THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FRENCH RESOLUTION. 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FRENCH RESOLUTION. 
 
 By JOHN ADOLPHUS, F.S.A. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, JUN. AND Vf. DAVIES, 
 
 IN THE STRAND, 
 
 1799.
 
 ;rc 
 K.S 
 
 MICHEL LEPELLETIER DE SAINt 
 FARGEAU. 
 
 THE family of Lepelletier was originally of ManS 
 where records of its eftabliftiment were pre- 
 ferved as far back as the year 1508. His father was 
 a judge, and filled that office with remarkable feve- 
 rity. 
 
 The fubjeft of thefe memoirs was bred to the pro- Birth and 
 feflion of the law, and attained the important and P rofeffi <>- 
 honorable office of prefident a Mortier, in the par- 
 liament of Paris a . 
 
 Before the revolution, Lepelletier was remarkably Conduft 
 unobtf ufive ; he forbore interfering in the difputes p h Jj.|J sto 
 between his body and the crown b ; would not afliime' " 
 
 titles of nobility, though he poffeffed feveral counties 
 and marquifates in his own right c 5 and principally 
 employed himfelf in the improvement of the very 
 large property he derived from his father. His great 
 wealth procured him the reputation of being proud 
 and avaricious, and his making fo Unimportant a 
 figure with fo many advantages, gave rife to an 
 opinion very derogatory to his talents d . He was, how- 
 ever, a member of the fociety des Amis des Noirs, and 
 
 a Diflionnaire de Ja Noblefle. Conjuration de d'Orleans^ vol.- iifc 
 p. 431. 
 
 b Apologie des Projets, &c. p. 426. 
 
 c Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p. 34.7. 
 
 4 Madame Roland calls him "a poor rich man," Igmmt ftille et ticbt. 
 Appcl. vol. ii. p. 71. But the author of the dpolegie des Proj.-ts, 8cd. 
 who is not to he fuipe^ed of partiality towards Lepelletier, allows him 
 to have pott'efted wit, learning, and vigor of intellect, p. a*o. 
 
 VOL, ii. a confidered 
 
 862365
 
 2 LEPELLETIER. 
 
 confidered of importance fufficient to be one of the 
 
 regulating committee c . 
 
 inthecon- He was a member of the conflituent aflembly, 
 ft ^ ue ?! where his eloquence procured him no admiration, but 
 
 aiiembly. r i i c i_ t i it 
 
 from the beginning or the revolution he attached 
 himfelf to Orleans, and never deferted his party. In 
 this he was influenced by the timidity of avarice, and 
 the defire of increaiing his ftore ; he was perfuaded 
 that nothing but the friendmip of the predominating 
 party could refcue him from profcription, and was 
 amufed with expectations, which applied to his pre- 
 vailing and infatiable paffion, and produced a firm 
 adherence to men, from whofe conduct the purity 
 4thAuguft of his mind might have led him to revolt f . He was 
 17891 prefident of the aflembly at that famous fitting when 
 an inconfiderate emulation led the nobility and clergy 
 to facrifice all their rights and privileges, and fpoke 
 i9th June with fome effect on the queftion concerning the aboli- 
 I7 9- tion of titles g . 
 
 Forms the His principal labor was the formation of the penal 
 penal code. coc j e j n fa e new conflitution, which gave rife to many 
 debates. His mind was by nature difpofed to mercy 
 and gentlenefs, and though the grafting of modern 
 philofophy on a ftudent of the old jurifprudence, 
 fometimes produced a grotefque, fometimes an im- 
 moral effect ; yet all his notions were derived from 
 laudable fources, and many of them had an appear- 
 ance of rectitude and propriety. He was, at firft, 
 for abolilhing pains of death, confining the punim- 
 ment of crimes to civic degradation, public expofure, 
 folitary imprifonment, chains, or hard labor, accord- 
 ing to the magnitude of the offence. This innova- 
 tion was too great for him to carry, but he fucceeded 
 in obtaining a fuppreflion of all tortures or fuper- 
 added punimments, or, to ufe his own phrafe, " re- 
 
 Mcmoire du Jacobinifme, par Barruel, vol. ii. p. 447. 
 f C onjuration de d'Orleans, vol. i. p. 295. Apologie, &c. ubi 
 fupra. 
 t Impartial Hiftory, vol. K p. itj. 547. Dbates. 
 
 " duced
 
 LEPELLETIER. 3 
 
 * fi ducedthe fentence of death, to theprivation of life." 
 In other parts of his code he betrayed great want of 
 judgment, and (hewed himfelf completely bewildered 
 in the labyrinths of pretended philofophy. He at- 
 tempted, with a correctnefs truly ridiculous, to fix 
 the proportions of punifliment to be inflicted on an 
 unnatural fon, who maimed his parent, fo as to make 
 the extent of the penalty, exactly commenfurate to 
 the nature of the injury. He endeavoured to obtain 
 for malefactors a period of three days to appeal 
 againft their fentence, or move in arrefl of judgment; 
 he abolifhed whipping and branding of criminals, 
 but, on the other hand, he gave to primary aflemblies 
 an undefined power of correctional punifhment, and 
 inflicted four years imprifonment on the perfon who 
 mould ftrike a public functionary. He was the parent 
 of two monfters in the jurifprudential fyftem, which 
 fruftrated all the humanity of his intentions ; namely, 
 that juries mould decide on the law, the fact, and the 
 intention of the parties, and mould apply the punifh- 
 ment; and that the crown mould be deprived of 
 the power of pardoning. He was the firft who in- 2 6th June 
 troduced the practice of the prefident putting on his 79. 
 hat in cafes of tumult which his authority was in- 
 fufficient to reftrain h . 
 
 From the diflblution of the conftituent aflembly, Prefaitsaa 
 he remained in obfcurity ; he made no figure at t *h e d i7gif- 
 the Jacobin club, and I find no trace of him in any lative a f. 
 public tranfaction, except an addrefs, which, as pre- J^ i> f e 
 fident of the department of Yonne, he prefented to cember 
 the legiflative aflembly, on the fubject of the war, S 79. 
 and which was ordered to be printed, and procured 
 him the honors of the fitting *. 
 
 He was returned to the national convention for Memberof 
 the department of Yonne, but was as little difUn- the con ' 
 
 vent toil. 
 
 h See the Debates of the Conftituent Aflembly, from the j^d of 
 May 1791 to its difiblution; and for the laft fat, Anecdotes du 
 Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 153. 
 
 1 Debates. 
 
 B 3 guifhed.
 
 LEPELLETIER. 
 
 :!, as in the preceding part of his career. Htf 
 (hewed his attachment to the Mountain, and more 
 particularly to Orleans, by voting againfl the Brif- 
 fotine motion for a la\v againft the inftigators of mur- 
 3 oth o c - der, alleging as a reafon, that it would be a reftraint 
 17911 on the liberty of the prefs. His condu.ft refpeaing. 
 cUiftre"" ^ e king's tr ^ * s involved in much doubt and un- 
 fjwainor certainty. It is faid, on one hand, that he had made 
 the king. an Q^^ never to vote for the death of any perfon^ 
 but that Orleans, fearing the queflion of the king's 
 condemnation would be loft, partly by terror, and 
 partly by promiies, influenced him to change his de- 
 termination, and to bring over twenty-five members 
 who had refolved to vote as he did k . In fupport of 
 this aflertion, BrilTot fays, that Lepelletier, at the 
 committee of legiflation, in the prefence of twenty 
 vritnefles, defended the propriety of an appeal to the 
 people, and faid, if the appeal was not carried, it 
 would be mod advifable to vote for the imprifon- 
 rnent of the king '. But I do not confider it at all 
 certain, that he ever intended to ihew any mercy to 
 the imprifoned fovereign, or to vote otherwife than 
 as the faction to whom he had attached himfelf 
 2 7 th No- fliould direcl. Long before the period alluded to by 
 1793^ Briflbt, he brought up an addrefs from the friends of 
 the republic at Auxerre, in which were thefe ex- 
 preilions : " Nations wait with anxiety for the fen- 
 < e fence you are about to pafs on Louis XVI. Let it 
 " be terrible and fpeedy ; let it make the tyrants of 
 " the earth tremble. Let the blood of the moft 
 .** worthlefs of confpirators expiate his crimes without 
 "delay" It is very improbable that a man who 
 favoured <uch an addrefs, mould be an advocate for 
 an appeal to the people, or for any other meafurc 
 tending to fave the king. But a ftronger proof arifes 
 fioin the opinion on this bufmefs, which he, like 
 
 k Conjuration de d'OjIeani, vol. iii. p. 131. Pages Hiftoire Secrete, 
 Tol ii. p. i^. 
 * iJriiTot i fcs Commettans, p. 18. n. m Debates. 
 
 many
 
 LEPELLETIER. $ 
 
 many others, had publifhed pending the trial ; in 
 
 which he faid, that, " if the reprefentatives of the 
 
 " people openly betrayed their caufe, by pronoun- 
 
 " cing againfl their confcience, the acquittal of the 
 
 " tyrant, then the people would have a right of infur- 
 
 " reftion; that is to fay, a right of withdrawing their 
 
 " confidence from their treacherous deputies." He 5 th janu- 
 
 was afterwards reproached by Petion in the conven- ai T i m* 
 
 don for this very declaration n . 
 
 He voted for the fentence of death, and againfl: His death, 
 the appeal to the people. The day of the king's ex- 
 ecution, he went to dine at a coffee-houfe in the 
 Jardin de I'Egalite. Six perfons came from an ad- 
 joining apartment, and one of them faid, " There is 
 " that fcoundrel Lepelletier." " My name is Le- 
 pelletier," heanfwered; " but I am no fcoundrel." 
 " Did you not vote for the death of the king ?" faid 
 the aflamn. " I did," anfwered the deputy ; " but 
 " that was a duty impofed on me by my confcience." 
 Hardly had he uttered thefe words, when the perfon 
 to whom they were addrefled, plunged a fabre in his 
 body, and made his efcape. The wounded deputy *JU anu -_ 
 was taken home, and expired at one o'clock the next ai 
 morning. 
 
 Such is the account of this event given in the con- ohrerva- 
 vention, and publifhed by their authority. The Uscff^a*. 
 Mountain availed themfelves of the pretended cirr 
 cumftances, to impute the facl to their political anta- 
 gonifts ; their declamations in the convention, the 
 addrefs of the Jacobin club to the affiliated focjeties 
 and to the legiilative body, dwell ftrongly on this facl, 
 and it tended very much to deftroy the popularity of 
 the BrhTotines . But there are many improbabilities 
 in the narrative; particularly that fo long a converia- 
 tion, and fo deliberate a murder, mould take place 
 
 Rohefpiene a fes Commetrans, vol. ii. p. 194. 
 
 See Debates in tlie t.'onvention, zilt January, 8th nn*} a^th Fe- 
 bruary, 1793. See alfo Roh-lpieire a les Commman;, vol. ii.'p. 133. 
 j^-i . 346. iirifloi u lies Commetians, p. 17, r. 
 
 ? in
 
 6 LEPELLETIER. 
 
 in a public coffee-houfe, in the mofl frequented part 
 of Paris, and yet the aflaffin efcape, without any ef- 
 fort being made to detain him. It is faid, on the 
 other fide, that the man who murdered him, uttered 
 a few hafty reproaches, and then perpetrated the 
 deed; that St. Fargeau fell, and immediately expired, 
 uttering only the words, " y'aifroid," I am cold*. 
 We are told, that the deceafed, at the moment of ex- 
 piring, uttered a fine fentence, which was engraved 
 on his tomb ; but this is very improbable. No men- 
 tion was made of it in the firfl report of the affair to 
 the convention, and the ficlion was obvioufly calcu- 
 lated to aniwer two views ; to counteract the im- 
 preffion of the lad words of the monarch, and to 
 excite fufpicions of the Briflbtines, by the hope they 
 contain, that the death of the fpeaker would unmajk 
 the enemies of the republic. 
 
 siftjanu- Ten days after Lepelletier's death, his prefumed 
 T 793- aflaffin was difcovered, at Forges les Eaux. He was 
 Death of m ex-guard of the king, named Paris. After the 
 Paris, his death of Lepelletier, a fearch had been directed, 
 
 mSrdSer wn i cn to ^ P^ ace ^ e 2 9^> on wm 'ch day Paris is 
 fuppofed to have made his efcape ; he purfued his 
 way to Forges, where he arrived the 31 ft. The 
 manner in which he behaved at the inn exciting fome 
 fufpicions, a guard was fent for ; and while they were 
 putting fome queftions to him, he blew out his brains, 
 'with a double-barrelled piftd-, loaded with two chewed 
 bullets q . When he was ftripped, two papers were 
 found next his ftomach ; the tender-hearted Tallien 
 declined mewing them to the convention, becaufe, 
 being ftained with blood, they were a difgufting 
 fpedacle ; but, on his word, one of them contained 
 thefe expreffions : " MY BREVET OF H> NOR." 
 " Let no one be molefled. No one was my accom- 
 " plice in the fortunate execution of the villain St. 
 
 P Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 24.1. Pages Hiftoire Secrete, 
 vol. ii. p. 70. 
 
 3 Tallien's Report to the Con vernier, February fth. 
 
 " Fargeau.
 
 LEPELLETIER; 
 
 u Fargeau. If he had not fallen, I would have done 
 " a more praife- worthy a&ion, I would have purged 
 " the country of the regicide, the patricide, the par- 
 " ricide, Orleans. Let no one be molefted. The 
 " French are a nation of daflards, to whom I leave 
 " thefe words : 
 
 " Peuple, dontles forfaits jcttent partout 1'effroi, 
 
 " Avec calme et plaifir j'abandonne la vie, 
 
 " Ce n'eft que par la mort qu'on peut fuir I'infarme 
 
 " Qu 'imprime fur nos fronts le fang de notre roi. " 
 
 Frenchmen, whofe crimes, the univerfe affright, 
 Life I refign, with calmnefs and delight ; 
 By death alone I fhun the dire difgrace, 
 Which our king's blood, ftamps on each Frenchman's 
 face. 
 
 On this abfurd narrative I mail make no comment. 
 The following extract from madame Roland, will 
 enable the reader to form his own conjectures : 
 
 " The afTaffination of Lepelletier is flill a kind of 
 " my fiery ; but I mail never forget two circum- 
 " fiances, which I will relate in this place : ifl, That I 
 " faw all the perfons who are at this day proscribed, 
 " in defpair at the event ; I faw Buzot and Louvet 
 " fighing, and fhedding tears of anger, under a 
 " perfuafion that feme bold mountaineer had pe 
 " t rated this atl'ion^ to attribute it to the right 
 " and to make it the means of exciting the popular fa- 
 " naticifai againft them. 2d, That Gorfas, declaring 
 " pretty plainly the fame opinion, adds, that in all 
 " probability the affajfin 'would never be dif cover cd, 
 " or would not be brought forward alive. It is true 
 " that a Parifian mountaineer, employed with another 
 " to fearch after the affaffin, met with Paris in Nor- 
 " mandy, in a public houfe, where they faid he 
 " blew out his brains. It is alfo true that the Moun- 
 *' tain made a kind of faint of Lepelietier, a filly, 
 24 " rich
 
 8 LEPELLETIER. 
 
 <c rich man, who certainly never expected any fuch 
 ** thing, having joined them through fear ; the only 
 " eflential fervice he ever rendered them was, in dy- 
 " ing as he did r ." 
 
 Funeral The honors paid to St. Fargeau, after his deceafe, 
 hulous * * rtn an extraordinary contrail with the infignificance 
 honors, of his life. Robefpierre himfelf made the motion, 
 that his body mould be depofited in the Pantheon, 
 and that the convention mould attend his funeral. 
 *4.th ja- The ceremony was performed with the utmoft grandeur 
 nuary. an( j folemnity. The pedeftal in the place Vendome, on 
 which the ftatue of Louis XIV. formerly flood, was 
 adorned with a drapery of white crape, with feftoons 
 of oak and cyprefs. On each fide were placed vafes 
 with frankincenfe, and on two of its faces were 
 written, in letters of gold, the fuppofed lafl words of 
 Lepelletier : " I am content to fhed my blood for 
 " my country; I hope it will confolidate liberty 
 " and equality, and unmafk our enemies." At 
 eight o'clock in the morning, detachments of volun- 
 teers and national guards, with fifes and muffled drums, 
 were on the ground. At eleven, the body of Lepelle- 
 tier, dark naked to mew his wound, was brought from 
 his brother's houfe, and depofited on the pedeftal. 
 The members of the convention arrived at twelve ; 
 the prefident placed a civic garland on the head of 
 the deceafed; a funeral oration was pronounced, 
 after which a proceflion fet out from the place Yen- 
 dome, to the Pantheon, in the following order : 
 
 A Company of Miners. 
 
 A Banner. 
 
 A Troop of Horfe. 
 
 A Body of Pikemen. 
 
 The Tables of the Law. 
 
 A Body of Horfe. 
 
 f Appel a Pimpartiale Pofterite, vol. ii. p. 71. 
 
 A Ban-
 
 LEPELLETIER. 
 
 A Banner, 
 
 The Declaration of the Rights of Man. 
 
 A Corps of Cannoneers. 
 
 The Statue of Liberty. 
 
 Detachment of Federates. 
 
 The Fafccs of the 84 Departments, carried by Federates. 
 
 Muffled Drums and Fifes. 
 The Banner of the Republic. 
 
 Twelve Huifliers. 
 The Prefident of the Convention, furrounded by the 
 
 Honorary Secretaries, 
 The Members of the National Convention two and two 
 
 THE BODY OF LEPELLETIER. 
 
 This was reclining on the bed on which he died, the flieets 
 
 of which were drenched with his blood. 
 
 The Corpfe was naked, in order to difplay his ghaftly 
 
 wound. 
 
 On one fide of the Corpfe, 
 The Sabre of the Aflaffin fufpended from a Pike ; 
 
 On the other, 
 The Clothes which he had on when he was murdered. 
 
 The Family and Relations of the Deceafed. 
 A Banner, with the dying Deputy's laft Words infcribed 
 
 upon it. M 
 
 Warlike Mufic. [The Drums and Fifes, &c. muffled.] 
 The Provifional Executive Council. 
 
 A Body of Pikemen. 
 The Directory of the Department. 
 
 A Body of Horfc. 
 
 The Municipality of Paris. 
 
 A Detachment of Cannoneers. 
 
 A Number of Mothers with their Children. 
 
 A Band of Pikemen. 
 The Eleftoral Body of Paris. 
 
 Eight Huifliers. 
 
 The Members of the Courts of Juftice. 
 A Body of Federates. 
 
 A Scar-
 
 , L E PEL LE TIER. 
 
 A Scarlet Bonnet. 
 The Jacobin Society. 
 . A Body of Federates. 
 
 A Body of Horfe. 
 A Company of Pioneers. 
 
 This proceflion lafted two hours, during which, 
 the mufic of the national guards performed a funeral 
 dirge. The remains of Lepelletier were depofited in 
 the Pantheon, in a niche between thofe of Voltaire 
 and Mirabeau. The mufic played feveral airs ; the 
 brother of the deceafed delivered an oration in his 
 praife; the members of the convention fwore to 
 preferve union and confraternity, and to fave the 
 country ; and the ceremony concluded with a grand 
 chorus to Liberty '. 
 
 But this was not the only ftep taken to perpetuate 
 his memory ; the fedion des files St. Thomas took 
 his name, and one of the (hips of the republic was 
 called after him. Forty-eight feafls w r ere given in 
 honor of him and Marat; maufoleums were erected 
 to- him in every commune ; his buft was in all 
 the temples, and theatres, and, throughout the de- 
 partments, was to be feen in almoft every houfe; 
 Robefpierre himfelf placed it on the altar of the Su- 
 preme Being, the day he made his abfurd and facri- 
 legious feaft' c . 
 
 Lepelletier, at the time of his death, was on the 
 point of forming a matrimonial engagement with 
 Madame de Fontenay, daughter of the famous Ga- 
 barus, who was fo long perfecuted by the inquifi- 
 tion u . His property was inherited by his brother, of 
 whom M. de Montgaillard fpeaks with great fe- 
 verity x . 
 
 * See the French journals ami Englifh newfpapers of the time. 
 
 1 Etat de la France, par M. le Conr.e de Montgaillard, p. 70. 
 {Suite du meme, p, 36. 
 
 n Political State of Europe, vol. iii. p. 179, 
 
 * Suite de Tliiat de la France, p. 73. 
 
 The
 
 LEPELLETIER. 
 
 The day after the performance of Lepelletier's fu- 2 5'h J 
 neral ceremony, his two brothers attended at the bar nuai y- 
 of the convention, with his infant daughter, and one of 
 them holding her up, exclaimed with fobs, "People, Hi 
 *' behold yeur child!" The convention immediately ty 
 palled a decree, that fhe was adopted by the nation 7 , nation. 
 
 y Robefpiene a fes Commettans, vol. ii. p. 351.
 
 C 12 ] 
 
 PIERRE MANUEL, 
 
 Birth ami JV/JANUEL was fon of a linen-draper* at Mont- 
 
 "* argis ; he received a liberal education, and, 
 
 early in life, went to Paris, without money, and almoft 
 
 without recommendation, to improve his fortune by 
 
 the exercife of his abilities. He commenced author, 
 
 and produced a few works, the names of which are 
 
 now no longer remembered. His literary efforts were 
 
 fo ill recompenfed, that he hired himfelf to a banker 
 
 in Paris, as tutor to his children, for which he was 
 
 allowed a thoufand livres (43 /. 15 j.) a-year. He was 
 
 afterwards retained by M. de Sartines, as a fpy for 
 
 Writes the police, in the department of publications b , but 
 
 libels. being of a difpofition rather to diffeminate fcandal 
 
 than to fupprefs it, he turned his pen againft the 
 
 court, and wrote a pamphlet refpecting the famous 
 
 affair of the necklace, intitled " Lettre d*im Garde 
 
 is Jmpri- d u R j t " This publication, together with the fufr 
 
 picion of his being engaged in felling prohibited 
 
 adFefcni. works, occafioned his imprifonment. He fays he 
 
 ary 1786. was confined in the Baftille % but his enemies affect to 
 
 deprive him of that honor, and fay that the place of 
 
 7th April his retreat was the Bicetre. He was foon enlarged, 
 
 ' 7 * 6 - and returned to Montargis, where he fupported him- 
 
 mge 'felf by hawking about prohibited and i decent 
 
 books". 
 
 a Biftille Jevoille?, 3 e Jivnifon, p. 105. Many pcifbns have faid 
 that Manuel's father was a potter. 
 k Confpiracy ot" Rohelpierre, p. 4.?. 
 Poftille devoiliee, 3 e livraifon, p. 105. 
 * Peltier's lat PitVure of i'aris, vot.ii. p. 240. 
 
 This
 
 M A N tT E L. 13 
 
 This livelihood, thus obtained, was fcanty and pre* Hlspovcr- 
 carious ; he therefore, once again, repaired to Paris, ty * 
 and refumed his labors as an author, by a publication 
 called U Annee Fratifoifc, intended as a courfe of 
 juvenile biography, in which he applied to every 
 day in the year the life of fome illultrious Frenchman. 
 Manuel's ftyle is difgufting from affectation and pe- 
 dantry ; his work was unfavorably treated by the cri- 
 tics, and the author was reduced to the fituation of a 
 newfman and bill-flicker e . 
 
 While he was thus ftruggling againft poverty, the '7*9- 
 revolution commenced, and promifed more advan- ConduSai 
 tageous employment. After the deftruction of the t^, " 
 Baftille, he became a Jacobin, and was taken 
 into the protection of the duke of Orleans, but 
 did not receive from him any effectual fupply f . 
 He was, however, named provifionally to the ad- 
 miniftration of the police, in the department 
 of Paris. In this fituation, he obtained accefs to 
 many original papers, and feleded from them fuch 
 as he thought he could afterwards advantageoufly 
 difpofe of to the bookfellers g . The formation of a 
 more permanent body of police occafioned Manuel's 
 difmiffion, bejpre he had time to gain any confider- 
 able advantages from his employ. He occupied him- 
 felf for fome time in preparing for the prefs thefe 
 papers he had fo unfairly obtained, and, in about a 179*. 
 year, produced in two octavo volumes La Police ^L" Police 
 Paris dzvoillee. This work affords a copious collec- 
 tion of all the abufes, real and pretended, which were 
 attributed to the old government. It gave the com- 
 piler an opportunity of gratifying his habitual rancor 
 againft priefts, and againft religion ;. he has abufed 
 both in the coarfeft and moft unqualified terms. It 
 had confiderable fuccefs, xvhich was probably much 
 increafed by exaggerated accounts of the mifcry of 
 
 Peltift's late Figure of Paris, vol. ii. p. 240. 
 
 f Conjuration de d'Oileans, vol. iii. p. 146. 
 
 t MercuieFrat^oife, No, du 19 Mai 1791, p. 109, 
 
 the
 
 14 M A N U E L. 
 
 the lower clafs of people in England, and by the fug- 
 geilions of an approaching revolution h . 
 December At tne diiTolution of the conftituent aflembly, he 
 PuTrfli was l 00 ^ 6 ^ u P on as a republican, but he was for 
 Mira- fome time afterwards attached to the interefts of the 
 beau's let- duke of Orleans l . Still Manuel was not opulent, he 
 lived in a garret, at the houfe of Garnery the book- 
 feller, where he employed himfelf in decyphering, 
 preparing for the prefs, and correcting the proofs 
 of another book, which his breach of trufl en- 
 abled him to pubiifh. It was intitled, Lettres ori- 
 ginates de Mirabeaiij ecrltes du Donjon de Vincennes 9 
 pendent les Anne es 1777, 78, 79, ctSo-, contenant 
 tous les details fur fa vie privee, fes malheurs^ et fes 
 amours avec Sophie Ruffei marquife de Mounter. The 
 intereft excited by every thing relating to Mirabeau, 
 promifed an extenfive and rapid fale ; Manuel re- 
 ceived from the bookfellers two thoufand crowns 
 (2507.) for the copy k . But the creditors of Mira- 
 beau, who confidered themfelves better entitled to the 
 produce of this publication than any other perfon, 
 obtained an order from an adminiftrator of the 
 police, named Maugis, authorizing them to feize 
 the original letters, and prevent a continuation of the 
 impreffion. Manuel exclaimed loudly againft this 
 proceeding, which, for violence and fuddennefs, was 
 open to the imputation of illegality ; he had the ad- 
 drefs to put himfelf on the footing of Chamfort, and 
 other honeft proprietors of Mirabeau's letters, and 
 by clamorous appeals to the people, by abufe, 
 and threats, filenced all oppofition. The public 
 expectation was grievouily difappointed ; the letters 
 added nothing to Mirabeau's fame, nor was the 
 tranfaclion which procured, or the preface which 
 
 h See the work itfelf, published by De Boffv-, London; alfo M;r- 
 cure Francois Liiteraire, du 23 Juillet 1791. 
 
 J Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 474. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iir. 
 p. 131. 146. Eloge Funebre, &c. par M. Montjoye^ p. 106. 
 
 k Peltier's late Pifture of Paris, vol.ii. p. 240. 
 
 6 ufhered
 
 MANUEL; 15 
 
 ufhered them Into notice, at all advantageous to 
 Manuel J . 
 
 Previous to this publication, he was named pro- November 
 cureur fyndique to the commune of Paris. He owed 
 this elevation to his connection with the Jacobins, MadJpro- 
 but did not obtain it without a ftruggle. M. Bofquil- cureur to 
 Ion, a juftice of peace, of the moft amiable and vir- n^ne.'"" 
 tuous character, oppofed his election, alleging feveral 
 circumflances tending to difqualify him. Manuel 
 furmounted this oppofition by the fame means he 
 employed againfl Mirabeau's creditors, but he never 
 forgave Bofquillon, and, in the end, facriftced him 
 to his revenge m . This appointment put Manuel in 
 pofleffion of fifteen thousand livres (6567. 5^.) a- 
 year, befides an extenfive patronage ". 
 
 In this fituation he gave fo manv proofs of perfonal 77 9*- 
 
 j-rr n. i i_ i_ j r_ r u r i Tn-ntment 
 
 diirelpect, and behaved with io much inlolence to ftiK. )al 
 the king, that he obtained the nickname of I'anti family. 
 Roi 9 a name with which he was not difpleafed . His 
 brutality was difplayed on every occafion, and he 
 omitted no endeavour to render the king's fituation 
 irkfome and infupportable. His principal motive 
 for this conduct is faid to have been the hope of in- 
 ducing or compelling the king to a fecond flight, 
 which would have amounted to an abdication of the 
 throne, and paved a way for the advancement of 
 Orleans p . This project, worthy the pitiful machi- 
 avelifm of Petion and Manuel, being fruftrated by 
 the king's refolute adherence to the conltitution, it 
 was refolved by the Rolandift faction to abridge his 
 power, and fecure their own, by a popularcommotion. 
 To effect this, Manuel placarded the walls with libel - 
 
 1 See the poftfcript to the preface, Lettres OriginaJes, vol. i. p. 43. 
 Peltier's Lite Pifture, vol. ii. p. Z4O. and the letters theinfeives. 
 
 " Peltier's late Pi&ure, vol. ii. p. 139. See allb Mercure Fj-anfois, 
 No. du io Decembre 1791. 
 
 n Mercure Francois, No. du 19 Mai 179*. 
 
 u Idem, No. du 9 Juin 179?., p. 131. 
 
 l> Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 170. 173, 187. Eloge 
 Funtbre, &c. p, 176, 
 
 Jous
 
 16 MANUEL. 
 
 lous mve&ives againft the royal family, and affifted 
 with all his power in exciting the commotions of the 
 soth June, twentieth of June q . He was, on that day, in the gar- 
 den of the Tuilleries, without his municipal fcarf, 
 laughing, clapping his hands, encouraging the mob 
 to perfiit in their outrages, and affilling to take 
 away the barrier of tri-colored riband, which alone 
 protected the perfons of the royal prilbners r . 
 l> July. His mifcondudt was fo notorious, that he was pro- 
 vifionally fufpended from his office ', but the influence 
 of the Jacobins was exerted in his favour. The mo- 
 ment the decree made by the directory of the de- 
 partment of Paris was read to the council-general 
 of the commune, Petion, who was fufpended as well 
 as Manuel, withdrew ; Danton rofe, and exclaimed, 
 " Let all good citizens follow the mayor to the na- 
 " tional afifembly !" He and fome of his party ac- 
 cordingly went out, but the majority of the council 
 continued their deliberations '. Frequent applications 
 were made to the aflembly in behalf of the fufpended 
 officers ; the journalifts repeatedly afierted that the 
 true reafon of their difgrace was, that they had re- 
 fufed to obey the court in fhedding the blood of 
 citizens, and commencing a civil war u . The king 
 jth July, wrote to the aflembly, declining all interference in 
 the bufmefs, on account of its perfonal reference to 
 himfelf. Manuel either was, or pretended to be, ill 
 of a fever, but he wrote to the aflembly to caution 
 t^th July. ^em a g am ft giving ear to the calumnies of his 
 enemies, who, he aflured them, were enemies of the 
 people. The influence of the Jacobins was fo great, 
 .that the afiembly, without examination, pronounced 
 
 * Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 175. 
 
 r Mercure Fran$ois, No. du ai Juillet 1791, p. 195- Peltier's late 
 Picture, vol. ii. p. 24.1 . See alfo Manuel's Examination on the Queen'* 
 Trial, in Jordan's Political State of Europe, vol. v. p. 166. 
 
 * Impartial Hiftory, vol. ii. p. $7- 
 
 t Mercure F'ranqois, No. du 7 Juillet 179*' P- MS- 
 
 Ibid. See alfo Le D.-fenfeur dc la Conititutioii, par M. Robe-
 
 MANUEL. 17 
 
 him not guilty, and he was reftored to his office. th. 
 On the day when this decree parted in his favour, Reftored ' 
 he went to the aflembly and made a violent fpeech, 
 replete with infolence and falfe accufations againft 
 the king, which was received with the greateft ap- 
 plaufes, and procured him the honors of the 
 fitting x . 
 
 With fo much popularity, and with fuch prin- icthAu- 
 ciples as he had conftantly difplayed, it is impoflible f:". 1 *' 
 to fuppofe that Manuel would not take an active tions. 
 fhare in the revolution of the loth of Auguft. He 
 was one of the triumvirate of the commune, who 
 retained their feats when the old .members were 
 forcibly expelled, and remained all night in the hall 
 of the commune^ executing the plots of thofe who 
 had projected the infurrection y . He was now gra- 
 tified with an opportunity of difplaying all his ma- 
 lignity againft the unfortunate royal family. A 
 decree had paffed the legiflature, ordering that they 
 mould be confined in the hotel of the minifter of 
 juftice, but Manuel, thinking this degradation in- 
 fufficient, attended at the bar, and alleged that the 
 commune could not be refponfible for their detention, 
 unlefs they were confined in a place of greater fecu- 
 rity ; he did not leave the matter to the judgment of 
 the affembly, but propofed the Temple, which was 
 acceded to z . The malicious activity he difplayed 
 on this occafion raifed his popularity to the greateft 
 height ; but he little thought that, under a repub- 
 lican government, his want of energy in the de- 
 ftruction of royalty would be made an article of 
 reproach and accufation againft him a . He was par- 
 
 * Debates and Hiftories. 
 
 y See his evidence on the queen's trial, Jordan's Political State 
 of Europe, vol. v. p. 167. An Hiftorical and Political Account of 
 the Events of the 9th and loth of Augult, by a National Guard, 
 p. 31. Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 53. 14.8, &c. &c. 
 
 z Debates and Hiftories. See alfb Eloge Funebre, &c. par M. 
 Montjoye, p. 199. 207. 
 
 a See Hebert's oblervations on his evidence againft the queen, 
 Jordan's Political State of Europe, vol. v. p. 193. 
 
 VOL. ii. c ticularly
 
 i8 
 
 *dSep- 
 
 ModL 1 
 
 promoter 
 of the 
 
 m-uacrt-s. 
 
 MANUEL. 
 
 ticularly aftive in forming the tribunal to try the 
 pretended criminals, and caufed a permanent guil- 
 lotine to be creeled in the Caroufel, under pretence, 
 that, as that fpot had been the theatre of guilt, it 
 ought alfo to be the place of punimment b . 
 
 It has been attempted to vindicate him from the 
 cnar S e f having been concerned in the maffacres of 
 September, but his exculpation refls on very flight 
 grounds . For fome time before the event he 
 
 c ,-..... r 
 
 was very active in pointing out proper perlons to be 
 arrefted ; he vifited the prifons daily, and numbered 
 the perfons confined with the moft fcrupulous exaft- 
 nefs ; he told many of them, with a fmile, convey- 
 ing a latent meaning, that they would be liberated 
 the fecond of September ; and intimated to feveral 
 that they would be. fhipped off to the coaft of 
 Africa, in order to induce them to colled as many 
 of their valuables as poffible d . It is certain, from 
 the melancholy expreflion made ufe of by Chante* 
 reine when he dabbed himfelf, fo early as the 
 twenty-fecond of Auguft, that their projected mur- 
 der was known* ; and if Manuel had not known of 
 it by a culpable participation, he muft have been 
 apprized officially, and in either cafe he is highly 
 culpable. But of him it is pofitively aflerted, that 
 he received money of many prifoners to procure 
 
 fc Peltier's late Pifture, vol. if. p. 410. 
 
 c Ste Garai's Memoirs, p. 27. 
 
 * Pages, vol. i. p. 479. Peltier's late Figure, TO!. li, p 230, 
 279. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 206. Confpiiucy of 
 Xobefpierre, p. 74.. Gibbon's Mifcellaneos Works, vol. i. p. 261. 
 Amongrt the inftanccs of individuals faciificed to his perfonal hatred 
 is Bofquillon, the juftrce of peice who oppofed his election a pro- 
 eureur de la com m line. See Peltier's late Piflure, vol. ii. p. 240. 
 
 6 CHANTEREINE was colonel of the conftituttonal guard of the 
 king's household, on the tenth of Auguft 1791. He was, between 
 that day and the fecond of September, .arrefted by order of the com- 
 mune, and confined in ths prifon of the Abbaye. Being informed, 
 from fources he confidered infallible, of the projected, murder of the 
 prifoners, as they were fitting down to dinner on the aad of Aogurr, 
 he luddenly Itabbed himfelf three times with a knife, exclaimmv, 
 " We are all doomed to be maflacred 5 My God, receive me !" and 
 expired almoft inftantaneouiiy. St. Mearti's Agony, p. 10, 
 
 their
 
 MANUEL. 
 
 their acquittal and fafety, and particularly fifty thou- 
 fand crowns (6250 1.) of the princefle de Lamballe. 
 A faying of his own, that he would have preferred 
 that lady if (he had not loll her prefence of mind, 
 corroborates the fuggeflion. Her murder has been 
 deemed an unpremeditated act of fury ; the fact, 
 however, is this : Manuel had agreed to fave her, 
 but the duke of Orleans exprefsly commanded her 
 deflruction, and Manuel had not time to counteract 
 the execution of his orders, which were given with 
 fecrecy, and performed with diabolical fidelity f . 
 The mafiacres of this and the following days enriched 
 Manuel, but from that period he renounced all con- 
 nexion with Orleans 5 . 
 
 He was elected member of the convention for Member 
 Paris, and attached himfelf to the party which op- 
 pofed the views of his late patron. His conduct 
 while he. retained a feat in this aflembly, except in 
 fuch parts of it as were produced by his defire of 
 thwarting Orleans and the Mountain, exhibits very 
 little worthy of notice for virtue or confiftency. At ift Sep. 
 the opening of the fittings, he made a motion which tember * 
 did fome honour to his difcernment, namely, that 
 the prefident of the convention mould have apart- 
 ments in the Tuilleries, and a guard ; that he 7th Sp. 
 mould be ftyled prefident of France, and that cer- Jf 
 tain marks of refpect mould be (hewn him in public ; her. 
 but this was negatived. He moved, but unfucceff- 
 fully, for the abolition of the order of priefthood, ex- 
 preffing his furprife, not that bifhops were paid, 
 but that they were permitted to exifl ; an expreffion 
 worthy a Septembrizer h . He defended general 
 Montefquiou againft the attacks of the Mountain, 
 and, in general, oppofed all their proceedings re- 
 fpecting the king. 
 
 f Pnges, vol. i. p. 480, 481. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. Hi. 
 p. 4io. 
 
 S Conjuration de d'Ojleans, vol. iii. p. aio. Pages, vol. i. p. 486. 
 k Debates. 
 
 c 2 That 
 
 \
 
 40 M A N U E L. 
 
 Condua That Manuel mould have exerted himfelf fo 
 Sekina'? mucn to f ave tne life f tne king ' ls a fubject of fur- 
 trial. & prife, and has given rife to various conjectures. It 
 has been faid that he felt a defire to re-eftablifh 
 royalty, which report is countenanced by his ob- 
 fervation at the Jacobins, that liberty was better in 
 profpect than in pofieflion, and by fome exprelfions 
 which he dropped, importing a wifh to place the 
 duke of York or the duke of Brunfwick on the 
 i6thoao- thfone 1 . It is further ftrengthened by his motion 
 ber * to fubmit the queflion of aboliming royalty, which 
 
 had patted in the convention by acclamation, to the 
 people in primary afiemblies ; this motion was 
 fpeedily over-ruled, Danton and Briflbt joined to 
 argue againfl it. Notwithftanding thefe facts, I 
 think his conduct can only be afcribed to his difguft 
 againft Orleans. He does not appear ever to have 
 become a royalift : he was always ready to forward 
 every meafure, and even to extend every fuggeftion 
 which had a tendency to degrade or harafs the 
 king and his family, to whom in his vifits to the 
 i 9 thoao- Temple he behaved with extreme rudenefs k . He 
 propofed the fale of the chateau of Verfailles, as an 
 amendment of an original motion, which only re- 
 tsthoao- commended the fale of the furniture. He treated 
 ber ' the crofs of Saint Louis with fcorn, as a ftain on 
 the coat of a foldier, and carried his abfurd preju- 
 3 otl j ' D C- dice fo far as to move the abolition of Twelfth-Day, 
 (le Jour des Rois,*) merely on account of its name 1 . 
 He was accufed by Hebert of having oppofed a re- 
 duction of expence in the table of the royal prifoners, 
 but kindnefs to them was not the motive" 1 , and a 
 fuggeftion has been thrown out perfonally relating 
 to the queen, which could only originate in the moft 
 
 ' Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 203. 
 " See Journal de Clery, p. 100. 
 I Debates. 
 
 m See trial of the queen, Jordan's Political State of Eur&pe, vol. v. 
 p. 193* 
 
 rancorous
 
 MANUEL. 
 
 rancorous malignity, and merits no notice except 
 contempt". His oppofition, by whatever motive it 
 might be produced, was bold and well combined ; 
 he aimed a blow at the influence of the terrorifts, 
 which, had it effectually taken place, would, in all 
 probability, have faved the life of the monarch ; this 
 was when he moved that a certain number of tickets 
 of admiffion to the tribunes mould be fent every 
 day to the fedions, to be diftributed amongft the real 
 citizens, which would operate to the exclufion of 
 thofe hired ruffians, who by their interference de- 
 graded the national reprefentation, and prejudiced 
 the difcuffion of every queftion. This motion 
 failed, through the influence of the Mountain, and 
 of thofe very galleries againft whom it was intended. 
 After the king's defence had been made, he pro- 
 pofed that it fhould be printed, and fent to the 
 departments, and that the difcuflions of the con- 
 vention on the fubjecl fhould be fufpended for 
 three days ; but this motion was rejected, and being 
 reported at the Jacobin club, occafioned his expul- Expelled 
 fion from that fociety . In voting on the queftion 
 refpecling the reference of the fentence againft the 
 king to the primary aflemblies, he made fome 
 pointed obfervations on the general conduct of the 
 members of the convention, and on the duke of 
 Orleans. " Judges," he faid, " do not murmur 
 '* at the opinions of their brethren, though different 
 " from their own : they do not openly abufe and 
 " calumniate each other ; they are cold as the law, 
 " of which they are the organs. If the convention 
 
 $ I will not infult the reader by a reference to the publication in 
 
 which this infinuation is contained I appeal t > the author's fenfe of 
 
 fhame who could commit fuch an accuiation to p.iper, when he might 
 
 hive been convinced of its impoflibility by the following exTaft from 
 
 the queen's trial. Q- The Prefdent, (t Manuel) " Why did you 
 
 take it upon you ro enter alone into the I emple, and particularly 
 
 into the apartments called Royal ?" PFitnefs " / never allowed 
 
 nyf'/f to inter alone into the apartments of the prijbxen ; J, on the contrary, took 
 
 cart always tt be accompanied by federal of the commijfioners tvbo -were on duty 
 
 titte.** Jordan's Political State ol Europe, vol. v. p. 168. 
 
 9 Debates. Moore's Journal, vol. ii.p, 534.. 538. 566. 
 
 c 3 had
 
 22 M A N U E L. 
 
 * c had been a tribunal of law, a near relation of the 
 " king, who has not been retrained either by a 
 " fenfe of fhame or by his confcience, would not 
 " have been permitted to vote on this occafion." 
 He was proceeding with his obfervations, when the 
 prefident called him to order p . When the lad appel 
 nominal was made, on the queflion of punifhinent, 
 Manuel was fecretary, and indignant at finding the 
 decifion of death carried by fo frnall a majority, he 
 rofe from his place, exclaiming, " I mufl leave this 
 " place to feek a purer air." He ruined towards 
 . the door, but fome of the Mountain fearing that he 
 was carrying away the lifts of the fcrutiny attempted 
 to flop him. He efcaped, however, out of their 
 hands, and made his retreat, but was followed by 
 Duhem, who fucceeded in making him refume his 
 feat; This tranfaclion threw the convention into 
 great confufion, but it is not certain that Manuel 
 had any intention of carrying off the lift q . 
 T9 thjanu. When the queftions were all decided, he fent a 
 79 3 ' letter to the convention full of complaints and re- 
 Kefignshis preaches, which he concluded by refigning his feat. 
 The motive he alleged then and afterwards, on the 
 queen's trial, was, that he defpaired of the eftablifh- 
 raent of liberty from fuch a body, divided by faftion, 
 and over-ruled by clamour'. He alfo wrote a letter on 
 the queftion of an appeal to the people, which was 
 publifhed in Condorcet's paper, and is efteemed one 
 of his bed productions. 
 
 While the trial was in agitation, Manuel had offer- 
 ed hirnfelf to fucceed Petion in the mayoralty of Paris, 
 and was third on the lift, having 868 votes'. He 
 Metres to retired to his native town, where he was defirous to 
 try/ """ remain, and end his days in obfcurity, Senfible of 
 March the dangers which awaited him from the increafing 
 
 *793 
 
 P Debates. Moore's Journnl, vol. ii. p. 579- 
 q Robefpierre a fes Commettans, vol. ii. p. 122. 
 Debates. Queen's trial, in Jordan's Political State of Europe, 
 to!, v. p. 167. 
 
 * Meicuie Frar^ois, N du 3 Novembre 1791. 
 
 influence
 
 MANUEL. 23 
 
 influence of the Mountain, he caufed it to be reported 
 that he was killed in a popular commotion at Mont- 
 argis. This fallacy was foon detected, he was Brou<r i, tto 
 arrefted and brought to Paris, where, after having Paris? 
 been examined on the trial of the queen, he was i6th Nov. 
 himfelf accufed of a confederacy with Briffot and '793- 
 Petion, tried and executed. When he was put into 
 the Conciergerie, he experienced from the prifoners 
 none of the confolatory kindneffes they generally 
 difplayed towards each other ; they reproached and 
 detefted him as author of the maflfacres of Septem- 
 ber ; and when he was going to his trial, they thru ft 
 him againft a pillar Mill flamed with blood fhed on 
 that day, exclaiming that it was fpilt by his means 1 . 
 
 In Manuel's character, there appears very little His cha- 
 virtue or confiftency. His outfet in life was raaer 
 marked by ingratitude, his progrefs by profli- 
 gacy and inftability of principle. As an author 
 he produced nothing worthy of criticifm, or likely 
 to reach pofterity. His ftyle is disfigured by af- 
 fectation and clumfy pedantry. He was celebrated 
 as a wit ; two inftances will prove the foundation of 
 his claims. In the commune, he moved that the *s th Jun 
 flatue of Louis XIV. might be caft into cannon, 179 *' 
 that the monarch might continue to make a nolfe to 
 the laft u . In the convention, in the courfe of the 
 debates on the king's trial, Manuel having moved 
 fomething which clamed with the wiflies of the 
 Mountain, Legendre, the butcher, faid, theaflembly 
 had better decree^ that Manuel is a wit. " I am 
 *' glad," faid Manuel, " they are not required to 
 " decree queje fuis bete, for then Legendre would 
 " think he had a right to kill me." There is fome 
 fmartnefs in this repartee, which lies in the word 
 bete, being uled equivocally to fignify a beaft, or a 
 fool*. 
 
 1 Tableau des Prtfons fous Roliefpierre. 
 u Journal?. 
 
 8 Mils Williams'* firft Collection of Letters on France. 
 C 4
 
 JEAN PAUL MARAT. 
 
 \/T A R A T was one of thofe men whom extraor- 
 dinary commotions or convulfions in the body 
 politic have exalted to a degree of eminence, from 
 which they are contemplated by fucceeding genera- 
 rations with horror, dilguft, and wonder bordering 
 on incredulity. This mifcreant verified the narratives 
 of poets and romance writers, who reprefent fouls de- 
 void of every laudable principle, and deformed by 
 every vice, inhabiting bodies of correfponding con- 
 formation, equally calculated to infpire abhorrence 
 by the firft impreffion on the fenfes. 
 
 Birth and Marat was born at Beaudry, a fmall hamlet in 
 education. t h e Canton of Neufchatel in Switzerland, where his 
 father was public fchoolmafter. He did not, how- 
 ever, undertake his fon's inftruclion, but fent him 
 to Geneva. His education, though not finimed, 
 was above the common level j and he was diftin- 
 guifhed, in that part of his life which preceded the 
 revolution, by an attachment to literature and phi- 
 lofophy. Probably his apparent debility of perfon, 
 which precluded the poffibility of much corporeal 
 exertion, induced his parents to beftow that ex- 
 pence on the cultivation of his mind, which enabled 
 him to fignalife himfelf in the lifts of atrocity r . 
 
 7 Corjuration d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 153. Pages, vol. ii. p. 19, 
 There is fome doubt about the place of his birth, which fome have 
 ftated to be Sardinia, others Corltca j but in his lifetime he was gene- 
 rally underftood to have been born in the Canion cf Neufchatel, part 
 of the dominions of the king of Prufiia. See Peltier's Piclure of 
 Paris, vol. ii- p> 527* 
 
 Poverty,
 
 M A ft. A T. 2$ 
 
 Poverty, and the difficulty of fupportmg him- Goe to 
 felf in his own country, induced him to go to Pans ' 
 Paris, where he commenced phyfician. Of the Plaices 
 profits of his practice there is no certain account, P h y hc 
 though he boafted of it as very extenfive, and 
 afferted, that on his arrival in Paris he receiv- 
 ed thirty-fix livres (i /. 1 1 s. 6d.) a vifit 2 . He 
 fubfifted principally by the fale of a quack medi- 
 cine, which did woful execution on thofe who 
 placed confidence in it, though, to fcreen himfelf 
 from the laws, he purchafed a diploma, and the 
 appointment of phyfician to the count d'Artois's 
 (tables. This medicine was a fpecific, appearing 
 like a very limpid water, for which he charged two 
 louis-d'ors a bottle a . 
 
 His attention was chiefly engaged by experiments His philo- 
 in natural philofophy, and in this purfuit he dif- r P hi< ;al 
 played that envy and malignity which always mark- 2u j 
 ed his character. He had ftudied light and elec- 
 tricity ; in the former he had difcovered many no- 
 velties, and made fome improvement on the prifm, 
 which are well fpoken of; in the latter, he does not 
 appear to have been equally fuccefsful, but perhaps 
 his envious difpofition prevented his greater fuccefs 
 in both, fmce he was more defirous to overturn the 
 fyftems of Newton, and to deprive Franklin of his 
 celebrity than to profit by their difcoveries b . 
 
 He publifhed a book, called " Recherches phypques and p 
 " fur le feu ;" and another, in which he affected to llcati< 
 confute the fyftem of Helvetius, under the title of I7 
 A Philofophical E/ay on Man." The former 
 treatife I have feen, but from not fufficiently under- 
 ftanding the fubject, can give no opinion refpecting 
 
 * BriiTot. When, in (he Life of Marat, Briffot is quoted with, 
 out fpecific reference to his work, I allude to a fragment of his 
 inferted in Mifs Williams's Letters in 1794, vol. iii. Appendix II. 
 p. no. 
 
 a Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 15*. Briffbt. 
 
 * Briffot. 
 
 it.
 
 <J MARAT. 
 
 it. The latter difplays a prefumption and vanity, 
 which the talents of the author by no means juftify. 
 He pronounces dogmatically on the mod abftrufe 
 queftions of the animal economy, and mews the 
 utmoft contempt for the judgment of the reader. 
 Voltaire, in his queftions on the Encyclopaedia, 
 treats this work with a greater degree of fe verity 
 rhan it merited, if we may believe Briffot ; but if he 
 committee! any miftake with refpeft to the book, he 
 made none as to the author, when he declared him 
 more Jit to libel men than to anahfs them c . 
 Goes to He went to England about the fame year, and 
 London, pubh'fhed aneflay, called " The Chains of Slavery;" 
 of which he afterwards boafted, that it procured 
 him great patronage and honor ; but the oblivion 
 in which the book is fhrouded, which, even the 
 infamous celebrity of the author has not been able 
 to difpel, aids his known character for mendacity 
 Returns to in discrediting the aflertion. When he returned to 
 Pans. Paris, he refumed his philofophical purfuits, but the 
 academy was fo prejudiced againft him, it did not 
 condefcend to criticife his production, or even to 
 mention his name. His defire to deftroy the fame 
 of Newton ftill purfued him, and he took a fmgular 
 method to effect it ; he tranilated his Principia into 
 French, and falfified the text, to bring difgrace on 
 the author. To fmuggle the book into notice, and 
 to efcape the fevere examination he apprehended 
 the academy would beftow on a production of his, 
 which the reputation of the original would compel 
 them to examine ; he prevailed on a grammarian, 
 called Baufiee, to print his name in the title-page as 
 tranilator ; but though this manoeuvre fucceeded fo 
 far as to obtain from the academy a negligent appro- 
 bation ; yet the work fell into difrepute, and was 
 foon forgot d . He continued to fupport himfelf by 
 the fale of quack medicines, protected by his place 
 
 < Biiffut. * Ibid. 
 
 in
 
 MARAT. 27 
 
 in the houfehold of the comte d'Artois, and the 
 purchafed diploma. It is not the leaft wonderful Hisamour. 
 circumflance of his life, that he was able to obtain 
 the favour, and live in habits of intimacy with a 
 young and beautiful lady of quality, feparated from 
 her hufband ; he had been called in as medical 
 affiftant, and had fucceeded in infpiring her with a 
 paffion for him, which (he always retained, in fpite 
 of the deformity of his perfoiL, the filthinefs of his 
 appearance, and the brutality of his behaviour 6 . 
 
 At the time of the revolution he was poor and i 7 g 9 . 
 obfcure ; the prevailing paffion for politics, and His fltu - 
 the activity of intrigue, were not to be fufpended by tl 
 philofophical curiofity, and he was fo little prepared 
 for the events about to take place, that he declared 
 his opinion that the nation was not ripe for a revo- 
 lution, and declined being concerned in it. When 
 the Baflilie was deftroyed, however, he came for- 
 ward, and with his accuflomed neglect of truth, 
 fent a pompous account of a pretended valiant ex- 
 ploit to be inferted in the journal of his friend 
 Brifibt f . Finding he had no chance of advancing Com . 
 himfelf but by affuming the reigning profegion of a mences 
 journalift, he commenced editor, called his paper J ournallft 
 The Publicifte Francois, and began, in the ufual 
 ftyle, to decry the court, and compliment the po- 
 pular favorites. In this career he had fo many com- 
 petitors, his fuperiors in information and eloquence, 
 that his want of fuccefs was fufficient to have difpi- 
 rited any man lefs fanguine or lefs perfevering s . 
 Whether his better genius fuggefted the plan, or 
 whether fome of the agents of the Palais Royal 
 pointed it out to him, cannot be determined, but 
 from his never-failing rancour againft eminent per- 
 fons, the former is extremely probable j he fpeedily 
 
 Briflbt. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 155, 
 
 t Kriflot. 
 
 S Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 156. Pages, v. ji. p. 41. 
 
 altered
 
 
 2 3 MARAT. 
 
 'altered the title and ftyle of his paper ; he called 
 it L'Ami du Peuple, and commenced a violent 
 attack on Bailly and La Fayette. This brought his 
 publication at once into notice, and as he rather 
 afpired to the favour of the lower than of the 
 fuperior clafies, he conftantly adapted his ftyle to 
 their fyftem of rhetoric ; his tropes and figures were 
 execrations and obfcenities, his argument was ri- 
 baldry and abufe, and his patriotifm a firm belief in 
 all the rancorous falfehoods of the day h . His paper 
 was fold for only two Hards (a farthing) ' ; the 
 motto he chofe for it, " Ut redeat miferis, 
 " abeat fortuna fuperbis," plainly pointed to an 
 agrarian lav/ ; and the manner in which he recom- 
 mended blood and (laughter, greatly contributed to 
 take off the reftraints, cuftom, and education im- 
 pofed on the ferocious difpofition of the French po- 
 1790. pulace k . La Fayette was fo hurt at his infults, 
 ^""f? comDme d with others he fuftained from Danton, 
 ette. 3 y St. Huruge, &c. that he furrounded his houfe, and 
 blocked up the avenues with a guard ; but was pre- 
 vented, by the threats of Danton, from profecuting 
 a revenge, which would, if followed with effeft, have 
 relieved the country from one of its greateft pelts, 
 then in a ftate of comparative innocency '. 
 Becomes a Marat, having obtained notice, began to enlarge 
 jacobin, ^ e f CO p e o f his ambition ; his vanity, of which 
 he had a fmgular (hare, led him to fuppofe that no- 
 thing was too high or too arduous for him to un- 
 dertake. He became a member of the Jacobins, 
 and though his croaking voice and faulty delivery 
 made the tafk of oratory an infurmountable diffi- 
 culty, he perfevered in afcending the tribune and 
 delivering his opinions whenever he could obtain an 
 
 h Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p 157. 
 
 1 Miles's C ondnft of France towards Great Britain, p. ail. 
 
 k Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 39^. 
 
 J Miles, uLi 1'upia. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 157. 
 
 hearing.
 
 M A R A t. sp 
 
 hearing. That club, during the fittings of the and Cor- 
 conftituent afiembly, though difgraced by the re- delier - 
 ception of him, and an indifcriminate rabble befide, 
 was not a region fufficiently fervent for the propaga- 
 tion of his principles. The Societefraternelle, after- 
 wards called the club of Cordeliers, was the fcene 
 where he moft frequently difplayed himfelf, and 
 from the congenial difpofitions and fimilarity of 
 attainments in moft of the members, to the greatefl 
 effect m . He now became acquainted with Ro- 
 befpierre, member of the afiembly, employed in 
 fome of the inferior agencies of the duke of Or- 
 leans, and was of great fervice to him in gaining 
 the favour of the inhabitants of thefauxbourgs, and 
 training the galleries of the afiembly ; his journal 
 too obtained the protection of the duke, and he, as 
 editor, partook of his bounty". The eafinefs of 
 his circumftances increafed his infolence, and gave 
 full fcope to the exercife of his ruling paffion, 
 malice. To this may be afcribed his continual in- 
 vectives againfl the king and royal family, againft 
 la Fayette, and every one who pofiefied any mare 
 of the public efteem . To this may be alfo attri- ^th April 
 buted his rancorous reflections on the king's in- 79* 
 tended journey to Saint Cloud p , and his extreme 
 earneftnefs in promoting the petition figned in the 
 Champ de Mars. On this occafion his conduct ex- July, 
 pofed him to the refentment of the ruling powers, j?.' 8 P reft 
 He had before excited the difguft of the conftituent e '" ' 
 aflembly, by his audacious invitations to murder, 
 and by exhorting the mob to hang up eight hun- 
 dred of the deputies on the trees of the Tuille- 
 ries q . They rejoiced at this opportunity of making 
 him feel the feverity of the law j a decree was iifued im 
 
 Pages, vol. i. p 458. Louvet's Narrative, p. 9. 
 Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 14.7. 
 Idem, vol. ii. p. 283. 
 
 1 Sec Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 231. 247. 149. 
 Carat's Memoirs, p. 14.5. 
 
 5 againft
 
 g o MARAT. 
 
 againft him, his prefles and papers were feized, and 
 he, and a mademoifdle Colombe, diredrefs of his 
 journal, put in prifon. An order was made, that 
 BO hawker mould prefume to cry his journal on 
 pain of punifhment r . Thefe exertions, however, 
 were of little confequence ; he was foon liberated, 
 either in compliment to the mob, or becaufe doubts 
 were entertained of the legality of his detention. 
 He retired to a vault, in the church of the Cordeliers, 
 prepared for him by Legendre the butcher, from 
 which place, in contempt of authority, he continued 
 to iflue his lucubrations s . 
 
 Compari- At this period, with whatever faflidioufnefs they 
 fon be- afterwards denied it, BriiTot and his party were, at 
 amTthe "" leaft, on good terms with Marat c ; they laboured 
 Biiflbtines. in a common caufe, and ufed at firft the fame 
 means ; they were, like him, firft Orleanifts, after- 
 wards republicans ; and though the different de- 
 grees of favour obtained by the two parties in the 
 eftimation of their common patron caufed difien- 
 fions in principles and in politics, there was little 
 difference ^between them, though they afterwards 
 varied in their conduct. In fact, though the Brif- 
 fotines, and the writers in their intereft, attribute to 
 them all the credit of being the founders of the 
 French Republic, the incendiary Marat did more 
 fervice to the caufe than they. Their fincerity was 
 about par ; they and he cared equally for the 
 people, they were willing to riik the happinefs of 
 the majority, or even to make indifcriminate facri- 
 fices to eitablim their theories, or confirm the afcend- 
 ancy they once acquired. Marat, whofe ambition 
 
 r Mercure Francois, No. du 30 Juillet 1791, p. 399. et du 6 Aouf, 
 p. 8. 
 
 Marat lived in the Rue det Cordeliers, No. 30 ; this retreat, 
 theiefore, was no great inconvenier.ee to him Ste Moore's View, 
 vol. ii. p. 415. Etat Je la France, par M. le Comic dc Montgaillaid, 
 p. 66. 
 
 1 Pages, vol. i. p. 39. Conjuration de d'Oileans, vol. iii. p. 13'. 
 Pcltiti's iatt Picture ot Paris, vol. ii. p. *6j. 
 
 extended
 
 MARAT. 31 
 
 extended no farther than to head an outrageous 
 rabble, and whofe vanity led him to believe no per- 
 fon fo well qualified for the talk as himfelf, was de- 
 firous to refolve the whole kingdom into an im- 
 menfe and lawlefs mob, that by his influence he 
 might perpetuate anarchy. Both aimed at the fame 
 object, the degradation of the conftituted authori- 
 ties, the plunder of the wealthy, and the deftruc- 
 tion of the loyal, but they purfued it differently. 
 The Briflbtines, vain in the (lores of book-learning, 
 confident in their eloquence, and wrapt up in their 
 metaphyfical fpeculations, thought they might fuc- 
 ceed by eftabliming theories in favour of a republic, 
 in inducing the people to confent to the elevation of 
 their infligator Orleans, or to their own affumption 
 of all 'the power of the ftate. Their attempt had a 
 fuccefs proportioned to its fagacity ; to read their 
 writings, to hear their fpeeches, they feemed to pof- 
 fefs all the wifdom, all the virtue, all the difinte- 
 reftednefs of thofe fages and heroes of antiquity, 
 whom they affecled to regard as models; but to 
 infpetl their web of flimfy, though pernicious, in- 
 trigues, to hear of their treacheries, their jealoufies, 
 their want of mutual confidence, and their foli- 
 citude to fecure a {hare of power by the moft flagi- 
 tious means, it became obvious that they had no 
 real virtue, wifdom, difintereftednefs, or patriotifm, 
 but that the fentiments analogous to thofe qualities, 
 with which a laboured eloquence fupplied their 
 fpeeches and writings, proceeded merely from the 
 head, while the heart remained cold, malignant, 
 and felfim. The mob adored them for a fhort 
 period, then defpifed, detefled, and facrificed them. 
 Marat, on the other hand, did not make an af- 
 feded difplay of wifdom, virtue, or fententioufnefs ; 
 to gain the populace, he adapted himfelf to their 
 tafte, and fucceeded to the utmoft extent of his 
 wiihes. 
 
 The attempt to pull down the king, that a re- 
 gency of learned men might govern, prefented no 
 
 very
 
 32 M A R A T. 
 
 x^ery favourable profpeft to the mob, but to tell 
 them of plunder, of an agrarian law, an exemption 
 from reftraint, and a pofleffion in common of all 
 authority and all property, was an irrefiftible al- 
 lurement. The BrhTotines laboured to prove, that 
 the world was made for the 'wife ; Marat perfuaded 
 them that it was made for the poor. It is true, that at 
 this period he was in the pay of Orleans, but with his 
 total want of honour, principle, and veracity, it is very 
 improbable that a tie fo weak as gratitude mould 
 bind him to a man he defpifed. His vanity taught 
 him that his talents and fupport could never be pur- 
 chafed at an adequate price, and his careleffnefs 
 about money prevented his confidering it poflible 
 that he mould be bought by fo vile a mean. 
 Jncreafes The flagitious conduct of the legiflative aflembly 
 a ferocity. ^ VQ ^.^ fp rm g to tne ener gy o f Marat, and the 
 
 increafing afcendancy of his friends Danton and 
 Robefpierre in the public eftimation, enabled him to 
 become additionally confpicuous and obnoxious. 
 His publications became more atrocious and fan- 
 guinary ; he made no fcruple to recommend the de- 
 ftruftion of three hundred thoufand perfons, as 
 3d May ariftocrats". He was, at length, denounced to the 
 >79* aflembly by M. Beugnot, for having, in one of his 
 ced. Journals, inftigated the foldiery to facrlfice their gene- 
 rals to the public welfare. Beugnot complained that 
 thefe writings had been prefented to the minifter, 
 Duranton, who had not taken proper meafures to 
 have the publifher punifhed. M. de Vaublanc en- 
 forced this accufation by producing another of 
 Marat's papers, in which he recommended to the 
 people to dejiroy^ ijuith fre and /word, the rotten 
 majority of the affembly. The incendiary was defended 
 by his congenial friends, Bazire, Chabot, and Mer- 
 lin ; a long and tumultuous debate enmed, at the 
 clofe of which, a decree of accufation was iflued 
 againfl him, but its effect was reduced by a fimilar 
 
 u Peltief's late Piclurc of Paris, rol. ii, p. 169. 
 
 on?,
 
 M A R A t. 33 
 
 One, obtained by Briffbt and his fa&ion, at the fame 
 time againfl the abbe Royou, editor of V Ami du Rot. 
 Seals were ordered to be placed on the houfes and 
 preffesofboth". 
 
 But, at this period, the regicide faction was fo June, 
 flrong, and their afcendancy fo confirmed, that Marat 
 entertained no fears. Decrees of arreft were iffued 
 againft him, but never executed ; and previous to the 
 2oth of June he was as audacious as ever, inftigating 
 mfurrection, and inforcing the murder of the king y . 
 Notwithftanding the fuccefs which attended that dif- 
 graceful day, and the meafures which were puffued 
 to infure more extenfive confequences to that per- Auguft. 
 fidious plot which, after fome delays, was executed 
 on the i oth of Auguft, he is faid by Briflbt to have 
 been fo deficient in courage, that he requefted 
 Barbaroux to convey him to Marfeilles as a place of 
 fafety 2 . He was appointed one of the new council 
 general of the commune^ who declared themfelves in- 
 dependent of the legiflature, and determined to 
 render an account of their conduct to none but the 
 fovereign people , in their primary affemb!ies a . 
 
 Soon after the deftruclion of royalty, jealoufies Quarrels 
 began to manifeft themfelves amongft the miniftry JJjJjjjJ 1 * 
 who had obtained their places by fuch culpable 
 violence. Danton, refolved on the deftruftion of 
 his pedantic colleagues, employed Marat to infult, 
 and make them odious to the people. The incen- 
 diary, convinced that in a conteft before the popu- 
 lace, he would be fecure of fuccefs, commenced his 
 attack in a manner truly chara&eriftic. Firft, by 
 
 * Mercure Frai^ois, No. du i% Mai 1791, p. 118 130. 
 
 X See Impartial Hiltory, vol. ii. p. 39. 
 
 z Briflbt a tous les Republicans, London edition, p. 178* I ccni. 
 fefs I do not believe the ftory. Briffot lays this fupplication was mads 
 on the eve of the icth of Auguft, a day too huiy for Barbaroux to 
 have incumbered himfelf with Marat, and Marat was that very day 
 made one of the new commune. 
 
 Impartial Hiftory, vol. ii. p. 119. Peltier's late Pifture, vol. ii. 
 p. 413. Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 335 tg 338, 
 
 VOL. II. D hlS
 
 34 MARAT. 
 
 his own authority, he feized four prefies From the 
 king's printing-office to indemnify himfelf for a 
 fimilar number which had been taken from him b , 
 this the miniflry dared not refill or refent. As foon 
 as the alfembly had decreed a fum to be at the difpo- 
 fal of the adminiftration for the purpofe of difperfmg 
 ufeful publications, he applied to them for 1 5,000 
 livres (656 /. 5 s.) to enable him to publifh fome of 
 his works. Roland, to whom the application was 
 made, refufed to give the fum without knowing what 
 was to be publifhed ; Marat fent him a large bundle 
 of manufcripts about the Chains of Slavery which he 
 laid before the council, and they referred the matter 
 to Danton ; the event was, that Marat demanded 
 and obtained the required fum from Orleans, pofted 
 placards againft the incivifm of Roland, and pub- 
 limed libels againfl his wife . This was the begin- 
 ning of a conteft which in about nine months over- 
 threw the faction of Briflbtines. 
 
 *fi septem- A greater fcene of horrors was now to be acted, 
 Comiuaof anc ^ l ^ e P art a ^g ne ^ to Marat was congenial to his 
 Marat. abilities. He was appointed one of the committee 
 of infpeclion (Surveillance) by the commune ', in 
 which capacity he aflifted in filling the prifons, and 
 by his fanguinary journals and placards inflamed the 
 populace d . He even went fo far as to obtain from 
 the commune an order for the arreftation of Roland, 
 and many of his friends, but this ftep was too 
 daring even for Danton, he fupprefled the execution 
 of it, but it became obvious that no farther meafures 
 were to be kept between him and his colleagues, 
 whom Marat began to profcribe and denounce with 
 great fury 6 . On the horrible days of maflacres he 
 
 b Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p.m. Peltier's late Picture, vol. if. 
 p. 83. 
 
 See Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. m, 112. Peltier's late Pi&ure, 
 vol. ii. p. 385. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. Hi. p. 113. 
 
 d Peltier's late Pi&ure, vol. ii. p. 389, Moore's Journal, vol. i. 
 p. 156. 
 
 Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 100. 
 
 15 was
 
 MARAT. 35 
 
 was conflantly engaged; Panis and he were alter- 
 nately prefidents of a committee which directed and 
 encouraged the proceedings of the aiTaflins, in the 
 previous arrangement of which he had materially 
 ailifted f . His conduct on this and other occafions 
 was fo ferocious as almoft to juflify the hyperbolical 
 aflertion, that he would have drunk the blood of 
 his mother out of the cranium of his father 5 . 
 
 Meanwhile, the election for the national conven- Eleacd 
 tion were proceeding, the friends of Marat were de- member f 
 
 t i 1 1 r -i r i i i 'n 6 con - 
 
 termmed to obtain him a ieat ; and tor what place ! vention. 
 not for an obfcure department, where his name was 
 little known, and his vices only appeared in general 
 details, but for PARIS, the capital of the ftate, the 
 centre of his crimes, the fcene of all his atrocities ; 
 Paris, where it is hardly a figure to fay that the very 
 walls cried out againft him, as a murderer, an incen- 
 diary, and a ruffian more fit for the gibbet than the 
 fenate. To procure his return it was neceflary to 
 employ the eloquence of Chabot, Danton, and Ro- 
 befpierre, and the more effectual aid of pike and 
 bludgeon men, who terrified the refpectable electors, 
 and Sanctioned the proceedings of voters of their own 
 clafs h . As foon as Marat had obtained a feat in the 
 legiflature, he redoubled his audacity and virulence j 
 previous to their meeting he declared that if they did 
 not fettle the principles of government in eight days, 
 no good was to be expected from them ; he de- igth Sep- 
 nounced in his placards many of the newly-elected tember - 
 members, as ariftocrats and counter-revolutionifls, 
 the generals who commanded the armies, as traitors, 
 and the minifters, except Danton, as enemies of 
 
 f Pages, vol. i. p. 479, 480. Peltier's late Pifture, vol. ii. p. 477. 
 Conjuration de d'inleans, vul. iii. p. 308. 
 
 e Quoted by Pages, vol. ii. p. 39. See alfo Carat's Memoirs, p. 26. 
 h Impartial Hiltory, vol. ii. p. 183. Moore's Journal, vol. i. 
 P. 387 391. Ap;>e! a I'lmpartiale Potterite, vol. ii.p. 69. It muft- 
 be obfervcd that Kobefpieire in his defence againft Louvet's acculation, 
 which is very pointed on this luhjeft, denies having recommended 
 Jvlarat. See ROBESPIERRE, 
 
 D 2 freedom,
 
 3<5 MARAT, 
 
 freedom. So little was he fatisned with the ftate of 
 things while the Briflbtines bore fvvay, that the very 
 day after the meeting of the convention, he excited 
 the Jacobin club againft them. He perfevered in 
 his incendiary placards, and even reproached the 
 people for their forbearance in not perpetrating new 
 
 4 th oao- maftacres. " O, people of talk !" he obferved, " if 
 
 bcr - " you did but know how to acV !" 
 
 Defpifedin But though he was ftrongly fupported in, and 
 
 the con. jnftigated to thefe meafures by his party in the com- 
 
 vfention. , . . . . . } . ,. 
 
 mune andm the clubs, even they had not intrepidity 
 enough openly to countenance him in the conven- 
 tion. There the hideoufnefs of his appearance, the 
 fqualor of his attire, the infamy of his character, the 
 audacity with which he outraged truth, decency, and 
 order, made every one afhamed to own a connexion 
 with him. Was a charge made on his party, of 
 murderous principles, or views of eftabliming a 
 dictator, when every one fhrunk from the avowal of 
 fuch defigns, he was ever ready to ftand in the 
 breach, deriding the afiaults of eloquence, trium- 
 phantly confeffing the whole charge, juftifying him- 
 felf, and impudently retorting crimination, fcorn, 
 and pity on his accufers k . 
 
 Enmity to It would be an extremely tedious and unintereft- 
 the Brif- ing labor to relate all the motions and denunciations 
 tmcs * made by and againft him, from the firft fitting of 
 the convention to the end of the year. He was the 
 avowed contemner and fcourge of the Briffb tines, 
 the unceafing opponent of Roland, whom he flig- 
 matized in his journals, placards, and fpeeches in 
 the convention, as well as at the Jacobin club, as the 
 enemy of the republic, as a tyrant, who illued arbi- 
 trary left res de cachet^ and as a public peculator 
 and defaulter '. He was undoubtedly inftigated to 
 
 1 Louvet's Narrative, p. 18. t,%. Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 450. 
 486. 
 
 k Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 171.259. Debates. 
 
 1 Louvet's Narrative, p. 44. RolamP* Appeal, vol. i. p. n8. 
 Mercuve Francois du 10 Oftobre 1791.- 
 
 thefe
 
 M A R A T. 37 
 
 thefe meafures by Robefpierre and Danton, and the 
 Brifibtines were anxious to confound and difgrace 
 him. But in this they proceeded, as ufual, by in- 
 trigue inftead of courageous afiault ; they formed 
 parties to prevent his accefs to the tribune, and, 
 inftead of a well-digefted attack, exhaufted them- 
 felves in affected declamations and feeble recrimina- 
 tions. A defcription of one of thefe fcenes will ajthSepi 
 ihew all the atrocity and infolence of his character, tc uucl - 
 and diiplay the feeble conduct of his opponents. 
 After a difcuffion in which Rebecqui and Barbaroux 
 accufed Robefpierre of afpiring to the di&atorfhip, 
 Marat prefented himfelf at the tribune, to anfwer 
 a part of the complaint in which he himfelf had been, 
 implicated. Violent murmurs arofe. " It would Hisfpeech, 
 " appear," he faid, " that I have a great many 
 " perfonal enemies in this aflembly." c< That we 
 " are all," exclaimed three-fourths of the members. 
 Marat refumed with the mofl unruffled ferenity : 
 " I havj a great many perfonal enemies in this 
 " aflembly; I call them to decency. I exhort them 
 " to moderate their furious clamours, and indecent 
 tc menaces againft a man who has rendered more 
 " fervices to the caufe of liberty, and to themfelves, 
 " than they are aware of. Let them, for once, 
 " learn to liften ! I am grateful to the fecret hand 
 " which has thrown in the midfl of you a vaia 
 " phantom, to alarm the timid, create divifions 
 tt among good citizens, and cad a ftigma on the 
 " deputies of the city of Paris. They are accufed 
 " of afpiring to a dictatorfhip, a triumvirate, or a 
 " tribunemip; this abfurd accufation cojilcj not 
 " have found credit but for my being one of the 
 " perfons to whom it applies. Well then! it 
 " becomes an al of juftice in me to declare that 
 t( my colleagues, Robefpierre, Danton, and the 
 w reft, have conftantly oppofed the idea of a dic- 
 " tatormip, though I have published it in my 
 * journals, and have had feveral difputes with them 
 D 3 " on.
 
 MARAT. 
 
 " on the fubjeft. I believe I am the firft, or rather 
 " the only political writer in France who has pre- 
 " fented it to the public as the only mode of crufh- 
 " ing traitors and confpirators. If this opinion be 
 " a crime, I alone am culpable ; on my head the 
 " vengeance of the nation ought to fall : but before 
 " I am cenfured or puniihed let me be heard. 
 
 " Surrounded by eternal machinations againfl the 
 " country; feeing the repeated confpiracies of a 
 " perfidious king and a deteftable court ; feeing 
 " the villany of that hod of traitors, who in the 
 " conftituent as well as the legiflative aflembly, 
 <c bafely fold the rights of the people ; will you im- 
 " pute it to me as a crime to have propofed the 
 " only meafure, in my apprehenfion, calculated tq 
 " flop us on the brink of that precipice into which 
 " they were dragging us ? When the conflituted 
 " authorities were of no other ufe than to deftroy 
 " freedom, and to murder the patriots, in the name 
 " of the law, will you impute it to me as a .crime to 
 " have called down on their guilty heads, the axe 
 " of popular vengeance ? No, the people themfelves 
 " would difavow you ; for, if they have not fol- 
 ** lowed my advice, they have, too late, felt, of 
 " themfelves, that they had no refource left to 
 " efcape the rage of their tyrants, but by taking 
 " into their own hands the dictatorial power, an4 
 " ridding themfelves of traitors. 
 
 * e I, more than any one, have trembled at the idea 
 " of thofe terrible commotions ; and that they might 
 " not be always in vain, that the people might not 
 " be forced to renew them, I was defirous that they 
 " mould be directed by fome cirizen, whofe pru- 
 " dence, juftice, and firmnefs might, at once, have 
 <e fecured the fafety and welfare of the public. If 
 " the necefiity of this meafure could have been felt 
 " at the epoch of the capture of the Baftille, five 
 " hundred rafcally heads would have fallen, and 
 " peace and liberty would have been eftablifhed from. 
 
 " that
 
 MARAT. 39 
 
 " that period for ever ; inftead of which, for want 
 " of difplaying that energy, equally prudent and 
 " necefiary, a hundred thoufand patriots have been 
 " butchered, and a hundred thoufand more are 
 " threatened with the fame fate. To prove that I 
 *' had no view of making this dictator, tribune, or 
 " triumvir, (for what fignifies the name,) a- tyrant, 
 " fuch as folly, prefuming on the ufe of a word, 
 " might have reprefented him, but a devoted victim 
 " to the country, whofe lot no ambitious man 
 * 6 would envy, my project was, that the duration 
 " of his authority mould be limited to a few days, 
 " that it mould only extend to the condemnation of 
 " traitors ; and even, that a cannon-ball mould be 
 " chained to his foot, that he himfelf might always 
 *' be within the reach of the people. All vigorous 
 " meafures have, at firfl fight, appeared abfurd to 
 * c many, particularly to the deputies of the people ; 
 *' they were ever confident of their own wifdom, 
 u and they would have ruined the country if the 
 " people had not trampled under foot their cowardly 
 " fyftems. My ideas, however revolting they 
 " might appear, tended only to the public good, 
 *' for no perfon was ever more fond than myfelf of 
 " order, and the reiga of juft laws. If your ideas 
 " are not fufficiently elevated to enable you to un- 
 " derftand me, fo much theworfe for you. 
 
 " Such is my opinion ; I have not privately in- 
 " fmuated it to a confidential circle ; I have printed, 
 " and put my name to it. Was it the opinion of a 
 " madman ? I was to be pitied. Was it dangerous f 
 " It was incumbent on aien more enlightened than 
 " myfelf, to expofe it, inflead of directing againft 
 " my perfon the daggers of aflatf] nation, and the 
 " bayonets of defpotilrn. 
 
 " My enemies have dared to impute to me views 
 
 " of ambition. If I had been willing to fet a price 
 
 " on my filence, I might have been gorged with gold j 
 
 *' yet I am poor. In the fervice of my country I 
 
 p 4 " have
 
 MARAT. 
 
 <c have braved mifery, dangers, and infults ; incef- 
 " fantly purfued by legions of aflaflins, I have wan- 
 " dered during the fpace of three years from one 
 " fubterraneous habitation toanother; I have preached 
 " the truth when a log was my pillow. If la Fayette, 
 " or any other enemy of liberty, had been able to 
 " feize my perfon, the moft ardent defender of 
 " liberty would have been no more. 
 
 " Legiflators ! condefcend to open your eyes. In- 
 " ftead of confuming your precious time in fcandal- 
 *' ous quarrels, dread to afford a fanftion to the 
 " manoeuvres of intrigue, by giving currency to ab- 
 " furd reports, artfully circulated to retard the grand 
 " work of the conftitution ; and to put my enemies 
 " themfelves to a painful trial, let me prefs you to 
 * f fulfil the true object of your miffion, by immedi- 
 " ately perfecting the declaration of rights, and lay- 
 " ing the foundations of a jufl and free govern- 
 " ment." 
 
 This fpeech made fuch an impreffion on the con- 
 vention, that they were difpofed to have terminated 
 the difcuffion, by palling to the order of the day, 
 when Vergniaud faid : 
 
 *' If there is a misfortune attached to the fituation 
 " of reprefentative of the people, by which I am 
 " peculiarly affected, it is that of being obliged to 
 " afcend this tribune after a man ftill obnoxious to 
 *' decrees of arreft, which he has not difcharged." 
 
 This opening mocked the friends of Marat : " Do 
 " you mean the decrees of the Chatelet ?" inquired 
 Chabot. " Or thofe with which he was honored for 
 *' having overthrown la Fayette ?" added Tallien. 
 Verginaud continued : 
 
 ^ It is that of taking the place of a man, againil 
 " whom a decree of accufation has been obtained, 
 ** and who has lifted his audacious head above the 
 *' laws ; in a word, a man dripping with calumny, 
 " gall, and blood." After fome confufion, occa- 
 fioned by the difapprobation of the galleries, Vergni- 
 aud
 
 MARAT. 41 
 
 aud denounced an addrefs, figned by the committee 
 of infpeftion of Paris, which had been previoufly 
 denounced to the legislative aflembly. As this addrefs 
 contained nothing but the expreffion of the mqft ener- 
 getic fentiments of liberty, terminated by an invitation 
 to the departments, to unite with the Parifians to repel 
 the enemies who threatened the capital, the orator com- 
 mented on it in vain ; the only fenfation produced, was 
 that of ajionifhment at hearing it denounced "'. 
 
 Boileau produced a number of Marat's journal, 
 which he pretended had been publifhed that very 
 
 " I have translated this fentence from Robefpierre ; but to enable the 
 reader to form a judgment of this fuppofed barm/efs paper, I have added 
 it at length, as tranflated by Dr. Moore. Journal, vol. ii. p. 40. See 
 alio Roland's Appeal, vol i. p. 109. 
 
 " Brethren and friends ! a horrid plot, planned by the court, to 
 *' murder all the patriots of the French empire ; a plot in which a great 
 *' number of the national affemhly were engaged, having, on the ninth 
 ' of laft month, forced the commune deParit to thecruel necefiity of mak- 
 " ing ufe of the power of the people 10 fa ve the nation; the com- 
 *' mune has neglecled nothing for the fervice of the country. 
 
 '* After the approbation which the national affembly itftrlf beftowed 
 '* on the commune, could it have been imagined that new plots were 
 " projecting in filence, which broke forth at the moment when the 
 ?' national aflembly, forgetting that me had declared that the com- 
 ' mune de Paris had faved the country, haftened to diflblve that very 
 ' community, as a recompence for all its faithful fervices. 
 
 " Proud of poflTeffing the full confidence of the nation, which we 
 " are refolved to deferve more and more; placed in the centre of all 
 " the confpiracies, and determined to perilh in defence of the public, 
 " we cannot boaft of having entirely fulfilled our duty, till we 
 " fliall obtain your approbation, which is the objeft of all our 
 " wifhes, and of which we cannot be certain, till all the departments 
 " \\1\efanf1ioncdour meafures for the public fifety . Profefling principles of 
 " the molt perfect equality, wilhing no other privilege, but that of 
 " prefenting ourfelves the firft at the breach, we will put ourfelves on 
 " a level with the fmalleft municipality in the nation, as foon as the 
 " dangers which now threaten the country are paft. 
 
 " Informed that bands of barbarians are advancing, the tommune 
 " de Pant haftens to acquaint all the departments, that part of thofe 
 " furious confpirators detained in the prifons of Paris have been 
 " put to death by the people ; an afl of jujiice which feemed indijpinfMe, t 
 " jlrikt terror into the brearts of thole legions of traitors hid within her 
 ' walls, at the time when the citizens were about to march again It 
 " the enemy. And no doubt the nation, after that long fucceflion of 
 " treafons which have brought her to the brink of ruin, will baftem tt 
 " adept a mtafurc fo ufeful a ndnetefl'ary ; and all the inhabitants of France 
 " will fay like the Parifians: Let us march againft the enemy, but, 
 " let us not letrot btbind m a band of villaint, t murdsr tur ivivet and cbil- 
 *' ^r," 
 
 morning,
 
 MARA T. 
 
 morning, from \yhich he read tbefe words : " Con- 
 " fidering the temper of the majority of the deputies, 
 " I defpair of the public welfare ; if in the eight 
 " firft fittings, the fundamental points of the contti- 
 " tution be not decreed, fifty years of anarchy await 
 " you, from which, you can only be relieved by ap- 
 " pointing a dictator.' * This extract revived in the 
 affembly all the violence of its former agitations, 
 and there was a general outcry, To the abbaye ! To 
 the guillotine ! In the midlt of the tumult, Boiieau 
 moved for a decree of accufation againil the mon- 
 fter. 
 
 Marat, with much difficulty, obtained a hearing, 
 and with unruffled compofure faid : " I intreat 
 " the affembly not to give themfelves up to fuch an 
 " excefs of rage againft me, I can eafily reply to the 
 * c new accufations of my adverfaries. They have 
 " not blufhed to advance the decrees of accufation 
 " obtained againft me by the courtly proftitutes of the 
 " conftituent and legiflative affemblies. I pride my- 
 " felf in them, as titles of glory. I mufl obferve, 
 " however, to thofe who know not how to appreciate 
 " them, that they are annulled ; the people have an- 
 " nulled them in calling me hither to defend their 
 " rights, and by that judgment have indentified my 
 " caufe with their own. 
 
