Bastille day? No, thank you!

Several posts have appeared on the blogosphere about this in the last few days, but the impact of the Vendee Rising, which resulted in the genocide of the largely catholic and monarchist population of Bas Poitou at the hands of the French revolutionary army, was such that, even until relatively recently, July 14th was a very low key event indeed in the region.
It is said, too, that in parts of the department there are very few houses with a second storey which predates the late 18th Century. In fact, the evidence is all around if one cares to look.
Revolutions, particularly those which parade “the rights of man,” always deserve a large degree of Burkean caution, as they invariably end in persecution of one form or another and with a denial of the very human dignity they purport to uphold, a dignity which is in the end only preserved by the faith once delivered to the Saints.