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THE INVALIDS AT BOISVERT.
There had been friction between the National Convention and General Dumouriez, who, though a fine soldier, was a remarkably indifferent Republican.

The Convention had unjustly ordered the arrest of his commissariat officers, Petit-Jean and Malus, and in other ways irritated a man whose patience was never of the longest.
On the eve, however, of war with Holland, the great ones in Paris had suddenly perceived their error, and had sought--despite the many enemies, from Marat downwards, that Dumouriez counted among their numbers--to conciliate a general whose services they found that they could not dispense with.

This conciliation was the business upon which the Deputy La Boulaye had been despatched to Antwerp, and as an ambassador he proved signally successful, as much by virtue of the excellent terms he was empowered to offer as in consequence of the sympathy and diplomacy he displayed in offering them.
The great Republican General started upon his campaign in the Low Countries as fully satisfied as under the circumstances he could hope to be.

Malus and Petit-Jean were not only enlarged but reinstated, he was promised abundant supplies of all descriptions, and he was assured that the Republic approved and endorsed his plan of campaign.
La Boulaye, his mission satisfactorily discharged, turned homewards once more, and with an escort of six men and a corporal he swiftly retraced his steps through that blackened, war-ravaged country.