 " As for the paper which has juft been denounced, 
 " and which I am challenged to difavow Far from 
 " me be fuch a difavowal Never did untruth iffue 
 " from my lips ; and to fear, my heart is a (hanger, 
 " But I mufl inform you, that is not, as has been 
 " advanced, a publication of to-day; it appeared 
 " ten days ago. I compofed it at a time when the 
 *' national convention was not yet formed, when I 
 * e was an indignant witnefs of the re-eleclion of thofe 
 " unfaithful deputies, whom I had denounced, efpecially 
 " that faction of the Gironde, by which I am this 
 " day perfecuted. But an inconteftible proof of 
 44 my wifh to remain united to you, and the real 
 
 " opinion
 
 MARAT, 4$ 
 
 ** opinion I have formed of the firir. labors of the 
 ** national convention, may be found in the firft num- 
 *' bcr of a journal, intitled, Le Journal de la Repub- 
 ^ lique, printed this day. That will explain to you 
 " my real fentiments, much better than the treache- 
 " rous annotations which accompanied the reading 
 " you have already heard." 
 
 The paper was read, it reftored the favorable 
 opinion of the aflembly. Marks of an agreeable 
 furprife and intereft fucceed the impetuous fenfations 
 by which it had been previoufly agitated. Marat 
 again afcended the tribune. 
 
 " Permit me now," faid he, " to recal you to your- 
 
 ^ felves, and to fix your attention on the dangers of 
 
 ^ prepofleflion and anger. What then ! if by the 
 
 " negligence of my printer, my journal had not ap- 
 
 ?' peared to-day, you would have devoted me to 
 
 " the fword of tyranny ! But no it would not 
 
 ' have been in your power to perpetrate fuch an act 
 
 ' of iniquity. 1 had in my own pofleflion the means 
 
 ' of retaining my liberty j and, if you had voted a 
 
 6 decree of accufation, this weapon mould have 
 
 c refcued me from the fury of my perfecutors." 
 
 Saying thefe words, he drew from his pocket a piftol, 
 
 and put it to his head. The convention paffed to the 
 
 order of the day, on all the denunciations n . 
 
 Marat was ftill diftinguifhed, by his habitual hatred Hatred of 
 pf eminent characters. When Dumouriez enjoyed Dumou - 
 the moft flattering partiality of his countrymen, Marat "' 
 exhibited himfelf as his detractor, he ftigmatized him 
 as an ariftocrat, reproached him with having con- 
 nived at the efcape of the Pruflians out of France ; 
 from Unifier motives, took the part of thofe who 
 murdered the Pruffian deferters at Rhetal ; moved 
 an accufation againfl him in the convention, and in J7 tharu! 
 the Jacobin club ; purlued him with infults and in- > 8th fl - 
 juries into a private company, where he was partak- 
 
 n This narrative Is taken from RobefpierreafesCommettans,vol. i. 
 P. 8z, tojz, See alfo Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 351044.. Debates.
 
 44 MARAT. 
 
 ing of an entertainment ; and when he fet out on his 
 expedition againft Flanders, declared publicly, and 
 in print, that he went only with a view of over-run- 
 ning thofe provinces, to make himfelf duke of Bra- 
 bant . 
 
 Perfection His exertions againft the general were, however, 
 trifling in comparifon to thofe he ufed againft the 
 king and queen. To increafe the miferies of their 
 fixation, to inflame the public refentment againft 
 them to the higheft pitch, and to accelerate a death 
 of unmerited ignominy.; to thefe ends he bent all 
 his powers. In the convention, in the clubs, in the 
 ilreets ; his fpeeches, his journals, his placards were 
 replete with the bittereft invectives ; and moft fla- 
 grant untruths, againft thofe unfortunate victims of 
 popular frenzy and delufion. Every method was 
 ufed which malice could fuggeft, to prefent the de- 
 graded monarch to the people as an object of con- 
 tempt and abhorence ; not only his imputed crimes, 
 but the misfortunes which the intriguers and infurgents 
 had brought on him, were equally held forth as mo- 
 tives of deteftation ; and the injuftice the nation had 
 already committed, or connived at, in the murder 
 of many individuals, whofe only crime was loyalty, 
 was urged as a reafon for their perfevering in the 
 fame caufe, and imbruing their hands in the blood 
 
 3^ Nov. of the fovereign p . His activity on this occafion 
 excited popular refentment ; his houfe was once fur- 
 rounded by a mob who demanded his head, and at 
 another time, the f'.&res vowed vengeance againft 
 him, infomuch, that he pretended to be alarmed for 
 his fafety, and, was indulged by Santerre with a guard 
 near his place of abode q . 
 
 Life of Genera! Dumouriez, vol iii. p. 260. 190. Mercure Fran*. 
 $ois, No. du 77 O&obre 1791, p %*><). 153. a6z. Moore's Journal, 
 vol. ii. p. 163 to 170. See DUMOURIEZ. 
 
 P Impartial Hiltory, vol. ii. p. 215. Moore's Journal, vol. ii. 
 f>. zSo. 
 
 <3 Goudemetz's Epochs. Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 340. 
 
 At
 
 MARAT, 45 
 
 At length his malignity was gratified, by the de- 
 cree that ordered the king to the bar of the conven- 
 tion, and (till further by the refult of his trial, which 
 he promoted with unabated rancor ; combating every 
 argument tending to mercy, and overwhelming with 
 abuie and mifreprefentation all who oppofed the 
 languinary meafure he was refolved to carry. It was 
 obferved, that, on the day of the king's appearance 
 at the bar of the convention, his face, for the firit 
 time, wore the fmile of fatisfaftion ; and, as an 
 equally extraordinary phenomenon, that he was 
 drefled in a new fuit of clothes. He moved, that 
 the crime of fbreftalling grain and money, of af- itl D< * 
 famnations under presence of law, and many other 
 charges, mould be added to the king's accufation. 
 Yet it may ferve to prove the inconfiftency of his 
 character, that, thenextday, he moved that all charges nth, 
 alluding to crimes committed before his acceptance 
 of the conftitution, mould be omitted in his aft of 
 accufation, which was over-ruled by his colleagues r . 
 
 This act of juftice in him was merely fortuitous ; 
 he foon refumed his wonted ferocity ; on the queflion 
 of punimment, he voted for death, with execution ,6th Jan, 
 of the fentence within four-and-twenty hours; and *793- 
 on the queftion of refpite, he repeated the fame v* 9 th I. 
 opinions, which he accompanied with the mod cla- 
 morous abufe of thofe who oppofed them ! . 
 
 While this trial was depending, he flood candidate Candidate 
 for the office of mayor of Paris, vacant by the re- ^ a r jjjjj 
 fignation of Petion, but he obtained only forty-one 
 fuffrages'. He had been denounced by Claviere, 
 for having, as member of the committee of infpec- 
 tion, refufed to give any account of the effects, 
 jewels, gold, aflignats, and papers, found at the 
 houfe of the treasurer of the civil lift. A decree 
 was made that they mould be transmitted to the ;na- 
 
 r Debates. Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 507. 509. et paflim. 
 ' Moore's Journal, vol. ji. p. 557. Debates. 
 * Mercure Fran$o;i, No. du 3 Novembre 179*, p, 4.8. 
 
 - 7 tional
 
 4 6 M A R A T* 
 
 Honored tional trcafury within four-and -twenty hours. Ma- 
 Jacobins rat ' accom P an ^ e ^ by Robefpierre, went to the Ja- 
 cobin club, where he was received with acclamation 
 and enthufiafm. He was honored with the title 
 of magnanimous ; and his profound fagacity in re- 
 commending fuch numerous decollations was highly 
 applauded. Great complaints were made of the 
 incivifm and perfecuting fpirit of the miniilers, and 
 he refolved to feek for refuge in his f outer rain* 
 Here he remained but three days, though he con- 
 tinued for a much longer time to date his papers 
 from thence. He did not in them affume a ftyle 
 of greater moderation, but flill continued to advife 
 the cutting off of heads, the partition of property, 
 and the plunder of the wealthy l . 
 
 Hisvio- In the conteft between his party and the Brif- 
 fotines he was fignally ferviceable ; for though the 
 1C difguft excited by his appearance in the convention 
 was fuch that even his known intimates appeared 
 afhamed to aflbciate with him, though Danton pro- 
 fefled to diflike, and Robefpierre denied having 
 much connection with him, yet his intrepidity in 
 all matters where nothing was to be apprehended 
 but fhame, and his facility in inciting infurrection 
 and intriguing with the mob, rendered him a necef- 
 fary aflbciate in their projects. The BrifTotines, 
 who had felt the effects of his malice, were anxious 
 to procure his expulfion from the aflembly, or his 
 execution, but he had taken too firm root in the 
 favour of the populace to fear the refult of their ex- 
 ertions. Briflbt now wrote, and Vergniaud and 
 Louvet declaimed, in vain ; they had it in their 
 power to have crumed him during the firft admini- 
 flration of Roland, but his libels on the court were 
 then too ferviceable ; they foflered the ferpent to 
 fling the royal family, and were afterwards them- 
 
 * Mercure Francois, du TO Novembre 1798, p. 96. no, in. Du 
 57 Novembre, p. 194.. Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 397. 
 
 felves
 
 MARAT. 47. 
 
 felves defervedly victims to his venom. Reftrained 
 by no impulfe of fhame or fenfe of truth, he re- 
 turned their farcafms with grofs abufe, their accu- 
 fations with recrimination, calling them royalifts, 
 ariftocrats, mufcadins^ and heaping on them every 
 charge which was likely to inflame the public mind: 
 he alifo accufed them, and not without truth, of being 
 acceflaries by their connivance to the acls of the 2d 
 of September. The oppofition made by that incon- 
 fiftent faction to the progrefs of the king's trial, 
 afforded him a ftill greater opportunity of reprefent- 
 ing them to the public as royalifts ; and the refult 
 of that tranfaction rendered their definition eafy. 
 From the period of the king's execution, Marat was 
 affectedly held forth by his partifans as a ted in re- 
 volutionary opinions; thofe who did not think exactly 
 as he did were reckoned counter-revolutionifts. His 
 afcendancy was fo great, that the convention was 
 often obliged to fufpend all other deliberations to 
 attend to his egotifms, whims, and impertinences. 
 In vain were decrees made againft him, he violated 
 them the moment they were formed, fecure of im- 
 punity from the influence of the mob over the en- 
 flaved and cowardly legiilature u . 
 
 His rancor againft Dumouriez, which had Rancor 
 known no intermiffion, led him to depreciate all his !p mft 
 
 r rr n i i . Dumou- 
 
 lucceiies, and conitantly point him out as a traitor riez. 
 to the country. The famous battle of Jemappe he 
 treated as a treacherous exertion of the general to 
 occafion a wanton facrifice of the Parifian recruits x . 
 He prophefied that he wouui defert like la Fayette ; 
 and to exafperate the inhabitants of the capital, af- 
 ferted that his aides-de-camp wallowed in gold and 
 
 " See Roland's Appeal, vol. J. p, 5 . 119. Peltier's late Figure, 
 vol. ii. p. 295. 493. Mercure Francois, No. du 29 Septembre 1705. 
 Moore'* Journal, vol. i. p. 4.55. vol. ii. p. 234, 235. Young's Ex- 
 ample of France, p. 28. 
 
 * Mercure Fran$pis, No. du 17 Nov. 1791. Moore's Journal, 
 vol. ii. p. 413. 
 
 filver,
 
 4 8 MARA T. 
 
 filver, and made ufe of affignats of fifty Kvres 
 (2/. 3^. 9*/.) to light their pipes y . The accom- 
 plifhment of this prediction, though produced in a 
 great degree by the treachery of the Mountain, and 
 by his own calumnies, raifed him in the eyes of the 
 Parifians, and inflamed his vanity to the higheft 
 pitch. 
 
 Conteft He took advantage of this circumftance to re- 
 
 JJSflot- 6 double his attacks on the oppofmg fadion; he 
 ines. charged them with being accomplices of the general, 
 and, as prefident of the Jacobin club, figned an ad- 
 drefs exhorting the popular focieties to unite, and 
 by reiterated petitions compel the convention to 
 expel thofe unfaithful abettors of Dumouriez, who 
 betrayed their truft, and did not vote for the death 
 6th Feb. of the tyrant. Previous to this period, Salles had 
 * 793 * denounced him for publiming an inflammatory jour- 
 nal, inviting the people to murder and pillage ; but, 
 as Marat was fupported by the galleries, this had no 
 other effect than to throw the convention into one 
 of thofe convulfions which then generally termi- 
 nated their debates. They alfo procured an addrefs 
 from the popular focieties at Amiens, requiring, 
 amongfl other things, a decree of accufation againfl 
 him ; but the convention paifed to the order of the 
 day z . In return, he accufed the Brifibtines of hav- 
 ing abetted the pillage of the (hops which took 
 place in February, and of the confpiracy of the i oth 
 of March a . But thefe were only preludes to a 
 aft April rnore daring attack : he ventured to denounce three 
 lzth * hundred deputies, as confpirators devoted to Briffot 
 and his coadjutors ; but this attempt failed of fuc- 
 cefs. He foon however returned to the charge, and 
 pointedly accufed the Briflbtines of being accom- 
 plices with Dumouriez 5 but this denunciation had 
 
 f Life of Dumouriez, vol. iii. p. 389- 4-4- Louvet's Narrative, 
 
 p. 30. 
 
 * Debates. * Briffot a fes Commettans, p. 31, 
 
 no
 
 MARAT, 
 
 Ho other efFeft than to create a confufion fo violent 
 that the prefident was obliged to put on his hat* 
 The adverfe party difplayed an unexpected courage 
 and unanimity ; iwords were drawn on each fide$ 
 and thefe foi-difant Romans, this aflembly of philo- 
 fophers, thirfting for blood and inflamed with mu- 
 tual hatred, were mere like the contending gla- 
 diators of the amphitheatre than the philofophical 
 difputants of the portico. The prefident fucceeded 
 in preventing mutual carnage, and thus the affair ter- 
 minated for the prefent b . In the evening fitting, Denounced 
 Gaudet, by way of revenge, moved for a decree of 
 accufation againft Marat, chiefly on the ground of 
 his having, as prefident of the Jacobins, figned the 
 addrefs above mentioned ; to which he alleged he 
 had put his name merely as prefident, without know- 
 ing or confidering the contents ; but, with his ac- 
 cuftomed audacity, defended and juftified them* 
 After a debate of two-and-twenty hours, a decree of 
 accufation was paffed againft him by a very large 
 majority, and he was ordered to be fent to the 
 Abbaye. This tranfaclion proves, that when active 
 and united, the Girondifls could ftill command a 
 majority in the convention, on fome occafions at 
 leaft ; but their weaknefs, treachery, jealoufy, and 
 timidity had occafioned them to lofe fo many ad- 
 vantages out of doors, all of which their more active 
 opponents had fecured, that a fingle exertion produced 
 no other good than a temporary prolongation of a 
 ftruggle, the event of which might eafily be forefeen. 
 Marat at firft declared that the decree againft him 
 was only obtained to excite commotion, and that 
 he would brave the fury of his enemies ; but having 
 efcaped by the connivance of his jailor from confine- from c n- 
 ment, he again repaired to his vault, where he re- nement - 
 mained carefully concealed, though he continued to 
 write and publifh with unabated rancour and au- 
 
 b Debatci, New Annual Regifter for 1793, p. 175. 
 
 YOJU. u. * dacity.
 
 50 MARAT. 
 
 dacity c . He had little to fear from a trial before 
 the revolutionary tribunal, the jurors of which 
 were all appointed by himfelf, an exertion of power 
 which the timid right fide had permitted him to 
 ufurp, after a jury had been afcertained by ballot d . 
 His perfonal timidity, however, was fuch, that it re- 
 quired all the influence of Robefpierre, who had de- 
 fended him in the convention, to induce him to 
 come forward, and ftand his trial', even though 
 Roumllon, one of the jurors, had faid to his friends 
 Partiality ' m tne Cordeliers club ; " Fear nothing for his 
 of the " life. They talk of arrefting him ; I invite you 
 jury. to fl. a k t jj e r fl. man W j 10 dares i av hj s facrilegious 
 
 " hands on the friend of the people*." 
 
 2 3 d Apr. At length, having himfelf fixed a day for his 
 
 Surrenders trial, Marat, the day before, furrendered himfelf to 
 
 the keeper of the Conciergerie. He was attended to 
 
 the tribunal by a great concourfe of his adherents, 
 
 and appeared rather as a judge than a criminal. 
 
 *4th. On entering the hall, he thus addrefied the bench : 
 
 His ac- cc Citizens ; you do not fee before you a culprit, but 
 
 " the apoftle and martyr of liberty ; the decree of 
 
 " accufation againft me has been obtained by a 
 
 * e group of factious intriguers." This infult on the 
 
 legiflature was received with general applaufe. His 
 
 interrogatory was flight, and his anfwers heard by 
 
 the enraptured mob with all the refpect and ap- 
 
 31 ft May, plaufe due to oracles. His acquittal was pronounced 
 
 without hefitation, and the hall refounded with ap- 
 
 plaufes. Marat, (landing on a table, faid, " Citizens, 
 
 " judges, and jurors, the fate of traitors againft the 
 
 " nation is in your hands : protect the innocent, 
 
 " punifh the guilty, and the country will be 
 
 " faved." 
 
 e Crimes de Marat, p. 13. 
 d Louvet's Narrative, p. 41. 
 
 * Etat de la France, par Montgaillard, p. 13. 66. Crimes de 
 Marat, p. 1 5. t* 
 
 f Uriflbt a fes Commettans, p. 45- . 
 
 A ludi-
 
 MARAT. 51 
 
 A ludicrous fcene and grotefque proceflion fuc- He is car. 
 ceeded. The mob, intoxicated with joy and en- 
 thufiafm, rufhed towards Marat, and covering his 
 brow with crowns and branches of oak which tby 
 had already prepared, carried him to the grand tf air- 
 cafe of the Palais, where an orator commanded the 
 audience to pay homage to the friend of the people 
 fo unjuftly accufed. The air was rent with cries of 
 Vive Marat ! vive I' ami du peuple ! and the pro- 
 ceffion moved towards the hall of the convention, 
 forcing every one they met to pull of their hats, and 
 join in the cry of Vive Marat I The object of thefe 
 acclamations, a little, deformed, creature, meanly 
 drelfed, fat in ridiculous date, almofl hid with civic 
 crowns and oak boughs, affecting with burlefque 
 gravity a triumphant air, and repaying the popular 
 fanaticifm with nods, fmiles, and looks of pro- 
 tection. 
 
 Thus efcorted, he entered the hall of the conven- Addrefs to 
 tion, having firft modeflly taken off his civic crowns, the c . on ~ 
 which he carried in his hand. He afcended the 
 tribune and faid : " Legiflators of the French nation : 
 " I prefent to you, at this moment, a citizen who 
 " has been inculpated, but is now completely juf- 
 " tified; he offers you an upright heart j he will 
 " continue to defend, with all the energy he pof- 
 " fefles, the rights of man, liberty, and the privi- 
 " leges of the people.' 1 This harangue was received 
 with unbounded applaufe by the mob. Marat was 
 about to quit the tribune, but the people required 
 him to ftay till the prefident mould have anfwered 
 his addrefs. The prefident faid : " It is not cuf- 
 " ternary to anfwer the addrefles of citizens, unlefs 
 " they prefent petitions, now Marat certainly does 
 " not appear as a petitioner." Danton, however, 
 proclaimed this one of the beautiful days of the French 
 revolution. Offelin moved that the judgment of the 
 revolutionary tribunal mould be inferted in the 
 2 bulletin,
 
 5* MARAT. 
 
 bulletin. The convention, glorying in its infig- 
 nificance, applauded and confented*. 
 
 ^iftMay. It now became obvious, that one party muft 
 
 o??he fi n trium P h b y the deftruftion of the other, many 
 
 Briflb- tumultuous debates, and even manual Ikirmifhes 
 
 tines. t 00 k place in the interval between the time of Marat's 
 
 refuming his feat and the 31 ft of May, a day which 
 
 decided the conteft, and which, by his influence in 
 
 the clubs and in the central committees, he greatly 
 
 forwarded ; and it muft be obferved, that, of his 
 
 own authority, he made feveral alterations in the 
 
 lift of perfons profcribed, ftriking out fome, and in- 
 
 felting others, without confulting the petitioners or 
 
 the convention k . 
 
 Marat's This triumph over the BrifTotines, confirmed by 
 arrogance. ^ Q fubfequent arreftation of feventy members at- 
 tached to the fame party, rendered the afcendancy 
 of the Mountain uncontrollable. Marat was treated 
 with more honour and refpecl than any individual 
 fmce the revolution, and exerted a fway in the con- 
 vention and the clubs more abfolute than was ever 
 before known, in bodies ftyled deliberative. In 
 fact, they fubmitted to all his whims and caprices, 
 and feemed to derive to themfelves honor from their 
 3d June, fubmiffion. The day after the arreft of the adverfe 
 deputies, he announced a refolution not to deliver 
 any opinion in the afiembly till they mould have been 
 7th June, brought to trial, but as that could not be imme- 
 diately done, he foon retracted the determination 1 . 
 His extravagances were more bearable from the 
 obvious certainty that the wretch was haftening to 
 HU ill his grave, and that nothing could fave him. His 
 health, conftitution had never been good, and at this period, 
 
 K Crimes de Marat, p. 17. Briflbt a fes Commettans, p. 4.5. 
 Ixjuvet's Narrative, p. 4.3. Pages, v. ii. p. 74. 
 
 h Louvet's Narrative, p. 44. Impartial Hiltorf, vol. ii. p. 301. 
 Pages, vol. ii. p. 80. 
 
 * Debates. 
 
 he
 
 MARAT. 53 
 
 he was eat up with a leprous complaint ; which 
 adding its ravages to his natural deformity, and 
 habitual filthinds, rendered him an object truly dif- 
 guftinf to look at, and fometimes obliged him to a 
 retirement from bufmefs, during which he ufed the 
 bath, and other medical prefcriprions. On the 
 fymptoms which attended his diforder a fufpicion 
 has been founded, that a flow poifon had been ad- 
 miniftered to him by Robefpierre : it is even averred 
 that he was confcious of the treachery of his col- 
 league, who thus attempted to cut him off at the 
 height of his popularity, that he, fucceeding him in 
 the public opinion, might make ufe of it to further 
 his projects of vengeance and ambition*. I do not, 
 however, confider this fuggeftion well-founded, but 
 rather one of thofe calumnies which the refentment 
 of all parties has been willing to add to the real 
 crimes of Robefpierre. 
 
 His days were not terminated by difeafe or poifon ; th J u! Y 
 the man of blood ended his life in blood. During 
 one of the receffes from public affairs to which 
 difeafe compelled him, a young woman called at his 
 lodging on fome pretended bufmefs. She was ad- 
 mitted juft as he was coming out of the bath. After 
 fome previous converfation (he introduced the fub- 
 jeft of the profcribed deputies, and is faid to have 
 pleaded for mercy. Marat, with his accuftomed 
 ferocity, anfwered that all the promoters of infur- 
 rection in the departments were doomed to death. 
 " Then you fhall precede them," me exclaimed, 
 and drawing a knife {tabbed him in the bread ; he 
 ftaggered, fell, and expired 1 . 
 
 The 
 
 k Etat de la France, par Montgaillard, p. 13. 66. 
 
 1 Marie Anne Vitfoirc CHARLOTTE CORDt'or CORDAY, the woman 
 who performed this remarkable adaflimiion, was a native of Saint 
 Saturnin des Lienerets. She was the daughter of a gentleman in 
 eafy circumftances, and had infhmed her mind by ftudy and medi- 
 tation to the commifTion of an aft, which (he thought would be bene- 
 iifial to her country. But heraclion cannot be afcribed to patriotifm 
 3 alone}
 
 54 MAR A T. 
 
 Confe- The death of Marat was of great fervice to his 
 party, and the period at which it took place fmgu- 
 larly fortunate; it afforded the chiefs of his faction 
 
 alone; it is not improbable that flic was influenced by love for Bar- 
 haroux, who.n fhe had long known, and whofe life fhe imagined to 
 beat Marat's difpofal. While the profcribed deputies were at Caen, 
 fhe frequently came, attended by a fervant,-to the town-hall, and 
 inquired for Barbaroux, to whom flie pretended feme bufmefs, but 
 always convei fed with him in prefence of her domeftic. She was ap- 
 prehended irmned lately on the perpetration of her extraordinary at- 
 tempt, and fent firlt to the Abhaye, and afterwards to the Concier- 
 gerie. She was put on her trial the lyth, and avowed the fact and all 
 the circumftar.ces, alledging as a juftificaticn, that (heconfidered Marat 
 a criminal already convicted by the public opinion, and that (he had 
 a right to put him to death. She added, that fhs did not expect to 
 have been brought before the revolutionary tribunal, hut to have been 
 delivered up to the rage of the populace, torn to pieces, and that her 
 head fixed on a pike would have been borne before Marat on his Hate 
 bed and ferve as a rallying point to Frenchmen, if any kill exifted 
 worthy of that name. Her anfwers to the various interrogatories were 
 brief, pointed, diftinguiflied by good lenfe, and fometimes by wit. 
 Her advocate, precluded by her confeflion from making any defence as 
 to the facts, delivered a fpeech in her favour, in which he infifted, that 
 her unrufrled calmnefs and fupernatural ielf-denial muft be occa- 
 ficned only by that fermentation of political fanaticifm, which alfo 
 armed her hand with the dagger, and that it was for them to confider 
 what weight that moral confideration fhould have in the fcale of 
 juftice. She was found guilty, and executed the fame day. When 
 Sentence was pronounced on her (he thanked her counfel for the man. 
 ner in which he had pleaded her caule, which flie faid was delicate 
 and generous. She defired a friend to pay the debts flie had contracted 
 while in pnlon, and requefted of the judges, that three letters which 
 fhe had in her hand, two to Burbaroux, and one to her fa; her, might 
 be delivered. In her way to the place of execution, flie difplayeci a 
 fi.-mnefs and tranquillity which charmed many of the fpeflators, and 
 even awed into filence thofe peifons called revolutionary women, or 
 furies of the guillotine, who in general puifued the victim to death 
 with execrations and reproaches. She fubmitted to her fate with the 
 fame compofure which marked her preceding conduct. She is defcribed 
 by Louvet, who faw her at Caen, to have been flout, well made, with 
 an open air, and modeft behaviour ; her face that of a fine, and pretty 
 woman combined. The circumfhmces which attended this exuaor- 
 dinary aclion, the privacy with which it was conceited, the resolution 
 with which it was executed, the opennefs of confefllon, the contempt 
 of puniftiment, and, above all, the execi able character of the wretch 
 who was the object of it, have taken cff fo much of the horror gene, 
 rally felt at an ac> of afTafiination, that the name of Charlotte Corday 
 is generally pronounced with refpect and a great degree of admiration. 
 Her Letters (or rather her Letter and Continuation) to Barbaroux, 
 are given in the Appendix, No. V. 
 
 a frefh
 
 MARAT. 5- 
 
 a frefii topic of declamation againft the fugitives, 
 to whom, with fome appearance of probability, they 
 attributed the formation of the plot ; it enabled 
 them to accelerate the trial of thofe who were in 
 their hands, and to involve many innocent perfons 
 in pretended confpiracies m ; and it delivered them 
 from a malignant wretch, no longer ufeful to their 
 defigns. 
 
 The day after Marat's death, the whole city of Proceed- 
 Paris was in extreme agitation. Before the con- ln & s in lhe 
 vention had commenced its fittings, the door of the Sonl* ' 
 hall was befieged by petitioners, \vho came from the 
 feclions to deplore ihefric?id of the people ', and in- 
 voke vengeance on his affaffins. One of the peti- 
 tioners expreiTed himfelf in thefe words : " Repre- 
 " fentatives, the paffage from life to death is but a 
 44 moment Marat is no more ! O crime ! the hand 
 " of a parricide has matched from us the moft 
 " intrepid defender of the people Marat is no 
 " more ! he conftantly facrificed himfelf to the 
 " public liberty, and that was his offence Our 
 " eyes ftill feek him in the midft of you O difmal 
 " fight! he is on the bed of death Where art 
 " thou, David ? Thou didft preferve for pofterity 
 " the image of Lepelletier dying for his country ; 
 " thou hail now another fubjeft to employ thy 
 " pencil. And you, legiflators, decree a law 
 " founded on the circumftance ; the mod horrible 
 " torments are infufficient to avenge the nation for 
 " fo enormous a crime ; annihilate for ever both 
 " villany and crimes ; inftruci hireling affaffins in the 
 " value of life, and, inftead of cutting them off in a 
 " moment, let the dread of torture difarm thofe 
 " parricides who threaten the lives of the people's 
 " reprefentatives." No decree followed this fan- 
 guinary petition. The attention of the legiflature 
 was immediately engaged by Chabot, who related 
 
 w See Appel a 1'Impartial Pofteiilo, Vol. ii. p. 7 a. 
 
 c 4 the
 
 56 MARAT. 
 
 the circumftances of Marat's death, and moved for 
 a decree of accufation againft Duperret and Fauchet 
 as accomplices with Charlotte Corday; which being 
 reinforced by the arguments of Couthon, was 
 granted ". 
 
 Marat lies The death of Marat was hardly announced, when 
 m ftate. j^ p art j zans ftudied how to make his funeral as 
 grand and interefting as poffible. His houfe not 
 being large enough to gratify the immenfe concourfe 
 of people whom curiofity had attracted, it was re- 
 folved to embalm his body, and depofit it in the 
 church des Cordeliers. The whole building was 
 adorned with national colours. In the middle of 
 the nave was an elevated ftate-bed, furrounded with 
 cyprefs, and bearing this infcription : " MARAT, 
 " the friend of the people^ ajfajfmated by the enemies 
 " of the people: foes to the country , moderate your 
 " joys t> e w*H f n d avengers" The croud who 
 attended to contemplate his features, were however 
 difappointed ; he was intirely disfigured, and his 
 corpfe was abfolutely difguiting. 
 
 His fune- His funeral ceremony, which was performed by 
 ral * torch-light, was grand and folemn. Mournful mufic 
 
 was heard at intervals, forming an accompaniment 
 to fongs of woe, written for the occafion. All elfe 
 was filence, fave the fpeeches made at dated intervals 
 by orators, who came to pay the lad tribute of re- 
 fpedt to the friend of the people, and the occafional 
 murmurs of the mob, exprefling regret at the lofs 
 of their friend. The convention and the conftituted 
 authorities attended in coftume, and the body was 
 efcorted by a large detachment of the national guard. 
 Numerous groups of women, young girls, and 
 children, were placed at proper diftances, to act 
 the part of excetfive grief, and nothing was omitted 
 which could convey the appearance of woe an4 
 regret. 
 
 Debates. Crimes dc Marat, p, 43. 
 
 The
 
 M A R A T. 57 
 
 The body was depofited in the church-yard of the 
 Cordeliers. The eve of the ceremony, a deputatioa 
 of the club of Cordeliers attended at the muni- 
 cipality to demand leave to prefent a petition to 
 the convention, in order to obtain for Marat the 
 honours of the Pantheon : but Chaumette, procureur 
 de la commune, though himfelf a Cordelier, oppofed 
 this propofirion. He exclaimed, " Let ci-devant 
 *' nobles repofe in thofe fuperb temples ; leave to 
 " them their fumptuous pantheons : to fans-culottes 
 *' the temple of Nature belongs. I move that a 
 <c {tone, a rough (tone, be placed on the tomb of 
 *' Marat, with this fingle inscription : Here refts the 
 " friend of his country, affaffinated by the enemies of 
 *' his country.' 1 This plan was adopted, and the 
 funeral ceremony concluded with a grand and affect- 
 ing piece of mufic in honor of the deceafed. 
 
 The Cordeliers, afterwards, thought proper to sSth July, 
 honour the heart of Marat with a feparate ceremony. Hls heait 
 
 mi. / L u j it j t n confccrat. 
 
 Ihey fought, in the garde meuble de la Couronne, e a. 
 for the mod precious and exquifitely ornamented 
 urn, in which they depofited the heart of Marat. 
 The day preceding this ceremony, a member of the 
 club read an oration which he had prepared. It 
 had for a motto, Cor Jefus ! Cor Marat ! and 
 began thus" Heart of Jefus ! Heart of Marat ! ye 
 ^ are equally intitled to our homage." The orator 
 proceeded to compare the life of our Bleffed Saviour 
 with that of the friend of the people. Marat's 
 apoflles were the Jacobins and Cordeliers ; the 
 Publicans, the Ihop-keepers j and the Pharifees, the 
 ariftocrats. " Jefus was a prophet," faid the 
 orator ; " Marat is a deity." Continuing his eulogy, 
 he compared Marat's concubine to the Virgin Mary; 
 the one concealed the infant Jefus in Egypt, the 
 other faved the friend of the people from the fword 
 of la Fayette . This difcourfe was received with 
 
 confiderable 
 
 I con fefs that I feel confiderable repugnance in publifhing thtf* 
 houible bla(j)hmie j but the difplay of mental degradation, and ex* 
 
 cellive
 
 58 MARA T. 
 
 considerable applaufe ; but a member of the club 
 found caufe for cenfure. " We mull hear no more 
 " of this Jefus," he faid, " it is all nonfenfe ; re- 
 " publicans own no God but Philofophy and Li- 
 " berty." The fpeech was not fpoken, but the 
 ceremony took place. The urn containing the heart 
 was hung up with great pomp in the dome of the 
 hall of the Cordeliers. Robefpierre, and the prin- 
 cipal members of the Mountain attended, the 
 whole audience were decorated with red caps, 
 and every act denoted extravagance and enthufiafm p . 
 Forty-eight feafls were given in honor of 
 
 *5thNov. him q . It was decreed that the bud of Mirabeau 
 ftould be moved from the Pantheon to make 
 room for his r , and images of him were diftributed 
 all over France s . One of the fedions of Paris 
 affumed his name ; which was alfo given to Havre 
 de Grace, to Port Dauphin in Madagascar, and to 
 the ifle of Bouen. His name \vas alfo applied to 
 one of the companies of the revolutionary army, to 
 a fihip of the line, and affumed by many individuals 
 in revolutionary committees in various parts of the 
 country l . David made a picture on the fubject of 
 his death, and in pronouncing his eulogium, men- 
 tioned his acquaintance with Marat as a confoladon 
 for having come into the world too late to be per- 
 fonally known to Cato, Ariftides, Socrates, and 
 
 Robe many other illuftrious ancients ". 
 
 fpierre fuf- Though thefe teflimonies of refpect were fanclioned 
 
 j*aed. ^d promoted by Robefpierre j though he placed 
 
 eefiive abfurdity, is not without its ufe. It ferves to fhew how eafiiy 
 the meantft of mankind can attain a degree of impiety fo abandoned 
 as to wrcft the laurel from the whole race of modern free-thinkeis ; 
 and it deinonftratts the juftice of rtftraining attacks on the fcripture, 
 which would elfe be equally dt-gradtd by the ferocity of atheifm, aiid 
 the folly of fanaticifm. 
 
 Crimes de Mai at, p. 83. et it-q. 
 
 Etat de la France, par Montgaillard, p. 70. 
 
 Pages, vol. i. p. 388. Jouinais. 
 
 Etat de la France, p. 70. 
 
 Pages, vol.ii. j>. 60. Etat de la France, p. 78. Tench's Corre- 
 fpondence, &c. &c. 
 
 Mifs Wiliiams's Letters in 1794, vol. ii. p. 74. 
 
 the
 
 MARAT; S9 
 
 the buft of Marat on the altar of the Supreme Being * 
 yet he has not efcaped the fufpicion of having been the 
 enemy of his fame, and the improbable accuiation 
 of having procured Charlotte Corday to accelerate 
 his death y . After the fall of Robefpierre, the 
 Jacobins fuggefted that jealoufy had prevented the 
 canonization of Marat; and there was not fenfe of 
 virtue in the convention fufficient to prevent the 
 difgraceful ceremony. It was the cuftom to intro- 
 duce a bud of him on the theatre to receive the 
 applaufes of the patriotic fpeclators. But at length Marat falls 
 an end was put to thefe abfurdities ; the name of into con - 
 the fection was changed, his buft was kicked out of tem P u 
 the Pantheon, and by the decree againft premature 
 apotheofes, forbid to be exhibited on the theatre : 
 the eulogium of David is only remembered with 
 contempt, and the fubjeft of it is no longer con- 
 templated but the horror due to his crimes z . 
 
 Marat was in perfon very diminutive; his head Defcrip- 
 difproportionately large ; his complexion livid and tion of his 
 cadaverous, and his countenance fingularly ex- manners? 4 
 preffive of his malignant and fanguinary difpofition, 
 Dr. Moore fays, that " to a painter of maffacres it 
 " would be ineftimable." In his drefs, he affected 
 to fet the ton in point of dirt and fhabbinefs ; Chabot 
 was his rival in this particular, and the club of Cor- 
 deliers their humble imitators. In his own houfe 
 he is defcribed to have been feen in the following 
 attire : " He had on boots, without itockings, an ; 
 " old pair of leather breeches, and a white filk 
 " waiftcoat. His dirty fhirt, open at the bofom, 
 *' exhibited his (kin of yellow hue ; long dirty nails 
 " marked his fingers' ends, and his frightful vifage 
 " was perfectly in unifon with this flrange drefs V 
 
 When 
 
 * Suite de 1'Etat dela France, p. 36. r Td-m, p. 71. 
 
 * See Mil's Williams's Letters in 1794, vol. iv. p. 9. 
 
 a Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 171. The description of his perfon, 
 drefs, manners, and peculiarities, is principally taken from the frag- 
 ment
 
 MARAT. 
 
 When he went abroad, he wore a large round hat 
 flouched over his eyes, fo as to hide a great part of 
 his face. He was characterifed, next to his ferocity 
 and envy, by a perfeverance which did not permit 
 him to lee or acknowledge any difficulties in the 
 way which led to the execution of his favourite 
 project ; his vanity, which made him confider him- 
 felf all-iufficient, ftrengthened this difpofition ; and 
 the general exaggeration of his ideas, in all matters 
 relating to himfelf or others, made him adopt modes 
 of action which no perfon but himfelf would have 
 devifed, and to which no times but thofe in which 
 he lived could have given effect. As a philofopher, 
 he toiled inceflantly in the repetition of philosophical 
 experiments, in hopes to enjoy the pleaiure of 
 humbling the academy of fciences, and of over- 
 turning the fyftems of Newton, or the opinions of 
 Helvetius. As an orator, he wanted every advan- 
 tage ; he exprefled himfelf with difficulty, his ideas 
 were confufed, his voice hollow and croaking, his 
 words and geflures abrupt and unconnected ; yet 
 he exhibited himfelf in every tribune, and, in fpite of 
 contempt and derifion, would be heard : he affected a 
 fplemnity in his addrefs, and ufed to hold his head 
 as high as poffible, to acquire an air of dignity ; 
 callous to every appearance of diflike or difguft, he 
 never for a moment loft the confident look of felf- 
 approbation, but retorted on his diflatisfied hearers 
 looks and expreffions of menace and contempt. His 
 temper was iudden and violent ; in conversation he 
 could not bear the lead contradiction, but flew 
 put inflantaneouily into the moft paffionate ex- 
 clamation and rancorous abufe. The extravagant 
 \vildnefs of his ideas will appear as well from a 
 fact related by Briflbt, as from the continual con- 
 fifcations and murders he afterwards recommended : 
 
 went of BiifTot before alluded to ; from the Conjuration de d'Orlear.s, 
 yol. ii. p. 155. Dr. Moore's Journal, vol.i. p. 155. vol. ii. p. 165. 
 397.5 fioin, kohnd's *\{>ptal j and from Garal's Memoirs, p. 88.5 4 
 
 la
 
 M A R A T. 6t 
 
 In order to be cured of the cholic, he was defirous 
 to have his belly opened, but could not find a fur- 
 geon who would undertake the operation. His 
 paffion for praife, or rather for publicity, was vaft 
 and indifcriminate ; provided his name filled every 
 mouth, he -Was indifferent whether it was repeated 
 with applaufes or execrations; and was jealous even 
 of his affociates, if they affected to furpafs him in 
 \vickednefs. Marat was not brave, though he wag 
 irafcible and audacious. During the old govern- 
 ment, he was afraid of the Baftille ; and in the 
 courfe of the new, under continual apprehenfion of 
 perfonal danger and imprifonment. Love of fame 
 was the difeafe of his mind ; avarice had no place ire 
 it. At his death he was poflfefled of no more than; 
 one affignat of twenty-five fols (u. o\d.~) ; madanie 
 Roland however combats this fact by a (latement 
 of the elegance of his apartments, one of which (he 
 defcribes as furnimed with blue and white damafk, 
 and decorated with filk curtains, elegantly drawn 
 up in feftoons, a fplendid chandelier, fuperb China 
 vafes, filled with natural flowers, then fcarce, and 
 of a high price b . The aflertion of the Briffotine 
 writers, that he was in the pay of the combined 
 powers % is unfounded. It may be regarded as a 
 retaliation for the accufation of venality with which 
 they were charged by his partifans ; for Marat, 
 unfolicitous about money, too vain to think that 
 an adequate price could be fet on his fervices, and 
 an utter ftranger to the dictates of gratitude, was , 
 
 not to be purchafed ; nor would the attempt be 
 made by any perfons whofe fagacity was fuperior to, 
 or whofe fituation was not fo defperate as that of 
 the deluded and abandoned Orleans. 
 
 * Rohnd's Appeal, vol. i. p. 171. 
 
 * See Louvet's Narrative, p, 45. jo. 39*45. 53.
 
 C ** 3 
 
 GABRIEL-HONORE RIQUETTi 
 COMTE DE MIRABEAU. 
 
 AMONG the manifold characters whom the French 
 revolution has expofed to obfervation, no one 
 has excited greater interefl or occafioned more fpe- 
 culation than Mirabeau. Diflinguifhed from his 
 coadjutors by the extent of his talents, the rapidity 
 and vigour of his eloquence, and ftill more by that 
 imperious energy of decifion, which is the true cha- 
 racleriftic of genius and keeps all competitors at a dif- 
 tance ; his revolutionary career, though mort, is 
 brilliant, and his abilities have fecured to him that 
 renown which his virtues could not have claimed. 
 Although the vices of Mirabeau, his treachery, 
 profligacy, and venality, entitle him to the feverefl 
 cenfure, fuch is the privilege of extraordinary en- 
 dowments, that he is in general contemplated, not 
 only without horror, but with a degree of com- 
 placency ; and the French revolution has produced 
 fo many other public characters who, exceeding 
 him in every evil quality, pofiefled none of his 
 claims to admiration, that if he is not purified, he 
 is at lead dignified by the comparifon. 
 
 Family of The anceflors of Mirabeau were emigrants from 
 
 Mirabeau. i ta iy. i n the year 1268, Gerard Arrighetti, and 
 
 Azzuccio his fon, were banifhed from Florence for 
 
 their adherence to the Ghibelline party. They took 
 
 refuge in France, and eflablifhed themfelves at 
 
 Seyne in Provence, where a grandfon of Gerard 
 
 Arrighetti founded an hofpital dedicated to the 
 
 Holy Ghoft. The Italian Arrighetti was in time 
 
 14 foftened
 
 M I R A B E A U. tf 3 
 
 foftened to the French appellative Riquetti ; and a 
 widow of the ancient and noble family of Barras 
 having, by a fecond marriage, alienated the eftate 
 in Provence known by the name of Mirabeau, it 
 was purchafed by Jean de Riquety, and erecied into 
 a marquifate by letters patent in July 1685; from 
 which period the family of Riquety, or Riquetti de 
 Mirabeau, became ennobled d - 
 
 Gabriel-Honore Riquetti de Mirabeau was born 9 th March 
 at Egreville c . His father was a leader of the fed 
 of Economifts, and enjoyed a confiderable reputa- 
 tion as author of a work intitled I* Ami des Hommes, 
 and feveral other pieces. The education of the 
 young count was carefully attended to, but he is faid 
 to have made fo little progrefs as by no means to 
 prepare the minds of his acquaintance for the bril- 
 liant exertions by which he was afterwards diftin- 
 guifhed. An anecdote which is recorded of him 
 feems however to prove, that this apparent indo- 
 cility was in fad nothing but a contempt for the 
 routine of fludy defignated by his tutors : a more 
 difcerning matter put into his hands, at the age of 
 fourteen, Locke's Effay on the Human Underftand- 
 ing, which foon occupied his entire attention; on. 
 reading the firft chapter of the fecond book, he 
 feemed abforbed in profound meditation ; at length 
 ftarting from his reverie he exclaimed, " This is 
 " the book I wanted." He ftudied the work with 
 much attention, and fome years afterwards meeting 
 his tutor in a public walk, affectionately accofted 
 him, faying, " I (hall never forget that you made 
 " me acquainted with Locke f ." 
 
 d Diftionnaire de la Nobleffe, par M. de la Chenaye Dcfbois, art. 
 MIRABEAU et RICJUETY. 
 
 e Anecdotes du Ke^ne de Louis XVT. vol. vi. p. 262. The au- 
 thor of a pamphlet, intitled " Vie Publique et Privee de Mirabeau," 
 fays he was born at Paris. As that author is miiinformed in many 
 particulars, and feems to have entertained great prejudices again (t 
 Mirabeau, I have not relied implicitly on his information; and (till 
 lei's on his opinions in thole facls where his production is cited 39 an 
 authority. 
 
 ' Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI, vol. vi. p. 262, 
 
 Family
 
 '64 M I R A B E A XT. 
 
 Impnfon- Family differences, into the merits of which it iS 
 njent ' Ifnpoflible at this diftance of time to penetrate, oc- 
 cafioned Mirabeau's father to procure a lettre ds 
 cachet againft him. It is faid by one author, that 
 his fatiric vein too freely indulged produced this act 
 of parental feverity g : another has not fcrupled to 
 afiert, that it was occafioned by a difcovery that the 
 young count had projected the murder of his parent 
 by poifon h . Mirabeau himfelf avers that the caufe 
 of his difgrace was the intriguing difpofition of a 
 female, who led tile father to apprehend that his 
 fon would difgrace himfelf by an ill-chofen matri* 
 monial alliance 1 . He was however clofely con- 
 fined in the IJle de Rhe. This imprifonment took 
 place when Mirabeau was only feventeen years of 
 age, and lafted fifteen months, at the end of which 
 he was liberated at his own earneft interceflion k . 
 i?6$. On being fet at liberty, he obtained a commiflion 
 Serves in jjj t h e dragoons ', and went to ferve in Corfica, 
 which the French were then employed in fubjugat- 
 ing, and remained there thirteen months. No au- 
 thentic mention is made of his conduct in this fitu- 
 ation ; it is therefore reafonable to believe his own 
 representation, that he behaved in fuch a manner 
 as to deferve the approbation of his fuperior officers. 
 He adds, that he compiled a laborious work, which 
 was much applauded by thofe who had feen it, but 
 was fuppreffed by his father m . During his flay in 
 this ifland, he aflumed the name of Buffiere, derived 
 from an eftate belonging to his family n . 
 June 1772. At the termination of the war he returned to 
 Marries. France, and addicted himfelf to every fpecies of irre- 
 gularity. The prudence or parfimony of his father 
 prevented his allowing fuch a ftipend as would fup- 
 
 K Anecdotes, &c. ubi ftipra. 
 
 h Vie Puhlique & Privet de Mirabcati, p. 1. 
 
 * Lettres ecrites du Donjon de Vincennes, vol. i. p. 189. 
 
 k Vie Puhlique, &c. p. 3. Letties ecrites, c. vol.i. y. 185* 
 
 * Diflionnaire dc la NoblefTe. 
 
 Lettres ecrites, &c. vol. i. p, 190. 
 Vie Pubiique, &c. p. 15. 
 
 port
 
 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 port thefe extravagances, and Mirabeau was confe- 
 quently involved in great diftrefs. To repair his 
 fortune, and fupply the means of gratifying his fa- 
 vourite paffions, he turned his attention to the ftate 
 of matrimony, and fdecled for the object of his pur- 
 fuit Marguerite-Emilie de Covet, daughter of the 
 marquis de Marignane, who then refided at Aix. 
 The lady/s fortune, which was fuppofed to anount 
 to a million (43.7507.), was a great temptation; 
 but the enterpriie was not in other refpech promif- 
 ing, as me was already engaged to a gentleman 
 named la Valette, and the marriage on the point of 
 being concluded. Mirabeau, however, found means 
 to fupplant this rival, and feveral others of the firft 
 families in France, who made the mod unexception- 
 able offers, and even to obtain the confent of the 
 marquis de Marignane . Application was made to 
 Mirabeau's father, who, without oppofmg a match 
 fo advantageous and honourable, wrote fuch an an- 
 fwer as gave no encouragement to the propofal, 
 and refufed to advance any money towards his fon's 
 eftablifhment p . 
 
 Mirabeau's biographer affert?, that the young lady's father at firft 
 declined the alliance; tut that Miraheau obtained his confent by the 
 following ftrntagem : Early one mrrning he made his appearance at the 
 coffee-houie frequented by the nobility, in the fame drefs he had 
 worn the preceding day, with disordered hair and tumbled linen. 
 His friends began rallying, and hoped he had parted an agreeable even- 
 ing. " Charming," (aid he, " for I pafll-d it with little Mangnane." 
 The ftory was reported to her father, who, as the only means of pre- 
 ferving his daughter's reputation, contented to her marriage. Vie 
 Publique, &c. p. 6. This account is not altogether probable, as the 
 conduct it fuppofes is altogether inconfiltent with the fentiments of 
 honour entertained by the French nobility. If it had been true, in all 
 probability the father or lover of the young lady would have challenged 
 her fuppofed (tducer, and (he would have been (hut up in a convent. I 
 have thought it proper, nevertheless, to relate the anecdote, as there is 
 nothing in it repugnant to Mirabeau's character j and particular cir- 
 cumftances might induce the rriMquisde Marignane to adopt a line of 
 conduct different from what the general view of the cife appeared to 
 dictate. There is, in Mirabeau's Letters in the piifon of Vjncennes, 
 a narrative of the tranfaction, in which an expenfive intrigue is men- 
 tioned, but not defcrihed. See vol. i. p. ^oz, et feq. 
 
 P Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 163. Diclionnaire 
 de la NobleiTe. Lettres ecrites du Donjon de Vincenncs, vol. i. 
 jp. 190. 
 
 VOL, n. F From
 
 66 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 Treament From an alliance formed on fuch principles, and 
 fhiwife. at Mirabeau's age, little felicity could be expected. 
 His father, though he would not fandion the mar- 
 riage by any thing more than a mere conftrained 
 confent, prefented Mirabeau at court, made him his 
 reprefentative in Provence and Limoufm, and main- 
 tained for a confiderable time an amicable epiftolary 
 correfpondence, in which he flyled him a darling fon, 
 an efteemed advifer, and an ufeful co-adjutor q . 
 The bride's fortune, however, was not immediately 
 paid ; and Mirabeau, unreitrained in his libertinifms 
 by any confiderations arifmg from the date he had 
 recently adopted, foon found himfelf three hundred 
 thoufand livres (i v ?,i25/.) in debt r . He is accufed 
 of having treated his unfortunate wife with the mod 
 favage barbarity * ; and the account is not impro- 
 bable, confidering that love was not the motive of 
 his union, that he was naturally choleric and cow- 
 ardly, and that he confidered women as an object 
 of phyfical indulgence rather than of focial efleem '. 
 KanJ/h- j-jj s irregularities became fo exceffive, that it was 
 thought proper to obtain a lettre-dc-cachet^ by which 
 he was compelled to fix his refidence within the 
 limits of the city of Maurique in Provence u . 
 
 He obtained a releafe from this confinement, but 
 it operated no change in his morals or conduct : on 
 the contrary, he feemed to grow defperate, and 
 added to his profligacy a calloumefs to reproof, 
 which generally indicates the mod depraved date of 
 vicious infenfibility. His father was not happy in 
 marriage, and the difputes between him and his 
 wife were carried to fuch an excels, that the lady 
 fued for a feparate maintenance. Mirabeau dif- 
 played a want of filial feeling altogether unnatural. 
 He'had fomented the difpuus between his parents f 
 
 1 Lettres ecrites, &c. vol. i. p. 189. 
 
 t Anecdotes du Regnede Louis XVI. vol. vl. p. 263. 
 
 * Vie Publiquc, &c. p. 7. 
 
 * Lettres de Mirabeau a Mauvillon, p. 130. 
 
 * Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI, vol. vi. p. 163, 
 
 and
 
 M I R A B E A U. $7 
 
 and now, availing himfelf of his talents, went to his 
 father, and, for an hundred Louis-d'or, prepared 
 his memorial for the court. Having done this, he 
 repaired to his mother, and by inveclives againft his 
 father induced her to pay the fame price for the 
 fame fervice. Both memorials were actually pre- 
 fented, and the unnatural fon enjoyed the double 
 lucre of his perfidy and infenfibility x . 
 
 He ftill purfued the career of libertinifm and dif- imprifon- 
 honour with fuch fhamelefs effrontery, that it being "' 
 again judged neceffary to imprifon him, he was ex* 
 iled to the city of Pontarlier y . His fitter, madame 
 de Cabris, had aiTociated herfelf with him in his dif- 
 graceful purfuits ; and, in revenge for fome affront 
 offered to her, he had affaulted the baron de Ville- 
 neuve, who commenced a fuit and recovered fix 
 thoufand livres (162!. IQS.) damages 2 . While at intrigue 
 Pontarlier, he fell in love with, and feduced from wi ? h So " 
 her hufband, Sophie Ruffei, marquife de Monnier. R u ff e i, 
 The intrigue was for fome time carried on in fecret ; 
 but at length the marquis, who was feventy years of 
 age, obtaining intelligence of the fad, to revenge 
 the indignity he had fuftained, procured an order to 
 confine Mirabeau in the citadel of Dijon. While 
 he was in this place, his miftrefs fuffered great feve- 
 rities from her own relations ; and Mirabeau's fa- 
 ther was preparing to imprifon him with more ftricl:- 
 nefs, but he took advantage of the indulgence 
 allowed him by the commandant of Dijon, broke 
 his parole, and efcaped into Holland, where he was 
 
 * Robifon's Proofs of a Confpiracy, p. 374. 
 
 y Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vj. 'p. 263. I do not 
 pretend to have been accurate in the narration of Mirabeau's juvenile 
 adventures and the imprisonments which enfutd from them. He is 
 faid, befides the bamfliments and confinements already mentioned, to 
 have been detained in the chateau d'lf, and the chateau de Joux j in 
 faft, he himfelf afterwards boafted, in the national aflembly, that in 
 the comfe of his life, feventeen lettres- de-cachet had been iflued 
 againlt him. 
 
 * Anecdotes du Regne ds Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. a6j. Preface de 
 Manuel aux Lettiesde Mirabeau, p. 8. 
 
 F a joined
 
 Sentence 
 hfm' nft 
 
 MIRABEAU. 
 
 joined by Sophia. It ought not to be omitted, that 
 Mirabeau juftifies this efcape, by aflerting that the 
 commandant connived at and indirectly advifed it *. 
 The hufband immediately inftituted a fuit againft 
 his wife, in which me was condemned to a forfeiture 
 of dower ; and a profecution againft Mirabeau, who 
 was fentenced, by default, to pay fifty livres 
 (2/. 3J. 9^.) as a fine to the king ; forty thoufand 
 livres (17507.) as damages to the marquis de 
 Monnier ; and to be beheaded in effigy by the 
 common hangman b . 
 
 As the execution of this part of the fentence 
 
 Holland. wou u h ave difgraced the whole family, every exer- 
 tion was made to obtain a reverfal of it ; and as the 
 judgment had been obtained by default, it was con- 
 ceived that it might be fet afide if the defendant 
 could be brought within the jurifdidlion of the 
 court. His family employed the following means 
 to get him arrefted : an exempt de police, named 
 Jaquet de Douei, went to Holland decorated with 
 the military crofs of St. Louis ; and pretending to 
 have been exiled from France by minifterial perfe- 
 cution, formed an intimacy with Mirabeau, who 
 lodged at the houfe of a tailor, and took the name 
 of St. Mathieu. The exempt found means to take 
 Mirabeau into cuftody, and both he and Sophia 
 were brought prifoners to France. The lady, who 
 was now pregnant, was till her lying-in confined in 
 a private houfe, and afterwards fent to the convent 
 
 May 1777.- of Saint Clare at Gien. Mirabeau was imprifoned 
 
 imprifon- i n the caftle of Vincennes c . 
 
 ed at Vin- 
 cennes. 
 
 a SeeLettres ecrites du Donjon de Vincennes, vol. i. p. 387, 
 b Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol.vi. p. 163. .Preface de 
 Manuel, &c. p. i. 23. 
 
 c Preface de Manuel, &c. p. 24.. Anecdotes, &c. vol. vi. p. 464. 
 It is to be obfervcd, that Mirabeau compoled a laborious defence of 
 his conduct up to this period in the fhape of a memorial to his father, in 
 which he denies, fupp.efles, vindicates, or extenuates many of the facts 
 included in the preceding narrative. See Lettres ecrites, &c. p. 287. 
 
 In
 
 M I R A B E A 17. 69 
 
 In this prifon he remained three years and feven His em- 
 months, nor could his frequent letters to the mi- P lo y ments - 
 rafters, in which he ; exclaimed againft the rigour of 
 his detention, and demanded the privilege of a trial, 
 procure his enlargement, or any fatisfaclory ex- 
 ertion in his favour. The lieutenant de police was 
 fo far interefted in his behalf, as to connive at a 
 correfpondence which he maintained with the ob- 
 ject of his paflion ; but, fettered with this condition, 
 that after once reading, me mould return the letter 
 to the infpecleur dc police d . It is well obferved by 
 Dr. Moore, that *' Mirabeau's exceffive love of 
 " pleafure would have tended to render him com- 
 " pletely diffipated, and of courfe left him ignorant, 
 " had he not employed the long intervals of con- 
 " finement and retirement that his debauches and 
 " his want of money obliged him to, in ftudies 
 " which, with better health and more riches, he 
 " would have neglected e ." In the ftate prifon of 
 Vincennes he feems to have thought ferioufly of 
 becoming an author. He had before affifted his 
 father, and compiled fome literary works, which do 
 not appear to have been publimed, and had, while in 
 Holland, formed a literary engagement with Fauche 
 the bookfeller, though none of his productions were 
 publimed. In this long interval of feclufion, he 
 applied himfelf more attentively to this. object, and 
 began to confider literature as a pecuniary refource. 
 At firft he employed himfelf in compiling a French 
 grammar for the inftruction of the offspring of his 
 illicit amour f j but as it was more immediately ne- 
 
 ceflary 
 
 * Preface de Manuel, &c. p. 8. "The collection of letters written 
 by Mirabeau during this imprifbnment, and af'er his death publifhed 
 by Manuel, do their author no credit as a lover, a fcholar, or a man* 
 They exhibit the groffiufs of appetite, without the delicacy of pafTion ; 
 they are often querulous without eloquence, and expoftulatory without 
 dignity. 
 
 e Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 211. 
 
 { Sophie was delivered of a girl the 7th January 177?. Manuel 
 
 fyeaks very highly of Mirabeau's Grammatical Effay, which, accord. 
 
 F } ing
 
 70 M I R A B E A IT. 
 
 ceflary to provide for the fubfiflence of his Infant, 
 then in the care of a wet nurfe, he complied with 
 the corrupt tafte of the times^ and fupplied the 
 hawkers wiih obfcene pamphlets, under the titles of 
 Le Libertin dc Quahte, Ma Converfan, and Erctika 
 Biblicn, which laft unites blafphemy with inde- 
 cency 8 . It is, however, but charitable and rea- 
 fonable to conclude, that necefiity and the corrup- 
 tion of the public mind alone induced him thus to 
 debafe his pen, fmce even while thus employed he 
 found leifure to compofe his celebrated efiay Sur les 
 Leftres de Cachet, et les Prifons d'Etat h . It was af- 
 terwards laid, that he received from government 
 five thoufand livres (21 87. 15^.) for the copy of 
 this work, and that an edition of fix thouland was 
 found in the Baflille when that fortrefs was de- 
 ftroyed V It was publimed and well known in the 
 world many years before that event k . 
 
 i7th Dec. At length Mirabeau obtained his liberty, and 
 '780. found little difficulty in invalidating a fentence 
 which had been pronounced merely by default, and 
 without any examination of witneifes. Kis miftrefs 
 recovered her dower, and an annuity was fettled for 
 her maintenance ! . Mirabeau, however, did not 
 continue long attached to her after obtaining his 
 liberty. 
 
 Goes to His ft ay in France now became impoffible, from 
 Switzer- the magnitude of his debts, and the total lofs of 
 land " his character j he went, therefore, to refide at Neuf- 
 
 jng to him, comprifed, in twenty-five pages, all the eflential rules of 
 the French grammar, explained all difficulties, pointed out all the 
 exceptions to general rules, facilitated the conjugation and fyntax of 
 the irregular verbs; contained all the rules of pronunciation and pro- 
 fody, and particularly explained the declenfion of participles. Pre- 
 fac.e de Manuel, p. 35. 
 
 t Preface de Manuel, p. 36. 
 
 k Idem, p. 38. 
 
 * See Le Livre rouge, and the editor's Annotations, 
 
 fc See Lettres de Mirabeau a Chamfort, p. J. 
 
 1 Preface de Manuel, p. 38. 
 
 chatel
 
 M I R A B E A U. 71 
 
 chatel in. Switzerland, where he published his eflay 
 on Lettres de Cachet m . For fome years after this, 
 almoft all traces of Mirabeau are loft, he feems to 
 have been involved in obfcurity and penury. It Su >? 
 appears, however, that he commenced an a&ion Jf t a |[ r ] 
 againfl his father, for maintenance and arrears, in 
 which he finally fucceeded n . It is alfo averred, that and wife. 
 
 he 
 
 m Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 264.. 
 
 B Letfres de Miraheiu a Chamfort, p. 4-5- I have not been very 
 minute in my researches rtfpefting the origin of thefe family difputes, 
 as the diicullion would not inteieit the reader. The character of 
 MirabcMU, as difplayed in the whole of his life, does not impart a 
 favorable prepofreffion of his filial conduct, and independently of any 
 provocation ; and the temper of the elder Mirabeau as it is repre- 
 fented, does not acquit him of probable mi(condu&. The complaints 
 the father and ("on had a right to make again It each other are thus 
 prefented in the abitrct by Mirabeau himfLif : " What have you 
 " done !" my father will exclaim: " Your youth afforded a prcfage of 
 " the diforders of your more mature age. I was obliged to impriibn 
 ** you at feventeen, and omitting your Imaller profligacies, this is a brief 
 *' (ketch of your life. As foon as you could aft for your/elf, you 
 ' contracted enormous debts j when, in order to fave the fortune of 
 " my grandfon, I caufed you to be banifhed from my eftates, and 
 " confined to a city, you broke through all redactions to purfue fre(h 
 ' extravagances ; you have drawn on yourfelf a criminal profecution j 
 *< you compelled me to get you confined in a citadel, and then abufed 
 *' the liberty which had been allowed you by the commandant, to 
 te feduce and carry off a woman of quality. Certainly, jullice has 
 " not been done, but the injurtice confifts in fhielding you from the 
 ' feverity of the laws." In anfwer to this fuppofed accufation, 
 Mirabeau depicts his father in the following colours : " The marquis 
 " de Mirabeau, after paffing a mod licentious youth, fignalized hit 
 *' more mature age by the following traits. He profecuted one of his 
 '* brothers, in France and in foreign countries, with an inveteracy 
 " which afforded room to fufpeft that he wiftied to evade the payment 
 " of his patrimony. He has ruined himfelf in creating a political 
 * c economy. He has deteriorated the property of his wife and children 
 c by two millions (87,5007.) while declaiming agninft luxury and 
 " debts. He continued obftinately to refide at Paris to form a new 
 " feel, though he had injured his own fortune, and was continually 
 *' preaching to all his fellow-citizens retirement to their own eftatet. 
 *' Three times he infected his wife with the moft (hameful of maladies, 
 4C while he was in the daily habit of crying up purity of manners. He 
 f< has notorioufly made I'ettlements on his miftreflTes, while he affected 
 " to deplore the depravity of the age. The feeling and tender friend 
 * of man, (famidit bumma,) whole exalted foul cannot ftoop to vul- 
 *' gar affections, dihiains his family, and loves the whole human 
 *< race. He has perfecuted his wife, and every one of his children. 
 " He has turned out of doors, and confined in a convent, a wife who 
 " bad brought him a fortune of fifty thoufand litres (21877.) a-yar, 
 v tf and
 
 ?* M I R A B E A U. 
 
 he mftituted a fuit againfl his wife, claiming the 
 cuflody of her perfon and property, or requiring, 
 as an alternative, that fhe fhould retire to a convent. 
 1783. He pleaded on his own behalf before the parliament 
 ofAix. The archduke Ferdinand and his confort, 
 together with the mod diftinguifhed perfonages of 
 the city, were prefenu Every one was charmed 
 with the eloquence difplsyed by Mirabeau; but the 
 allegations of matrimonial mifconduct and unmanly 
 cruelty were fo firong againfl him, that he loll his 
 caufe . . 
 
 Wrhes on In order to enable himfelf to turn his literary ta- 
 thc order j ents to a better account, Mirabeau had contracted 
 naius." CI '" an intimacy with the celebrated Nicolas Chamfort, 
 who, if he wanted the genius and audacity of Mi- 
 rabeau, pofieffed much more extenfive information; 
 and who, confcious of the feeblenefs of his own 
 character, was content to direct that ardour in an- 
 other, which he could not create in himfelf. By 
 Chamfort's afiiftance, Mirabeau was enabled to pro- 
 duce his work intitled Confide rat ions fur I'Ordre ds 
 Cindnnatus. In preparing this publication, Mira- 
 beau ufed the greatefl diligence; and befides the 
 advantages derived from Chamfort, vifited Dr. 
 Franklin, then at Paris, and confulted with him 
 during the whole progrefs of the work. His gains 
 
 and eleven child en. He has withheld her alimony, contravened 
 his moft folemn engagements, and harafled her, from year 
 to year, with Itttm-dt.tacttt. He has obtained decrees againft his 
 mother-in-law, and her tldeft fon, to gratify his own love of 
 guardian/hips, and becaufe he fancies himielf an excellent manager 
 (the beft proof would he his own rental). He compelled his eldeft 
 daughter to take the veil, he has persecuted his fons, and refufed 
 them the flighteft pecuniary afliftance. He has attempted to extend 
 his, tyranny over one daughter who is married, and whofe hufband 
 made no complaint. In the fame manner he behaved to all his 
 children, except a daughter, who found favour in his fight by her 
 compiaifance to his miitrefs, and becaufe her hufband has had the 
 art to profefs a paflionate admiration ot the economical tnil/s," Lettres 
 fcrites du Donjon de Vincennes, vol. 5. p. 185. 187. 
 Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 267, 
 
 were
 
 M I R A B E A U. 73 
 
 were but fmall, as the Englifh bookfellers were 
 averfe to fpeculate on the f'ubjed, and difcouraged 
 the author p . The work, however, met with con- 
 fiderable applaufe. 
 
 Mirabeau had now formed a connexion with a Aug-i;**, 
 mademoifelle Nehrat, to whom he continued at- j^ 6 JS in 
 tached for feveral years. In order to publifh his 
 work, he refolved to go to London, accompanied 
 by this lady, who, for decency's fake, was called 
 comtefTe de Mirabeau. After a ftormy paffage, they 
 arrived in England, and eftablimed themfelves in 
 Hatton-Garden. Mirabeau, after publifhing the 
 book with which he came prepared, was involved 
 in great pecuniary diftrefs which he fought to re- 
 lieve by forming engagements with bookfellers. In 
 confequence of thefe, he produced fome volumes of 
 a work called Le Confer-vateur. The original in- 
 tention, as defcribed by Mirabeau, was to analyfe 
 good books of every defcription, and to draw from 
 the unformed mafs of periodical publications de- 
 tached pieces, which, from their brevity, were liable 
 to be forgotten q . He was yet unacquainted with 
 the Engliih language; but conceiving that Englifh 
 literature would fucceed in France, undertook to 
 tranflate, and qualified himfelf for the talk while 
 performing it ; he procured a grammar and dic- 
 tionary, and learned the Engliih language as he pro- 
 ceeded in his tranflation r . 
 
 P Lettres de Mirabeau a Chamfort, p. 30. 4.3. 87. 
 
 1 Idem, p. 67. 74. 83. 
 
 T Pages, vol.i. p. 377. To a genius like Mirabeau, fuch an exer- 
 tion might be poffible, but it ought to ferve rather as a warning than 
 an encouragement to other tranflators. I can hardly think the work, 
 alluded to by Pages to have been a feleftion of Englifh comedies, 
 which, in a letter to Chamfort, he exprcffcd an inclination to at- 
 tempt (|>. 93). The colloquial language of comedy was not fuited 
 to that mind which could loluccefsfully commits plagiarilm on Burke 
 as ro make profeflfor Wilde regret that the whole works of that inefti- 
 mable writer had not been tranflated by Mirabeau. Sec Addrefs to 
 the Friends of the People, p. 115. 
 
 14 During
 
 74 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 Frofecutes During his flay in England, Mirabeau was obliged 
 
 h.s^fecre. to p ro f ec ute one Hardy, who lived with him as 
 fecretary, for flealing fome of his property. The 
 prifoner was acquitted, and Mirabeau's enemies have 
 endeavoured to fix grievous inculpations on his 
 character for this profecution ; but, on a fair re- 
 view of the proceeding, he feems in no manner 
 blamable ; . 
 
 Writes. On his return to Paris, Mirabeau, flill an author 
 by profeflion, turned his attention to finance, then 
 the mod popular topic, and produced Confederations 
 fur la Caijji- d'Efcompte, and Confederations fur la 
 Banque dc St. Charles, neither of which are now 
 much remembered. In thefe works he accommo- 
 dated himfelf fo much to the principles laid down by 
 Calonne, that he was fufpcfted of being hired by 
 that minified. In faft, it is not improbable that 
 he received fome pecuniary affiilance, and, perhaps, 
 a promife of being employed in the diplomatic line, 
 as that appears now to have become an objeft of his 
 attention, and, for a long time, to have formed his 
 chief ambition. 
 1786. Actuated by this motive, and inverted with fecret 
 
 Goes to orders, though not recognized in any public capa- 
 city, by Calonne, Mirabeau went to Berlin. The 
 v period of his arrival was remarkable and in- 
 terefting. Frederic II. diflinguifhed by the name 
 of Great, was in his lafl illnefs ; he fent for, wel- 
 comed, and was peculiarly kind to Mirabeau, who 
 was the lafl foreigner admitted to his converfation, 
 though many noble travellers teflified their wifhes 
 
 Advice to for that honour u . On the demife of that illuflrious 
 
 AViUiam monarch, Mirabeau wrote two memorials or letters 
 
 Ji.' '' 
 
 SeeViePubliciue,&c.p.i8. Seflions Papers, 1714-5, Clark Mayor. 
 
 1 Anecdotes clu Regne cle Louis XVI. vol.vi. p. 165. 
 
 See Miiaheau's Adverlifemenr, prefixed to the Memorial preferred 
 to Frederic William II. printed with the Tianflation of his Secret 
 Hiftory of the Court of Berlin, bySladca, 1789. 
 
 ta
 
 M I R A B E A IT. 75 
 
 to his fucceflbr, in which he gave advice with equal 
 freedom and confidence, and reviewed the ftatc of 
 the kingdom, and the meafures of the deceafed 
 monarch, in a flyle bold and impreffive, yet exempt 
 from every mark of rudenefs and difrefpect x . < )ne 
 of his principal objects was to induce the new monarch 
 to place the Jews, hitherto grievoufly oppreffed, on 
 the fame footing with his other fubjects. To attain 
 this end, Mirabeau fpared no labour; he did not 
 confine his efforts to a memorial, but wrote in the 
 French and German journals, excited others to write, 
 and ufed every exertion calculated to defeat prejudice 
 and inlure fuccefs y . 
 
 Mirabeau's conduct in this affair was not difm- Motives, 
 tereited : he confidered' himfelf qualified to fill a 
 high department in the ftate, and expected to obtain 
 fome pofl of honour; The new king, however, was 
 difguited with his licentious and profligate manners, 
 fhocked at his open profeffion of atheifm, and not 
 inclined to pay regard to his pretenfions. This 
 difappointment induced Mirabeau to connect him- 
 felf with a band of writers who had united to difiemi- 
 nate licentious principles, both in religion and gor 
 vernment. His audacity, his knowledge of men 
 and manners, and particularly his talent for farcafm, 
 were highly ufeful to this junto, at whofe infligation 
 he produced feveral pieces tending to make thofe in 
 adminifl ration the objects of public ridicule and 
 reproach. Among thefe were the Letters on the. 
 Conflitution of the Pruffian States, the Chronique 
 Scandaleufe, and, afterwards, the Hlftoire fecrete de 
 la Cour de Berlin z . 
 
 One of the molt remarkable events which diftin- Becomes 
 guifhed Mirabeau's refidence in Berlin, was his anillumi - 
 affociation with a daring and dangerous feet, enemies 
 
 x The tranflator of ihis work truly niTtTts, that the reafoning is in 
 a great meafure borrowed from Smith's Wealth of Nations. See 
 Tranilation above-mentioned, vol. ii. p. 373. n. 
 
 y See Lettres de Mirabeau a Mauvillun, p. 6, 
 
 * Robifon's Proofs, p. 274, 175, 
 
 of
 
 76 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 of religion, government, and all focial order, dik 
 tinguilhed by the name of ILLUMINATI. 
 Account The patronage afforded by Frederic II. king of 
 ortbat Pruflia, to Voltaire, d'Alembert, and other writers, 
 who. affected to treat the Chriilian religion, and re- 
 velation in general, as a mere impoilure, had given 
 fuch exteniive credence and circulation to their 
 opinions, that profelytes and champions were to be 
 found in every country. Their works were greedily 
 read, and the avenues to fame entirely ingroffed by 
 their partifans. The wit and farcaflic vein of Vol- 
 taire, together with his acknowledged pre-eminence 
 in many walks of polite literature, rendered oppo- 
 fition dangerous, as the refult was, in general, the 
 contempt of the multitude of fmall wits, who are 
 ever more ready to laugh than to reafon, and who 
 can cry down an author again ft whom their talents 
 would, in any other way, be employed in vain. 
 Nor were the doctrines fet up by theie new philofo- 
 phers devoid of external claims to popular appro- 
 bation. They affected univerfal tolerance, and de- 
 claimed againfl prieftcraft, and fuperftition alone. 
 But from the vices they turned their arms againit 
 the eftablifhment. By putting extreme cafes of 
 fuppofition, by bringing forward the moil finking 
 events recorded in hiftory, which reflect on the con* 
 duel of priefts, they facilitated the deduction, that 
 the facerdotal character never alters ; and that be- 
 caufe numerous inflances are found of priefts who 
 have been avaricious, profligate, ambitious, or 
 cruel j avarice, profligacy, ambition, and cruelty 
 muft necelTarily form an integral part of the difpa- 
 fition of the whole prieflhood. 
 
 They could not, however, believe that all man- 
 kind would refill the conviction of experience, and, 
 in fpite of their own obfervation, conclude againft 
 individuals, merely becaufe involved in general far- 
 cafms or undiftinguifhing cenfures. To prevent the 
 effect of thefe confiderations, they redoubled their 
 
 attacks
 
 M I R A B E A IT. 77 
 
 attacks on thofe books which form the bafis of the 
 Chriftian religion ; they laboured, with incredible 
 perfeverance, to impeach their veracity, hoping, by 
 fuch means, to procure currency for the opinion, 
 that a prieft, if not cruel, was a mean, diffembling 
 hypocrite, who, in order to eat his bread in idlenefs, 
 vouched for (lories he did not believe, and recom- 
 mended doctrines in which he had no faith. Thefe 
 efforts were attended with great fuccefs, and per- 
 haps the mod important firft-fruit of them was the 
 degradation of the priefthood in the eyes of man- 
 kind ; many who could not hate or deipife, began 
 to pity, and inftead of contemplating them as the 
 champions of a facred doctrine, under whofe banners 
 they muft fight to obtain an immortal reward, con- 
 fidered them as docile fupporters of a flagrant im- 
 pofture, which they wanted courage to examine, or 
 ability to detect. 
 
 Had the efforts of this anti-chriftian party been 
 confined, like thofe of their predeceflbrs, to mere 
 polemical writings, their profelytes would have been 
 few, and their attacks fpeedily forgotten. But they 
 had recourfe to new arms. The fprightly genius of 
 Voltaire, united with extenfive reading, and a great 
 facility of combination, enabled him to give diverfity 
 to the forms of aflault, and inftead of confining 
 himfelf to dry eflays, or harfh critical difcuflions, to 
 flrew the feeds of fcepticifm in every department of 
 the fciences ; to make hiftory, philofophy, and 
 aftronomy the vehicles of his fatire. That even the 
 lighter minds might not efcape infection, and that 
 the mere readers for amufement (a numerous tribe) 
 might be inlilted in the caufe, novels and tales were 
 fabricated, in which, while the fancy was amufed by 
 all the brilliancy and luxuriance of unbounded wit, 
 graced with all the decorative charms which a pen 
 of more than threefcore years' experience could 
 confer, the heart was poifoned with doubts which in- 
 dolence or want of vigour would not fuffer the reader 
 
 to
 
 7* M I R A B A U. 
 
 to remove, but which, while they flattered his va- 
 nity by eafy triumphs, anfing from the difplay of 
 borrowed wit, fettered his judgment in chains which 
 were never to be loofened, and which the deluded 
 wretch miftook for ornaments becaufe he heard them 
 jingle. 
 
 As the aifailants of religion increafed in number, 
 an opportunity offered of uniting them ftill more 
 firmly, of producing that interchange of fentiment 
 which facilitates difcuflion, and of fubjecling every 
 fpecies of literature, and every topic of human 
 curiofity, to the influence of their favourite fpecula- 
 tions : this was the projected publication of the 
 French Encyclopedia. To obtain the exclufive di- 
 rection of this work became a favourite view of the 
 new philofophers, and, by the influence of d'Alem- 
 bert, they were enabled to accomplifli it. They 
 ufed their advantage with vigour and addrefs ; con- 
 fcious that attacks too direct and open againfl a 
 prevailing fyftem would fruftrate their own end, 
 they adopted a mode of conduct apparently very 
 moderate, but fraught with the moft artful duplicity. 
 In treating of certain topics, fuch as the exiftence 
 of God, the immortality of the foul, &c. they made 
 a point to detail thofe reafons which were favour- 
 able to the popular belief; but, at the fame time, 
 by reference to other articles, contrived to direct 
 the reader's attention to arguments more forcibly 
 urged, and mere fpeciouily advanced, tending to 
 deftroy the opinions they had at firft coldly in- 
 culcated. 
 
 The feet, by thefe and other means, became nu- 
 merous and popular ; the great, influenced by the 
 king of Prufiia's example, and fenfible that fame or 
 difgrace were in the gift of thofe who commanded 
 the portals of literature, opened to them their purfes 
 and their palaces. The rifmg generation of wits, 
 eager to fecure the fame advantages, adopted the 
 lame means j any refpect Ihewn to the forms or even 
 
 to
 
 M I R A B E A U. 79 
 
 to the more efiential doctrines of religion, was foon. 
 decried as the mark of a grovelling genius, or an 
 uncultured underftanding. 
 
 From attacking the higher! objects of human 
 veneration, the mind is led by an eafy gradation to 
 refift the immediate depositaries of temporal autho- 
 rity. The hatred of kings naturally followed the 
 endeavour to obliterate the fentiments of religious 
 belief. Voltaire and d'Alembert, favoured by no- 
 bles and carerTed by kings, were, at nrft, afhamed 
 to make their authority the object of a direct attack ; 
 they indicated in their writings fome enmity to 
 royalty, but were compelled, to preferve appearances, 
 to confine themielves to general declamations, or 
 anonymous philippics. It was referved for another 
 writer, equally hoflile to religion with themfelves, 
 to lay the foundation of thofe doctrines of liberty and 
 equality, which, however fpecious, have by mif- 
 conftruction and exaggerations produced fo many 
 evils, fuch wide-fpreading anarchy, fo general a de- 
 pravation of morals, and fuch extenfive mifery. 
 Roufleau, a republican by birth, an author by pro- 
 feflion, unnoticed by the great, and endowed with a 
 rancorous heart and gloomy difpofition, was de- 
 firous of extending his fame by being the author of 
 new fyftems, and by defending apparent paradoxes. 
 He began, in eflays and popular romances, to broach 
 thofe extravagant, though fplendid notions of li- 
 berty which, in order to make individuals free, dif- 
 unite fociety ; and, to exalt man in a fanciful fcale 
 formed by vanity, degrade him to that Itate in which 
 the human fpecies would exift if arts, manners, and 
 civilization were unknown. A difciple of this fyftem 
 might boait that he was 
 
 as free as nature firft made man 
 Ere the bafe fervitude of laws began, 
 When wild in woods the noble favage ran. 
 
 The
 
 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 The doftrines of infidelity, and thofe fa neatly 
 allied to them, of diforganization, found their ear- 
 lieft promoters in France ; but with fuccefs widely 
 different. The neceffity of fupporting a form of 
 government was, from its daily contact with all 
 their functions, obvious to thofe whom vanity, le- 
 vity, or worfe motives rendered indifferent to inno- 
 vations in matters of religion ; and thus, while the 
 police maintained the drifted vigilance with refpecl 
 to publications on government, the principles of in- 
 fidelity, even to the excefs of atheifm, were openly 
 avowed by minifters, courtiers, and even by many 
 of the clergy. 
 
 The ridicule of things facred was not, however, 
 fufficient to gratify thofe who, with the purchafe 
 they had already gained, meditated the immenfe 
 and important projeft of turning the whole Chrif- 
 tian world. That atheidical philofophers, and 
 raving enthufiafts in politics, mould in fmall de- 
 tachments, or by feparate exertions, try their 
 ftrength in various countries, was a matter of no 
 great importance. Another fcheme, more exten- 
 live, more operative, and more confident, became 
 neceffary ; and to give fhape and execution to fuch 
 a plan was the tafk of Dr. Adam Weifhaupt, pro- 
 felfor of canon law in the univerfity of Ingoldadt. 
 This man, bred under the Jefuits, w r as, on the abo- 
 lition of their order, induced to change his views ; 
 and, from being their pupil, he became their moil 
 bitter enemy. 
 
 Weifhaupt was member of a lodge of free-mafons 
 eftablifhed at Munich in Bavaria, called the Lodge 
 Theodore of good Counfel. This lodge correfponded 
 with, and had formed a particular fydem of its own 
 by indruftions from the Loge dcs Chevaliers bien- 
 faifans at Lyons ; it was thoroughly imbued with 
 the modern principles, and in no degree refembled 
 the malbnic inditutions in England, or thofe which 
 were immediately derived from or informed by 
 
 them
 
 MIR ABE A 0. 
 
 them. This lodge occupied itfelf with economical, 
 ftatiftical, and political matters ; and had arranged 
 a fyftem of cofmopolitifm, propofing, as a funda- 
 mental pofition in the formation of fociety, that 
 every office mould be held by a man of talents and 
 virtue, and that every kind of ability mould be em- 
 ployed in a fuitable ftation. The engaging pictures 
 of poffible felicity in a fociety fo conflituted were 
 very captivating to youth ; and as the members of 
 the lodge were enjoined to promulgate their doc- 
 trines by all poffible means, they obtained many 
 profelytes. 
 
 Weifhaupt had long entertained a fcheme for efta- 
 bliffiing an affociation which in time mould govern the 
 world. The fyftem of cofmopolitifm was fo favour- 
 able to his views, that he took great pains to inculcate 
 it in the minds of thofe numerous pupils whom his 
 high reputation as a profeflor of civil law drew to his 
 lectures. He employed his eloquence in defcribing 
 the abfurdity and horrors of fuperftition with fuch 
 effect, that his youthful audience eafily underwent 
 the inviting transition to general infidelity and irre- 
 ligion. With this afcendancy over the minds of 
 feveval youths of good family, he became the 
 founder of a new feet ; and his emiflaries had 
 already been very fuccefsful in procuring adherents, 
 when the audacity of the lodge Theodore occafioned 
 alarms in the elector of Bavaria, who difcovering 
 too late that the feet of ILLUMINATI had taken 
 deep root, and produced the moft dangerous effects 
 in his ftates, endeavoured to fupprefs them, but in 
 vain. He banifhed Weifhaupt, together wirh two 
 Italian marquiles, and one Zwack a counfellor, 
 his devoted adherents, and imprifoned feveral 
 others. 
 
 Weifhaupt fullenly retired, refufing 'a proffered 
 penfion, to Regenfburg on the confines of Switzer- 
 land. Confiding in the early fuccefs of his projects, 
 and the numbers of his profelytes in different coun- 
 
 VOL. ii. G tries.
 
 82 M I R A B E A U; 
 
 tries, he boldly wrote in defence of the feet of ILLU- 
 M IN ATI ; knowing that inquiry would inftigate cu- 
 riofity, and that if fome were led to abhor and dread 
 the new fociety, many would be induced to inquire 
 after and embrace it, while the great majority of 
 mankind, wrapt in fecurity, would be indifferent 
 to its progrefs. 
 
