and Colonies on 10 April 1793. At the time to refuse the position would have meant imprisonment or death. As a minister he was close to the Montagnards but achieved nothing, and was suspicious and jealous of other talented people. Léon Guérin wrote that they needed an administrator and appointed a pirate. Dalbarade was in charge of the department of Navy and Colonies for about 27 months during the Reign of Terror. He was ordered to deport disobedient priests to Guiana, but delayed their departure indefinitely. Throughout 1793 the French Republic was involved in total war with the rest of Europe. The priority was to defend land threats, ether internal or external. Naval forces were used to suppress land rebellions, and naval arsenals to supply the army. In May 1793 the combined naval forces of Spain and England arrived off Toulon. The commander, Trogoff, asked for instructions from Dalbarade and the executive council, with no success. Eventually Dalbarade wrote telling him to avoid conflict unless he was completely sure that he was equal in force to the enemy. From 29 August to 17 December 1793 the port of Toulon was occupied by an Anglo-Spanish force. The port was recovered by forces under General Dugommier, but the English caused great damage before retiring. The Quibéron mutinies took place in September 1793. Vice-admiral Morard de Galles, based on Brest with a fleet of twenty ships of the line and four frigates, received orders to cruise the dangerous waters between the islands of Groix and Belle-Isle to prevent the English from assisting the royalists in Brittany and the Vendée. He and Kerguelen, commander of one of the divisions of the fleet, proposed to Dalbarade that a better way to prevent the enemy from considering a descent on the coasts of France would be to go out and cruise. The season of bad weather had arrived, and the ships were forced to take refuge in the bay of Quiberon. The crews wanted to return to Brest because they had no chance of taking prizes, had been eating almost nothing but salt meat for four months and were poorly clothed. The fall of Toulon provided a pretext for returning to Brest, which was equally vulnerable to the English. Unable to maintain discipline, Morard de Galles ordered the fleet back to Brest. Jean Bon Saint-André was sent to Brest, where he initiated a purge of the