In March, the Commissaries of the Republic entered these provinces to
collect from that district, its portion towards the levy of three
hundred thousand men which had been ordered by the Convention. This was
an intolerable grievance--it was not to be borne, that so many of their
youths should be forcibly dragged away to fight the battles of the
Republic--battles in which they would rather that the Republic should
be worsted. Besides, every one would lose a relative, a friend, or a
lover; the decree affected every individual in the district. The
peasants declared that they would not obey the orders of the
Convention--that they would not fight the battles of the Republic.

This was the commencement of the revolt. The troops of the Republic
were, of course, put in motion to assist the officers who were entrusted
with the carrying out of the conscription. There were garrisons in
Nantes, in Anjou, and in Saumur; and detachments from these places were
sent into the smaller towns and villages, into every mayoralty, to
enforce the collection of the levy, and to take off with them the
victims of the conscription. Among other places, an attempt was made to
carry out the new law at St. Florent, and at this place was made the
first successful resistance, by an armed force, to the troops of the
Convention.

St. Florent is a small town on the south bank of the Loire, in the
province of Anjou, and at the northern extremity of that district, now
so well known by the name of La Vendee. It boasted of a weekly market,
a few granaries for the storing of corn, and four yearly fairs for the
sale of cattle. Its population and trade, at the commencement of the
war, was hardly sufficient to entitle it to the name of a town; but it
had early acquired some celebrity as a place in which the Republic was