 The principles of the ILLUMINATI, as denounced 
 to the elector of Bavaria by fome apoftates who had 
 not attained any very exalted rank, were thefe : 
 '* The order was to abjure Chriftianity ; and to 
 " refufe admiffion to the higher degrees to all who 
 " adhered to any of the three confeffions. Senfual 
 " pleafures were reftored to the rank they held in 
 " the Epicurean philofophy. Self-murder was juf- 
 " tified on ftoical principles. In the lodges, death 
 " was declared an eternal fleep. Patriotism and 
 ct loyalty were called narrow-minded prejudices, 
 " and incompatible with univerfal benevolence. 
 " Continual declamations were made on liberty 
 " and equality, as the unalienable rights of man. 
 " The baneful influence of accumulated property 
 " was declared an infurmountable obftacle to the 
 " happinefs of any nation, whofe chief laws were 
 " framed for its protection and increafe. Nothing 
 " was fo frequently difcourfed of as the propriety 
 " of employing for a good purpofe the means which 
 " the wicked employed for evil purpofes ; and it 
 " was taught, that the preponderancy of good in 
 " the ultimate refult confecrated every mean em- 
 " ployed, and that wifdom and virtue confided in 
 " properly determining this balance." Thefe prin- 
 ciples were denied by Weifhaupt ; who was un- 
 doubtedly angry that fads of fuch importance 
 mould be difclofed to aflbciates fo young, and whofe 
 fidelity had not been fufficiently infured : but the 
 information gained by fubfequent difclofures fully 
 evinces that the communication was ftriclly 
 true. 
 
 The
 
 M I R A B E A IT, 83 
 
 The young members were not immediately ad- 
 mitted to a knowledge of thefe principles : had they 
 been difclofed ere the mind was properly prepared, 
 terror and amazement would have repelled many 
 profelytes. To induce them to wander in the mazes 
 of depravity, it was neceflary to decorate the en- 
 trance with emblems of wifdom and virtue : for 
 this purpofe, when any of the elder adepts had dif- 
 covered a perfon whom they judged fit for their 
 purpofe, (perfons whom they were no lefs careful 
 to examine than diligent to feek,) they made a 
 point to gain his confidence by fuch declarations 
 and fentiments as are moft captivating to a virtuous 
 and benevolent mind, while they fecured his grati- 
 tude and attachment by extending the refources and 
 emboldening the efforts of his genius. At his firft 
 entrance into the fociety, the novice was encouraged 
 to hope every thing if he rendered himfelf worthy 
 of a more intimate confidence. By difplaying fhewy 
 thefes, and ufmg the pupil to reafon on them with 
 fuccefe, they imparted a habit and readinefs of dif- 
 putation ; and the novice, accuftomed to combat 
 received notions as prejudices, was led by impercep- 
 tible degrees to oppofe the moft confirmed do&rines 
 in religion and government. His gradations to the 
 higher clafles were performed with a rapidity or pro- 
 craftination proportionate to the ardour he difplayed 
 in qualifying himfelf for the more concealed arcana 
 and more atrocious confidence. In proportion as 
 he advanced in the path of profelytifm, he was en- 
 couraged with new gradations, new difclofures, and 
 new employments, till at laft, not without many oc- 
 cult ceremonies and formal abjurations and profef- 
 fions, he was inflated in the full dignities of the fii- 
 perior clafs. 
 
 The degrees to be parted through were thefe : 
 
 i ft clafs, or nurfery ; preparation, novice, minerval, 
 
 illuminatus minor. ad clafs ; apprentice, fellow- 
 
 G 2 craft,
 
 M I R A B E A IT. 
 
 craft, mafter, illuminatus major, illuminatus diri- 
 gens. 3d clafs ; prefbyter, prince, magus, rex. 
 
 Some pupils, whofe minds were not fufficiently 
 apt, or whofe principles were too firmly rooted to 
 anfwer the purpofes of the feet, were initiated only 
 in, the degrees of the firft clafs, and there left with a 
 full perfuafion of the innocence and laudable views 
 of the fociety. They omitted no means which in- 
 genuity could devife, or perfeverance effect, to in- 
 creafe their influence, and attain a refpectable and 
 permanent eftablifhment. They acquired the direc- 
 tion of colleges, and even founded fchools and fe- 
 minaries of their own. They affumed the entire 
 direction of the literary tafte in Germany, by pro- 
 moting the fale of books favourable to their views, 
 and fuppreffing fuch as were of a contrary tendency. 
 This they were enabled to effect by an intimate in- 
 tercourfe with eminent bookfellers, and by obtain- 
 ing an alcendancy in the mod celebrated reviews 
 and literary journals. They founded reading-rooms 
 and book-ibcieties, where, for a trifling fubfcription, 
 their publications were put into the hands of the in- 
 digent ; where curiofity was piqued by difcuffion 
 and eulogium; and content banifhed by difputa- 
 tions, in which the civil and religious condition of 
 man was expofed, in a ftyle which could not fail of 
 inflaming the mind, and producing clamour and 
 difaffeetion. 
 
 Nor was the female fex exempt from their arts : 
 towards them they exhibited a mode of conduct: 
 equally infidious and pernicious. Their defire of 
 information was fludiouily excited, and their atten- 
 tion directed to works which tended to make them 
 diffatisfied with their llation in fociety, and taught 
 them to afpire to a rank yet untried. In claiming 
 their independence, they were taught to undervalue 
 that quality which formed their molt exalted notion 
 of honour chaftityj and no effort of mental fe- 
 
 duction
 
 M I R A B E A IT. 85 
 
 ductlon or perfonal blandifhment was omitted to re- 
 duce them to a level which, under pretence of li- 
 berty, would place them in abject fubjection to 
 their tutors : at the fame time, to prevent difcoveries 
 which would have produced fatal confequences, the 
 deluded victims were taught to carry to their own 
 lips thofe baleful cbmpofitions which counteract the 
 operations of nature, and deprive of exiftence the 
 femi-animate offspring. 
 
 The great fource from which they drew their 
 members, the bafis on which they refted for ac- 
 quittal in cafe of fufpicion, and the grand mafs into 
 which they affected to reiblve the principles of their 
 fociety, were the lodges of free-mafon's. Free- 
 mafonry, imported into France by fome Britifh ad- 
 venturers who followed the fortunes of James II. 
 had fpread over many countries of the continent, 
 and lodges were formed correfponding with thofe 
 from whom they derived their origin. According 
 to the different genius of different countries, this 
 benevolent focial inftitution was disfigured by pe- 
 dantry, or difgraced by vanity and foppery ; till the 
 mafonry of the continent refembled only in a flight 
 degree the profeflion of the Britifh lodges. In fome 
 ftates they were confidered harmlefs, in fome flightly 
 obferved, but in others regarded with the moft vi- 
 gilant jealoufy. In the papal dominions in parti- 
 cular, free-mafons were declared, prlmafacie^ excom- 
 municated, obliged to hold their affemblies with the 
 moft cautious privacy, and even to maintain watch- 
 men to prevent the intrufions of the civil power. 
 Weifhaupt's new feet, as its exiftence was derived 
 from a corrupt mafonic lodge, affected to be an in- 
 tegral part of mafonry, or rather a fuperior directing 
 clafs. The degrees were fimilar in name, though 
 widely different in import from the mafonic de- 
 grees a ; and the frere infmuant^ or recruiting bro- 
 ther, 
 
 * I have given (Appendix, N VI.) a genuine copy of the diploma 
 
 of a highly icfpeftable Englifli gentleman, who was admitted a mem. 
 
 03 b
 
 B6 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 ther, while leading his pupils through thefe different 
 degrees, felt extreme regret if, from his perverfenefs 
 or incapacity, he was obliged to leave him amongft 
 the free-mafons. This artful involution of charac- 
 ters afforded the ILLUMINATI the means of repel- 
 ling fufpicion, by citing the teftimony of thofe whom 
 they had left in the mere rank of mafons, and by 
 vouching the exemplary character of many members 
 of that body, whofe names alone formed a fufficient 
 guaranty that no confpiracy would be conducted by 
 a fociety of which they were members b . 
 Confe- While at Berlin, Mirabeau attracted the particular 
 
 Mira"* notice of Weifhaupt, who, through the medium of 
 beau's be- Mauvillon, a Frenchman, lieutenant-colonel in the 
 
 iuumL 3 " fervice of the duke of Brunfwick, imparted to Mi- 
 tui. rabeau the honors of a noviciate c ; and from his 
 
 ardent character, and facility of exertion, there is 
 every reafon to fuppofe he was fpeedily admitted to 
 a participation of the higher fecrets of the order. 
 Mirabeau's connection with this fociety probably 
 produced fome of the moft defperate exceiies and 
 daring characteriftics of the French revolution, as 
 it facilitated the union between the confpirators and 
 freethinkers in Paris, and thofe in the provinces and 
 in foreign countries ; as it formed the bafis of a 
 moft extenfive confederacy and correfpondence ; 
 and as it delivered the lodges in France to the in- 
 fluence of the duke of Orleans, who, fome time 
 before, by dint of money and intrigue, had 
 
 berof a lodge at Palermo in 176^, at 'eaft nine years before Weifhaupt's 
 feel was in exiftence. The reader will obferve, that the exprertions 
 and aliufiori are ftritf !y eonfonant with the defciiptions of Kobifon in 
 theChapterof Schifins in Free-mafonry. 
 
 b It is hanily neceffary f.j inform the reader, that the above account 
 of the Tlhiniinati is lierived fiom Memoires pour fervir a i'Hiltoiredq 
 Jacobinifnrie, par Barruel ; and Proofs of a Confpiracy againft all the 
 Religions and Governments of Europe, by John Robifon, A. M. 
 works which merit frequent and attentive perufal, and claim profound 
 contemplation. 
 
 Robifon's Proofi, p. 176, 
 
 been
 
 M I R A B E A IT. 87 
 
 been conftituted grand-mafter. In Mirabeau it 
 produced immediately a perceptible change of man- 
 ners and purfuits. All the levity and frivo- 
 lity of his difpofition feemed fuddenly difcarded ; 
 he became obfequioufly obfervant of Mauvillon's 
 indructions, and exprefled the moft laudable defire 
 to increafe his knowledge, eftablifh his fame, and 
 augment his utility d . Among other fche.mes in 
 which he embarked was one which marks the ge- 
 nius and views of the Illuminati in the moft forcible 
 manner, namely, to acquire a correct ftatidical and 
 topographical knowledge of every country in Eu- 
 rope. He acquired fuch an acquaintance with Pruf- 
 fia and Saxony, and, frequently exprefled his wifli 
 and refolution to extend refearch e . 
 
 Mirabeau rendered an important fervice to his af- Publics 
 fociates by his Effai fur la Sede des Illumines. The Eflai fur 
 difcoveries which had been already made refpecting 
 the fociety had infufed a fpirit of fufpicion and jea- 
 loufy extremely dangerous to their exidence. Mi- 
 rabeau had no reafon to expect that the king of 
 Pruffia would favour their eftablilhment in his dates, 
 and therefore, to avert fufpicion and make difcovery 
 ridiculous, he produced this effay. It is written in 
 the ftyle of a man who, heated with a new difco- 
 very, and exafperated by the detection of concealed 
 villany, feels impatient to impart his fentiments, and 
 eager for their making a proper impreilion. The 
 difclofures it contains are not new, as they had 
 been previoufly dated in various publications ; but 
 they are involved with fo many improbable fictions 
 and fallacious reafonings, that a perfon who mould 
 after that time fpeak of the feet of Illuminati as a 
 fubject of terror, or an object of jurifprudential re- 
 ftraint, mud be content to father all the improba- 
 tilities introduced in Mirabeau's eflay. He could 
 not date any fundamental truths which were not 
 
 d Sec Lettres a Mauvillon, pa/Tim. Idem, an, &c. 
 
 G 4 there
 
 88 v M I R A B E A U. 
 
 there advanced, and the ingenuity of oppofition 
 could hardly fail of afcribing his fears and his intel- 
 ligence to the fame fource, and, by confequence, 
 of decrying the reafoner as one who, being himfelf 
 impofed on by fables, and terrified by chimeras, was 
 felicitous to extend impofture, and perpetuate 
 groundlefs alarm. Robifon juftly ftyles this one 
 of the ftrangefl and mod impudent performances 
 that ever appeared. " Mirabeau (he adds) con- 
 " fided in his own powers of deception, in order to 
 *' fcreen from obfervation thofe who were known 
 " to be Ulum'mati^ and to hinder the rulers from 
 " attending to their real machinations, by means of 
 " this ignis fatuw of his own brain. He gained 
 " his point in fome meafure, for Nicholai and 
 " others of the junto immediately adopted the 
 " whim, and called them Obfcuranten, and joined 
 " with Mirabeau in placing on the lift of Obfcuran- 
 " ten feveral perfons whom they wifhed to make 
 " ridiculous f ." 
 
 Returns to When the meafure of affembling the notables was 
 Pans. refolved on, Mirabeau returned to Paris, hoping 
 that his connection with the minifter would procure 
 him the appointment of fecretary to that aifembly. 
 He was however difappointed : the functions of the 
 office had been divided, and fome perfons appointed 
 before his arrival, with whom, as he pretends, he 
 could not act ; but more probably he had been en- 
 tirely difregarded by Calonne. This opinion is 
 .rendered more likely by the ill fuccefs of Mirabeau's 
 application for a miffion to Holland, which the mi- 
 nifter refufed, giving Mirabeau to under (land that 
 he had better have ftayed at Berlin e . 
 
 Feh.i797. He was determined neverthelefs to render himfelf 
 Uon o" confpicuous ; or, in his own words, to plant himfelf 
 
 - ,. f Proofs of a Confpiracy, p. 370. As Mtraheau's EfTuy is. extremely 
 
 jobbing i f carce an d little known in England, I have given a p,ti eral abllracb of 
 
 the contenrs, together with a tranflation of the Preface and fome 
 
 remarkable paffages. See Appendix, N VII. 
 t Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 189. 198, 199. 
 
 in
 
 M I R A B E A U. 89 
 
 in the breach, even if he got his head broke h . 
 Though Calonne's refufal engendered a coldnefs 
 between him and Mirabeau, yet he did not carry 
 his regret or refentment to the extreme of quarrel-, 
 ling with the minifter ; on the contrary, in his firft 
 publication after his arrival, called Denonciation de 
 F Agiotage au Roi et a FAffemblee des Notables, he at- 
 tacked Necker with fo much vigour, as to occafion 
 fufpicions that his work was a mere venal produc- 
 tion. He acknowledged that his book was replete 
 with faults ; that it was compofed with too much 
 rapidity to be good; that it appeared furcharged 
 with matter, for want of arrangement ; and that he 
 paid more attention to his fubject than to his plan. 
 Yet it had a prodigious and unexampled fuc- its fuccefs. 
 cefs : The greater part of the notables, the heads 
 of bodies corporate, the better fort of every clafs, 
 congratulated and thanked him. From the offices 
 of notaries to the drefling-rooms of belles, he was 
 read, extolled, and quoted. He fays, " You can 
 " form no idea of the effect it has produced, and 
 " how likely it is to occafion an earthquake, even 
 " under the very fteps of the fanctuary V 
 
 Mirabeau avers that, on his arrival in Paris, Ca- Order 
 lonne had caufed him to be founded on the fubjecl: ^ ue ^ . 
 of employing his pen in the fervice of adminiftra- rabeau. * 
 tion ; but that Mirabeau declined the tafk, and con- 
 tinued to folicit a diplomatic million. His failure 
 in obtaining this object, and fome difrefpeclful ex- 
 preffions of the minifter, inflamed him to a certain 
 degree of refentment ; but his ftill greater diilike of 
 Necker, and perhaps the view of attaching himfelf 
 with advantage to another party, prevented his 
 joining the oppofition. The freedom of his re- 2 cth Mar. 
 marks however was fo injurious and offenfive to go- 
 vernment, that though, in confequence of his pam- 
 
 h Letters a Mauvillon, p. 189. 
 1 Idem, p. 19*. 103. 2,06. 243. 
 
 phlet,
 
 9* MIRABEAU. 
 
 phlet, an order was iflued tending to reprefs flock- 
 jobbing, it was accompanied with one to arreft the 
 author k . 
 
 Heefcapes. On receiving information of this intention, Mira- 
 beau was perfuaded to retire from Paris, and con* 
 ceal himfelf near Liege. Convinced that the order 
 againft him was a mere cabinet intrigue, which 
 would foon be counteracted by other intrigues, he 
 would have fubmitted to an arreft which he knew 
 could only produce a temporary inconvenience, and 
 in the end enhance his reputation ; but he was 
 given to underftand that the Baftille was not in- 
 tended for his prifon, and that he would be con- 
 fined in a caftle in a remote province, where he 
 might wear out his life in oblivion. This deter- 
 7th April, mined him to make his efcape. He judged rightly 
 Isrecalled. o f fa* motives and duration of the proceedings 
 againft him. The oppofition murmured ; and 
 the miniftry, five in fix of whom had ever been 
 adverfarious to his arreft, now feeling a greater 
 alarm from his abfence than even his prefence could 
 infpire, began to make overtures of accommodation. 
 Calonne himfelf wrote him a letter, in which he im- 
 puted the inimical meafure to the abbe Perigord ; 
 and Dupont allured him that he would inftantly 
 apply to the king to permit his return to Paris ; and 
 addrefled him throughout in a ftyle the moft con, 
 ciliating and confiderate '. 
 
 Hopes, From the circuuiftances attending his recal, 
 
 Mirabeau, had no reafon to doubt that the miniftry 
 would be induced by fear to employ him, and that 
 they would enable him to make an honourable re- 
 treat, that duty might keep him filent. But before 
 his return to Paris, Calonne was difmifled, and with 
 the new miniftry fuch motives would operate rather 
 and difap- to prevent than occafion his employ. His hopes re- 
 pointment. v ived when he underftood that de Brienne was, in 
 
 * Letters a Mauvillor, p. aoj. ' Idem, p. 404. o8. a. 
 
 faft,
 
 M I R A B E A U. 91 
 
 faft, to be confidered, and would foon be appointed 
 prime minifter m . 
 
 Mirabeau had long entertained a contemptuous Writes 
 opinion of Necker n , and, perhaps, thought that 
 appearing as his opponent at this crifis would ad- 
 vance him greatly in the minister's favour. He had 
 a fair opportunity of doing this, as a private letter 
 written by him had been very unhandfornely pub- 
 limed, and placed Mirabeau in fuch a fituation that 
 he could not avoid defending his own production. 
 He wrote a pamphlet which he defcribes in thefe May. 
 terms : " 1 have produced a pamphlet which will 
 " pleafe you. I have exerted my whole force as a 
 " difputant, a calculator, and even as a fophifl. It 
 " is a pretty game of chefs, which I have played 
 " with great caution, and he will infallibly be check 
 " mated ." 
 
 Either de Brienne did not make fuch advances as F rms 
 Mirabeau expecled, or the difcernment of Mirabeau ^hbor" 1 
 enabled him to appreciate the importance and in- leans, 
 fluence of a new faction now rifmg in the kingdom, 
 called the Orleans' party. Thar corrupt and aban- 
 doned cenfpirator eafily perceived the importance of 
 attaching to his caufe fuch a man as Mirabeau, who 
 was eafily induced to join a party which he hoped 
 to govern and direft. If the plans of Orleans fuc- 
 eeeded he might expect the mod brilliant rewards, 
 and even if they failed he was not without his re- 
 eompence, while by uniting with miniiters, he could 
 only hope for an honourable baniftiment under the 
 name of a diplomatic employ, or an obfcure ap- 
 pointment without importance and without confi- 
 dence. As the beft means of extending the in- 
 fluence of his newly-adopted patron, he imparted to 
 him the myfteries of illuminifm, the principles of 
 
 m Letters a Mauvillon, p. 1 38. ifa. 
 n See Lettres a Chamfort, p. 85. 
 
 Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 242. I do not know the pamphlet al- 
 luded to. 
 
 which
 
 pa 
 Hi 
 
 02 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 which feet were the more eafily difFufed, as Orleans 
 was grand-mafler of the order of free-mafons in 
 France p . 
 
 Berlin* Mirabeau conftantly maintained a correfpondence 
 with Mauvillon, and they were between them pre- 
 aring for the prefs the celebrated work called 
 iftoire de la Monarchic PruJJienne. Mirabeau, this 
 fummer, went to Berlin to vifit his friend ; ap- 
 parently with a view to forward their joint labour, 
 but probably the chief object was to confer on the 
 means of extending the influence of illuminifm, and 
 Sept. forwarding the grand projects of that fociety. He 
 
 burgh*" 1 " kft Mauvillon, and proceeded to Hamburgh, where 
 he had fome negotiations to arrange with the book- 
 fellers. He did not make a long flay. The news 
 he received from France was fo congenial to his 
 wifhes, that he refolved to haften his departure. The 
 Orleans* faction feemed to acquire a rapid afcend- 
 ancy % , and Mirabeau's letters breathe confidence and 
 exultation. He fays, " As to the affairs of France, 
 " be afiured my day is coming. The kingdom is 
 " in a blaze. The parliament has not been ba- 
 " nifhed, but only commanded to go and difpenfe 
 " juftice at Troyes. The meafure is equally ab- 
 " furd and infulting." He expreffes in four letters 
 written to Mauvillon from Hamburgh, the greatefl 
 impatience to be in France, and go quo trahunt 
 fata q . 
 ft- The elements did not fecond the eagernefs of 
 
 France! t0 Mirabeau, for he had a paflage of more than feven- 
 teen days, perpetually tempefluous, and was afterwards 
 much longer than he had expected in reaching Paris. 
 He found the public mind in a ftate perfectly fuited to 
 his views, and the active mare his connection with 
 Orleans compelled him to take, incroached greatly 
 
 p Robifon's Proofs, p. 376. See ORLEANS. 
 * Lettrcs a Mauvillon, [>. 455167. 
 
 on
 
 M I R A B E A U. 9J 
 
 on his time r . Mirabeau immediately obtained aH 
 favourable change in his fortune, though fome con- tlons> 
 trarieties of intereft and the uncertainty of events 
 kept him in fufpenfe, and prevented his adopting 
 thofe extremes into which his character would 
 naturally have led him. In one letter he fays, 
 " A propitious gale once again blows on your 
 " friend, and the public veffel, as well as your own 
 " fluff, will be benefitted '." In the fubfequent 
 letter he fays, " My lad, fuch as it was, will have 
 " led you to expect a change, if not in my deftiny, 
 " in my lot. Neverthelefs, far from retarding our 
 " meeting, the change may accelerate it. / am, 
 " however, as yet, in a mift on this fubjcft, becaufe I 
 " do not con/tder found policy exactly in the fame light 
 " as the majlers of the magic lantern^ and they, as yet , 
 "fee nothing but indiftincl images on my fide*." He 
 entered deeply into public affairs, and the import- 
 ance attached to his agency may be gathered from 
 his own declaration, that during the eight days an- 
 xiety which the royal fitting (that at which the duke 
 of Orleans made himfelf fo confpicuous,) occafioned 
 to the parliament, he never had a minute's leifure u . 
 
 Yet with all this exertion, Mirabeau cautioufly Caution. 
 avoided committing himfelf; no reproaches, no 
 calumnies could induce him, during the contefl 
 
 r Lettres a Mauvillon, p. a8o. In the correfpomience of Mirabeau 
 with his intimate friend Mauvillon, the name of Orleans is never men- 
 tioned, or the train of public affairs at all minutely defcribed, though. 
 many allufions are found to the political contefts and traniaftions of the 
 day. A pioof of the extreme caution of the Illuininati in their publi- 
 cations, as no doubt, much curious information perfonal, political, and 
 myltical, has been fupprefied. For inftance, Mirabeau fays in one 
 , " Yo 
 
 letter (p. 183), " You may expi'ft by the next courier fome curious 
 " details, drawn from the Garden of the Hefperides.'" Yet no inform- 
 ation of the kind, or any explanation of the expreffion, appears in the 
 correfpondence. There are alfo frequent allufions to the contents of 
 previous letters which are obvioufly fupprefled. 
 
 Idem, p. 183. The metaphor here ufed feems to contain an 
 equivocal allufion; it may as well apply to the intereft s of the feft 
 which Mirabeau and Mauvillon had embraced, as the country of which 
 Mauvillon could no longer be confidered a fubjeft. 
 
 1 Idem. Idem, p. 190. 
 
 between
 
 94 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 between the king and parliament, to write a fine in 
 favour of the popular caufe, and he abflained with 
 1788. equal care from fupporting the crown *. He em- 
 Pubiica- ployed his leifure in perfecting, and fupervifmg the 
 tlonf ' impreffion of La Monarchic PruJJienne y . He pro- 
 duced befides fome pamphlets on foreign politics, 
 among which may be numbered Aux Bataves fur If 
 Stathouderat, and Doutes fur la Libert? de I'Efcaut. 
 Of the former he fpeaks with the partiality of a 
 fond parent z . The latter is defcribed by the au- 
 thor of " An Hiftorical Sketch of the French Re- 
 " volution," as denoting a mod violent and male- 
 Sept, volent temper a . At length his great work, La 
 s Htf- Monarchic Pruffienne^ iflued from the prefs in a 
 Pruffian * quarto edition of four volumes, and an oftavo edi- 
 monarchy. tion on the fame day. On this production he had 
 beftowed great pains and confiderable expence, he 
 had laboured afliduoufly himfelf, and purchafed the 
 afliftance of Mauvillon. From this circumftance, 
 and from the nature of the fubjefl, it has been in- 
 ferred that Mirabeau had, in fact, little (hare in the 
 work b . The truth is, Mauvillon fupplied the ma- 
 terials, and it was left to the genius and eloquence 
 of Mirabeau to arrange, to methodize, to animate 
 the whole. The account given in the preface to 
 Mirabeau's letters to Mauvillon, which is ftrongly 
 corroborated by the whole tenor of the correfpond- 
 ence, is as follows : " Among the mofl lively 
 " paffions of the count's friend, was that of being 
 " ufeful to mankind. He had already attempted 
 " to gratify it by feveral publications, and particu- 
 " larly by developing fome important truths rela- 
 " tive to political economy. But from mediocrity 
 " of talent, want of authority, mifmanagement, or 
 " misfortune, whatever he wrote produced but 
 
 c Letter? a. Mauvillon, p. 374.. 
 
 y Id m, p. 297. H pnfTim. * Idem, p. 348. 
 
 a Hiftorical Sketch, &c. p. 75. 
 b Vie Publique, &c. y. 36, 
 
 w little
 
 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 " little effect. In this fituation, he is advifed by 
 *' a celebrated writer to republifh his EfTays, to 
 " add many new ones ; to fupport his opinions by 
 " facts known, avowed, and attefted in a thoufand 
 " works ; he undertakes to adorn them with the 
 " magic of his flyle, to fupport them with the au- 
 " thority of his name, and to publifh them in the 
 " mod univerfal of all the European languages. 
 <c Perifh, then, the man who mail reproach Mira- 
 <e beau with not being the author of La Monarchic 
 " PruJJlenne V Mirabeau himfelf thought fo highly 
 of this production, that he expected it would change 
 the flyle of writing biography and hiflory. He 
 mentions it in thefe terms : " I have had time, my 
 " dear friend, to re-perufe our whole work. Be- 
 " tween ourfelvcs be it faid, it is truly excellent in 
 46 every point of view. I am fo enthufiaftic in my 
 <e admiration of it, that, duiing thefe feventeen 
 " days d , I have never thought of the probability of 
 " lofmg my life ; and really, it often feemed to 
 " depend on a turn of the die, but the regret that 
 " this precious manufcript would perim with me, 
 " immediately fucceeded the anguifli I felt at leaving 
 " my miftrefs and my fon in diftrefs ." The 
 work, undoubtedly, has confiderable merit, but not 
 fufficient to juftify Mirabeau's vanity. 
 
 The decree for convoking the dates-general in- Hopes on 
 fpired Mirabeau with frefh hopes and frem confi- convoking 
 dence f . The recal of Necker was not fo agreeable 
 to him ; he knew that Necker' diiliked him, with 
 good reafon, and felt that his own contemptuous 
 opinion of the financier was not altered. lie was 
 apprehenfive that the minifterial influence would be 
 employed to prevent his obtaining a feat in the 
 ilates-general, and as the ancient kws of France 
 
 c Avint propos aux Lettres de Mi>'aheau a Mauvillon, p. 15. 
 d The period he was at lea in his voyage fiom Hamburgh to 
 Calais. 
 c Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 169. f Idem, p. 371. 
 
 were
 
 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 were not then abrogated or fuperfeded, he knew 
 that his exclufion was very poflible. A fhort 
 fpecimen of Necker, and a curfory furvey of the 
 public mind, in a great meafure quieted his alarms. 
 He wrote to Mauvillon : " Necker muft efpoufe 
 " the royal or the national caufe ; he has no other 
 " alternative. If he adheres to the firft he is loft 
 " If he adopts the latter his reign will not be long. 
 " Fear, which already afiails him, in fpite of his 
 " efforts, aided by refentment, will foon drive him 
 " from the helm. I do not confider his talents 
 " proportioned to the exigency of the times, and 
 " the defects of his character will fruftrate the 
 " exertion of his abilities g ." 
 
 Exertions. It now became highly important to Mirabeau to 
 infure fuch a portion of popularity, as would enable 
 him to attain the object of his wimes by means of 
 his partifans, whatever influence might be exerted 
 againft him. He redoubled his attention to the 
 mafonic focieties, and exerted himfelf to forward 
 the views and diffeminate the publications of the 
 lodge des Chevaliers bienfaifans, of which he was a 
 member h . He was attached to the Society of Amis 
 des Noirs, and one of their regulating committee '. 
 He alfo contrived to efFed a reconciliation with his 
 lather, though it produced 110 difplay of affection on 
 either fide k . 
 
 The cautious conduct he had refolved to adopt 
 was ftill, in a certain degree, adhered to ; for 
 though pamphlets on the fubject of the approaching 
 meeting of the dates-general daily fwarmed from 
 the prefs, he refolved to publifh nothing on the 
 fubjeft till fecure of his election. He would not, 
 however, fuiFer an occafion fo favourable to politi- 
 cal difcuffion to efcape him, but wrote Obfervations- 
 
 t Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 377. 380. 
 
 h Robifon's Proofs, p. 4.1. 49. 
 
 1 Memoires du Jacobiniime, par Barruel, vol. ii. p. 447. 
 
 k Letties i Mauvillon, p. 415. 
 
 15 d'utt
 
 M 1 R A B E A U. 
 
 d'un Voyageur Anglois fur la malfon de Force, ap- 
 pellee Bicetre, fuivie de Reflections fur les Eff'ets de la 
 Severite des Peines, et fur la Legljlation Criminelle de 
 la Grande Bretagne. He alfo publifhed a work on 
 the liberty of the prefs, but I do not know the 
 title '. 
 
 Previous to the election for deputies to the ftates- '789. 
 general, a book was publifhed under the title of HnSryof 
 Hiftoire Secrete de la Cour de Berlin. It confided the Court 
 of letters written by Mirabeau to Calonne during ofBeilin 
 his refidence in Pruflia, in which Frederic II. and 
 his fucceflbr were very difrefpectfully treated, as 
 were prince Henry of Pruflia, and feveral diftin- 
 guifhed perfonages about the court. The duke of 
 Brunfwick was greatly extolled, and Calonne ab- 
 jectly flattered. The book was condemned by the 
 parliament of Paris, as the production of an un- 
 known author, and burned by the common hang- 
 man. No doubt was entertained by the public that 
 Mirabeau was author of all, or the greater part of 
 the letters, but it was not clearly afcertained whether 
 he had confented to the publication, or whether 
 the mofl offenfive pafTages were not interpolations'. 
 Mirabeau himfelf difavowed the publication in toto^ 
 by advertifements in the French and foreign newf- 
 papers. In his letters to Mauvillqp he fpeaks of the 
 book as one with which he is entirely unacquainted, 
 not having even read it, but through the veil 
 of his renunciation it is eafy to perceive the 
 vanity of an author. His fecretary, in writing 
 to the fame perfon, fays, that to attribute the 
 work to Mirabeau, is horrible perfidy. " They 
 " have taken out of the office for foreign affairs, his 
 " correfpondence from Berlin, and have got it 
 " printed to excite againft him the hatred of the 
 " powerful and the rage of 'the great. Much has 
 " been added to this collection to render the fup- 
 
 1 Lettres aMauvillon, p. 401. 4.36. 444. 
 
 vot. \i. H " pofed
 
 9 3 MIRABEAU. 
 
 " pofed author additionally odious. What could 
 " the count do ? Difown the publication. He has 
 " done fo, and your gazettes will atteft the dif- 
 " avowal" 1 ." This explanation is by no means 
 fatisfactory. Although it might be convenient for 
 Mirabeau to difavow the publication for fear of 
 legal confequences, and even to write letters to 
 Mauvillon, which he might mew under pretence of 
 confidence at Berlin, (till in the flate France then 
 was, Mirabeau could not enhance his character 
 more than by a work tending to make courts con- 
 temptible, and degrade exalted perfonages. If part 
 of the publication only was genuine, it became a 
 point of honor in him afterwards to have diftin- 
 guifhed between the letters he had actually written, 
 and thofe which had been malevolently added. Not 
 having done this, his tranquil acquiefcence juflifies 
 the judgment of thofe who rank this imperfect re- 
 nunciation with the fimilar acts of Voltaire and 
 many others, whom fear of confequences has in- 
 duced to difown publications, which a fenfe of 
 rectitude could not prevent their giving to the 
 world ". 
 
 17*9. Mirabeau had acquired a fief in Dauphiny, but 
 beau's confidering Provence as his natural fituation, re- 
 eleaion. folved to go there for the purpofe of being elected 
 a deputy. He was aware that if it were left to the 
 nobility to elect their own reprefentatives, he mould 
 be excluded by that clafs, but he had fome hopes 
 that all the orders would vote for each order, and 
 in that cafe the influence of the tiers etat would 
 'fecure his election, as reprefentative of the nobleffe . 
 On his arrival at Aix, he was received by the tiers 
 ttat with enthufiaftic acclamation. He was met and 
 
 01 Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 4.53. 455. 4.57. 
 
 On this iuhjc-a lee the tranflator's Preface to the Secret Hiftory of 
 the Court of Benin. Pages, vol. i. p. 470. Hitteiical Sketch, p. 75. 
 Anecdotes du.Regne vie Louis XVI. vo!. vi. p. 465. 
 
 * Leltrcs aMiuvilloii, p^j. 
 
 carried
 
 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 carried to his hotel, amidft reiterated cries, which 
 proclaimed him the defender, the tutelary angel of the 
 people 9 . The Bourgeoifie appointed for him a 
 guard of honor % which, if his own afiertion may 
 be believed, was not unneceflary, as the rage of the 
 priefthood and ariftocracy ran fo high, that he en- 
 tertained fears of aflafiination r . He was rejected 
 by the nobleffe^ who alledged that he was not com- 
 petent to take a feat as reprefentative of their order, 
 not having a fief in Provence '. During a recefs of 
 fittings in the ftates of Provence, he is faid to have 
 qualified himfelf to reprefent the tiers etat^ by be- 
 coming a fhopkeeper; He opened a mop where he 
 fold grocery by retail, and drefled with an apron, 
 distributed his wares, his politics, and his bon 
 mots '. It is faid that curiofity attracted fo many 
 purchafers to his mop, that his fale amounted to 
 three hundred louis-d'ors a-day, and the firft day 
 produced fifteen thoufand livres (6567. 5^.). He 
 was elected prefident of the order of the tiers etat, and 
 always in public feated under a canopy. When he 
 went to the play, he was efcorted by fifty young men 
 in uniform, and had a box fet apart for him. Fire- 
 works, balls, ferenades, and continual dances under 
 his windows teftified his popularity. The people 
 took off his horfes and drew his carriage, and he 
 was honored with a triumph ; a crown was placed 
 on his head, and he entered Aix amidfl a difcharge 
 of artillery, and fhouts of " God fave the king! God 
 " fave Mirabeau !" Similar marks of refpect were 
 piad to him at Marfeille$ v where he was elected deputy 
 as well as at Aix, but he took his feat for the 
 latter u . 
 
 P Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 447. 
 3 Pages, vol. i. p. J?z. 
 
 Letues a Mauvillon, p. 45*. 
 
 Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol.fi. p. 26?. 
 1 Playfair's Hillory of Jacobinifm, p. 1*5. 
 
 Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 167. Moore'f 
 View, vol.i. p. 173. Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 456. 
 
 H 3 A popular
 
 100 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 HJselo- A popular aflembly was the precife fphere in 
 quence. w hj c h Mirabeau could difplay himfelf to advantage. 
 He was, as madame Roland juftly obferves, " formed 
 < c to command the vulgar, to concentrate in one 
 " focus the opinions of the wife, and to prefent 
 " them with that force of genius which compels 
 " obedience the moment it is difplayed x ." In the 
 national aflembly, where moft of the members read 
 their fpeeches, he was among the few who poflefled 
 the gift of extempore eloquence, which befides its 
 more forcible impreffion afforded him great advan- 
 tage in replies, and in thofe quick turns of farcaftic 
 raillery which constituted his forte Y . He continued 
 firmly attached to Orleans, and forwarded all his 
 views, hoping, in cafe of his fuccefs, to attain the 
 fituation of prime minifter z . His oppofition to the 
 court was therefore fyftematic, conftant, and violent. 
 Publishes As a means of propagating his principles, re* 
 k journal. j atm g t he debates of the aifembly in his own man- 
 ner, and effectually ferving his party, he undertook 
 the direction of a daily paper, which he called 
 *' Lettres de Mirabeau a fes Commettans" Its ap- 
 pearance was, for a mort time, prevented by au- 
 thority, but Mirabeau eafily furmounted, or refo- 
 lutely braved every impediment, and began his 
 publication foon after the fitting of the ftates- 
 general. The expectation excited by this under- 
 taking was fo favourable, that in a week after the 
 publication of the profpectus, fubfcriptions to the 
 amount of more than thirty thoufand livres 
 (13127. ioj.) were lodged at his bookfeller's for 
 the firft three months delivery a . This paper, which 
 was afterwards continued under the name of Le 
 Courier de Provence, was highly ferviceable to Mira- 
 
 * Appeal to Impartial Pofteritjr, vol. i. p. 84. 
 1 See Artl-.nr Young's Travels, p. no 
 
 1 Hiftotkal Sketch, p. 80. Conjuration de d'Oilezns, vol. li, 
 P 3i. 
 
 a PJayfaii\Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. n|, 
 
 beau's
 
 MIR ABE AU. ioi 
 
 beau's views, as it gave additional weight and con* 
 fequence to his party, and augmented his popularity 
 in the capital. 
 
 Mirabeau's eloquence and manner of attack were H5sbld- 
 new to the French ; and though the difpofition of ne( *' 
 the public mind, and the mafs of feditious pamphlets 
 which preceded the meeting of the ftates-general 
 might have induced an expectation of violent pro-r 
 ceedings, both parties feem to have regarded him 
 with aftonifhment. The privileged orders faid that 
 his infidious and fatal eloquence inflamed and ex- 
 afperated the commons ; while many of the tiers 
 etat declared their apprehenfions that his exceffive 
 zeal would be fatal to the public caufe b . The firft Judgment. 
 topic which agitated the tiers etat was the verifica- 
 tion of orders, in which Mirabeau took a dif- 
 tinguimed (hare, and, befides the inflammatory 
 effect of his eloquence, his quicknefs of apprehen* 
 fion, and ready perception of the ftrong and weak 
 parts of a cafe, greatly facilitated the triumph of his 
 party. After trying in vain, feveral meflages in- *7thMay, 
 viting the nobility to join with the tiers etat in the 
 common-hall to verify their powers, he fuggefted 
 the expedient of conjuring the clergy, in the name of 
 the God of peace ^ to unite with them for the benefit 
 of the nation. Though the clergy had the atidrefs 
 to evade this propofal, yet the refult of the merTages 
 rendered them extremely unpopular, and made it 
 almoft impoffible for them to maintain their point c . 
 After feveral weeks of affected moderation, during i*th jun. 
 which the factious leaders were trying their ftrength, 
 and endeavouring to exafperate the public, the tiers, 
 etat refolved to conflitute themfelves, and leave to 
 the other two orders the choice of joining them, or 
 becoming odious and infignificant. On this fubjecl 
 a debate of confiderable length took place, and 
 
 k Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 464. 
 
 See Debates, Moore's View, vol. i. p. 153. Hiftorical Sketch, 
 p. io*. 
 
 H 3 occupied
 
 :02 MIR A BEAU. 
 
 occupied the affembly for four days. Mirabeau, 
 though ill of the ague, attended conftantly, even 
 while under the operation of fudorifics, and fpoke 
 three times from the tribune while attacked by 
 fhivering fits d . His wifh was that the aflembly 
 fhould be declared reprefentatives of the French 
 people (peupli). In this he had great obflacles to 
 furmount, as the term peuple, in French, unlike 
 people in Engliih, was ordinarily applied to the 
 lower clafs, or mere rabble. He fucceeded in re- 
 moving this prejudice, but failed in his grand 
 object. The majority adopted a motion of M. le 
 Grand > and amimed the title f national af- 
 femb/y*. In oppofmg a metaphyfical definition pro- 
 pofed by Syeyes, Mirabeau difplayed great judg- 
 ment, fenfe, and knowledge ; he diftinguifhed ably 
 between the actual ftate of man in fociety, and the 
 abftract reprefentation of him which may be fitted 
 for mere verbal difcuffion, and illuftrated his dif- 
 tinction by the difference of tracing countries on 
 a painted map, and traverfing the face of the 
 globe. In the former all is level and moun- 
 tainous deferts, rivers, and abyfles oppofe no 
 impediments, but the traveller is obliged to con- 
 fider the face of Nature as me exifls, to provide 
 againft difficulties, refift obflacles, and keep con- 
 ftantly in mind that he is in a real, not an imaginary 
 world f . The ugh Mirabeau was not fuccefsful, 
 flill his exertions were much applauded. Some 
 pains were taken to imprefs on the public a belief 
 that he had been bribed by the court ; his character 
 afforded a foundation for the conjecture, but it was 
 in every other refpect improbable E . The affump- 
 tion of a title which threatened to invefl all power in 
 the tiers etat, and render the nobility and clergy 
 
 d Lettrcs a Miuivillon, p. 468. 
 e Debates. H Tories. Young's Travels, p. no. 
 f Debates. Moore's View, vol. i. p. 163. Collection of Mira- 
 fcenu's Speeches in the Affembly. 
 J Young's Travels, p. 114. 
 
 entirely
 
 MIRABEAU. 103 
 
 entirely fubfement to them, was a meafure for which 
 Mirabeau was not prepared. As a politician he 
 wifhed for many changes in the form of govern^ 
 ment; as an individual, his ambition would have 
 been gratified by fuch a change of rulers as would 
 have enabled him to hold the higheft offices in the 
 ftate ; but this flep appeared too hazardous at the 
 prefent juncture, when the afcendancy of his fac- 
 tion was not fufficiently confirmed. He fays, " fup- 
 " pofing the mod favourable event ; that the king 
 " mould afford his fanftion to the new title we have 
 " arrogated to ourfe/ves, the refult will be that they 
 " have played the welfare of the kingdom on a coup 
 " at rouge et noir, where there is no advantage, 
 " while I would have put it on a game at chefs, 
 " where I was the belt player." He afterwards 
 adds, " The beft means to render the revolution 
 " abortive is to aik too much V 5 
 
 Whatever might be Mirabeau's private opinions, Popularity, 
 he acquiefced in the meafures of his party, and 
 would not rifk the favour of the people by a decided 
 oppofition. He .was highly popular in Paris ; and 
 the following anecdote will (hew how great homage 
 was paid him. The firfl night, after the fitting of 
 the affembly, that Voltaire's Brutus was performed, 
 Mirabeau took a place in the fourth tier of boxes. 
 The people perceiving him, required that he mould 
 come down to a lower box, and fent a deputation 
 to requeft he would indulge them. He did more : 
 he went and placed himfelf in the gallery in . the 
 midil of the people, who were unwearied in teflify- 
 ing their fatisfaction at feeing amongft them their 
 darling reprefentative *. 
 
 Mirabeau difplayed, at the period of the royal 
 fitting, when Necker evinced fo much perfidy, and 
 the king fuch benevolent and patriotic intentions k , 
 a degree of factious intemperance which demon-? 
 
 h Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 469. 
 
 1 Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi f p. 268. 
 
 * See NECKER. 
 
 H 4 ftrated,
 
 , 04 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 ftrated that no consideration could retrain him in 
 Mira- the purfuit of a favourite object. While the tiers 
 heau ' s etat were waiting till the fuperior orders were feated, 
 " ' he fhewed great impatience, and required the 
 prefident to conduct the nation immediately to the 
 king's prefence. When the king had pronounced 
 his truly paternal and conciliatory harangue, he or- 
 dered the deputies to depart and afiemble the fub- 
 fequent day ; and then retired, attended by the no- 
 bility and the majority of the clergy. The tiers etat 
 remained, but though animated by the applaufe 
 which had attended their recent exhibition in the 
 tennis-court, they feemed at a lofs, and preferved 
 filence. The workmen began to remove the throne 
 and the vacant benches ; ftill the deputies did not 
 move : at length M. de Breze, grand-mafter of the 
 ceremonies, entered, and faid to the prefident, 
 " You have heard, fir, the intentions of the king." 
 Bailly, the prefident, timid and uncertain how to 
 aft, anfwered, that the affembly was not conftituted 
 to receive orders from any one. Mirabeau was dif- 
 fatisfied with this evafion, and conceiving the oc- 
 cafion to demand all his intrepidity, rofe, and ad- 
 dreffing himfelf to M. de Breze, faid, " Yes, we 
 " have heard the intentions the king has been pre- 
 " vailed on to exprefs. But you, who cannot be 
 " his organ in this aflembly, you, who have nei- 
 " ther feat, nor vote, nor any right to fpeak here, 
 " you are not the perfon to remind us of his dif- 
 " courfe. However, to avoid all equivocation and 
 " all delay, I declare, that if you are inftru&ed to 
 " make us leave this place, you mud return and 
 " demand inflru&ions to employ force. Go, and 
 " tell thofe who fent you, that we are aflembled by 
 16 the will of the people, and nothing mail expel 
 " us but the bayonet '." The efied of this fpeech 
 
 ' Debates. Hi'ftories. Coition of Mirabeau's Speeches. A 
 beau was afterwards made for tbefritndt of the conjiitution, on 
 which the lad femence of this fpeech was engraved. White's Tranfla- 
 tiuo of Rauaud's Hiftory, p. 9 z. n . 
 
 was
 
 M I R A B E A U. 105 
 
 was the triumph of the tiers etat. That body, be- 
 fore fo irrefolute, commenced a virulent debate, in 
 which the royal authority was derided, and the 
 king's perfon and commands treated with indignity. 
 Mirabeau took advantage of a moment fo favour- 
 able, to move for a decree declaring the perfons of 
 members inviolable, which was inflantly granted m . 
 
 The refult of this day greatly augmented Mira- 2 7^ 
 beau's popularity, and enhanced his importance with Jt'ofaers. 
 his party. The junction of the two fuperior orders 
 with the tiers etat^ which fpeedily followed, extended 
 his influence, and with it, his power of doing injury 
 to thofe he was inclined to oppofe. On this event 
 he made a fpeech replete with florid imagery, in 
 which he difguifed, under an appearance of philan- 
 thropic congratulation, his exultation at an event 
 to which he had fo materially contributed n . 
 
 The triumph of the Orleans party over the court Exertion* 
 now feemed fo certain and decided, that the con- ^ r0rjean 
 fpiratojs purfued their operations without affecting 
 difguife, and hardly reftrained by the common rules 
 of caution. Mirabeau was guilty of a flagrant im- 
 prudence, which nothing but a certainty of fuccefs 
 could have occafioned. Converfmg in a circle of 
 deputies, among whom were Mounier, Bergafle, 
 Duport, and la Fayette, he praifed the duke of 
 Orleans in terms fufficiently expreffive, but with 
 fome reftraint. La Fayette quitting the party, he 
 became lefs guarded, and laid, " Gad, gentlemen, 
 " mall I tell you my mind at once ? I think we 
 " mail never have made a ftep towards liberty, till 
 " we mall have effected a revolution at court." 
 46 What revolution do you mean (faid one) ; what 
 " is the nature of the revolution you wifh ?" " I 
 " will tell you without difguife (faid Mirabeau) ; 
 " we muft raife the duke of Orleans to the poll of 
 
 " Debates. Hiftories. Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. 
 vol. vi. p. 306. 
 Debates. Colleflion of Speeches. Moore's View, vol. i. p. 174, 
 
 " lieutenant-
 
 10 6 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 " lieutenant-general of the kingdom." One of the 
 company reprefented, that it was not certain chat 
 the duke of Orleans would confent to aifume the 
 poft. " Oh, (replied Mirabeau,) make yourfelves 
 " perfectly eafy on that point ; I have fpoken to 
 " the duke about it, who anfwered me in a very 
 " pleafing manner." This -difcourfe alarmed Mou- 
 nier, who, in a fubfequent converfation, expreffed 
 his apprehenfions arifmg from the afpect of affairs. 
 <4 Why, you fimple .good man (bonhomme)" an- 
 fwered Mirabeau, " I am as much attached to roy- 
 " alty as you ; but what fignifies whether we have 
 " Louis XVI. or Louis XVII. ; or why mould we 
 ** have a child to govern us ?" Mounier expreffed 
 fo much difapprobation at thefe fentiments, that Mi- 
 rabeau, after fome vague attempts to explain away 
 his meaning, haflily broke off the converfation . 
 Addrefs The train, in fact, was now laid, and the explofion 
 the P troo n f . confidently expected. The only circumftance which 
 8th July, reftrained the confpirators was the army under the 
 command of marfhal Broglio, which was affembled 
 round Paris. To remove thefe troops became an 
 object of the utmoft importance, and to this Mira- 
 beau bent all his efforts. In a moft eloquent and 
 inflammatory fpeech, he reprefented to the affembly 
 the danger of thefe preparations : he drew an ex- 
 aggerated picture of the mifery of the people, the 
 numbers and movements of the troops, and the 
 views of the court ; and concluded by moving an 
 addrefs, praying his majefty to remove the army 
 which occafioned fo much difquietude. Though it 
 was known that fuch an addrefs was to be moved, 
 and feveral members had prepared to oppofe it, the 
 effect of Mirabeau's eloquence was fuch as to con- 
 vince them of the inutility of oppofition, and that 
 their own difgrace would be the only refult. The 
 
 See Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 60. Moore's View, 
 Tol.i. p*93. Hiftorical Sketch of the French Revolution, p. 153. 
 
 addrefs
 
 M I R A B E A IT. 
 
 addrefs was drawn by Mirabeau, read twice, adopt- 
 ed, and prefented by a deputation of twenty-four 
 members, among whom were Mirabeau and Robef- 
 pierre. It is a model of infidious compofitiori, 
 where treafon is plainly fhewn through the thin 
 maik of affected loyalty, and pretended praife is be- 
 flowed on the monarch, only as the means of over- 
 whelming him with increafed reproach if he mould 
 refufe compliance with the dictates of an imperious 
 affembly. In anfwer to this addrefs, the king de- 
 clared that the tumultuous (late of the metropolis 
 was the reafon for furrounding it with troops ; dii- 
 claimed every idea of interrupting the debates of the 
 affembly ; and offered, if the troops gave any alarm, 
 to transfer their fittings to Noyon or SoifTons, and 
 remove himfelf to Compeigne, to maintain the ne- 
 ceffary communication with them. This anfwer 
 was fatisfaftory to the majority of the affembly, who 
 were inclined to rely on the royal promife ; but Mi- 
 rabeau, alarmed at the manifestation of fuch fenti- 
 ments, expreffed violent difapprobation of the king's 
 anfwer. He averred that it was a direct refufal of 
 their requeft ; and affecting to doubt the king's fm- 
 cerity, inferred dill greater treachery from the fitu- 
 ation of the place to which he had propofed to re- 
 move them. He concluded by obferving, that the 
 abfence of the troops from the capital was the prin- 
 cipal object of the addrefs, and not that the affembly 
 mould remove to a diftance from the troops. This 
 reafoning made great impreffion on the affembly ; 
 and Dr. Moore extols their moderation and refpect 
 for the king, in not renewing the petition. Mira- 
 beau did not urge the meafure ; but the reafon was, 
 that in the interval between the two debates, and 
 while he had fuch a meafure in agitation, a fecond 
 conference took place between him and Mounier. 
 This deputy remonftrated on the impropriety of a 
 fecond addrefs j and Mirabeau, who was fenfibie 
 
 he
 
 von MIR A BE Ay. 
 
 he had been too open in his expreffions, and ap- 
 prehended a fchifm in his own party, did not venture 
 to prefs a meafure which might have led to the moft 
 difagreeable explanations p . 
 
 i4thjuly. The difmifTion of Necker accelerated the pro. 
 Encou " f jefted commotion ; and the afcendancy of the Or- 
 "c g rVsTnd leans party gave a more compfe!%'-fuccefs to their 
 outrages, proceedings than could have been expected. The 
 pufillanimity of the duke however prevented his 
 adherents from deriving from it thofe advantages to 
 which they confidered themfelves entitled. Mira- 
 beau in vain endeavoured to urge him to afiume a, 
 greater mare of refolution. On one of thefe occa- 
 fions, when Mirabeau had been unfuccefsfully at- 
 tempting to perfuade him to mew himfelf in Paris, 
 he exclaimed, " What, fir, you are within four lea-. 
 " gues of the throne, and yet will not travel to it : 
 " it is written then that Mirabeau mail never be a 
 " man of confequence V s Mirabeau is accufed of 
 having incited the mob to acts of violence and 
 maflacre during the tumults which fucceeded the; 
 capture of the Baftille, Though this charge wants 
 direct proof, it is rendered probable by his being 
 the conftant defender of their excefles, and the op- 
 pofer of meafures calculated to reprefs them. 
 When Lally Tollendal was defcribing the deaths of 
 Berthier and Foulon with expreflions of appropriate 
 horror, Mirabeau told him that it was a time to 
 think rather than to feel\ and, in defending the 
 conduct of the populace, he made the following fa r 
 vage obfervation ; " If thefe fcenes which have 
 " paffed at Paris had paffed at Constantinople, the 
 " moft timorous characters would fay, the people 
 " have done themfelves jit/lice, the meafure of ini- 
 
 Debates. Hiftories. Moore's View, vol. i. p. 495 to 307. Hiftori- 
 eal Sketch, p. 153. 
 
 1 Lettre d'un Francois fur les Moyens qui ont Opcre la Revolv>- 
 tion, p. 11. n. 16. 
 
 *' quity
 
 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 quity was full, and the puni/hment of o 
 '* 'will become a teon to another 1 " He 
 
 one vizier 
 
 teflon to another 1 " He alfo de- 
 fended the further excefles of the mobs in the pro- 
 vinces, and apologifed for their burning caftles, and 
 other cruelties towards the nobility, on a principle of 
 juftice and retaliation *. 
 
 Mirabeau had not altered his opinion of Necker, Moves for 
 or ceafed to entertain the fame fentiments of rancour Ne <*er % a 
 againft him ; but as the tide of popularity ran rec 
 ftrongly in his favour, and as it was confidered a 
 meafure diftrefiing and infulting to the court, he 
 determined to move for an addrefs requiring the dif- 
 miffion of the new miniftry, and the recal of the 
 popular idol. This meafure was oppofed by fome 
 who remonftrated on the unconditional indelicacy 
 of interfering with the appointments of the execu- 
 tive government; but Mirabeau's exertions fur- 
 mounted all oppofition, and the addrefs was carried, 
 when the delivery of it was rendered unnecelTary 
 by the voluntary refignation of the minifters, and 
 the king's declaration, that he had fent to recal the 
 favourite of the aflembly c . 
 
 Necker, whofe vanity furmounted his judgment Oppofeg 
 and his duty, was weak enough to return ; and Mi- his mea ~ 
 rabeau commenced a vigorous and fuccefsful oppo- 
 fiticn to his meafures, both in the aflembly and in 
 public. An opportunity of enfeebling the minifter's 
 popularity occurred immediately on his return, when 
 by his addrefs to the electors of Paris, at the Hotel-de- 
 uillci he had prevailed on them to decree the libera- 
 tion of the baron de Bezenval, and a general am- 
 nefty. Mirabeau exerted himfelf among the poli- 
 tical clubs, where he reprefented the tranfaftions at 
 the Hotel-de-'uille as a comprornife with ariftocracy, 
 Tendered Necker an object of fufpicion, and roufed 
 the minds of his audience to meafures of feverity and 
 vengeance. The refolutions of the commune of Pa? 
 
 r Hiftorical Sketch, p. 194.. 
 
 *f voj.i. p. 171. * Hiftorles. Debates. 
 
 rfc
 
 1JO MIRABEAU. 
 
 ris were declared illegal, and the matter was referred 
 to the national aifembly, where Mirabeau and his 
 adherents fucceeded in eftabliihing their point, and 
 Auguft. the amnefty was annulled". Confidently with the 
 principle he had determined to adopt, Mirabeau re- 
 fifted with effect Necker's propofal for a loan, which, 
 had it been fuccefsful, would have relieved the em- 
 barraiTrnents of the court, and rendered Necker's 
 adminiftration permanent. Mirabeau raifed fo many 
 objections, and deducted fo much from the advan- 
 tages of the loan, that it never filled x . 
 
 YM&TS his It was probably about this time that Mirabeau 
 ff ere( i m<s f erv ^ ces to tne king cn certain conditions, 
 which were rejected through the influence of Nee- 
 ker y , who perhaps felt himfelf incapable of acting 
 in concert with a man of Mirabeau's principles ; 
 or more probably was actuated by perfonal refent- 
 ment alone. Mirabeau feems to have been indig- 
 nant at the bafenefs of Orleans, difplayed at and 
 juft after the period of taking the Baflille ; and at 
 this time feems in his public conduct to have mewn 
 a difpofition to approach the court, and even to con* 
 ciliate the minifter. In the debates on the Ihare of 
 authority to be intruded to the crown in the ratifi- 
 cation of laws, he fupported the unpopular doctrine 
 of an abfolute veto. Montjoye imputes this to his 
 attachment to Orleans, and his wifh to be the mi- 
 nifter of an arbitrary monarch ; but the other mo- 
 tive is full as probable 2 . The diftrefs of the re- 
 venue (till increaTmg, and the loan having been 
 found entirely unfuccefsful, Necker brought for* 
 ward a proportion, that every individual mould 
 contribute a fourth part of his revenue towards the 
 
 Necker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 134. Impartial Hiftory, 
 Yol.i. p. 171. Moo: e's View, vol. i. p. 380. See NECKER. 
 
 * Debates. See NECKER. 
 
 T Houiile's Memoirs, p. 44.8. 777. 
 
 z Conjur .tion de d'Grleans, vol. ii. p. 117. Mrs. Wollftonecraft's 
 Hiftory, p. 337. Debates in Auguft and September. Moore's View, 
 and tbeuiber Hiftorits. 
 
 exigencies
 
 MIRABEATT. 
 
 exigencies of the (late. This meafure alarmed the 
 affembly by its violence ; but Mirabeau, " more 
 " eloquent than ever he had been, great in his gef- 
 " ture, in his countenance, and in his voice, pre- 
 " vailed on the affembly to decree with confidence 
 " the meafure propofed by Necker a ." Though reje 
 this fignal fervice ought to have convinced the mi- 
 nifter of Mirabeau's value and importance, he could 
 not forgive his critical animadversions, and his pre- 
 vious oppofition. He felt no kindnefs to him for 
 fupporting his fecond financial plan, after over- 
 throwing the firft ; he did not acquiefce in the pro- 
 priety of an abfolute veto ; and he fruflrated the 
 negotiation between the king and Mirabeau. 
 
 Irritated at this rejection, Mirabeau attached him- Attaches 
 felf more firmly than ever to Orleans. He con- m"^^ 
 trived to render the compliment he had paid to Nee- ly to or- 
 ker unavailing, by tacking to the decree a requeft leans * 
 that the king would immediately fanction certain 
 obnoxious refolutions voted on the fourth of Au- 
 guft b . In the debates which followed, efpecially 
 thofe which related to the limitation of the crown, 
 and the fettlement of a regency, he mewed a de- 
 cided predilection for the interefts of Orleans c . 
 What could not be produced by cabal in the legif- 
 lature it was determined to effect by external vio- 
 lence, and the dreadful infurrection which took 
 place on the fifth of October was projected and or- 
 ganifed. 
 
 No doubt can be entertained that Mirabeau took 
 an active (hare in contriving and conducting this 
 celebrated infurrection. Mrs. Wollftonecraft, with c<ra 
 her ufual rafhnefs, has declared his innocence, de- of Miia ~ 
 ducing it only from his diflike to Orleans, and the beau * 
 
 * Quoted from Rabaud's Hiftory. p. 141. See NECKER. Debates. 
 Riftoriea. 
 
 b See NECKER. 
 
 e Debates. Conjuration dc d'Oileans, Yol.ii. p. 135. Hiftorical 
 Sketch, p. 435. 
 
 opinion
 
 MIR ABE AU. 
 
 opinion fubfequently delivered by the abbe Mauri d . 
 Dr. Moore ftates it as evident that Mirabeau did 
 not aft in concert with the duke ; and fays it does 
 not appear that he had any hand in exciting the in- 
 furredion, but he certainly endeavoured to turn it 
 to his dwn purpofes when excited c . The argu- 
 ment of Mrs. Wollftonecraft of his contempt for 
 Orleans is not very cogent, confidering how many 
 fafts appeared in evidence to mew that he was very 
 adlive in urging the proceedings of the mob. The 
 conduct of the abbe Mauri will be mentioned here- 
 after. The want of concert between the confpi- 
 rators, adduced by Dr. Moore, is eafily accounted 
 for by adverting to the character of the duke of 
 Orleans, with whom it was eafy to plot, but whofe 
 cowardice and inconfiftency rendered it extremely 
 difficult to aft in concert. A ftatement of Mira- 
 beau's proceedings during and previous to the in- 
 furreclion will beft elucidate his motives. For fome 
 time before this event, a great many deputies, 
 dreading the anarchy which they had reafon to ap- 
 prehend from the intrigues and ambition of the po- 
 pular party, had meditated a junction with the 
 members attached to the court ; and their influence 
 had fo far prevailed, that in the election of prefi- 
 dents, the compofition of Committees, and the no- 
 mination of fecretaries, the friends of order were 
 generally preferred. Mirabeau was indignant at 
 this junction, which threatened to reduce his party 
 to a ftate of infignificance, and wrote a letter replete 
 with threats to Clermont Tonnere, who was then 
 prefident, which he, with more forbearance than 
 prudence, did not denounce to the aflembly f . A 
 fecret committee compofed of the adherents of Or- 
 leans met frequently at the duke's country-feat at 
 Moufleau ; Mirabeau was a conftant attendant at 
 
 Hiftory of the Revolution, p. 456. 
 e View, vol. ii. p. 50. 
 
 f Lettre d'uo Fian^oii fur les Moyent qui oiK Oueie la Revolution, 
 p-*7- 
 
 thefe
 
 MIR ABE A XT. 
 
 thefe meetings 8 ; he was continually travelling to 
 Paris, and exerting his influence in the clubs and 
 coffee-houfes h . On the day of the explofion, the 
 debates were conducted with peculiar acrimony. 
 The pretended orgies of the Gardes-du-corps afforded 
 a ground for fome accufations which Petion levelled 
 againft the queen, but wanted courage to fign his 
 denunciation. Mirabeau, who in thefe extremities 
 never loft his prefence of mind, relieved Petion from 
 his embarraflment by faying, " I begin by declar- 
 " ing that I confider the motion fupremely impo- 
 " litic ; neverthelefs, if it is perfiited in, I am ready 
 " to produce the details, and fign them with my 
 " own hand : but the aifembly muft firft decree, 
 " that the perfon of the king alone is inviolable ; 
 " and that all other individuals, whatever their fta- 
 " tion, are equally fubjecl: to the laws." This 
 fpeech produced a feries of inflammatory obferva- 
 tions, but the denunciation was not proceeded on *. 
 While the debates were going on, Mirabeau rofe 
 and whifpered to the prefident, " Mounier, there 
 " are forty thoufand men marching againft us from 
 " Paris ; adjourn." Many people had been ob- 
 ferved going in and out with an appearance of 
 great agitation, thefe were the agents of the confpi- 
 racy, and from them Mirabeau derived his intel- 
 ligence k . In the courfe of the debate Mirabeau 
 had behaved with great petulance, and difplayed 
 the confidence of a fuccelsful confpirator. In ad- 
 verting to the king's delay in fanclioning the de- 
 crees, he renounced his own principle of an abfolute 
 veto, and faid, " It appears to me that in an addrefs 
 " to the king, it would not be improper to fpeak 
 " with the fame franknefs and truth which a court 
 
 z Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 39. Play fair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, 
 P- *44" 
 
 h Lettre il'un Francois, c. p. 18. 
 
 * Debates. Hiftones. Conjuration de d'Orleans> vol. ii. p. 104, 
 
 k Pages, vol. i. p. 23 j. Conjuration de d'Oileans, vol.ii. p. 405. 
 
 VOL. II. 1 " fool
 
 1I4 MIRABEAI7. 
 
 " fool of Philip conveyed in this trifling fentence : 
 " What would you do, Philip, if all the world were to 
 " fay no when you fay yes '." A deputation to the 
 king had been decreed, when the Poiffardes rufhed 
 into the hall. In the confufion which enfued, Mi- 
 rabeau alone retained any authority ; he alone 
 dared, when the clamour was fuch as to interrupt 
 the debate, to move that all perfons who were not 
 deputies fhould be expelled. Though the mob did 
 not permit fuch a motion to pafs, they expreifed no 
 anger againft the mover m . As foon as the affembly 
 adjourned, Mirabeau went among the rabble, who 
 were afiailing the guards, and threatening the life 
 of the queen. He was among the privates of the 
 regiment de F/andres, the complete feduction of 
 whom had been only that day effected ; and the Pa- 
 rifian women, when they loft fight of him, were con- 
 tinually fcreaming, " Where is our count Mira- 
 " beau ? we want to fee our count Mirabeau." 
 Sometimes he appeared with a huge fabre under 
 his arm, and fometimes difguifed in women's 
 clothes. In this drefs he was feen the next morn- 
 ing, uttering imprecations againft the queen, and 
 mixing with the mob to inftigate frefh violences D . 
 When the afiembly met, Mirabeau was at his poft, 
 difappointed at the refult of the conspiracy, and 
 gloomily awaiting an opportunity of turning it to 
 fome advantage. Such an occafion foon prefented 
 itfelf. The king, aftonimed at the audacity of trea- 
 fon, which, not content with violating the refuge of 
 his palace, fought to deprive him of liberty by a 
 compulfory journey to the capital, fent a meffage to 
 the aflembly, requiring them to come and hold theif 
 fitting in the hall of Hercules, that he might have 
 the benefit of their advice. Mounier, the prefident, 
 
 1 Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 3. 
 
 Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol.vi. p. 4*7. 
 n Conjuration de d'Odeans, vol. ii. p. 134. 245. Robifon's Proofs 
 of a Conlpiiacy, p. 377. 
 
 would
 
 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 would inftantly have complied ; but Mirabeau pre- 
 vented it. He faid it was not confiftent with the 
 dignity of the aflembly to go to the king, and that 
 the freedom of debate could not be preferved 
 within the walls of a palace. As foon as the king's 
 fubmifiiori to the orders of the mob was announced, 
 Mirabeau moved that the aiTembly was infeparable 
 from the perfon of the monarch, and that a depu- 
 tation of one hundred perfons mould accompany the 
 royal family to Paris. The fecretary, in preparing 
 the lift, inferted the name of Mirabeau, which Mou- 
 rner immediately erafed. " Why do you take out 
 " my name, Mounier ? (faid Mirabeau) ; I infift on 
 " being one of the deputation, that I may appeafe 
 " the people in cafe of any tumult.'* The pre- 
 fident anfwered ; " Sir, thofe who have fo much 
 " influence on the people as to appeafe them, may 
 " alfo be inflrumental in making them rebel" Mi- 
 rabeau however infilled on carrying his point ; 
 and as his word was that day a law to the alfembly, 
 he fucceeded . Though the grand object of the 
 confpiracy, that of deftroying or dethroning the 
 king, had failed, yet the transfer of the king and 
 alfembly to Paris, where the king would be kept a 
 prifoner, and where Mirabeau, by means of the 
 clubs, poffefifed fo great an influence, w,as a fubject 
 of confiderable triumph ; and the final victory of 
 the faction appeared to be only retarded. Mira- 
 beau exprefied his exultation on the occafion by 
 faying, in an addrefs to the provinces, that now 
 " the vefiel of public bufinefs would proceed in its 
 " courfe more rapidly than ever p ." 
 
 As there was reafon to apprehend from the man- 
 ner in which thefe tranfactions are mentioned, that 
 
 they would become the fubject of a judicial in veftiga- 
 tion, Mirabeau propofed to avail himfelf of the prefent 
 
 I'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 266. et feq. 
 U, p. 267, 
 
 i 2 difpofition 
 
 Debates. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 266. et feq. 
 P Debates. Hiftorical Sketch, p. 267,
 
 n <5 MIRABEAU. 
 
 difpofition of the aflembly, and obtain fuch decree* 
 as would prevent any inquiry ; and inftead of ju~ 
 ridical depofitions, leave the facts to be recorded by 
 tradition alone, and forgotten when the day was 
 paft. Every thing was arranged, and the time 
 fixed ; when Orleans, from cowardice, refufed to 
 appear in the aflembly, and the project was aban- 
 doned. Mirabeau was tranfported with rage, and 
 vented himfelf in angry expreffions ; he declared 
 the duke did not delerve the pains which had been 
 taken for him ; that he was bafe as a foot-boy ; and 
 added, that he always carried a loaded piftol in his 
 bofom, but had not fufficient fpirit to pull the trig' 
 ger 9 . His indignation was carried to the highelt 
 pitch, when he learned the duke's refolution to go- 
 to England. " He ufed imprecations worthy of 
 ct Philoctetes ' ;" and afterwards declared, that fo- 
 far from defiring to elevate the duke to the throne, 
 he would not choofe him for a lacquey. He made an 
 attempt to prevent the aflembly from permitting his 
 departure, and hinted at the imperious conduct of 
 la Fayette on the occafion ; but without fuccefs '. 
 JSovM^* Though highly difpleafed with la Fayette, and 
 thanks to always perfonally inimical to him, Mirabeau, when 
 ia Fayette. t h e a fiembly began to make Paris the place of their 
 fittings, moved a vote of thanks to the commandant 
 of the national guard, which was carried with uni- 
 verfal applauie '. He oppofed la Fayette's propo- 
 fition of a martial law, though without fuccefs ; but 
 the arguments he ufed were highly gratifying to the 
 people u . 
 
 ? no Mirabeau had calculated rightly on the effects of 
 his popularity in Paris, he was idolized by the mob, 
 
 * Conjuration de d'Orleans, volii. p. 289. Robifon's Proofa of a. 
 ConfpirHcy, p. 378. 
 
 Hiftoiy of the Briflotires by Camille Defmoulins, p. 8. 
 'Debates. Hiltones. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 350. 
 1 Debates. Impartial Hiltoiy, vol. i. p. 258. 
 'Debates. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. p. 340* 
 
 who
 
 MIR ABE AU. Ji 7 
 
 who carried their complaifance towards him to fuch 
 an excefs, that he was accufed of fending meflengers 
 when he intended to fpeak to give notice to the 
 people that they might fill the galleries. He denied 
 the fact, but it is far from being improbable x . He 
 extended his influence by a regular attendance at 
 the Jacobin club, where he was one of the com- 
 mittee of correfpondence y , and he was the founder 
 or promoter of various other clubs. He belonged 
 to the club of 1789, but feeing there was no popu- 
 larity attached to it, foon declined attending % He 
 alfo founded, with the affiflance of feme Swifs mal- 
 contents at Paris, a club, called the Friends of Swifs 
 liberty, which was in fome degree encouraged by 
 the afiembly, and carried on a correfpondence with 
 the partisans of the fame caufe in Switzerland a . 
 
 In the courfe of this year Mirabeau's father died, Hfs profu. 
 but as the arrangement of his affairs took up a flon 
 confiderable time, Mirabeau derived no immediate 
 pecuniary advantage from the event b . Mirabeau, 
 however, was enabled, by the large fums he received 
 from Orleans, and afterwards from the king, to 
 live in a very fplendid ftyle. He bought a great 
 part of his father's library, which was one of the 
 beft in France, and alrnoft all the library of the 
 celebrated Buffon. He alfo purchafed the houfe of 
 Fleflelles, and had agents at all the fales of books 
 and rarities at the hotel de Bouillon c . Mirabeau 
 was the firft who had propofed the eftablifhment of 
 a city militia, a project which was difregarded at the 
 moment, but which was afterwards embraced, and 
 became the foundation of the national guard d . 
 
 * Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. yol. yi. p.m. 
 f Conjuration de tTQileans, vol.iii. p. 7. 
 
 * Expolition abregee desTrincipes, &c. par Arthur Dillon, p. 34. 
 Hiftoricai Sketch, p. 387. 
 
 a PlayfaiT-'s Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 331. 
 
 b Lettres aMauvillon, p. 4.73. 
 
 ' Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 194.. 
 
 * Pages, vol. i. p. 137. 
 
 j 3 The
 
 H8 MIR ABE AU< 
 
 The command of the battalion de la Grange Batte- 
 liere, the fection where he refided, was be (to wed on 
 him, and he gave a fete to his comrades and a part 
 of the national guard, which cofl about ten thoufand 
 livres (437/. IO.T.). When any perfons exprefled 
 furprife at his living fo expensively, they \vere 
 taught to believe that he . was enabled to do it 
 by the profits of his journal, which had an immenfe 
 fale '. 
 
 His defire The abfence of Orleans, and the impoffibility of 
 be mi- yaifing popular commotions, which, in facl, were no 
 longer neceflary either to his popularity or power, 
 feem to have allayed the ferment of Mirabeau's 
 mind. He began to wim for a more regular go- 
 vernment, where the executive branch might be 
 reftored to a due mare of authority by means of a 
 minifter poiferTed of a genius for finance and go- 
 vernment, who might fupply the place of the feeble 
 Necker, and, by his fuperior powers, reftrain the 
 tribe of jealous expectants. His remarks are curious 
 and interefting. " You reafon very juftly on our 
 " revolution ; but it ariies among us, rather from 
 " devolution than exaltation f . The party which 
 " was able to have refilled was fo degenerate, the 
 " inevitable effect of a long monopoly, that they 
 " felt rather the fpite of a child, or the rage of a 
 " woman, than a defire to operate a counter-revo- 
 " lution. The crown is more in danger from 
 " want of energy than from any confpiracy. Un- 
 " lefs an able pilot is found, it is probable that the 
 " veffel will be (handed. If, on the contrary, the 
 " force of events compels the appointment of a 
 " man of parts, and infpires them with courage to 
 
 * Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 270. 
 
 ( I am compelled to ufe this affefled phrafeo'ogy to preferve a 
 mifcrable pun. In plain language, Mirabeau means that the weak- 
 Tiefs of the court rather than the enthufiafm of the people occafioned 
 the revolution. In the next fentence he completely acquits the royal 
 family of aiming at a counter-revolution, and, of courfe, figns hie 
 own condemnation as a conrpirator and calumniator. 
 
 " difregard
 
 MIR A BE ALT. ITp 
 
 * e difregard the opinions of mankind, and the 
 " efforts of fubaltern jealoufy. you cannot imagine 
 " how eafy it will be to fet the public veffel afloat. 
 " The refources of this country, and the inconftancy 
 " of its inhabitants, which conflitutes their greateft 
 " fault, give birth to fo many expedients, and fuch 
 " a variety of means, that in France we ought 
 " never to prefume or to defpair s ." 
 
 Mirabeau now thought ferioufly of eftablifliing Political 
 the government, and extending the power of ^ m ' 
 France. He entertained the fame projects of ag- 
 grandizement, education, and government which 
 have been purfued by his fucceffors, but he was not 
 prepared to afcend to the fame height of revo- 
 lutionary violence which they attained at a fudden 
 fpring. He wifhed to make the finances of the 
 country reipeclable and flourishing, by appointing 
 funds for the regular payment of intereft ; they have 
 eafed themfelves of fuch exertions by repeated 
 bankruptcies. He intended to produce a change of 
 manners in his countrymen, by altering the fyftem 
 of education, and allowed fifteen years for the per- 
 fection of his plan / they fuperfeded the neceffity 
 of education by the decapitation and banifnment of 
 thofe who exprefled an opinion of their own, by 
 which means the whole country could be brought 
 to adopt any fyftem of religion or government in 
 fifteen days. Mirabeau was defirous to extend the v 
 influence of France by increafmg the profperity of 
 other countries ; his fucceffors inftead of influence 
 have acquired an enforced and fullen obedience, 
 and inflead of infpiring gratitude by an increafe of 
 profperity have excited univerfal horror and latent 
 indignation by unparalleled rapacity and want of 
 faith. The identity of fyftem, however the variation 
 in pradice may have disfigured Mirabeau's plan, 
 and the fad; and time of his making his confeflion 
 
 8 Lettres aMauvillon, p. 487. See alfo p. 498. for his opinion of 
 Necker. 
 
 14 of
 
 2 a MIRABEAU. 
 
 of faith on the fubiect to Mauvillon, prove that 
 there did always exift a confpiracy againft all the 
 religions and governments of Europe, and that the 
 fame views have been conftantly adhered to, though 
 differences of education and fyftem in the dema- 
 gogues of France have given a variety to its opera- 
 tion. The following is an extraft from Mirabeau's 
 letter in which he delineates his plan, but the whole 
 merits a ferious perufal. " Upon the whole, I am 
 " more than ever attached to my fyftem. A great 
 " empire can never be 'well-governed but as a congrega- 
 " tion of fmall federative Jiates, ivhofe federal knot is 
 " in a reprefentative affembly prefided over and 
 " watched by the monarch. Thus by force of a 
 " good conftitution alone we might foon have the 
 * { Rhine for a boundary, and, what is more, an irre- 
 " Jtftible influence over all the governments of Eu- 
 " rope^ by the amelioration and extended profperity 
 " of the whole human fpecies. But to produce 
 *' thefe advantages we muft have a fyftem, we muft 
 " not be obliged, in addition to our general laws, 
 " to make fpecial laws, which we do not and 
 " mould not understand. A government muft be a 
 " P ro f e ff or i not a pupil ; a chie^ not ajlave. The 
 " reprefentative of the nation muft not a6t in a 
 " manner contradictory to her interefts. In a 
 " word, an expiring juggler h , muft not continue 
 " his clumfy cup-and-ball tricks, when there is no 
 " longer any need for hocus-pocus, or mounte- 
 '* bank's tables. Comus and Pinetti muft not ex- 
 " peel: to receive from an academy of fciences, the 
 " fame applaufes they acquire at a fair s ." 
 Exertions To defcribe all Mirabeau's labours in the confti- 
 3 - f " tuent auremb ^5 " would be requifite to enter into a 
 minute detail of every debate which took place from 
 its commencement to the laft day of his life, fmce 
 no debate occurred which was not directed by his 
 
 * Necker. 
 
 * Lettre a.Mativillon du 31 Janvier 1790, p. 506. du Recueil. 
 
 judgment,
 
 MIR ABE AU. j 2 i. 
 
 jndgment, guided by his genius, or illuminated by 
 his eloquence. I (hall defcribe the courfe of his 
 exertions on a few fubjects, as they enable us to 
 form a jufl eftimate of his politics, without narrating 
 hiflorically the circumflances which preceded, or 
 the effects which followed them. From an early againft 
 attachment to the doctrines of infidelity, and as an theclergyj 
 illuminatus, Mirabeau was inimical to the ecclefiafti- 
 cal eftablimment, and the oppofition made by the 
 clergy to the ufurpation of the tiers etat had exaf- 
 perated him to a ftill higher pitch. He had fre- 
 quently been heard to lay, " If you wifh for a revo- 
 " lution, you mud banifh the Catholic religion 
 " from France V He was an advocate for the 
 abolition of tithes, a meafure which he fupported 
 with all his eloquence and influence, and -finally 
 fucceeded J . The neceflity and rapacious difpofition 
 of the afTcmbly could not be fatisfied with the tithes 
 alone, but required that the whole wealth of the 
 clergy mould be at their difpofal. The lay members 
 of the affembly, apprehenfive of cenfure from the 
 invidious appearance fuch a motion would affume 
 if it proceeded from them,"availed themfelves of the 
 profligacy of a member of the clerical body to 
 obtain their object. Talleyrand Perigord, bimop of 
 Autun, was prevailed on by Mirabeau to propofe 
 the meafure, which was fupported by all the zeal, 
 eloquence, and intrigue of the party. The refift- 
 ance was proportioned to the magnitude of the 
 object, and the popular party, not feeling fufficiently 
 ftrong to infure a majority, more than once ad- 
 journed the debate. The mob itrenuoufly affifted 
 the enemies of the clergy. Placards were parted up, 
 containing lifts of thofe who had oppofed the mo- 
 tion, and offering rewards of twelve hundred livres 
 (52 /. ioj.) to any patriot who would kill them. On 
 
 k Barruel's Hiftory of the Clergy, part I. p. *. 
 
 1 See Impartial Hiftory, vol.i. p. 193. Hiftorical Sketch, p. su. 
 
 the
 
 j 22 MIR A BEAU. 
 
 the day when the queftion was finally decided, g. 
 mob, armed with pikes, affembled in the avenues 
 to the place of fitting, and threatened to put all the 
 bifhops and priefts to death, if the motion was loft m . 
 Several members produced letters in which they 
 were threatened with definition if they perfevered 
 in oppofmg the meafure; but Mirabeau filenced 
 them by producing letters of funilar import, which, 
 he pretended, had been written to him by the other 
 party*. This meafure was followed by the fup- 
 preflion of all monaftic eftablifhments, and the grant 
 of nominal pennons to the clergy, while their lands 
 were affigned to the creditors of the ft ate, and 
 aflignats ifliied on them, as a new kind of paper 
 money. Mirabeau was one of the ftrongeft ad- 
 vocates of thefe violent proceedings in oppofition 
 to his own fentiments, exprefied in his pamphlet 
 againft the emperor, called Doutes fur la Liberte 
 de FEfcaut^ where, among many fimilar paffages, 
 he fays exprefsly, ' Deipife the monks as much 
 ' as you pleafe, but do not rob them, for it is un- 
 ' lawful to rob either the moft determined Atheift 
 c or the moft credulous Capuchin V Yet, with 
 all this violence, Mirabeau had occafion to fhew his 
 moderation at the ex pence of others. He faid one 
 day at the Jacobin club, while defcanting on the in- 
 veteracy difplayed againft the priefts : " For God's 
 u fake, gentlemen, let us not torment their con- 
 " fciences. We have got their property, and what 
 for the " fignifies any thing elfe p r" Mirabeau, as a mem- 
 flaves. ker o t ^ e c } u b o f j4 m j s d es jVo/rj, was anxious to 
 abolifh ilavery, and make the coloured inhabitants 
 of the colonies in every refpecl equal with the 
 whites j a meafure fupremely impolitic, in which he 
 failed '. 
 
 m Bairuel's Iliftory of the Clergy, parti, p. zi. 
 
 Historical Sketch, p. aia. Idem, p. 173. 
 
 P Lettre d'un Frargois, p. 45. n. 
 
 9 See Impartial Hiitory, vol. i. p. 319. 
 
 Thefe
 
 MIR ABE AU. I23 
 
 Thefe meafures, and the arrangement of fome i 79 o. 
 articles of the conftitution, took up the attention of the His Vl - 
 affembly during the early part of the year. Mirabeau's ence ' 
 popularity continued to increafe, and he augmented 
 his inlblence in proportion. His appearance and 
 manners were fuch, that an author in defcribing 
 him fays, " When iilent he refembled a favage 
 " bear, when he fpoke, a foaming lion r ." He felt 
 no fear of the perfons to whom he was oppofed, 
 knowing them to be attached to order, morals, and 
 the laws. " You have nothing to apprehend from 
 " the ariftocrats," was his expreffion to his ad- 
 herents, " they neither pillage, burn, or affaffin- 
 " ate s ," Towards his opponents he behaved with 
 the utmoft ferocity, threatening them with the ven- 
 geance of the mob on every occasion : . Yet Mira- aml 
 beau was cowardly to the greatefl degree. His cowardice < 
 prefence of mind never forfook him in debate, but 
 in action, or when threatened, he exhibited none of 
 that inflammability which diftinguimed him on other 
 occafions ; his courage bore an inverfe proportion 
 to his inlblence x . He received two or three chal- 
 lenges, which he always declined, with frefh info- 
 lence or unmanly pleafantry. " I will write to my 
 " conftituents," he faid, " to know if they deputed 
 " me to (lake my life at fword and pi (lot ; if fo, I 
 " mail requeft them to nominate Saint George, or 
 " fome equally fkilful combatant, as my iuper- 
 " numerary y ." 
 
 As Necker's influence declined, fome friends of His exerv 
 the king renewed a negotiation with Mirabeau for tions for 
 
 the crown. 
 
 r Apologia des Projets, &c. p. 198. 
 
 Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 305. Anecdotes du Regne de 
 Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 269. 
 
 See Hiftorical Sketch, p. 300. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. ii. 
 p. 104. 
 
 * Apologie des Projets, &c. p. 191. 
 
 y Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. ITO. For inftances 
 of Mirabeau's tameneis in fubmitting to infults, fee the fame volume, 
 
 p. 143. >93 ao. 
 
 15 his
 
 MIR ABE A IT. 
 
