.

Domains of the House of du Plessis

Sincerely,​

DUC DE RICHELIEU
Prince de Montagne
Duc de Fronsac
Marquis du Pont-Courlay
Comte de Cosnac, et de Chinon
Baron de Barbezieux, de Cozes, et de Saujon
Pair de France
Sous-Sécretariat d’État à la Guerre
Géneral de Brigade​

 

[Ab Ovo]

For her suspected role in the affairs of treason and espionage against the Kingdom of France, a warrant is hereby issued for the arrest Marie Antoinette. While His Majesty is confident that the Queen Mother is innocent of all charges arrayed against her, justice must be pursued in her proper course. Once apprehended, Her Majesty is to be tried under the laws of the realm and impartial judgement delivered; so help us God. Likewise, a warrant is hereby issued for the arrest of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette in connection with the recent unfortunate events in Paris.

Francisque de St Denis-Paternoster, Secretary to the King of the French

 

[EmperorGrimm]

Citizens of France, fellow beneficiaries of the Revolution, why do you not see that we fight for your cause? Or are these rebellions simply induced by a refusal to fight for your own cause? We will end this famine, whatever it takes. Join the Army and your family will be taken care of, while we take steps to purchase food and extend aid to the entirety of the population. As First Minister, Jacques Nazaire Aulard will ensure that these plans will be carried through and stability restored.

Monsieur Cartelege with all due respect, you make promises and declarations but the people starve in the fields that lay barren, in the streets robbed of their life and valuables, and of course they are dying by the thousands against the Germans along the frontiers. You have provided competent and determined leadership but the fatherland is tearing itself apart and the nation cannot be shielded from German rounds by words, or fed with a plate of promises.

I am deeply saddened by the Phrygian's call for Secretary Aulard's resignation. Our only failure in this brief war, the one at Sedan, was not his fault. One could even argue that the tempering influence of the War Secretary has prevented our Army of the Rhine from utter destruction, and that his swift reaction afterwards has allowed us to replenish our forces and regroup with higher morale than ever. No, Citizen Aulard is a brilliant strategist, and he will make for an even better First Minister.

Not his fault? He is the Minister of War who is responsible for the success and management of the French military. If he is not to blame then who is? The weather, did the sun get in the eyes of our soldiers who gave their blood and sweat to fight that day at Sedan? The people are angry and they need to see the government act wisely and decisively so that we may restore calm so that we can form a unified front against the enemies of Liberty!

A brillant strategist does now get thousands of citizens killed, now you're just pushing a political agenda.

Monsieur Parént's bill to improve the food situation is absolutely essential. I have tried to achieve similar aims by means of executive order, but only through legislation can we truly improve the situation and relieve the famine that terrorizes France. His Bill on the Production of Artillery and the Bill on the Creation of the Secretariat of the Interior also have my explicit support.

I too support these measures. However I must state my utmost refusal to vote for the Stability Bill for reasons already given when Monsieur Parent first attempted to destroy the fabric of the fatherland by such anti-liberal legislation.

Also how and to whom will the procured foodstuffs be distributed? Who will be in charge of this? I request that an amendment be made placing the distribution of foodstores in the hands of locally elected committees once stability to reestablished. For now I propose a period of six months in which the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Interior, and First Minister be in charge of the distribution.

 

[m.equitum]

A Letter that [somehow] made its way to the Bureau of the Under-Secretary of State for War

Vintners and our Discontent​

It must be drawn to the attention of the relevant authorities – particularly those government officials whose remit it is to oversee matters of culture and agriculture – that the continued unrest throughout France is having a significant impact on the vineyards of Bordeaux. Knowing that a secure supply of wine is surely amongst the chief priorities of any French administration, it appears necessary to inform you that this year’s yield falls far below that of previous years in both volume and quality.

As you may be aware, it is quickly becoming a common refrain amongst the refined echelons of French society that “standards are falling.” Nevertheless, one has clung to the hope that the continued unrest would not have significant ramifications on the time-honoured traditions of wine-making. The surrender of Champagne to the Austrians has meant the loss of this year’s entire crop of Pinot Meunier. It is almost unbearable to imagine that the boots, hooves and wheels of the advancing Austrian army are trampling over precious grapes without as much as a passing concern for the prized pulp. I have no need to remind you, sir, that Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine, and He would not stand for this sort of degradation of the vineyards throughout France. And neither should the French Government.

We entreat you therefore to take swift action to address the concerns of the vintners of Bordeaux and those throughout France.

SIGNED:
Coalition des Vignerons de Bordeaux​

 

[Dadarian]

I too support these measures. However I must state my utmost refusal to vote for the Stability Bill for reasons already given when Monsieur Parent first attempted to destroy the fabric of the fatherland by such anti-liberal legislation.

"Check the legislation again, it has been rewritten"

Also how and to whom will the procured foodstuffs be distributed? Who will be in charge of this? I request that an amendment be made placing the distribution of foodstores in the hands of locally elected committees once stability to reestablished. For now I propose a period of six months in which the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Interior, and First Minister be in charge of the distribution.

"The Secretariat of the Interior would oversee the distribution. As it falls under their required duties as defined by their creation bill."