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Article MONTHLY CHRONICLE. ← Page 5 of 5
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Monthly Chronicle.
o-ociation was terminated by one day's notice . Hostilities recommenced , and blood has been shed on both sides . That incessant system of attack which the French invented in the present war , and by which they dispersed the most gallant and most numerous armies , has been adopted-by them on the present occasion . In a very few days they possessed themselves of three cantons . - Soleure , which was destitute of the means of defence , surrendered on the
jst cf March . On the same day the environs of Fribourg were occupied by the French General Pigeon . The city being summoned , an answer was returned by the magistrates , that they were disposed to surrender ; but that a few hours would be necessary , in order that the Bernese and armed peasants , might be effected without disorder . General Pigeon granted two hours ; but soon after the sound of the tocsin was heard in the different villages , and a multitude of peasants , who came to reinforce the garrison ,
were seen entering by a gate opposite to the points of attack . A new summons was then sent ; upon which some of the citizens and magistrates came to say , that they were overawed by the peasants , and were no longer free in their deliberations . The republican soldiers , full of ardour , called aloud for the order for " an assault : a few of the most intrepid of them , at the head of whom was Serjeant Barbe , climbed to the top of the ramparts , and threw themselves into the town ; the 1500 Bernese , and four or five thousand peasants , who composed the force of Fribourg , had retired with
precipitation , with their cannon and arms , into the arsenal : the city was taken bystorm , without any excesses being committed ; the aristocratic government destroyed , and replaced by a provisional government chosen by the section This affair cost the adherents to aristocracy more than 400 men . The affair of Sevenech cost them " 00 men killed , and three thousand made prisoners . The French , on their part , lost , among several others , the brave Serjeant Barbe , who had been created a sub-lieutenant . After performing these
exp loits , the staff-officers-of the French army assembled at Berne , where they had a civic repast . The approach to Berne w . is more obstinately defended . Five times the brave Helvetian peasants were compelled to retreat , by the superior military skill and disci pline , and probably by the superior numbers of the enemy : five times they formed anew ; and in every onset the ) ' exhibited a courage worthy of the heroic ages of Greece , or , to say still better , worthy of the
good old clays of the Swiss confederacy . Seven men , who stood alone of a whole regiment , after the carnage of the rest , disdaining to survive their comrades , " and the independence of their country , rushed into the enemy ' s ranks , and perished upoi . their bayonets . At another period of the contest , eighty young men of Berne defended a pass with the same obstinacy as the Spartans maintained their post at Thermopylae and with the same fate—They fell to the last man . May the ground they so courageousl y disputed lie light upon their bones I
Though these noble deeds are recounted by the French themselves , they affect to characterise the courage that produced them by the contemptuous term of fanaticism . But foreign nations and history will do justice to the Helvetians , and charge to the account of their conquerors the whole scandal of the contention as a set-off against their military fame . Strong hope had been entertained that the Swiss would be able to repel the invaders : ancl had they been unanimousit is probable that their strong
, country and their nervous arm would have made them ultimately triumphant . But the sinews of the state were broken by civil discontent . The other cantons , intimidated at the rapid progress of the French arms , have agreed to receive the terms prescribed by the French Directory . And thus has perished the independence of Helvetia 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Monthly Chronicle.
o-ociation was terminated by one day's notice . Hostilities recommenced , and blood has been shed on both sides . That incessant system of attack which the French invented in the present war , and by which they dispersed the most gallant and most numerous armies , has been adopted-by them on the present occasion . In a very few days they possessed themselves of three cantons . - Soleure , which was destitute of the means of defence , surrendered on the
jst cf March . On the same day the environs of Fribourg were occupied by the French General Pigeon . The city being summoned , an answer was returned by the magistrates , that they were disposed to surrender ; but that a few hours would be necessary , in order that the Bernese and armed peasants , might be effected without disorder . General Pigeon granted two hours ; but soon after the sound of the tocsin was heard in the different villages , and a multitude of peasants , who came to reinforce the garrison ,
were seen entering by a gate opposite to the points of attack . A new summons was then sent ; upon which some of the citizens and magistrates came to say , that they were overawed by the peasants , and were no longer free in their deliberations . The republican soldiers , full of ardour , called aloud for the order for " an assault : a few of the most intrepid of them , at the head of whom was Serjeant Barbe , climbed to the top of the ramparts , and threw themselves into the town ; the 1500 Bernese , and four or five thousand peasants , who composed the force of Fribourg , had retired with
precipitation , with their cannon and arms , into the arsenal : the city was taken bystorm , without any excesses being committed ; the aristocratic government destroyed , and replaced by a provisional government chosen by the section This affair cost the adherents to aristocracy more than 400 men . The affair of Sevenech cost them " 00 men killed , and three thousand made prisoners . The French , on their part , lost , among several others , the brave Serjeant Barbe , who had been created a sub-lieutenant . After performing these
exp loits , the staff-officers-of the French army assembled at Berne , where they had a civic repast . The approach to Berne w . is more obstinately defended . Five times the brave Helvetian peasants were compelled to retreat , by the superior military skill and disci pline , and probably by the superior numbers of the enemy : five times they formed anew ; and in every onset the ) ' exhibited a courage worthy of the heroic ages of Greece , or , to say still better , worthy of the
good old clays of the Swiss confederacy . Seven men , who stood alone of a whole regiment , after the carnage of the rest , disdaining to survive their comrades , " and the independence of their country , rushed into the enemy ' s ranks , and perished upoi . their bayonets . At another period of the contest , eighty young men of Berne defended a pass with the same obstinacy as the Spartans maintained their post at Thermopylae and with the same fate—They fell to the last man . May the ground they so courageousl y disputed lie light upon their bones I
Though these noble deeds are recounted by the French themselves , they affect to characterise the courage that produced them by the contemptuous term of fanaticism . But foreign nations and history will do justice to the Helvetians , and charge to the account of their conquerors the whole scandal of the contention as a set-off against their military fame . Strong hope had been entertained that the Swiss would be able to repel the invaders : ancl had they been unanimousit is probable that their strong
, country and their nervous arm would have made them ultimately triumphant . But the sinews of the state were broken by civil discontent . The other cantons , intimidated at the rapid progress of the French arms , have agreed to receive the terms prescribed by the French Directory . And thus has perished the independence of Helvetia 1