 Iiis affiftance, which finally fucceeded. It was 
 cither in confequence of this negotiation, or of 
 Mirabeau's wifh that it fhould take place, that many 
 motions m?de by him appeared to favour the royal 
 caufe. He feems to have had fome prcfpect of 
 being minifter, when he endeavoured to get rid of 
 the abfurd felf-denying decree, by moving that 
 minifters mould have a confultative voke in the 
 aflembly. This propofition was fo ill received, that 
 mftead of producing the defired effect, it only 
 caufed the exclufion to be more flrongly enforced z . 
 In the queftion refpecling the power of declaring 
 war and making peace, Mirabeau (hewed his difpo- 
 fition to favour the court ftill more openly, for he 
 maintained the unpopular though rational doftrine, 
 that thefe powers ought to be veiled in the 
 king. This produced an immediate effect on the 
 ace!* ^" m b > it was rumoured that he was fold to the 
 court. The hawkers cried about the ftreets the 
 grand treachery of count Mirabeau ; and Marat, who 
 had long been his enemy, printed the opinion that 
 he ought to be broiled on a gridiron, as the greateft 
 id May. traitor in the aflembly. Mirabeau was now obliged 
 to retracl: a part of his opinion, and compromife 
 with the more moderate of his opponents to form a 
 decree that war mould be declared on the part of 
 the king, in the name of the nation. Even this was 
 not fufficient to gratify the populace. Barnave and 
 Lameth, who had oppofed him, were cairied in 
 triumph on coming out of the affembly. " I too," 
 faid Mirabeau, " had it in my power but two days 
 " ago to have been carried in triumph, but I was 
 " not then to learn that it is but one ftep from the 
 " capitol to the Tarpeian rock V 
 
 * Debates. Impartial Hifiory, vol. i. p, 184. 
 
 * Debates, Hiftorical Sketch, p. 277. Page?, vol. i. p. 34,5. 
 Playfau's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, i>. 195. 
 
 Although
 
 Although Mirabeau aflfumed in public the fem- 
 blance of ftoical indifference, he felt the infult he 
 had received with confiderable fenfibility. He fays, 
 " I have attended clofely to bufinefs in the aflera- 
 " bly, and even powerfully maintained the barrier, 
 " as you will have read in the public papers. We 
 " have here a multitude of perfons whofe only aim 
 <c is confufion. Their audacious turbulence awes 
 " the timid, alarms the prudent, hurries away the 
 " impetuous, and rallies the factious. It was ne- 
 " ceffary to form, to guide, to render victorious a 
 " truly monarchical party, which was not eafy 
 " in a nation fo fickle, which does nothing but 
 " by the impulfe of the moment, or at the dic- 
 " tates of fafliion. Now the fafhion of this day 
 ** is licentioufnefs and anarchy b ." The prevalence 
 of this difpofition was fuch that he was led to appre- 
 hend it would terminate in a civil war. In a fub- 
 fequent letter he fays, " You muft fuppofe, my 4 ,h Aug. 
 " dear friend, that my career becomes daily more 
 " perilous. In the firft place, I never had any 
 " faith in the poffibility of effecting a great revo- 
 " lution without bloodfhed ; and I no longer en- 
 " tertain a hope but that the internal fermentation, 
 " combined with intrigues, will occafion a civil 
 <c war ; I am not clear that fuch an event is not a 
 " neceflary evil." It is probable, that at the time 
 he wrote this his treaty with the king met with 
 fome obftacles, as in another part of the letter he 
 fays, " The miniftry, equally treacherous and bafe, 
 " cannot, even for their own fafety, forgive me for 
 " having rendered fome fervices to the nation. 
 " The throne has neither conception, judgment, 
 " or free-will. The people, ignorant and anarchi- 
 " cal, float at the difcretion of every political 
 " juggler, and of their own illufions V 
 
 b Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 510. 
 Idem, p. 517. 518. 
 
 It
 
 |2(S MIRABEAU. 
 
 incoipated It is pofTible that fome portion of jealoufy felt by 
 byChate- t he h.iniftry might arifefrom the return of Orleans, 
 let * and a fufpicion that the connexion between him 
 
 and Mirabeau would be renewed. This might 
 originate from their being jointly implicated in- the 
 charge of confpiracy on the fifth of October, and 
 the prefumption that they mud unite in their de- 
 7th Aug. fence. Of this, however, there is no appearance. 
 When Boucher d'Argis made his report to the 
 aflembly, Mirabeau was in the frame of mind which 
 induced him to write the letter mentioned above. 
 3othSept. Before the Chatelet had delivered in their accufa- 
 tion, Necker had retired, and as no impediment 
 remained, it is highly probable that Mirabeau had 
 made his bargain with the court, and was conle- 
 quently under no apprehenfions of the event of this 
 Acquitted proceeding. To this muft be attributed the pheno- 
 by the af- me non of Mauri's undertaking his defence, and the 
 femblyj flight oppofition made to the vote of exculpation 
 which could not apply to Mirabeau without extend- 
 ing to Orleans alfo d . Mirabeau's guilt is ftrongly 
 apparent in the depofitions in the Chatelet as pub- 
 lifhed, but that part can afford only very imperfect 
 information, as the more important examinations 
 were not committed to the prefs. It is faid they are 
 preferved, and will at fome future time appear c . 
 Bribed by Mirabeau had now entirely dhTolved his connexion 
 the court. w ith Orleans, though he found it neceflary to main- 
 tain an appearance of cordiality with him, and even 
 to attach himfelf to the Lameths, and fome other 
 leaders of the Jacobins, in order to counterbalance 
 the influence of la Fayette, of whofe duplicity and 
 ambition he was juftly apprehenfive f . Senfible of 
 the diforganizing power which Orleans, by dint of 
 
 a Debates. Hiftories. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 8r. 
 et feq. Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 443. See 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 e Robifon's Proofs of a Confpiracy, p. 391. n. 
 
 ' Bouilie's Memoirs, p. 254.. 
 
 corruption,
 
 MIR A BEAU. I2; 
 
 corruption, had acquired in the army, Mirabeau 
 propofed the bold but falutary meafure of difbanding 
 the whole military body, and re-eftablifhing it on 
 conftitutional principles. This plan Would not have 
 been difagreeable to la Fayette, but when it was 
 propofed in the aflembly, mod of the members were 
 terrified at its audacity, and it was rejected by all 
 parties 5 . The price Mirabeau received from the 
 crown for his fervices was fix hundred thoufand 
 livres (26,2507. ) in prompt payment, and an allow- 
 ance of fifty thoufand livres (21877.) a-month h . 
 The king had much repugnance to overcome before 
 he could repofe an entire confidence in Mirabeau, or 
 refolve to rely on a man of his character ', but the 
 marquis de Bouille ; to whom Mirabeau's junction 
 with the court was communicated, was immediately 
 fenfible of its beneficial tendency. He was of opi- 
 nion that the genius, talents, and firmnefs of Mira- 
 beau were equal to the greatnefs of the emergency ; 
 and that if any man could fave the king and 
 monarchy it was he k . The following comparifon Compared 
 between the characters of Mirabeau and la Fayette with la 
 is fo fagacious and juft, that I give it in M. de tajette * 
 Bouille's own words : " It will appear aftoniming, 
 " without doubt, that I mould act with fo much 
 " confidence towards Mirabeau, when my conduct 
 " towards la Fayette was marked with fuch diftruft. 
 " The reafon is obvious ; avarice and ambition were 
 " the reigning paffions of the former, and thefe 
 " the king could amply gratify when re-feated on 
 " his throne : now I very well knew that Mirabeau 
 " poffefled too much difcernment not to perceive 
 " that the gratitude and favours of a prince, whom 
 " he mould have contributed to reftore to his 
 " power and authority, were much to be preferred 
 " to popular favour, and the temporary fituation of 
 
 g Boullic's Memoirs, p. 174.. Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 170. 
 h Bouille's Memoirs, p. 277. * Idem, p. 275, 
 
 k Idem, p. 277. 
 
 " leader
 
 Ij8 MIR ABE AIT. 
 
 u leader of a party. La Fayette, on the contrary, 
 " was an enthufiaft, and intoxicated with felf-love ; 
 < whofe price could neither be known or reached ; 
 " a defcription of men at all times dangerous, but 
 tf particularly fo during a revolution '." 
 Mir?.. The plan which Mirabeau propofed to adopt for 
 
 beau** reftoring the king to liberty and political import- 
 ** ' ance, and the means and resources he poflefled for 
 putting it in execution, are thus faithfully difplayed 
 by the fame candid and judicious author : " The 
 " intention of Mirabeau was to procure the diflb- 
 " lution of the aflembly and the liberty of the king, 
 " by the force and will of the nation itfelf ; efta- 
 " blifhing this principle, that the reprefentatives of 
 " the people at this aflembly were not poffefled of 
 " the powers neceflary to make a change in the an- 
 " cient conftitution, fuch a meafure being contrary 
 " to the instructions given by all the provinces to 
 ** the deputies fent by them to the Hates-general, 
 " which inftructions had neither been altered nor 
 " revoked ; and that the king, being deprived of 
 " his perfonal liberty, could not inveft with his 
 " authority the new laws that had been enacted. 
 " The validity of this objection being admitted, he 
 " then intended to procure addrefies from the dif- 
 " ferent departments, praying thac the prefent af- 
 " fembly might be diflblved ; a new one convoked, 
 " with the powers requifite for making fuch alter- 
 " ations in the conftitution as mould appear necef- 
 " fary ; and that the king mould be reftored to his 
 " liberty, and the enjoyment of a reafonable au- 
 " thority. Thefe addrefles were to be fupported 
 " by the people of Paris, whom Mirabeau feemed 
 " to think at his difpofal, when he mould have re- 
 *' moved ibme of the leading men of the Jacobin 
 *' faction, whom he had already denounced to the 
 " aflembly. Mirabeau reckoned fix-and-thirty de- 
 
 1 Bouillc's Memoiis, p. 281. 
 
 " partments
 
 MIR ABE AU. 
 
 " partments whofe conduct he could direct, and I 
 " myfelf could depend upon fix ; befides, as I have 
 " already obferved, there was hardly a department 
 " in the kingdom which was not well affected to 
 " the royal caufe. Mirabeau was further to deliver 
 " to me the king and royal family either at Com- 
 * e peigne or at Fontainbleau, where I mould have 
 " furrounded them with my bed troops m ." In 
 this whole plan there was no violence meditated 
 either againft the aflembly or individuals ; the 
 people were to be reforted to that they might re- 
 medy the evils which an ufurping body had com- 
 mitted in their name. Nor could it with propriety 
 be termed a counter-revolution, but merely a cor- 
 rective meafure, tending to reftrain the vices and 
 defects which had originated in raftmefs, violence, 
 and ignorance. A new aflembly, duly elected and 
 authorized ^for the purpofe, could have framed a 
 conflitution with greater probability of fuccefs than 
 that which already exifted. Obtaining their autho- 
 rity without a ftruggle, they would have proceeded 
 to bufmefs without rancour, and inftead of deftroy- 
 ing every thing without referve, they would have 
 endeavoured to combine exifting laws and eftablifh- 
 ments with fuch reforms as the difpofition of the 
 people and the neceffity of the times fuggefted. 
 Enlightened by the experience of their predecefTors, 
 they would have avoided their faults ; while from a 
 contemplation of the danger into which the king- 
 dom had been plunged by precipitation, jealoufy, 
 and party-fpirit, they would have learned modera- 
 tion, forbearance, and mutual confidence. Thus 
 the firft national aflembly would not have exifted in 
 Vain, and the few principled members of it who fur- 
 vive the wreck of the times would not be under the 
 neceffity of lamenting that they have been uninten- 
 tionally acceflary to the deftruftion of their fove- 
 
 m Bouillc's Memoiis, p 378. 
 
 VOL. ir. E reign,
 
 , 3 o MIR ABE A U. 
 
 reign, the extirpation of religion, the enflaving of 
 their country, and the conflagration of Europe. 
 His exer- Mirabeau applied the whole force of his genius 
 tlons> and all the energy of his indefatigable mind to give 
 effecl: to this new plan, in the refult of which he ex- 
 pe&ed to be prime minifter. He ufed all his efforts 
 to difunite the prevailing factions, and make them 
 jealous of and odious to each other. He had at- 
 tached to himfelf the Lameths, Barnave his former 
 rival in eloquence, and Duport n . There is reafon 
 to fuppofe that Mirabeau alfo made fome attempts 
 to conciliate la Fayette ; this might be dictated 
 either by hope or fear ; there was reafon to appre- 
 hend that the general had by fome means obtained 
 a knowledge of the project, and had, at his own de- 
 fire, had a conference of three hours with Mirabeau, 
 at the houfe of Emery, deputy for Metz, who was a 
 confidant of la Fayette . From the union of two 
 fuch men, had it been poffible, the greateft advan- 
 tages might have been derived ; but la Fayette, li- 
 mited in his talents though unbounded in his ambi- 
 tion and vanity, could not have borne the near ap- 
 proach of a mind fo much his fuperior, or have con- 
 fented to embrace fo grand a plan, from the execu- 
 tion of which hypocrify, petty intrigue, and trivial 
 manoeuvre muft have been banifhed. To ftrengthen 
 his own party was among Mirabeau's greateft efforts. 
 He was defirous of forming a connection with per- 
 fons of talents, and of employing them in fuch a 
 manner as to give effecl: and vigour to a new fyftem 
 and a new adminiftration. Among others fo applied 
 to was Dumouriez, who undertook the embaffy to 
 Pruflia, and feems to have entered cordially into 
 Mirabeau's imerefts. Mirabeau alfo made due pre- 
 parations to fecure the approbation of foreign courts, 
 and proper advances to minifters : even count Hertz- 
 
 Apologie des Projets, &c. p. 191. 
 Bouille's Memoirs, p. 8i. 197. 
 
 berg,
 
 MIR ABE AU. 131 
 
 berg, the Pruffian minifter, though Mirabeau hated 
 him, was complimented with numerous confult- 
 ations p . 
 
 During thefe tranfactions, Mirabeau was not in- in the 
 attentive to his duties in the aflembly, where the de- aflcmbl y- 
 bates generally turned on fome articles of the con- 
 ftitution, in which he interefted himfelf in propor- 
 tion to their magnitude, but avoided a mode of 
 conduct fo decifive as to alarm the one, or injure 
 the other party. He was elected one of the admi- 
 niflratbrs of the department of Paris, which gave 
 him a right to command the municipality, and drew 
 up a proclamation, in which he ftrongly recommended 
 obedience to the law, and fubmiffion to authority q . 
 He was elevated to the prefident's chair, which he *9 t ' 1 Jan- 
 filled with dignity and moderation. He diftinguifhed ioth Feb. 
 his prefidency by the anfwer he gave to a deputation 
 of quakers, who required permiffion to abftain from 
 military duty, as it was repugnant to their religious 
 tenets. Mirabeau's anfwer is one of thofe fpecimens 
 of fubtilty which rarely occur : it refufes the requelt 
 of the petitioners, without leaving them reafon to 
 complain, or the power of renewing their fuppli- 
 cation; and invalidates the reafoning of the peti- 
 tion, without throwing difgrace or blame on the 
 petitioners r . The laft words pronounced by Mira- 
 beau in the tribune were thefe : " I will oppofe 
 *' the factious ; I will combat them, of whatever 
 " party or on whatever fide they may be s ." 
 
 Converfing with Dumouriez on affairs pf the Hisfuddca 
 utmoft importance, the character of count Hertz- dcath< 
 berg became the fubject of difcuflion. " This old 
 
 P Life of Dumouriez, vol. ii. p. 115. Among Mirabeau's motives 
 for difliking count Hertzberg, may he reckoned the pride of author* 
 (hip. The count had produced a criticifm on the Hiftoire de la 
 Monarchic Pruflienne which highly offended Mirabeau. 
 a Mauvillon, p. 450. 515. 
 
 1 Hiitoiical Sketch, p. 313. 
 
 r Debates. Talma's Chronology. 
 
 Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. /i. 
 
 K 2
 
 , 34 MIR ABE AU. 
 
 " fox (faid Mirabeau) is furrounded by a chaplet 
 <s of obft ructions, and attacked at the fame time by 
 " at leaft five or fix maladies, all of which are moiw 
 " tal ; and^^ret he is continually broaching new 
 " projects, as if he were to live a hundred years ; 
 " while in fact one of the fatal fitters has her fciflars 
 " ready to cut the thread that holds fufpended over 
 
 ad April. his head the fword of Damocles." In four days 
 Mirabeau himfelf was no more l ! ' ^ 
 
 30th Mar. When his illriefs was announced,. all Paris was in 
 confternation and alarm : his door was crowded 
 with inquirers, and the king himfelf fent for in- 
 formation of the ftate of his health. He fuffered the 
 acutelt pains without betraying any unmanly fymp- 
 toms of alarm or anguifh. He converfed with his 
 friends, and delivered to Talleyrand Perigord a 
 fpeech which he had compofed on the law then agi- 
 tated in the afiembly refpecting teftamentary devifes. 
 " It will be a remarkable circumftance (he faid) 
 " that the man who offers them this, his laft tri- 
 " bute, prepared it immediately after making his 
 " own will u ." He appeared to feel fome regret at 
 quitting life, juft when he was about to have com- 
 menced an ufeful and truly glorious career; and 
 he predicted, that with him the French monarchy 
 would expire x . 
 
 The fuppofed caufe of Mirabeau's death was a 
 gathering occafioned by the floppage of an iflue : 
 his heart was dried up, and a mortification had 
 taken place in his inteftines. Such was the proces 
 verbal publifhed by the furgeons who opened him y . 
 The people of Paris fufpected that the days of their 
 favourite had been ihortened by poifon. All au- 
 thors who have written on Mirabeau's death have 
 mentioned this fuppofition with different degrees of 
 
 1 Life of Dumouriet, vol. ii. p. 119. 
 
 u Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. *7i. 
 
 * Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 470. 
 
 > Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVJ. vol. vi. p. 7J. 
 
 acquiefcence
 
 M I R A B E A IT. 133 
 
 acquicfcence or difbelief. I am of opinion that the 
 fa&, fo far as it can be decided by probability, ap- 
 pears almoft certain. The critical period at which 
 Mirabeau was carried off ; the laft words he uttered 
 in the tribune, fo well calculated to ftrike terror 
 and infufe defperate refolutions in the party he had 
 relinquifhed, naturally gave birth to fufpicion : the 
 extent of the project in which he was embarked im- 
 plied a neceflity for a diffufe confidence, and Or- 
 leans, who had his fpies and agents every where, 
 could not fail of obtaining information, if not of the 
 whole circumftances, at lead of the leading features 
 of a plan which threatened entire definition to all 
 thofe fchemes of ambition and revenge, in purfuit 
 of which he had ruined his fortune, and expofed 
 himfelf to every danger. No man was fo likely as 
 Orleans to effect the death of a dangerous opponent 
 by violence of any kind, but in the prefent cafe poi- 
 fon was the mofl eafy and effectual method. I am 
 not qualified to difcufs chirurgically or medically 
 the probability of the caufe which was fuppofed to 
 have occafioned Mirabeau's death operating by fuch 
 means as an acute excruciating agony, terminating 
 an illnefs of three days by paralytical affections, and 
 an incapacity to fpeak, though the power of writing 
 remained till almoft his laft moment z . The fufpi- 
 cions of the people were appeafed by the report of 
 the furgeons who opened the bodyj but the reports 
 of furgeons are not always true, and the circum- 
 ftances on this occafion affonled juft ground for 
 continued fufpicion. Sixty furgeons trere chofen 
 from the different fections of Paris to attend on the 
 occafion ; few of them, as they afterwards con- 
 fefied, approached the body fo as to examine it mi- 
 nutely ; and there was a mob of above one hun- 
 dred thoufand perfons collected, vowing vengeance 
 if it mould be difcovered that Mirabeau's days had 
 
 * Anecdote* du Regne de Louii XVI. vol. vi. p. 47*. 
 
 K 3 been
 
 , 34 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 been abridged by treachery. Uncertain againfl 
 whom the popular violence might be directed, it is 
 not wonderful if thefe furgeons made a report contrary 
 to their conviction, and fupprefled fymptoms which 
 might have led to doubts, if not certainties of the 
 fact a . But even fuppofing the furgeons to have 
 declared faithfully the refult of their experiment, 
 it feems that diifection does not always afford deci- 
 five proof on the fubject , and fufpiciou, ftrongly 
 founded on the political crifis at which he died, is 
 left to point out as her objects thofe whofe confe- 
 quence would be diminimed, and whofe fchemes 
 would be thwarted by his newly-adopted politics b . 
 His death, however, was the greateft political mif- 
 fortune that could have occurred to France. The 
 afiembly immediately loft its fmall (hare of refpect- 
 ability, the proceedings of the clubs aflumed an 
 unexampled audacity, and a multitude of crawling 
 reptiles became confpicuous and noxious, whom 
 the blaze of Mirabeau's genius would at pleafuie 
 have driven back to the caves of ignominy and pb- 
 fcurity. 
 
 Funeral When Mitabeau's death was publicly known, 
 humps' a g enera ^ regret was teftified by all ranks of 
 honours, people. The theatres were (hut, the fleets lowered 
 their topfails, and every thing wore the appearance 
 of public calamity. M. Comps, his fecretary, was 
 fo affected that he attempted to flab himfelf with a 
 penknife, but was faved. The news occafioned in 
 the national aflembl)fra general exclamation of grief. 
 It \vas immediately decreed, that the members mould 
 go into mourning ; the members of the department, 
 and of the municipality of Paris, followed their 
 example ; and it fpread all over France. In a few 
 hours after his death, the people changed the name 
 pf the ftreet where he had refided, from Rue de la 
 
 * Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 196.11. 
 b Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p. 400. 
 
 Chau/ie
 
 M I R A B E A U. 135 
 
 Chatiffee d^Antln^ to Rue de Mirabeau. After much 
 deliberation, and propofals to bury him at Saint 
 Denis in company with the- kings of France, and in 
 the Champ de Mars under the national altar, it was 
 decreed that the church of Saint Genevieve fhould 
 be a receptacle for the remains of illuftrious men, 
 and that Mirabeau mould firft have the honour of 
 being placed there. It was decreed that the whole 
 national affembly mould attend his funeral. The 
 retinue extended to the length of a league, though 
 the national guard formed a front of fixteen deep. 
 All the civil and military bodies attended, as did the 
 king's minifters. His coffin, inflead of a marquis's 
 coronet, which his rank would have required before 
 the abolition of nobility, was adorned with a civic 
 crown decreed by the country. No found was 
 heard, fave muffled drums, melancholy martial mu- 
 fic, and occafional difcharges of artillery. His 
 funeral oration, a fplendid compofition, was deli- 
 vered by Cerutti. The buft of Mirabeau was 
 placed in the halls of mod of the municipalities and 
 political clubs throughout the kingdom. In many 
 provincial towns and cities, as Bourdeaux, Verfailles, 
 Bayeux, and Bagneux, funeral fervices were cele- 
 brated to his memory. At Bagneux the concourfe 
 of people was fo great, that feveral of the neigh- 
 bouring villages were abfolutely ftripped of their in- 
 habitants ; in the town only feven infirm perfons 
 were left at home, and that (fays my author) only 
 becaufe they could get nobody to carry them . 
 At Lefneven, near Brefl, an image of Mirabeau was 
 cut in wood, and placed on a pedeftal in a public 
 fquare, for inauguration : there was a civic feaft; 
 the Marfeillois hymn was chanted, and, at a given 
 word, the people, the municipal officers, the juftices 
 of peace, and the national guards, fell proflrate, 
 
 c Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 473 to 279. 
 Hiftories. 
 
 K 4 and,
 
 MIR A BEAU. 
 
 and, with a new kind of idolatry, paid their homage 
 to Mirabeau d . Funeral orations and poems of 
 every defcription were publifhed in abundance ; 
 more than one collection was made of his fpeeches e ; 
 Manuel fraudulently publiflied his letters written 
 while in the caftle of Vincennes ; and his letters 
 to Mauvillon and Chamfort have fince been com- 
 mitted to the prefs. 
 
 Mirabeau made a will, in which he left feveral 
 C0n fiderable bequefts, yet he died infolvent. It is 
 probable that his effects were immediately diftri- 
 buted, and his collection of books, &c. never fold. 
 Some of his creditors endeavoured to pofiefs them* 
 felves of the letters which Manuel had printed and 
 was about to publifh f , but were at length obliged to 
 apply to the legiflative aflembly, which, after feveral 
 debates, decreed that his debts mould be paid by the 
 public g . 
 
 nth Aug. A fhort period fubverted the fragil edifice of 
 FoihuV Mirabeau's popularity. As a friend to monarchy 
 mous in- he firft encountered the fury of the mob. After 
 mits. fhe forming of the Tuilleries, his bufts were de- 
 voted to deftruclion, together with thofe of la Fay- 
 Sept.j7 9 . ette an d Necker h . As the principles of republic* 
 anifm were more generally adopted, the refpeft for 
 Mirabeau decreafed, the ftreet named after him was, 
 when general Montefquiou had over-run Savoy, 
 new named Rue de Mont Blanc 1 . In the cele- 
 brated iron clofet feveral papers were found, or 
 pretended to have been found, certifying Mirabeau's 
 connexion with the court. They were produced at 
 
 A BarruePs Hiflory of the Clergy, Part II. p. 47. 
 
 e The only means an Englifti reader, unacquainted with the French 
 language, can have of eftimating Mir:ibeau's eloquence, are fuppHed 
 by an admirable translation of his Speeches, made by James White, 
 Efquire. 
 
 f See MANUEL. 
 
 See Debates a^th and 7 th Oftober, and }d November 1791, and 
 lath January 1791. 
 
 h Impartial Hillory, vol.ii. p. TIJ. 
 
 ' Peltier's late Picture of Paris, vol. ii. p. ij6. 
 
 the
 
 M I R A B E A U. 137 
 
 the king's trial, and denied by him, and there are 
 ftrong reafons, from internal evidence, to confider 
 them forgeries, though the facts inferred happened 
 to be true. When the rage of republicanifm was *s th Nor. 
 at its greatefl height, Chenier the poet, in the name X793 * 
 of the committee of public inftruction, prefented a 
 report to the convention, in which thefe letters were 
 recited. It formed the bafis of a decree that the 
 remains of Mirabeau mould be taken from the 
 Pantheon, and thofe of Marat placed there in his 
 ftead k . The execution of this abfurd decree (ab 
 furd as to the latter part at leaft) is not to be re- 
 corded amongft the difgraces of the age of terror, 
 it was referved to fligmatize the pretended age of 
 moderation. It was not carried into effect till fome 
 months after the fall cf Robefpierre '. 
 
 Mirabeau's features were harm, and his perfon Perfon and 
 dumfy. His head, which was uncommonly large, manneru 
 feemed to be wedged in between his enormous 
 moulders, and his body and limbs formed a thick 
 unfhaped mafs. Yet when he applied his talents to 
 feduction, he was more fuccefsful than many others, 
 \vhofe perfonal attractions feem much greater 10 . 
 After the fads contained in the preceding narrative, 
 it is unneceflary to dfcant on his character as fon 
 and hufband. He is faid to have been extremely 
 choleric, and even brutal in the regulation of his 
 family, frequently defcending to the cowardly 
 meannefs of (hiking his own fervants n . As an Talent* 
 author he derived much of his fuccefs from his art *J an au * 
 in always writing on the topic which created the * ' 
 greateft mare of momentary intereft. He was not 
 diligent in the felection of materials, frequently re- 
 lying on the labours of his friends, as Mauvillon and 
 Chamfort, and often adopting without referve as 
 
 k Debates. Pages, vol. i. p. 384., 
 1 Mifs Williams's Letters in 1794., vol.iv. p. TO. 
 Moore's View, vol. ii. p. *ti. Pages, vol. i. p. 389. Conjura- 
 tion de d'Orlcans, vol. i. p. 2x3. 
 
 r Conjuration de d'Oj leans, vol. i. p. 214. 
 
 much
 
 , 3 5 M I R A B E A U. 
 
 much as fuited his fubjeft, from the works of other 
 authors, either ancient or cotemporary . What 
 he received and what he felecled he made his own 
 by the force of his genius, the propriety of his ar- 
 rangement, the beauties of his ftyle, and the ele- 
 gance of his ornaments. He had an exalted opinion 
 of his own abilities, relied on the favourable judg- 
 ment of potter ity, and difdained his cotemporaries. 
 " No bankruptcy," he fays in a letter to Mau- 
 villon, " is the production of Meffrs. Claviere and 
 " Briflbt de Warville. Your German critics mufl 
 * be miferable tatters, to miftake the brewings of 
 Asanora- thefe gentry for my wine p ." His voice was 
 forcible, loud, and commanding, except when he 
 was agitated by paffion, then it occafionally afiumed 
 the depth and compafs of Stentor, and fometimes by 
 a fudden tranfition was brought to refemble the 
 treble firing of a violin fqueaking under the bow q . 
 He had great rhetorical talents, and could employ 
 them on fudden emergencies, and in all directions. 
 This, in popular aflemblies, rendered him almott ir- 
 refiftible. He never defpaired of turning the de- 
 bate. His victories were always fplendid, his 
 defeats never ignominious. He never appeared 
 vanquifhed, and no man could affume a triumph 
 over him. His talents for repartee, joined to his 
 powers of reafoning, enabled him with equal faci- 
 lity to difconcert his opponents with farcafm, or 
 refute them by force of argument, while the great- 
 nefs of his abilities and his fudden command of 
 them enabled him, if any of his co-adjutors ap- 
 proached him, fo as to be thought competitors, by 
 a little effort to throw them back to their original and 
 1 '" natura ^ diftance r . To appreciate Mirabeau as a 
 
 * See a remarkable inftance in Wilde's Addrefs to the Friends of 
 the People, p. 115. 
 
 P Lettres a Mauvillon, p. 440. 
 
 S Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. i. p. 213. 
 
 * Wilde's Addrefs, p. 104.. 106. Moore's View, vol. ii. p. an. 
 
 3 politician,
 
 MIR ABE AIT. 
 
 politician, it will be more proper to furvey the end 
 than the earlier part of his career. In his ftruggle 
 for power, he difgraced himfelf by many violences 
 and exceiles, for which a prifon or a fcaffold would 
 have been the deferved punifhment. When he had 
 attained the object of his ambition, when wealth, 
 refpecl, and nobility s became his own, he was 
 defirous to tread back the fteps he had taken, and 
 to eftablifh a more fplendid reputation, as well as a 
 more permanent authority. Awake from the dream 
 of popular frenzy and recovered from the delufions 
 of illuminifm, he might have rendered the moft 
 confpicuous and efTential fervices to his country, and 
 to the world. From his deceafe we may date the 
 rapid declenfion of royalty, and the audacious dif* 
 play of diforganizing politics purfued by the de- 
 magogues of France. 
 
 * Mirabeau was not friendly to the decree for abolishing titles, armq* 
 rial bearings, &c. He thus exprefles himfelf: * It is the moft diffi- 
 cult of all undertakings, toerafe from the human heart the influence 
 f ot recollections. True nobility is, for this reafon, a property, no 
 " lefs indeftruclible than facred. Forms may vary, but the worfliip 
 ' will ever continue. Let every man be equal in the eye of the law, 
 " let every monopoly difappear, all elfe is but changing the object ejf 
 human vanity." Lettres i Mauvillon, p, 519.
 
 140 
 
 J A QJJ E S NECKER. 
 
 A s Necker is generally confidered one of the 
 ** principal authors of the French revolution, his 
 conduct and views have been examined and criticifed 
 with fmgular afperity. On one hand, thofe who 
 have fuffered by the revolution, and attribute to him 
 all the evils they complain of, are inceflant and 
 intemperate in their reproaches ; while thofe who 
 think his reforms too much reftri&ed, and his 
 views in many refpefts too confined, and often 
 perfonal, are no lefs inveterately his enemies j but, 
 on the other hand, Necker priding himfelf in 
 his integrity, and pofieffing a ftyle fufficiently elo- 
 quent, and much improved by habit, has defended 
 his conduct in many works, equivalent in them 
 felves to the efforts of thofe partifans whom intereft 
 or affeftion might have attached to him. 
 173*' Necker was born at Geneva; his father was 
 fa'ti'on^nd P ro f e ff or f "^1 * aw m tne college there ' ; he re- 
 omfet In ceivcd an education much fuperior to that generally 
 life. given to men intended for bufmefs u ; but the nar- 
 rownefs of his circumflances obliging him to feek 
 fome means of gaining a fubfiftence more pro- 
 mifmg than the walks of literature, he became 
 clerk to a banker at Geneva, at a falary of fix 
 1 75*. hundred livres (267. 5*.) a-year x . While he was 
 . to in this fituation, Theluffon, the banker at Paris, 
 
 ' Hiftoire Literaire de Geneve, par Jean Senebier, vol. iii. p. 90. 
 94. Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. v. p. 142. 
 Moore's View, vol.i. p. 97. Anecdotes, &c. 
 Moore't View. Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 145, 
 
 wrote
 
 N E C K E R. 141 
 
 wrote to his correfpondent at Geneva to find him 
 a clerk to keep his cafh-books ; and this corre- 
 fpondent, who happened to be Necker's employer, 
 recommended him r . He was retained at a falary 
 of one thoufand two hundred livres (52 /. los.) 
 and gave fuch fatisfa&ion by his afliduity and in- Great fuc. 
 telligence, that his emoluments were rapidly raifed, cefs * 
 and he was foon made cafhier z . 
 
 In this fituation he has been accufed of fpeculating 
 with the money of his employers % and reproached 
 with having raifed his fortune by means far lefs 
 honourable b ; but as no proof of thefe afiertions 
 has ever been brought forward, I rather incline to 
 the decifion of an accurate obferver, who fays, that 
 " his greatefl enemies have not been able to injure 
 " his reputation for probity ." The embarraflment of 
 the finances of France, under the adminiftration of the 
 abbe Terray, afforded him the means of advantageous 
 fpeculation ; and his employers, confcious of his faga- 
 city and of the benefits they derived from his intelli- 
 gence, admitted him partner d . He made a very 
 large and rapid fortune by thefe fpeculations, and 
 by his interference in the affairs of the Eaft-India 
 company, an interference equally fatisfa&ory to the 
 company and the public, and extremely profitable 
 to himfelf. Yet it has been afferted, that he im- 
 pofed on the company by falfe pretences, and facri- 
 ficed their advantage to his own cupidity . 
 
 / Bertrand's Memoirs. The author of Anecdotes du Regne de 
 Louis XVI. gives a different account of Necker's introduction to 
 Theluffon : he fays, that immediately on finifhing his education, 
 Necker came to Paris, and was employed by Ifaac Vernet } that he 
 was fuddenly difmifled from his houfe, and offered his fervices to 
 ThelufTon, who was the rival of Vernet's fucceflbr, Saladin, and re- 
 ceived him with no other recommendation than his having been em- 
 ployed by Vernet, and a few falfe pretences, vol.v. p. i4z. 
 
 * Bertrand's Memoirs. Anecdotes, &c. Ibid. 
 b See Anecdotes, &c. vol.v. p. 144. 
 
 c Moore's View, vol. i. p. 146. 
 
 * Bertrand'a Memoirs. Anecdotes, &c. c Ibid. 
 
 While
 
 i 4 i N C K E R. 
 
 Marries. While he was partner in the houfe of Theluflbri, 
 he made his addrefles to a young lady living with 
 madame Theluffon as companion, whofe name was 
 Sufanna Curchod. This lady had previoufly ex- 
 cited amorous fenfations in the bofom of Gibbon 
 the hiftorian, which the repugnance of his father to 
 the match, 4 and his own prudence, enabled him to 
 conquer : he fpeaks of her with the warmth of a 
 lover, and with that eloquence for which he is fo 
 much celebrated. " The perfonal attractions of 
 " mademoifelle Sufan Curchod were embellimed by 
 " the virtues and talents of the mind. Her fortune 
 " was humble, but her family was refpectable. Her 
 " mother, a native of France, had preferred her 
 " religion to her country. The profeffion of her 
 " father did not extinguifh the moderation and phi- 
 " lofophy of his temper, and he lived content with 
 " a fmall falary and laborious duty, in the obfcure 
 " lot of miniiter of CrafTy, in the mountains that 
 " feparate the Pays de Vaud from the county of 
 " Burgundy. In the folitude of a fequeflered vil- 
 " lage he bellowed a liberal and even learned 
 " education on his only daughter. She furpafled 
 " his hopes by her proficiency in the fciences and 
 " languages ; and in her fhort vifits to fome re- 
 " lations at Laufanne, the wit, the beauty, and 
 " erudition of mademoifelle Curchod were the theme 
 " of univerfal applaufe. The report of fuch a 
 " prodigy awakened my curiofity ; I faw and loved. 
 " I found her learned without pedantry, witty in 
 " converfation, pure in fentimenr, and elegant in 
 " manners ; and the firft fudden emotion was 
 " fortified by the habits and knowledge of a more 
 " familiar acquaintance. * * * * The minifter of 
 " Craffy foon afterwards died; his ftipend died 
 l< with him ; his daughter retired to Geneva, where, 
 IC by teaching young ladies, me earned a hard fub- 
 1 fittence for herfelf and her mother j but in her 
 " loweft diftrefs (he maintained a fpotlefs reputation 
 
 " and
 
 N E C K E R. 143 
 
 " 3hd a dignified behaviour. A rich banker of Paris, 
 " a citizen of Geneva, had the good fortune and 
 " good fenfe to difcover and pofiefs this ineftimable 
 *' treafure ; and in the capital of tafte and luxury 
 " fhe refifted the temptations of wealth as Ihe had 
 " fuflained the hardships of indigence. # # * # In 
 " every change of profperity and difgrace he has 
 " reclined on the bofom of a faithful friend ; and 
 " mademoifelle Curchod is now the wife of M. 
 << Necker, the minifter, and, perhaps, the legiflator 
 " of the French monarchy V 
 
 On Necker's marriage, his mare in the bank was 
 increafed ; and, on Theiuflbn's death, he eftabliflied 17*5- 
 a houfe of his own, taking into partnerlhip with him 
 MeiT. Girardot and Haller K . The rapidity of his rife, 
 and the extent of his eftablifhment, put it out of 
 doubt that he muft have been more indebted to the 
 myfteries of flock-jobbing, than to the regular courfe 
 of the banking bufmefs for his fortune. 
 
 His reputation for financial knowledge, aided by Made di- 
 a favourable impreffion he had made in fome literary !- eaor of 
 
 j <-v r i- i -11 nuances. 
 
 productions, was fuch, that at the period when 
 France was about to embark in the American con- July 1776. 
 left, he was pointed out by M. de Pezay, who had 
 great influence with the minifter Maurepas, as a 
 proper perfon to fucceed M. de Clugny, recently 
 deceafed, as director of the finances' 1 . It is faid 
 by feveral writers, that he owed his appointment to 
 an intrigue amongft the bankers of Paris, who 
 wifhed to avail themfelves of his communications 
 during the war, and to his own urgency and per- 
 feverance with M. de Pezay, who engaged M. de 
 Maurepas in his interefts fo effectually, as at laft to 
 vanquifti every obftacle '. Necker was the firfl 
 
 f Gibbon's Mifcellaneous Works, vol. i. p. 73. 
 g Anecdotes, &c. 
 
 h Moore's View. Anecdotes, &c. vol. v. p. 133. 
 1 Anecdotes, &c. Bertrand's Memoirs. Playfah's Hiftory of 
 Jacobinifm, p. 68. 
 
 proteftant
 
 ,44 N E G It E ft. 
 
 proteftant who, fmce the revocation of the edict of 
 Nantz, had held any important place in the admi- 
 niftration of France k ; and fome extraordinary cir- 
 cumftances mufl be fuppofed to have contributed 
 to his elevation. He himfelf attributes it wholly to 
 the deranged ftate of the finances, and the decline 
 of public fpirit ' ; but it is not impoflible that it was 
 favoured by the intrigues alluded to ; and perhaps 
 by a little bribery, which was known to be a fure 
 paflport to the favour of M. de Pezay m . 
 ComptroU But whatever might be expected from Necker's 
 ler general ta ] ents ^j exertions, he had not at firft accefs to 
 the king, a circumftance which impeded his de- 
 figns and hurt his pride, but which he contrived to 
 furmount by creating a financial difpute between 
 M. Taboureau, the comptroller-general of finances, 
 and himfelf, which occafioned that minifter to retire 
 July 1777. in difguft, and Necker obtained his fituation n . 
 Even when he had immediate communication with 
 the king, he found great difficulty in effecting the 
 reforms he defired; he had many prejudices to fur- 
 mount, and many difcordant interefts to reconcile; 
 fo many, that even late in life he mentions the 
 difficulties of his fituation with fome feeling and 
 more vanity. " I ftill remember," he fays , " that 
 " high dark flaircafe to M. de Maurepas* apart- 
 " ments, which I ufed to afcend with fear and de- 
 " jedion, uncertain how a new idea might fucceed 
 " with him, which occupied all my attention, and 
 " which often tended to produce an increafe of the 
 " revenue by fome juft but fevere operation. I ftill 
 " remember that cabinet, placed under the roof of 
 
 k Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p 14. 
 
 1 Sur PAdminillration de M. Necker, par lui meme, p. 8. 
 
 m Moore's View. M. de Pezay is faid to have been only a/w Jifat* 
 marquis } but having fortunately obtained an introduction to M. de 
 Maurepas, he acquired an entire afcendancy ovtr him. Anecdote*, 
 Sic. vol. v. p. 161. 
 
 n Moore's View. Bertrand's Mtmolrs. Anecdotes, &c. 
 
 Sur 1'Adminiftration de M. Necker, p. ij. 
 
 " the
 
 tf E K E R. I 45 
 
 " the palace of Verfailles, but above the king's 
 " apartments, and which, by its fmallnefs and fitu- 
 " ation, really feemed the eflence (and a very re- 
 <c fined efience too) of human vanity and ambition. 
 " There was I obliged to difcourfe on reform and 
 " economy to a minifter grown old in the pomps 
 <e and formalities of a court. I remember the ad- 
 " drefs I was obliged to ufe to fucceed, and how$ 
 " after many repulfes, I fometimes obtained a little 
 " attention to the public, as a recompence for the 
 <e refources I' found in the midft of war. I ftill re- 
 " member the kind of bafhfulnefs I felt when I in- 
 " troduced, in the difcourfes I ventured to addrefs 
 . " to him, fome of thofe grand moral ideas with 
 " which I was animated. I then appeared as gothid 
 ** to this old courtier as Sully did to the young ones$ 
 " when he appeared at the court of Louis XIII.'* 
 
 The date of the finances was at this period very Plans of 
 much deranged, though not fo much as to gain ere- econom J r 
 dit for the aflertion of Rabaud, that a peaceable 
 adminiftration of fifty years, without wars and 
 without wants, would have been infufficient to effect 
 a remedy of diforders p . Necker, however, not- 
 xvithftanding the confidence of his boafts, difplayed 
 no genius capable of producing any great national 
 advantage* The principal acl: \tfhich diftinguiflied 
 his adminiftration was the fuppreflion of the inten* 
 dans des finances. It is of little import at prefent 
 to difcufs the poflible utility of thefe officers J but 
 their fuppreflion was certainly no great national be* 
 nefit, as the price of their places was refunded to 
 them, and the intereft of the money was nearly 
 equivalent to their falaries, befides the inconvenience 
 of difburfmg the capital. Thefe places were filled 
 by old and diftinguimed members of the king's 
 council, and the fuppreflion could only dimmim the 
 ; nfluence of the crown., without producing any real 
 
 P Rabaud's Hiftory f the Revolution, p. 34. 
 
 VOL. ii. L benefit
 
 I4 6 N E C K E R. 
 
 Mode of benefit to the nation q . The American war, fo con- 
 trary in every refpect to the true interefts of France, 
 had commenced at this period ; and Necker under- 
 took to carry it on without laying any new imports. 
 This he was enabled nominally to perform by means 
 of his credit amongft the- monied people, and per- 
 haps by the exorbitant facrifices he made to them, 
 at the public expence. His fyftem was the moft 
 abfurd and puerile ever invented; he borrowed 
 money for the exigences of one year, and the next 
 borrowed another fum fufficient for the expences of 
 the current year and the intereft of the year or 
 years preceding ; relying, for a final liquidation, 
 on the precarious refource of an untried, and per- 
 haps impracticable economy. By thefe means he 
 maintained a forced and artificial credit, but fet the 
 example of thofe improvident loans which occa- 
 fioned the final ftagnation of the finances r . In the 
 courfe of his adminiflration, he borrowed in this 
 way five hundred and thirty millions (23,187,5007.), 
 on terms extremely advantageous to the lenders ; 
 and fubfequent minifters, in the fpace of ten years, 
 increafed the -fum to upwards of fifteen hundred 
 millions (65,625,0007.), for which no provifion 
 was made *. 
 
 A/pines to The improvident character of the French, and 
 
 the win- t ^ le trmm P n f Necker's partifans, prevented the 
 
 ol. public from fpeculating too minutely on the confe- 
 
 quences of this fyftem. His popularity increafed, 
 
 and with it his vanity ; he was no longer contented 
 
 with the fituation of comptroller-general of the 
 
 finances, unlefs he could be admitted to a feat in 
 
 the privy council, for which his religion difqualified 
 
 him. He made application to M. de Maurepas on 
 
 1 Moort's Vifw. Bertrand's Memoirs. Anecdotes, &c. 
 
 ' Impartial Hiltory, vol. i. p. 17. Hiftorical Sketch of the French 
 Revolution, p. 31. Hiftorical Effay on the Ambition and Conquelts of 
 Trance, p. 109. 
 
 Awcdotei, fcc. Expofition, &c. par Arthur Dillon, p* 4. 
 
 the
 
 
 N E C K E R. 147 
 
 the fubject ; but the old minifter, wiming perhaps 
 to get rid of him quietly, and make him the author 
 of his own difgrace, advifed him to write a letter 
 to the king, requefling a feat, and a difpenfation 
 with the cuflomary oath. Necker wrote accord- Mnyi 7 gi. 
 ingly ; and not receiving any anfwer for two days, Refi S n8 - 
 was fo irritated that he waited on the queen and 
 offered his refignation, which, to his great mortifi- 
 cation, was inftantly accepted. This event is attri- 
 buted, not without fome appearance of probability, 
 to the refentment of the parliaments, arifmg from 
 the eftablimment of provincial adminiftrations, and 
 the diilike conceived againft him by the queen and 
 the count d'Artois r . 
 
 Some time previous to his refignation, Necker Jan.i 7 8i. 
 had publifhed his Compte rendu. This method of E5J* 
 fubmitting the views of government and operations rendu. 
 of finance to the judgment of the public, was not 
 new : Turgot u had fet the example, and other mi- 
 nifters before Necker had followed it. His book 
 however was written with more art, and had a 
 greater effect on the public mind, as it was long 
 confidered and quoted as the only work which 
 placed the affairs of France in a clear light, and 
 gave occafion to Necker's partifans to hold him 
 out, long after his retreat, as the only man capable 
 of reftoring order, and re-eftabliming public credit. 
 Popular opinion was, for fome time after the pub- 
 lication, divided ; but it is now generally treated as 
 a fplendid delufion *. 
 
 Necker's 
 
 * Bertrand's Memoirs. Moore's Vtevr. Hiftorical Sketch, p. 33. 
 Anecdotes, &c. The lively author of this laft work relates feveral 
 inftances of the diflike of M. cle Maurepas toNecker; particularly a fharp 
 reply when the comptroller, relying on his importance, threatened to 
 take poft-horfes and return to Geneva. *' Sir," laid Maurepas, I 
 " mutt inform you that foreigners who have been finance minifters in 
 * this country, cannot have poft-hoifes without the exprefs command 
 * of the king." Vol.v. p. 176. 
 
 " Wilde's Addrefs to the Friends of ths People, p. 315, 
 x Moore's View, vol. i. p. 101. Hiftorical Sketch, p. 31. Ber- 
 trand's Memoirs, vel,i. p. 151. Of this work Maurepas faid to the 
 L king.
 
 i 4 8 N E C K E R< 
 
 obfeiva. Necker's firft adminiftration undoubtedly paved 
 Necke"s the way for all the evils which have befallen France 
 admini- fmce that period, by putting a new and dangerous 
 ftration j moc j e o f fupply into the hands of minifters ; and by 
 fuppreffing, in a harfh and wahton manner, feveral 
 offices which, though he might imagine them un- 
 neceflary, had been of great fervice to his prede- 
 ceflbrs, and might have averted many errors of 
 his fucceflbrs* His intentions however were per- 
 fectly honeft, and he had the good of the country 
 at heart. It is but juft to give his own ftatement of 
 the benefits of his adminiftration, which, though 
 much exaggerated, is not, I am perfuaded, wilfully 
 mifreprefented. " I was fo fortunate (he fays) in 
 " the five years of my firft adminiftration, that, in 
 " the midft of a war which gradually brought on a 
 " want of extraordinary fupplies to the amount of 
 " one hundred and fifty millions (6,562, 5oo/.) a- 
 " year, the public funds, which funk in England 
 " from thirty to thiity-five per cent., were gradually 
 " rifing in France ; and almoft all the loans which 
 " were opened were filled in eight days V He 
 alfo gives himfelf great credit for the eftablifliment 
 of provincial aflemblies, the publicity given to the 
 affairs of finance^ and th abolition of mortmain 
 tenures 2 . 
 
 His difin. One fmgularity attended his conduct in office ; 
 j^efted- ^^ ^g received ho falary or fees of any kind. He 
 ftates the amount of what he thus renounced, allow- 
 ing at the rate fixed by the reformed economy of 
 the national aflembly at the time he wrote, at two 
 hundred thoufand livres (87507.), independent of 
 his appointments as minifter of flate, fixed at twenty 
 
 king, that it was written toltb a: irucb truth at mtdtfty. And the critics, 
 punning on the tille, called it a Cente bUu. Anecdotes, &c. vol. v. 
 
 thoufand 
 
 P- *77- 
 
 r Sur 1* Adminiftration de M. Necker, p. o 
 * Ibid. p. 16, i r .
 
 N E C K E R. f49 
 
 thoufand livres (875 /.) Befides the income an- 
 nexed to thofe places, he refufed without exception 
 all the indirect emoluments, fines, gifts, prefents 
 from corporations and individuals, boxes at the 
 theatres, and all other advantages which had been 
 enjoyed by his predeceflbrs, and often amounted to 
 very large fums a . This difintereftednefs has not 
 efcaped the animadverfion of his adverfaries : they 
 affert that, as he ftill continued a partner in the houfe 
 of Girardot and Haller, he could make more by 
 flock-jobbing in a day than he would derive from 
 his falary in ten years ; and that therefore there 
 is more affectation than reality of virtue in the cir- 
 cumflance b . There is, however, no proof offered 
 of the juflice of thefe infinuations, and Necker him- 
 felf meets them in the moft manly and fatisfactory 
 manner. " I defy any man (he obferves) to aver 
 " that, directly or indirectly, I have had the fmalleft 
 " intereft in any bufinefs whatever ; that I have 
 " had the mod trifling mare in any fpeculation in 
 " the public funds ; or that I have procured places 
 " for any of my relations or dependants in any of 
 " the offices in my own department, or in that of any 
 " other minifter." He adds to this affertion, that, 
 in the beginning of the American war, he advanced 
 to government two millions two hundred thoufand 
 livres (96,250 /.) at five per cent., which he never 
 on any change of affairs fold out or received, and 
 which he ultimately left behind him c . 
 
 A few years after his retreat, his daughter, who 1786. 
 had received a moft accomplimed education, and Manage 
 was author of feveral ingenious works, married the daughter, 
 baron de Stael, the Swedifh ambalfador in France. 
 
 9 Sur 1'Adminiftration de M. Necker, p. 399. Anecdotes, &c. 
 vol. v. p. 167. 
 
 ^ Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 68. Apologi* des Projets 
 & de la Conduite des Chefs de la Revolution, p. ia. 
 
 c Sur 1'Adminiftjwtion de M. Necker, p. 4.01, 403. 
 
 ^ 3 During
 
 150 N E C K E R. 
 
 He pub- During his retreat he was employed in literary 
 lifhesDe p ur f u j ts? in aflifting the efforts of his friends to 
 Jt^fionde's force him again into the cabinet, and in keeping 
 Finances. U p the prepoffeffion of the public in his favour. 
 1724. He publiihed his laborious work on the Adminiftra- 
 tion of Finances ; and to make himfelf better 
 known, and enjoy the buzz of his own celebrity, 
 vifited the fouthern provinces of France. His book 
 was received with enthufiafm, and read with the 
 greateft avidity and admiration. It certainly con- 
 tains many accurate ftatements and ingenious de- 
 . du&ions, but abounds with that vanity, egotifm, 
 and felf-fufficiency, which are his characleriftics d . 
 The true character of the book may be appreciated 
 from the mention made of it by the revolutionary 
 hiftorian Rabaud : he fays, " It did perhaps more 
 " good than a long and wife adminiflration ; for it 
 " fpread knowledge . far and wide, and fouued the 
 " feeds of the prefent patriotifm e ." 
 
 In a recent publication, Necker has aflerted that, 
 at the time of his retreat in 1781, he had left the 
 finances in a " perfect equilibrium f ." This alTer- 
 tion is, at leaft, doubtful, confidering the acknow- 
 ledged infufficiency of the means he employed to 
 maintain a balance between the receipt and ex- 
 penditure, and the embarraifments felt by his im- 
 mediate fucceflbrs, which rendered them incapable 
 of proceeding without having recourfe to the moft 
 17*7. extraordinary means. Calonne had written an 
 ^Wr *o e ^ a y to P rove tnat tne ftatements in the Compte rendit 
 M. dc Ca- were falfe ; that inflead of a furplus there was an 
 lonne. immenfe deficit in the fupplies. Necker, notwith- 
 
 * Anecdotes, &c. Sur TAdminiftration, &c. p. zo. Bertrand's 
 Klemoirs, vol. i. p. 157. and fee the work itfelf. I fuppofe this to be 
 the publication alluded to by the author of the * Impartial Hiltory," 
 which he confounds with the Canpte rendu, and with Necker's Aniwer 
 to Calonne. See vol. i. p. 15. 
 
 Rabaud's Hiftory of the French Revolution, p. 29. 
 
 * On the French Revolution, vol. i. p. 13. 
 
 {landing
 
 NECKER. i S i 
 
 {landing the king's exprefs prohibition, publimed an Apr. 1787. 
 anfwer, in which he refuted this affertion, and 
 laid the whole blame of the deficit on Calonne. 
 For this conduct he was banifhed to his country- is banifh- 
 feat at St. Ouen. It is probable that this offence Q U l e Sr * 
 was not the fole caufe of his difgrace : he is faid 
 to have been extremely affiduous in procuring writ- 
 ers, painters, and engravers, to impute errors to the 
 adminiftration, and throw ridicule on the perfon of 
 M. de Calonne. If his banifhment was intended as 
 a punimment, it was too flight to produce either 
 refpeft or terror ; if it was intended to weaken his 
 party, the place was ill chofen on account of its 
 vicinity to Paris s . 
 
 It was probably during his retreat at this place T7 sg. 
 that he wrote his Effay on the Importance of Reli- Writes 
 
 gious Opinions ; a book which, though it contains portance 
 no great originality of thought, or ftrength of ar- des Opi- 
 cmment, is written in a flyle which claims applaufe r ! "* Keki< 
 
 r i r n , 11 o- c u gieufes. 
 
 tor its elegance. Ihe recollection or having pro- 
 duced it feems to have afforded the author fome 
 fatisfaftion in the moment of difgrace, and may 
 probably afford him pleafure when others, of more 
 apparent importance, are obliterated from his me- 
 mory, or only recur to it attended with fentiments 
 of vexation and difguft h . 
 
 While he was at St. Ouen, the affairs of prance Exertion* 
 were drawing to a crifis. Calonne had been driven of himf ' cl j' 
 from the helm by the intrigues of the archbifhop and IIC 
 of Sens, the errors of whofe adminiftration embar- 
 raffed the court, and rendered the recal of Necker 
 abfolutely neceflary. His party had not been idle 
 in influencing the popular judgment in his favour j 
 
 % Anecdotes, &.c. vol. v. p. zoo. 309. 330. Conjuration de d'Or- 
 leans, vol. i. p. 63. Rabaud's Hiftoiy or the Revolution, p. 4.1. 
 Necker, on the French Revolution, vol. i. p. 29 acknowledges himfcif 
 to have been wrong in this trar.faclion, but plends that he was im- 
 pelled to this aft of" difobediencs by a lively fer.fe of honour. 
 
 h Sur 1'AiJminiltratioii, &c. p. 2,1. \)a tiu Revolution, vol. i. 
 
 L 4 his
 
 , 5 * N E C K E R. 
 
 his work on the adminiftration of finances was ge 
 nerally read during the firft aflembly of the no- 
 tables j and the fads contained in it oppofed to the 
 ftatements of that minifter j . His wife, animated 
 by a fpirit of diflike to a court where fhe could 
 never hope to fbine, and feeling indignation at the 
 banifhment of her hufband, whom fhe idolized, re-. 
 doubled her efforts to acquire popularity. She had 
 founded an hofpital, and was unremitting in her 
 attendance tc the neceflities of thofe who were re- 
 duced to make it their abode. She vifited the other 
 hofpitals, the prifons, and even private houfes where- 
 ever mifery was to be found, flimulated by the de- 
 fire of raifmg a confpicuous reputation, and makr 
 ing the name of Necker dear to the people k . 
 The political club of females, of which his daugh- 
 ter, the baronefs de Stael, was a diflinguifhed mem- 
 ber, and the band of political writers, whom the im- 
 prudence of the minifter had exempted from all re- 
 
 HU recal ftraint, contributed to the recal of the popular fa- 
 >n ' vourite '. Before the retreat of de Brienne, Necker 
 had been founded, on the part of the king, to know 
 if he would undertake the adminiflration of the 
 finances, in conjunction with that minifter. The 
 feat in council, which had before occafioned his 
 difmiffion, was to have been conceded : but he re- 
 jected the propofal m . The increafmg turbulence of 
 the people, the growing diftrefs of the court, and a 
 confcioufnefs of his own incapacity and want of po- 
 pularity, at length compelled de Brienne to refign ; 
 
 5th Aug. and he left his advice to the king, to recal Nec- 
 l788 ' ker, and convene the ftates-general n . 
 
 1 Sur 1' Adminiftration, &c. p. *f. 
 
 k Idem, p. 397. Playfair's Hiftory of Jacokinifm, p. 6$. 
 Apologia desProjets, &c. p. i. 
 
 1 Conjuration de d'Orleans. 
 
 Necker on the French Revolution,' Yol. i. p. 19. 
 
 Impartial Hiftory. vol. i. p. 31. Moore's View, yol. i. p. 87. 
 Anecdotes, &c. vol. r. p. ao. 
 
 The
 
 N E C K E R; , S3 
 
 The reinftatement of Necker took place imme- Hisrein- 
 diately on the refignation of the archbifhop of Sens; JfSoc* 
 and the queen and count d'Artois are faid to have 
 been no lefs ftrenuous in recommending it than tfe 
 Brienne himfelf . The whole court vied in felir Behaviour 
 citating the return of a minifter from whom the re- of the 
 ftoration of tranquillity and the falvation of the 
 country were expected. He is faid to have had a 
 private audience of three quarters of an hour with 
 the queen ; and it is aiTerted that fhe herfelf wrote 
 the letter requefting his return p : but he himfelf 
 makes no mention of thefe circumflances. He fays 
 the king received him in the queen's clofet, and in 
 her prefence; that the king's great good-nature 
 made him feel forne embarraffment on account of 
 the banifhment of the preceding year j but he fpoke 
 to his fovereign only of his devotion and refpect ; 
 and from that moment replaced himfelf on the fame 
 footing he had formerly maintained ' J . Monfieur, 
 on his firft public appearance in quality of minifter, 
 complimented him on the occafion, avowed the pre* 
 judices he had formerly entertained againft him, 
 and profeifed a hope that the experience of his ma- 
 ture age would correct the errors of his youth r . 
 
 The circumftances which marked his return to &ateof 
 adminiftration were not calculated to infpire con-^ the public 
 fidence or impart fatisfaction. The ferocity which mindf 
 marked the public rejoicings on the expulfion of 
 his predeceflbr^ the riots and military execution 
 which followed, did not prefage a calm and ftable 
 adminiftration. In fact, the talk he had alTumed of 
 guiding the helm of ftate, at this particular juncture, 
 was extremely difficult. Circumftances and indivi- 
 
 Rabaiid's Hiftory, p5S / 
 
 P Anecdotes, &c. vol. v. p.*oi. Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. i. 
 p. 165. 
 
 1 On the Revolution, vol. i. p. 29. 
 
 r Anecdotes, &c. vol. v. p. ot. Conjuration dc d'Odeans, vol. i. 
 P. 166. 
 
 dual*
 
 , 54 N E C K E R. 
 
 duals had undergone an entire change fmce his retreat 
 in 1781. The people, who were at that time, gay, 
 carelefs, and indifferent to public affairs, now devoted 
 their whole time to the ftudy and difcuflion of politics. 
 Books, inimical to the interefts of government, 
 which were formerly procured from Geneva and 
 London, and circulated in a clandeftine and fparing 
 manner, were now boldly publifhed at the palais 
 royal, and diftributed gratis. " A prince, who in 1781 
 had been confidered with the contempt and difre- 
 gard due to profligacy and cowardice, was now at 
 the head of a violent, numerous, and active party, 
 conferring popularity, or taking it away at pleafure, 
 and by means of the public opinion, making hafty 
 ftrides towards obtaining the rule of all public 
 meafures. The kingdom was plunged in the greateft 
 diftrefs, and, befides the ferment occafioned by 
 political difcuflion, was agitated with the fear of 
 wanting the firfl neceflary of life. Thefe appear- 
 ances, however, did not intimidate Necker : the 
 public opinion was his idol ; he flattered himfelf 
 that the more it was permitted to operate without 
 reftraint, the greater would be its influence in his 
 favour, and he relied with too much confidence on 
 his own fagacity and refources to feel the leaft dif- 
 may. 
 
 His popu- In fact, his popularity, at this period, was at an 
 **'"? unexampled height ; the people feemed to look up 
 to him as their only hope, and even to lay them- 
 felves at his feet. His return was a complete victory 
 of the public voice over the court, and it has been 
 faid, with great truth, that the king was exactly 
 reduced to the ftate of a bankrupt, who had fur- 
 rendered his effects to his creditors s . 
 the The fir ft ftep of his adminiftration was to recal 
 the banifhed members of the parliament of Paris, 
 
 WilcU's Addrcfs, p. 393. Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, 
 p. 85. Sur i'Atisunittiaiion, c. p. a6. 
 
 6 and
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 and to reinflate that body in its functions, in oppo- 
 fition to the odious meafure of the cours plenieres '. 
 His next exertion was to relieve the embarraffinents 
 occafioned by the diflrefs of the treafury, which, at 
 the time of his return to office, contained no more 
 than 500,000 livres (2i,8'/5/.) u . This he effected 
 by perfuading the different public bodies to remit 
 to him the money they had in hand ; by prevailing 
 on the receivers general, and other perfons em- 
 ployed in the finances, not to retain their falaries, 
 which he promifed to repay them in 1789, and by 
 obtaining loans from the body of notaries of Paris, 
 and the fix mercantile companies x . Thus, to ufe 
 his own expreffion, " by failing with a fide wind, 
 " by ufing all poflible circumfpeclion, and employ- 
 " ing every exertion in a confined fpace, he was 
 " enabled to guide the feeble veifel of (late, with- 
 " out wreck or damage till the opening of the 
 " ftates-general V 
 
 But a more difficult tafk awaited him, in the 
 neceffity of finding fupplies for the capital, which 
 occafioned him the Created uneafmefs. He gives 
 himfelf credit for having faved Paris and the king- iauj ' 
 doin in general from the horrors of famine z . He 
 obtained from all parts of the kingdom circumflan- 
 tial information of the quantity of the crops of the 
 current year, and what remained on hand from 
 preceding years. He made inquiries into the wants 
 of other countries, and the refources to be expected 
 from them, and with all fpeed obtained an order 7 th Sept. 
 from the king in council prohibiting the exportation '7 s8 - 
 of grain. He offered a bounty for the importation, 2J d NOV.- 
 which procured .confiderable fupplies from Great 
 Britain and Ireland, till the exportation was pro- 
 Moore's view, vol. i. p. ioi. Rabaud, p. 55, &c. 
 Sur I'Adminilti aiion, &c. p. 28. 
 Anecdotes, &c. vol. v. p. 202. 
 Sur 1' Adminirtration, &c. p. 19. 
 Neiker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 31. 
 
 hibited,
 
 1S(5 N E C K E R. 
 
 hibted, from Italy, and the northern kingdoms, and 
 from North America. As this fcarcity continued 
 almoft during the whole courfe of his adminiftra- 
 tion, he was obliged to rely not only on the pre- 
 miums offered in the name of government, but to 
 ufe his own perfonal credit with fome merchants, 
 Hope of Amfterdam particularly ; and he wrote a 
 very prefling letter in 1789, to Mr. Pitt, requefting 
 him to prevail on the king or the parliament to 
 permit the exportation of a limited quantity of 
 grain, but notwithftanding the fupport given to 
 this requeft by the French ambaflador, it failed of 
 fuccefs % 
 
 obferva- Such is his own account of his exertions, and 
 STeBu" tne fuccefs which attended them. The policy by 
 which they were dictated is very doubtful. Necker 
 has not efcaped malevolent imputation of having 
 fhared with Orleans in his fpeculation in grain, to 
 participate with him in the profit and popularity 
 refulting from it. He has been accufed of Iharing 
 with foreign merchants the profits of their prer 
 miums, and of buying up grain himfelf, exporting, 
 and relanding it in order to obtain money and popu- 
 larity b ; and a fact related by the marquis de 
 Bouille, if it does not prove, at lead ftrongly fup- 
 ports thefe accufations. The marquis fays, " Having 
 " at Metz, and in the province under my com- 
 * c mand, corn fufficient to fubfift the troops, 
 " amounting to twenty thoufand men for eighteen 
 " months, on being preffed by the people, whofe 
 " provifions were almoft totally exhaufted, and ftiU 
 " more by the adminiftrative bodies, who could not 
 " poffibly fupply them, I propofed to the govern- 
 ' ment to diflribute the half of this grain among 
 " the towns and villages, on condition of again 
 
 1 Sur rAdminiftration, &c, p. 367. 373. 377. 380. 
 > Conjuration de cl'Oileans, vol. i. p. 187. Apologie des ProjetS, 
 &c. p. 46. 
 
 ** receiving
 
 N E C K E fc. IJ7 
 
 M receiving it the enfuing harveft ; which might 
 " have been done without any inconvenience, yet 
 was rejected : notwithftanding this refufal of the 
 " miniftry, I refolved, however, to execute my 
 " project, and for this I was afterwards thanked by 
 " M. Necker himfelf, though he at firft refufed his 
 * c confent to the meafure c ." If we can acquit Necker 
 of criminality in thefe tranfactions, his own account 
 convicts him of the greateft imprudence. The 
 publicity given to the apprehenfion of dearth by the 
 inquiries, and the circuniftantial informations obtained 
 at home and in foreign countries, gave room to all 
 the operations . of fpeculifls, and facilitated the fuc- 
 cefs of their attempts to increafe the public diftrefs, 
 and inflame the public mind. The premiums, 
 freight, and other charges, which, according to his 
 own account d , amounted to upwards of feventy 
 millions (3,062,5007.), were an enormous load on 
 an exhausted treafury, and tended to keep up the 
 price of the commodity at home, as the poflefTors 
 of grain could hardly be expected to fell it cheaper 
 than the importers. It cannot be fuppofed he was 
 entirely unacquainted with the fchemes of the duke 
 of Orleans ; he has even been accufed of abetting, 
 but if that was not the cafe he certainly took a very 
 impioper courfe to counteract them e . His effay on 
 the legiilation of grain, which he wrote previous to , 775 - 4 - 
 his firft adminiftration, is very contemptuoufly fpoken 
 of; and his meafures for the fupply of France are 
 much decried by perfons well qualified to judge, 
 and of deferved credit in commercial and agricul- 
 tural affairs f . 
 
 All thefe efforts would have been infufficient in Prepares 
 times fo critical to have kept alive the popular predi- J 
 
 general. 
 
 - Bouille's Memoirs, p 91. 
 
 d Sur I'Adminiftration, &c. p. 374. 
 
 e Conjuration dc d'Orleans, voi.i. p. 185, PUyfaif's Hi (lory of 
 Jacobinii'm, p. 87. 
 
 * Playfaii's Hiftory cf Jacobinifm, p. 69, Arthur Young's Tra 
 Te!, p. 105, 
 
 lection,
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 leftion, but he was known to be engaged in for- 
 warding the national wifli for afiembling the ftates- 
 general. His conduct in this particular has been 
 more forcibly arraigned, and more ftrenuoufly de- 
 fended than in any other ; in fad no event fo im- 
 portant has occurred, and the turn given to it by 
 the force of his fmgle decifion renders him re- 
 fponfible for all its confequences on France and on 
 Europe. The complaints againft him on this fub- 
 jecl may be reduced to four heads, i. His having 
 urged the afiembling of the Hates-general at a 
 period fo ftormy and critical : 2. His procuring a 
 double reprefentation for the tiers etat : 3. His 
 leaving undecided the important queftion, whether 
 the proceedings mould be taken by orders or by 
 poll : and 4. His neglecting to influence the elec- 
 tions fo as to fecure a majority, refolved to maintain 
 the laws and conftjtution, and to exert themfelves 
 only in the reform of abufes. 
 
 . On the firft of thefe fubjech, Necker excufes 
 tlon d y" s himfelf by obferving, that the irritated flate of the 
 public mind could by no means be attributed to 
 him ; that he was not the author of thofe financial 
 embarraffments which occafioned it ; that the re- 
 form of internal abufes could only be expe&ed from 
 the ftates-general ; that the inundation of political 
 pamphlets which overwhelmed the public, owed its 
 origin to an arret of his predecelfor, and that the 
 king, who had pledged himfelf to convene the 
 dates-general, was too religious an obferver of his 
 promiie, to have endured a minifter who advifed a 
 breach of it g . Without cavilling on the precife 
 truth of each of thefe affertions, it is very obvious 
 that they were infufficient to juftify the meafure 
 they were intended to defend. Necker knew, that 
 thepromife of convening the dates, was made under 
 
 K See Necker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 30. and the following. 
 Sui 1'Adminiftration, &c. p. 33. and th following. 
 
 an
 
 NECKER. 
 
 an idea that the finances were irretrievably cm- 
 barrafled, that fuch an impreflion was in a great 
 meafure derived from his writings, and from the 
 reports of his friends and agents. He knew that at 
 the time it was given, a rafh minifter had, by an 
 unpopular innovation, and unjuftifiable and abfurd 
 proceedings, created an irreparable breach between 
 the conftituted authorities, between the king and 
 the parliament. He knew that his popularity and 
 afcendancy were fufficient to have reftored harmony, 
 to have given energy to the government, and con- 
 tent to the well-difpofed part of the community. 
 He knew, and has acknowledged, that the flate of 
 the finances was not fuch as to require any ex- 
 traordinary intervention h . In fact this was a mere 
 pretence to make himfelf of confequence by alarm- 
 mg the king with falfe terrors, and infmuating to 
 the people unfounded hopes 1 . It is of little im- 
 portance to whom the licentioufnefs of the prefs 
 was to be attributed, its exiftence was a fubject of 
 univerfal aftonimment k ; its force was derived from 
 an idea of public diftrefs and exemptions of the 
 privileged orders ; the former Necker might have 
 demonilrated to be a mere phantom, the latter, 
 pofleffing as he did the entire confidence of the 
 court and nobility, he might eafily have acquired 
 the credit of modifying or abrogating, without in- 
 jury to the conflitution. But the king's promife I- 
 This indeed was a terrible obftacle. If the people 
 had been convinced that their welfare was effect- 
 ually fecured without the intervention of an au- 
 thority to the effects of which they were flrangers, 
 they would have been very little felicitous about a 
 ftrict compliance with a promife from which the/ 
 
 fa Sur TAdminiftration, p. 36. 
 
 1 On the Revolution, vol. i. p. 31. 
 
 k Necker himfelf is accufed, and I believe juftly, of having in- 
 creaftd and favoured this licemioufntfs in order to promote the fuccefs 
 tf his own views. See Uouille"* Memoirs, p. 88. 126, 
 
 could
 
 itfo N E C K E ft. 
 
 could have derived no advantage. I am far from 
 being inclined to queftion the ftedfaft virtue of the 
 unfortunate Louis ; but had prudent and vigorous 
 meafures been adopted, and a little delay interpofed, 
 the popular ardour would have cooled, and the 
 ftates-general have met for no other purpofes than 
 thanks and congratulatory addreffes. It has been 
 obferved that Calonne convoked the notables, not 
 to difcufs but to admire his plans l ; the fame may 
 be faid of Necker with refpecl: to the ftates-general. 
 He looked forward with confidence to their meeN 
 ing m , and anticipated the pleafure of placing a line 
 of forbearance between the power of the fuperior, 
 and encroachment of the inferior orders. A 
 fplendid vifion, fit to inflame the fancy of a young 
 fpeculift, but a ihameful refult of his age and ex- 
 perience. 
 
 Second ob- The fame motives which induced him to effecl 
 wnineV" tne convocation of the ftates-general, undoubtedly 
 influenced him to promote the double reprefenta- 
 tion of the tiers etat. His perfeverance in this point 
 is remarkable, and no propriety of intention can 
 acquit him of the blame attached to the confe- 
 quences. Confcious of this truth, Necker has de* 
 fended himfelf with great warmth, and at much 
 length, though without any great effecl. His 
 apology refts principally on the uncertainty of the 
 antient precedents ; on the eagernefs of public 
 expectation ; the diflfufion of light ; and the unim- 
 portance of number, if the eftates voted by order n . 
 Every confideration which could be drawn from 
 
 1 Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p. 25. 
 
 81 In [proof of this affertion, fee Sur I'Adminiftration, &c. p. 31,- 
 32, 33, and the following pages, where this objeftion is difctmed by 
 himfelf. This work was publifhed in 1791, and intended to be read 
 in Fiance. His book called " On the French Revolution" muft he 
 perufed with more caution on this particular topic, as it was written 
 five years later, when more horrible calamities had rdulted from hi* 
 fatal error. 
 
 a On the Revolution, vol. i . 
 
 thefc
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 thefe principles, ought to have produced a decifion in 
 the mind of the minifter contrary to that he adopted. 
 The uncertainty which prevailed in times of dark- 
 nds and ignorance could not be any ground of 
 determination, and the defire of diftinction, the 
 affectation of knowledge, and the folicitude to 
 gratify public expectation, which were prevalent, 
 fhould have made him very cautious of trufting 
 thofe powers to a greater number than was abfo- 
 lutely neceffary. A great body of the tiers etat in 
 1614, had a great body been really collected, would 
 have been of fmall importance, eafily overpowered 
 by argument, eafily difperfed by force ; but in 1789, 
 a very fmall body, fupported by the public opinion, 
 ftrong in intelligence, and active in refearch, could 
 not have been reftrained or difperfed by any power 
 poffeffed by government : had they only equalled 
 either of the other orders, they would have been 
 refpectable and indivifible, but the pride and im- 
 pofing afpect of a large majority, or duplication, 
 could not fail, as in fact it happened, to render 
 them haughty, reftlefs, turbulent, and overbearing ; 
 in fhort, to occafion the fubjugation and deftruction 
 of the other two clafTes. Necker could not err 
 through ignorance, as he had taken every poflible 
 means to obtain information ; he certainly was not 
 malicious enough to wifh the overthrow of that 
 prince who placed the molt implicit confidence in 
 him, and for whom he conftantly profefles the 
 fmcereft affection ; vanity alone muft have influenced 
 his determination, the wifh to do good, and the 
 fond expectation of making himfelf illuftrious in 
 the eyes of a numerous and enlightened afiembly, 
 perverted his judgment, and occafioned this egre- 
 gious error. Imperfectly acquainted with the laws 
 and cuftoms of France, he appointed certain perfons 
 to fearch into hiftorical registers, for the forms of 
 convening the dates-general on preceding occafions; 
 but as their report, in all probability, contained 
 VOL. ii. M nothing
 
 x5 2 N E C K E R. 
 
 nothing in fupport of his favourite plan, he never 
 published it. The parliament of Paris paffed a 
 decree, to the furprife of mod people, that the flates 
 fhould be convened in the fame manner as in 1614 ; 
 but this ftep, in which they exceeded their authority, 
 only expofed them to unpopularity and contempt, 
 and accelerated their annihilation, without altering 
 the refolution of the minifter. He prevailed on the 
 king to convene the fame notables as had been 
 . afiembled by Calonne ; they were divided into fix 
 committees, the majority of all of which, except 
 one, recommended the model of 1614; that, one 
 was the fection of Monfieur, where, by the majority 
 of a fmgle vote, the queflion of a double reprefent- 
 ation was carried in the affirmative. Yet the con- 
 currence of all thefe opinions could not alter the 
 determination of Necker . The only reafon he 
 gives for this invincible obftinacy is, that though it 
 occafioned him a great deal of pain to differ in 
 opinion from the notables, yet this difference was 
 infurmountable, becaufe the impulfe of his con- 
 fcience, and the welfare of the ftate, according to 
 his ideas, {felon mes lumieres^] impofed on him as a 
 rigorous duty to follow the line of conduct he 
 adopted on that memorable occafion p . 
 Third ob- Necker fays in his own defence, that the great 
 queftion in 1789, and at all times, was not the 
 refpelive number of the deputies of the three 
 orders, but their manner of deliberating, by head 
 or by bailiwick, with the orders conjoined or 
 feparate *. If he was really imprefied with the im- 
 portance of this queflion, and felt all the confe- 
 quences which mufl refult from its decifion, it is 
 matter of great aftonimment that he mould not fix 
 
 Moore's View, vol. i. p. 106 113. Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. i. 
 p. 157. Expofition abiege, par A. DiHon, p. 8. See alfo the Im- 
 partial Hiftory, Rabaiid, &c. &c. 
 
 P Sur i'Adminiftration, &c. p. 4.4.. 
 
 1 On the Revolution, vol. i. p. 66. 
 
 it
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 it on fome certain bafis, but leave it open to the 
 determination of the parties themfelves, aifembled 
 and judging with afperity of each other's views and 
 encroachments. The notables declared their opinion 
 in favour of a feparate confultation, and of voting by 
 orders, which left to the tiers etat their due mare in 
 the deliberative adminiftration. Necker, in affect- 
 ing to leave this queftion open, while he decided 
 that of double reprefentation, betrays a mare of 
 duplicity which derogates much from his moral cha- 
 racter; he mufl have previoufly refolved it in his own 
 mind, for, in fact, the decifion of the one queftion 
 virtually determines the other. It is mere affecta- 
 tion to fay, that if the ftates-general voted by orders, 
 the numeration of the tiers etat was a matter of 
 indifference. If the tiers etat equalled in number 
 the other two eftates collectively, it is manifeft they 
 could carry every point, without affecting the leaft 
 deference to them, if they voted by poll ; or if they 
 only equalled one of the other two, their body 
 united, availing itfelf of cabal, clamour, and public 
 opinion, would afluredly have been able, on moft 
 queftions, to have fecured a majority. A body 
 compofed of many members is more impofmg in its 
 general appearance, and attaches to itfelf a greater 
 mare of confideration than would be bellowed on 
 one of half its magnitude ; and it was obvious that 
 mould the tiers etat, compofed of a double number, 
 by obftinate clamour, by exciting the people, or 
 through the neceffities of the ftate, ever fucceed in 
 obtaining a confultation, or joint operation with the 
 other orders, their victory would then be complete, 
 and the clergy and. nobility for ever chained to a 
 dependence on them. To leave, therefore, the 
 determination of this queftion to the ftates-general 
 affembled, was, in fact, as Rabaud fays r , giving the- 
 victory to the ftronger, and as he had already de- 
 
 r Hiftory of the Revolution, p, 65. 
 
 W 2 cided,
 
 ,64 N E C K E R. 
 
 elded, on his own authority, to which party that 
 epithet ihould apply, he had refolved to be anfwer- 
 able for all the confequences of the determination of 
 both thefe important queftions '. 
 
 Fourth ob- At lead it might have been expected, that Necker 
 mined" 1 " having determined on an experiment fo novel and 
 hazardous as that of throwing fo large a mare of 
 power and confequence into the hands of the tiers 
 etat, would have endeavoured to prevent the abufe 
 of it, by influencing the elections, fo as to procure 
 the return of as many of the king's friends and men 
 of moderate views as pofiible. The author of the 
 eflay on the importance of religious opinions could 
 not be ignorant that, in France, religion was falling 
 into contempt, and that the miniflers of it were 
 regarded with jealoufy and hatred. He could not 
 be uninformed of the bias given to the public opi- 
 nion by the fwarm of pamphlets daily iflued ; or of 
 the efforts of the duke of Orleans and other perfons 
 to give effect to this perverfion of judgment by in- 
 fluencing the elections, and procuring the cahiers 9 
 or intended inftructions to the deputies to be 
 written in a (lyle correfponding with their dangerous 
 views. It was then his duty, as a faithful fervant 
 of the crown, to have counteracted thefe at- 
 tempts by an exertion of his popularity, and by 
 the interpofition of his influence. This, he fays, 
 his fenfe of honour forbad, nor did he think it necef- 
 fary, as it was ef lefs importance that the king 
 fhould have friends in the flates-general than in the 
 nation at large '. We%k and miferable fophiftry I 
 If every fpeculative egotifl was permitted to mare 
 the popular fuffrage, what portion could poflibly be 
 left for the monarch ? And what could defend his 
 rights and thofe of the privileged orders, in the 
 prefent flate of the popular mind, from invafion 
 
 Moore'i View, vol. 5. p. 104. Pages Kiftoire Secrete, vol. i, 
 p. 80. Hiftorical Sketch, p. 51. See alfo the other hiltories of the 
 period. t On t h e Revolution, p. 89. 
 
 and
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 and deftrudion, but a due care to counteracY 
 who were openly forming a party againft them, 
 and whofe influence over the public opinion 
 threatened the moft alarming confequences. But 
 though his fenfe of honour prevented his influencing 
 any returns favourable to the fuperior orders, he 
 did not feel the fame delicacy with refpect to the 
 tiers etat^ for whom, befides their advantage of 
 double reprefentation, he contrived to procure fuch 
 a preponderance in the clerical body, as was alone 
 fufficient to infure fuccefs to any attack they might 
 choofe to make on the privileged orders. This was 
 effected by overpowering the fuffrages of the bene- 
 ficiaries, dignitaries, and great proprietors of church 
 lands, by admitting the falaried curates, who, in 
 every refpecl, relating to the purpofes of their con- 
 vocation, belonged to the tiers etat, to a numerical 
 equality of vote. On the other hand, the canons 
 and monks, who were attached to the higher order 
 of the clergy, were deprived of their counterpoife 
 by a regulation which reftricted their fending more 
 than one in ten of their number to the electoral 
 afiemblies. Hence the great difproportion between 
 the cures and the higher clergy in the afiembly of 
 the ftates u . In like manner to overwhelm the 
 
 u Expofition abrege, par Arthur Dillon, p. ia. M. de Bouille 
 fays: The Itates-general confifted of men very proper for the exe- 
 " cution of Necker's purpofes. The ecclefiaftical members wert 
 " principally chofen from among the inferior clergy, without livings 
 " or property, oppofed to thofe of the higher order, who were fewer 
 *' in number. Among the reprefertfa^ves of the nobility were many 
 " of thofe fubtle, daring, enterprifing men, who had introduced 
 " themfelves with a view to corrupt and divide that order: laftly, the 
 " third efiate were allowed a double reprefentation. Xhis afiembly 
 " was open to that defcription of men, lo numerous and dangerous in 
 " France, who lived by their talents, their literary abilities, and their 
 *' induftry, deriving their importance from the weaknefs and credu- 
 *' lity of mankind lawyers, principally of the lowed clafs, phyfi. 
 " cians, artifts, writers of little or no eminence, and men without 
 " either lank or property." The author adds in a note, "Of three 
 " hundred members which represented the clergy, two hundred and 
 " eight were pofltfled of no eccltfiaftical dignity : of fix hundred 
 " members who reprefented the tien etat, three hundred and feventy- 
 41 four were profeffors pf the law." Memoiis, p. 88. 
 
 M 3 influence
 
 166 N E C K E R. 
 
 influence of landed proprietors, he procured fpecial 
 decrees of council, forbidding the country electors 
 from interfering or voting in elections for towns and 
 cities, but permitting the inhabitants of thefe to 
 vote in the country bailliages, by which means a 
 great number of provincial lawyers and needy fpe- 
 culifts were returned, to the exclufion of the more 
 refpectable caft of candidates x . He alfo mewed his 
 decided preference of the tiers etat by fufpending, 
 by order of council, all judicial -proceedings com- 
 menced in Britanny, on account of the popular 
 infurreclions v . 
 
 In thefe obfervations I have, in fome meafure, 
 
 anticipated events ; but to refume the courfe of 
 
 Report to narration : foon after the diffolution of the notables, 
 
 council. t j le mm ifter made a report to the king in council, 
 
 Dec. 1788. ... i i 1-n i i i TP 
 
 which was afterwards publiihed, wherein he dii- 
 played a fhallownefs, egotifm, and vanity, entitled 
 to commiferation ; he traverfed, with a fophiftry un- 
 worthy a minifter, the decifions of the notables, 
 and giving as a motive the impofing minority of the 
 notables, and what he calls le bruit fourd de T Europe, 
 decided the moil important queltions which had 
 engaged their attention, in a manner entirely dif- 
 ferent from them. He determined that the tiers 
 etat mould have a double reprefentation, but advifed 
 them not to infift on voting by poll, but always in 
 ^different orders ; he flattered their vanity and 
 elevated their infolence, by attributing to them all 
 the knowledge and refpect ability which remained in 
 the kingdom j he infulted the crown by an affectedly 
 philofophical declamation on the advantages of an 
 abridged jurifdiction ; and to mew that the pro- 
 bable mifchiefs of his meafures were not out of his 
 contemplation, that they might probably produce 
 the diforganization of all authority, the influx of 
 
 x Bouille's Merrtoirs, p. 14. 
 
 V Bertrand's Memoirs, vol.i. p. 159. 
 
 -all
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 all licentioufnefs, he modeftly afTures the king, as a 
 recompence for what he might fuffer, that he would 
 ftill retain the power ofdifmijfing the minlfter who had 
 Influenced his deliberations z . 
 
