Saint Domingue The siege of Port au Prince is over. After a heroic defence the republican defenders of the capital have had to abandon their positions and the town has fallen to the English. Only a few parts of the island now remain in French control. There is still hope that the situation can be restored as one of the leaders of the black uprising, Toussaint Louverture, has made contact with General Laveaux offering to help the republican cause as they fear the English will restore slavery. The Law of Prairal 22 Following attempts on the lives of Collot D'Herbois, and Robespi-erre the Committee of Public Safety has intensified it's war of terror against those who oppose its policies. There will now be no defence attorney's and the jury's choice will be simple - acquittal or death. Whilst there is unease at this development opposition is muted as Citizen Robespierre has insinuated that anyone with objections to the Law must have something to hide. The effect of this has been to see the number of executions rise from 5 per day (Germinal) to 26 per day now. There have been some 796 executions in Messidor. Even the deputies to the Convention are sickened by the sight of so many executions and the Guillotine has been moved from the Place de la Revolution to the rue Saint Antoine. It will need to be moved again as local residents are complaining that the ground cannot soak up all the blood and dangerous odours are coming from bodies going off in the summer heat. Continued Success on the Northern front. Following up the success at Turcoing, General Jourdan has been appointed Commander of the army of the Sambre and Meuse. Given the task of capturing Charleroi, the town was invested on Prairial 24. An attempt at relief was launched by the Austrian Commander, Prince of Saxe Coburg but after some of the hardest fighting of the campaign Jourdan has achieved his objective and a great victory at Fleurus. For some time the result was in doubt as Austrian troops broke through on both flanks but heroic defence by soldiers of the Division lead by General Joseph Lefebvre, whose men although surrounded by flames and thick smoke, were heard to cry "no retreat today", turned the course of the battle. Lefebvre's Chief of Staff, Colonel Soult, reportedly had no less than 5 horses shot from under him. Balloons Great amusement was had at the expense of the Committee of Public Safety deciding to create a Balloonist's Company, but this seems to have paid off with Balloon's seeing action at Fleurus. It is rumoured that General Jourdan actually went aloft during the battle. The nerve of the Austrian's finally gave way and they retreated through Waterloo. The road to Brussels is now open. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #18 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com