"By no means," said he.

"I was the last here who joined the cause, and I certainly will not place myself first among those who have led the way in the work we have taken up.

No; here is the man who shall be our President." And as he spoke he caught hold of Cathelineau, who was immediately behind him, and absolutely forced him into the chair.
"Indeed, indeed, M.de Lescure--" said Cathelineau, endeavouring to extricate himself from the seat; but both his voice and his exertions were stopped, for three or four of them united to hold him where he was, and declared that he should be the President for the evening.
"Indeed, and indeed you will not stir," said Henri, who stood behind his chair, and placed his hands heavily on the postillion's shoulders.
"It was you that brought us here," said de Lescure, "and you must not now avoid the responsibility." "Ah! M.de Lescure," said he, "there are so many more fitting than me." "Not one in all La Vendee," said M.Bonchamps: "sit where you are, Cathelineau." "You must do it, Cathelineau;" whispered his friend Foret; "the peasants would not endure to see any man put above you." "Cathelineau will not shrink from the burden which the Lord has called upon him to bear," said Father Jerome.
"Providence," said d'Elbee, "has summoned the good Cathelineau to this high duty; he will not, I am sure, oppose its decrees." And thus Cathelineau found himself seated in the Mayor's chair at the head of the table, whilst the highest noblemen and gentry of the country took their places around it, and from that moment Cathelineau became the General-in-Chief of the Vendeans.
Each leader then gave in the numbers of the men who had come with him, and it was found that the army consisted of above fifteen thousand men.
Lists were then made out of the arms and accoutrements which they possessed, and the men in a rude way were drafted into regiments under the command of the leaders who had brought them.

There was a small body of cavalry equipped in most various manners, and mounted on horses, which resembled anything rather than a regular squadron of troopers: these were under the immediate command of Henri Larochejaquelin.
"Gentlemen," said Cathelineau, "we have, you know, three different attacks to make, three positions to carry, before we can be masters of Saumur." "Yes," said Bonchamps, "there in the camp at Varin on the right, and the redoubts of Bournan on the left; the fortifications of the town itself lie between them, and a little to the rear of both." "Exactly, M.Bonchamps; the town itself, I take, is the easiest task of the three; but as we are situated it must be the last." "I think you will find that Varin is their strongest point," said de Lescure.
"M.

de Lescure is right," said Cathelineau.