 Necker's conduft in the whole of this bufmefs t ( ? on 
 appears fo remote from wifdom and fo per verfe, his con- 
 that his motives are not eafily defined. I do not dua. 
 believe he was influenced by avarice ; his fortune 
 was already made ; and againfl the charges of 
 gratifying religious pride by the abafement of the 
 clergy, and of indulging his natural prejudice in 
 favour of democracy, by the debafement of the 
 fuperior orders, he has ably defended himfelf*. 
 He avows, indeed, that one of his motives was the 
 hope of retaining his fituation, in fpite of the will 
 of the fovereign b , but even that defire, and all the 
 reft of his conduit may be referred to the impulfe 
 of vanity, which in him prevailed as a paffion, and 
 fubdued reafon. Flattered by the popularity con- 
 ferred on him by circumftances, raifed by the 
 corrupting influence of unvaried fuccefs to a pecu- 
 liar complacency of felf-contemplation, it is not 
 wonderful that he was fo far the dupe of his own 
 confidence, as to believe that when once he had 
 advanced his popularity to the higheft pitch, by 
 gaining for the people, in oppofition to the notables 
 and the privileged orders, what they fo ardently 
 defired, he ihould be able to mould their reprefenta- 
 tives to his will, and, by exerting his influence 
 between them and the king, be enabled to bring 
 
 z Moore's View, vol.?. p. 113 to no. Exuofition, &c. par Ar- 
 thur Dillon, p. 10. Wilde's Addrefs, p. 391. 
 
 a On the Revolution, vol. i. p. 31 3. See alfo Bertrand's Memoirs, 
 vol. i. p. 177. 
 
 13 " J'avois connu mieux que perfonne, combien etoit inftable 8t 
 paffager le bien que Ton pouvoit faire fous un gouvernement ou les 
 piincipes d'adminillration changent au gre des miniltres, & les mi- 
 niftres au gie de I'imrigue. J'avoiso bfcrve que dans le cours paflager 
 de Tadminiftration des hommes publics, aucune idee generale 
 n'avoit le tems de s'etablir, aucun bienfait ne pouvoit fe coniblider." 
 Sqr r^drninUtration, &c. p. 36. 
 
 M 4 about
 
 ,58 N E C K E R. 
 
 about fuch reforms, both in the government and 
 finances, as he thought neceflary. 
 
 His popu. At this period Necker's popularity was un- 
 iHflu y ence d bounded, and the court placed implicit reliance on 
 the integrity of his motives and the efficacy of his 
 endeavours ; for though the princes of the blood, 
 except Orleans, had united in prefenting to the 
 crown a memorial refpecling the inflamed flate of 
 the public mind, and the danger of a revolution in 
 the opinion of the people refpecling the neceflary 
 form of government, Necker's opinion was adopted 
 by the council, and, in fpite of the remonflrances 
 of fome of their more anxious and clear-fighted 
 friends, recommended by the queen, and fanclioned 
 by the king c . 
 
 This confidence ought to have been repaid by a 
 mofl zealous attention to the happinefs and welfare 
 of the royal family, but that was not the cafe ; for 
 though it is notorious, that during the whole of 
 Necker's adminiftration, the mofl mameful libels 
 on them and on the whole court were profufely 
 circulated, and produced the mofl baleful effecl, he 
 did not take the flightefl flep towards preventing 
 or even difcouraging them; and though irritable, 
 and even vindictive at the mofl trifling farcafrn 
 againfl himfelf, he furTered thofe againfl every 
 other perfon to go unpunifhed d . 
 
 1788-9. His report was publimed at a very critical period, 
 Seventy of wnen t he people were diflrefled by the rigour of an 
 
 the winter. rr i i r r 
 
 exceflively cold winter, alarmed by the tear of want, 
 and fupported only by the charitable donations of 
 the rich. Necker had exhibited confiderable arTeft- 
 ation of philanthropy on this point. I have already 
 mentioned his exertions with refpecl to grain, and 
 
 in addition to thefe he made a public experiment 
 
 
 
 Hiftorical Sketches, p. ST. Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 159 
 and 161. Wilde's Addrefs, p. 39*. , 
 4 Sec Young's Travels, p. 104., Bertrand's Memoirs^ vol. i. p. 153. 
 
 refpecling
 
 N E C K E R. i$ 9 
 
 refpe&ing butchers' meat. He fent to St. Germain 
 for an ox, had it weighed, killed, and weighed 
 again, deducing the fkin, horns, hoofs, cc. He 
 demonftrated that the butchers fold at a profit of 
 fifty per cent, but the information was the only ad- 
 vantage which refulted to the public, as no attempt 
 was made to reduce the price of provifions e . Yet 
 thefe trifles augmented the popularity of the minifter, 
 and he was defirous of deriving every advantage 
 from it, by procuring the avTembly to be held at 
 Paris. This he has fince acknowledged to be an 
 error, and acquiefces in -the propriety of their 
 judgment who over-ruled his, and made Verfailles 
 the place of fitting. But had the operation of 
 circumftanoes, and the known intrigues of perfons 
 in the capital been duly adverted to, the place of 
 fitting mould have been ftill farther removed from 
 that peftilential atmofphere f . 
 
 At length the Hates-general were opened at Ver- sth May 
 failles. The day commenced with an act of reli- ,Z- 78 ?: 
 
 , , . , Aflembly 
 
 gion : the deputies attended the king to the church O f the 
 of St. Louis, where a fermon was preached by the ( t a t.ge- 
 bimop of Nancy, on the importance of religion to ra * 
 the well-being of a ftate. From church they went 
 to the hall appointed for the dates. The king was 
 feated on a throne, the queen on one at his fide, 
 but not fo high ; the princes of the blood (except 
 Orleans) were feated around; the clergy andnoblefle 
 at oppofite fides of the hall ; and the tiers etat at 
 the lower end. The king made a fpeech, in which 
 he complimented the ftates on their meeting, ad- 
 verted to the condition of the revenue, and pointed 
 out many objects of public importance to their at- 
 tention. He was followed by M. Barretin, keeper 
 of the feals, who faid his majefty had complied 
 with the wifhes of his fubjecls in granting a double 
 
 Playfair's Hiftory of Jacoliinifm, p. 96. 
 
 f Impartial Hiftory, vol. i.p.68. Rabaud, p. 67. Sur 1'Admi- 
 niftration, &c. p. 61. 63. Wilde's Addrefs, p. 490. 
 
 reprefentation
 
 , 7 o N E C K E R. 
 
 reprefentation to the tiers ctat ; but left to the three 
 orders to adjuft amongft themfelves the point of 
 voting by orders or by poll. This fpeech was little 
 attended to ; but Necker's, which lafted three 
 hours, was complimented by the moft profound and 
 uninterrupted attention. The oration however gave 
 but little fatisfaftion ; he was not beloved by the 
 nobility or clergy, and the tiers etat, influenced by 
 faction, and bent on extenfive plans of reform, re- 
 ceived his moderate ideas with contempt and anger, 
 and liftened with impatience to his financial calcu- 
 lations. Many ftri&ures on his fpeech were pub- 
 limed ; and from them he might have learnt more 
 properly to appreciate his own talents and popu- 
 larity g . It is afferted, that he paid more attention 
 to the flyle and delivery than to the matter of the 
 harangue. The following character of, and anec- 
 dote refpe&ing it, are fupplied by Arthur Young h . 
 " The worfl thing I know of Necker is his fpeech 
 " to the ftates on their alfembling ; a great oppor- 
 " tunity, but loft: no great leading or mafterly 
 " views ; no decision on circumflances in which the 
 " people ought to be relieved, and new principles 
 * c of government adopted. It is the fpeech you 
 " would expect from a banker's clerk of fome abi- 
 " lity. Concerning it there is an anecdote worth 
 " inierting: he knew his voice would not enable 
 " him to go through the whole of it in fo large a 
 " room, and to fo numerous an aflembly ; and 
 " therefore he had fpoken to Monf. de Brouflbnet, 
 " of the academy of fciences, and fecretary to the 
 " royal fociety of agriculture, to be in readinefs to 
 
 E Impartial Hiftory, vol.i. p. 73. Rabaurl's Hiftory, p. 74, 75, 
 See Observations on the place of fitting and manner of debating, 
 Young's Travels, vol. i. p. no. Amongft the moll fevcre cenibrs of 
 Necker was Mirabeau, whole journal was fupprefled by an order of 
 council obtained at Necker's requeft. Young's Travels, p. 113. 
 Moore's View, vol. i. p. *oi. See alfo FJayfair's Hillory of Jacob- 
 imfm, p. 116. A. Dillon's Exposition abiege, p. 16, 17. 
 
 b travels, p. 109. 
 
 *' read
 
 N E C K E R. 171 
 
 " read it for him. He had been prefent at an an- 
 " nual general meeting of that fociety, when Monf. 
 w Brouffonet had made a difcourfe with a powerful 
 " piercing voice, that was heard diflinctly to the 
 " greateft diftance. This gentleman attended him 
 " feveral times to take his inftruftions, and be fure 
 " of underftanding the interlineations that were 
 " made foon after the fpeech was finifhed. M. 
 " Brouffonet was with him in the evening before 
 " the affembly of the Hates, at nine o'clock ; and 
 " next day, when he came to read it in public, he 
 " found (till more corrections and alterations, which 
 " Necker had made after quitting him : they 
 " were chiefly in ftyle, and mew how very fo- 
 " licitous he was in regard to the form and decora- 
 " tion of his matter. The ideas, in my opinion, 
 " wanted this attention more than the ftyle. M, 
 " Brouffonet himfelf told me this little anecdote." 
 The ftates-general were thus compofed ' l : 
 
 The Clergy were represented by Compofi- 
 
 tion of the 
 
 48 Bifhops and archbiftiops ; 
 35 Abbes, canons, or beneficed clergymen ; and 
 208 Cures, or clergymen having livings with the cure 
 of fouls. 
 
 291 
 
 1 Conjuration tie d'Orleans, vol. i. p. a86, " The nobility and 
 higher order of the clergy of Britanny had refuted to name their 
 deputies to the ftates-general, upon the pretence that the form of 
 their convocation was contrary to the cuftoms and privileges ot the 
 province. The ten deputies that the higher dergy had named, 
 were re-placed by ten curates who belonged to the order du tiers, at 
 leaft by birth j but the twenty-one deputies which the noblefle of 
 Britanny ought to have fent, were not replaced by the other pro- 
 vinces ; therefore the order of the nobility had, in the ftates-gene- 
 ral, twenty-one members, lefs j and the order of the tiers had about 
 ten members more than they ought," Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. i. 
 p. 1*3.
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 The Nobility, by 
 
 1 8 Grand baillis, fenechaux, or heads of diflricls j 
 224. Gentlemen, or men of family ; and 
 28 Magiflrates of the fuperior courts. 
 
 270 
 
 The Tiers Etat, by 
 
 2 Ecclefiaftics, or benefited clergymen ; 
 1 2 Gentlemen of family ; 
 1 6 Phyficians; 
 
 1 8 Mayors, or heads of corporations ; 
 162 Officers of bailliages, or inferior courts of juftice j 
 1 76 Bourgeois, merchants, land-owners, and farmers ; 
 
 and 
 212 Lawyers. 
 
 598 
 
 Impolicy The latter order having fo great a majority, and 
 of the pro- being fo completely in poffeflion of the public pre- 
 whhrc 8 dileftion, it would have fhewn wifdom as well as 
 fpeft to moderation in the two fuperior orders, and in the 
 defs, &c. com-t, to have acquired a mare in the good opinion 
 of the people, if poflible, by treating them with ap- 
 parent refpeft and diftinction. This however was 
 not done. On the day of their proceffion to Ver- 
 failles, the drefs was arranged by an order from the 
 court : that of the clergy and nobility was pompous 
 and impofmg, and the wealth and tafte of many of 
 the wearers enabled them to render it brilliant and 
 dazzling : that of the tiers etat confifted merely of 
 a little black (luff cloak, fuch as was worn by fome 
 of the profeffion of lawyers, and which, joined to 
 liny other drefs than black, which many of the 
 members did not wear, had a mean and ridiculous 
 appearance. But the effect on the populace was 
 9 entirely
 
 N E C K E R. , 73 
 
 entirely different from what this fpeclacle might 
 have been expected to produce. At the approach 
 of every individual of* the fuperior orders, (except 
 Orleans,) filence, or clamorous reproach inter- 
 mingled with threats j prevailed ; while the humbly- 
 clad members of the favourite order were hailed 
 with fhouts of Vive le Hers etat ; and many of them 
 friends of Orleans congratulated by name. In 
 like manner their reception in the hall of aflembly 
 infpired difgufl : to the clergy and nobility, both 
 the folding doors were thrown open ; to the tiers 
 (tat, only one. The diftinclion may be maintained 
 by precedent ; but fo much of eftablifhed ufage had 
 been already foregone, and the people were difpofed 
 to demand a relinquifhment of fo much more, that 
 found policy would have dictated a little flexibility 
 on the occafion ; for the temper of the people, 
 notwithftanding the new lights they had gained 
 from philofophy, was not fufficiently philofophical 
 to look on thefe trifles with unconcern, or even 
 without confiderable rancour k . 
 
 The tiers etat, obedient to the injunctions of the Obftmacy 
 party who procured the return of the majority, and 
 heated by the applaufes and inftigations of the pam- 
 phleteers, loft no time to avail themfelves of the ad- 
 vantage which their fuperiority in number gave 
 them over the other two clalfes. They refilled 
 every ftep which tended to eftablifh a precedent of 
 their fitting in different chambers, or voting by 
 orders ; they would not even proceed to a verifi- 
 cation of their powers, unlefs the other two orders 
 would meet with them in the common hall. The 
 nobility and clergy, fenfible that they were contend- 
 ing for their exiftence, oppofed this meafure with 
 great obftinacy for feveral weeks, the majority of 
 each refufmg to take a ftep which had an obvious 
 
 fc Pages, vol. i. p. 98. and Moore's View, vol. i. p. 146. et feq. 
 
 tendency 
 
 of the tiers 
 etat.
 
 174 N E C 1C E R. 
 
 tendency to their political deftruction. Public bufi- 
 nefs was at a ftand ; the people became clamorous ; 
 the king propofed a conciliatory meafure in vain ; 
 the tiers etat refolutely rejected every plan but an 
 unconditional aflbciation of all the orders, and a 
 i7th July community of debate and operation. Encouraged 
 17 * 9 ' at length by the partiality of the people, and anxious 
 to do fomething in their new character, the de- 
 puties, after fending repeated metfages inviting the 
 clergy and nobility to join them, proceeded to a 
 verification of their powers. They were at this 
 time joined only by three cure's: thefe men, difgufled 
 at their want of importance amongfl the dignitaries 
 of the church, threw themfelves into the arms of 
 the tiers etat, who received them with tranfport, 
 looking on the event as a prelude to a complete 
 victory on their part. They proceeded to bufmefs 
 without lofs of time ; and having, after a debate of 
 much length, and in which great affectation of ver- 
 bal precision was difplayed, adopted the name of 
 THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, fet about reforming 
 the ftate, with an eagernefs which promifed difpatch. 
 They declared the total illegality of all the exifting 
 taxes, permitting them, however, to be provifionally 
 collected for the prefent, and till their further order, 
 or diffolution, from what caufe foever. They fur- 
 ther declared, that they would take into confider- 
 ation the national debt ; but that for the prefent the 
 creditors of the ftate were under the fafeguard of 
 the honour of the French nation. The majority of 
 the clergy, after a long difcuffion in what manner 
 they mould verify their powers, refolved to join the 
 national aflembly '. 
 
 Meantime the minifter, whofe vanity had led 
 
 r^TaTf"-* n * m to fuppofe that he could reftrain the dif- 
 
 ting. orderly motions of the aflembly whenever he 
 
 thought proper ; whofe equivocal declarations at 
 
 1 Jmpanial Hiftory. Rabaud. Conjuration de d'Oi leans, &c. 
 
 their
 
 NECKER. i 75 
 
 their firft meeting, and whofe conduct fmce, had 
 produced and inflamed much of the acrimonious 
 fpirit they betrayed ; alarmed at the importance of 
 the fleps already taken, advifed the king to pro- 
 claim a royal fitting without delay, and there to de- 
 liver a fpeech, containing a plan of government or 
 declaration of rights, which he had compofed, and 
 which he expected would tend much to conciliate 
 the minds of the tiers etat. The confidence of the 
 king was not in the leaft abated, and he refolved to 
 follow this advice without delay. Accordingly, on 2 oth June, 
 the day the clergy had appointed to join the national 
 aflembly, the heralds proclaimed a royal fitting for 
 the 22d ; and that, in confequence of the prepara- 
 tions which muft neceflarily be made in the halls of 
 the three orders, a fufpenfion of the fittings muft 
 take place till after that day. This produced the 
 famous oath of the tennis-court, and the fubfequent 
 refolutions and tranfaftions m . 
 
 During this interval, while the king was at Marli, Necker's 
 and the plan of his declaration or fpeech at the royal jjj" Jjf e 5J~ 
 feffion was under difcuffioii in the council, he was altered in 
 induced to make fome alterations in the words or COUIlcil 
 form of it. Necker, who had been ufed to fee his 
 dictates implicitly followed, feems to have refented 
 this proceeding. Some writers have aflerted that 
 the alterations were very immaterial, a mere change 
 of words n : Necker afferts that his plan was al- 
 tered in many important particulars, and fpecifies 
 fome, but does not give the whole in its perfect 
 ftate, alleging that it was burnt by a friend to whom 
 he had lent it . Bertrand, however, has pointed 
 out many of the variations, which feem very rea- 
 fonable, and nothing more than the temperate 
 .efforts of the king's relatives and counfellors to 
 prevent the royal authority and the privileges of the 
 
 o SeeBAiLLY. n Moore's View, vol.i, p. 431. 
 
 On the Revolution, voKi. p. i^^, 173. 
 
 fuperior
 
 i ? 6 N E C K E R. 
 
 fuperior orders from being unconditionally laid at 
 the feet of the tiers etat p . I mall refume the dif- 
 cuflion of Necker's conduft ; but firft relate the 
 transactions of the day, only premifing, that Nec- 
 ker's intended refignation was generally circulated 
 and credited. 
 
 *3<f June. I n tne m idft of jealoufies, alarms, and evil im- 
 Royai preflions, the royal fitting was held. The ftreets 
 fitting. Verfailles were' lined with guards, the hall of the 
 itates was furrounded, and none but deputies ad- 
 ' mitted q . While the nobility and clergy were 
 taking their places, the tiers etat were obliged to 
 fhelter themfelves in an out-houfe from the rain, and 
 when admitted, were not accommodated with feats. 
 TJiefe were mod injudicious meafures, and tended 
 to increafe the prevailing jealoufy, and add to the 
 difcontents of the day. The king arrived foon after 
 the deputies were placed, attended by a pompous 
 retinue, the princes of the blood, the dukes and 
 peers : four heralds and their king at arms were 
 placed about the throne and in the middle of the 
 hall ; before the throne was a table, at which the 
 miniflers were feated, except Necker, who did 
 not attend. This circumftance, which feemed to 
 indicate a difapprobation of the meafures in agita- 
 tion, increafed the difiatisfaclion of the members ; 
 and their gloom received a flill deeper made from, 
 the accident of M. Paporet, one of the king's fecre- 
 taries, falling down in an apople&ic fit, and ex- 
 piring in the hall. 
 
 The. Thus furrounded by difguft, prejudice, and dif- 
 
 fye!ub. fatisfaction, diverted of the only perfon whofe coun- 
 tenance would have reftored to him, in any degree, 
 the good opinion of the fmall portion among thofe 
 ^ fubjecls who remained untainted by the contagion 
 of difloyalty, he opened the feflion by an introduc- 
 
 P Memoirs, vol. i. p. ifia. 
 
 * Arthur Young's Travels, p. nS. 
 
 tor/
 
 N E C K E R. I77 
 
 tory difcourfe, after which the plan was read. It 
 annulled the proceedings of the national aflembly ; 
 recommended the liberty of the prefs, fubje6t to cer- 
 tain reftriclions ; and the abolition of lettres-de-cachst^ 
 if it could be done confidently with the well-being 
 of individuals and of the public. The king was re- 
 ftrained from impofmg any new tax without the 
 confent of the national reprefentatives, and all ex- 
 emptions from the payment of taxes were done 
 away : the corvees were abolifhed : the diftintion of 
 orders was to be preferved, allowing, however, the 
 three eftates to meet and debate in common, with 
 the king's approbation. Many other reforms were 
 propofed, and the whole plan evinced a difpofition 
 to confult the real good, and anticipate many 
 wifhes of the people, which was certainly entitled 
 to the greateft gratitude from their reprefentatives. 
 It was received with a profound filence, rather in- 
 dicative of difcontent than approbation ; and the 
 king, having ordered the aflembly to feparate and 
 meet him there the next day, retired, attended by 
 the nobility and part of the clergy. 
 
 The aflembly, notwithftanding this order, deli- Proceed- 
 vered by the king in perfon, and enforced by a mef- ^mbiyl** 
 fage delivered by M. de Breze, grand-mafter of the 
 ceremonies, commenced an a&ive debate, or rather a 
 feries of vituperative protefts againfl the procceedings 
 of the day, which Camus called by the contemptu- 
 ous and unpopular name of a bed ofjiiftice. They 
 entered into refolutions declaratory of their adher- 
 ence to their former decrees, that the perfons of the 
 deputies of the people were inviolable, and de- 
 nounced penalties of high treafon againfl thofe who 
 mould moleft them. They feemed to contemn the 
 bounties offered fo freely by the king, which, if they 
 did not amount to all that fanguine and interefted 
 fpeculifts could defire, formed however a bafis on 
 which might have been erected a permanent temple 
 of national felicity. The demagogues of the aflem- 
 
 VOL. n. N bly
 
 J7 g N E C K E R. 
 
 bly feemed jealous left the purity and benevolence 
 of the king's intentions mould be impartially con- 
 fidered by the people, and to have feized with ma- 
 lignant avidity the opportunity offered by the ap- 
 pearance of the marquis de Breze, to fanction an 
 aft of audacious rebellion, and openly conteft the 
 palm of public favour with the king r . 
 
 obferva- The whole conduct of Necker on this occafion 
 tions on was fo extraordinary, and fo remote from propriety, 
 co'nduft! ^ to J u ^fy t ^ le re P roacnes with which the royalift 
 writers have affailed him, and to give ftrong fuf- 
 picions of his caballing with the Orleans faction 
 to maintain his power. The oftenfible pretence for 
 his abfence was his attendance on a fick fifter-in- 
 law ; but whatever may be faid of the feelings of 
 humanity and confanguinity, the man who under- 
 took, in times fo replete with trouble and peril, to 
 manage the affairs of a great kingdom, was bound 
 to fufpend for a time their dictates, in order to per- 
 form duties more important. Necker well knew 
 that much of the clamour raifed on the falfe report 
 of an intended diflblution of the afiembly, was the 
 work of a party, and had been at the pains to con- 
 tradict it in writing ; yet he did not poflefs firmnefs 
 of character or felf-denial enough to rifk the lofs 
 of any of that popularity of which he was fo 
 foolifhly enamoured, by appearing to fupport a 
 meafure againft which he had fome reafon to think 
 an outcry would be raifed. The illnefs of afifter-in- 
 law was but a weak excufe for evading the duties of 
 his ftation, knowing as he did that, but a few days 
 before, the king had been forced to receive a depu- 
 tation of the aflembly, and give his attention to bu- 
 iinefs, although affli&ed by the recent death of afon. 
 Necker has been at great pains to juftify himfelf in 
 his two apologetical publications. In that publiihed 
 
 r For the narrative of this day's proceedings and remarks on it, ac- 
 cording to their different principles, lee Rabaud, Moore's View, 
 Pages, Berirand, &c. &c. 
 
 in 
 
 )
 
 N E C K E R. 179 
 
 in 1797, and addrefied to the world at large, who 
 had feen with aftonilhment the refult of his mea- 
 fures, he ufes arguments and aflertions to the fol- 
 lowing purport ; he fays that, from the material al- 
 terations which had been made in his plan, he was 
 determined to retire from adminiftration, but would 
 not give in his formal refignation before the feflion, 
 which was to be held the next day. For this he 
 gives no reafon, but fays, " The delay was not 
 " long ; and without attaching an indifcreet import- 
 " ance to myfelf and my actions, I thought this a 
 " proper forbearance. I did not however attend at 
 " this folemn aflembly : it was not right for me to 
 " do fo ; for, if I had, the public would have con- 
 " fidered my refignation as a refolution decided by 
 " the want of fuccefs of a meafure which I had ad- 
 " vifed. It was too much alfo, I confefs, that thofe 
 " who carried it againft me Jhould oblige me to quit 
 " the mini/if y, and at the fame time force mt to ruin 
 " myfelf in the public opinion, by ojlenftbly concurring 
 " in a Jhp abfolutely contrary to my views and coun- 
 " fels s ." This fentence is remarkable for vanity 
 and treachery. If Necker really intended to quit 
 the miniftry, (which I do not believe to have been 
 the fad,) to whom was this proper forbearance 
 fhewn ? Not to the king or the court j for to the 
 court he does not hefitate at this diftance of time 
 to exprefs his malevolence ; not to the king, for he 
 would not aflift him even with his prefence, but by 
 his abfence made his repugnance to his plan the 
 more finking and obvious. His forbearance was 
 felfifh : he faw that a divifion was likely to arife 
 between the king and his fubjefts j he refolved, 
 inftead of carrying the weight of popular opinion 
 which he then poffefled to the fide of royalty, to 
 contribute all in his power to the fuccefs of the op- 
 pofmg faction : in a word, he refolved to be the 
 
 * On the Revolution, vol. i. p. 202. 
 
 N 2 minifter
 
 j8o N E C K E R. 
 
 rnimfler of the afiembly, and not of the king; 
 Though he had not announced his intended refig- 
 nation to the king, it had been fpread affiduoufly 
 enough among the people, and was, by the arts of 
 his party, univerfally deprecated s . He had been 
 for fome time in fear that the party in the cabinet 
 adverfarious to his views would gain the afcend- 
 ancy ; and therefore refolved, by a marked oppo- 
 fition to them, to ruin them in the public opinion, re- 
 gardlefs of the confequences to the king, if his own 
 authority was fecured. In this view of the fub- 
 ject, it is not too much to fuppofe that, by a refine- 
 ment of treachery, he propofed the royal fitting, a 
 novel, and, as he himfelf confeifes, a very bold and 
 delicate meafure ' ; and then, availing himfelf of 
 the differences in council, refufed to fandion the 
 profecution of it, but left the court to contend with 
 the difgrace in which he had involved them. At 
 lead this is certain, that the meafure, to have been 
 efficacious, mould have been fuggefted much fooner: 
 it mould alfo have been preceded by conciliatory de- 
 clarations, and announced as an inftance of royal be- 
 nevolence. Inftead of this, Necker permitted it to- 
 be whifpered about with all the myfterioufnefs which 
 begets diftruft, to be announced with an air of au- 
 thority already grown odious to the populace : he 
 permitted the line of feparation to be drawn between 
 the fentiments of the court and thofe of the public ; 
 and inftead of any attempt to harmonife them, ag- 
 gravated the fligheft fhades of diftinction, and, 
 eagerly attached himfelf to the popular fide. 
 
 Thus far I have examined Necker's defence as 
 held out in his laft publication, but in his preceding 
 apology, written in 1791, he appears not to have 
 fo well digefted his fpleen, or prepared his (lory ; 
 in that he mews more anger, and exhibits his 
 
 See Arthur Young's Travels, p. 108. 114. to 118. 
 1 On the Revolution, vol. i, p. 185. 153. bur TAdminiftration, 
 Ice. p. no. 
 
 iution
 
 N E C K E R. it 
 
 lution to be popular with lefs referve u . He there 
 accufes the council of having perverted his plan 
 from its original meaning, and fays, " that, by de- 
 " grees, though they appeared to retain part of bis 
 * 6 project, they refunded all that conftituted its ejfence, 
 " all that could render it agreeable to the commons." 
 He obferves, with the mean infidioufnefs of a man 
 who wifhes to return to office, in fpite of the king, 
 who at the time he wrote was flill king, " It was 
 " a remarkable fmgularity, that the court mould 
 lt think the ftyle, rather firm and lofty, which was 
 " proper when the king enjoined the two fuperior 
 " orders to unite themfelves with the commons, 
 " in their labours for the public good, was equally 
 " applicable to a ftep, the fenfe of which was ab* 
 * 6 folutely different." In the following page he fays, 
 " I defended my ideas and combated the innova- 
 " tions with the greatefl ftrength ; I courageoufly 
 <e refifted the opinions of the princes called in to 
 4t this difcuffion, and after preferving, to the lafl 
 f( moment, my hope of effecting the triumph of 
 " reafon, I confidered what line of conduct I 
 " ought to adopt, as to myfelf individually, and 
 " after a deliberate examination, and many internal 
 " ftruggles, occafioned by the difficulty of the 
 " conjuncture, I thought that I could not, in ho- 
 " nour, attend the fitting of the 23d of June, or 
 " retain my place in the miniftry ; and if I did not 
 " make the king acquainted with my final de- 
 " termination, it was for fear of receiving a pofitive 
 * c order, which it would have been impoilible for 
 *' me to obey." 
 
 Much of the agitation of this memorable day S3 d June. 
 is, doubtlefs, to be attributed to the faction of Or- 
 
 na . 
 leans, as his friends and privy-counfellors were moft 
 
 active in promoting it x , but Necker, if he be ac- Necker. 
 
 a Sur 1'Adminiftration, &c. p. 109 to n*. 
 
 x Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. i. p. 297, et feq. See ^Ifo Young'a 
 Travels, p. 117. See ORLEANS. 
 
 N 3 quitted
 
 I8 2 N E C K E R. 
 
 quitted of being the accomplice, claims his full 
 fhare in all the events by which it was diftinguifhed. 
 His popularity was fo great, that the king was ap? 
 prehenfive of the confequences of his rumoured 
 refignation, and in the evening fent for him to the 
 palace, and both he and the queen piaffed him to 
 retain his fituation. This was exaftly what he had 
 expected and wifhed, the humiliation of the court, 
 and his own exaltation, were complete. As he went 
 to this interview, and while he was there, an im- 
 menfe mob followed him, and rufhed into the court 
 of the palace, fhouting, " Vive Necker ! No refigna- 
 " tion /" but there was no cry of Vive le Roi y / 
 The indecency of this diftinction alone ought to 
 have induced the minifter to recede from the ap- 
 plaufes of the populace, and return by the inner 
 paffage from the palace to the comptroller-general's 
 hotel. But this coarfe incenfe was fuited to his 
 tafte ; he did a thing quite unufual to minifters, 
 and which he himfelf had never done before, he 
 returned to his own apartment on foot acrofs the 
 court where the populace were affembled, enjoying 
 their acclamations, affecting to yield paternally to 
 their felicitations that he would remain in office, 
 and permitting himfelf to be hoifled on their 
 Ihoulders and difplayed in triumph z . But though 
 he gained a temporary increafe of popularity, it is 
 probable that he loft more than proportionately 
 the real means of popularity, for he counteracted 
 by remaining in adminiftration the views of the 
 friends of Orleans, a deputation from whom had 
 waited on him, and intreated him, almoft on their 
 knees, to refign, for the fake of embarraffing the 
 queen's party a . 
 
 y Moore's View, vol. i. p. 148. Bertrand's Memoirs, vo). i. 
 p. if>7. 
 
 * Moore's View. Bertrand's Memoirs, ubi fupra. Young's T'3- 
 yeJs, p. 12 j. See aJfo the different hiltories. 
 
 * Young's Travels, p. 419. Sur I'Adminiftraiion, &c. p. 115. . 
 
 The
 
 N E C K E R. !8j 
 
 The nobility, and thofe of the clergy who had The row- 
 not yet joined the tiers etat, were in the utmoft jj^ t ^' r n 
 confirmation at the afpect of affairs. The king, at. 
 diffracted by contrary councils, and biaffed by his 
 declared refolution not to permit the fhedding of 
 blood in his quarrel, recommended, and finally 
 infifted on, the junction of the two fuperior orders 
 with the lower, which accordingly, in fpite of the 
 remonflrances of the duke of Luxembourg, took 7thjune. 
 effect, though without dignity or advantage, as 
 near fifty of the nobility, headed by. the duke of 
 Orleans, had taken the fame flep two days before. 
 
 Mean time the duke of Orleans and his party, Progreft 
 by their intrigues with the guards, by their feditious of evenu * 
 meetings and harangues in the palais royal, by 
 their criminal fpeculation in grain, and by the 
 various other methods detailed in the life of that 
 confpirator, were accelerating the explofion which 
 was to place him at the fummit of his wifhes. 
 Thefe events becoming known to the court and 
 the friends of the king, induced him to call in 
 the foreign troops, and to give the command to 
 M. Broglio. The conduct of Necker gave rife to 
 much uneafmefs, his wifdom or his loyalty mufl be 
 impeachable ; every meafure he had recommended 
 to the king had increafed his embarraflments, while 
 it added frefh laurels to the brow of the minifter. 
 Orders for money on the treafury figned with his 
 name, and afterwards difavowed by him; orders 
 fent into the provinces, figned with his name, for- 
 bidding the holders of corn to fend it to the capital, 
 were brought forward, yet with a fupinenefs hardly 
 credible in his fituation, he took no pains to detect 
 and punifh the authors. He was undoubtedly ap- 
 prized of the turbulent meetings at the palais roya/ 9 
 and the feduction of the military, yet took no care 
 to prevent, and cautioufly avoided fanctioning with 
 his name, any of the meafures taken to counteract 
 them. Thefe circumftances, joined to a defponding 
 N 4
 
 4 N E C K E R. 
 
 . report he made to the committee of provifions in 
 the national afiembly, gave occafion to fome perfons 
 near the throne, who were preffing for the forma- 
 tion of an entire new miniftry, to reprefent him as 
 a monopolizer of grain, a report which the mer- 
 cantile occupations of his life rendered not incredi- 
 ble. They added, that he was devoted to the fac- 
 tion which agitated the capital, and his conduct 
 was not fufficiently unequivocal to belie the affer- 
 tion b . 
 
 jith Jnly. Urged by thefe reprefentations, the king fent him 
 ?r ck :^ >s an order to quit the kingdom in four-and-twenty 
 
 difmiflion. , TT n . i j !_ r ir 
 
 -hours. He acknowledges nimlelr to have been 
 
 aftonifhed at this event, and almoft incredulous of 
 
 its reality % but the manner of his obedience is 
 
 highly creditable to him ; he was at dinner when 
 
 the order was brought, and, without the lead ap- 
 
 pearajice of concern, faid to the count de la Lu- 
 
 zerne, the perfon who brought it, " We mall meet 
 
 <e at the council." After dinner he pretended a 
 
 headach, and having quitted the company who 
 
 had been dining with him, without the leaft intima- 
 
 , tion of what had happened, prevailed on his lady 
 
 to accompany him in his carriage, as if for an 
 
 airing, and then firft communicating to her his dif- 
 
 miffion, drove to St. Ouen, his country feat, where he 
 
 flept that night; and the next morning, notwithftarid* 
 
 ing the indilpofition of madameNecker, proceeded on 
 
 his journey towards the frontier with the celerity 
 
 of an expreis d . 
 
 Obferva- The banifhment of Necker was, under all clr* 
 
 u " cumilances, the moft imprudent meafure which the 
 
 court could poffibly have taken. They knew the 
 
 fermentation at Paris ; they knew they could not 
 
 b See the Hiltorians of the time, particularly Pages, vol. i. p. 222. 
 55. Conjuration de d'Orlcans, vol. i. p. 284. 
 
 c Sur TAdminiftration, &c. p. 117. On the Revolution, vol. i, 
 p. ai4" 
 
 * Sur TAdminiftration, &c. p. ^19. See alfo the Hiftories. 
 
 depend
 
 N E C K E R. , 5 g 
 
 depend on the fidelity of the troops, and they knew 
 that thefe agitations and defections were produced 
 by the ambition of the firft prince of the blood. 
 If the king had retained the minifter, the explofion 
 then meditated would have wanted at lead one 
 pretext, and if he had any attachment to the king, 
 his credit with the people might poflibly have been 
 reforted to with advantage. If, on the other hand, 
 he was inclined to the oppofite party, his prefence 
 would have been a very trifling fan&ion to their 
 proceedings, and the view of a king, befet by 
 traitors, ruined by duplicity, and betrayed and 
 abandoned by the minifter in whom he confided, 
 would have prefented to his fubjecls a fpeftacle 
 fo interefting as to have caufed many to rally around 
 his ftandard, whom contrary fenfations drove into 
 the arms of the infurgents. Necker's conduct ap- 
 pears to have been founded on this principle ; he 
 thought his own popularity perfectly eftablifhed, 
 and his confidence in himfelf led him to believe he 
 could avert all the miferies of France, if his views 
 were not thwarted by thofe whom ambition led to 
 defire his place ; whom interefl led to oppofe his 
 economy ; or whom the pride of unqueftioned au- 
 thority led to reject his conciliatory plans, or refent 
 the freedom with which they were propofed, and 
 the earneftnefs with which they were recommended. 
 He faw in oppofition to thefe a ftrong party, 
 headed by a weak, profligate and uncertain charac- 
 ter, and apprehended that when fuccefs mould have 
 enabled them to humble thofe who formed the 
 jpbftacle to his views, he could by means of his 
 popularity guide and reftrain the party whom he 
 meant to uie only as his tools, and when ufed throw 
 them by. Alas ! he did not fee that he was the 
 tool, that his popularity was fictitious, and that the 
 fame hands which placed the laurel on his brow 
 could, in fpite of his talents or merits, fnatch it 
 
 away
 
 i!6 N E C K E R. 
 
 away for ever*. His banimment, at the prefent 
 moment, afforded a pretext to the faction of Or- 
 kans to accelerate their plans for fubverting the 
 government. The perfon who brought the news 
 from Verfailles to Paris was confidered a liar or a 
 lunatic, and was with difficulty preferved from the 
 fury of the mob ; but when the report was fully 
 confirmed, and many falfehoods added refpeding 
 the intended diUblution of the affembly, the burning 
 of Paris, and the murder of the inhabitants, they 
 burft into acts of the moft furious violence. They 
 carried the buft of the minifler, covered with 
 crape, about the ftreets, together with that of the 
 duke of Orleans, and made them a rallying point 
 
 *tb July. f or t he difaffeaed. The national aflembly believed, 
 or pretended to believe, that in the difmiffion of 
 Necker their own ruin- was involved ; they made 
 hade to ftrike terror into the new miniilry, by de- 
 creeing them refponfible for all the events which 
 mould take place in confequence of the public 
 fermentation ; and that Necker had carried with 
 him the confidence of the nation. 
 
 HUrecal. Shortly after the events of the i4th July, the 
 aflembly were induced, by the interference of the 
 municipality of Paris, to addrefs the king to remove 
 his prefent miniftry, and recal Necker. The effect 
 of this indecent interference in the province of the 
 executive power is incalculable, had it been refifted ; 
 but the miniftry, of their own accord, refigned their 
 fituations the day the addrefs was voted ; and the 
 king difpatched a mefTage to Necker the fame day, 
 inviting his return. He had, before the receipt of this 
 letter, gained intelligence of the revolution from the 
 
 e He became afterwards fully fer.fihle of this truth, and acknow- 
 ledges, that, but for the ardent eloquence of M. Lally, he fhould have 
 funk gently into oblivion after the uthof July. Suri'Adiuiniftratioii, 
 &c. 0.423. 
 
 duchefsi
 
 N E C K E R. 187 
 
 duchefs de Polignac f , who, flying from the popular 
 fury in a lefs circuitous direction than the ex-mi- 
 nifter, had overtaken him at Baftl, and apprized 
 him of the recent events. Had he poffeffed a great 
 mind, he would have rejected the proffered return 
 to power, obvioufly procured for him by force ; and 
 by neglecting his extorted commands, have fhewn, 
 in the moft unequivocal manner, his compliance with 
 the ivifhes of the king. Had he poffeffed only a 
 moderate portion of genuine philofophy, and felt 
 the pure affection which a virtuous mind entertains 
 for a high reputation, in.ftead of the appetite, whieh 
 fools and knaves often poffefs in common with wife 
 and honeft men, for popular acclamation, he would 
 have followed his plan of retirement, pofleffing the 
 regrets and good wifhes of a mighty nation, and the 
 refpect of a very great portion of Europe g . 
 
 Necker, however, decided otherwife. He wrote *?d July, 
 to the kin? and to the national affembly, accepting D ? ter - 
 
 ', . . . . rr> i_ i L r i MI. mines to 
 
 their invitation, io the king he uies a very chilling return, 
 phrafe ; " I return to receive your orders, and 
 V afcertain on the fpot, whether my indefatigable 
 ^ zeal and entire devotednefs can yet be of any 
 " fervice to your majefty. I am convinced that this 
 " is your wijb, fince you deign to affure nie of it." 
 To the affembly he fays ; " Worthily to reply to 
 " that ennobling mark of your regard far exceeds my 
 * feeble powers : but at leaft, gentlemen, I may be 
 " allowed to offer you the homage of my refpedful 
 *' gratitude V When Necker had refolved to re- 
 
 f Memoires de la Ducheflfe de Polignac, par la Comtefle Diane de 
 Polignac, p. 37. Hiitories. 
 
 g Subfequent events, which have thrown light on the caufes and 
 combinations which produced thole als which preceded M. Neckei'5 
 difmilfion, and his own conduct and writings, have contributed to 
 weaken thofe lentiments j ixit if they had not r>een fo brilliant at that 
 i;ioment, they would have been more general and permanent. 
 
 h See the Letters and Anfwers in Necker on the French Revolution, 
 vol. i. p. 225. That to the king is in the ftyle of a perfon fullenly 
 conferring a favour : that to the affembly, in the ftyle ot a man highly 
 honoured and proportionately grateful, 
 
 turn,
 
 N E C K E R. 
 
 turn, there was one eflential fervice to be rendered 
 to the king, which, had he been honeflly defirous of 
 it, might have tended to tranquillize the country, 
 and give permanence to the throne. I owe the fug- 
 geftion to Bertrand, and tranfcribe his own words : 
 " To have rendered his zeal ufeful to the king and 
 " the ftate at that period, he had but one line of 
 " conduct to adopt, which was, to have immediately 
 *' prefented himfelf to the afiembly, and after hav- 
 " ing thanked them for the concern with which 
 " they had honoured him, to have candidly an- 
 * e nounced to them, that he was the author of the 
 * 6 declaration of the 23d of June, as it had been 
 " read in the affembly, except fome expreffions 
 " which had been altered, which by no means al* 
 ** tered the fenfe of it ; that he folemnly perfifted in 
 " the opinion, that the form of government efta- 
 <c blifhed by that law, according to the wimes ex- 
 ** prefled in the majority of the inftructions, was 
 " the only one proper for France ; therefore his 
 " confcience, his honor, and his zeal, made it his 
 " duty not to return into adminiftration till the 
 ** aflembly had declared their adherence to the 
 " declaration of the 23d of June. The general 
 " confidence and vaft credit which M. Necker en- 
 " joyed at that moment enabled him to give the 
 " people whatever impreflion he pleafed, and to 
 " have made it impoffible for the aflembly to 
 " have rejected his propofitions. It was in his 
 " power at this period to have had many abufes 
 " corrected, the monarchy wifely limited and pre- 
 " ferved, and by fo important a fervice he would 
 " have fecured to himfelf as long a minifterial ca- 
 " reer as his ambition could have defired V A 
 mode of conduct formed on this outline would have 
 rendered him refpectable, and procured him a nu- 
 merous body of friends. 
 
 J Memoirs, vol. i. p. 70. 
 
 His
 
 N E C K E R. ,89 
 
 &is progrefs through the country was, in its trued His jor- 
 ienfe, a triumph. Acclamations of multitudes, an "^ T a " < * 
 efcort of troops, refpeft and veneration, attended * 
 him the whole way k . His interpofition effected 
 what the king's influence could not have done, in 
 faving the life of the baron de Bezenval. His re- 
 turn was celebrated at Paris with all the demonftra- 
 tions of joy which a hafty, fanguine, and capricious 
 people could give. He was introduced in great 
 pomp to the national affembly, where he was com- 
 plimented by the prefident in an elegant fpeech, 
 which was ordered to be printed, that all France 
 might atteft and approve the homage paid by their 
 reprefentatives. His reply was brief, and contained 
 nothing remarkable. He went the next day to 
 Paris, accompanied by his colleague, M. de St. 
 Priefl ; they were met at the barrier by an immenfe 
 multitude, who took the horfes from the carriage, 
 and drew it themfelves to the Hotel-de-ville. Here 
 he was received by the commune, and compli- 
 mented by Bailly, the mayor. The mob with- 
 out infilled on feeing him, and he mewed him- 
 felf in the balcony, accompanied by his wife 
 and daughter. On his return to the commune, he 
 took occafion to mention the fituation of Bezenval, 
 and to advert to the fcenes which had lately dif- 
 graced the capital. The liberation of the baron, 
 and a general amnefty, were inftantly decreed by 
 acclamation ; and the minifter, happy in the fuccefs 
 of his efforts, retired. Intoxicated with homage 
 and applaufe, he was incapable of feeing that his po- 
 pularity had reached its height, and that its decline 
 was to be dated from that moment. The diftri&s 
 of Paris were excited to proteft againft the acts of 
 the commune ; and the affembly, on the motion of 
 
 
 * See the Hiftories, and Arthur Young's Travels, p. 14.3. 
 
 Mirabeau,
 
 Piopofes 
 loans. 
 
 7ih Aug. 
 
 NECKER; 
 
 Mirabeau, reverfed them '. In fhort, he had rifeii 
 to as great an eminence in the public opinion as the 
 faction of the palais royal judged it expedient to 
 permit ; and while his return was celebrated by 
 illuminations and fire- works, his difgrace was re- 
 folved on m . 
 
 Little cabal, very fmall efforts of intrigue, were 
 neceflary in the prefent circumftances to render the 
 decline of the minifter's popularity certain. The 
 payment of taxes was refufed in many provinces, 
 and the power of paying them was taken from many 
 perfons by the burning their houfes and plundering 
 of their eftates by mobs. Necker reprefented to the 
 aflembly, in a long fpeech, the diftreffed ftate of the 
 revenue ; that the treafury contained only four hun- 
 dred thoufand livres (17,5007.), chiefly in notes of 
 the caiffe d'efcompte, then in a ftate of bankruptcy : 
 
 1 The BARON DE BEZENVAL was commandant of the Swifs guards 
 at the sera of the revolution. He was faid to have encouraged de 
 taunay to defend the Baftille, and to have pYomifed him a reinforce- 
 ment j this fuggettion rendering his ftay in Paris unfate after the i^th 
 July, he folicited and obtained from the king leave to return to 
 Switzerland, his own country. In his way thither he was arrelted at 
 Villenaux by the national militia, juft as Necker was pairing. He 
 immediately wrote to the municipal officers, requefting his liberation* 
 v^hich they declined granting till they mould receive an order to that 
 effeft from the permanent committee at the Hotel-de-ville; Necker 
 folicited and obtained it; but the affembly decreed that the baron 
 fhould be kept in fafe cuftody near the place where he was arrefted, 
 till he could be tried; hebeing, in the mean time, under the pro- 
 tection ef the law. He was conducted to Brie-Comte-Robert, and 
 committed to the caftle. It was fortunate for him the meflenger dif- 
 patchcd with the decree of the aflemhly ufed expedition enough to 
 prevent his return to Paris with thofe dilpatched by the diftri&s, as a 
 mob of thirty thoufand people were waiting for him at the Gieve, with 
 a gallows and rope, ready to have executed judgment on him in their 
 fummary way. When the court of the Chatelet was creeled into a trU 
 bunal for the trial of crimes of / nation, he was arraigned before 
 them ; and it appearing that he had, in the whole of his conduct, 
 merely afled in obedience to the commands of his luperiors, he was 
 acquitted. The baron Survived his aciquiual but a fliort time. He 
 died at Paris. 
 
 ra See the various hiftories. Necker himfelf fpeaks with great feel- 
 ing and anger of the refolution entered into to unpopularife him 
 r') . Sur I'AdnUniftration, fcc- p. ija. 409, 
 
 and
 
 N E C K E R. 191 
 
 and after defcribing the caufes of the differ^ 
 ence between the receipt and expenditure, propofed 
 a loan of thirty millions (1,312,5007.), to 
 anfwer the current expences for two months, in 
 which time he hoped the conftitution might be 
 nearly, if not entirely finifhed. The contractors 
 were to have five per cent, and a certain bonus : but 
 the reftoration of public credit would have fixed the 
 minifter and the royal authority too firmly to fuit 
 the views of the faction ; they therefore diminifhed 
 the advantages of the propofal, and reduced the in* 
 tereft to four and an half per cent.: the confequence 
 was the utter failure of the fcheme, as three weeks 
 elapfed after the decree, and not a tenth part of the 
 money was fubfcribed. Another loan of eighty z?th Aug. 
 millions (3,500,0007.) was then propofed on the 
 minifter's original plan ; but the public confidence 
 was departed, and it met with no fuccefs". 
 
 In September, the public mind was agitated by i ft Sept. 
 the queflion, what mare of the legiflative power JJJJ!*"" 
 fhould be confided in the crown ; and whether the 
 king was to have a prohibitory control over the 
 acts of the affembly ? This debate was carried on 
 with fmgular acrimony and violence for a fortnight. 
 One party maintained, that the decrees of the aflem- 
 bly mould have the force of laws, without the royal 
 fan&ion : the other, that the king mould have an 
 abfolute negative on all decrees. This queflion pro- 
 duced many others ; fuch as, thofe of the king's 
 inviolability, and the defcent of the crown ; but 
 the main point was flill undecided. Necker pre- Necker's 
 fented a memoirs propofing a middle meafure, opinion, 
 namely, that the decrees of the affembly mould be 
 prefented to the king for his fan&ion, which if he 
 withheld during the fittings of two afiemblies, both 
 agreeing in the expediency of them, they mould 
 become laws without his confent. This was termed 
 
 Debates. Hiftories. 
 
 Ofuf.
 
 , 92 N E C K E R. 
 
 a fufpenfive veto. The plan contains very little wi& 
 dom ; the dread of committing to the crown an 
 uncontrolled power of refufmg a fandion to laws 
 apparently unjuft and inefficacious, muft have origin- 
 ated from malignant jealoufy and refolute mifappre- 
 henfion ; and the project of protracting the confent 
 between the executive and legiflative powers, during 
 the continuance of two aiTemblies, was a monfter 
 of weaknefs and deformity. The affembly, under a 
 pretended terror of minifterial influence, refufed to 
 read the memoire of their late idol. He publifhed 
 it ; and at length, wearied with a conteft on the 
 other alternatives of an abfolute veto, or none at all, 
 wherein perfonal acrimony increafed, without mak- 
 ing any profelytes, the afiembly adopted the plan of 
 the minifter ; but without any compliment to him, 
 direct or implied. 
 
 Patiiotic Still the derangement of the finances appeared 
 donations. Irreparable. Patriotifm, or a love of diftinclion, 
 had impelled many perfons to make voluntary 
 donations of their plate, jewels, and ornaments, 
 which were denominated patriotic gifts. The king, 
 in commiferation of the public diflrefs for fpecie, 
 had fent his fuperb fervices of plate to the mint j 
 but thefe fupplies were impermanent and infufficient. 
 *4th Sept. Necker again attended the aflembly, and after draw- 
 iitoa. j n g an a l arm ing and juft picture of the ftate of the 
 revenue, and exprefling his hopes of being able 
 by economy and the equalization of taxes, to reftore 
 Necker public credit, propofed that a contribution mould 
 propofesa be levied on every individual, equivalent to one 
 S of one f ourtn of his annual income, to be paid in fifteen 
 fourth of months. This violent meafure, which did not re- 
 ofVaYh m! ( l uire a11 tne de P th of financial knowledge the 
 dividual, minifter was fuppofed to poffefs, was, after fome 
 debate, fanclioned by the affembly, to the furprife 
 of many ; Mirabeau, Necker's inveterate opponent, 
 fupported it, and propofed placing in him an un- 
 limited confidence. This furprife was abated by 
 4 Mirabeau's
 
 N E C K E R, J93 
 
 Mirabeau's fubfequent conduct, for when it was 
 objected that the affembly could not, confidently 
 with their inftruclions, vote any new tax till the 
 king fhould have fanctioned the articles of the 
 conftitution then under his confideration, Mirabeau 
 tacked the decree for the new import, to the requefl 
 of the affembly that the king would no longer delay 
 to fandlion the decrees relating to the conftitution, 
 and thofe of the 4th of Auguft. This finefie, 
 which a democratic writer in England has honoured 
 with the title of a " happy combination of the 
 " different views on the fubject ," is neither more 
 nor lefs than what was formerly practifed in the 
 houfe of commons of this country, tacking to a 
 money-bill another which might be fuppofed lefs 
 palatable to the fuperior orders of the conftitution, 
 a practice which they have long fince difcontinued, 
 and againfl the legality of which many refolutions 
 have been entered into by the lords p . 
 
 This extraordinary coalition, combined with the Conduflof 
 events then in agitation, and which fo fatally broke ^" ker re - 
 
 r if i 11 r r ' , fretting 
 
 out a few days after, have led to a fuipicion that the 5 th of 
 the minifter was willing to make a compromife for oaober 
 his perfonal fafety, or for a remnant of popularity, 
 by conniving at, if not. abetting the projects of the 
 confpirators. Without fuch connivance, or an 
 ignorance of public affairs, and the tranfactions of 
 the capital, almoft as culpable, it is thought impofli- 
 ble that fo mighty an enterprife mould have been 
 formed and conducted in fuch a manner that the 
 lead intimation of it did not reach the court. It is 
 confidered almofl impoffible that, on the morning 
 of the 5th of October, the king mould have been 
 fuffered to go to Meudon to take the diverfion of 
 hunting, without receiving the leaft hint of the 
 proceedings at Paris, or mould never be apprized 
 
 Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p. 223. 
 
 P Debates. Hifteiies. See MIRABEA*. 
 
 VOL. II. O of
 
 i$4 N E C K E R. 
 
 of them till the hall of the aflembly was filled with 
 poiflardes. Had the minifter no friend, no fpy in 
 Paris, who could apprize him of the dangers with 
 which the life of the monarch and thofe of his 
 family were threatened? Such a deficiency of in- 
 formation is unpardonable, if credible ; but if Necker 
 knew of thefe events and neglected to apprise the 
 court of them, in what light muft the honeft men 
 of this day, in what light muft pofterity view his 
 conduct ? 
 
 6th Nov. The opinion of his having connected himfclf 
 toertab'iih a &i ve ty wtito the Orleans' faction, is believed by 
 a national fome authors, but the antipathy between him and 
 bank. Mirabeau which prevented a treaty with the king, 
 would have fruftrated an union of the kind. Necker 
 had not what the confpirators tenn energy enough 
 to ferve their latent purpofes or retain their patron- 
 J4th Nov. age. He returned to his duties as a financier, and 
 prefented to the aflembly a plan for eftabliming a 
 national bank, to be raifed on the remains of the 
 caiffe d'Efcompte, and fupplied by the fale of crown 
 and church lands. This project firft gave rife to 
 the emiffion of qffignats, which were notes or 
 transferable acknowledgments of the receipt of 
 monies to be refunded by the fale of thofe domains. 
 This, like other innovations, or novel expedients, 
 was very much approved at firft. The people were 
 anxious to mew their zeal by contributing largely 
 to the patriotic donations, which were by this new 
 plan to be funded, to anfwer extraordinary emer- 
 gencies. But the reputation of Necker had de- 
 clined, his prefence gave no pleafure, he was not 
 looked up to as the faviour of the country, but 
 merely as a minifter of fome talents, and a neceflary 
 drudge in the myfterious and laborious bufinefs of 
 finance. 
 
 Decline of This indifference was foon converted into difguft. 
 hrit P pU " r ^^ ie c 01111 1 ^ 6 f tne aflembly employed in carry- 
 ing into execution his econnomical plans, required 
 
 a regifter 

 
 N E C K E R. 15,5 
 
 a regifter of the expenditures, penfions, and dona* 
 tions of the public money by the court for the laft 
 twenty years, called the red book. The king ex- 
 preffed an unwillingnefs to comply with this requeft, 
 as it \vould expofe the profufion of his grandfather. 
 Some of the expences of his own reign might alfo 
 excite fenfations of repugnance in the prefent ftate 
 of the public mind. Camus, however, as prefi- 
 dent of the committee, prefled for the perufal of 
 the book, alledging that it was not to be publifhed 
 or its contents divulged to gratify idle curiofity, but 
 was to be made ufe of merely to form the bafis o 
 a report, which the committee could not draw up 
 without it. Necker on this, with a too ready isth Mar* 
 credulity perhaps, but without any apparent ill- 
 intention, prevailed on the king to let the book be 
 fent to the committee. To the great furprife of all 
 honeft and feeling men, the book was immediately 
 fent to the prefs and publifhed. The minifter re- 
 monftrated with Camus in fuch a flyle as brought 
 on a quarrel between them. The public took part 
 with the treacherous prefident of the committee, and 
 the prefs teemed with fcandalous pamphlets, againft 
 the upftart, ariflocrat financier q . Every incident of 
 his public life, efpecially fince his lafl recal, was 
 converted into matter of reproach, and truth and 
 fiction were exhaufted in fearch of fcandalous 
 anecdotes of his private life r . Thus was the man 
 who had been exalted to a degree exceeding all 
 reafonable hope for acts of equivocal virtue, or 
 fmall importance, degraded in the public mind to 
 the ftate of a criminal, for a mode of conduct 
 which all good men mud have refpected. He 
 accelerated the downfal of his popularity by a 
 treatife in defence of nobility, a crime in the ftate of 
 opinions then prevailing in France, utterly unpar- 
 donable 8 , and the unfortunate affair of Nancy, 
 
 1 Moore's View, vol. ii. p. IJT. 
 
 r Sur TAdininiftration, &c. p. 131. 409. 414. 
 
 ' See Hiftorical Sketch, p. 286. 
 
 o 2 which
 
 15,6 N E C K E R. 
 
 which involved all the miniders in blame, completed 
 his debafement. 
 
 To an ear long foothed by the jacclamations of 
 popular applaufe, to an eye long accuflomed to 
 fee every beholder bending with veneration, or 
 animated with hope, nothing can be more irkfome 
 and infupportable than the privation of thofe grati- 
 fications, and the fubflitution of contempt and 
 reproach for reverence and admiration. The man 
 whofe virtuous labours are directed to the public 
 good, and to the faithful difcharge of the dictates 
 of his confcience alone, can furvey with indifference 
 the fluctuations of public opinion, and perfifl in his 
 duty, though expofed to all the dorms of popular 
 outrage, but he who fixes his affections on the un- 
 itable and injudicious applaufe of the multitude, 
 and facrifices to it, in the flighted degree, his in- 
 tegrity and honour, once deprived of it, feels that 
 dreary inconfoleablenefs which refults from difap- 
 pointment in an illicit object of the tendered foli- 
 citude, and for which no internal principles, or con- 
 fcioufnefs of irreproachable conduct is left to make 
 amends. 
 
 Demands Notwithftandmg all the external fymptoms of 
 
 rime/ * ms decaying popularity and influence, Necker could 
 
 hardly believe the reality. The concurrence of 
 
 circumflances, and the flatteries of his wife and 
 
 friends, had led him into notions fo extravagant, 
 
 that he fuppofed, if he were fo inclined, he could 
 
 edablifh a new religion in France, inftead of 
 
 Chriftianity. But he was at length undeceived and 
 
 alarmed for his perfonal fafety by an infurrection 
 
 +th Sept. which the Jacobins raifed for the purpofe c , he wrote 
 
 J?9 ' to the affembly demanding leave to retire, affigning 
 
 as a caufe, his ill date of health, and proffering to 
 
 leave the money due to him from government, 
 
 which has been already dated to amount to 
 
 96,250 /. flerling, together with his hotel and 
 
 1 Sur 1'Adminiftration, &c. p. 4*4, BertrancTs Memoirs, p. 174, 
 
 furniture
 
 N E C K E TL f?7 
 
 furniture as pledges for the integrity of his admini- 
 ftration. No part of this letter was deemed import- 
 ant enough to claim any attention, and they pafled 
 to the order of the day. Some of the fe&ions of 
 Paris, on the news of his intended departure, af- 
 fembled to deliberate whether it mould be permitted, 
 and whether the fum he had propofed to leave was 
 fufficient to indemnify the public for what he had 
 robbed them of, and there is no doubt that if they 
 had been urged to it by any of thofe perfons who 
 were then in the habit of directing their motions, 
 the mob would have prevented his departure and 
 placed him in prifon. But Necker's opponents 
 required only his abfence, and therefore difcouraged 
 any violent proceedings u . 
 
 This indifference was a thunder-flroke to Necker, 
 it was utterly unexpected, he felt it with thegreateft 
 fenfibility, and acknowledges that the affembly, by 
 one fmgle expreffion of kindnefs might have retained 
 him x . The whole of his book on his own ad- 
 miniftration is replete with expreffions of the 
 injury which his pride and honour had fuftained 
 from the unkindnefs of the affembly. He had dill, 
 however, fome hopes of returning kindnefs, and 
 notwithstanding his pretended ill-health, meanly 
 waited eight days at Paris, in expectation that fome 
 change of affairs would occafion his reiloration to 
 office, or, as he expreffes himfelf, he had the weak- 
 nefs to await from fome quarter a fentiment of 
 juftice or of goodnefs Y . 
 
 The journey of this degraded minifter through Quits Pa* 
 France, fo different from his triumphant entry the l ' is 
 year before, is narrated by himfelf in fuch pathetic 
 terms, that I mould fail in doing juftice to the 
 fubjedl if I were to relate it in any but his own 
 
 " The facls contained in the preceding nnrrative are taken from 
 Moore's View, Bertrand's Memoirs, and the various hiftories j which 
 refpeftively contain different, but not repvignant narratives. 
 
 * Sur 1'Aiiininiftiatioi:, &c. p. 436. Y Idem, p. 426. 
 
 o 3 wprds>
 
 ip8 N E C K E R. 
 
 xvords, the facts are corroborated by all the hif- 
 florians. " At length I fet out, and I alone, in- 
 " dulging a long feries of recollections, I alone 
 " know my ftruggles and my heartfelt pain ; I fet 
 <c out, and already was I preceded by thofe dread- 
 " ful letters, thofe fatal correfpondences which im- 
 " part to the provinces fentiments of hatred, in- 
 a juiiice, and perfecution. Rapid in their effects 
 " as the wand of Medea, they appeafe the furies, 
 * c or excite them at pleafure. I fpeedily experienced 
 Is amfted their malign influence ; I was taking a few 
 J tA A C 'bV " moments re Pf e > f ree from miftruft, at the poft- 
 C) 6 houfe in the little town of Arcis-fur-Aube, forty 
 " leagues from Paris, when I was furprifed by the 
 <c appearance of a great crowd of the people, and 
 " feveral armed men, who entered my chamber. 
 " They began by demanding my paflports ; I had 
 " three of them, and a fpecial letter from the king. 
 " I {hewed them ; the municipality, the directory 
 " of the diftrict agreed that they were perfectly 
 *' regular, but fome hot-headed individuals per- 
 " fuaded the national guard to think otherwife, 
 " and violence was triumphant. They conducted 
 c us, madame Necker and myfelf, between two 
 *' ranks of fufileers, to an inn which they ap- 
 " pointed for us, and where at firfl they talked of 
 " keeping us apart from our fervants ; but they at 
 *' length contented themfelves with giving a watch- 
 *' word at the inn-door, and prohibiting all com- 
 <c munication with us j they multiplied pofts of 
 " fentinels, and to fulfil all the dictates of pru- 
 " dence, placed a corps-de-garde in the rooms 
 Writes to " below. I wifhed to write to the national aifem- 
 tiie aflem- ^ly ; permiflion was granted ; but with a re- 
 *' fervation that none of my fervants fhould carry 
 " the letter ; it was intruded to two citizens of 
 *' Arcis, who, when they reached Paris, entered into 
 *' confutation with thofe members of the aflembly 
 *' who were mod inimical to me.: they fixed a day 
 
 " and
 
 N E C K E R. , 99 
 
 " and hour for the tranfmiffion of my letter to the 
 " national aflembly, and after a debate which pro- 
 " duced fome perfidious but impotent attacks, it 
 " was agreed that I fhould at leafl enjoy the rights 
 " of man, and they forbad all further impediment to 
 " the continuation of my journey ; but they care- 
 * e fully abftained from exprefling any difapprobation 
 " of the national guard at Arcis. They were, 
 ** however, afraid that the prefident % who was a 
 " worthy man, mould in his anfwer adopt a ftyle 
 *' refembling that of gratitude ; and as one or two 
 " members, in a moment of extraordinary boldnefs, 
 " had hinted fomething of thanks for my fervices, 
 " the prefident was required to communicate his 
 " letter before he difpatched it, and he was obliged, 
 " contrary perhaps to his own private wifhes, to 
 " confine himfelf rigidly to the terms dictated to 
 him." 
 
 After fome dolorous reflections on this injuftiee Proceeds 
 of the aflembly, and a comparative view of the fa- ? n his 
 cility with which they voted thanks on fome occa- J 
 fions, and their extreme jealoufy of granting them 
 on the prefent, he thus continues : " I quitted 
 " Arcis-fur-Aube, that town which perhaps at this 
 " day regrets its conduct towards me ; and rein- 
 " forced with a fourth paflfport, that of the na- 
 " tional aflembly, continued my route. But, on Stopped at 
 " my arrival at Vefoul, I was detained by the people: Veloul - 
 " they flopped my carriage, cut the traces, held the 
 " mod threatening language, and I had great dif- 
 " ficulty in efcaping from their undifcerning fury* 
 " At night the fervants who were following me in- His fer- 
 *' curred a ftill greater danger; they were tumult- J^ 1 "! ^~ d 
 " uoufly feized, the trunks which were in their his trunte* 
 *' carriage were opened, the padlocks broke, their hroke 
 * e contents were induftrioufly examined ; and from opcn ' 
 ** the infide of the houfe where thefe iniquities were 
 
 a Bureau de Piny, 
 
 04 * tranf-
 
 2 co N E C K E R. 
 
 " tranfacting, they cried to the mob without, 
 " Stay,Jtay, ive will give you notice 'when we fold any 
 " thing. They only wanted therefore a pretence to 
 " commit the greateft violences ; fortunately they 
 " found none ; the papers were a collection of the 
 " principal letters of thanks and kindnefs which I 
 " had received for fome time pad : the manufcript 
 " books contained the accounts of my domeftic ex- 
 " pences : they were therefore obliged to let my 
 " fervants depart, who for neai five hours confi- 
 " dered themfelves between life and death, and in 
 * 4 their danger bound themfelves by vows, which 
 * c after their deliverance they immediately ful- 
 filled V 
 
 Arrives at Thus, after a journey replete with difgrace, infult, 
 P et and danger, he arrived at his eftate at Copet, where 
 he ftill refides b . The oblivion from which he was 
 refcued by M. Lally, and which he appears fo much 
 to have dreaded, now fo completely enfhrouds him, 
 that all the abufe of his adverfaries, who are to be 
 found in all parties, and three works of confiderable 
 fize,befides fmaller ones, which he haspublifhed fmce 
 his retreat, are inefficient, among ft thofe who are 
 not immediate fufFerers by the revolution, to make 
 him perfonally the topic of a moment's converf- 
 ation. The popular indignation was carried to fuch 
 
 * Siir rAdminiftration, &c,p.4.i6. 
 
 b Gibbon thus ilefcribes his mifery after his retreat : " I pa/Ted fotir 
 44 days at the csftle of Copet with Necker ; and could have wifhed to 
 ' have (hewn him, as a warning to any afpiring youth pofTefled with 
 *' the djemon of ambition. With all the means of private happinefs 
 " in his power, he is the rooft milerable of human beings : the pad, 
 " tlie prefent, and the future, are equally odious to him. When I 
 *' fuggeft-'d lome domeftic amufements of books, building, &c. he 
 " anfwered with a deep tone of defpair, ' Dam le'tat ou je fuis, je ne fuu 
 ' fentir que It coup de vent fui ma abbatu.' How different from the care- 
 <{ lefs cheerfulnefs with which our poor friend lord North fupported 
 " his fall I Madame N'ecker maintains more external compofure, 
 ( mah le diable rfy perd rien. It is true thst Necker wifhed to be carried 
 ii.io the clofer, like old Pitt, on the fhoulders of the people; and 
 ' that he h?.d been ruined by that democracy which he had raifed." 
 Gibbon's Miiceilaneous Works, vol. i, p. 113. 
 
 extremes
 
 NEC 1C E R. 2or 
 
 extremes at the period of the loth of Auguft 1792, 
 that his bufts and ftatues were affiduoufly fought 
 out, and deftroyed with all the marks of ignominy 
 and hatred fhewn to thofe of kings c . 
 
 The conduct of Necker on every occafion has Hischa- 
 been fo amply difcufled in the preceding pages, that ra & er > 
 it is unneceffary to fpeak of it otherwise than in ge- 
 neral terms. That he was a principal caufe of the 
 French revolution is admitted by writers of every 
 defcription, by perfons whofe principles and ftyles 
 are oppofite as thofe of Bertrand and Pages : yet it 
 is his fate to have no defenders ; the royalift writers 
 load him with execration, as a monfter, the ftigma 
 of the human race ; while the republicans defpife 
 him as a fhallow egotift, with views narrow and con- 
 tracted, and an underftanding too limited to form 
 a grand univerfal fcheme of government d . He in- 
 direftly confeffes that the revolution was his work, 
 when he fays, that " the precipitation with which 
 " the ftates-general were promifed, and the impa- 
 * c tience with which the execution of thi engage- 
 
 c Peltier relates a curious anecdote of a buft of Necker, which may 
 
 fliew the inltability of popular favour. A fculptor of the name 
 
 of Houdon, had been ordered to make a butt of this minifter 
 
 foon after the i4-th of July. " The artift, confined in his work- 
 
 " fhop, had no idea that, in the fhort time which elapffd trom his 
 
 " receiving the order till his rimming the buft, the people could 
 
 " polTibly have expelled from their temple the idol they before wor- 
 
 *' fhipped. Houdon therefore having exerted himfelf to complete if, 
 
 1 comes all covered with fweat and duft, bringing the piecious 
 
 ' marble, carefully wrapt up in matting a few days after the ex- 
 
 * pedition to Nancy. What an unfortunat; circumftance ! The 
 
 ' blood of the brethren and friends of Chateauvieux had been fhed : 
 
 ' Necker was one of the king's privy council : not a member of the 
 
 ' common council dared to expiefs his approbation of the buft : it 
 
 ' was rejected with contempt ; and the artift thought himfelf very 
 
 ' lucky in being fuffered to take it home, with the hope of felling it 
 
 ' at Come future day, as an historical monument of popular ingrati- 
 
 ' tude." Late Picture of Paris, vol.ii. p. no. 
 
 d See Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 177. Pages Hiftoire Secrete, 
 vol. i. p. 167. 319. Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobiniim, p 67. Apolo<n<t 
 des Projets, &c. p. 185. Arthur Young's Example of France, &c. 
 p. 47. 83. Alfo an admirable delineation of his characlerin Bouille's 
 Memoirs, p. 516* 
 
 " ment
 
 202 N E C K E R. 
 
 " mcnt was hurried on, produced baneful confe- 
 " quences V Now no perfon hurried on the per- 
 formance of the king's promife fo much as himfelf, 
 as he owns with fome felf-gratulation in his public- 
 ation in 1791 f . In defence of his general conduct 
 he very frequently recurs to the force of public opi- 
 nion , but this is a mere cant word ; the public opi- 
 nion is not the law of a wife man or a great ftatef- 
 man, it is a powerful machine which he ought to di- 
 rect, but never fuffer himfelf to be drawn in by its 
 impetuofity, or crulhed by its weight. It is well 
 faid by Mallet du Pan, that Necker fell a victim to 
 public opinion, after having offered incenfe to it as 
 an idol, inflead of governing it as the Have of expe- 
 rience and genius s . His vanity, which was in 
 fome degree defenfible, confidering how much it 
 was inflamed by the public and every one about 
 him, occafioned moft of his errors ; but his defire 
 of retaining his place led him to adopt meafures and 
 form coalitions to which a virtuous and confident 
 man, whatever might have been his ultimate views, 
 would not have condefcended. His political inte- 
 grity is much applauded ; I think it has fome 
 f hades ; but admitting it to be unfullied, it affords 
 but a feeble excufe for the evils he has occafioned. 
 In private life, an honeft motive extenuates erro- 
 neous conduft, but a minifter is juft as culpable for 
 the effe&s which are derived from want of fkill, 
 as for thofe which refult from evil intentions. Nec- 
 ker is acknowledged even by his enemies to have 
 been humane, juft, and benevolent; a good hufband, 
 father, and friend. His vanity made him defirous 
 to monopolife admiration, which wifh the partiality 
 of his family might confiderably augment ; and it 
 was accompanied with a jealoufy of others, and a 
 
 On the Revolution, &c. vol. i. p. 199. 
 
 * Sur I' Adminiftraticn, &c. p. 31. 
 
 Mercure Frat^ois, Hiftorique & Politique, vol. dn 5 Aril 
 jufiju'au aa Juin 1791^ p. 238, 
 
 vindictive
 
 N E C K E R. 203 
 
 vindiclivenefs when attacked, which derogates much 
 from his character as a philofopher h . 
 
 It remains only to fpeak of him as an author, and wrU- 
 I cannot even give a complete lift of his works. in s s 
 Thofe which have fallen under my obfervation dif- 
 play marks of affiduous refearch and copious inform- 
 ation, but are written in a ftyle fo laborioufly po- 
 lifhed as to incur the charge of affectation. Ber- 
 trand juftly places him amongfl the diftinguifhed 
 writers of the age. The works of Necker which I 
 have read are the following : his Co?npte rendu^ and 
 De r Adminijlration des Finances^ both of which con- 
 tain ftriking facls, ingenious calculations, and deduc- 
 tions for the moft part fan&ioned by reafon ; his 
 treatife De F Importance des Opinions Religieufes is 
 preferable to all his other writings : I have quoted 
 many paffages of his book intitled Sur F Adminiftra- 
 tion de M. Necker par lui meme : it appears from 
 the exordium, that he retired to Copet in a fit of 
 dogged fullennefs, and thought that his incenfed 
 pride would be beft appeafed by a (lately filence j 
 this however approached too much to a ftate of 
 nullity, and feemed to accelerate his journey to the 
 (hades of oblivion, he therefore adopted the excefs of 
 egotifm. Mallet du Pan, fpeaking of this book, 
 fays, it proves that he was led away by events to 
 which he knew not how to oppofe either the force 
 of aftion or the vis inertia '. He next publifhed an 
 eflay Du Pouvoir Executif, which contains many 
 maxims of the higheft importance, and which, if 
 duly attended to, would have fpared the country to 
 which it was addreffed many woes and much dif- 
 grace. The writers of the literary part of the 
 Mercitre Francois, men of different opinions from 
 
 * Mercuie Francois, ubi fupra. 
 
 Mallet
 
 204 N E C K E R. 
 
 Mallet du Pan, affected to defend the conftitutiofc 
 againlt his attacks k ; and Peltier acknowledges, 
 that the work is fubject to no reproach but the 
 name of the author '. His laft publication, On the 
 French Revolution, has been difcuffed in many par- 
 ticulars where the author defends his own conduct. 
 The information it contains is not fo extenfive as 
 might have been expected, but the facts difclofed in 
 it are related with force and effect, and many of the 
 obfervations on events pofterior to his retreat, par- 
 ticularly on the prefent conflitution, are worthy of 
 peculiar attention. Thofe parts of the work which 
 apply to hirnfelf are not to be implicitly relied on ; 
 the difpofition to place too much confidence in them 
 will be confiderably checked by an attentive com- 
 parifon of them with the correfponding parts of 
 JL ' Adminiftration de M. Nwker. He commenced 
 his literary career with his effay on the Legljlatlon of 
 Grain, which Playfair and Arthur Young, as has 
 already been faid, fpeak of with difrefpect. I am 
 not acquainted with that, or his writings concerning 
 the Eaft India Company. In 1773, he wrote the 
 Eulogium of Colbert, which gained him the crown at 
 the French Academy ; and in which, with great 
 fineffe, he decried the adminiflration of Terrai, 
 ivhile praifmg his illuftrious predeceffor m . He alfo 
 wrote, while the king's trial was depending, a de- 
 fence of him, under the title of Reflections addreffed 
 to tfo French Nation, &c. which Peltier calls the Fu- 
 neral oration of Louis XVI. n It may however 
 have afforded Necker fome pleafure to know, that 
 this production met the eye of the unfortunate fo. 
 vereign in whofe behalf it was compofed j and 
 Gibbon mentions it with approbation p . 
 
 Mercure Frangois Literaire, du 31 Aout. 1794, p. 77* 
 Late Picture ot Paris, vol. i. p. 117. 
 A) ecdoteF, &c. vol.v. p. 161. 
 Late Picture of Paris, vol.i. p. 396. 403, 
 Journal de Clery, p. 138. 
 Gibbon's Mifcellaneeus Works, vol.!.
 
 C 2 5 3 
 
 LOUIS-PHILIPPE-JOSEPH 
 
 Due D'ORLEANS. 
 
 T H r 
 
 E confpiracy entered into by the duke of 
 Orleans, fo undefined in its tendency, fo bale- 
 ful in its effects, contributed more perhaps than 
 any other caufe to give that extraordinary violence 
 and ferocity to the French revolution, by which it 
 was difgraced even in its earliefl flages 9 . 
 
 1 The hiftory of this confpiracy, including the whole public and 
 private life of the duke, has been detailed by Montjoye, in a work in 
 three 'volumes octavo, intitled Hijloire de la Conjuration de Louis Philippe 
 Jofcpb d'Orleam, from which, where no other authority is cited, I have 
 derived my information. I fhould not, however, afcribe events of 
 fuch magnitude and importance as thofe which are deduced from this 
 confpiracy to fuch a caufe, if I did not entertain the firm eft conviftion 
 of the author's general corre&nefs. This conviction arifts, i ft, From 
 the obvious coincidence of hiltorical truth with the circumstances 
 flated by Montjoye. zd, From the concurrent teftimony of moft 
 authors who have written, and moft orators who have fpoken on the 
 itibjeft of the revolution, as well royalifts as republicans, in fup- 
 VO't of rr.oft of the facls detailed by Montjoye } evidence of which 
 I mall often avail myfelf to fupport the aflertions I feel authorifed to 
 make, jd, Befides the foregoing reafons, I am induced to give the 
 more credit to Montjoye, from his having already received that 
 homage from men of the greateft difcernment and molt eftablifheci 
 fame, as well as thofe who, from their attachment to republicanifin, 
 would be more anxious to fupprefs or difavow every narrative from 
 the pen of a ftrenuous royalilt. Among the former may be men- 
 tioned profefTor Rohifon, the abbe Barruel, and the author of an 
 Hiftorical Eflhy on the Conquefts and Ambition of France. 
 Among the latter, the hiltorian and circumnavigator Pages. 
 In mentioning Momjoye's general correftnefs, I wifli it to 
 be underftood that I am perfectly fenfible that a few hiftorical, 
 biographical, and chronological miftakes are found in his work ; but 
 the grand outline is drawn with truth, moft of ihe principal figuies 
 correftly defigned, and the whole piece (notwithstanding occafional 
 blemifhes of no great importance) a correft though fhocking pifturc 
 f the times. 
 
 Louis-
 
 2o<5 ORLEANS. 
 
 is'h Apr. Louis-Philippe- Jofeph, firft prince of the blood, 
 Birth* 7 ' duke f Orleans, Chartres, Nemours, Montpenfier, 
 and Etampes, count of Beaujolois, Vermandois, and 
 Soiflbns, was born at St. Cloud. The notorious 
 impurity of his mother, Louifa-Henrietta de Bour- 
 bon-Conti, was fuch as to have infpired his grand- 
 father the regent with doubts of his legitimacy, 
 which he retained till the hour of his death, though 
 the arguments of his confeffor induced the regent 
 on his death-bed verbally to alter his judgment. 
 Pcrfon. Orleans was above the middle fize, ftrong, and 
 robuft ; his appearance was dignified in a very re- 
 markable degree, when he chofe to infufe into it 
 that elevation which his rank demanded, though it 
 was generally debafed by vulgar affectation. His 
 face poffeffed in his youth a confiderable fhare of 
 fweetnefs and beauty ; the delicacy of his fkin, be- 
 fore his debaucheries had incrufted it with pimples, 
 and the foftnefs of his blue eyes, gave him rather 
 an effeminate appearance; but his youth, quality, 
 and good-nature infpired the moft favourable pre- 
 poffeffion. During the life of his father, he was 
 D'lfmclin- known as due de Chartres. He was fo little dif- 
 atioo to pofed to improve his mind by the ordinary means, 
 u y ' that, as foon as he was emancipated from his tutor, 
 he bade adieu to every kind of ftudy, or if he occa- 
 fionally began any, his hatred of mental fatigue oc- 
 . cafioned a fpeedy dereliction. This difmclination to 
 literature confined the refources of his mind, and 
 by limiting his means of communication, prevented 
 at a later period the difcovery of his political in- 
 trigues, by preventing him from leaving permanent 
 traces of his conduct. Where a man of abilities 
 would have made an harangue, he gave a hint; and 
 not having the faculty of fpeaking or writing well, 
 indirect infmuations, meffages bearing no {lamp of 
 authenticity, and bribes which the receivers would 
 be anxious to difavow, were his only engines. 
 
 He
 
 ORLEANS. 207 
 
 He pafled his youth in grofs, open debauchery, Diffipation. 
 which at once aftonifhed and corrupted the city of 
 Paris. His wealth afforded means of unbounded 
 gratification, and his birth made his excefles the ton, 
 and gave an air of fuperior confequence to thofe 
 who frequented his fociety, many of whom injured 
 their fortunes, their health, and even loft their lives, 
 by the pernicious influence of his example. In his 
 debauchery there was none of that courtly elegance, 
 which, making the purfuit of pleafure the object: of 
 refined minds, produces, with the evils attendant on 
 licentioufnefs, thofe finifhed manners which improve 
 the age, and thofe fpirited effufions which delight 
 pofterity : his was of that coarfe description where 
 gratification alone is confidered ; the eftablifhed fyf- 
 tems of morality, and the fprightly efforts of exu- 
 berant fancy, are equally disregarded. Amongfl 
 the victims of his example is to be enumerated the 
 prince de Lamballe, fon of the due de Penthievre, 
 high admiral of France, who was carried off at a 
 very early age r . This event opened a new view to 
 the avarice and ambition of Chartres ; he formed a 
 matrimonial alliance with the only furviving lifter 
 of his deceafed friend, that he might fecure the 
 greater part of the family eftate to himfelf. 
 
 The object which moil nattered his ambition was 177*. 
 th^ hope of attaining the exalted and lucrative poft f h " T n e * v in 
 of high admiral. It was held by his father-in-law, 
 the due de Penthievre, but Chartres expected a 
 grant of the reverfion. To qualify himfelf for this 
 fituation according to the rules of the French navy, 
 he went on board the fleet commanded by d'Or- 
 villiers, and was fucceffively promoted from the 
 rank of midfhipman to thofe of lieutenant, captain, 
 
 r I ftate this fift after Montjoye and Peltier (Pi&ure of Paris, 
 rol. ii. p. 17.) in the mildeft terms. Playfair fays, that Chartres 
 killed the prince de Lamballe by leading him, on purpofe, where he 
 was to contraft a mortal diforder. Hiltory of Jacobinifm. p. 81. n. 
 See alfo Memoires pour fervir a 1'Hiitoire du Jacobinifme, vol. ii. 
 p. 462. 
 
 commodore,
 
 2o8 ORLEANS. 
 
 commodore, and finally vice-admiral. In all pro- 
 bability he would have attained the objedl of his 
 wifhes, but in the aftion with Keppel off Ufhant he 
 betrayed fuch ridiculous emotions of fear as drew 
 on him the deferved contempt of the navy, and of 
 the city of Paris. The king would not grant him 
 the reverfion he defired ; but to gratify his ambi- 
 tion in fome degree, made him colonel-general of 
 buffers, a rank created for the exprefs purpofe. 
 Chartres bore the farcafms and ridicule of the Pa- 
 rifians with that ftoicifm which is fupplied by an 
 indifference to public opinion ; but the cenfure im- 
 plied in the preferment given by the court, which, 
 inflead of encouraging his pretenfions to naval pro- 
 motion, indirectly feemed to difmifs him from the 
 fleet, rankled in his mind, and firft produced that 
 hatred of the royal family which fo materially in- 
 fluenced his fubfequent conduct s . Through life he 
 was diftinguifhed by an implacability of difpofition ; 
 he was not morofe, on the contrary, remarkably 
 mild, acceiTible, and beneficent to his fervants and 
 dependants, but he could not forgive. 
 
 'fir ''""d* -After leaving the fleet his time was divided be- 
 tween the purfuits of fenfuality, the fports of the 
 field, and the employments of the gaming-table. 
 He occafionally travelled in a defultory manner, 
 without fyftem, or apparent view of improvement. 
 He frequently vifited England, and contracted that 
 tafte for the drefs, manners, and diverfions, parti- 
 cularly horfe-racing, which afterwards extended 
 itfelf amongft his countrymen, and was diflinguifhed 
 by the name of Anglo-manie. He affecled the ap- 
 pearance of an Englim jockey, though he was never 
 flovenly, but rather in the contrary extreme. 
 Becomes a It was probably in England that he firft became 
 fen"'"" 8 " a free-mafon. That fociety had long been efta- 
 blifhed in France, though greatly corrupted and 
 
 1 Bouille's Memoires, p. 323. 
 
 disfigured.
 
 ORLEANS. 209 
 
 disfigured. On the death of the comte de Cler- 1781. 
 mont, late erand-mafter, Chartres afpired to fucceed G nd - 
 
 6 , - . ' . r mafter. 
 
 him. As the fituation imparted a degree or au- 
 thority and importance of which mere Englim free- 
 mafons can have no comprehenfion, the attainment 
 required an exertion of great addrefs, and a profu- 
 fion of promifes and bribes. The candidate was 
 not fpariiig of thefe, and finally fucceeded : . -Having 
 attained this object, he ufed all his efforts to render 
 free-mafonry general in France, and fucceded fo 
 well, that in three or four years after his election, 1784. 
 he was at the head of two hundred and fixty-fix . Patl ' onifes 
 new lodges of mafons, diftinguifhed by various tons, 
 appellations, but all emanating from the fame focus u . 
 As they acquired extenfion and celebrity the free- 
 mafons began .to adopt new fancies* to improve, as 
 they termed it, their original inflitution, and aflume 
 imaginary dignities derived from antiquity. Chartres 
 was a zealous patron of thefe innovations. He 
 vifited and encouraged the new lodges, heard with 
 complacency their introductory harangues, already 
 tinctured with atheifm, and the doctrines of liberty 
 .and equality x . The loge des Chevaliers bienfalfans 
 was formed at Lyons, as a fuperior lodge to the 
 reft, and the members pretended to revive in their 
 own perfons the order of Knights Templars. 
 Chartres, among others, had fo much complaifance 
 for this abfurdity as to fubmit to the clerical tonfure. 
 Several of the mod diftinguifhed characters in the 
 French revolution, as Efpretnenil, Bailty, Syeyes, 
 Fauchet, Lequinio, Maury, Mounier, were mem- 
 bers of this fociety, but there is no trace of any 
 formal confpiracy at this early period, although in 
 their difcourfes they made vigorous attacks on the 
 principles of religion and government y . 
 
 t Robifon's Proof's of a Confpiracy, p. 581. 
 u Idem, p. 49. 101. 381. x Idem, p. 41. 
 
 y V.eiii, p. 49. See alfo Memoires pour feivir a 1'Hiftoire du 
 Jacobinifme, par Barruel, vul. ii. p. 461. ' 
 
 VOL. n. p His
 
 2io ORLEANS. 
 
 Afnd8 His character was not in the mean time improving, 
 in a bal- fj e mac } e himfelf additionally ridiculous on the fcore 
 of cowardice, by afcending in an air-balloon from 
 St. Cloud, with two adventurers of the name of 
 Robert. Such a frolic, in a prince of the blood, 
 was contemptible at bed, but he was fo much terri- 
 fied at the appearance of danger in a new form, 
 that he loft all prefence of mind, and tore the 
 taffeta to facilitate the defcent of the machine by 
 the evafion of the gas. The ftep was what wifdom 
 and courage would have dictated, but he was known 
 to poifeis fo little of either, that the Parifians 
 laughed at him without referve, and faid he had 
 exhibited his cowardice in three of the four ele- 
 ments. 
 
 .1785-. After the death of his father, he injured himfelf 
 HIS avance more e ff e ft ua lly i n tne m i nc is of the people by an 
 act founded only in infatiable avarice. Anxious to 
 increafe an already overgrown fortune, and carelefs 
 of the convenience or opinion of others, he entered 
 into a fpeculation to furround the gardens of the 
 pjlais royal with buildings. Thofe who occupied 
 the houfes already erected, who had embellifhed, 
 furnimed, and paid for them, according to the 
 apparent beauty and pleafantnefs of the fituation, 
 found themielves on the point of being fhut out 
 from a charming profpect, and reduced to inhabit 
 a narrow ftreet. They remonftrated, the duke was 
 obdinate. They commenced a lawfuit, and were 
 cait. They again attended the duke, and pointed 
 out to him how his conduct would excite the ill 
 opinion of the people ; " I would not give a fingle 
 " half-crown for their good opinion," was his an- 
 adin- fwer. Tins act of dimonourable felnftmefs was 
 juftice. fucceeded by another, fo unjuft and meanly rapa- 
 cious as to be worthy only of the bafefl {harper. 
 He let fome ihops and houfes in the palais royal 
 on leafes, for which he exacted premiums from the 
 -tenants, and immediately afterwards fold the pre- 
 
 mifes.
 
 ORLEANS. 211 
 
 inifes. A fale, by the rules of the civil code, then 
 prevalent in France, annulled a leafe, or other 
 temporary demife z . 
 
 When M. de Calonne aflembled the notablesj Co 1787 ^. 
 Orleans, as prince of the blood, was appointed ; n thefirit 
 prefident of one committee. His reputation was ib notables, 
 odious, and his conduct fo mean, that his committee 
 was diftinguimed by the title of Comits dss Ladres^ 
 or committee of Jkin-fiintst This arofe from the 
 parfirnony of Orleans, who did not, like the other 
 princes, keep a table at Verfailles, but returned 
 every night to Paris. An anecdote, however, is 
 recorded of his conduct in this affembly, which 
 does him great honour. He attended his committee 
 .one day, and addreffed them in thefe words 3 
 " Gentlemen, you are about to read a memorial 
 " on certain feignorial rights. If you fanclion it, 
 " I fhall lofe four hundred thoufand livfes (17, <;oe/. ) 
 " a-year. I could not fubmit to this lofs with a 
 " good grace, and might perhaps make fome un- 
 " guarded remarks. I think it moft prudent, and 
 " mod delicate for me to retire, and give no opi- 
 * c nion on the fubject. I have obtained leave of 
 " abfence for a few days, of which I mall imme- 
 " diately avail myfelf." The committee requeued 
 that he would forbear delivering his opinion, if he 
 thought proper, but that he would continue to 
 prefide ; he perfevered, however, in his refufal, 
 from a dread of conftiaining the voters a . 
 
 After the diflblution of this affembly, Orleans, 
 as ufual, lived in a fbte of luxurious fenfuality, to tlie 
 
 f r i r i ' r court. 
 
 lurrounded by a court or his own, formed of 
 perfons whofe fimilarity of character prevented 
 tefleclion or reproach. He retained a gloomy 
 hatred againfl the king and queen, on account of 
 his not having obtained the reverfion of the place 
 
 z Playfnir's Hiftory of JaCobinifm, p. 81. n. 
 
 Anecdotes <lu Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi p. 77. 84. 
 
 P 2 Of
 
 ZI2 ORLEANS. 
 
 of high-admiral. His firft difplay of fyftematic 
 oppofition was during the unpopular adminiftration 
 of the archbifhop of Sens. The palais royal had 
 long been the refuge of a herd of malecontents, 
 who took advantage of the ftate of finances to ex- 
 cite the public difcontent, by inflammatory and 
 feditious writings, and every other means in their 
 power. A regular council, compofed partly of 
 thefe, partly of fome difaffecled members of the 
 parliament, anxious for innovation, was held nightly, 
 at which the fteps to be taken in the debates of 
 the fubfequent day, were arranged and regulated. 
 The duke's purfe was profufely opened to pay the 
 writers and orators who clamoured for a convoca- 
 tion of the ftates-general, and his influence on the 
 parliament was fuch as to produce that line of 
 conduct which occafioned their banifhment to 
 Troyes b . This aft of feverity, however, exceeded 
 the wifhes of his highnefs, he feared that at fuch a 
 diftance from the fermentation of the capital, and 
 the vortex of his influence, they might abate the 
 fervour of their attachment, and difcontinue their 
 oppofition. Befides, he was not defirous to fee 
 them inverted with too great a (hare of popularity, 
 as their eftimation was not a primary object, but 
 fubordinate to the views which he now began to 
 entertain. He therefore induced them to make 
 that conceflion which produced their recall, and 
 diminimed their reputation with the public. 
 Forms While affairs were in this ftate, and the public 
 
 connexion . r . 
 
 with Mi- mind extremely agitated, Mirabeau returned to Fans 
 from Berlin, where he had been on a vifit to his friend 
 Mauvillon. Mirabeau had been difappointed by 
 Calonne of the fecretaryfhip of the notables, and 
 the archbifhop of Sens had not encouraged him 
 according to his own eftimate of his pretenfions. 
 He faw that he had nothing to expect from the 
 
 h See DE BRIENNE. 
 
 court,
 
 ORLEANS. 213 
 
 court, and was therefore rejoiced to fee an oppofi- 
 tion party rifmg in the kingdom. He confidered 
 Orleans a fit man to be the oftenfible head of 
 fuch a party, as birth, wealth, and independence 
 were in him united. The imprefiion made by his 
 paft conduft might be effaced by a few popular afts; 
 and his want of talents, his ambition, and his ran- 
 cour were circumftances rather favourable than 
 detrimental to the views of Mirabeau. In the 
 exifting ftate of the public mind, it was greatly 
 advantageous to Orleans that he had never received 
 money from the treafury, and his wealth, by what- 
 ever means augmented, was contemplated with lefs 
 malignity than that of any nobleman or prince who 
 was attached to the court % 
 
 Mirabeau faw the great advantages and influence Becomes _ 
 which might be derived from the ibcieties of free- JJtuII. 11 *' 1 " 
 mafons, of which Orleans was gnmd-mafter, he there- 
 fore readily acceded to the overtures made by the 
 duke, and imparted to him the myfleries of illu- 
 minifm. From this period the fyftematic perver- 
 fion of the mafonic lodges in France began d . 
 
 In conformity with the plans of his new coad- 
 jutors, Orleans diftinguifhed himfelf by refilling de Io3n 
 Brienne's propofal for a loan of four hundred and 
 twenty millions (18,375,0007.). In this inftance 
 he difplayed confummate addrefs, and, for the only 
 time in his life, courage and confiftency. The 
 archbifhop, apprehenfive that his project would 
 meet with ftrenuous oppofition, founded the mem- 
 bers of the parliament. All the friends of Orleans 
 promifed their hearty co-operation, while, in facl, 
 they meditated the moft determined oppofition. 
 The minifter, deceived by thefe promifes, prevailed 
 on the king to hold a royal fitting, for the purpofe 
 of regiftering that and other decrees. The oppo- 
 
 c Hiftorical Sketch of the French Revolution, p. 54. 
 d Robifon's Proof's, p. 385. 
 
 P 3 fition
 
 2 i 4 ORLEANS. 
 
 fition refolved to hinder the regiftration, and, as the 
 conftitution of a royal fitting permitted it, to caufe 
 the queftion to be argued and put to the vote. 
 7th Nov. The fitting was opened ; Lamoignon, the keeper 
 of the feals, declared his majefty's pleafure to be, 
 that every member of the parliament mould deliver 
 his fentiments without referve. A debate of nine 
 hours took place, in which feveral agents of the 
 duke fpoke in a ftrain neither agreeable to the king 
 or relevant to the queftion. Tired at length of a 
 debate fo protracted and unufual, his majefty rofe, 
 and commanded the regiftration of the decrees'. 
 The members, not prepared for an oppofition to 
 the king's exprefs orders, fat filent, the clerk was 
 preparing to fulfil his office, when Orleans arofe, 
 and cafting a glance of expreflive indignation at his 
 faction, afked the king in an abrupt and haughty 
 tone, if the prefent was a royal fitting or a bed of 
 juftice ? " A royal fitting,*' anfwered the king. 
 " Then, Sire," replied the duke, " permit me to 
 " lay at your feet, and to depofit in the bofom of 
 " this court, my proteft, that I confider the re-? 
 " quired regiftration illegal, and that it will be 
 " neceflary, for the exculpation of thofe who may 
 " otherwise be thought to have fanctioned it, to 
 " declare, that it is done by the exprefs command 
 ?' of the king." Had the firmnefs difplayed on 
 this occafion formed pare of the general character of 
 Orleans, he might have alpired to the moft exalted 
 fituations in confequence of the fubfequent dtfturb- 
 ances, and even have changed the fuccejfTion of 
 the crown, but avarice rather than ambition in- 
 fluenced his conduct even in this inftance. He 
 held a million of a former loan, which would have 
 been materially depreciated by the fanction of that 
 which was then in agitation. 
 
 The king anfwered the duke by faying, in a 
 laconic manner, that he had directed nothing but 
 was perfectly regular, and having perfifted ill 
 
 his
 
 ORLEANS. 21$ 
 
 his commands, retired with his minifters. As foon 
 as he was in his carriage, Orleans returned to the 
 hall, accompanied by the duke of Bourbon, his 
 brother-in-law. His faction reprefented the late 
 tranfaction as illegal in the moil: flagrant degree, 
 and they finally prevailed on the parliament to 
 protefl againft any participation which might be 
 imputed to them in the regiltration of the king's 
 edict, a ftep which was fure to render the propofed 
 loan illufory. 
 
 The king retiring to his palace, complained, not Orleans 
 of the duke's protefl, which in itfelf was fuffici- banifh *^ 
 ently extraordinary, but of the harfh, objurgatory 
 tone in which it was delivered, and of the infolent 
 conduct of feveral members of the parliament, and 
 was finally prevailed on to banifli Orleans to his 
 eftate at Villiers-Cotteret ; and two of his faction, 
 Sabbatier and Freteau de St. jufl, to different parts 
 of the country e . This meafure was far from po- 
 litic : advantage was taken of the notorious bad 
 character of the parties punifhed ; but when any 
 individual can ailume the appearance of a victim 
 in the popular cauie, companion and admiration 
 fpeedily follow ; the public grants an amnefly of 
 all pad errors, and the danger of fpeaking againft 
 the idol of the day procures general forbearance. 
 Not only the parliament of Paris, but thofe of Petition* 
 Thouloufe and feveral other provinces, took up the J," } fa ~ 
 caufe of the exiled members, and in numerous ad- 
 dtefles folicited their recall, mixing with their peti- 
 tions remonftrances in the true revolutionary ftyle ; 
 but without effect. 
 
 This banifhment, inflaming the vindictive temper His ragt, 
 of Orleans, gave an energy to his conduct, which 
 in him could only be derived from revenue and 
 hatred. It gave him, for the firft time, a tafte of 
 
 e See Impartial Hiftory, vol.i. p. 18. Rabaud's Hiltory, p. 48. 
 Moore's View, vol. i, p. 66. 
 
 F4 the
 
 2 iff ORLEANS. 
 
 the intoxicating draught of popularity, and a know> 
 ledge of the advantages he might obtain from hav- 
 ing a flrong hold on the public mind. To fecure 
 this popularity, he bought to his intereft feveral 
 journalifts of Paris, who joining their voice to that 
 of the parliaments, attached an importance to his 
 name of which it had never before been thought 
 
 and pro- fufceptible f . His dcfire of vengeance ftimulated 
 
 J eas ' him to adopt every meafure which could be devifed 
 to embarrafs the monarch, and excite difcontent. 
 Amongft thefe was a monopoly of grain, by which 
 an artificial famine might at any time be produced ; 
 and by affording or denying to the public the means 
 of fubfiftence, . a violent clamour produced, and 
 tranquillity as fuddenly reftored g . To effecl this, 
 he laid his plans, and appointed his private 
 agents, while at Villiers-Cotteret ; but confcious 
 that. Paris muft be the centre of action, and yet un- 
 willing to compromife his hatred to the king by 
 
 His recall, condescending to perfonal felicitation, he employed 
 his duchefs, whofe excellent character made her 
 as much beloved and refpecled at court as he was 
 defpifed, to requeft his recall, in which me eafily 
 fucceeded. 
 1788. On his return to the palals royal, Orleans profe- 
 
 Jentmenf, cute( ^ ms fchemes of vengeance and aggrandizement 
 with greater earneftnefs than ever. In addition to 
 
 f See Pages, vol ii. p. 71. 
 
 K This attempt has been doubted by its any $ and by fume critics of 
 Montjoye's work trented with unmerited ridicule. The argument 
 drawn from the impoffibility is extremely futile, conli iering the vail 
 fortune and unlimited credit poflcffrd by ()rlean< ; and that the tranf- 
 aftion (hould in jnttice be viewed as a profitable fpeculation, rather 
 than a difadvantageous expenditure. I thirk it impoflible. on a candid 
 confideration of the events of the ah and 6th of October 1789. and the 
 immediate facility of Aippiy which took place when Orleans w^s driven 
 from Fiance by la Fayette, toduubt the reality of this pait of the duke's 
 con. piracy. It may receive fome additional confirmation from its 
 being pofitively charged in a report made by St. J-.iM, April is'h, 
 1794., when intereft had totally ceafed to influence the queftion, wlien 
 the means of knowledge remained among the accomplices, but Orleans 
 \vas executed and forgotten. 
 
 the
 
 ORLEANS. 3 
 
 the journalifts in his daily pay, he eftablifhed a re- 
 gular committee to difcufs his affairs, fuggeit plans, 
 and direct his operations. His partifans formed a Efforts, 
 club, called les enrages, which was of great import- 
 ance in extending his influence, and one of the 
 roots of the Jacobin fociety h . From thefe meet- 
 ings and clubs moft of the parties who afterwards 
 directed the affairs, and divided the public mind in 
 France, derived their origin. The money and pa- 
 tronage of Orleans drew them from poverty and 
 obfcurity, and enabled them to acquire that popu- 
 larity which they afterwards turned againfl his in- 
 tereft, his life, and his fame '. It ,is not eafy to de- and vi 
 fine the exact views of the confpirators, or the pre- 
 cife tendency of the hopes of Orleans : it is pro- 
 bable, that though oftenfibly the head > he was in 
 fact the mere inflrument of a cabal k . His par- 
 tifans would, to gratify their own ambition, have 
 elevated him to any dignity, or they would have 
 confpired with equal alacrity againfl him. They 
 flattered his vanity and ambition alternately with 
 hopes of poifeffing the throne or regency, according 
 to the fluctuations of public affairs '. Avarice 
 might have reftrained him, had ambition alone di- 
 rected his purfuit, but revenge gave a ftronger im- 
 pulie ; and that paflion, his dependents, long prac- 
 
 h Bouiile's Memoirs, p. 80. See alfo Notice fur l.i Vie de Sycyos. 
 
 * Tile exiftence of an Orleans' faftion from the very beginning of 
 the revoliitior, can hardly now require proof. However, forthe per- 
 fect fatisfac"lion of the reader's mind, he is referred to the following 
 works: Rertrand's Memoirs; iJouille's Memoirs ; Carat's Memoirs j 
 Life of Dumouriez ; Moore's View ; Hirtoire Secrete, par Pages j 
 Hiftorical Sketch of the French Revolution ; BanutTs Hiftory of the 
 Clergy, and Hiltory of J?.cobinifm, paflim j Briflbt a fes Commettans, 
 p. 15. j Hiftory of the Krirtbtines by Camille Def'moulines, p. 8. j 
 Louvet's Narrative, p. 9. et pafiim ; Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 45. 
 59. ; PJayfair's Hillory of Jacofoinifm, p. 80. ei palfnn. I could cite 
 many more authorities, but think it unneceflnry ; moreefpecially as I 
 frequently adduce their ttftimonies in fupport of the various facls con- 
 tained in the fubfequent part of the narrative. 
 
 * Hiftorical Sketch, p. 435. 
 
 * See Robifon's Proofs, p. 391. Moore's View, vol.ii. p. 375. 
 
 i c tifed
 
 *iS ORLEANS. 
 
 trfed in the arts of libelling and invective, and pre. 
 pared to give effect to every defperate fuggeftion, 
 were heft able to gratify. 
 
 pifconteiu /Meantime the imprudence of the minifter opened 
 to him another fource of feduclion which could not 
 fail to produce the moft deftruclive effects. The 
 fours plenieres were about to be eftablifhed ; and as 
 a ferious oppofition was expected in all parts of the 
 country, foldiers were to be fent into all the cities 
 and towns in France, to enforce obedience to the 
 will of the fovereign when promulgated. This was 
 but an ungracious talk at a time when the govern, 
 ment of France was fo enfeebled, that an oppofition 
 to its meafures was decidedly and triumphantly dif- 
 played, and carried with it the good wifhes of a 
 majority of the nation. The officers, many of 
 whom, as well as the privates, had been admitted to 
 the clubs of corrupted mafonry, were diffatisfted 
 "with their duty, and a few infinuations from the 
 duke and his agents fo completed their difguft, that 
 they commanded with reluctance, and a relaxation 
 of difcipline and inattention to the will of the offi- 
 cers was introduced among the foldiery, which, re- 
 inforced by bribes and other allurements, in the end 
 completely diforganized them, and fubverted thft 
 government. 
 
 ijth jnly. The hurricane which occurred in this year, by 
 Burncane. i ncre afmg the diftrelTes of the country, and putting 
 the fubfiftence of the poor more immediately in the 
 power of Orleans, facilitated all his fchemes, and 
 rendered their execution certain. Hail-ftones of 
 prodigious fize defotated the country, and deftroyed 
 the hopes of the farmer. The decree which per- 
 mitted the exportation of grain, one of the greateft 
 follies of De Brienne's adminiftration, gave credibi- 
 lity .to the report induftnoufly circulated by the 
 duke's partifans, that the court had caufed the 
 greater part of the fcanty harveft to be exported to 
 England, to ftarve the people of France,
 
 ORLEANS, 219 
 
 At length the unpopular minifter, tired of a fitu- Necker'* 
 ation for which he had demonstrated himfelf every admjni- 
 way unfit, retired, and Necker, the only man fup 
 pofed capable of effecting the falvation of France, 
 aflumed his place. Necker, to perpetuate his po- 
 pularity, patronized with all his influence the con* 
 vocation of the ftates-general. The expectation of 
 this grand event, acting upon the fanguine temper 
 of Frenchmen, inflamed by the numerous feditious 
 pamphlets which daily ifTued from the prefs, pro- 
 duced repeated ats of riot and diforder. The par^. 
 liament of Paris, fenfible, from the ftyle in which 
 the new fyflems, every where profufely diftributed, 
 were written, that their importance, and even 
 their exiflence, were as much endangered by the 
 propofed convocation as by the eftablifhment of the 
 cour pleniere^ exerted their declining influence to 
 maintain order, check the riotoijs difpofition of the 
 mob, and punifh the more atrocious of the libellers ; 
 but their exertions came too late. The inclination 
 to tumult had got too firm pofleffion of the popu- 
 lace ; the numerous and well-paid band of libellers 
 had too much at flake to defift from their practices, 
 and the parliament only expofed itfelf to contempt 
 and hatred. 
 
 Orleans faw with pleafure the tide of public fa- Notable*, 
 vour flowing from the parliament ; he wanted en- 
 gines of greater power to effect his plans, and there- 
 fore, during the convocation of the notables which 
 preceded the aflembling of the ftates-general, feldom 
 attended their meetings, and never prefided m . He Seditious 
 courted the tiers etat by all the means of blandifh- JJ^JJlE. 
 ment which his wealth and influence afforded ; nor lais royal, 
 did he omit, while extending his own popularity, 
 proportionately to vilify the reigning branch of the 
 family. His libellers were indefatigable and auda- 
 pious in a degree without example : writings and 
 
 , *> Impartial HUlory, vol. i. p. 46. Moore's View, vol. i. p. no. 
 
 fpeeches
 
 22e ORLEANS. 
 
 fpeeches were induftrioufly circulated, in \vhich the 
 king and queen were accufed of occafioning all the 
 miicries of the people. Thefe events had a confi- 
 derable effect in relaxing the vigilance and difci- 
 pline of the police. Goffee-houfes were open day 
 and night in the precincts of the palals royal, where 
 feditious perfons were conftantly haranguing againft 
 the government, and, mounted on tables and (tools, 
 attracted the attention of the mob in the gardens 
 to their abufe of the royal family, from which, 
 however, the duke of Orleans was conftantly 
 excepted, as a worthy deicendant of Henry IV, 
 Many of thele coffee-houfe and field orators, who 
 before had neither bread or fhoes, were now well 
 clothed and fupplied with money, without the ex- 
 ercife of any other induftry than their trade of de- 
 famation, without any other refource than the duke's 
 coffers. Nor was his encouragement of thefe in- 
 cendiaries confined to fecret benefit or tacit appro* 
 bation. It was become a practice, from the affected 
 way in which the virtues of Henry IV. were held 
 cut to admiration, particularly from the pointed al- 
 lufion conftantly jnade to his benevolent wifh that 
 every peaiant in the kingdom mould have his fowl 
 in the pot every Sunday, for large groups of the ne* 
 ceffitous and idle to aflemble every day near his 
 ftatue on the pont-neuf^ and force all who pafifed by 
 to do homage to the figure. This fact was public, 
 and could not be unknown to the duke ; he took 
 advantage of it to raife his popularity : he went in 
 his carriage to the pont-neuf, and performed his, 
 obeifance to the ftatue, accompanying it with the 
 moft encouraging demeanour and condefcending 
 familiarity to thofe who exacted the ceremony. 
 Hard win- Jn this memorable year every thing confpired to 
 promote the plans of Orleans. The preiumption and 
 weaknefs of the archbimop of Sens, the imprudent 
 meafures of his adminiftration, and the effects of the 
 hurricane, were fources of great embarraffment and 
 
 perplexity*
 
 ORLEANS; 221 
 
 perplexity. The winter was one of the moft fevere 
 ever known in France; the poor were totally un- Diftrefs of 
 able to procure fubfiftence ; the price of bread the pool> 
 would have been raifed in a very diftrefling manner 
 in confequence of the hurricane alone, but the ad- 
 ditional fcarcity produced by monopoly filled the 
 duke's coffers with ready money, threw the poor 
 upon the benevolence of the opulent, and enabled 
 him to fecure great popularity. The nobility in 
 general exerted themfelves to relieve the diftrefTes 
 of the needy; fonie had fires conftantly in their 
 halls, where meat was drefTed, and bread diftributed. 
 Many prelates and nobles incurred debts to a very 
 great amount by their acts of charity. Orleans too Donations 
 diftributed his alms, but the papers being all in his ofOrleans - 
 pay, magnified his donations to an extent infinitely 
 exceeding the truth, and though he never gave in 
 proportion to his fortune, the conflant recurrence of 
 their applauies made it appear that he was almofl 
 the only benefactor of the poor n . He adopted a 
 meafure exceedingly oflentatious, to increafe this 
 opinion : he did not make his diftributions in the 
 manner followed by others, but hired fome coach- 
 houfes in the fuburbs of St. Germain, where fires 
 were kept all day, and victuals delivered in his 
 name. He promifed in the papers large pecuniary 
 contributions, but his performance of that promife 
 was limited to a paltry gift of three thoufand livres 
 (1317. 5-f.). Thefe ads, however, increafed the 
 predilection of the public. The people, ever ready 
 to aflign fome ofleniible caufe for their miieries, 
 attributed the fcarcity to the court, and contrafting 
 that idea with the oflentatious munificence of the 
 duke, expreffed a reliance on him as their only 
 friend and only hope. 
 
 The inefficient voice of public opinion was not 1789. 
 all he aimed to acquire, more was neceflary to the f ffurt8 in 
 
 * forming a 
 
 party. 
 ft Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 96. 
 
 execution
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 execution of his plans : he was defirotis to obfain a 
 band of ruffians, who fhould be ready at all times to 
 rife in open infurreclion and execute his fehemes* 
 Such a band would want an oftenfible leader, in* 
 ferior to himfelf in dignity, yet capable of giving 
 weight to his commands, but not of importance 
 enough to be dangerous at any future period. To 
 gain fuch a perfon, he firil tried Reveillon , and 
 
 afterwards 
 
 REVEILLON was a paper-manufaclurer in the fauxtwurg Sr. An- 
 toine. On the zyth of April 1789, a mob was collected, who got a 
 figure reprefenting Reveilion, and drew it about the Itreet in a mod 
 tumultuous manner, afltrtir.g, that he intended to reduce the wages of 
 his journeymen ; and that he had aflerted that wheat bread was too 
 good for the populace, but putatoe flour would do well enough. They 
 proceeded to the Grl-ve, where they hung this effigy, and afterwards 
 burnt it. The military made an attempt to difperfe the mob, but 
 failed. Rjveillon, who was an elector of the tiers etat, applied to the 
 lieutenant dc police, and the colonel of t\\e gardes Fran$oifes, tor a military 
 force to protect his houfe, which they readily granted : they lent fo 
 many foldiers as occupied ali the apartments of his manfion, and filled 
 the avenues, before 'which barriers were placed to prevent the mob 
 from breaking in. The populace affcmbled the next day in vaft 
 numbers, confiding of men and women ; they repaired to Reveillon's 
 houfe, and attempted to force the paflage, loading the foldiers all the 
 while with the molt opprobrious language, and palting them with 
 Jarge (tones and bricks. The military maintained their ftation u long 
 time, but at length the mob fuceeeded in getting pad the bairiers> 
 and into the houfe, which they immediately pillaged, deftroyed the 
 furniture, burnt the books, and ruming into the cellars, drank every 
 kind of wine and fpirit there. The military were at length reinforced 
 by a confiderable body of Swifs guards, with two pieces of artillery j 
 they required the populace to diiperfe, which ihey refufed ; the 
 officers then ordered the foldiers to fire over their heads, which inftead 
 of intimidating, increafed their in folence. They charged the military 
 with fuch arms as they had; old fwords, in n fleets, bludgeons fliod 
 with iron, ftaves with knife-blades, iword-blades, or fpikes at the 
 end, and a volley of ftones. The officers, finding their moderation 
 produced no good effect, ordered the men to fire, and take pofiellion 
 of the houfe. Their paflage was difputed, foot by foot, by the people 
 within, which occafioned a very great carnage ; two hundred of the 
 mob are fuppofed to have been killed, and many hundreds wounded* 
 A few foldiers were killed, and about four-fcore wounded. At 
 length they fuceeeded in clearing the houle, which was almoft demo- 
 liihed, and in difpeifing the rioters. The fcene which prefented 
 itfelf in the cellars was mocking beyond defcription : many had drunk 
 themfelves dead with brandy and wines, and many were poifoned by 
 having miftaken cafks of vitriolic competition, ufed by Reveillon in 
 his bufmefs, for common fpirits, and drunk them with the fame 
 avidity. The faclion who had excited this riot, endeavoured, accord- 
 ing to their cultoin, to throw the blame on the court j and their ac 
 
 ount 

 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 afterwards Henriot p , but they being both inde-> 
 pendent in their circumftances, relifted his advances, 
 
 count has been copied hy many hiftorians. They fay that the court 
 diil it to be jnllifi-d in drawing ib great a body of" troops round the 
 capita] as would overawe the proceedings or the Kates-general. 
 This account is improbable for the following reafor.s: ift, Ti>e 
 popular Necker was niiniller at the time; and the Aims known and 
 acknowledged by the democratic writers to have been diftributed to 
 influence the mob, could not have iflued from the beggared treafury 
 without his knowledge, ad, The court never knew the art of em- 
 ploying a rnobon any occafion ; they had a horror of a meeting of 
 the populace, and had no notion at that time of giving any detailed 
 reafor.s for .the manner in which hisinajefty chofe to employ his troops j 
 nor could they, alter the burning in effigy of theex-minirier De Briennej 
 the daily meetings at the falais royal, the kno\vn relaxation of the 
 police, and tumultuous (late of the city in general, need a fpccitic aft 
 to jultity fuel) a meahne. 3d, Three perfons were taken up as ring- 
 leaders, two ot whom were executed ; the third, a woman, pleaded 
 her beliy j none ot theie applied for a pardon, or made any difcovery 
 tending to criminate any perfon belonging to the court. 4th, In ail 
 the fubkijuent diltrrfles and dilgraces of the royal family and their 
 adherents, when the mod frivolous reports were collected with th 
 molt culpable afliduity, no perfon was found hardy enough, though 
 fure of eaiy credit and ample reward, to involve any of them in J'uch 
 an accufation, otherwife than had been done by venal orators, and in 
 lying journals. An attempt was made to impute this tranfaclion to 
 the cointe d'Artois, through an abbe le Roy, a reputed dependent 
 of his, againtt whom Revtillon had a fuit depending. This abbe, 
 both before and after the tranfaclion, was lo involved in poverty and 
 dilhefs, that though, after the improbable report was circulated of his 
 being the promoter of the riot, and diltributor of the money, he pre- 
 lentcd hiinfL-lf to await the firoke of juiiice, his former protecutor 
 declined all proceeding againlt him, and even waved that he had 
 already engaged in, on account of his abjcft m.fery, which extended 
 even to a want of the molt common nectfl'.iriesj a htuation hardly to 
 be fallen into fo foon by a man employed to lubfidize the rabble of 
 one ot the fuburbs of Paris. It could not bi: the fpontaneous move- 
 ment of the populace, becauie the facl of money having been diltri. 
 buted, is inconteltibly proved by the averments of writers on both the 
 rcyalift ami republican tides j but there is no room to doubt that it 
 was a premeditated effort of the Orleans' party to intimidate the court, 
 to give audacity to their faction in the Mates-general, and, ry the ruin 
 of Kcveillon and Henriot, who had refufed to combine with them, to 
 increnfe the influence of their vile aflociate, Santerre, Reveillon was, 
 for a fhort time, a voluntary pnfoner in the Baftille, conlidering that 
 as tht oiily fhelter from the malice and inveteracy of his purluers. 
 
 P HENRIOT was a fr.ltpetri-ma,.ulactu er in \hefauxbourg St. An- 
 toine. His houfe was plundered and deltroyed at the lame time with 
 Reveillon's. He had the prudence not to txpole himfelf to further 
 vcng-aice !iy making any complaint} and his lofa being inconfider- 
 able in companion with that of K.e veil ion, has been leldom mentioned 
 iu hiilory. 
 
 and
 
 224 ORLEANS. 
 
 and were inftantly devoted to deftruftion. Not fo 
 Santerre, a brewer of the fauxbourg St. Antoine* 
 where the other two alfo refided. He, diftrefifed 
 in his finances, proud of notice, and anxious to 
 diftinguifli himfelf, accepted the commiffion, and 
 trained the rabble of the fuburbs to an implicit 
 obedience. He was immediately received into the 
 warm patronage and intimacy of his employer, his 
 debts were paid, and he became a profperous and 
 rich man q . A committee, amongft whom were 
 Mirabeau, Sillery, Syeyes, Laclos, and Latouche 
 Treville, were indefatigable in promoting the views 
 of Orleans both by inftrudions and writings. Thofe 
 which related to the meafures to be adopted on the 
 convocation of the ftates-gener a!, contained many plans 
 which have fmce been executed, and were printed 
 and diftributed with great profulion. The inftruc- 
 tions to the duke's bailliages recommended a par- 
 ticular and marked attention to the tiers etat r . He 
 had befides, a difciplined and vociferous band of 
 coffee-houfe and garden orators, amongft whom 
 were Grammont, Camille Defmoulins, St. Huruge^ 
 and Fournier. They were conftantly and inde- 
 fatigably laborious in their vocation of exalting 
 him, and degrading the reft of the royal family. 
 He had likewife fucceeded in feducing many prin- 
 cipal officers of the army in the provinces, and 
 amongft thofe reckoned moft in his interefts were 
 generals Dumouriez, Valence, and Birori. He 
 had been fo fuccefsful in his exertions, that feveral 
 months before the meeting of the dates-general, 
 the corruption of the army might be deemed com- 
 plete *. He had even arranged a private mode of 
 conveying inftrudions to his band of fuburb mu^ 
 tineers without oral or written communication, by 
 means of the fountains at the falais royal. To 
 
 ^ Moore's Journal, vol.i. p. 15*. 
 
 > See Anecdotes <hi Rcgne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 108. 
 
 Wilde's Addrefs, p. 491. See alio Bouillc's Memoirs, p. 130. 
 
 augment
 
 ORLEANS. 225 
 
 augment flill more his popularity, he performed 
 feveral afts of felf-denial, and made fome Sacrifices 
 at that time peculiar. He releafed his feignorial 
 rights in many of his baiUiages^ and inverted his 
 tenants with the liberty of purfuing game on their 
 own lands ; he founded hofpitals and fchools in 
 .various parts of the country, and his friends the 
 journalifts 'trumpeted forth his liberality with ex- 
 aggerations. Amongft others he gave at Orleans, 
 in honour of Jeanne d'Arc^ the patronefs of the city, 
 the fum of fifteen hundred livres (657. 12s. 6d.\ to 
 be delivered annually to fome young maiden by the 
 curh, as a marriage portion, in reward of virtuous 
 conduit and exemplary modefly r . 
 
 Thefe acls, many of which were really brilliant His great 
 and meritorious in themfelves, though performed PP ulant y* 
 from finifler motives, raifed the popular predilection 
 to a pitch of unexampled enthufiafm. When he 
 appeared in the theatre, dramatic reprefentations 
 were fufpended by the clamorous plaudits of the 
 audience ; when he vifited the public walks, the 
 throng about him was prodigious, every tongue 
 ejaculated applaufes and bleffings on him, many 
 perfons incurred the danger of their lives to obtain 
 the gratification of touching him or kiffing his 
 garments. Pity that fuch a difplay of public fen- 
 fibility mould have been the meed of intrigue and 
 dimmulation ; pity that it could not foften a vicious 
 heart, or bend an inflexible difpofition to a fmcere 
 amirnption of thofe virtues by which alone it can be 
 truly merited. 
 
 The eflates poffefTed by Orleans, fcattered in* fo May. 
 many provinces, gave him great means of influence Meetmgof 
 
 ,' r / i i t ftates. 
 
 m the return or members to the itates-general, and gen erai. 
 this was much increafed by the exertions of the 
 lodges of mafons u . He was returned by two 
 
 1 Mifs Williams's Letters in 1790. 
 
 u Play fail 's Hiilory of Jacobiniim, p. 100. 
 
 VOL. u. CL places,
 
 226 ORLEANS. 
 
 places, but preferred fitting for Villiers Cotteref, 
 meaning perhaps to perpetuate the memory, and 
 excite refentment for his banifhment. His influence 
 \vith the electors of Paris was irrefiftible, and procured 
 a return of perfons entirely devoted to him in the 
 three orders. At the meeting of the flates-general, 
 he obferved an oflentatious humility: He did not 
 walk in proceffion with the princes of the blood, 
 but with the deputies from the bailliage for which 
 he was returned x . At the entry of the hall of 
 aflembly, one of his brother deputies, a cure, offered 
 him the pas, which he declined, alleging that the 
 precedence of clergy to nobility ought to be in- 
 variably maintained. The mob behaved with 
 marked difrepeft to other princes of the blood, but 
 received him with their wonted acclamations, and 
 * the aflembly itfelf hailed him with applaufe. The 
 king exprefled furprife when he faw the duke fitting 
 at a diftance from all the princes, and fpoke to 
 Orleans on the fubject, who anfwered, that he 
 could rank with his coufms any day, but on that 
 day he thought it his duty to fit with his co-deputies, 
 and refumed his feat. 
 
 Dlfpleaf- This marked feceffion from the court could not 
 ro^fa 6 ^ ut exc ' te indignation ; the whole royal family ex- 
 roily, prefled their disapprobation of his conduct, and the 
 count d'Artois caufed the Swifs guard which ufed 
 to mount at the palais royal to be taken away. 
 This meafure, though it did not injure him in the 
 minds of the people, inflamed his defire of ven- 
 geance. His refentment had alfo, before the meet- 
 ing of the flates-general, received additional force 
 Projeft of from a new motive, A marriage had been in 
 marriage, agnation between his daughter and the elded fon 
 of the comte d'Artois. Had this marriage taken 
 place, it might have prevented mod of the tragical 
 events of the revolution. The king had but two 
 
 * Anccdott* du Regne de Louis XVI, vol. vi. p. 1 33 . 
 
 fons,
 
 ORLEANS. 227 
 
 ferns, the eldeft was dying, and the other was not 
 considered a healthy child. The comte de Pro- 
 vence (now Louis XVIII.) had no children. The 
 comte d'Artois and his fons flood next in fucceffion, 
 and whoever married his eldeft fon, was then fup- 
 pofed to have a fair profpect of becoming queen. 
 It is credibly reported the queen broke off this Fruftratcd. 
 match, with the intention of giving the princefs 
 royal to the fon of the comte d'Artois, and thus en- 
 furing a crown to her daughter by marriage, which 
 the Salic law forbad her to claim by inheritance y . 
 
 In the tiers ttat, the adherents of Orleans were Comiuflin 
 the moft violent in oppofition to the court, and moft jj eaffem - 
 clamorous for the union of the three orders, a 
 meafure which was known to be highly agreeable 
 to his views. Two days after the celebrated fcene djune. 
 in the tennis-court, Orleans dined with duke de 
 Liancourt, he wore the fmile of fatisfaclion while 
 topics were under difcuffion which were extremely 
 embarraffing to the court, and diftinguifhed himfelf 
 by a flippancy of converfation, and a continual 
 titter z . Seeing, by the junction of the clergy with 2 5th. 
 the tiers etat^ that the nobility muft finally be de- 
 feated, he made hafte to acquire the earlieft tribute 
 of popularity, by prefenting himfelf at the head of 
 forty-feven other feceders from their own clafs, to 
 join with the commons a . To prepare the way for 
 this junction, a mob had been hired by the duke 
 and his partifans, who ran about the ftreets of 
 Verfailles, threatening, infulting, breaking the win- 
 dows, and perfonally aflaulting thofe of the clergy 
 and nobility who were ftrenuous for preferring the 
 diftinction of orders b . At length, the nobility, a7th. 
 fenfible of the impoffibility of effectual refiftance, 
 and yielding to the exprefs commands of the king, 
 
 y Hiftorical Sketch of the French Revolution, p. 78. Bouille's 
 Memoirs, p. ^T.^. n. 
 
 * Arthur Young's Travels, p. 117. * Hiftories. 
 
 . b Arthur Young's Travels, p. ua. 
 
 reluctantly
 
 2*8 ORLEANS. 
 
 reluftantly joined the inferior order. Orleans con 
 fidered this as a real triumph. Paris was illu- 
 minated, and fire-works diftributed in every ftreet. 
 Shops were opened where as many fquibs and 
 ferpents were fold for twelve fous (fixpence), as 
 would at other times have coft five livres (4^. 4.5 /.) 
 and there was no doubt that the duke paid the 
 difference c . The clergy before their junction had 
 propqfed the formation of a committee to inquire 
 into the caufes of the fcarcity of corn, and fug- 
 ged meafures for the relief of the poor. This 
 propofal, had it been faithfully executed, muft have 
 developed the intrigues of Orleans, but when it was 
 renewed, he had the addrefs to get a committee 
 appointed, chiefly compofed of individuals devoted 
 to his interefts, among whom there was not a fmgle 
 jd July, member of the clergy. Orleans was elected prefi- 
 dent, an office which he declined, but his having 
 been, at fo early a period, elected to it, demonflrates 
 his great influence. 
 
 Exertions Meanwhile the duke's agents in Paris were no 
 in Paris. l e f s ftrenuous in their exertions than his friends in 
 the aflembly. Libels more atrocious than ever were 
 iffued againft all the royal family. The orators in 
 the gardens and cofiee-houfes were conflantly bufy, 
 and even devoted to deftruftion certain perfons by 
 name as the enemies of the people. Amongfl thefe 
 were the count d'Artois, the prince of Conde', the 
 prince of Conti, and feveral others ; the lift in- 
 creafed daily, and was known to all Paris d . A 
 regular plan of infurreftion was afterwards digefted, 
 the object of which was to obtain for Orleans, the 
 appointment of lieutenant-general, or regent of the 
 kingdom, and to fecure him in that fjtuation by 
 the deftru&ion of all who were fuppofed adver- 
 
 Arthur Young's Travels, p. iaj. 
 
 * Memoires dc la DuchelTe de Polignac, p. 29. Moore's View, 
 vol. i. p. aS?3. See alfo Playfair's Hiltory of Jacubinifni, p. iz8. 
 
 farious
 
 ORLEANS. 229 
 
 farious to him. To accelerate the crifis, the fcarcity 
 of bread became daily more diftrefling, and the 
 mob were exercifed, from time to time, in predatory 
 and riotous exploits. 
 
 To repel thefe efforts, the king was induced to Efforts to 
 order a confiderable body of troops under marfhal reduce the 
 Broglio to affemble round the capital, but the ar 
 precaution was adopted too late ; Orleans had 
 already been fuccefsful in feducing mod of the 
 foldiery from their allegiance. His party en- 
 couraged them in acls of infubordination, refcued 
 them when imprifoned, and even made a party in 
 their behalf in the national afiembly c . The gardes 
 Frar/$oifes were lafl feduced ; they were aflailed by 
 every engine in the power of the duke and his 
 agents. One of their officers, Validi, was bafe. 
 enough to teach them the duty of non-fubmifllon. 
 In fine, money, treats, favours, the carefles of the 
 proftitutes who lived in the palals royal^ aided by 
 the blandimments of women more elevated in life, 
 and the harangues they daily heard, fhook their 
 loyalky fo much, that they added to their oath, to 
 defend the king againft all his enemies, another, 
 that they would not oppofe Frenchmen f . This in- 
 fection extended all over the provinces, and reached 
 even to fome of the gardes du corps. Every thing 
 announced the immediate approach of fome dreadful 
 explofion ; the plans of the confpirators were ar- 
 ranged, the troops under Broglio partook of the 
 general difaffeclion, the coftee-houfe orators had 
 made up their lift of victims, and the day of their 
 execution was fixed for the 1 3th of July ; accident 
 produced the explofion two days earlier with lefs 
 effect, and an omiffion of many parts of the fcheme. 
 
 Previoufly, however, to its arrival, to make fure ioth, 
 of the military, a grand public dinner was given.. P 16 fo1 " 
 
 See Moore's View, vol. i. p.*86. 
 
 f See Pages, vol. i. p. 1*6. ia8. Lettre d'un Frangois a un An-, 
 glois fur les Moyens qui ont Opre la Revolution, p. 3. 
 
 <t3
 
 230 ORLEANS. 
 
 The foldiers had been ordered to keep in their 
 barracks, but to a man difobeyed the command. 
 They were feafted till night, when ferjeants were 
 fent to require their return. The ferjeants, unable 
 to refift the difplay of feitivity, and the intreaties of 
 their comrades and the courtefans, fat down with 
 them, and encouraged the defection from difcipline. 
 Hand-bills were thruft under the doors of the 
 Bourgeoifie, inviting them to afiemble and arm them- 
 felves, and not truft their defence to mercenaries, 
 The duke of Orleans was named in the gardens of 
 the palais royal, as a proper perfon to be exalted 
 to the regency of the kingdom, and the whole city 
 difplayed a general and furprifmg fermentation, 
 nth. This agitation was greatly increafed by a report 
 NeckTrT induftrioufly fpread, that there would not be bread 
 difmiflion. in Paris for another day's confumption, that Necker 
 was difmifled and banilhed, the life of Orleans in 
 danger, the members of the aflembly doomed to 
 death, and the capital devoted to pillage and der 
 flruction. An immenfe mob arofe, but, at firft, 
 deftitute of a leader, contented themfelves with 
 fome flight outrages. 
 
 nth. The next day an innumerable party from the 
 /f^ 8 ** royal, infligated by Camille Defmoulins and 
 the other orators, collecting flrength in their 
 paflage through the city, went with lighted torches, 
 to fet fire to the barriers. The only oppofition 
 they found was from the prince de Lambefe, who, 
 at the head of a german regiment, exerted himfelf 
 to prevent the incendiaries from accomplifhing their 
 purpofes, and for a time fucceeded. The people, 
 though joined by the gardes Franc 'oifes, for want of 
 a leader, attempted nothing decifive. They wan- 
 dered here and there in a ftate of agitation and 
 irrefolution. Where then was Orleans ? Had he 
 pofleffed that courage and prefence of mind, with- 
 out which no man mould prefume to aft a con- 
 fpicuous part in confpiracies, that day might have 
 
 placed
 
 ORLEANS. 231 
 
 placed the crown on his brow. His feeble mind 
 was incapable of fuftaining the tumult excited by 
 his own intrigues ; frightened at the explofion 
 of his own artillery, he remained hovering be- 
 tween Verfailles and Paris, terror-ftruck, and in- 
 capable of encouraging or heading in perfon an 
 insurrection which promifed him all he defired, 
 and which could not be effectually oppofed ; yet he 
 could not difcover that his want of courage mud, 
 in every important crifis, prevent his fuccefs. 
 
 Tired at length of waiting in vain for a living 
 chief, the populace were fupplied with the femblance 
 of tho r e they defired. Two wax bufts of Orleans 
 and Necker were procured, and carried about the 
 flreets. One, Necker, being in the hands of a 
 perfon of genteel appearance, the other of a hawker 
 named Pepin, the mob all the while vociferating, 
 " Hats off ! Necker for ever ! Orleans for ever !" 
 In the courfe of their progrefs, a perfon handfomely 
 dreifed, with a fword by his fide, took the buft of 
 the duke from Pepin, and refpecrfully iniifted on 
 carrying it himfelf. The bufts were then covered 
 with crape, and paraded round the Boulevard, the 
 palais royal, to the Place de Louis XV. and to the 
 Tuilleries, Here the proceffion was met by a part 
 of the regiment of the prince de Lambefe. An in- 
 concievable tumult enfued ; the young gentleman 
 who carfied the buft of the duke, threw it down 
 and made his efcape ; the hawker, who was ftill 
 at his fide, immediately took it up, the riot in- 
 creafed, ftones were thrown at the foldiery, and the 
 mob, confident in the affiftance of the gardes 
 Fran$oifcs, feemed refolved to commence an attack. 
 The prince de Lambefe's troop were commanded 
 to advance, and deftroy the bufts, which appeared 
 the ftandards of infurredlion. In executing thefe 
 orders, they wounded Pepin dangerouily. Some 
 fliots were fired by both parties, and the German 
 regiment finally obliged to retreat. The hawker 
 
 was
 
 23* ORLEANS. 
 
 was conveyed to the garden of the palais royal, 
 where his wounds had the greatefl effect in exciting 
 and confirming feditious emotions. To arms ! to 
 arms ! refounded in every quarter. An attempt 
 was made to put a firelock in the hands of Pepin 
 that he might be employed in recruiting, but being 
 incapable of exertion, he was fent to the hofpital. 
 On this occafion a cockade was propofed for the 
 infurgents, green was the colour firft fixed on, but 
 it was afterwards changed to the colours now called 
 national, namely, blue, red, and white, the two 
 former are the colours of Orleans, the latter was 
 added after their adoption s . The whole of this 
 dreadful day and night was deformed by terror 
 and confufion. The gardes Frangoifes renounced 
 the government of their officers, and fet fire to their 
 barracks. The coffee houfes at the palais royal were 
 full of agitators during the whole time, now ifluing 
 fanguinary injunctions, now inflammatory and ilan- 
 derous proclamations. The relaxation of the police 
 permitted unbridled plunder. The banditti of the 
 metropolis committed their depredations without 
 reftraint or refpecl h . 
 
 The faction in the duke's intereft paffed this 
 eventful night in extreme agitation. The fears and 
 alarms which haunt the bofoms of confpirators, how 
 well fo ever their plans may have been arranged, 
 permitted no repofe. They di feu {fed a thousand 
 fchemes, they revolved a thoufand projects depend-; 
 ing on the refult of the infurrection. Incapable of 
 eftimating the extreme bafenefs of the duke's cha r 
 rafter, they fent him to Paris, that he might fhew 
 himfelf to the infurgents, in hopes that his appear- 
 ance would produce a favourable and decifive exer- 
 tion. He did mew himfelf indeed, but not in a 
 
 8 See DESMOULINS. Alfo Playfsii's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, 
 p. 14-5. 
 
 h Among ether inftances of depredation may he given the robbery 
 $f the charitable houfe of St.Lazare. 
 
 manner
 
 ORLEANS. . 
 
 manner calculated to infpire confidence or en- 
 courage zeal ; he alighted in the court-yard of the 
 palais royal, and then, terrified at the immenfe mul- 
 titude, inftead of afluming the hero, and mewing 
 himfelf qualified for the part he wifhed to act, he 
 fpoke a few incoherent words to thofe who accofted 
 him, then flunk into a private apartment, and kept 
 himfelf ftudioufly concealed, till his departure for 
 Verfailles in the morning. 
 
 On the enfuing day the national guard was *3th 
 formed, by inrolments in the various diftricts of the O f|"g a ) 
 city. The electors took pofleflion of the Hotel-de- tionai 
 vi//e, fufpended all the regular authorities, fent uard 
 orders to individuals to deliver up their fire-arms 
 and powder, ufurped the receipt of tolls and the 
 pofleflion of public monies ; and, what is ftill more 
 extraordinary, were generally obeyed. They foon 
 inrolled a force of fixty thoufand men, but they 
 were without arms and without a leader. It was 
 expected and wifhed that Orleans would offer him- 
 felf. Such an act, putting him at once at the 
 head of fo large a body, with the means of increaf- 
 ing it, would have enabled him to feize the lieu- 
 tenancy of the kingdom, or even the fceptre ; but 
 the exertion was above him. After much delay, to 
 afford time for the tardy duke to declare his refo- 
 lution, the command was given to an obfcure indi- 
 vidual, the count de la Salle d'Offemond. Arms 
 were ftill wanting, notwithftanding the acceflion of 
 the gardes Fran oifes, with all their ammunition, and 
 fome pieces of cannon, and the quantity fupplied 
 by ranfacking the houfes of individuals and the 
 fhops of the armourers. At length it was fuggefted 
 to the people, that they might be obtained at the 
 Hotel des invalides. There, after fome faint refift- 
 ance, they found thirty thoufand mufkets and 
 twenty pieces of cannon. They were equally fuc- 
 pefsful at the garde mcuble de la couronne. 
 
 Thus
 
 234 ORLEANS. 
 
 , 4 th. Thus provided \vith arms, and fluflied \vith fuc- 
 
 Captureof C efs, the" iiifurgents proceeded' to attack the Baftille, 
 it* Bart i lie an attem p t f o defperate, that there is reafon to be- 
 lieve that treachery and neglect combined to give 
 it fuccefs. Suppoiing, however, the favourable iffue 
 of the enterprise to have been due to valour alone, 
 the Parifians are difgraced by their fubfequent bar- 
 barities, by the inhuman murder of cle Launay the 
 governor, together with feveral of his officers and 
 privates, and of M. Fleflfelles the pre-vot des mar- 
 ch ands. 
 
 Cowardice While thefe things were trarifa&ing at Paris, 
 of Orleans, ^fo tne arm d force, increafed by the liberated 
 prifoners from the Force and Chatelet, and difci- 
 plined and affifted by the gardes Frangoifes^ bore 
 down all refinance, Orleans at Verfailles was acting 
 a. part worthy of his extreme pusillanimity. Mira- 
 beau and others of his party reprefented to him, 
 that now was the time to take advantage of his own 
 popularity and the diftrefs of the court, to prefs on 
 the king the meafure of appointing him lieutenant- 
 general of the kingdom, and conftimting him medi- 
 ator between himfelf and the people. The council 
 was about to fit, and a fpeech was prepared for 
 the duke, which he had ftudied and went prepared 
 to deliver. When he arrived at the palace, his na- 
 tive littlenefs of mind prevailed. The fcene of con- 
 fufion before him occafioned by news at which he 
 ought to have rejoiced, the ladies of the court run- 
 ning diftractedly about imploring fuccour from 
 every one they met, the royal family in tears, the 
 general-officers in defpair, and the minifters con- 
 founded ; thefe circumflances, which tended to 
 promote the fuccefs of his attempt, did not infpire 
 him with courage, but communicated contagious 
 impreffions. Inftead of entering boldly with the 
 members of the council, he loitered in the anti- 
 chamber, hoping that he fhould feel lefs timid when 
 
 the
 
 ORLEANS. 235 
 
 the bufmefs of the fitting was commenced, and the 
 members perfonally engaged. He ftrove to rally 
 his fpirits in vain, he could not afiume fuflkienr. 
 refolution to enter the room, but waited in the anti- 
 chamber till the riling of the council. At length 
 the door opened, and the members retired. Com- 
 pelled to do iomething, he accoded the king flam- 
 mering, and faid, " Sire, I come to entreat your 
 " majefty's permifiion, in cafe the afpeft of affairs 
 " mould become more perplexing, to go to Eng* 
 " land." The king furveyed him with aftonifh- 
 merit, and quitted him without fpeaking a word l . 
 
 From this period the fucceffes of Orleans de Falls into 
 clined ; he continued the part of a diftinguifhed conKm P- 
 confpirator, but never could place his affairs in fuch 
 a fituation as to render the point of his ambition 
 attainable. His party, convinced of his meannefs, 
 would in all probability have renounced him imme- 
 diately, but his purfe, and his influence among the 
 lower order of people, made them continue under 
 his bapner, though they defpifed him k . The fitu- igtlu 
 ation of commandant of the national guard having 
 been for feveral days kept open by his partifans, in 
 hopes that he would aflume it, was at length taken 
 from la Saile and given to la Fayette, who, though 
 fufficiently imbued with revolutionary principles, 
 was not agreeable to Orleans, and afterwards be- 
 came one of his moft decided opponents. 
 
 The plan of infurre&ion hacj. been fo well con- infurrec- 
 certed, that it took effect almoft in all parts of the tion . in the 
 kingdom ; the foldiers were every where in a flate of P ' 
 infubordination. Diipatches had been fent to all 
 the provinces on the fame day, with inftruftions to 
 inftigate the peafants to rile, which were fatally 
 complied with '. The nobility, gentry, and rich 
 
 * Moore's View, vol ii. p. 40. 
 
 k Mirabeau intended to have renounced him nnd joined the court, 
 but was, for a time, prevented. See MIRABEAU. 
 1 Young's Travels, p. 194.. Pages, vol.i. p. 170. 
 
 of
 
 236 ORLEANS. 
 
 of every defcription were plundered and fubje&ed 
 to the mod barbarous indignities ; while, in the 
 capital, the prefles of the fa la is royal not only de- 
 fended thefe proceedings, but encouraged them by 
 the daily emiffion of atrocious libels on all perfons 
 of worth and rank in the kingdom ; while the king 
 was abufed without difguife, and the mod infamous 
 falfehoods were fabricated refpecting the queen. 
 Proceed- Though the party of Orleans in the aflembly had 
 ings in the loft m a great meafure their confidence in him, and 
 * ' frequently urged meafures of the utmoft importance 
 without confuting him, yet, on the whole, his in- 
 terefts were ftill prevalent there, and generally at- 
 4th Aug. tended to. Thus, though, from the immenfity of 
 his poifeilions. the decree for the abolition of privi- 
 leges was injurious to him in one fenfe, it did little 
 mifchief, compared with that which it occafioned to 
 the reft of the nobility. He could better afford the 
 lofs of fome privileges, and had anticipated that of 
 others by voluntary renunciations, yet the ftep was 
 taken without his knowledge, and met with his 
 hearty difapprobation. In the debates on the fuc- 
 ceflion to the crown, and the regency in cafe of a 
 minority, as well as on the fhare of power to be 
 allowed to the king in the exercife of his veto, his 
 intereft was always obvioufly confidered. To the 
 exertions of his party are alfo attributed many of 
 the fevered decrees againft the clergy m . 
 Prepara. The fuccefs of the Orleans faction in exciting 
 tions for a tumults in July, the defire of confirming and ex- 
 aion. Ur " tending their afcendancy, and the hope that more 
 favourable circumftances might refult from a new 
 infurredion, infpired them with a projeft, in which 
 all the benefits would not accrue to their daftardly 
 patron, and which no irrefolution or want of energy 
 in him could totally defeat. Orleans, on due con- 
 fideration, might have been convinced that he was 
 
 m See Barruers Hiftory of the Clergy, p. 17. 
 
 not
 
 ORLEANS. 237 
 
 not calculated to aflume the direction, and reap the 
 fruits of a public commotion ; but in his mind re- 
 venge was fuperior to ambition. He had effectual 
 experience that, if he was not exalted, the king and 
 queen, whom he hated with the moft rancorous ma- 
 lignity, were degraded by his exertions, a'nd he re- 
 folved to perfevere. The emigration of the count 
 d'Artois and his family, the afcendancy of the Or- 
 leans* faction in the aflembly, the death of the king's 
 elded fon, and frequent aifurances that the furviving 
 child and Monfieur could eafily be prevented from 
 impeding his fchemes of advancement, acted as frefh 
 flimulants, and a more defperate attempt was agreed 
 on. Frequent private meetings of the duke's con- 
 fidential agents were held at his country-feat at 
 Moufleau, where the fcheine was formed n ; and 
 the confidence and imprudence of the faction were 
 fo great, that they publicly announced that the duke 
 would foon be lieutenant-general of the kingdom . 
 The duke's agents in Paris, kept in exercife by fre- 
 quent acts of cruelty and violence, were prepared to 
 execute any project which mould be directed. The 
 fcarcity of bread was fevere to extremity, though 
 the harveft was juft got in, and the confpirators did 
 not fcruple to aflert that the calamity originated in, 
 the court alone. To give a fpring, and furnifh a 
 plaufible pretence for the projected infurrection, 
 advantage was taken of the king's delay to fanction, 
 fome decrees relative to the new conflitution ; and 
 a report replete with calumny and falfehood was 
 raifed, refpecting a treat given by the gardes dit 
 corps to the regiment de Flandres, on their arrival 
 at Verfailles. The following appears to be a correct; 
 reprefentation of this tranfaction. 
 
 It was an cftablifhed point of military etiquette, ift Oft. 
 when a new regiment arrived where another was ea t *f ven 
 
 gardes du 
 
 n Moore's View, vol.ii. p. 39. corps. 
 
 Meeker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 263. 
 
 already
 
 2 3 8 ORLEANS. 
 
 already ftationed, for the feniors to welcome the 
 new comers by a military dinner. The national 
 guard of Verfailles gave theirs without exciting the 
 flighted obfervation. The fame act of politenefs 
 was performed by the gardes du corps in the hall of 
 the opera. A table in the form of a horfe-fhoe was 
 fpread for the company, amongft whom was the 
 count d'Eftaing, commandant of the national guard, 
 and twenty officers of that corps. The fcene repre- 
 fented a wood, the orcheftra was filled with the re- 
 gimental bands of mufic, who played the airs of fe- 
 veral favourite operas. At the end of the fir ft 
 courfe, the healths of the king, queen, and dauphin 
 were given, and drunk with the greateft unanimity. 
 The trumpets founded a flourifh, and vive le roi 
 refounded from every part. The band played the fa- 
 vourite air of Richard^ 6 mon roi ! from the opera 
 of C&ur dc lion. The foldiers, who were placed in 
 the pit, jumped on the ftage, afked for wine and 
 glafles, drank the healths, and redoubled their ap- 
 plaules. Towards the end of the fecond courfe, the 
 king, queen, dauphin, princefs royal, princefs Eli- 
 zabeth, and feveral ladies of the court entered the 
 hall, and appeared to enjoy with fatisfaftion the high 
 fpirits of the company. Their prefence renewed 
 their demonftrations of loyalty, the health of the 
 royal party was drunk, and wiflies for their welfare 
 repeated with enthufiafm. The retreat of the royal 
 fpe&ators broke up the meeting, for every one 
 prefled to be near them till the lafl moment. The 
 muficians followed, and when they arrived in the 
 marble court, played fome lively tunes. The fol- 
 diers, with the characteriftic gaiety of the nation, 
 began dancing ; no one thought of refuming his 
 feat at table ; an undiftinguifhed mixture of troops 
 of the line and national guards took place, and the 
 hilarity was unbounded. The royal family again 
 prefented themfelves at the windows to fee the 
 happy multitude : the foldiers, to amufe their royal 
 i j fpectators,
 
 ORLEANS. 139 
 
 fpeftators, made a fort of mock attack on the palace, 
 climbing up the colonades and fcaling the balcony. 
 This aft of levity being performed, they refumed 
 their dance, and at an early hour feparated peaceably. 
 Their riling from table fo early occafioned four hun- 
 dred bottles of wine to be left, which they agreed 
 to drink out the next day but one, at a military 
 breakfafr., confiding of cold pies, hams, and cold 
 joints ferved on a table in the riding-houfe. No 3 d oa. 
 one fat down, but each helped himfelf as he pleaf- 
 ed. The breakfaft was replete with gaiety ; loyal 
 and patriotic toafts were given ; the royal family, 
 the national affembly, and the national guards, were 
 complimented with this notice in turn. Some of 
 the party drank too much, and broke the bottles 
 and glaffes, but nothing like a riot took place. 
 The fame day the officers gave a dinner to twenty 
 foldiers who could not find room at the firft ; and 
 clubbed two thoufand crowns, which they tranf- 
 mitted to the cures of Verfailles, to distribute in 
 bread to fuch of the poor as could produce proper 
 certificates. 
 
 This was the whole of that tranfa&ion which Calumnies 
 afforded a pretext for the moft horrible enormities, e1 
 and afterwards formed an article of accufation aliens. 
 againft the king, queen, and princefs Elizabeth. 
 It is to be obferved, that it did not coft the officers 
 fo much as three half-crowns a-head ; yet thefe mo- 
 derate enjoyments were afterwards by a cant name 
 denominated orgies. The mod malicious calum- 
 nies were circulated, that the national affembly had 
 been curfed, that counter-revolutionary oaths had 
 been adminiftered, the national cockade trampled 
 under foot, and the black one (that of the emi- 
 grants) fubflituted p . It was every where affectedly 
 
 obferved, 
 
 9 The preceding accounts of the feift are taken from Montjoye, and 
 are confirmed by the royalilt journals ami news-papers. The con- 
 trary ftatements feem to have been fabricated principally by Lccointre 
 
 of
 
 240 
 
 4th Oct. 
 Prepara- 
 tions for 
 tumult. 
 
 5 th. 
 Mob af- 
 
 lembltd. 
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 obferved, that the profufion of the treat formed a 
 (hiking contraft with the mifery of the Parifians, 
 whom the intrigues of the court deprived of bread. 
 It was pretended, that the intention of bringing a 
 regiment of troops of the line to Verfailles, was to 
 overawe the national aflfembly, and carry off the 
 royal family to Metz. 
 
 When the plan of the confpirators was thoroughly 
 prepared, it was announced in the palais royal in 
 the evening, that there would be no bread in the 
 capital in the morning, but that plenty would be 
 found at St. Cloud ; and it was fuggefled as a mea- 
 fure of propriety, to go to Verfailles, and bring the 
 king to Paris q . 
 
 At day-break, an immenfe concourfe of the loweft 
 order of women from the mod infamous parts of 
 the city and fuburbs, reinforced by a great number 
 of men in women's clothes, affembled in a tu- 
 
 of Vet-failles, afterwards deputy to the national convention. This 
 rnan, however, when called as a witneis on the ti^ of the queen, 
 did not depofe half the facts whith were currently believed at the time j 
 and theie is every reafon to confider his evidence as untrue. Two 
 perfons whom he al'uded toby name, as having been prefent, were 
 called as witnefles (Percival and d'Eftaing). Percival flatly con- 
 tradicted the afTeitions of Lecointre, who, in his explanation, equivo- 
 cated and refem-d to hear:ay ; and d'Eitaing wns only {lightly exa- 
 mined. No 1'uch facts as curfing the aflfembly, trampling the national 
 cockade under foot, or aHuming any other cockade, was advanced. 
 (See Proces des Bourbons, vol. iii. p. zi. 64. 71. Jordan's Political 
 State of iurope, vol. v. p. 158. 171. 174..) Riband de St.Etienne, 
 though a decided revolutionill, does not, in his hiftory, pretend that 
 thefe imputed enormities were tranfacted in fuch a manner as to give a 
 character to the entertainment ; on the contrary, he allows that nothing 
 could be apparently more innocent. He recapitulates the principal 
 acts with which calumny branded thefealt; but, in general, he afcribes 
 them only to individuals, and dors not reprefent them as part of a 
 confiftent general plan. (See Hiftory of the Revolution, p. 148.) 
 One circumllance tends very much to prove that the ftatements made 
 by the king's enemies were falfe. Thele pretended orgies, to which 
 all the inhabitants of Verfailles, as well as the military, were witneffes, 
 took place on the firft of October j and it was not till the fifth, when 
 the mob were in full march from Paris, that they were denounced to 
 the aflcmbly by the Orleanill Petion. 
 * Apologie des Projets, &c.p. $i. 
 
 inultuous
 
 ORLEANS. 241 
 
 multuous manner. They forced every one of their 
 own fex whom they happened to meet, and even 
 fome whom they preffed into the fervice from mops 
 and other houfes, to join them, and made a hideous 
 proceflion to the Hotel-de-viHe, clamoroufly fcream- 
 ing for bread and arms. The commune, owing to 
 the earlinefs of the hour, were not yet aflembled ; 
 and the Hotel being but feebly guarded, was eafily 
 forced by this band. They defeated a party of 
 horfe fent to oppofe them, by mowers of flones, 
 and took pofieilion of the hall ; exclaiming that 
 Bailly, la Fayette, and all the members of the com- 
 mune^ were fcoundrels, and fhould be hung up a la 
 lanterne^ a cruelty they actually attempted to prac- 
 tife on a baker, but he was refcued by the military. 
 Some of them forced the armoury, and got pof- 
 feflion of two pieces of cannon, and eight hundred 
 mufkets. Thus armed, they propofed to go to 
 Verfailles, to afk the king for bread, and to make 
 the affembly give an account of their conduct. A 
 man named Mail lard, one of the conquerors of the 
 Baftille, and a known ruffian in the fervice of Or- 
 leans, inftructed on this occafion for the purpofe, 
 offered to conduct the party to Verfailles. He took 
 a drum to collect them, and appointed the Champs 
 Elyfees for a general rendezvous, where they muf- 
 tered about eight thoufand, armed with guns, pif- 
 tols, broomfticks, pitchforks, pikes, fcythes, and 
 every other weapon of annoyance which the hurry 
 of the occafion permitted them to provide. Mail- They d-;- 
 lard encouraged them by an harangue, and they fet 
 out by beat of drum, efcorted by an immenfe troop 
 of armed men, and followed by a party of the na- 
 tional guards. 
 
 There is reafon to believe that this violent 
 did not know exactly how they were to be em- 
 ployed. They had a confufed notion that they 
 were to murder the queen, but were ready to com- 
 mit any further atrocity which might be fuggefted 
 
 VOL, xi. R. to
 
 ? 4 i ORLEANS. 
 
 to them. In their way to Verfailles, they abufed 
 that ill-fated princefs in terms outrageous to de- 
 cency, and threatened her in a manner mocking to 
 humanity. They hardly afieded fecrecy in their 
 determinations : four perfons in the drefs of women 
 flopped to drink at a tavern at Seve, one was heard 
 to fay, " I cannot refolve to kill the king, it is con- 
 " trary to juflice, but the queen, with all my 
 " heart :" to which another anfwered, " They 
 " mud all take their chance, we fhall know what 
 " we have to do when we get there r ." 
 
 Proce-d- The duke's partifans in the national afTembly, 
 air-mbl - he ^^ ra ^ eau m particular, apprifed of the intended at- 
 tack, behaved with the mod indecorous contumacy. 
 In the midft of a tumultuous debate, the avant- 
 couriers of the infurgents arrived. Information 
 \vas lent to the king, who returned immediately 
 from hunting ; and the troops, mofl of whom 
 were difaffe&ed and corrupted, were drawn up in 
 the court-yard'. 
 
 Arrivil Thele meafures were fcarcely taken, when the 
 
 kaviour of mam body of the women from Paris arrived in two 
 the mob. divifions ; one by the direct road, under Maillard ; 
 the other by St. Cloud. The former went imme- 
 diately to the aflembly, which was jufl about to rife, 
 when they required admiflion, and threatened to 
 force 'the doors. The prefident confer. ted to their 
 introduction ; Maillard was their fpokefinan. 
 " This morning (he faid) there was no bread to 
 " be had in Paris : I rang the tocfm, was arrefled, 
 " and mould have been hanged but for the aflift- 
 46 ance of thefe ladies who accompany me, and who 
 " laved my life. We are all good patriots, come 
 " to Verfailles to aik for bread, and to punim thofc 
 " gardes du corps who have infulted the patriotic 
 <c cockade. Thofe who dare to infult that cockade 
 
 * Moore'* View, vol. ii. p. 52. 
 
 See Memoirs of the KING, &c. andMlRABEAU; and for o'her 
 intermediate trani'ciftioua Ice ia FAYETTE. 
 
 mall
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 243 
 
 " (hall be ferved thus for it fhall be worn by 
 " every body.'* In concluding thefe words, he 
 tore to pieces a black cockade, and trampled it 
 under foot. This attion exciting fome murmurs, 
 " What (he exclaimed in the genuine cant of vul- 
 " gar ignorance) are we not all brothers ?"- 
 " Yes, (anfwered Mounier, the prefident,) all man- 
 " kind are brothers ; but they muft not tear one 
 " another to pieces for wearing cockades of a wrong 
 " colour." " The ariftocrats (refumed Maillard) 
 " are defirous to ftarve us ; to-day a note for two 
 " hundred livres (87. ij-r.) was fent to a miller, 
 " with inftruclions to grind no more corn, and a 
 " promife of the fame fum weekly." " By 
 " whom ?" exclaimed the royalifts. Maillard, after 
 fome hefitation, replied, " I was told it was by 
 " the archbimop of Paris." " Hold your tongue, 
 " importer, (refumed they,) the archbimop is inca- 
 " pable of fuch an action." Maiilard being thus 
 filenced, his tumultuous attendants began with great 
 clamour to demand an immediate fupply of bread 
 for the capital. The prefident informed them the 
 affembly was about to deliberate on the moft fpeedy 
 means of obtaining a fupply, and that they might 
 retire. Far from taking this hint, they feated them- 
 felves on the forms with the members, and mewed 
 their favour or averfion to particular fpeakers, in a 
 manner peculiar to themfelves. To fome they faid, 
 " Speak to 'em, deputy :" to others, " Hold your 
 " tongue ;" in a peremptory tone, accompanied 
 with the grofieft denominations. In fine, it was Deput- 
 agreed that the prefident, accompanied by fix de- a ^ lo r. to 
 puties, mould go to the king, and reprefent the 
 ftate of affairs ; and after requeflin^r his unqualified 
 acceptance of the decrees relative to the conftitution, 
 prefent the petition of the Parifian women. After 
 obferving that they did not want laws, but bread, 
 the Poiflardes infifted that fix of their number mould 
 R 2 accompany
 
 244 ORLEANS. 
 
 accompany the deputies ; to which the aflembly was 
 obliged to confent. 
 
 Situation At the gates of the palace all was confufion and 
 f rdes du u P roar The martial order of the guards at firft: 
 corps. ftruck terror into the mob, but as they had re- 
 ceived orders not to fire, (an order which they 
 obeyed with a perfevering magnanimity fufficient 
 to have excited the admiration and refpect of fa- 
 vages,) the populace lofmg their fear refumed their 
 petulance, and after infulting them by every means 
 in their power, endeavoured to break their ranks. 
 Some attempted to frighten or enrage their horfes, 
 fome to run between them ; vollies of ftones, and 
 frequent difcharges of mufkets were employed 
 againft this unr ending body. In the midft of this ter- 
 rible fcene Mourner arrived, attended with his female 
 co-deputies, who were now augmented to twelve, 
 one having hold of each reprefentative of the peo- 
 ple by each arm. The guards at firft refufed them 
 admittance, but when Mourner declared himfelf, 
 they were immediately conducted to the king. The 
 prendent made a long fpeech on the diftrefles of 
 the poor. The king anfwered with that pathetic 
 eloquence which is the offspring of feeling and in- 
 tegrity, in terms which affected his female auditors 
 even to fainting. Separated from their abandoned 
 companions, their fenfes no longer inflamed by 
 hideous clamours, or inapplicable reproaches, they 
 exerted their intellects, and animated with joy, ran 
 out at the end of the audience, exclaiming " God 
 " fave the king ! God fave our good king ! We 
 " {hall have bread to-morrow !" This warmth 
 was foon checked by the mob, who exclaimed that 
 thefe women had been bribed, and faid, " If they 
 * c do not bring us an order under the king's hand, 
 cc we will have them every one hung up." One 
 of them, in fact, was with difficulty refcued from 
 the hands of the aflaffins. They were again in- 
 troduced 

 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 troduced to the king, who gave them a written 
 paper, which fatisfied thofe without, and the fhouts 
 of " God fave the king !" were general. The 
 guards fheathed their fwords, and tranquillity Teemed 
 to be reftored. This was, however, of fhort dura- 
 tion, the guards being ordered to their quarters, 
 broke up that firm pofition which had kept their 
 aflailants in awe, and they were aflaulted, not only 
 by the mob, but by the national guard of Ver- 
 failles. They rigidly adhered to the orders of not 
 firing, and were alone expofed to every hoftile 
 effort, the regiment de Flandres having been cor- 
 rupted by the agents of Orleans . 
 
 The affembly having, by the ill-timed perfever- 
 ance of the deputation, obtained from the king an un* ad i ourned - 
 qualified fanction of the decrees which had been pre- > 
 fented, adjourned, but were foon recalled to their 
 fltuation by the arrival of la Fayette and the national 
 
 * The difficulty of dating with exaclnefs the caufe of this attnck on 
 the gardet du a,rj>t, is well exprcffeil by the author of an Historical 
 Sketch, &c. (ice p. 24.4.). He lays, "The confufion was fo great 
 " that none of the hiitorians have defcribed it very clearly. The 
 " gardet du corps are acculed of provoking their enemies by fome rafli 
 *' actions, which are either denied or juftified by their friends. Jt 
 " may be obferved, once for all, that the indifference with which the 
 " patriots had treated the murders committed at Paris, had convinced 
 " the real or fuppoled aristocrats that they could hope for no protection 
 " from the laws, and that force alone muft repel brutal force. We 
 " cannot therefore wonder if they are ibnietimes liable to the imput- 
 *' ation of beginning the attack, when they once heard their Jives 
 " threatened by the mob. But in this particular instance I do not 
 " find any fufficient proof that the guards had recourfe to illegal 
 " violence. The garde natknale of Versailles was rendered averfe to 
 " them, and partly from the infmuations of Lecointre, who was from 
 " the firlt their enemy and accufer. The regiment of Flnnder 
 ** had been gained by the double leduclion ot women and money. 
 '* I he king, convinced that their fmall number could do him no real 
 " fervice, lent them pofitive orders not to fire; and about fix o'clock 
 " ordered the greateft part of them to leave the town, whilft Ibme few 
 " Hill remained to guard the interior part of the palace. Whether in 
 " their retreat they fired rafhly upon Come of the banditti who infulted 
 '* them, or whether thoie banditti fired purpoiely to throw on them 
 t( the odium, leems uncertain j but the gardt rationale of Verfailles 
 " took the pretence to fire on the guards, exclaiming firft that fome of 
 " their men were wounded, and vengeance was denounced on the re- 
 " giment from all quarters." 
 
 R 3 guards
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 guard, xvhofe fan^uinary difpofitions encouraged the 
 mob and increalcd the danger. La Fayette having 
 made fuch arrangements with the royal family as he 
 confidered neceflary, advifed the aflembly to ad- 
 journ, which they did, and the confpirators, in 
 various difguifes, mixed with the mob and with 
 the foldiers, whom they mitigated to frefh ads of 
 violence. 
 
 It is not necefiary here to repeat the tranfaclions 
 ans ' of this dreadful night, and of the enfuing morning, 
 in the courfe of which the queen's life was immi- 
 nently endangered, her defenders butchered, and 
 the king and his family, compelled to leave their 
 blood-ftained palace, were dragged by their perfe- 
 cutors to refide, or rather to be imprifoned, in the 
 capital. Every circumftance tends to prove that 
 this infurredtion was organifed by Orleans : the 
 ready obedience paid to Maillard, a felf-conftituted 
 leader, known to be in the pay of the duke, mews 
 that many fubordinate perfons muft have been 
 employed to influence their fubmiffion, and marfhai 
 them in proper order. " The depofitions at the 
 " Chatelet prove in the mod mconteftible manner, 
 " that during the horrors of thefe two days he was 
 " repeatedly feen, and that whenever he was re- 
 " cognized by the crowd, he was huzzaed with 
 " Vive Orleans ! Vive nrtre Rot Orleans ! &c. He 
 " then withdrew, and was feen in other places. 
 " While all about the unfortunate royal family 
 " were in the utmoft concern for their fate, he was 
 '* in ?ay humour, chatting on indifferent fubjecls. 
 " His lafl appearance on the evening of the 5th 
 " was about nine o'clock, converfm.; in a corner 
 " with men difguifed in mean drcfs, and fome in 
 " women's clothes ; among whom were Mirabeau, 
 " Barnave, Dupcnt, aLd other deputies of the re-. 
 " publican party, and thefe men were feen imme- 
 <e diarely after concealed among the lines of the 
 *' regiment de Flandres, the corruption pf which 
 
 " they 

 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 " they had that day completed. He was feen again 
 " next morning converting with the fame perfons 
 " in women's drefs. And when the infulted fove- 
 " reign was dragged in triumph to Paris, Orleans 
 <c was again feen, Ikulking in a balcony behind his 
 " children, to view the proceflion of devils and 
 " furies ; anxioufly hoping all the while that fome 
 <4 difturbance would arife in which the king might 
 " perifh. I mould have added, that he was feen 
 " in the morning at the top of the flairs, pointing 
 " the way with his hand to the mob, where they 
 " fhould go, while he went by another road to the 
 " king, in Ihort he went about trembling like a 
 " coward, waiting for the explofion which might 
 " render it fafe for him to mew himfelf u ." 
 
 But though thefe tranfactions occasioned fo much Snfyici 
 mifery to the royal family, Orleans did not derive excitedt 
 from them the advantages he expected. Too 
 wicked to be a good fubjecl, too much mifguided to 
 feel content in his exalted fituation, too timid to 
 alfume a decifive part, and fupport and dired 
 openly the fedition he had privately fomented, yet 
 too devoid of fenie to keep his agency an entire 
 iecret, he now not only faw the propofed end of 
 his plan fruflrated, but a general fufpicion attach to 
 himfelf. His party defpiied, and fome began to 
 defert him, others, who thought themfelves fullied 
 by appearing as fenators where he was allowed a 
 feat, gave in their refignation, and requefted leave 
 to retire. Thefe were about an hundred, and 
 amongft them Mounier, the prefident, but he did 
 not quit his ftation till he had performed what he 
 judged his duty, by requiring an inveftigation of the 
 caufes of the infurreftion, in a manner which de- 
 monftrated that he had a well-founded fufpicion, 
 or certain intelligence of the real author. But 
 
 u Robifon's Proofs, p. 377. SeetheKrNO, &c. LA FAYETTE. 
 MIRABEAU, Hiitonps; and particularly M;. Wollftonecratt's Hiltory, 
 P. 4.30. 450. Bouillfi's Memoirs, p. 118. 
 
 R 4 popularity
 
 24 3 ORLEANS. 
 
 popularity was not in itfelf an object of defire to 
 Orleans, his juvenile contempt of it ftill continued, 
 though he ufed it as a means of forwarding his other 
 views. He would not defift from the plans he had 
 formed, nor could the ill fuccefs of his exertions, 
 produced folely by himfelf, open his eyes to the 
 weaknefs of his own character. His parafites, from 
 interefted motives, kept alive the delufion, and he 
 meditated frefh projects for attaining the end of his 
 ambition. 
 
 Orleans It foon became neceffary that Orleans mould 
 
 presets a make a vigorous effort to raife himfelf by the de- 
 fpiracy. n ~ bafement of the king, or relinquifh all the projects 
 he had fo long entertained. The royal family had, 
 fince their arrival in Paris, performed an act of ho- 
 nourable charity, at the exprefs requefl of the 
 queen, which promifed to efface every impreflion 
 made to her diladvantage, and put her in poffeffion 
 of the full love and efteem of the nation. This 
 was a voluntary donation from the privy purfe of 
 money fufficient to redeem from the hands of pawn- 
 brokers all body linen, and neceffary wearing ap- 
 parel, pledged for any fum not exceeding a Louis- 
 d'or. To counteract the favourable impreffions thus 
 excited, the ufual means were reforted to. The 
 report of the king having intended to fly to Metz, 
 and levy war againft the affetnbly, the orgies of the 
 gardes du corps, and all the fcandals which owed 
 their origin to the malignant fpirits of the palais 
 roya/, were renewed, and circulated with increafed 
 diligence. The plenty which had fuddenly glad- 
 dened the capital at the king's arrival, as fuddenly 
 difappeared. New clamours were every where 
 excited, and St. Huruge and the garden orators of 
 wefalau royal, were indefatigable in their efforts to 
 excite fedition. The bakers' iliops were befieged 
 all night and every morning by a clamorous and 
 flarving multitude, and many experienced a total 
 want of the firft neceflary of life. The meeting of 
 
 the
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 the national aflembly at Paris, was with a ridiculous 
 precipitancy fixed for the i9th, though no building 
 was ready for their reception, and they were finally 
 obliged to meet in the cathedral. Houfes were 
 marked with red, black, and white chalk, denoting 
 refpeclively an intended murder, pillage, or burn- 
 ing, thefe were particularly applied to the dwellings 
 of the members of the committee of fubfiftence, 
 the principal officers of the national guard, and the 
 farmers-general. 
 
 All thefe indications of a projected infurrection C 
 could not efcape the attention of la Fayette and fla 
 Bailly, whom the late dreadful cataftrophe had ren- ay * 
 dered more circumfpect. They exerted themfelves 
 with uncommon vigour to caufe a proper fupply 
 and regular diftribution of bread, and la Fayette in 
 particular obtained full proofs of the confpiracies, 
 and infidious manoeuvres of the duke. Thus fur- 
 nilhed, he repaired to the Tuilleries, and entered 
 into confultation with the king, who, on this occa- 
 fion, difplayed his ufual good lenfe and moderation. 
 Had the love of vengeance poflefled a place in his 
 breaft, he could now have indulged it with perfect 
 fecurity, but he confidered the general good of his 
 fubjects, and finding by the papers laid before him 
 by the general, that Orleans alone could open the 
 warehoufes where grain was depofited, he refolved 
 on the more moderate and prudent meafures which 
 were afterwards adopted. Montmorin, the mmifter, 
 requefted Orleans to call at his houfe at an early hour 
 in the morning. The duke was prepared for the fub- 
 ject of the converfation, by an intimation purpofely 
 given by the duchefs of Coigni, and attended at fix 
 o'clock. He anfwered the accufations brought againft 
 him by the minifter with the readinefs of a man re- 
 folved to make no confeffion injurious to himfelf, and 
 with the haughty fpirit of an innocent prince unjuftly 
 accufed. He continued in this ftrain till la Fayette 
 burft from a clofet where he was concealed, and 
 
 laying
 
 250 ORLEANS. 
 
 laying open all his treacheries, aiked what he had 
 to offer againft the proofs depofited in the hands of 
 the king ? Orleans, confcious that he had merited 
 peculiar fevcrity from the general, attempted to 
 ftammer out foine incoherent accounts, but fuc- 
 ceeded fo ill, that la Fayette, giving way to indigna- 
 tion, attempted to flrike him, but miffed his aim 
 by the duke retreating, and fainting away in an 
 arm chair. When he came to himfelf he was di- 
 recled to wait on the king, and to obey his orders 
 as he valued his life x . His majefty, after foine 
 mild though pointed obfervations on his conduct, 
 voluntarily forgave him, but exacled a folemn 
 promife that he mould without delay repair to 
 England, and from thence iffue orders for an imme- 
 diate fupply of corn for his country y . 
 
 i6th oa. When Orleans communicated thefe events to his 
 Xpam'for affociates, together with his refolution to adhere to 
 England, his promife, they were thunder ft ruck. They at- 
 tempted to fhake his determination by every fug- 
 geftion and every argument in their power, but in 
 vain. His paffports were expedited, and his permif- 
 fion to depart obtained from the affembly, although 
 Mirabeau obferved that a million of fo fecret a 
 nature refembled a lettre de cachet, and made 
 pointed aliufions to the imperious deportment of la 
 
 * The circumftances here n fated are taken from Moiitfoye: they 
 are not fo ciicumitantially detailed l>y any other writer, though many 
 authors agree that la Fayette compelled him to leave Fnnce ; and 
 binr that the methods employed were the reverie c f ger.iltn; (' and ptr- 
 ir.-ifion See Mooie's View, vul ;i. p. 64.. Fates, vol. i. p. 163. 
 Boinlle's Mt rnoii s, p. 98 Orleans lumielf Hates that he had an in- 
 terview with la Fayette, in wliich the general told him, that his ab- 
 fence would be conducive to the welfare and trarquillity of France. 
 Expo re de la Conduite de M. le due d'Oikans, Re.:ige par lui meme, 
 p, 19. 
 
 y This mode of proceeding is perfeftty confident with the king's 
 character for clemency , and his rigid adherence to a given promife 
 *n;;y contribute to account for the taciiity with which the exculpatory 
 efforts ot Oi leans were afterwards lereivcd By the aflembly, and the 
 tjneen's refufal \Q give e\idnce when required by the connmriionei's or' 
 ih^Chateltt. 
 
 Fayette,
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 Fayette. Orleans refitted every propofal of IPS 
 friends to incite a popular tumult, or to enter a 
 proteft with the affembly, and left Paris three days 
 before the intended explofion. It it not ifnpoffible 
 that the beams of virtue emanating from the king, 
 might kindle feme congenial fentiment in the bofom 
 of Orleans, but as la Fayette was conflantly urging 
 his departure, it is more probable that fear alone 
 occafioned his fidelity to his promife. His fubfe- 
 quent conduct affords no light on the fubject, for 
 though he performed the real object of his million 
 
 l 
 
 fo much exactnefs, that in lefs than a month 
 after his departure bread was plentiful and cheap in 
 Paris, yet, contrary to the ufual effects of com- 
 punction, he afterwards per fevered in the fame 
 meafures as before. At Boulogne a flight attempt 
 was made to flop his departure by an infurrection of 
 the people, but without effect : a deputation was 
 fent from Boulogne, and the prefident acting extra- 
 officially, in the, name of the affembly, confirmed 
 the permiffion given for the duke to depart. Da- 
 mouriez afferts that this miffion to England was 
 in confequence of an intrigue of the minifler, 
 Montmorin, who wiflied to induce Orlean? to abfent 
 himfelf from France, and to effect that purpofe, 
 infpired him with a wi(h to become duke of Bra- 
 bant z . But the authority of Dumouriez on the 
 fubject of Orleans is very queftionable, and the 
 fcheme here imputed to, him utterly improbable. 
 He was never fo much in habits of intimacy with 
 Montmorin as to be open to his efforts of intrigue ; 
 and his plans refpecting the French monarchy were 
 too extenfive, and had involved him in a connexion 
 too complicated to admit of his forming a new 
 engagement. Jf he had entertained fuch views, 
 England was almoft the worfl fpot on the face of 
 globe he could have repaired to for countenance or 
 
 * Life of Dumouiiez, vol. ii. p. 100. 
 
 afliflance,
 
 252 ORLEANS. 
 
 afliftance, in a plan to excite infurrection and dif- 
 member the empire a . 
 
 His reception affords the beft refutation of fuch 
 a report. He was prefented at court, but hardly, 
 according to the beft authenticated reports, ho- 
 noured with any notice by the auguft and virtuous 
 perfonages who fill the throne. Their known at- 
 tachment to principles and modes of conduct dia- 
 metrically oppofite to his, their love of virtue, and 
 conftant practice of religion and moralitv, occa- 
 fioned that coolnefs which prevented his frequent 
 vifits at St. James's. His debafed manners, his 
 tafte for grofs licentioufncfs and vuigar revelry, 
 foon took a\vay the refpect his birth and fortune 
 infpired. He was never eafy within himfelf; the 
 immenfe projects in which he was engaged rendered 
 him reftlefs, and he hurried through the various 
 rounds of pleafure, fnatching at every one with a 
 greedy hand, yet incapable of relifhing what he 
 fought with lb much avidity. The turf, the gaming- 
 table, the bottle, and the brothel, engaged him by 
 turns ; at each of thefe fcenes, where refinement 
 is capable of diminifhing the opprobium of purfuit, 
 he, like a harpy, was greedy of all, and difgufted 
 every body : Men of refinement manned him, and 
 loiing that extenfive adulation and public accla- 
 mation he had received in his own country, his 
 time foon became irkfome, and he was im- 
 patient to revifit thofe fcenes in which his heart 
 was fo much engaged, and all his hopes concen- 
 tered. 
 
 * On his own trial, Orleans gave fuch an account of this journey 
 as rentiers it aliuoll certain that it had no political object. Hefaid he 
 had letters for Mr. Pitr, which he delivered j and that as he was very 
 intimate with the oppofitioi -party, he was employed to prelerve peace 
 with England. Froces des Bourbons, vol. in. p. 164. In his own 
 *' account of his conduct," Orleans ftates that he was inti utted with 
 an inr.portant million, but does not fpecify its nature or extent. See 
 Expole de la Conduite, *&c. p. 26. 
 
 The
 
 ORLEANS. , 253 
 
 The duke's party in France were too much in- 1790 . 
 terefted in his continuing the part of a confpirator, Exertion* 
 to permit him to relinquifh it from defpair of ul- art y* 
 timate fuccefs. They did not abate their diligence, 
 though their talk was rendered much more difficult 
 by his abfence, and by other circumftances. The 
 prefence of a chief, however weak, vacillating, and 
 uncertain he may be, is the foul of a confpiracy ; 
 fo long as he can be reforted to, and perfonally 
 give directions, there is an order, a method, a fpirit 
 in the proceedings, which in his abfence they ne- 
 ceffarily want. But, in the prefent cafe, the fears 
 of the faction had a different fource, they appre- 
 hended a reflux of the public opinion in favour of 
 the royal family. They renewed their intrigues 
 and calumnies, but they were not always attended 
 with effect, for the people of Paris being relieved 
 from the fear of famine, and not under the in- 
 fluence of accuftomed mitigation, did not fo readily 
 adopt the pernicious projects of the confpirators. 
 La Fayette, actuated by vanity and imprudence, un- 
 intentionally afiifted the Orleanifts by his unne- 
 ceffary cruelty to the royal prifoners, and by his 
 jealous vigilance, and unmanly perfecution of every 
 one who ieemed warmly attached to their caufe. 
 
 At length the imprudence of la Fayette and June* 
 Bailly led them to project the confederation. The Hi return. 
 fcheme of aflembling fo many armed men from the 
 provinces at Paris, afforded an opportunity the 
 confpirators could not overlook of trying by means 
 of infurrection to forward their plans. They la- 
 mented the abfence of their chief, as an irreparable 
 obftacle, and exerted all their manoeuvres to ac- 
 celerate his return. La Fayette, on the other hand, 
 oppofed it, but in that inconfiderate manner which 
 marked moil of his proceedings. Inftead of apply- 
 ing directly to the king for his interference, he, 
 by .his own authority, fent an aid-de-camp who 
 waited on the duke, requiring him to continue in 
 
 London.
 
 S54 . ORLEANS. 
 
 London. This inexpert agent had the folly to 
 commit thefe orders to writing and leave it in the 
 duke's hands. He immediately wrote to his chan- 
 cellor, who was a member of the arTembly, to lay 
 theie facts, together with his defire to take the civic 
 oath, and be prefent at the intended ceremony be- 
 fore the legillative body, and move for his recall. 
 The favourable reception of this morion was faci- 
 litated and increased by a pamphlet publifhed at the 
 time, and pretended to be written by hiinfelf, 
 called " a Narrative of the Conduct of the Duke 
 " of Orleans, during the French Revolution." 
 La Fayette, detected in his {hallow politics, had no 
 oppofuion to make to the motion of the count de la 
 Touche, he affected to explain away the miffion of 
 M. Boinville, his aid-de-aunp, but the duke's recall 
 mil July, was decreed. He arrived in Paris and took the 
 Airives in c : v j c oath, but the fhortnefs of the time, the prefs of 
 bufmefs, and the good difpofition of the ftderes, did 
 not afford him an opportunity of trying the fuccefs 
 of any fchemes. The confederation day paifed, 
 contrary to his wilhes, and to the fears of many, 
 , 5 th. without the fmullcft popular commotion. He gave 
 a public dinner the next day in the hall of the 
 Calais royal, at which fome attempts were made 
 in his favour, but without fuccefs. 
 
 Proceed- During the abfence of Orleans, the aflembly, 
 jugs in the under the influence of his faction, had referred 
 Clutelet. ^ oun j er s denunciation of the traniaclions of the 
 5th and 6th of October, to the Chatelet ; hoping, 
 by their ordinary means of bribery and terror, and 
 by the agency of their friends, to prevent ferious in- 
 quiry. To render the efforts of this court abortive, 
 they limited their inftructions to the night of the 
 5th of Oclober, denying them the means of inquir- 
 ing into the caufes of the infurreftion in the morn- 
 ing, or any of the events of that day, prior to the 
 arrival of la Fayette and the national guards at Ver* 
 failles. Their view appears to have been, either to 
 
 involve
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 25S 
 
 involve the whole tranfadion in impenetrable ob- 
 fcurity, or to throw the odium of it on the general. 
 The committee in the aflembly furnimed very few 
 proofs, and thofe of the moft vague defcription ; 
 and every engine was employed to induce the court 
 to acquit the parties implicated. The judges of the 
 C hate let proceeded in the execution of their duty 
 with great fteadinefs, fecrecy, and patience. They 
 applied to the committee for more proofs ; which 
 being delayed, they exerted themfeives to make fuch 
 jdifcoveries as mould enable them to form a true 
 report. They were about to have reported on the 
 fubjeft, when the duke's party, having gained in- 
 telligence of the fpirit of their proceedings, wrote to 
 him in England for inftructions ; and, in confe- 
 quence of his anfwer, employed all means in their 
 power to procure delay. They caufed the munici- 
 pality to prefent to the court ieventy-five additional 
 proofs ; which protracted the inquiry till Orleans 
 had obtained permitfion to return to France. The 7 th AUJ, 
 court at length, in fpite of menaces, intrigues, and 
 flanders, prefented at the bar of the aflembly a re- 
 port of the evidence they had collected, accom- 
 panied with a declaration, that it involved in a 
 charge of guilt two members of that body. The 
 faction had the addrefs to get the report of the Cha- 
 telet referred to a committee, in which a perfon en- 
 tirely devoted to them had the charge of abridging it 
 for the ufe of the members ; and he fucceeded fo 
 well in falsifying the evidence prefented, in placing 
 in a falfe light the facls advanced, and in recurring to 
 the orgies of the gardes du corps , &c. that a decree was id oa. 
 eafily obtained, importing that there was no ground 
 of accufation againft the parties. A fpeech in favour 
 of Orleans was pronounced in the tribune by the due 
 de Biron, who promifed, in the name of his friend, 
 a full explanation of his whole conduct. This pro- 
 mife he himfelf repeated the next day, profefling a 
 wilh to clear himfelf from every fufpicion ; but he 
 8 performed
 
 2 5 <j ORLEANS. 
 
 performed his undertaking in a very imperfect man- 
 ner, by an apology in the form of a memoire a con- 
 fulfer, or cafe, to which was annexed the opinion of 
 two obfcure advocates, Horn and Rozier b . It was 
 anfwered by Malouet, and fell into deferved dif- 
 regard. 
 
 Exertions The proceedings of the Chatelet did not fo much 
 t Orkans OCCU py t h e p^n^ o f Orleans, as to prevent his trying 
 many plans to counteract the growing popularity of 
 the king and queen, and to further the ultimate fuc- 
 cefs of his ambitious views. On his return from 
 England, he foon found his party ftronger than 
 ever c ; but la Fayette being commander of the na- 
 tional guard, and Bailly mayor of Paris, were infur- 
 mountable obflacles to the exertion of his two fa- 
 vourite means of fuccefs, riot and famine. He la- 
 boured therefore with great affiduity to obtain their 
 difmiffion d to bring undeferved odium on every acl: 
 of the royal prifoners, and to render their fituation 
 as irkfome as poflible, in order to produce fome 
 aft which might make them quit the kingdom, or 
 expofe them to the violence of the populace. In 
 the provinces feveral infurreclions and difturbances 
 took place ; and the inflammable mob of Paris were 
 ready on every occafion, when not reftrained by 
 fear, to rife in arms and commit violence. They 
 were furnifhed with pikes at the expence of Orleans, 
 which were, for that reafon, according to the 
 punning genius of the French nation, denominated 
 Fb. 1791. Philip-piques e . Santerre difciplined the mob of the 
 fauxbcurg St. Antoine, in hopes, by their means, 
 
 b It is tranflated into Englifii, and forms an oftavo pamphlet of 
 -eighty-three pages, published hy Stockdaie, 1790. 
 
 c Boui lie's Memoirs, p. 166. A Idem, p. 24.1. 170. 
 
 e Hi(toi ical Eflay on the Ambition and Conquefts of France, p. 234. 
 Montjoye alfo relates, that a caricature print was published, repre- 
 lenting the king and the duke of Orleans playing at piquet for th 
 crown. This emblem of royalty was flipping from the king's head j 
 and on a label which proceeded from his mouth were thele words: 
 " j'ai ecane les cceurs } il a pour lui les piques, & j'ai perdu la 
 * panic. " 
 
 to
 
 257 
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 to wreft from la Fayette the command of the na- 
 tional guard, and actually ventured to oppofe him- 
 felf to the general in the affair at Vincennes f . 
 
 The king's unfortunate attempt to efcape from June, 
 the cuftody of his perfecutors gave a great afcend- ^ 
 ancy to the duke's party. At firft it was fuppofed flight? 
 that, on the king's lea'ving the realm, a regency 
 would be appointed ; and as Monfieur had quitted 
 the kingdom, the conftitution pointed out Orleans 
 as regent. That he might not appear defirous of 
 attaining this fituation, he addrefled a letter to all 
 the journalifts, in which he folemnly renounced the 
 right given him by the conftitution to expect the 
 regency. This letter is written with considerable 
 art, for while he makes this pretended renunciation, 
 he alludes in pompous terms to his zeal for the 
 public, and his fucrifices in the caufe of liberty g . 
 The moderation thus difplayed was merely affected, 
 for if the aflembly had decreed that he mould be 
 regent, which, from the afcendancy of his party, 
 there was every reafon to fuppofe, he could not have 
 refifted their decifion. On the king's return to 
 Paris, Orleans was obferved in a circle of deputies, 
 a gay fpectator of the melancholy fcene h . During 
 the king's fufpenfion, the queftion of abdication 
 and trial was prefied in the aflembly with all the 
 zeal and power of his party. The aflembly, to 
 avoid the grofs term decheance, forfeiture, ufed that 
 of deftitution, privation ; but in the Jacobin club, 
 then the fenate of the Orleanifts, the matter was 
 treated without ceremony or circumlocution. At 
 that period, the project of a republic was firft openly 
 avowed in France ; but many who affected to fup- 
 port it were clandeftinely promoting the advance- 
 ment of their patron, by familiarizing the people to 
 the expectation of dethroning the monarch. In all 
 
 f See LA FAYETTE. Bouille's Memoirs, p. 299. 
 
 See Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 436. 
 
 k Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 368'. 
 
 VOL. ii. $ probability
 
 2 5 8 ORLEANS. 
 
 probability the views of the party would have been 
 crowned with fuccefs thus far ; the king would 
 have been depofed, and the duke conftituted regent 
 during the minority of the dauphin, but for the fe- 
 ceflion of fome principal leaders of his fation. 
 Barnave unexpectedly aflumed the defence of the 
 king, and, aflifted by the royalifts, prevailed on the 
 affembly to decree the completion of the conftitution 
 Difap- in the form originally intended '. The party had 
 pomtment ma( j e thcmfelves fo fure of a complete viclorv, that 
 
 of Orleans. . i . t r i rt 
 
 they had neglected their uiual precautions or packed, 
 tribunes and a hired mob. Robefpierre wa fo 
 aflonifhed and enraged at this unexpected event, 
 that he ran about the ftreets like a madman, ex- 
 claiming to the people, " My friends, all is loft ; the 
 " king is to be reftored V 
 7th July. Baffled in their expectations from the aflembly, 
 
 Meeting r n i i t * 
 
 in the the faction endeavoured to carry their point by 
 Champ dc means of the populace. They prepared a petition 
 ars * that very night, to be figned on the altar of the con- 
 federation in the Champ de Mars the next morning. 
 The mob aflembled, and began by murdering a hair- 
 dreffer and an invalid, whofe heads they (tuck on 
 pikes, and carried to the palais royal. The mem- 
 bers, the Cordeliers, GI focietc fraternelle, inflamed 
 the populace with declamations and hand-bills of 
 the moll atrocious defcription. After feveral mef- 
 fages from la Fayette and Bailly, requiring the mob 
 to difperfe, military law was proclaimed and ex- 
 ecuted J . The conftitution was revifed and ac- 
 cepted by the king, and the aflembly diflblved. 
 - 9 thNov. According to the requifition of the new conftitu- 
 tion, la Fayette refigned the command of the na- 
 tional guard, and Bailly the mayoralty of Paris. 
 This revived the hopes of Orleans, that by procur- 
 ing that office for a creature of his own, he mould 
 
 * See THE KING, &c. * Sec ROBEsFlERRi. 
 
 1 Se LA FAYSTT*. 
 
 again
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 259 
 
 again be able, by a monopoly of grain, to influence 
 the city, and, through it, the whole kingdom. Pe- 
 don was elected ; but the duke's views with refpeft 
 to a monopoly were totally fruftrated by Bailly, who 
 caufed the care of the provifions of the capital to be 
 vefted in the adminiftrators of the department. 
 
 The new aflembly, deftitute of the experience sitting of 
 and talents which had been the portion of their pre- 1^%'?^ 
 deceflbrs, were delivered up to a faction compofed fembly. 
 of editors of newfpapers, pamphleteers, and other 
 labourers in the lower branches of literature, who 
 had been fupported by, and were Mill in the pay of 
 the duke. Amongft thefe were the moft rancorous 
 enemies of the king, on whom they immediately 
 commenced an attack ; but the mildnefs of his 
 temper, and the refolution he had formed to abide 
 by the conftitution, which was the object of his 
 daily ftudy, rendered their meafures abortive. 
 
 The peace of Europe was incompatible with the Orleans 
 views of the new demagogues, who were refolved to m . ad< ; aj- 
 procure a declaration of war againfl the emperor. 
 Orleans, through the influence of Thevenard, mi- 
 nifter of marine, who hoped to conciliate the new 
 aflembly, had been promoted to the rank of ad- 
 miral m . This promotion it was fuppofed would be 
 the more acceptable, as he had before folicited a mi- 
 litary command, without fuccefs ". The infubordi- 
 nation of the navy was fuch, that moft of the officers 
 promoted at the fame time refigned ; Orleans and 
 d'Eftaing alone retained the rank affigned to them *. 
 
 At this period, Orleans feems to have been fen- HUdefire 
 fible of the impolicy of his conduct : he faw the f rec 
 fpirit of republicaniim beginning to rife, and would wit 
 have been happy to compromise his hopes of ag- king, 
 grandifement, for an honourable promotion and 
 certain fafety. His conduct on this occafion is fo 
 
 m Bertrand's Memoirs, vol.i. p. 119. 
 
 B Anecdotes du Regne de Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. ^^6. 
 
 * Beruand'i Mftnoirs, vol. i. p. 310. 
 
 s a remarkable,
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 remarkable, that I mall not in the narrative alter a 
 word from Bertrand p , who gives it as a party im- 
 mediately concerned, and as an eye-witnefs. 
 " The duke of Orleans was not fatisfied with writ- 
 " ing to me, that he had accepted the rank of ad- 
 " miral ; he likewife paid me a vifit, and amongft 
 " other matters, he aflured me that he fet the 
 " higher value upon the favour which the king 
 " had conferred on him, becaufe it gave him the 
 ie means of convincing his majefly how much his 
 " fentiments had been calumniated. This decla- 
 " ration was made with an air of opennefs and fin- 
 " cerity, and accompanied with the warmeft pro- 
 " teftations of loyalty. I am very unfortunate, 
 " (faid he,) without deferving to be fo ; a thoufand 
 " atrocities have been laid to my charge, of which 
 " I am completely innocent. I have been fuppofed 
 " guilty by many men, becaufe I have difdained to 
 46 enter into any justification of inyfelf from crimes 
 " of which I have a real horror. You are the firft 
 4C minifter to whom I ever faid as much, becaufe 
 " you are the only one whofe characlei ever in- 
 " fpired me with confidence : you will foon have 
 " an opportunity of judging whether my conduct 
 " gives the lie to my words. He pronounced thefe 
 " lafl words with a voice and manner which con- 
 " vinced me he meant them as an anfwer to the 
 *' air of incredulity with which I liftened to him. 
 46 I anfwered him, that I was fo much afraid of 
 " weakening the force of his expreffions in report- 
 " ing them to the king, as he defired I mould, that 
 " I begged of him to deliver them himfelf to his 
 46 majefty. He replied, that it was precifely what 
 " he wimed ; and that if he could natter himfelf 
 " that the king would receive him, he would go to 
 " the court the next day. I gave his majefty an 
 4< account, the fame evening at the council, of the 
 
 P Bertrand's Memoirs, vol.i. p, 310. 
 
 Vifit
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 " vlfit I had received from the duke of Orleans, 
 " and all that had pafied ; adding, that I could not 
 " help being convinced of the fmcerity of his pro- 
 " feflions. The king refolved to receive him ; and 
 " the following day had a converfation with him of 
 " more than half an hour, with which his majefty 
 " appeared to be well fatisfied. I am of your opi- 
 " nion (faid he to me) that he returns to us with 
 " fmcerity ; and that he will do all that depends 
 " on him to repair the mifchiefs which have been 
 " committed in his name, and in which very pof- 
 " fibly he has not had fo great a mare as we have 
 " fufpefted. The following Sunday the duke of 
 " Orleans came to the king's levee, where he met 
 " with the moft mortifying reception from the 
 " courtiers, who were ignorant of what had pafled; 
 " and from the royalifts, who ufually came on that 
 " day to pay their court to the royal family. They 
 " prefled round him, treading defignedly upon his 
 " toes, and pufhing him towards the door. When 
 " he went into the queen's apartment, where the 
 " cloth was already laid, as foon as he appeared they 
 " cried out on every fide-^Let nobody approach 
 " the dimes ! infmuating that he might throw 
 " poifon into them. The infulting murmurs which 
 " his prefence excited forced him to retire without 
 66 feeing any of the royal family. He was purfued 
 " to the top of the flairs, and as he was going 
 " down, fome fpit over the ftaircafe upon him. 
 " He haflened out, filled with -rage and indignation, 
 " and convinced that the king and queen were the 
 " authors of thefe outrages ; of which they were 
 " not only ignorant, but extremely concerned 
 " when they were informed of them. From that 
 " moment the duke of Oneans conceived impla- 
 " cable hatred, and vowed vengeance againft the 
 " king and queen. He kept his oath but too 
 " well. I happened to be at court that day, and 
 " was an eye-witnefs to the fcene I have juft re- 
 s 3 " lated." 

 
 s*2 ORLEANS. 
 
 " lated." Thus was the royal caufc unintention- 
 ally injured by the royalifls, whofe conduct on this 
 occafion demonftrates, that far from having fecret 
 cabals and confpiracies, they did not even maintain 
 that confidential intercourfe which was efiential to 
 their mtereft. 
 
 jacobin The Orleanifts and republicans in the afiembly 
 mmjftry. ^.jjj p er f evere d j n their attacks ; they forced on the 
 king an adminiftration compofed of Jacobins, his 
 molt inveterate foes. They pafied feveral decrees, 
 by virtue of which he was required, with his own 
 hand, to inflict the fevered wounds on fuch of his 
 family as had left the kingdom ; to force the con- 
 fcience of men for whom he had the fmcereft re- 
 fpect ; and to furround his own dwelling with a 
 banditti of twenty thoufand murderers, at the devo- 
 tion of the Jacobins. To thefe decrees he oppofed 
 the fhield with which the conflitution had provided 
 him, the veto. They endeavoured to impel him to 
 a frem flight, by affected kindnefs in reprefenting 
 his danger, and by alarming reports of the popular 
 fury ; but his refolution to remain expofed to all 
 the fury of his enemies, deflroyed the effect of their 
 machinations. 
 
 aothjune, Fruftrated in all thefe fchemes, the Orleanifls 
 
 Attack* on recurre d to their accuftomed meafures of popular 
 
 the palace, jnfurrection. They took advantage of the exercife 
 
 of the veto, and the difmiffion of the miniflers, to 
 
 raife a furious mob, whofe defign to murder the 
 
 king and his family was averted by the fenfibility of 
 
 a hired populace to the virtue and courage of thofe 
 
 TimSdrty they were paid to deftroy. Orleans on this occa- 
 
 cf Orleans. on a & e d ^th that pufillanimity which was his 
 
 chara&eriftic, and which always prevented the fuc- 
 
 cefs of his fchemes. Fearing to have his conduct 
 
 again fubmitted to the judges of a criminal court, 
 
 he left Paris a few days before the intended affault 
 
 of the caftle, and went into the country, to confult 
 
 with the chiefs of the army in his intereft, on the 
 
 means
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 means of fecuring the fruits of his fuccefs. The 
 head of a faction, fku Iking about the country incog' 
 nito, when a decifive blow is about to be ftruck in 
 the capital, is one of thofe novelties which the life 
 of this weak and wicked confpirator alone can 
 afford. In the courfe of his excurfion he vifited 
 Valenciennes. Dumouriez fays, " The duke of 
 " Orleans made his appearance at Valenciennes, 
 " without any one being able to difcover the motive. 
 t( Biron protected this deteftable prince. Du- 
 " mouriez had been intimate with Biron during 
 " twenty years ; and acquainted, though upon rather 
 <e cool terms, during the fame period with the duke ; 
 " but thenceforward he diftinguijhed his two Jons, wh 
 " were very unlike their unworthy father V Let it be 
 recollected, that when this general publimed his me- 
 moirs, Orleans and Biron were no longer in exift- 
 ence to contradict him ; and that there is no caufe 
 afligned why he chofe that particular sera to diftin- 
 guifh his two fons, and a proper eftimate may be 
 formed of the candour and veracity of the general, 
 and the extent of the duke's intrigues. His journey 
 and return were obferved, and excited conjecture 
 and fufpicion r . 
 
 The twentieth of June not having produced all I0th 
 the effects expected by the confpirators, a new in- 
 furrection was organised, which fucceeded to the king 
 utmoft extent of their hopes. Though in the refult 
 of this confpiracy the interefls of Orleans were not 
 confidered, he was very inftrumental in preparing 
 and perfecting it '. It is even faid that the names, 
 additions, and places of abode of thofe who were 
 active in this confpiracy, were precifely the fame 
 with thofe who were employed on the fifth of 
 October 1789*. Orleans, however, kept as ufual 
 
 H Life of Dumouriez, vol. iii. p. 13. 
 r Mercure Frangois, N du 28 Juillet 1791, p. 277, 
 * Pages, vol.i. j. 476. 
 
 1 Hiftoire Uc la Cenfpiration du 10 AoCu, par M. Bigot dc Ste. 
 Croix, 
 
 9 4 far
 
 2<? 4 ORLEANS. 
 
 far diftant from the fcene of action " ; and his pu- 
 fillanimity is faid to have extended to his banditti, 
 who fled at the firft volley x . Though the ven- 
 geance of Orleans was abundantly gratified by the 
 refult of this day, his ambition was feverely morti- 
 fied. The king xvas reduced to the lowed political 
 ebb, deprived of his guards, fufpended, imprifoned ; 
 but the people, inftead of (homing Vive d'Orleans ! 
 had learned to fhout Vive la liberte y / 
 Sept. In confequence of the king's fufpenfion, a na- 
 jmcTmaf- ^ on ^ convention was decreed ; and the flatterers 
 facres. of Orleans, or thofe intereded to prey on his folly, 
 led him to expect that this meafure would conduce 
 to a full and fpeedy attainment of all his wimes. 
 He fpared neither money nor influence to procure 
 thofe perfons to be returned who \vere devoted to 
 him, and to intimidate and deftroy the friends of 
 the monarch and of the exiding conditution. La 
 Fayette had fled, and the diforganifed armies were 
 entirely commanded by thofe whom Orleans fup- 
 pofed to be his creatures. He procured the arreft- 
 ation of many perfons of influence, who were pre- 
 fumed to polfefs an attachment to the king ; and 
 that he might effectually prevent their obdructing 
 his projects, he directed, or at lead fanctioned, the 
 d Sept. horrible maflacres committed in the prifons z . In 
 thefe tranfactions his avarice as well as his ambi- 
 tion found a gratification, by the murder of his ac- 
 complifhed relative the princeife de Lamballe, which 
 Orleans he is faid to have exprefsly commanded a . He pro- 
 hUname. curec ^ himfelf to be returned a member to the new 
 convention by the agency of Robefpierre and Dan- 
 ton ; and to prevent all prejudice which might arife 
 
 a Pages, vol. i. p. 478. * Lou vet's Narrative, p. 17. 
 
 * Fennel's Review, p. 4.73. 
 
 9 See in Gibbon's Pofthumous Works, vol. i. a very interesting 
 letter, defcribing the fate of feveral viftims of thefe maflacres, and 
 afcribing the organization of them to Orleans. 
 
 " Peltier's late Picture of Paris, vol.ii. p. 162. 382. 384. See 
 
 from
 
 ORLEANS. 26$ 
 
 from his name exciting a recollection of his affinity 
 to the royal family, he wrote to the commune of 
 Paris, renouncing his family appellative, alleging' 
 the impurity of his mother's life in proof that he 
 was not a defcendant of the Bourbons, and declar- 
 ing that he was the fon of her coachman. He re- 
 quefted of the commune to affign him a new name, 
 and they conferred what they termed the beautiful 
 name of EGALITE b . 
 
 But thefe ve-y meafures which he imagined Defeaioa 
 would ftrengthen his intereft, and infallibly give f his atU 
 
 r r i n r n i i i "erents. 
 
 luccels to his projects, rrultrated his views, and 
 produced his ruin. With his ufual propenfity to 
 low company, and the difgufting familiarity of the 
 refufe of mankind, he laviflied his favour on the 
 mod abandoned and worthlefs of his partifans. To 
 the utter difgufl of the men of letters and fuperior 
 attainments in his party, he was always furrounded 
 by fuch wretches as Marat, Collot d'Herbois, 
 Clootz, and Chabot. The mafiacres of September 
 having been planned and executed by this clafs of 
 his followers, and they alone enriched by them, 
 fome others of his needy partifans became angry 
 and difgufted. The eagernefs with which the peo- 
 ple now received the abolition of royalty, fug- 
 gefted to fome the hope of eftablifhing a federal re- 
 public, a chimera which they purfued with ardour. 
 Thus arofe a divifion amongft his friends, which, in 
 the end, left him a folitary mark for the firft in* 
 terefted ufurper to moot at. Many of his agents, 
 in faft, as foon as by his means they had obtained 
 independence, and even luxury, elevated their 
 views, they faw the folicitude of the rabble for the 
 downfal of royalty, and affected to fecond it, nay 
 even in violation of known truth, pretended to have 
 been always republicans. To the defign of their 
 adverfaries of forming a federal republic, they 
 
 b Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 41 9. Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobin- 
 jfm, p. 604.. 
 
 oppofed
 
 265 ORLEANS. 
 
 oppofed that of a triumvirate or dictatormip, which, 
 flattering their refpective views and ambition, di- 
 vorced them ftill more effectually from the interefts 
 of their patron. The firfl ftep taken by the con- 
 vention was to decree the abolition of royalty ; this 
 was done on the motion of Collot d'Herbois, with- 
 out oppofition, all the members who were prefent 
 vied in giving this proof of their being animated 
 with the prevailing fpirit. 
 
 lofignifi- At this period the unfortunate and worthlefs 
 thecon- Egalite percieved the inextricable dilemma into 
 vcution. which he was drawn. The king was depofed, but 
 royalty was abolimed, confequently there was no 
 probability that he could ever be regent. Amongft 
 other popular novelties, mention was made of an 
 agrarian law, a fyftem which he had no longer fuffi- 
 cient power to counteract, and to which his remain- 
 ing property was a mofi inviting bait c . He faw 
 that the Gironde, except a few individuals, who 
 were fecretly his friends, hated him, and that his 
 own worthlefs confederates, the Mountain, de- 
 frauded and betrayed him. Their rapacity drove 
 him to the moft fcandalous expedients to raife 
 money, and inftead of a throne he faw that he was 
 barely purchafmg a precarious protection. His 
 importance was reduced to nothing. In the con- 
 vention, which, as he had bought it with his 
 money, he expected to ufe as a property, he was 
 the moft infignificant of all members. He gene- 
 rally attended for the fpace of half an hour every 
 
 c With all his profufion, Orleans was never generous ; and though 
 he appeared to make great pecuniary Sacrifices, he was always trem- 
 blingly alive to an attack on his property. He carried his cupidity to 
 inch an excefs, that he actually made a ridiculous application to the 
 conftituent afiembly for four million one hundred and fifty eight 
 thoufand eight hundred and fifty livres (1551,9497. 3 s. 9 </.), together 
 with interelt from the year 1721, as the dower promiled to Louila- 
 Elizaheth d'Orleans, queen of Spain, and by her afiigned over to the 
 anceftors of the duke. This demand was referred to the next legif- 
 lative body, but I do not find that it was ever renewed. See Debates, 
 jjth June 1791.
 
 ORLEANS; 267 
 
 day, looked round him, and went out unnoticed '. 
 In the army he ftill hoped to maintain his influence 
 by means of Dumouriez, who continued attached 
 to him, and ardent in promoting his fon : but even 
 on this he could not depend, as he faw his bed mili- 
 tary friends difgraced or led to the fcaffold. The 
 battle of Jemappe, which raifed the fpirits of the 
 populace fo high, and in the account of which 
 Dumouriez praifed Egalite's eldeft fon, gave him 
 a tranfient gleam of funfhine, and emboldened him 
 for the firft time, to fpeak in the convention in 
 praife of the general ; but this hope was of fhort 
 duration ; Marat was bufy with his libels and poll- 
 ing-bills, deftroying the reputation, and throwing 
 fufpicion on the character of this fortunate warrior ; 
 and Pache, the war minifter, was crippling all his 
 operations. 
 
 During the king's trial Orleans difplayed, in a Conduft 
 remarkable manner, the prevalence of revenge over " n ""f thc 
 ambition. He could not reafonably entertain hopes trial, 
 that he mould ever be enabled to afcend the throne 
 after the formal abolition of royalty, and the de- 
 claration of fome members, that they voted againft 
 Louis more for the crime of having been a king 
 than for any other. Perhaps the approach of Du- 
 mouriez to the capital was in confequence of a 
 concerted plan, to gratify, under fome form, the 
 ambition of Orleans, and infpired new hopes. 
 There is no doubt that the Mountain ufed every 
 effort of terror and conciliation to keep him firm to 
 their interefls, as they were apprehenfive that even 
 a fingle vote might determine the queftion againft 
 them. By his means, during the appel nominal^ the 
 doors of the convention were furrounded by aflaflins, 
 who frightened with clamour, and threatened with 
 their daggers, all whom they fufpecled of oppofing 
 their views e . 
 
 d Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 148, 
 c Journal de Clery, p 198. 
 
 Whatever
 
 2 68 O R L E A N S. 
 
 .1793* Whatever \vere the vviflies and hopes of Orleans, 
 Hi*Totcs, j t m jgj lt b e expected that he would abftain from 
 voting on the queftion which decided the fate of 
 his unfortunate coufm, but he was referved to ex- 
 hibit depravity in all its difgufting nudity, without 
 even the veil which fear or hypocrify fupply, when 
 better motives are wanting. The manner in which 
 his vote on the firft queftion, " Is Louis guilty ?" 
 was received, might have convinced him that ho- 
 nour, decency, and even his perfonal fafety required 
 that he mould abftain from giving an opinion on 
 the other two. As foon as the monofyllable Oui 
 efcaped his lips, the convention, by loud murmurs, 
 teftified aftonimment. On the fecond queftion, 
 " of referring the punimment to the nation in pri- 
 ", mary aflemblies," he voted with the Mountain 
 againft the reference, and the fame murmurs tefti- 
 fied the fame feelings, He had an interval for 
 reflection after thefe hints, before the third appel 
 nominal came on. The queftion was " What pu- 
 " nifiiment had Louis incurred ?" On this point 
 he renewed the furprife and horror of the afiembly, 
 and entailed on himfelf the execration of every 
 feeling mind, by the memorable fentence which he 
 read from the tribune : " Uniquement occupe de mon 
 " devoir, convaincu que tons ceux qui ont attente, ou 
 " attenteroient par la fiiite, a la Jouverainete du 
 " peuple merlte nt la mort, JE VOTE POUR LA MORT. 
 " Influenced by no confideration but that of per- 
 " forming my duty, convinced that all who have 
 * e confpired, or who fhall hereafter confpire, againft 
 " the fovereignty of the people deferve death, I 
 " VOTE FOR DEATH." The horror excited by this 
 trait of viHany could hardly be fuppreifed; the 
 aflembly was in a general ferment -> one member, 
 flatting from his feat, and ftriking his hands to- 
 gether, exclaimed, -Ah ! le feclerat ! many repeated 
 that expreflion, and Oh ! Fhorreur ! Oh ! k monjire 7 
 
 * See Moore's Journal, rol.ii. p. 577. 580. Necker on the Revo- 
 lution, vol. i. p. 403. 
 
 This
 
 ORLEANS. 169 
 
 This conduct, which excited great indignation Heroic 
 in the people s , produced no other effect in the Jj^Jjj? of 
 king's mind than a fenfe of the degraded date of 
 his worthlefs perfecutor. " I do not know," he 
 faid, " what I have done to my coufm to make 
 " him behave to me in the manner he has ; but he 
 " is to be pitied. He is dill more unfortunate than 
 " I am. I certainly would not change conditions 
 " with himV Orleans is faid to have been a 
 pleafed fpectator of the catadrophe of this horrid 
 tragedy. Accompanied by his elded fon, he faw with 
 a fmile, from the Pont de Louis XVI. the decapita- 
 tion of the virtuous monarch l . 
 
 Whatever might be the hopes of Orleans at this Terror of 
 moment, whether he had any latent expectations Orleans 
 from the promifes or principles of the Mountain, 
 or whether his ambition confined itfelf to the tran- 
 quil enjoyment of the remains of his property, 
 cannot be determined, but the day of the king's 
 death pu'; ?i end to all his comforts. He was 
 alarmed by anonymous notes threatening him with 
 aifaffmation and with poifon, and loading him with 
 every reproach : he furrounded himielf with a 
 guard of fans culottes formidably armed, who pre- 
 vented all accefs to him, except after the minuted 
 fcrutiny : he never flept twice together in the fame 
 room, and frequently changed his apartment in the 
 courfe of the night : he wore armour under his 
 clothes, and took every other precaution which fear 
 and jealoufy could fugged. To the dread of afiaflin- 
 ation was added that of public impeachment; he knew 
 that a word from the Mountain condituted his 
 death warrant ; and to obtain their forbearance, he 
 facrificed to their cupidity every thing which would 
 raife money ; plate, furniture, pictures, gems, all 
 were fold. His virtuous lady, who had long mourned 
 
 B Journal de Clery, p. aor. \ 
 
 h Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. ill. p. 165. 
 
 1 Psltiw's late Pifture of Paris, vol. ii. p, 45. 
 
 3 the
 
 27* ORLEANS. 
 
 the effe&s of his vices and ambition, flruck with the 
 prevailing horror at his late conduct, and urged by 
 her friends, obtained a reparation from him, and 
 retired to the houfe of her father. 
 
 Suppofed For fome time after the death of Louis XVI. it 
 was foppokd tnat tne partifans of Egalite' were 
 fecretly labouring to procure his appointment to the 
 protectorate k . This fufpicion was carried by fome 
 to a moft ridiculous excefs ; one deputy affirmed, 
 that Robefpierre and the commune of Paris had 
 confpired to raife Egalite to the throne, and that 
 Egah'te had promifed to make Robefpierre prime 
 minifter for life, and convert the national into a 
 municipal reprefentation, in which the reprefentatives 
 of Paris mould be exclufively legiflators for all 
 xoth Mar. France '. A confpiracy of fome kind was entered 
 into, and excited much alarm. Orleans was gene- 
 rally underftood to be actively concerned in it, but 
 what end was propofed, or how it failed, are flill 
 infcrutable myfteries. Briffot exhaufted his in- 
 genuity in conjectures m , and Garat avows his in- 
 ability to explain the matter n . 
 
 Total de- The failure of this undefined projeft completed the 
 hlsTn * ru * n ^ ^ r ^ eans J ms ^ ew remaining partifans fpeedily 
 fluence. defcrted him. Before the king's death, Buzot and 
 Louvet had moved for his banimment, but they 
 were oppofed by the Mountain, who apprehended 
 that the lofs of his vote and influence would be 
 fatal to their views , and particularly by Robef- 
 pierre, who virulently inveighed againft this new 
 fpecies of oftracifm p . They procured an adjourn- 
 ssd Mar. ment of the queftion till after the king's trial. The 
 popular fociety of Amiens fent a letter requiring an 
 
 k Miles'* Conduft of France toward} Great Britain examined, 
 p. 150. 
 
 1 Carat's Memoirs, p. 197. 
 
 Briffot to his Conftituems, p. 86. 
 
 Carat's Memoirs, p. 114.. iz6. 
 
 See Debates of i6th and i9th December 1791. 
 
 * See Robefpierre a fes Commettans, vol. i. p. 4*5. 
 
 irrevocable
 
 ORLEANS.. 271 
 
 irrevocable decree of banifhment againft all the 
 Bourbons, but as they imprudently added a requeft 
 that a decree of accufation might be pronounced 
 againft Marat and fome other demagogues, the 
 convention pafied to the order of the day. Robef- *7&. 
 pierre alfo moved that all the relations of the late 
 king mould be bammed, but with the like fuccefs. 
 
 The flight of Dumouriez, and the obvious con- Flight of 
 nection of that general with the Orleans family, 
 completely fubjected Egalite to his adverfaries. In 
 vain he profefied in the convention his refolution 
 to imitate the elder Brutus, in facrificing his fon to 
 his country ; his destruction was doomed, and he 
 had neither virtue, property, or friends to defend or 
 confole him. When the news of Dumouriez's ift April, 
 treafon arrived, la Source moved that Egalite and 
 Sillery mould be taken into cuftody, but having 
 implicated Damon in his cenfures, the debate took 
 another turn. He was, however, that fame day 
 {truck out of the books of the Jacobin club. He s^ 
 was next indirectly denounced by Barbaroux, but 
 as that deputy contented himfelf with requiring that 
 Valence, and all perfons connected with the family 
 of Orleans, mould be arrefted, Egalite feconded the 
 motion, and thus obtained a momentary reprieve. 
 This lenity was perhaps merely owing to the uncer- 
 tainty which attended the final event of Dumouriez's 
 exertions, for fo foon as his want of power was dif- 
 covered, the proceedings of the convention became 
 more decifive. Marat moved, that as there were 7th. 
 no proofs againit Egalite, his character of deputy 
 mould be refpected, but a letter having been read 
 relating a converfation which he had held, in which 
 he alluded to the probability of his being king, 
 Boyer Fonfrede moved, that all the members of the 
 Bourbon family mould -be retained as hoftages for 
 the arrefted commirlioners, which was decreed. 
 Marat, a few days afterwards, faid, that he could not 
 tell whether Phillippe Egalite was a traitor, but that 
 
 he
 
 $7* ORLEANS. 
 
 he knew him to be a man without morals, without 
 capacity, and without honour q . 
 
 ?th May. When, in confequence of the decree granted on 
 Hejsim. B O yer's motion, Orleans was taken into cuftody, 
 he wrote to the convention to be informed whether 
 the decree was meant to exte *$ to him, an affirm- 
 ative burft from every mouth. He protefted againft 
 his detention, on the principle of his inviolability 
 as a reprefentative of the people ; but they pafled 
 to the order of the day ; and he was conveyed to 
 the Abbaye. At the approach of the guards who 
 came to arreft him, he fainted away, and on his 
 being put in prifon, exhibited every appearance 
 nth. of abjednefs and terror. He was removed to 
 Marfdiles. Marfeilles, together with feveral others of his fa- 
 mily, and there confined. The firft violence of 
 his grief and fear having fubfided, he gave him- 
 felf up to the enjoyment of every fpecies of lux- 
 ury and debauchery in his power. He underwent 
 an interrogatory before the criminal tribunal of 
 Marfeilles, but they having no inflru&ions, pro- 
 nounced him not guilty. They were foon however 
 informed of the difpofition of the convention, and 
 inftead of enlarging him after his acquittal, confined 
 him in a clofe and damp dungeon. 
 
 7 th June. From this place he wrote to the convention, hum- 
 thecon' kty fupplicating that they would lighten his chains, 
 tention. if not reftore him to liberty ; expreffing a hope 
 that their definitive judgment would be in his fa- 
 vour, and that they would grant him that liberty 
 which he had never employed but for the good of 
 his country. This addrefs however produced no 
 effect, and he was for fome time apparently for- 
 J5th July, gotten. In the report made by Billaud Varennes 
 refpecting the imprifoned deputies, he was only 
 flightly implicated on account of his connection 
 with Petion. 
 
 See Debates. 
 
 At
 
 ORLEANS. 373 
 
 At length, after he had fuffered near fix months ^ (] oa - f 
 imprifohment at Marfeilles, Amar made his famous accuStien. 
 report apinft the Briflbtines, and Orleans was in> 
 plicated in many of the charges. Billaud Varennes 
 immediately faid, " Let not the convention forget 
 " one man, whom every fentence of the report ac- 
 8< cufes of the mofi criminal intentions : I move 
 " that Philippe galite be comprifed in the decree 
 " of accufation which delivers all the confpirators 
 " to the revolutionary tribunal of Paris." This 
 motion being received with applaufe*, Billaud in 
 continuation propofed, that the votes on this fub- 
 jecl mould be taken by appel nominal: this dif- 
 pleafed Robefpierre, who oppofed the new motion 
 with fome afperity ; and at length it was decreed in 
 the original form. When the people were informed 
 'of the event, they expreffed the greateft fatisfadion, 
 and rent the air with cries of Vive la republique r / 
 
 He was foon afterwards brought to Paris j and Brought to 
 lodged in the Conciergerie till the day of his trial. Paris> 
 The jailor gave him a good bed in his own rooms^ 
 and he appeared perfectly indifferent to his 
 fate,; ate, drank, and flept with apparent tran- 
 quillity, never fpeaking of public affairs *. He was 6th Nov. 
 at length put on his trial, together with one Couf- Tried - 
 tard, alfo a deputy ; and defended by his old agent 
 and ftedfaft adherent, Voidel. The interrogatory* 
 which is one of the iniquitous forms of Gallic jurif- 
 prudence, charged him principally with a connec- 
 tion with the Briffotines, and with an expreflion to 
 one Poultier, a deputy, conveying an idea that he 
 was to be king. The jury, with their cuftomary 
 unanimity and inattention to the prifbner*s defence, 
 found him guilty of a confpiracy againft the unity 
 and indivifibility of the republic, and he was ordered 
 for immediate execution. 
 
 * Debate*. Procesdes Bourbons, Tol.iii. p. 15?. 
 
 VOL. in Ha
 
 274 ORLEANS. 
 
 His unex- He was drawn to the Place de la Re-volution in 3. 
 
 twurate, cart w ^^ ^ our otner perfons, who difplayed the 
 mofl dreadful apprehenflons ; but, on this awful oc- 
 eafion, Orleans exhibited an elevation of mind, 
 which, had it been his portion in more profperous 
 days, would have infured him happinefs and re- 
 putation. His being intended for execution on that 
 day was fo little known in Paris, that very few 
 people were prefent when firfl he afcended the cart, 
 but the rumour foon flew and attracted innumerable 
 gazers. They reproached him in the coarfeft terms 
 with all the crimes of his paft life, his debaucheries, 
 his afiamnations, his perfidy, his vote againft the 
 king, every thing memory could fuggeft. When 
 the cart reached the palais royal, with a refinement 
 in cruelty truly Parifian, they made it ftop ten mi- 
 nutes, to obferve the effect produced by contemplat- 
 ing the icene of his grandeur and debaucheries. 
 On this great day he difappointed the hopes of 
 malevolence ; he maintained, during his whole pro- 
 grefs, a ferenity of countenance and dignity of de- 
 portment altogether princely. He looked at the 
 palais royal, and read the infcription on the front 
 denoting it to be national property, without the leail 
 apparent emotion. The populace, difappointed of 
 rheir expected entertainment, at length permitted 
 him to proceed. At a fmall diftance from the place 
 of execution he entered into converfation with a 
 prieft who was allowed to attend the prifoners, and 
 fo continued till he came to the foot of the fcaffold, 
 where, without lofing for a moment the intrepidity 
 and death, fo recently acquired, he fubmitted to the knife of 
 the guillotine, which terminated his exiftence in the 
 forty-feventh year of his age, in lefs than ten months 
 after' the. murder of the king, which he had oc- 
 cafioned by fo much expence, fo much intrigue, and 
 fo many crimes. His body was thrown without di- 
 iiinclion amid the crowd of carcafes which daily 
 
 butchery
 
 ORLEANS. 27; 
 
 butchery coiifigned to the burying-ground of St. 
 Mary Magdalen. 
 
 Thus periftied this abandoned prince, whom it is obferv- 
 now a common mode of fpeech to call the monjhr atlon * 
 Ega/ite. He fubverted a throne without courage or 
 confiftency fufficient to avail himfelf of the refult of 
 his own efforts ; and fquandered an immenfe for- 
 tune with fo little judgment, that at his death he 
 fcarcely poflefled a fmgle friend. He was tacitly ex- 
 cepted, after the fall of Robefpierre, from the vote 
 of cenfure which the moderes caufed to be parTed on 
 the murderers of the other deputies, as no one had * 
 integrity or courage enough to propofe including 
 him in the lift. His name will remain to pofterity a 
 perpetual warning to individuals of overgrown pro- 
 perty, againfl the folly of entering into popular con- 
 fpiracies, and becoming the dupes of men of defpe- 
 rate fortune and daring ambition l . 
 
 I mail avoid further difcuffion of the character of 
 -Orleans, by prefenting to the reader the following 
 animated comparifon, which a late noble and learned 
 author has drawn with equal fpirit and feeling. 
 
 <( It is afflictive to have lived to find, in an age 
 " called not only civilized but enlightened, in this 
 " eighteenth century, that fuch horrors, fuch un- 
 " paralleled crimes have been difplayed on the 
 " mod confpicuous theatre in Europe, in Paris, 
 " the rival of Athens and Rome ; that I am forced 
 " to allow, that a multiplicity of crimes, which I 
 <c had weakly fuppofed were too manifold and too 
 " abfurd to have been perpetrated even in a very 
 " dark age, and in a northern ifland, not only not 
 " commencing to be polifhed, but inured to bar- 
 " barous manners, and hardened by long and bar- 
 
 t PJayfair, alluding to his firmnefs on the day of his death, with 
 great juftice and considerable humour fays, " The duke of Orleans 
 " was a coward from calculation, rather than from nature. When 
 " there was any mode of efcaping, or when he had an alternative, he 
 " nevtr rifted himfelf." Hifto.-y of Jacobinifm, p. 604.. n. 
 
 T 3 " barous
 
 2)6 ORLEANS. 
 
 " barous civil wars among princes and nobility 
 " ftriftly related ; yes, I muft now believe that 
 " any atrocity may have been attempted or prac- 
 " tifed by an ambitious prince of the blood aiming 
 *' at the crown, in the fifteenth century. I can 
 " believe (I do not fay I do) that Richard, duke of 
 " Gloucefter, dipped his hand in the blood of the 
 " faint -like Henry the fixth, though fo revolting 
 " and injudicious an a<ft as to excite the indignation 
 " of mankind againft him. I can now believe that 
 " he contrived the death of his own brother Cla- 
 " rence ; and I can think it pomble (inconceivable 
 * c as it was) that he afperfed the chaftity of his own 
 " mother, in order to bailardife the offspring of 
 "his eldeft brother: for all thefe extravagant 
 " exceiTes have been exhibited in the compafs of 
 " five years, by a monfter, by a royal duke, who 
 " has actually furpafled all the guilt imputed to Ri- 
 " chard the third ; and who, devoid of Richard's 
 " courage, has acled his enormities openly, and 
 6 will leave it impoflible to any future writer, 
 " however difpofed to candour, to entertain one 
 " hiftoric doubt on the abominable actions of Philip 
 " duke of Orleans. 
 
 " After long plotting the death of his fovereign, 
 cc a victim as holy as, and infinitely fuperior in fenfe 
 * e and many virtues to, Henry VI. Orleans has 
 " dragged that fovereign to the block, and pur- 
 " chafed his execution in public, as in public he 
 " voted for it* 
 
 " If to the aflaflination of a brother (like the fup- 
 <c pofed complicity of Gloucefler to that of Cla- 
 " rence) Orleans has not yet concurred j ftill, 
 ** when early in the revolution he was plotting the 
 " murder of the king, being warned by an affociate 
 s that he would be detected, he faid, ' No ; for I 
 " will have my (natural) brother, the abbe de St. 
 " Far, (tabbed too, and then nobody will fufpect 
 ** me of being concerned in the murder of my own 
 
 " brother/
 
 ORLEANS. 377 
 
 " brother.' So ably can the afiafiins of an enlight* 
 " ened age refine on and furpafs the atrocious deeds 
 * e of Goths and barbarians ! 
 
 " Shade of Richard of Gloucefter ! if my weak 
 <c pen has been able to wafh one bloody fpeck, one 
 " incredible charge from your character, can I but 
 " acknowledge that Philip of Orleans has fullied 
 " my varnifh, and at lead has weakened all the ar- 
 < c guments that I drew from the improbability of 
 " your having waded fo deeply into wickednefs and 
 <6 impudence that recoiled on yourfelf, as to calum- 
 < niate your own mother with adultery. If you did, 
 " it was to injure the children of your brother; 
 < e flill you had not the fenfelefs, fhamelefs effrontery, 
 * c to (hake your own legitimacy. Philip of Orleans 
 <e mocks your pitiful felf-partiality ; he, in perfon, 
 < e and not by proxy, has declared his own mother 
 a {trumpet, has baftardifed himfelf, and for ever 
 <{ degraded his children as progeny defcended from 
 " a coachman i for what glory, for what object, 
 <c far be it from me to conjecture ; who would 
 < e have a mind congenial enough to fuch a monfter, 
 *' as to be able to guefs at his motives u f" 
 
 See Poftfcript to Hiftoric Doubts written in 1793. Lord Oxford's 
 Works, vol. ii. p. 250*,
 
 THOMAS PAIN. 
 
 T^TOTWITHSTANDING the curiofity excited by 
 *"V the conduct and writings of Pain, and by 
 his being the only Englimman who has appeared as 
 a legiflator in France, I mould have felt an invinci- 
 ble repugnance to the labour of following him 
 through all the mazes of guilt and fraud, and 
 tracing him from a difhoneft obfcurity to his prefent 
 flate of infamous notoriety, but the more difgufting 
 and fatiguing part of the talk has been already per- 
 formed with fo much perfpicuity and ability, that 
 what remains becomes eafy and comparatively 
 pleafant. The publication on which I have relied 
 for the facts ftated in thefe Memoirs, is intitled, 
 " The Life of Thomas Pain, the Author of the fedi- 
 " tious Writings, intitled Rights of Man, by Francis 
 " Oldys, A. M. of the Univerfity of Pennfylvania ;'* 
 a work which, from unqueftionable information, I can 
 venture to cite as the production of Mr. Chalmers, the 
 well-known writer of the Lives of De Foe and Ruddi- 
 man. This work was firft publifhed u when Pain, 
 making a violent effort to emerge from the obfcurity 
 in which he had remained ever fmce the peace of 
 1783, declared himfelf the opponent of Burke, 
 and the champion of the French revolution. It has 
 been fo well received as to have pafled through ten 
 editions ; and as the author himfelf has obierved, 
 
 " It has been fmce abridged by William Cobbett, the American, 
 who writes under the name ot Peter Porcupine, 
 
 * Mr,
 
 P A I'N. 2J9 
 
 <c Mr. Pain has noticed the Life in his Second Part 
 " of the Rights of Man ; yet, however urged by 
 " intereft, or quickened by lhame, he has not con- 
 " troverted one affertion, he has not explained one 
 " incident ; he has confirmed fome facts, without 
 " denying any : and, of confequence, he has ad- 
 " mitted the whole of the narrative to be true, 
 " which indeed could not be difputed, \vithout 
 " contradicting dates and invalidating records.'* 
 Relying on their admiflion, and on the known cha- 
 racter of the author, I (hall abridge his narrative 
 and diftinguifh the notes for which I am indebted 
 to his diligence and accuracy, by the fignature O. 
 
 Thomas Pain x was born at Thetford in the 
 county of Norfolk. His father, Jofeph Pain, was 
 the fon of a fmall, but reputable farmer ; a flay- 
 maker by trade, and a quaker by religion : his mo- hls P ar * )U 
 ther was Frances Cocke, the daughter of an attorney 
 at Thetford. For marrying according to the forms 
 of the church, Jofeph Pain was expelled the com- 
 munity of quakers, but that benevolent fet con- 
 tinued to pity his diftrefles through life, and to 
 relieve his wants. The father and mother both 
 lived to know their fon's vices, to pity his mif- 
 fortunes, to hear of his fame, but to partake little 
 of his bounty y . It arofe, probably, from the tenets 
 of the father, and the eccentricity of the mother, 
 that Thomas Pain was never baptized, or regularly 
 received into the bofom of any church, though he 
 
 x This man's real name is Pa'm : his fictitious name is Paine with a 
 final e: for, his father's name was Pa'tn^ and his own name was Pain, 
 when he married, when he correfponded with the excife, and when he 
 fiift appeared in America : but, finding fome inconvenience in his real 
 name, or feeing fome advantage in a fictitious one, he thus changed 
 the name of his family. O. 
 
 y Jofeph Pain was buried at Thetford on the i4th of November 
 1786, aged 78. Frances Pain, widow, was buried on the i8th of 
 May 1789, and recorded to be 94: but, as flic was born in January 
 1697-8, tne parifli regifter makes her age to be greater than it was, 
 though flie had far outlived the period which is afligned to mor- 
 tals O. 
 
 T 4 was
 
 28o P A I NT. 
 
 was confirmed by the bifhop of Norwich. This 
 lad circumftance was owing to the zeal of Mrs. 
 Cocke, his aunt, a woman of fuch goodnefs, that 
 though me lived on a fmall annuity, me imparted 
 much of her little income to his mother, while he 
 was not very folicitous about his aged parent, amidft 
 his cares for mankind. 
 
 Education. Pain, who was educated at the free-fchool of Thet- 
 ford, under Mr. Knowles, was deemed a {harp boy of 
 unfettled application, but left no performances 
 which denote juvenile vigour or uncommon attain- 
 ments ; his ftudies were confined to reading, 
 Learns the writing, and arithmetic. At the age of thirteen 
 mdeofa he ^ fchool to learn h j s f^er's bufmefs, and 
 uiker. continued to work with him % at Thetford for five 
 years, except a fhort period during which he was 
 employed by a coufm, who was alfo a flay -maker 
 at Shipdam in Norfolk z . 
 
 1756- At the age of nineteen he went to London, 
 ?" to where he is fuppofed to have remained about two 
 
 London. . . 
 
 years, but no trace or him is ditcovered, except that 
 he worked for fome with Morris, a very noted 
 7s8. {lay-maker, in Hanover-flreet, Long Acre. He 
 :r - next eftablifhed himfelf at Dover with Grace, a 
 {lay-maker, of whom, under pretence of an attach- 
 ment to his daughter, he contrived to borrow ten 
 pounds, to fet up as a mafler ftay-maker at Sand- 
 wich, but he neither married the lady or repaid the 
 money. 
 
 Apr. 1759. At Sandwich he lodged with Mrs. Fifher in the 
 Sdwich fifh-market, at whofe houfe he collected a congre- 
 
 * He indeed tells himfelf (Rights, part ii. p. 91.) what furely can- 
 hot be true, " That when little more than fixtten years of age, \ 
 " entered on hoard the Terrible privateer, Capt. Death." He was 
 certainly horn on the zpih of" January 1736-7 : he was, of courfe, 
 lixteen on the z^th of January 1753. liut the war was not declared 
 Egainft France till the i7th of May 1756, when he had entered into 
 his twentieth ye:>.r. The Tenihlewas fitted out probably in the fum- 
 mer of 1756, and was certainly captured in January 7757. Thefe 
 fafts evince how little Pain is to be trufted, when he does pretend to 
 give a patfage of his own liie. O. 
 
 gation s
 
 A I 
 
 a8l 
 
 gation, to whom he preached as an independent, and be- 
 er a methodift. He alfo wrote a fhort poem which come * a 
 
 i i/i i r *i i methodift 
 
 was never pubhihed, on a perlon in jail, who was preacher, 
 reftored to life and reafon after he had attempted 
 felf-deftruction. Here he married Mary Lambert, Marries, 
 the daughter of James Lambert, who had been an 
 exciseman, and afterwards a fherifPs officer. She 
 was waiting-woman to the wife of Richard Solly, 
 an eminent woollen-draper, and is ftill praifed by 
 her own fex as having been a pretty girl of modeft 
 behaviour a . Whether he was difappointed of an 
 expected fortune, or urged by natural favagenefs is 
 uncertain, but ere two months had elapfed, his ill 
 ufage of his unfortunate wife was notorious. Her 
 former miftrefs, dame Solly, however, relieved her 
 with conftant folicitude. Pain foon after his marriage 
 took a houfe next the Board-yard on Dolphin key, 
 without being able to rurnifh it. Rutter, a re- 
 fpectable unholfterer of Sandwich, fupplied him 
 with fuch furniture as he wanted, but being em- 
 jbarrafled with debts and goaded by duns, he was 
 obliged to depart from Sandwich in the night, with 1760. 
 his wife. He took with him the ftays belonging to av ^ a ns 
 a cuftomer, a ftove and other articles of furniture 
 from his houfe, the property of the upholfterer. 
 He left at Sandwich a bad character, which has 
 defcended to the prefent times, and has induced the 
 inhabitants to remark that not a fingle anecdote of 
 him is remembered which is favourable to his moral 
 character. 
 
 From Sandwich he went to Margate, where he Goes to 
 fold the furniture he had fo diflioneftly obtained ; Mai s ate 
 an act, which, had the laws been duly enforced, 
 
 a In the church regifter there is the following entry: "Thomas 
 ' Pain, of the parifh of St. Peter's, in the town of Sandwich in Kent, 
 ' bachelor, and Mary Lambert, of the fame parifh, fpinfter, were 
 married in this church, by licence, this 7th day of Sept. 1759, 
 ' by me William Bunce, rector. In the prefence of Thomas Taylor, 
 ' Maria Solly, John Joflin, (Signed) Thomas Pain, Mary Lam- 
 bert." U, 
 
 would
 
 -8* P A I N. 
 
 would probably have precipitated his voyage to 
 America, and given him an additional claim to 
 patronage in France. He flayed at Margate only 
 while he fettled his affairs, and then departed for 
 London. 
 
 Copfcc- From this period it remains uncertain what fate 
 attended his wife ; by fome me is faid have perifhed 
 
 his Jiff . on the road, of ill ufage and a premature birth : 
 the women of Sandwich are pofitive that me died 
 in the Britifh Lying-in Hofpital, in Brownlow- 
 ftreet, Long Acre ; but the regifter of this charity, 
 which is kept with commendable accuracy, evinces 
 that (he had not been received into this laudable refuge 
 of female wretchednefs : and there are others who 
 have convinced themfelves by diligent inquiry, that 
 me is flill alive, though the extreme obfcurity of 
 her retreat prevents ready difcovery b . 
 
 Convinced by long experience that he was defi- 
 cient in fome effential requifite, either ability or 
 induftry, to fucceed as a (lay-maker, he fixed his 
 
 July 1761. hopes on obtaining a place in the excife. To 
 qualify himfelf for this fituation, and obtain, in the 
 meantime, a neceffary fubfiftence, he retired to 
 ift Dec. his father's houfe, and after fourteen months of 
 fludy and trials, obtained a gratification of his 
 wiflies, through the kindnefs of Mr. Cockfedge, the 
 
 the excife. learned recorder of Thetford. He was immediately 
 fent as a fupernumerary to gage the brewers' cafks at 
 
 8th Ang. Grantham, and afterwards to watch the fmugglers 
 ?6*. of Alford; but he did not long retain his office, 
 
 ^t^Ao b em g> f r f me reafon at prefent unknown, dif- 
 1765. miffed in a year after his arrival at that place. 
 
 Goes to He was now reduced to the mod abject flate of 
 
 London. j n( jigence, in want of food, raiment, and flicker. 
 
 b A diligent feRrch in the hooks of the London Lying-in Hofpital, 
 in the City Road, found no fuch perfon as Mrs. Pain to have died in 
 it during the years 1760 or 1761 : nor is it true, as hath been po- 
 Ctively aflerted in the newfpapers, that flie is now Jiving in the \voik- 
 hcufc ot St. George's, Sourhwark.. O t 
 
 In
 
 
 PAIN. 
 
 In this mlferable condition he returned to London, 
 where he was fupported by the difmterefted bene- 
 volence of fome humane individuals till he was re- 
 flored to the excife. "* 
 
 His reftoration, however, not being attended ufaerat 
 with immediate employment, he was obliged to accept * n aca - 
 an engagement as Englifh ufher with Mr. Noble, emy " 
 who kept the great academy in Leman-ftreet, Good- 
 man's-fields, from whom he received twenty pounds 
 a-year, and an additional five pounds for finding his 
 own lodging. Here he continued till Chriftmas, 
 difliked by the miftrefs, who yet remembers him, 
 and hated by the boys, who were terrified by his 
 harfhnefs. During this period he lodged with one 
 Oliver, a hair-drefler in Whitechapel, by whom he 
 is ftill recollected c . From Mr. Noble, who relin- 
 quimed him without regret, he went to Mr. Gard- 17*7. 
 nor's, a reputable fchool at Kenfington, but he re- 
 mained there only three months. 
 
 Among other fagacious difcoveries with which Defirous 
 Mr. Pain has, of late years, benefited mankind, 
 there is one very remarkable, that the knowledge of 
 a clergymen is confined to a, b, ab, and hie, hsec, 
 hoc. Yet even this contemptible modicum of 
 fcience was wanting, at this period to the accom- 
 plimment of Mr. Pain's views of intereft or ambi- 
 tion. He was defirous of taking orders, and ap- 
 plied to Mr. Noble for a certificate of his qualifica- 
 tion, which that gentleman very properly refufed 
 on account his limited education. Difappointed in Becomes 
 his wifli of regular ordination, Pain felt no abate- 
 ment of his defire to be a preacher, but gratified 
 himfelf by holding forth to promifcuous audiences 
 jn Moorfields, and other populous places. 
 
 At length he obtained a regular employ as an Mar.i 7 6S. 
 excife officer, being fent, after fome delays, to J^,*s. 
 
 c Thefe references to the memory of Mrs. Noble and Mr. Oliver 
 are taken from " The Life of Pain," and, of courfe, apply to the time 
 of publishing the firft edition of that work, 1792. 
 
 Lewes
 
 284 
 
 July 1769. 
 
 177. 
 
 Opens a 
 {hop as a 
 grocer. 
 
 Defrauds 
 the reve- 
 nue. 
 
 177J- 
 Marries 
 Mifs 01- 
 IMC. 
 
 FnfpeSecl 
 ofcomrr.it 
 ng per. 
 jory. 
 
 PAIN. 
 
 Lewes in Suflex. At this place, by his devotion to the 
 bottle, he acquired the title of 2. jolly fellow, and by 
 greater attention to field fpons than his duty, the iron- 
 ical nick-name of commodore. He lodged at the houfe 
 of Samuel Ollive, a tobacconift, who dying in rather 
 bad circumftances, afforded Mr. Pain an occafion to 
 try his ingenuity in appropriating to himfelf part of 
 his effects, but he failed in the attempt, and was 
 turned out of doors by the executor, Mr. Atterfol, 
 with marks of indignity and diftruft. 
 
 But the advantages which the integrity and dif- 
 cernment of the executor withheld, the kindnefs of 
 the widow and affection of the daughter fupplied. 
 He returned to the houfe from which he had been 
 fo difgracefully expelled, opened the mop in his own 
 name as a grocer, and on his own behalf continued 
 to work the tobacco-mill of Ollive, however con- 
 trary both the mop and the mill were to the maxims 
 of the excife. Such was his addrefs, or his artifice, 
 that though he had promoted the buying of fmug- 
 gled tobacco, he was able for feveral years to cover 
 his practices, and to retain his protector. 
 
 At the age of thirty-four, he married Elizabeth 
 Ollive, the daughter of his old landlord, who was 
 eleven years younger than himfelf d , and a woman of 
 fuch accomplifhments as to attract men of higher 
 rank and greater delicacy. Pain had, however, 
 gained her affections ; and fhe would have him, 
 contrary to the advice of Mr. Atterfol, her father's 
 friend, and to the remonftrances of her own rela- 
 tions. This marriage began inaufpicioufly, and 
 ended unhappily. Before fain could have obtained 
 his marriage licence, he fwore that he was a bachelor , 
 when he knew that he was a widower, if indeed his 
 
 A The following entry appears on the parifh regifter of St. Michael 
 in Lewes: " Thomas Pain, bacbebr, and Elizabeth Ollive, fpinfter, 
 ' were married in this church, by licence, the a6th o; March 1771. 
 ** By me, Robert Anften, curate. Witnefles, Henry Verrall, Thomas 
 " Ollive. (Signed) Thomas Pain, Elizabeth Ollive."--O. 
 
 Wt
 
 P A I to 285 
 
 firft wife were deceafed e . He was on this occafion 
 inftrumental too, with his underftanding clear and 
 his eyes opened, in entering on the regifter that he 
 was a bachelor, though he knew he was a widower. 
 Now the marriage-ad declares it to be felony with- 
 out benefit of clergy, wilfully to make falfe entry 
 on the regifter, with intent to defeat the falutary 
 purpofes of recording truth , difcriminating charac-* 
 ters, and afcertaining property. 
 
 In this year Pain made his firft effort as a public 1 Com- 
 writer. His production was an election fong for JJJJJJj? 
 one of the candidates at New Shoreham. It was 
 propofed to the poets of Lewes as a prize-fubjecl: : 
 his fong was adjudged the beft, and he was rewarded 
 with a prefent of three guineas. A defign was 
 formed about the fame time by the excifemen, to 
 petition parliament for an increafe of falary ; a fum 
 of money was raifed by common contribution, and 
 Pain was employed to write their cafe. After many T77I . 
 months labour, " he produced an octavo pamphlet Writes the 
 " of twenty-one pages, which, exclufive of the in- 
 " troduc~iio?i, is divided into two heads j the Jiate of 
 " the falary of the officers of excife ; thoughts on the 
 " corruption arifingfrom the poverty of excife-officers. 
 " On thefe topics, he fays all that the ableft writer 
 " could have faid. Truth eafily flides into the 
 " mind, without the affiftance of ability, or the 
 " recommendation of artifice. But if Pain's maiden 
 *' pamphlet be infpected by critical malignity, it 
 " will be found, like his maturer writings, to 
 <e abound in the felfe grammar of illiterature, and 
 " the falfe thoughts of inexperience. Vigour of 
 " fentiment and energy of manner will not be de- 
 " nied him. His firft pamphlet will be confidered 
 
 ordinary. O, 
 
 " as
 
 *8<5 P A I tf. 
 
 tc as his beft performance by all thofe who regard 
 " truth as fuperior to falfehood, modefty to impu- 
 " dence, and juft complaint to factious innovation ' 
 Four thoufand copies of the cafe were printed by 
 Mr. William Lee of Lewes. But even thofe in- 
 tended for the members of parliament were not all 
 diftributed ; and though Pain reinforced the argu* 
 ments contained in his pamphlet, by two additional 
 1773. publications, each on a folio meet, and flayed in 
 London on the bufmefs a whole winter, no appli- 
 cation to Parliament was made on behalf of his 
 clients. Pain fpent their money without obtaining 
 for them any redrefs, and even left the printer's 
 bill unpaid. It is worthy of remark, that in a 
 hewfpaper controverfy in 1779, he declared, that till 
 the epoch of his Common Senfe, he had never pub- 
 limed a fy liable. 
 
 While he was thus employed in every thing but 
 his proper bufmefs, his pecuniary affairs became de- 
 ranged, and he was under the neceflity of making 
 an aflignment of his effects to Mr. Whitfield of 
 Sth April Lewes, his principal creditor. About the fame time, 
 '774- his inattention and improper conduct in his office oc- 
 cafioned his difmhTion ; no previous acts of conci- 
 liation could avert his difgrace g , nor could any fub- 
 fequent efforts effect his refloration. Mr. Whitfield 
 took poffeffion of the property by virtue of his afiign- 
 
 { This is not the onlyoccafion on which I have ufed the very ivorJt 
 of the author to whom lam indebted for my information refpecting 
 Painj but as I have never feen the pamphlet in quettion, I do not 
 think it proper to make ufe of the judgment of another perfon without 
 exprefs acknowledgment. 
 
 8 As every fcrap of a great writer is interefting to the curious, we 
 have preferved the fubjoined extract of a letter from our author to a 
 fuperior excife.officer, dated at Lewes, the 24-th March 1774: 
 " Dear Sir, I have requefted Mr. Scott to put y e 3d and 4-th rd . 
 " books for 74. under examination, for as I was in London almolt all 
 '< laft winter, I have no other, which have any bufmefs in them 
 " Requeft the favour (if not too inconvenient) to inquire and inform 
 " me when they are ordered and if you can find eut the examiner, dejlrt 
 *' you will drink a bottle or two of wine with him I fhould like the cha- 
 rafter to go in as fair as it can." O. 
 
 ment,
 
 PAIN. 28? 
 
 tnent, and fold it h . The other creditors, thinking 
 themfelves defrauded by this preference, let loofe on 
 their debtor the terriers of the law, and he was 
 obliged to abfcond from their purfuit in the cock- 
 loft of the White-horfe inn, without bedding, and, 
 but for the female fervant, without food, till Sunday 
 fet him free. 
 
 His fecond wife had no lefs reafon to complain of Treatment 
 his unkindnefs and brutality than his firfl : me ofhiswiftf - 
 bore with the greateft patience the infults, violences, 
 and repeated beatings, which his harfhnefs and cru- 
 elty induced him to inflift, before (he fought relief 
 by complaining to her friends. On her reprefent- 
 ations, after an unhappy union of three years and 
 an half, they executed articles of feparation, which 24-th May 
 were drawn by Mr. Jofias Smith, a moft refpeftable Their le*. 
 attorney at Lewes ; me engaging to pay to her huf- 
 band thirty-rive pounds, and he obliging himfelf to 
 claim no part of whatever goods me might gain in 
 future. 
 
 On leaving Lewes, he fled to London for con- Goes to 
 cealment; and foon after his arrival, hearing that London * 
 his wife had been kindly received by her brother, 
 and was comfortably fettled with him, he difturbed 
 her repofe by contending the validity of the articles 
 fo recently executed ; but at length a new deed was 4 th j un e 
 prepared in fuch terms as to fatisfy all parties. 1774-. 
 
 After many ufelefs efforts to obtain his reftoration Goes to 
 as an officer of the excife, Pain's friend and patron, 
 the late George Lewis Scott, recommended him to 
 Dr. Benjamin Franklin, as a perfon who could, at 
 that epoch, be ufeful in America. Franklin gave 
 
 h Mr. Whitfield,by publifhing the following advertifement, expofed 
 to the whole town of Lewes the defperate ftate of his debtor's circum- 
 ftances : " To he fold by auHon, on Thurfday the i^th of April, and 
 ' following day, all the houfehold furniture, (lock in trade, and other 
 " effefts, of Thomas Pain, grocer and tobacconift, near the Weft 
 ' Gate in Lewes: alfo, a horfe-tobacco and fnuff mill, with all the 
 utenfils for cutting of tobacco and grinding of fnufF; and two un- 
 *' opened crates of cream -coloured fteneware." O. 
 
 him
 
 2 88 P A I N. 
 
 him a recommendatory letter to Mr. Richard Beech; 
 
 wine-merchant, at Philadelphia ; and one of intro- 
 Sspf.i774. du&ion to governor Franklin of the Jerfeys. Thus 
 
 provided he quitted England, leaving behind him 
 
 acquaintance who did not efleem, and relatives who 
 
 did not regret him '. 
 
 NOV. 1 774 On his arrival in Philadelphia, he prefented his 
 His fiift letter to Mr. Beech ; but that gentleman difcover- 
 empioy. t h zt fe could not fpcll corredly, declined re- 
 
 rocnt. ii n 11 t 
 
 commending him as an ulher ; and he was engaged 
 by Mr. Aitkin, a bookfeller, as Ihopman, at a fa- 
 lary of twenty pounds a^year. The ftate of Ame- 
 rica at this period was fuch as to afford fufficient 
 fcope for the exertions of ah aftive mind, to what- 
 ever courfe it was bent, and Pain did not long re- 
 main unnoticed. Quitting the obfcure and unpro- 
 fitable line to whichms abilities at firft feemed to 
 Nov.1775. condemn him, he employed his genius in experi- 
 ments for fixing a cheap, eafy, and expeditious me- 
 
 * We fubjoin the following letter from Pain's mother to his wife ; 
 not only for its own merit, but becaufe it ascertains his identity, and 
 illuftrates his character; 
 
 " Dear Daughter, Thetford, Norfolk, *7th July 1774. 
 
 " I rauft beg leave to trouble you with my enquiries concerning my; 
 " unhappy fon and your liuiband : various are the reports, the which 
 " I find come originally from the Excife-office. Such as his vile 
 ' treatment to you, his lecreting upwards of 30.'. intruded with him 
 41 to manage the petition for advance of falary j and that fince his 
 ' difcharge, he have petitioned to be reftored, which was rejecled with 
 " fcorn. Since which I am told he have left England. To all 
 " which I beg you'll be kind enough to anfwer me by due courfe of 
 " poft. You'll not be a little furprifed at my fo (trongly dcfiring to 
 " know what's become of him after I repeat to you his undutiful beha- 
 " viour to the tendered of parents j he never afked of us any thing, but 
 ' what was granted, that were in our poor abilities to do; nay, even 
 4 diftrefled ourfelves, whofe works are given over by old age, to let 
 ' him have ao/. on bond, and every other tender mark a parent could 
 " pofllbly fhew achildj his ingratitude, or rather want of duty, haa 
 " been fuch, that he have not wrote to me upwards of two years. 
 *' If the above account be true, I am heartily forry that a woman, whofe 
 " character and amiableneis deferves the greateft refpect, love, and 
 " efteem, as I have always on enquiry been informed your's did, 
 " Ihould be tied for life to the worft of huibands. I am, dear 
 ** daughter, your afFeftionate mother F. PAIN." 
 
 " P. S. For God's fake let me have your anfwen as I am almoft 
 ' diftraaed."-O. 
 
 4 thod
 
 PAIN. 2 8 
 
 thotl of making faltpetre ; and propofed the plan of 
 a faltpetre affociation, for voluntarily fupplying the 
 public magazines with gunpowder. 
 
 But that which elevated him to a pitch of unex- PubHfhe* 
 peeled, and, for fuch an exertion, unexampled ce- ^ e n n f g mon 
 lebrity, was the publication of the pamphlet called i th Jan. 
 COMMON SENSE. Notwithftanding all the faults of '776. 
 ignorance and rafhnefs with which it abounds ; not- 
 withftanding the ingenious expofure of its errors, 
 written by Dr. William Smith, which appeared 
 under the fignature of Cato ; this book was fo con- 
 genial to the public tafte, that it was univerfally 
 perufed, and loudly praifed. The firft edition was 
 ipeedily fold ; a fecond, with a fupplement of one- 
 third more, was immediately prepared ; a German 
 tranilation was printed ; yet after all thefe editions, 
 and all this applaufe, this wonder-working pam- 
 phlet brought the writer in debt to the publifher 
 2gl. 1 2J. i d. if his own ftatement may be believed k . 
 In fupport of this famous work, he wrote, in anfwer 
 to the animadverfions of Cato, fome letters in the 
 Pennfylvania Journal, under the title of a Forrejicr, 
 which were more fuccefsful, from the difpofition of 
 thofe to whom they were addrefled, than the fober 
 reflections of the fcholar, who taught only the un- 
 palatable do&rine of obedience. Nor did a more 
 partial reception await a pamphlet intitled Plain 
 Truth, which, as it was haftily written, was inatten- 
 tively read, and little heard amidft the ravings of 
 anarchy. 
 
 In the unfuccefsful campaign of 17/6, he joined J> ns * 
 the American army, and attended them in their re- aur y* 
 treat from Hudfon's river to the Delaware. While 
 every thing around wore the mod difcouraging 
 afpet, he did not defpair. The congrefs fled : all 
 were difmayed : yet Pain thanked God that he did 
 
 k See Pain's Declaration in Aimer. "a Remembrancer, 1780, part I. 
 p. 195. O. 
 
 VOL. ii. u not
 
 290 P A I 1ST. 
 
 not fear. " He knew well their fituation, and faW 
 " his way out of it." He endeavoured, with no in- 
 confiderable fuccefs, to make others fee with his 
 eyes, to infpire others with his confidence. It was 
 with this defign that he published in the Pennfyl- 
 ipth Dec. vania Journal, THE CRISIS, wherein he flates every 
 J 7?6. topic of hope, ahd examines every motive of appre- 
 henfion. This effay he continued to publifh peri- 
 odically, during the continuance of hoftilities, as 
 often as the neceffity of affairs required that he 
 mould conceal truth, or propagate falfehood ; that 
 he fliould exhilarate defpondency, or reprefs hope J . 
 1777- The European concerns of congrefs were at firfl 
 fbcrmr MO mana g e d by a committee for fecret corre/pcndence, 
 the com- which w r as afterwards converted into a committee for 
 nuttee. foreign affairs^ to which Pain was appointed fecret- 
 ary. All foreign letters, after this appointment, 
 remained in his office ; and his duty required him 
 in future to refide with congrefs. He foon however 
 embarked in a contefl with Silas Deane, in which he 
 involved Robert Morris, the celebrated financier of 
 the American flates ; and perfidioufly, and without 
 regard to official decorum, retailed through the 
 newfpapers what he confidentially knew from the 
 foreign correfpontience. Of this mifconducl the 
 minifter of France complained to the congrefs. 
 *tb Jan. Pain was ordered to attend. Being afked by Jay, 
 * 779 ' the prefident, if he were the author of the publica- 
 tions on Mr. Deane's affairs ? and anfwering, Tes ; 
 he was directed to withdraw. On the fubfequent 
 day he applied for an explanatory hearing, which 
 8th Jan. was refufed ; and he was obliged to give in his re- 
 Refigns. fig-nation. He did not quietly fuffer this difgrace, 
 but wrote, though without fuccefs, to excite the 
 intrigues people of America againfl the congrefs. The 
 of the French minifter, Gerard, attempted to gain him 
 
 French 
 
 - 1 TfceCrifis, N XIII. was published at Philadelphia on the tgth 
 of April 1783, the fame day that a ceflTation of hoftilities was pro. 
 claimed. This was the lalt. Aim. Rem. 1783, part II. p. 105. O. 
 
 over.
 
 PAIN. 
 
 over, hoping to extract from him fome fecrets of 
 more importance than he had before wantonly dif- 
 clofed ; and while he complained to the congrefs 
 publicly, intrigued with Pain privately. They had 
 feveral meetings:, the object of which was filence 
 about Deane ; Gerard made him a genteel and pro- 
 faable offer, but Pain was pledged to profecute 
 Deane ; and he was determined that penfion and 
 Pain fhould never be feen together in the fame pa- 
 ragraph. Thefe intrigues were renewed, and con- 
 tinued for fome time: Pain perfifted in writing 
 againft Deane, till the Americans grew tired of the 
 conteil m . 
 
 To 
 
 *** See thofe intrigues detailed by Pain himfelf, with little prudence 
 and no forecaft, inAhn.Rem. 1780, part I. p. 294.. 29?. The fol- 
 lowing public papers will fupply what is defective in Pain's detail : 
 
 " SIR, Philadelphia, Jan. 13, 1779. 
 
 " It is with real Satisfaction that I execute the order of CongreSs 
 " for transmitting to you the incloSed copy of an act of the izth 
 " inirant, on a Subject rendered important by afFecling the dignity ot 
 " congreSs, the honour of their great ally, and the intereft of both. 
 " rations. 
 
 fl The explicit diSivowal and high disapprobation of conc-reSs re- 
 " lative to the publications referred to in this act, will, I flatter my- 
 " Self, be DO IcSs Satisfactory to his moft chiiftian majeliy, \\\; \\ 
 <{ pleafing to the people of theSe ftates. Nor have I the leaft doubt 
 " but that every attempt to injure the reputation of either,, or impair 
 " their mutual confidence, will meet with the indignation and refent- 
 " ment of both. I have the honour, &c. 
 
 " JOHN JAY. 
 
 " To the Hon. the Sieur Gerard, minifter plenipotentiary of France." 
 
 " In CongreSs, January 12, 1779. 
 
 " CongreSs reSumcd the consideration ,of the publications -in the 
 ' Pennsylvania packet of the ad and 5th inftant, under the title of 
 " ' Common SenSe' to the public, on Mr. Deane's affair, of which 
 Mr. Thomas Pain, Secretary to the committee for foreign affairs, 
 has acknowledged himSelf to be the author} and alfo the memorials 
 of the rtiinilter plenipotentiary of France of the 51!! and loth inftan% 
 refpt&ing the Said publications j whereupon, Refo'veJ unanimwjly, 
 r \ hat in anSwer to the memorials of the Hon. Sieur Gerard, mini- 
 fter plenipotentiary of his moft chriftian majefly, of the fth and 
 loth iniianr, the prefident be directed to affiire the Said minifter, 
 that congreSs do fully, and in the cleared and moft explicit man- 
 ner, diSavow the publications referred to in the laid memorials; 
 and as they are convinced by indi/putable evidence that the Supplies 
 fliippsd in tlie Amphimte, Seine, and Mercury, were not a pre- 
 V a " fenr.
 
 292 P A I K. 
 
 Pain msde To coittpenfate for the lots of political honours, 
 matter of p a j n now rec eived thofe of the academy. The uni- 
 verfity of Pennfylvania, after the tumult of the times 
 had driven his old antagonift the prefident away, 
 x?8o. conferred on him the degree of mafter of arts. He 
 was chofen a member of the American Philofophicai 
 Society, and clerk of the afiembly of Pennfylvania. 
 March. On the ftagnation of the congrefs paper credit, he 
 publiflied a Crifis extraordinary ; but eloquence like 
 his, though it might be acceptable at the moment of 
 incipient innova'ion, and ufeful in exciting the ex- 
 ertions of the turbulent, and the clamours of the 
 difafFe&ed, was of no avail againft the impreffions of 
 inftant calamity and approaching ruin. He cheered 
 the Americans from time to time with another crlfis^ 
 till his crtfis becoming common, was no longer a 
 erifis ; and was therefore read without attention, 
 and thrown away without efficacy. 
 
 " fent, and thtit his in oft chriftian majefty, the great and generous 
 
 ' ally of thtie United States, did nor preface his alliance with any 
 
 ' fnpplies whatever Tent to America, Co they have not authorised the 
 
 " writer of the (aid pviblications to in.ike any fuch afltrtions as are 
 
 " contained therein j but on the contrary, do highly difapprove of the 
 
 " fame." 
 
 To which Mr. Gerard returned the following anfwer : 
 " SIR, Philadelphia, Jan. 14, '779 
 
 " I have received the letter with which you honoured me on the i3tk 
 " inftant, incloilng me the refolve of congrefs in anfwer to the re- 
 " prefentaaons I had the honour to make ilicm on the 51)1 and loth. 
 
 I intreat you to receive and to exprels to congiels, the great fen- 
 ** fibiiity with which I felt their frank, noble, and categorical man- 
 *' ner of deUroying thufe falle and dangerous insinuations which 
 * might miikad ignorant people, and put arms into the hands of the 
 " common enemy. 
 
 " To the king, my mafter, fir, no proofs are necefTary to th 
 *' foundation of a confidence in the firm and conftant adherence of 
 41 congrefs to the principles of the alliance ; but his maj-.-fry will always 
 " behold with pleai'ure the meafures which /cougivfs may take to pre- 
 ferve inviolate its reputation ; and it is from the lame confideration, 
 " I flatter myfelf, he will find my reprelentat.o is on the /ih December 
 " etjually worih his coniidttation. 1 am, &c. 
 
 ' " GERARD. 
 
 ' Publiihed by oiJ^i'of congrefs, CHARLES THOMSON, Sec." 
 
 At
 
 PAIN. 2p3 
 
 At length a confcioufnefs of infignificance, or a 17*0. 
 <!efire of change, induced Pain to accompany the^ r e n s c 
 younger Laurens to France. While he was at 
 L'Orient, preparing to return to America, the AnnaMayiygi. 
 Terefa packet-boat for New York was carried into 
 France by the Madame, French privateer. This 
 event gave him an opportunity of perufmg the mi- 
 nifter's difpatches, which Laurens carried to con- 
 grefs when they both returned to Philadelphia". 
 He pretends that at this period he projected a fecret Se pM7*. 
 trip to London, in order to open the eyes of the coun- America!* 
 try ivith refpefl to the madncfs and Jlupidity of its 
 government". It is of little confequence to difcufs 
 the merits of an unexecuted project ; but in this 
 afiertion there is fuch a mixture of abfurdity and 
 impudence, that it claims fome notice. Pain, it 
 feems by his own account, had formed to himfelf a 
 dejign of coming over to England in the latter end of 
 the year 1780. He communicated it to general 
 Greene, who at firft vehemently approved it ; but 
 the affair of Arnold and Andre happening foon 
 after, the general became alarmed for the fafety of 
 the profound politician, and diffuaded him from ex- 
 ecuting his fcheme. In truth, if he had really 
 formed fuch a fcheme, the general mewed more 
 \vifdom than belonged to the mafter of arts. The 
 fuccefs of his plan depended only on his getting over 
 to England without being known, and only remaining 
 in fafety till he could get out a publication. The man 
 who could form fuch a project has little right to 
 exult over the ftupidity of others ! But after all, 
 what need was there to rifk a life fo precious by 
 
 n Rights, part ii. p. 05. He there gives an account of that whole 
 adventure, but with fome circumftances which create diftrult. The 
 fail is, that the original difpatches, which were dated the 7th of 
 March 1781, were piibliftied in the Amfterdam Gazette of the nth of 
 June 1781, and were afterwards lepublifhed in the Englifh Regifters. 
 Yet he pretend?, with his ufual felr'-fufficiency, to have feen in thofe 
 original difpatches the ftupidity of the Englifh cabinet far more than he 
 otherwife could have done. O. 
 
 See Rights, ubi fujtra. 
 
 u 3 coming
 
 2<# PAT N. 
 
 coming to England ? All his publications came 
 through the prefies of London, without his perfonal 
 affiftance, and without contributing very much to 
 open the eyes of the country. His venom would have 
 been as effectually circulated from America or from 
 France then, as it is now. 
 
 1781. Before the American revolution was really at- 
 Sier'to* c h* eve d> t ^ le a bbe Raynal haftened to give his hif- 
 tory of it p . This publication was difplenfing to the 
 Americans in general, and offenfive to Pain in par- 
 ticular, as the abbe had, on falfe pretences, ob- 
 tained Pain's metaphyfics, and fold them as his 
 own ; thus borrowing his morals with his maxims. 
 He poured forth his indignation on this fubject in 
 feventy-fix oclavo pages of intemperate criticifm ; 
 and violently reclaimed his property, afcertaining it 
 by the moft indubitable marks. The pamphlet has 
 all the charaderiftics of its author's other produc- 
 tions : the fame violence, the fame boldnefs of af- 
 fumption and rafhnefs of conclufion, the fame indif- 
 ference to propriety, and the fame contempt of all 
 laws, thofe of grammar not excepted. 
 tii oa. p a i n had fcarcely difpatched his letter to the abbe 
 rites his Raynal, when he wrote an epiftle to the earl of Shel- 
 tte, to burne. The noble earl had faid in parliament, it 
 ^ eems ' * n a tone wm ' c ^ &^ vibrates in the ears of 
 Englifhmen, that when Great Britain Jhall acknow- 
 ledge American independence ', the fun of Britain's 
 .glory is fet fur -ever. Pain reafons and laughs with 
 the parliamentary prophet, through a little pam- 
 phlet of twenty-eight pages. 
 
 i 9 th April. On the day a cefiation of hoitilities was pro- 
 PuhMjhes c i a i m ed, Pain publiflied his laft Crifis, which was 
 Ciifis. afterwards reprinted under the title of Pain's 
 Thoughts on the Peace. He . concluded this valedic- 
 tory oration in the following words : Now, gentle- 
 men, you are independent fit down and be happy, 
 
 P It was publiflied at London in December 17 Si. O. 
 
 But
 
 PAIN. 295 
 
 But the country was far from being happy ; nor 
 was the magic of words fufficient to compenfate for 
 phyfical wants and focial privations. Pain, who was no 
 longer of ufe, fuffered all the miferies of dependent 
 penury. He was employed for feveral years in fo~ 
 liciting the American affemblies to grant him fome 
 reward for his labours. New York conferred on . J 7 8 3 
 him fome forfeited lands at New Rochelle, which, W a* d 7~ 
 as they were neither tenanted nor cultivated, brought 
 him no annual income. Pennfylvariia gave him 
 five hundred pounds, which, in fpite of his protefl- 
 ations, was a mode of uniting penjion and Pain in 
 the fame paragraph q . 
 
 Having ftayed in America long enough to fee the '7*$ 
 people awaking to order and law; to find himfelf America. 
 no longer looked upon as a fafe director or wife 
 politician, but configned with the moft contempt- 
 uous indifference to oblivion ; he quitted the United 
 States, leaving the American citizens to build up 
 as they could the feveral fabrics he had fo power- 
 fully contributed to overturn ; and a young woman 
 at New York, of a reputable family, to deplore the 
 effects of a profligacy that will probably prevent his 
 return to his beloved America. He arrived in Paris, I 7 ? 7- > 
 with no other introduction than his literary fame, p a r ,"" 8 IB 
 and the model of a bridge he had projected, which 
 he exhibited to the French academy. That body, 
 with their ufual politenefs and indifference, thanked 
 him for the fight, but did not honour him with any . 
 further notice. 
 
 In the autumn of the fame year he returned to Returns to 
 England, and took up his refidence at the White En s land 
 Bear, Piccadilly. He did not make a long abode in 3d Sepr. 
 
 1 In the Maryland Journal, dated the 3 ift of December 1784, there 
 "s the following article: "On the 6th inftant, his excellency John 
 ' Dickenfon, prefulent of the State of Pennfylvania, fent a medage to 
 ' the aflembly refpechng Mr. Thomas Pain^ the author of Common 
 ' Senfe and other political pieces, ftrongly recomnr.endir.g to their 
 ' jiotice his feivices and fituation." O. 
 
 u 4 London,
 
 29 6 P A I N. 
 
 London, but went to Thetford to vifit his mother, 
 to whom he had previoufly remitted the twenty 
 pounds advanced on his bond, as mentioned in her 
 letter to his wife. He now promifed her an allow- 
 ance of nine (hillings a-week, to be paid by one 
 Whitefide, an American merchant ; but owing to 
 the confufion in that trader's affairs, or to fome 
 other caufe, this allowance was foon ftopt. Before 
 the end of the year, he returned to London, and 
 Publishes, publilhed his ProfpeEis on the Rubicon ; or, an Invefti- 
 gation into the caufes and confequences of the politics to 
 be agitated at the meeting of parliament. This is an 
 octavo tract: of fixty-eight pages, and difcuflfes a 
 great multiplicity of topics, particularly the affairs of 
 Holland : but it is now no longer remembered. 
 T 7 88. _ Pain now employed himfelf with great affiduity 
 h ' S ' m building his bridge. For this end, he made a 
 journey to Rotheram in Yorkfhire, in order to fu- 
 perintend the cafting of the iron by Mr. Walker. 
 While thus occupied at Rotheram, his French fa- 
 miliarity is faid not to have much pleafed the Eng- 
 li(h ladies ; and their difpleafure induced Mr. Walker 
 to turn Pain out of his houfe. The bridge, how- 
 ever, was at length erected in a clofe at Leafing- 
 Green ; being an arch conftrucled. of iron, one 
 hundred and ten feet in the fpan, five feet from the 
 fpring, and twenty two feet in breadth. It was 
 erected chiefly at the charge of Mr. Walker ; but 
 the project had coft the projector a large fum, which 
 was moftly furnifhed by Mr.Whitefide. The bridge 
 was fhewn for fome time at the Yorkfhire Stingo, 
 for a milling r . As this was not the firit iron 
 bridge which was known to the Englifh, it is not 
 eafy to difcover why the projector, who had a model, 
 
 r Pain's Bridge was taken to ["ere* in October 1791, in order that 
 other ejections might be built in its place, and that the rent of the 
 eloft in which it flood might be paid : the timber of it was fold to the 
 fleig'ibouiing builders, and the cattings of iion were fen t to Yorkfhire, 
 whence they came. O. 
 
 fliould
 
 PAIN. 207 
 
 fhould incur fo great an expence, merely to make a 
 {how. 
 
 Whitefide having become a bankrupt, and his iarfted. 
 affignees finding fix hundred and twenty pounds 
 charged ngainfl Pain, they fued out a writ againfl 
 him : he was arrefted at the White Bear, and car- *9' h oft. 
 ried to Armftrong's lock-up houfe in Carey- I?89> 
 ftreet. Here he lay for three weeks, at the end 
 of which he was bailed by fome American mer- 
 chants ; and at length compromifed the bufmefs, 
 by paying four hundred and fixty pounds which 
 had been remitted to him from America, and 
 giving his own note for one hundred and fixty 
 more. 
 
 At this period, the French revolution had af- Goes to 
 fumed that character of horror which rendered it Fiancc - 
 too interefling to Pain for him to endure a longer 
 abfence. The capture of the Baftille, the maflacres 
 of the fummer, and the imprifonment of the king 
 on the 6th of October, were evidences of a revolu- 
 tionary fpirit, which promiied to a mind like his 
 the fulled enjoyment. He accordingly repaired to 
 Paris. But the revolution of France was not like 
 that of America ; his flownefs of conception, and 
 difficulty of argumentation, were ill calculated to 
 advance his reputation among the rapid thinkers, 
 and fluent fpeakers and writers who illuminated the 
 public mind at Paris. He could only wait in 
 gloomy patience till fome active apoflle of fedition 
 in England mould, by an application of French 
 doctrines to this country, erect a ftandard under 
 which he might range himfelf, and by fome defpe- 
 rate exertion refcue his name from that oblivion 
 into which it was rapidly finking. Nor was an op- 
 portunity of this kind long wanting : Dr. Price's PMrc- 
 extraordinary fermon had excited the deteftation of JJJ,^ 
 every well-difpofed man in England : that fuch Reflec- 
 doctrines mould be fo promulgated, if not abfolutely tlon8 - 
 a novelty, was neverthelefs a perverfion of the cha- 
 racter
 
 298 P A I N. 
 
 rafter of a preacher, fo abominable, and fo flagrant, 
 as to demand a public and fevere reprehenfion. It 
 73 was generally known that Burke had undertaken 
 the tafk, and expectation was {trained to the mod 
 interefting degree of anxiety, for the publication 
 of the fentiments of that great politician on fo 
 important a topic. Such a work as he produced 
 would have been dimonoured by a fmaller mare of 
 expectation, and an expectation fovaft could only be 
 gratified by the work which had excited it. Lan- 
 guage lefs powerful than that of the matter of the 
 fublime himfelf, would be inadequate duly to praife 
 the " Reflections on the Revolution ;" its merit can 
 only be appreciated by the never-dying rancour it 
 excited in the minds of his opponents, a rancour 
 which age, affliction, ficknefs, and even death itfelf 
 could not afluage. 
 
 Pain re- Pain was fo delighted with the profpeCt of obtain- 
 
 nfwer * n S P u ^^ c notice by being known as the antagonift 
 
 them. of Burke, that, as he himfelf informs us, " as 
 
 " foon as he faw the advertifement of the pamphlet 
 
 " he intended to publifli, he promifed fome of the 
 
 " friends of the revolution in France, that when- 
 
 " ever Mr. Burke's pamphlet came forth he would 
 
 .** anfwer it s ." The rapid diflemination of Burke's 
 
 book, without any reduction of its price, without 
 
 any recommendation but its own merit, without 
 
 any patronage but the public curio fity, produced a 
 
 numerous, though not very formidable tribe of an- 
 
 fwerers. Every weapon of aflault was tried, from 
 
 the mod ponderous argumentation, to the moft 
 
 frivolous raillery ; but in vain : thefe productions 
 
 have pafied from the fhelf of the bookleller to the 
 
 (hop of the trunk-maker, without animadverfion 
 
 from the illuftrious author againft whofe fame they 
 
 were direCted, while his book continues to be read, 
 
 praifed, and quoted by every man of true genius, 
 
 * Preface to the Hights of Man, part I. 
 
 every
 
 PAIN. 2 ^ 9 
 
 every man who is capable of admiring the vaft efforts 
 of a vigorous mind, \vhich, by an accurate invefti- 
 gation of caufes, delineated their certain confe- 
 qtiences wtth all the force of prophecy. To pre- Comes to 
 pare himfelf for this important affault, Pain came to En s land - 
 England, and in a few months his publication faw 
 the light. It was fubmitted to the revifal of Mr. 
 Brand Hollis, and a committee of democrats, by 
 whom, after fome flruggles between the defires of the 
 author and the wifhes of his patrons, it was fitted 
 for the prefs. It was firft printed for Johnfon in St. 
 Paul's church-yard, but he declined felling it. This , 
 
 unexpected refufal caufed a month's delay. A few 
 copies were, however, fmuggled into private hands, 
 and many artifices were ufed to excite and keep up a 
 fpirit of curiofity which might be beneficial to its 
 object. 
 
 At length this mutilated brat was delivered to the 1 3th' Mar. 
 public by Jordan of Fleet-ftreet r . To the parent I7 .9'- 
 
 r , . J J c |. . i r i Pubiiflies 
 
 this was a moment of peculiar anxiety: befides the Rights 
 his cares for his child, he feared or pretended to of Man, 
 fear that the audacity of his attack might endanger part l ' 
 his perfonal fafety. He found (helter in the houfe of 
 his friend Mr. Hollis, and caufed it to be generally 
 rumoured that he was returned to France. But all 
 thefe artifices did not fucceed in raifing the pam- 
 phlet to that degree of notice which would produce 
 all the evil confequences the author intended. There 
 were numbers, no doubt, who praifed it, becaufe 
 they wiflied its tenets triumphant ; there are fome 
 who rejoice to fee real learning defied by grofs illi- 
 terature ; and the Conftitutional Society, as it was 
 called, flrenuoufly recommended this tract to the per- 
 ufal of the people. But the officers of government 
 
 1 The cnftrating hand of Mr. Jordan appears in the title-page ; he 
 there makes Thomas Pain* a ferret ary for foreign affairs to congrefs, in- 
 ftead of the fecretary to a committee of congrefs tor foreign affairs, 'f he clerk 
 of the houle of commons, and the clerk of a committee of that houfe, 
 are quite diltinft officers. O. 
 
 c overlooked
 
 3co P A I N. 
 
 overlooked the pamphlet and its applauders \vith 
 the mod mortifying contempt. 
 
 It is not my intention to review this publication, 
 on which the fenfe of the thinking part of the 
 community is decidedly pronounced. Burke left 
 it to find its way to notice or oblivion without his 
 recommendation or reprehenfion ; he would not 
 defcend from the dignity of his political eminence 
 to engage perfonally in a conteft, which would have 
 been as degrading to him, as it would for Achilles 
 to have entered the lifts againft Therfites. In 
 numerous critical publications the faults of ftyle 
 and reafoning are expofed, but in none better than 
 the work to which I am fo much indebted for inform- 
 ation. In that publication there is a copious analyfis 
 of " The Rights of Man," under the different heads 
 of " Bad Grammar, Barbarian, Solecifm, Impro- 
 " priety, and Nonfenfe," and to that I refer my 
 readers". But the character of the man, as an 
 individual, would be unfairly concealed by his exer- 
 tions as an author, were I to omit the following 
 inftance of literary dimonefty, which I fhall give 
 without a comment, in the very words of the au- 
 thor who rlrfl detected it x . He quotes the follow- 
 ing fentence of Burke : " The circumdances are 
 " what render every civil and political fcheme 
 " beneficial or noxious to mankind. Abftractedly 
 " fpeaking, government, as well as liberty, is good ; 
 " yet could I, in common fenfe, ten years ago, have 
 " felicitated France on her enjoyment of a govern- 
 " ment, (for me then had a government,) without 
 " inquiry what the nature of that government \vas, 
 " or how it was adminiftered ?" On this paflage 
 he has a note in thefe words : 
 
 " I will not put it in the text, but I earneftly beg 
 " the attention of whoever reads this pamphlet, to 
 " what follows in this note." 
 
 Life of Thomas Pain, ioth edition, p. 65 to 79. 
 * h-rofrifor Wilde of Edinburgh. See his excellent Addrefs to the 
 Society ot " Friends of the People," p. 64. 
 
 On
 
 PAIN. 30t 
 
 On the 23d page of the Firft Part of " Rights 
 " of Man/' Mr. Pain writes thus : 
 
 " But Mr. Burke appears to have no idea of 
 " principles when he is contemplating governments. 
 " Ten years ago (fays he) / could have felicitated 
 *' France on her having a government) without inquir- 
 " ing ivhat the nature of that government was, or how 
 " ;'/ was adminiftered. Is this the language of a 
 " rational man ? On this ground Mr. Burke mufl 
 " compliment every government in the world, 
 " while the viclims who fuffer under them, whether 
 " fold into ilavery, or tortured out of exiflence r 
 " are wholly forgotten. It is power and not prin- 
 " ciples, that Mr. Burke venerates ; and under this 
 " abominable depravity, he is difqualified to judge 
 " between them. 
 
 " I have looked into fcveral editions of Pain, and 
 " this paragraph Rands the fame in all of them. 
 
 " I do not believe that there is any where elfe 
 " in the world to be found an inflance of fuch 
 " fhamelefs falfification. Good-breeding is due to 
 " the public, and I would not wifh to be deficient 
 " in this lefpecl. Yet there are certain things 
 * which can only be called by certain names. Mr. 
 " Pain has recorded himfelf as long as his book 
 *' lafts, to be a DELIBERATE LIAR. 
 
 *' An ufeful leflbn, however, arifes from this j 
 " and I (hall take the liberty fhortly to enforce it. 
 
 " I do not know that this forgery, impudently 
 " glaring as it is, has been hitherto detected by any 
 <e perfon. By thofe who did not much attend to 
 " Mr. Pain, this might not be much attended to 
 " either. But with Mr. Pain's difciples (who 
 " either do not read, or read without underftand- 
 " ing it, Mr. Burke*s book) it would obtain 
 " thorough credit, that Mr. Burke thought any 
 " form or mode of government whatever good ; 
 " and this wilful faliehood commented upon by 
 " their mafter, would be of more ufe to his fyftem 
 
 " than
 
 302 P A I N. 
 
 " than 'a thoufand arguments. Once believed, it 
 " took from Mr. Burke's authority every fort of 
 " poflible eftimation. What was it that he de- 
 " fended the constitution of England, who would 
 " defend any government under the fun? With 
 " utility fo great and manifeft, Pain would care but 
 " little (and it might not even happen) for after 
 " detection. That detection would not again reft 
 " on the undermined authority, in whofe place he 
 " had now fixed his own opinions. And as to any 
 " mame, he, and thofe like him, had but little 
 " acquaintance with that fenfation. 
 
 " It is therefore a lelfon moft neceflary to be at- 
 " tended to, (and which the detection of this forgery 
 " demonftrates,) that, where falfehoods can be of 
 " ufe, neither their utter improbability, nor their 
 " almoft certainty of being difcovered, will prevent 
 " wicked and daring men from employing them. 
 " In a time accordingly, like the prefent, he who, 
 " uninformed himfelf, grounds his approbation or 
 " difapprobation of any proceedings or opinions 
 " upon the information of men of dubious cha- 
 " rafters, who are interefted to miilead, who con- 
 " ceal their names, or who do not give (or are not 
 " ready to give) their authorities, commits a very 
 " great evil. He encourages the propagation of 
 " falfehood for the purpofes of wickednefs. Nor 
 " after fuch an expofure as I have juft now made, 
 " can any perfon juftify himfelf by the common 
 " faith that is due to the common run of men. At 
 " leaft, on the part of Pain, there can be no quedion 
 " that he who is deceived has himfelf only to 
 " blame. It is a ftrange thing belief, after recorded 
 " falfehood." 
 
 The reviews of criticifm, however, did not pre- 
 vent Pain from receiving the applaufe of party, 
 fmce he promoted the interefts of faclion. Nay, 
 philology came in the perfon of Home Tooke, who 
 found out his retreatj after fome inquiry, to mingle 
 
 her
 
 PAIN. 303 
 
 her cordial congratulations with the thanks of 
 greater powers. You are, he faid, like Jove coming 
 down upon us in ajhower of gold. Pain was highly 
 gratified by fuch attentions ; yet he was not happy ; 
 he plainly wifhed for fomething that was ftudioully 
 withheld. Like Roufieau, he longed for profecu- 
 tion. While fluttering on the wing for Paris, he 
 hovered about London a whole week, waiting 
 to be taken, not by the catchpoles of creditors, 
 but by the runners of Bow-ftreet. Yet the 
 meflengers of the prefs would not meddle with 
 either his perfon or his pamphlet. Upon what mo- 
 tives government acted cannot be afcertained. 
 Whether the minifters trufled to the good fenfe of 
 England, which generally gains the afcendancy, or 
 were not willing prematurely to engage -in vindic- 
 tive profecutions, is left entirely to conjecture. 
 
 At length, Pain departed for Paris. He there Mayi 79 ,. 
 formed a connexion with Condarcet, Briflbt, and ^ oe . s to 
 a few others of that flamp, who, dhTatisfied with the ' 
 cxifting government, and defpairing of pre-eminence 
 even mould the views of Orleans fucceed, began to 
 broach doctrines of republicanifm. The flight of Writes L 
 the king gave an opportunity of detailing this doc- Jjn UbIi ~ 
 trine, which was not popular, or its difciples nu- 
 merous. Pain and his two aflbciates engaged in 
 the paper called Le Rcpubiicain, notwithstanding his 
 ignorance of the French language, which was reme- 
 died by the kindnefs of Condorcet's wife, who 
 tranflated his contributions. Pain, on this occafion, 
 hoped to elevate himfelf to a great degree of notice, 
 by a challenge to the abbe Syeyes, in which he 
 undertook to anfwer all that could be advanced in 
 favour of monarchy, in any form or ipace, in a 
 work of fifty pages y . The abbe did not accept the 
 challenge, and Le Repubticain was foon difcon- 
 tinued. 
 
 1 Moore's Vrew, vol. ii. p. 376, 
 
 At
 
 304. P A I N. 
 
 His perfon At Paris, Pain met with Mr. Thomas Chriilie, 
 in danger. ^Q mac j e f ome figure by his eulogium on the 
 French revolution and constitution. On the day 
 of the king's return they met with an adventure, 
 which, had it been their gift to learn by experience, 
 would have imparted fome doubts concerning the 
 pre-eminence of a popular government. At the 
 moment when all thofe whom curiofity had attracted 
 to fee the king brought into the capital a prifoner, 
 were ordered to be covered, Pain had loft his 
 cockade. This reduced him to the dilemma of 
 difobeying the important command of the affem- 
 bly, or of appearing without a cockade, either of 
 which amounted to a crime of Icze-nation, and fub- 
 jected the delinquent to immediate punimment. 
 Already the fatal cry was heard, ariftocrat ! arifto- 
 crat ! a la lenterne ! A Frenchman, who could 
 fpeak Englifh, defired him to put on his hat. He 
 explained his embarraffment, and the fentimental 
 mob was with fome difficulty fatisfied and appeafed z . 
 t jtb July. Difappointed in his expectation of notice in 
 kcran>* to F rance Pain returned to England, iuil in time to 
 
 England. . . r *T TV J . 
 
 J4th. partake in the celebration or the rrench revolution. 
 Yet it was deemed proper that he mould not ap- 
 pear at the dinner, and he came not to the Crown 
 and Anchor tavern till eight o'clock, when the 
 celebrators had been hified away by the multitude. 
 Soon after this Pain retired to Greenwich, to write 
 his Second Part of the RIGHTS OF MAN. 
 j6th Feb. This malignant libel was publifhed by Jordan in 
 T, J J, 9 Z' Fleet-ftreet. Grown bolder from impunity, and 
 
 Publishes i . ii , . 1-1 
 
 Kights of additionally ambitious or the fame which would 
 
 Man, refult from profecution, he wrote to Jordan on the 
 
 day of publication, requeuing him, " If any perfon, 
 
 " under the ianction of authority, mould inquire 
 
 " refpecling the author and publimer, to mention 
 
 * See Mr. Tlinmas Chrifiie's letter, da:ed from Paris, Tune a?d, 
 179 1, and pubiiJlicJ in ihe Morning Chruuiclc ct the agth June 
 I79--t). 
 
 " him,
 
 PAIN. 30$ 
 
 " him, as he would appear and anfwer for the work 
 " perfonally." In this, however, he was difap- 
 pointed : it required a meafure more audacious and 
 flagrant than that of a tranquil publication, to roufe 
 the refentment of an infulted government. 
 
 This work is now put out of circulation by the 
 verdict of a jury, and for a criticifm on it I muft 
 again refer my reader to " the Life of Pain," 
 where he will find an ample and able difculfion a . 
 There is, however, a prefumptuous arrogance in an obferv- 
 infiniiation in the Appendix, which deferves par- ati nson 
 ticularly to be refuted : it is, that the miniflry had 
 tampered with the printer to give them a knowledge 
 of its contents, and to delay the publication, that the 
 chancellor of the exchequer might be enabled to 
 avail himfelf of fome of his financial ideas, at the 
 opening of the feflion of parliament. Chapman 
 was the printer of the firft part of the Rights of 
 Man : Pain had been introduced to him by Chriftie. 
 Chapman was again employed to print the fecond 
 part, and about Chriftmas 1791, carried Pain to 
 lodge at No. i o, in Dean-ftreet, Fetter-lane ; Pain, 
 as early as September, delivered a confiderable 
 quantity of copy, and took this lodging to be near 
 his printer. Now, he thus dates his cafe : " on 
 " Tuefday fortnight preceding the meeting of 
 " parliament (the I'/th of January 1792), all at 
 " once, without any previous intimation, though I had 
 " been with him (Chapman) the evening before, he 
 " fent me, by one of his workmen, all the remain* 
 " ing copy from page 1 1 2, declining to go on with 
 " the work on any confideration. To account for 
 " this extraordinary condud, I ivas totally at a lofs." 
 The anfwer to this flatement is taken from Chap- 
 nan's account of the tranfaftion, delivered on oath, on 
 the trial of Pain b . He there avers, that he had 
 
 4 P^ge 82 to 14!?. 
 
 b See Mr. Chapman's evidence on Pain's trial, Gurney's edition, 
 86-7, which proves the falfehood of Pain's (tory.O. 
 
 VOL. ii. x, proceeded
 
 d 6 P A I N. 
 
 proceeded to work off as far as the fignature H 9 
 when the fignature / coming under his infneftion, 
 he obferved fomething which, in his humble appre- 
 prehenfion, appeared of a dangerous tendency ; he 
 therefore refolved to have nothing more to do with 
 the work, but felt fome delicacy in declaring this 
 refolution to Pain, who had always behaved to- 
 wards him with kindnefs and civility. From this 
 embarraflinent, however, he was relieved bv Pain 
 himfelf, who coming to his houfe on the evening of 
 the day he had made this refolution, fomewhat in- 
 toxicated with his friend Johnfon's wine, began the 
 fubjecl: of religion, a topic he was very fond of ex- 
 patiating on when drunk. Chapman and his wife 
 were diflenters. The 'woman defended her opinions 
 in a manner which conquered the philofophy of the 
 champion of the Rights of Man. He rofe, at about 
 ten o'clock in the evening, in wrath, declaring he 
 had never been fo infulted before, and to be on 
 par with the loquacious female, he declared that he 
 ever thought it his duty to be on his guard againft 
 dhTenters, who were a pack of hypocrites ; and 
 delired Chapman to come to a fettlement, before he 
 proceeded any further with his work. The printer 
 gathered courage from the overflowings of his wife's 
 ipleen, and next day fent Pain the remainder of his 
 copy, together with a letter explaining his motives. 
 Pain returned, to apologize, but the printer was im- 
 placable, and he was obliged to procure another 
 perfon to go on with the work. This, then, is a 
 narrative of the event, for which Pain, with his 
 ufual fallacy, declares himfelf utterly unable to 
 account. 
 
 Within a week after Mr. Chapman had returned 
 the copy, Pain announced the caufe which delayed 
 sbjan. the publication. In the Gazetteer, Pain publifhed 
 that the compofition being now pad, the copy was 
 given, a few weeks fince, to two printers, who were 
 to print it fpeedily. They printed about half of it, 
 
 and
 
 TAIN. 3 7 
 
 and then, being alarmed byfome intimations, refufed 
 to go further ; but another printer had taken it ; 
 and in the courfe of the next month, it will ap- 
 pear . Pain had now told two Jiories about the 
 caufe of the delay* which invalidate each other. In 
 the one account, the copy had been delivered to 
 one printer in September 1791 j in the other ac- 
 count, the copy was delivered to two printers before 
 the 25th of January 1792. In the firft account, 
 Pain was totally at a lofs to account for the printer's 
 refufmg to continue the work. In the fecond ac- 
 count, Pain fays that the printers were alarmed by 
 fame intimations > from the meflengers of the prefs, no 
 doubt. Which of thefe accounts are we to be- 
 lieve ; or mall we, after fuch palpable tergiverfation, 
 believe any account which is given by Pain ? 
 
 Yet let us trace him a little further through the 
 mazes of duplicity, that we may judge of his veracity 
 in any cafe. He now tells what indeed is likely to 
 be true, that he. gave his copy to the printer in 
 September lad ; let us fuppofe the i5th of Sep- 
 tember : from the i5th of September, to the 17th 
 of January following, there pafled away Jixteen 
 weeks. Now, when the memorable quarrel hap- 
 pened between the printer and Pain, only feven 
 meets had pajjed through the prefs j fo that more 
 
 c In the Gazetteer of WednefJay the 25th January 1792, appeared 
 i\\e following notice, the air, and fentiments, and llyle, of \f hich plainly 
 demonitrale the real author, 
 
 Mr. PAIN, 
 
 " It is known, is to produce another work this feafon. 
 " The compofition of this is now paft, and it was given, a few 
 weeks fince, to two printers, whofe prefles it was to go through as 
 Ipeedily as poffihle. They printed about half of it, and then, being 
 alarmed by fame intimations, refufed to go further. Some delay has 
 thus occuned, but another printer has taken it, and, in the courfe of 
 next month, it will appear. 
 
 " Its title is fo be a repetition of the former, * THE RIGHTS OF 
 MAN," of which the words Part the Second* will fhew that it is a 
 continuation." None but PAIN could write fucb an advertift* 
 ment.Q. 
 
 x 2 than
 
 3 o8 , PAIN. 
 
 than two weeks were employed on every meet*. 
 And it is a known fact, that Pain kept his proofs 
 frequently a week, often a fortnight, and fometimes 
 longer. He was all thejixteen weeks cafting about 
 for matter, receiving hints and corrections, and 
 waiting for events. He knew that the writer who 
 gets into a chapter of mifcellanies , may go forward 
 or flop fhort when he pleafes. And Pain was 
 plainly watching for a moment of misfortune, xvhen 
 he might urge difcontent into fury, by publifhing 
 his fecond part on fome factious night. But the 
 parliament met, without waiting for his publication : 
 The day of triumph paffed over while he loitered in 
 the prefs : The nation exulted in her profperity, 
 while he fat calculating with arithmetical precifion, 
 the depth of her diftrertes, and the benefits, but not 
 the miferies. of anarchy. 
 
 It was owing to the foregoing caufes, that Pain, 
 who had returned his proof fheets fo flowly before, 
 was now obliged to accelerate the prefs. He was 
 compelled to perform a harder tafk ; to find plau- 
 fible reafons for poltponing his work, till the un- 
 propitious day of general fatisfaction. The book 
 would have been publifhed before the meeting of 
 parliament, he fays, " had the work appeared at 
 " the time the printer had engaged to finifh it.'* 
 But this afiertion, as we have already Ihewn, cannot 
 be true ; for no printer can perform his engage- 
 ment if the author return not the proofs ; and no 
 printer can be benefited by the (landing flill of his 
 prefs. 
 
 A Before the iad evening of the fatal quarrel, being the i6th of Ja- 
 nuary 1791, the ftieet H had been printed, now, from B to//, there 
 are leven fheets. Kut the fheets I and K were allb fet up : now, thefe 
 two may be considered as another fticet ; and, of confequence, it is 
 proved that there were no more than eight (heels printed in the fixteen 
 weeks, from the 151(1 of September to the t7th of January following. 
 This muft be allowed to be very Jlow printing indeed, when even two 
 jintt a day may be done with eaic. U. 
 
 Of
 
 PAIN. 3 o 9 
 
 Of this book, which was dedicated to la Fayette, Succefs of 
 five thoufand copies were printed. But notwith- thew *. 
 flanding every art to raife curiofity, this did not, 
 for fome weeks, fell with the rapidity of the frft 
 part. Three (hillings was too great a fum for 
 perfons to give who had it only in view to diftribute 
 thefe new found lights, they did not even at firft 
 publicly applaud the author. A month elapfed 3th Mar, 
 from the time of publication, when the Manchefter * 79 *' 
 conftitutional fociety thanked Pain for his publication, 
 and recommended his work as of the hivheft import- 
 ance to every nation under heaven e . Other focieties 
 followed the example of Manchefter, and in order 
 to give more rapid diflemmation to the favoured 
 publication, editions were printed on a whitifh- 
 brown paper at a fmall price, but to thofe who 
 could not or would not buy even at that rate, the 
 book was profufely diftributed, gratis. It was in all 
 fhapes and all fizes, with an induftry incredible, 
 either in the whole or in extracts, thruft into the 
 hands of all perfons in this country, of fubjecls of 
 every defcripdon. The fweetmeats of children and 
 the tobacco of men were wrapped up in it, in the 
 hope they might be tempted to read what was thus 
 gratuitouily prefented. 
 
 This culpable affiduity, and the multiplication of 
 treafonable focieties gave ferious alarm to govern- 
 ment. A royal proclamation was iifued, warning 
 to the loyal and prudent part of the nation againit 
 thefe innovators, a profecution was commenced 
 againft Jordan the publifher, and an information 
 put on the file againft Pain himfelf. 
 
 Meantime Pain had not been inactive, and the Pain's ec- 
 afpecl: of affairs was fuch as to open to his malignant 
 mind the hope of a long day of horrors. Anarchy 
 was making the moft rapid ftrides in France ; its 
 agents here were rated ft forty thoufand , and the 
 
 See the Morning Chronicle of March 19, 1791, O. 
 
 x 3 murder
 
 3 io PAIN. 
 
 murder of the king of Sweden in his own palace 
 afforded Pain an opportunity of exclaiming with 
 diabolical triumph, " Aye^ you fee how crowns are 
 '* melting away !" and of adding with explanatory 
 archnefs, " There is a kettle boiling in this country" 
 He was invited by his friend Mr. W. Sharp, the 
 engraver, to pafs a few months with him in the 
 
 try, country; and lodged -at the houfe of one Tanner 
 at Bromley in Kent, from which he feldom fallied 
 
 ijth Apr. forth. He attended at the anniverfary meeting of 
 the conftitutional fociety at the London Tavern, as 
 
 Jiarrefted. one of the ftewards. This was the laft public din- 
 ner he affifted at in England, and from this he 
 might as well have flayed away ; for the aflignees of 
 Whitefide, lured by the hope of getting in their out- 
 ftanding demand, and incited by the knowledge of 
 a fact fo unufual as his public appearance, at a given 
 time and place, fued out a writ againft him for the 
 amount of his note. This bufmefs was conducted 
 fo fecretly, that the fcciety knew nothing of the 
 tranfaclion. He was carried, by Wild the officer, 
 to the King's Head lock-up houfe in Wood-ftreet, 
 till he was bailed by Johnfon the bookfeller, and 
 by Wilkie another bookfeller, who at Johnfon's 
 
 * 7 tb May. requeft joined in the bond. Soon after the inform- 
 ation h ad been nled againft him, his hoft at Brom- 
 
 ley, difcovering the real name and character of his 
 lodger, gave information of his difcovery to Mr. 
 Norman, the neareft magiftrate. Pain being ap- 
 prized of the circumftance, made a hafty retreat 
 from the country, and again repaired to the obfcure 
 purlieus of Fetter-lane. 
 
 ^une. Here he was not idle : he wrote feveral letters 
 
 " 5 in a contemptible feditious newfpaper called the 
 
 ' Argus ; which were afterwards diftributed from 
 
 the pamphlet-mops, under the title of Pains four 
 
 His Ad- 'Letters 'on Government. He afterwards produced 
 
 Ir'ki? ki ADDRESS TO THE ADDRESSERS, which was, 
 
 dtcfleni like the Rights of Man, printed on a fmall type 

 
 PAIN. 3 n 
 
 and dingy paper, and fold for a groat. In the fu. 
 perior edition, it was contained in feventy-eight 
 pages ; in the inferior, in forty. It is written in 
 his ufual ftyle and manner, without any novelty to 
 foften his coarfenefs, or any information to atone 
 for the boalts of fuperior knowledge. This fcur- 
 riious work was afterwards an object of legal pro- 
 fecution : but Pain having, previous to its publica- 
 tion, withdrawn himfelf from the reach of thofe laws 
 he had infulted and defied, the punifhment fell on 
 the publifher. 
 
 His fame now acquired its higheft poflible var- Made a 
 niih in the eyes of the French legiflature. He had ^ Z n e c n h 
 made himlelf obnoxious to a regular government, 
 to the government of England. This was a merit 
 of fufficient magnitude to induce the Brifiotines to 
 forgive his having dedicated his book to their enemy 
 la Fayette, and to cherilh him as a fit medium for 
 propagating thofe calumnies by which they intended 
 to inflame the minds of their countrymen, and prepare 
 them to approve the hoftilities alreadyprojectedagainft 
 England and her allies. Accordingly Guadet, the *4-*h Aug. 
 principal orator of the party, made a fpeech in the 
 legiflative afiembly, demonftrating how proper it 
 would be to call Pain, Prieftly, and fome others, to 
 the enviable dignity of French citizens. This was 
 afterwards decreed, on the motion of the fame ora-. 
 tor, in terms which will afford an excellent com- 
 mentary on the writings of thofe who maintain the 
 pafllvenefs, and deny the premeditated aggreffion of 
 the French towards this country f . It muft alfo be 
 
 recollected 
 
 f ' The national aflemhly, confitlering that thofe men, who, i>y tbtir 
 tl writings and their valour, have fervid the caufe of liberty and paved the way 
 " for the e nfrancbifemeKt of naticnt, cannot be looked upon as foreigner^ 
 '* by a nation rendered free by its own knowledge and valour ; 
 
 ' Confidering, that if five years refidence in France is fufficient to 
 
 " obtain for a foreigner the title of Frencli citizen ; that title is much 
 
 " more jultly due to thofe ivbo, tubatevir be the foil they inhabit) have con- 
 
 l( JeeraUd tbtir arms and tbeir vigils to the futfofe of defending tit caufe of ttt 
 
 % 4 " *"X<
 
 PAIN. 
 
 recollected that Pain, at the moment of receiving 
 this homage, was under profecution for the very 
 writings fo oftentatioufly commended by the go- 
 vernment of a country, then hypocritically pre- 
 tending to maintain the relations of peace and 
 amity. 
 
 In confequence of this naturalization, an attempt 
 was made by the Briffotines to obtain his election 
 
 vemion. as member of the convention for Paris ; but this 
 was fruftrated by the faction of Robefpierre and 
 Marat 8 . Calais however repaired the injury done 
 him by the capital h ; and Abbeville was alfo de- 
 firous of feeing the champion of anarchy amongft 
 her reprefentatives, but was prevented by the 
 knowledge of his previous election for Calais 1 . 
 
 Goes to He was informed of this honour by citizen Au- 
 
 nce< dibert, who was deputed for that purpofe. He 
 
 had previoufly fecured the zealous affection of the 
 
 " people againft tbs difpotifm of ling}, of banijhing local prejudices; and of ex- 
 " tending the limits of human knowledge j 
 
 c< Confidering, that though it may not be permitted to hope that 
 " men will, at fome period, form in facial regulation, as in nature, 
 but one family, one fmgle ailbciation, yet the friends of liberty 
 ' and univerfal fraternity ought not to be lefs dear to a nation which 
 " has decreed her renunciation of all conquefts, and her defire of fra- 
 " tcrnization orith all the world j 
 
 " Confideiing, finally, that at the moment when a national con- 
 ' vention is about to fix the fate of Fiance, cud perhaps to prepare that 
 " of all mankind, it belongs to a free and generous people to call in all 
 the intelligence they can obtain, and to fubmit the right of con- 
 ' curring in .his grand aft of reafon to men who,, by their fentiments, 
 " their writings, and their valour, have fliewn them/ekes fo eminently 
 worthy of it $ 
 
 " Decrees^ thnt the title of French citizen be tonferred on Prirfi'y, 
 " Peyne, and fixteen more/* See Merc lire de France, vol.deSep- 
 tembre 1791,. p. 14- ii- Madame Roland explains with no Itfs force, 
 the true real'ons uf his naturalization. " Payne wns declared a French 
 " citizen as one of thofe celebrated foreigners whom the nation ought, 
 ' with eagerrefs, to adopt. He was known by his writings, which 
 " had been ufeful in 'he Airerican revolution, and tnigbt have ccntri* 
 * tuted to produce one n England." Appel, vol. ii. p. 29. 
 
 h Louvet's Na rative, p. 20. 
 
 P Printed Lifts in Political State of Europe. Goudemetz'sEpochs, &c. 
 
 * Moore's Journal} vol.i. p., 361. 
 
 focieties
 
 PAIN. 3 , 3 
 
 focieties in England, by an oft entatious donation, 
 real or pretended, of one thoufand pounds, the pro- 
 duce of the Rights of Man, to the constitutional 
 fociety, to be difpofed of as they might think pro- 
 per k . He now bade a laft farewel to Fetter-lane, 
 and, accompanied by Audibert and Mr. Froft, went 
 to Dover. Here their trunks were diligently 
 fearched by the cuftom-houfe officers ! but nothing 
 being found to fupport an information which had 
 been laid, they replaced every thing as they found 
 it. Pain, who probably thought this vigilance in 
 a revenue officer a libel on his own conduft in the 
 fame fituation, wrote a letter of clamorous com- 
 plaint to Mr. Dundas, as did citizen Achilles Audi- 
 bert. This citizen alfo publifhed a letter, in which 
 he threatened to profecute the cuftom-houfe officer ; 
 but it appears that he was better entitled to the 
 name of Rodomont than Achilles^ as he never put his 
 boaftful threats in execution. 
 
 After a pafiage of three hours, they arrived at 1 6th Sept. 
 Calais ; where, between the interpretations of ^\~ 
 Achilles, and the dumb-mew of Thomas, the elec- 
 tors and the reprefentatives underftood, or fancied 
 they underftood, mutual expreflions of good-will 
 and devotion 1 . 
 
 He took his feat in the convention ; but his ig- Member 
 norance of the French language reduced him to a "einion "" 
 ftate of filence not very agreeable to his difpofition. 
 He was, however, chofen one of the committee of nth Oft* 
 the conftitution m , after the abolition of royalty ; 
 but what in particular was the refult of his labours 
 is not afcertained. He was alfo one of madam e 
 Roland's cabinet party, though the lady does not 
 feem to have been imprefled with notions very ad- 
 
 k See Pain's Letter to the Conftitutional Society, in the Morning 
 Chronicle ct the jth July 1791. O. 
 
 1 See the Letters above alluded to, and one defcribing Pain's re- 
 ception, in Jordan's Political State of Europe, vol. i. p. 459 to 464.. 
 
 Debate*. 
 
 vantageous.
 
 3M P A I N. 
 
 8thNov. vantageous to him n . He affifted at a dinner given 
 at White's hotel, to celebrate the victories gained 
 by the French. A great number of Englilh demo- 
 crats were affembled ; Mr. J. H. Stone was in the 
 chair. They miftook the infpirations of Bacchus 
 for thofe of philofophy, and in their flowing cups 
 affected to legiflate and to prophefy. They toafted 
 " the abolition of hereditary titles in England :"- 
 * e THOMAS FAIN, and the new mode of advertif- 
 " ing good books^ by proclamation, and the court of 
 " king's bench :" " The approaching national con- 
 " mention of Great Britain and Ireland :" and many 
 fimilar fentiments. Thefe drunken frolics would 
 not deferve notice, but tor the ridiculous ceremony 
 which enfued, of fending an addrefs on the fubjecV., 
 which was warmly received by the national con- 
 vention , 
 
 jliscon- With the fumes of the wine ftill in his head, and 
 the kfng's the din of mufic performed at the feaft by the T and be- 
 uai. longing to the German legion ftill in his ears, V%in pro- 
 ceeded to write his opinion refpefting the trial of the 
 ft Nov. unfortunate king. In this opinion, which was read 
 for him in the convention, he confidered Louis XVI. 
 as a confederate ,in an univerfal contpiracy, which 
 threatened not only the liberty of France, but that 
 of every other nation : he confidered him as a cul- 
 prit, whofe trial might lead all people to a know- 
 ledge and a deieftation of the monarchical fyftem^ 
 and of the plots and intrigues of their own courts : 
 he therefore voted for the trial p . After fuch a fen- 
 tence as this, and after voting the king guilty on the 
 firft appel nominal, with how little realbn do the ad- 
 mirers of Pain affieft to extol his merciful difpofition, 
 and exonerate him from the ignominy attached ta 
 the murderers of that unhappy monarch, on acr 
 
 v Appel, vol. >i. p. 29. 
 
 Jordan's Political State of Europe, vol. ii. p. 777. Debates. 
 
 P Debates. 
 
 count
 
 PAIN. 3 r S 
 
 count of his fubfequent exertions q . On the quef- 
 tion of punifhment, he voted againft death, and for 19* Jan, 
 banimment ; and when the refpite of the fentence I793 ' 
 was moved for, he delivered an opinion, which was 
 read by Bancal. It began by dating, that it 
 would have been better if the national convention 
 had contented themfelves with pafling on Louis a 
 fentence of imprifonment till the peace : but fmce 
 they had condemned him to death, he voted for a 
 fufpenfion of the execution. He affigned as a reafon, 
 the neceflity of not giving offence to foreign powers, 
 particularly to the Americans, who, he allured the 
 convention, would look with an evil eye on the ex- 
 ecution of Louis Capet. In conclufion he faid, 
 " France has now no ally except America, and 
 <f that ally is the only one who can furniih naval 
 " (lores. Now it happens unfortunately in the 
 " prefent cafe, that the object of our prefent difcuf- 
 t( fion is looked upon by the United States as the 
 <* perfon to whom they are indebted for their li- 
 " berty. I can aifure you that his execution will 
 " fpread through the dates a general affliction. If 
 " I were capable of fpeaking French, I myfelf 
 u would defcend to the bar, and in the name of my 
 < e American brethren prefent a petition for a re- 
 46 fpite." This obfervation excited the murmurs 
 of the Mountain : Marat faid that Pain was biafifed 
 by the contracted notions of his original religion, 
 that of a quaker j Thuriot affirmed that the con- 
 vention was impofed on by a falfe tranflation ; Ga- 
 ran aflerted that he had feen the original, and that 
 the tranflation was perfectly correct. Bancal pro- 
 ceeded : " Your executive counfel have recently 
 ** nominated an ambaifador to the United States of 
 " America, who is to fet fail in a few days. No- 
 " thing could afford greater pleafure to your allies, 
 *' than for him, on his arrival, to addrefs them to 
 
 1 See Impartial Hiftory, vol. il. p. 24.7. 
 
 this
 
 3i6 P A I N. 
 
 " this effect: that in confideration of the mare 
 " Louis Capet had borne in the American revolu- 
 " tion, and of the grief the Americans might feel 
 " at his execution, you had granted him a refpite. 
 " Ah, citizens ! do not afford to the defpot of Eng- 
 " land the fatisfacUon of feeing that man perifti on 
 " the fcaffold, who aflifted in releafmg from their 
 " chains my dear brethren of America r ." 
 
 His trial. While his attention was thus occupied with the 
 trial of a dethroned monarch in Paris, his own trial 
 was coming on in London ; fo that while he fat as 
 a judge in the one capital, he was arraigned as a 
 criminal in the other. The information filed againft 
 him in Eafter term came on to be tried, before 
 
 i*th Dec. i or( i Kenyon and a fpecial jury at Guildhall, in the 
 fittings after Michaelmas term. The attorney-ge- 
 neral % in a moll able fpeech, dated the enormity 
 of the offence of which the defendant had been 
 guilty ; expofed the fallacies of his reafoning ; de- 
 tefted the rancour of IPS heart, affecting difguife 
 under the femblance of virtue and moderation ; 
 and, to the utter aftoniihment of the court and jury, 
 produced a letter written to him by the defendant 
 from Paris, which for impudent mendacity, fcur- 
 rility, and impertinence, exceeded whatever the 
 imagination could fugged. It infulted the nation 
 by calling the king Mr. Guelph, and threatened the 
 judge, the attorney-general, and the jury, with the 
 mod horrible confequences if the trial proceeded ', 
 Very few witneffes were called, and they were 
 chiefly examined to prove his hand-writing. He 
 had every afiiftance in his defence which jurifpru- 
 dential knowledge could give. Five counfel held 
 briefs for him, three of them u juftly celebrated for 
 
 r Robefpierre a fes Commettans, vol. ii. p. 231. Moore's Journal, 
 vol. ii. p. 587. Debates. 
 
 s Sir Archibald Macdonald, now chief baron of the exchequer. 
 1 See the letter at length in the Appendix, N VIII. 
 The Hon. Mr. Eifkine, Mr. Figgott, and Mr. (now ferjeant) 
 . 
 
 4 learning
 
 PAIN. 3 , 7 
 
 learning and abilities. Mr. Erlkine, in his addrefs 
 to the jury, exerted all the powers of that perfuafive 
 eloquence and admirable memory for which he 
 is fo juftly celebrated : he endeavoured to diftin- 
 guim between the author's doctrines and intentions, 
 and to (hew that the one might be pure, though the 
 other were unintentionally pernicious. " I am not," 
 he faid, " aiking your opinion of the doftrines 
 " themielves, you have given them already pretty 
 " vifibly fmce I began to addrefs you ; but I mall 
 " appeal not only to you, but to thofe who, without 
 " our leave, will hereafter judge, without appeal, 
 " of all that we are doing to-day ; whether, upon 
 " the matter which I haften to lay before you, you 
 " can refufe in juftice to pronounce, that from his 
 " education, from the accidents and habits of his 
 " life, from the time and occafion of the publica- 
 " tion, from the circumftances attending it, and 
 " from every line and letter of the work itfelf, and 
 " all his other writings, before and even fince, his 
 ** confcience and underftanding (no matter whether 
 " erroneoujly or not) were deeply and folemnly im- 
 " prefied with the matters contained in his book ; 
 " that he addrefled it to the reafon of the nation at 
 " large, and not to the paflions of individuals ; and 
 " that in the iflue of its influence, he contem- 
 " plated only what appeared to (him though it may 
 " not to us) to be the intereft and happinefs of Eng- 
 " land, and of the whole human race x . But the 
 powers of oratory and genius were exerted in vain ; 
 in fuch a caufe no efforts could induce the jury to 
 remove the mountain of culpability which relted on 
 the moulders of the defendant. The refult of the 
 trial is well dated in the unornamented words of the 
 reporter, who, purfuing his account from the con- 
 cluding period of Mr. Edkine's fpeech, fays, 
 * e The attorney-general arofe immediately to reply 
 
 x Trial of Pain, Gurney's edition, p. ui, 
 
 " tO
 
 318 T A I K. 
 
 " to Mr. Erikine, when Mr. Campbell, the fore* 
 " man of the jury, faid, " My lord, I am aiftho* 
 " rifed by the jury here to inform the attorney- 
 " general, that a reply is not neceffary for them, 
 " unlefs the attorney-general wifhes to make it, or 
 " your lordfhip. Mr. attorney-general fat down ; 
 " and the jury gave in their verdict, GUILTY r ." 
 The conviction of Pain as a malignant libeller was 
 followed by effects which were unexpected by him* 
 felf, and unforefeen by his patrons. He was ere 
 long burnt with his books in almoft every village of 
 England, with circumftances which plainly denoted 
 popular contempt for his doctrines, and popular 
 hatred of his perfon. His conviction was purfued 
 to outlawry ; and having joined with the convention 
 at Paris, in a declaration of war againft Great Bri- 
 tain, he became thereby a traitor. 
 
 1793. But though he had thus caft off his native coun- 
 
 nificancf ~ tr ^' ^ e ^ oun( ^ l h at to which he had betaken him- 
 
 felf, on the faith of folemn invitations and afiurances, 
 
 very different from a peaceable afylum. Attached, 
 
 as far as he was capable of attachment, to the Brif- 
 
 fotine party, he had the mortification to witnefs 
 
 their degradation, expulfion, and execution. He 
 
 was one of the feventy-three who figned the proteft 
 
 Publifhes againft the proceedings of the 31(1 of May. He fell 
 
 the Age of j nto infigniiicance as a lecriilator ; and to amufe 
 
 Keafon, > r \r > M 11 i 
 
 pani. himielt, and contribute all in his power to the 
 emancipation of the human mind from every reli- 
 gious and moral obligation, he compofed, or rather 
 compiled, for there is nothing new in it, his firft 
 part of the AGE OF REASON. In this work he at- 
 tacks the bulwark of faith, with feeble arguments 
 and clumfy ribaldry, with all the perverfions and 
 mifreprefentations of fraud and ignorance. 
 Deprived He foon found that Robefpierre's caftle of the 
 andfen^i Luxembourg was as impenetrable a prifon as the 
 
 juifbn, 
 
 X Trial of Pain, Gurney's edition, p. 195. 
 
 king's
 
 PAIN. 3 , 9 
 
 king's cattle of Baftille, in the taking of which he 
 had fo much rejoiced. He found that when nations 
 were freed from the reftraints of law, and raifed, by 
 the artifices of falfe reafoning, above the dictates of 
 confcience, no fituation, no guaranty, no participa- 
 tion of guilt, no plea of innocence, affords a protec- 
 tion. He was, by a decree of the Mountain, de- aoth Dec. 
 prived of his feat in the convention, and foon after 10 th Jan. 
 committed to the priibn of the Luxembourg. 1794- 
 
 In this fituation, he exerted all the efforts his ^sthjan. 
 fancy could fupply to obtain his liberation. A de- D ?P ut - 
 
 ', f. ,. . k . , ation of 
 
 putation or Americans rending m rans went to the Ameri- 
 bar of the convention to reclaim him as a country- c ans - 
 man, but Vadier, the prefident, informed them that 
 Pain was no countryman of theirs, but an Englifh- 
 man ; and it was hinted to them by one of the com- 
 mittee of general fafety, that their interpofition was 
 irregular, as it was only the act of individuals, 
 without any authority from the American govern- 
 ment z . In faft, he was as little beloved in America 
 as in England ; his principles were fo inimical to 
 every thing like a regular government, that Mr. 
 Adams himfelf had written an anfwer to the Rights 
 of Man, in which he not only cautioned the people 
 of America, but thofe of England, againft its doc- 
 trines. Pain, difappointed in this effort, had re- 20 thFeb. 
 courfe to the club of Cordeliers, hoping that the Applies to 
 preachers of ath'eifm would favour the publifher of coideliew 
 the Age of Reafon. But that body fcorned him : 
 they fent him no other anfwer than a copy of his 
 fpeech in behalf of the unfortunate king a . He had His em- 
 now no refource but hard drinking, difputations P lp y ments * 
 with Clootz in favour of the few religious principles 
 he ftill affecled to retain b , and the hope that he 
 might be able, by dint of indefatigable perfever- 
 
 z Jordan's Political State of Europe, vol. vi. p. 71. Pain's Letter 
 To Wafhington, p. 14. 
 
 * See Goudemetz's Hiftoric.il Epochs, p. 86. 
 
 h Mifs Williams'* Letters in 1794, vol. ii. p. 177. 
 
 ance,
 
 320 P A I N. 
 
 ance, to interefl: the American government In his 
 favour c . The firft of thefe enjoyments was taken 
 from him by the increafed feverities which the re* 
 publican government thought proper to impofe on 
 the prifoners ; the fecond, by the death of the Pruf- 
 fian atheift ; and the laft was reduced almoft to no- 
 thing by the difficulty of conveying letters, which 
 he could only do through the lamp-lighter, who 
 rilked his head to oblige him j and by his receiving 
 no anfwers d . 
 
 Falls ill. During his confinement he fell ill of a fever, and 
 loft his fenfes for upwards of a month. It is pro- 
 bable, if we may believe him, that he was indebted 
 to this circumilance for the prefervation of his life. 
 A memorandum was found in Robefpierre's hand- 
 writing, after his fall, in thefe words : " To move 
 " for a decree of accufation againft Thomas Pain, 
 " for the interelt of America as well as of France V 
 
 Is re. How far the government of America was interefted 
 
 b U Ame- * n t ^ e ^ ate ^ ^ B outca ^ cannot be ascertained ; 
 
 tica. but when Robefpierre was no more, Pain received 
 information, in the moft unqualified terms, that 
 " he was not confidered by the American govern- 
 " ment, or by individuals, as an American ci- 
 " tizenV 
 
 Is llbeiat- At length the death of Robefpierre facilitated his 
 
 * d " reiteration to liberty and to the legiflative body ; 
 
 but thofe events did not take place fo foon as might 
 
 4th Nov. have been expected. Mr. Monroe, the American 
 minifler, interceded for him, and obtained his en- 
 largement ; and, in little more than a month after- 
 
 ?th Dec. -wards, a decree of the convention invited him to 
 refume his feat. 
 
 Pain's Letter to Washington, p. 15, et feq. 
 d Idem, p. 17. 
 
 e Idem, p. 1 6; The tfune ftory is told in the Preface to the Age of 
 Reafon, part II. 
 f Idem, p. iS. 
 
 His
 
 PAIN. 32I 
 
 His firft publication, when reftored to the dignity 
 of a legiflator, was a DISSERTATION ON THE FIRST 
 PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. The occafion of 
 this production was the formation of the new French 
 conftitution, which, requiring fome qualification of 
 property, was not fufficiently democratic for his 
 approbation. He diflributed his book as a prelude /th July 
 to a fpeech which he afterwards delivered in the con- *795 
 vention, and which met with little attention, and with 
 fome difficulty obtained the honours of the impreffion. 
 The Differtation was reprinted in London by one 
 Griffiths, but its merits were fo fmall that it foon fell 
 into difregard, and though the fale of it has not been 
 restrained by profecution, it is little read. 
 
 Soon after this, he publifhed A SECOND PART The Age 
 OF THE AGE OF REASON, in which he renewed his of R ^<on, 
 attack on the bible with increafed acrimony ; and, 
 as it fuited the views of the democratic party here to 
 loofen the ties of public faith, it was difleminated, 
 like the Rights of Man, by means of cheap editions 
 and affected recommendations. Several anfwers 
 appeared ; but, however well meant, they all faded 
 before the fuperior luftre of that produced by the 
 learned and eloquent bifhop of Llandaff. That 
 worthy prelate, in his APOLOGY FOR THE BIBLE, 
 follows the aflailant of Chriftianity through every 
 one of his alfertions, expofes his ignorance, his 
 fhamelefs repetition of refuted calumnies, the futility 
 of his arguments, and the fallacy of his deductions. 
 The arm of the law was ftretched forth againft the 
 diflributor of Pain's pernicious treatife. An in- 
 formation wajs filed againft the publisher, by the ac- 
 tivity of the fociety for propagating religion, rather 
 than by government. Mr. Erfkine, by his admir- 
 able fpeech delivered in the court of king's bench, 
 added a never-fading leaf to his laurels ; and the 
 jury, without hefitation, acquiefced in the direction 
 of the lord chief juftice, and brought in a verdict 
 of GUILTY againft the defendant. 
 
 VOL. ii. Y Yet
 
 322 P A I N. 
 
 8th April Yet Pain could not be idle ; he produced a 
 Writes 'the P am P n ^ et m forty-four pages, called the DECLINE 
 
 Decline AND FALL OF THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FINANCE. 
 
 and Fail, j n t ^j s work, written for the purpofe of encouraging 
 France, and caufing defpondency in England, he 
 affects to demonftrate that this country is in the 
 very gulph of bankruptcy. To prove this pofition 
 he has recourfe to a ieries of tables, by which he 
 affects to demonftrate that every new war in which 
 England engages muft coft as much and half as 
 much as the laft preceding war. This pretended 
 principle he affects to verify by an expofure of the 
 expences of wars for a century pafl. The abfurdity 
 of fuch an argument muft be ftriking to every per- 
 fon who confiders it. No reafon is given why fuch 
 a ratio mould be eftablifhed, and the verification of 
 it as a fact depends on fix inftances, two of which 
 fail g . But could events perfectly confonant, be 
 related without number, they could never make, 
 though they might help to demonftrate a principle. 
 For example, it was faid in old times, 
 
 " When the Lord falls in the lady's lap, 
 " Then let England fear a mifhap," 
 
 and it was proved that for a great length of time, 
 whenever . Good Friday happened on Lady-day, 
 fome great commotion occurred that year in Eng- 
 land. The coincidence, however, was merely 
 cafual ; the fame event has taken place feveral times 
 fmce, and fo far from fearing or feeling a mifhap, 
 the people of England hardly knew or noticed it. 
 If the country fuftain no greater injury from Mr. 
 Pain's politics than from his prophecies, it will long 
 continue rich, happy, and refpectable. The book 
 was publifhed by Eaton in Newgate-ftreet, and as 
 he pretends to have entered it at Stationers'-hall, 
 it is to be fuppofed that it was either fold or given 
 to him by the author. 
 
 t See Decline and Fall, &c. p. n. and the note. 
 
 Pain 

 
 PAIN. 313 
 
 Pain next publifhed his LETTER TO GENERAL 
 WASHINGTON, which, to the furprife of every one 
 who is not prepared for all that the mod impudent 
 inconfiflency can produce from a mind fo abjedt and 
 malignant, contains thefe and many more infulting 
 expreffions : " I KNOW, that had it not been for 
 " the aid received from France in men, money, and 
 " mips, your* cold and unmilitary conduct would, in i 
 " all probability, have loft America ; at leaft, me 
 " would not have been the independent nation fhe 
 " now is. Youjlept away your time in the field, till the 
 * c finances of the country were completely exhaufted, 
 
 " AND YOU HAVE BUT LITTLE SHARE IN THE 
 
 " GLORY or THE FINAL EVENT. Elevated to the 
 " chair of the prefidency, you afliimed the merit of 
 " everything to yourfelf, and the natural ingratitude 
 " of your conjlitution began to appear. Ton commenced 
 " your prefidential career by encouraging and fwal- 
 " lowing the groffeji adulation ; and you travelled 
 " America from one end to the other to put your- 
 " felf in the way of receiving it. You have as 
 " many addrefles in your cheft as James the Second. 
 " As to what were your views, for if you are not 
 " great enough to have ambition, you are little enough 
 " to have vanity, they cannot be directly inferred 
 " from expreffions of your own ; but the partifans 
 " of your politics have divulged the fecret V* 
 When Pain wrote the dedication to the firft part of 
 the Rights of Man, it is to be fuppofed he knew thefe 
 facts, as he would call them, as well as in 1796, 
 yet what did he fay then to the very fame perfon ? 
 " Sir, I prefent you a fmall treatife in defence of 
 " thofe principles of freedom WHICH YOUR EX- 
 
 * EMPLARY VIRTUE HATH SO EMINENTLY CON- 
 " TRIBUTED TO ESTABLISH. That the Rights of 
 
 " Man may become as univerfal as your benevolence 
 " can wijh 9 and that you may enjoy the happinefs 
 
 b Letter to Wafhington, p. S. 
 
 y 2 of
 
 324 P A I N. 
 
 " of feeing the New World regenerate the Old, is 
 " the prayer of, Sir, your much obliged, and 
 " obedient humble fervant, Thomas Paine l ." This 
 was the tribute of adulation which Pain thought 
 proper to throw in as his additional mite to Wam- 
 ington's Exchequer of Flattery. No one of his ene- 
 mies in the utmoft malignity of mifreprefentation 
 could have invented a contradiction to fhew more 
 amply the bafenefs of his heart, and this total want 
 of principle and truth. Either he was ready in 
 1791 to ar.fwer a purpofe, to adorn the brow of 
 pufillanimity and vanity with the wreath due to 
 valour and public fpirit; or in 1796, under the 
 impreffion of imaginary wrong, the defire of re- 
 venge led him to ufe the raoft barefaced calumnies, 
 and palpable untruths : he muft, therefore, be con- 
 fidered either as an abject fycophant, or an auda- 
 cious flanderer. 
 
 Since this period, he is reputed to have publifhed 
 fome other trafts, among which are Animadverfions 
 on Mr. Erfkine's Speech refpecling the Age of 
 Reafon, and a Letter to the People of France, re- 
 markable for its inconfiftency with his former doc- 
 trines, its abject flattery of the prefent rulers, and 
 its puerile abfurdity k . - 
 
 I am now at the conclufion of Pain's literary and 
 political life. He ftill remains in France, though no 
 longer a legiflator, and the reafon is well exprefled 
 by an ingenious author : " America would now , 
 " prove a fterile and unproductive foil for the tranf- 
 < plantation of fuch a genius, while ungrateful Eu- 
 *' rope, (the French dominions excepted,) (hutting 
 " every avenue again ft him, bids him wander, like a 
 " fecond Cain, without an afylum or a refting- 
 place '." 
 
 * I give the wbolt dedication to avoid all poffible imputation of hay. 
 injf perverted the frnfe by the unfair produftion of a part. 
 
 k I hnve '~ot /'e' j i\ . -irlif.i o( thei'e publications, and derive my opinion 
 of the laltonly frcm the /-irti-JacObin Review, p. 21. 
 - * Tench'* Uoneipi/ndence, p. 183. 
 
 After 

 
 PAIN. 325 
 
 After fo ample a detail of his tranfaftions from His cha- 
 his earlieft youth to the prefent time, it would be raaer 
 fuperfluous to defcant on his character as a man. 
 It has been clouded by all the meaner vices, fraud, 
 hypocrify, rapacity, cruelty, without being illumined 
 by the rays of one folitary virtue. He has re- 
 nounced parents, wife, friends, country, and religion, 
 without acquiring refpect or confidence from thofe 
 in whofe favour the molt important of thefe facri- 
 fices have been made. He is declared an outlaw by 
 England, renounced as a citizen by America, and, 
 except when occafionally called into ufe as an 
 humble tool, contemned and derided in France. In 
 how little eftimation he was held when his fame was 
 at the higheft, may be feen by the following character 
 of him drawn by madame Roland. " Among the bymadame 
 " perfons I was in ttie habit of receiving, and of Roland. 
 fe whom I have already defcribed the moft re- 
 " markable, Pain m deferves to be mentioned. De- 
 " clared a French citizen, as one of thofe cele- 
 66 brated foreigners whom the nation ought with 
 " eagernefs to adopt, he was known by writings 
 " which had been ufeful in the American revolu- 
 " tion, and might have contributed to produce one 
 " in England. I (hall not take upon me .to fpeak 
 " decifively on his character becaufe he underftood 
 " French, without fpeaking it, and I was nearly 
 " in the fame fituation with refpeft to Englim ; I \ 
 
 " was therefore lefs able to converfe with him my- 
 " felf, than to liften to his difcourfes with thofe 
 " whofe political talents were greater than rny own. 
 " The boldnefs of his conceptions, the originality of 
 " his ftyle, the flriking truths which he boldly 
 " throws out in the midft of thofe whom they 
 
 m She fpells his name Paynes ; Robefpirrre, in " Le Defenfeur de 
 la Conltitution," calls him Penne. This flight f.ift is mentioned 
 merely to fhew liow little chance of celebrity remains for nglifli ad- 
 ventures in a country where the writers who quote them pay that 
 homage with fuch ungracious awlcwardnefa as not even corredly to 
 acquire their appellatives, 
 
 T 3 " offend,.
 
 3 2(5 P A I N. 
 
 " offend, mufl neceflarily have produced great 
 " effe&s ; but Ifhould think him better qualified to 
 " featter, if I may be allowed the expreffion, the 
 " flames of conflagration^ than to difcufs primary prin- 
 ** ciples, or prepare the formation of a government n . 
 ' Pain is more fit to illumine a revolution, than to 
 * e aflift in framing a conftitution. He takes up, 
 " he eftablifhes thofe great principles the difplay of 
 " which ftrikes every eye, ravifhes a club, and 
 " excites tavern enthufiafm ; but for the cool 
 " difcuflions of the committee, for the regular la- 
 " bours of legiilation, I think David Williams a 
 *' much more proper man V 
 
 I (hall not enter into a review of his writings, 
 having taken notice of feveral at the time of relating 
 their publication, and others being fupprefled by 
 the laudable vigilance of the government. It would 
 be the height of injuftice to deny his claim to a 
 certain mare of popular eloquence, but it is too 
 much to praife him for originality, unlefs the moft 
 unlimited mendacity and temerarious prefumption 
 merit that eulogium, He has a fmgular art of in- 
 corporating with the moft obvious truths the moft 
 fallacious aflumptions, and making fuch complicated 
 refults as perfuade rafti believers, and confiding 
 half-thinkers, and the detection of them requires fo 
 many diftinctions, that the perfon who undertakes 
 to anfv/er him incurs the cenfure of fubtilty, from 
 thofe who have not candour or knowledge enough 
 to reflect that the greateft fubtilty lies in the ufe of 
 general pofitions. Do/us latet in uni'verfalibus. He 
 alfo gives great effect to his arguments, by the in- 
 troduction of allegories and anecdotes which are 
 eafily remembered, and make great impreflion, the 
 
 n Thefe expreflTions are very much fattened in flip translation fold bv 
 Johnfon : the original'is ir, thefe words : " Man je le croirth pins propre Z 
 *' femtr, four ain/i dire, ces etincel/ei fembrafemtnt, fa' a difcuter tcs bafts ou 
 *' fff arer la formation fun gouverneme nt . " 
 
 " Appel a I'lmpaitiale foiterite, vol. ii. p. 49. Trauflation, vol. ii. 
 
 fallacy
 
 PAIN. 327 
 
 fallacy of which, from the levity of their compofi- 
 tion efcapes the fhafts of rigid animadverfion : fuch 
 are the bear of Berne ; the Norman who wanted to 
 be king of America ; the lame man and hare, and 
 many others, which are introduced throughout his 
 works, and ftated with falfe and malignant ap- 
 plications. The familiar appellation of " TOM 
 PAIN," by which he is generally known, con- 
 tributes to a delufion that fanclions his audacity, 
 and apologizes for many of his errors ; that he is a 
 young man. But let thofe whom his example may 
 tempt to follow his Heps recoiled, that Tom Pain 
 is now approaching that term which experience 
 marks out as the limit of human life ; that, at the 
 age of threefcore, he has neither wife, child, home, 
 nor country ; that all men have renounced him, 
 as he has renounced his GOD.
 
 JEROME PETION. 
 
 I 
 
 T has often occurred in the courfe of the French 
 revolution, that the frenzy of popular predilection, 
 the zeal of private friendfhip, or the temerity of 
 individual arrogance, has occafioned the application 
 or affumption of names and epithets to which the 
 party for whom they were deftined had fo little 
 claim, that they have been fuccefsfully converted 
 to terms of reproach by merely repeating them 
 ironically. The hiftories of ancient and modern 
 times have been ranfacked for appellatives, which 
 have been applied with the moft ludicrous impro- 
 priety, and epirhets which ought only to be the 
 meed of long tried merit, have been inconfiderately 
 lavifhed on men whofe names juftice would have 
 ftigmatized with every mark of opprobrium and 
 difgrace. Ptrion affords an inflance of this kind. 
 His partifans, with a ridiculous folemnity and af- 
 fected reiteration, attached virtuous to his name, 
 till, for a time, it became common in France to 
 call him the virtuous' Petion, though, in fact, 
 moderate talents, exceffive vanity and felfimnefs, in- 
 veterate rancour, and confummate hypocrify were 
 his principal characleriftics. 
 
 Petion was born at Chartres, but, till the revolu- 
 
 Ior " tion, was fo totally unknown, that little can with 
 
 certainty be recorded of him. He was a juvenile 
 
 companion of his townfman BriiTot, and, like him, 
 
 bred to the profeffion of the, law p . He is faid to 
 
 . P Roland's Appeal, vol.i.p. 54. 
 
 have
 
 P E T I O N. J2 
 
 have been a mere pettifogging advocate, who gained 
 a livelihood by encouraging village litigation, but 
 of fo bad reputation that many feudal lords refufed 
 him permiffion to plead in their courts q . He was PuWie- 
 alfo the author of fome fpeculative, political, and atlons * 
 moral tracts, which were afterwards collected and 
 publifhed in three volumes, but are fo little recom- 
 mended by ftyle or matter, as to fatigue the patience 
 without informing the understanding r . Petion was Free- 
 a member of the new lodges of mafonry, and maion - 
 particularly of that of the Contrat Social, where he, 
 together with Orleans, la Fayette, Mirabeau, and 
 feveral other diflinguilhed characters, formed the 
 political committee a . 
 
 The connexion which Petion thus formed with 17*9- 
 Orleans might probably procure his election to the ^|'" e b c c 
 conftituent aflembly, though it is faid he owed it to ftituent 
 the favour of the clergy, whom he afterwards re- 
 paid with infult and perfecution *. He was confi- 
 dered a devoted adherent to the duke, and for a 
 long time acted that part with fo much fuccefs, as 
 to obtain through his means, wealth, influence, and 
 importance , though it is probable that he only 
 pretended an attachment to his patron, in order to 
 promote his own interefls, and that he was, from 
 the beginning of his political career, at heart a 
 republican x . In faying that Petion was a republican, 
 I do not wifh to be underflood that he was fo much 
 attached to that form of government as to have 
 facrificed to his predilection any opportunity of 
 promotion which a monarchy, a regency, a dictator- 
 fhip, or a triumvirate might have afforded. Had 
 Orleans poffeffed courage and confiftency enough 
 to avail himfelf of the opportunities which the times 
 
 1 pologie des Projets, &c. p. 415. 
 
 T See OZuvres de Petion. * Robifon's Proofs, p. 403* 
 
 ' Fennel's Review, p. 4.29. 
 
 " Seepages, vol. i. p. 460. 4.61, Hiftory of the Briflbtines by Ca- 
 niille Defmouiins, paflfim. Conjuration de d'Oileans, paflim. 
 * Sec Robilon's Proofs, p. 376. 
 
 prefented
 
 33 o P E T I O N. 
 
 prefcnted for his advancement, Petion vvould have 
 remained content in the fituation of governor to 
 his children, which had been promifed him y , unlefs 
 fome opportunity had occurred of gratifying his 
 ambition, or his love of degrading his fuperiors, by 
 adopting a different party. 
 
 Conduft In the national afiembty, Petion was diftinguifhed 
 f"mb? al " as an acm erent f Orleans, though he occasionally 
 difplayed thofe republican fentiments which many 
 others ailected, and which, from the beginning of the 
 revolution, were highly popular, though the people 
 were not, at firft, prepared to approve of thofe 
 actions which refulted from them. He was a mem- 
 ber of the club Breton, where the interefts of Or- 
 leans were always attended to, and the motions, 
 afterwards made in the aflembly, previoufly dif- 
 aqth June cufled z . He was one of the members who took 
 J 79- the oath in the tennis-court, and, on the day of 
 *jd. the royal fitting, difplayed great warmth in repro- 
 bating the conduct of the king a . Petion's elo- 
 quence was not calculated to make a great impref- 
 fion in an affembly which contained fuch fpeakers 
 as Mirabeau, Mauri, and Barnave, nor was his 
 knowledge fo extenfive as to afford copious elucida- 
 tions or important difclofures, but he conftantly 
 maintained an intimate intercourfe with Briflbt, and 
 borrowed from him many hints, and even many 
 rules of political conduct b . Petion was one of the 
 cabinet council, and intimate aflbciates of Orleans % 
 he affifted in preparing the popular commotions in 
 sh oa. October, and he was the firft who denounced in 
 Aft ,l v . e the aflembly, the pretended orgies of the gardes du 
 corps, though his timidity would have made him 
 
 y Pages, rol. i. p 470. 
 z Conipiracy of Robefpierre, p. 49. 
 Debates. , Impartial Hiftory, Vol.i. p. 94.. 
 b Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 54. 
 
 c Hiftoty of the Briflbtines by Camille Definoulins, p. 10. Con. 
 jiiiation de d'Orlean?, vol. ii, p. 134. 
 
 completely
 
 P E T I O N. 331 
 
 completely ridiculous, had he not been extricated 
 from his embarraffment by Mirabeau d . He was 
 during the tumults which occurred at Verfailles on 
 that occafion, one of the mod active in exciting the 
 mob and feducing the foldiers, and was feen with 
 other confpirators difguifed in woman's attire, and 
 inftigating acts of violence e . 
 
 When the affembly removed to Paris, Petion Exertions 
 contionued his labours with great affiduity, though IJjJ 
 without much celebrity. He oppofcd la Fayette's 
 martial law, and was defirous to dived the king of 
 the prerogative of making war and peace. Petion. 
 was the firft who propofed the refolution, which 
 was adopted by acclamation, importing, that the 
 French nation renounced for ever, all idea of con- 
 queft, and confined itfelf entirely to defenfive war f . 
 This declaration was one of the nrft ads of political 
 hypocrify, by which the French legiflature attempted 
 to impofe on the reft of Europe. Petion, at the 
 time of propofmg it, knew that a fcheme had been 
 concerted for annexing Avignon to the dominions of 
 France, which was afterwards effected in fpite of 
 this decree. This acquifition may be affectedly 
 diftinguifhed from a conqueft, but the difiinction is 
 rather in words than in fact. The pope had not 
 fufficient power to defend his property from the 
 French ; and the inhabitants, deluded by intrigues 
 and alarmed by maflacres, were forced to throw 
 themfelves into the arms of their treacherous neigh- 
 bours. Petion was a flrenuous promoter of this 
 union ; he made a fpeech on the fubject which was 
 ordered to be printed, and which difplays a mind 
 fraught with wickednefs, and framed for iniquity *. 
 
 He was once called to the prefident's chair, and on s& Dec. 
 
 1790. 
 
 Prefident. 
 
 * SeeMiRABEAU. ORLEANS. 
 e Conjuration de d'Oileans, vol. ii. p. 245. 
 f Debates, Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p. 341. 
 f Debates. Wilde's Addrefs to the Friends of the People, p. 479. 
 
 that
 
 33 a P E T I O N. 
 
 that occafion highly complimented by his predeceffor 
 Lameth h . 
 
 *3d June But though arduous and unremitting in his ex- 
 SenT to* er ti n s 5 Petion never obtained a confpicuous repu- 
 Vajennes. tation ! till the unfortunate journey of Louis XVI. 
 to Varennes. On that occafion he difplayed a ma- 
 lignant joy in the anticipation that it would prove 
 the king's ruin k . He was gratified, on this occa- 
 fion, by being appointed one of the commiflioners 
 to efcort the royal family back to Paris. The mem- 
 bers of the deputation were particularly inflructed 
 to be attentive in preferving all the refpect due to 
 Brutality the royal dignity '. This injunction was not re- 
 irTin* garded by Petion, he exulted in an opportunity of 
 ins ' difplaying the rancour of a grovelling mind, by an 
 unmanly triumph over his degraded fovereign. He 
 and Barnave were feated in the coac^h with the 
 royal captives. He held the dauphin on his knee 
 during the whole journey m ; and, in converfation, 
 took every opportunity of infulting the king n . He 
 is faid to have difcourfed affectedly on the neceffity 
 of bringing the king to trial, and eftablifhing a re- 
 public. The diftinclion fhewn by the royal family 
 /to Barnave, who preferved a more dignified and 
 refpectful demeanour, increafed Petion's averfion, 
 and rendered him the implacable foe of his king . 
 Swppofed At this period, from his intimacy with Briflbt, 
 republican. an( ^ t k e autnors of le Republica'm^ Petion was con-, 
 
 h Debates. Wilde's Addrefs to the Friends of the People, p. 479. 
 
 i He is thus di-fcrihed in a pamphlet intitleJ Addreffeaux Provinces, 
 ' Pttion de Villeneuve, in whom you have never been able to diftin- 
 " guifh any thing but the confidence of foUy, and who, vile infiru- 
 ' ment of faclions men ! refembles the ciieis of a fair, who are 
 " ftationed at the doors of theatres to niake a nolle while the farce 
 " goes on." Quoted from Chriftie's Lciteis on the Revolution, 
 p. 131. n. 
 
 11 Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 58. 
 
 ' Debates. Hiilories. Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 365. 
 
 m Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 1^5. 
 
 * Bouillc's Memoirs, p. 406. 
 
 ' Necker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 549. 
 
 fidered
 
 P E T I O N. 333 
 
 fidered a republican ; and his conduct on the 
 king's return tended to confirm the opinion p . He 
 argued with vehemence againft the king's inviola- 
 bility, and for the propriety of bringing him to 
 trial. He faid, " as a citizen and public function- ijthjuiy. 
 " ary, the king is fubject to the law ; if above the Ex< ! on 
 
 fe i i i r -re -ill! r, i again* the 
 
 1 law, he is a defpot. r inviolable, he mull be kmg. 
 " impeccable : then he may murder with impunity : 
 " a Nero, a Caligula, may indulge his fanguinary 
 " propenfities, and have them refpected." Not- 
 withftanding the difguft excited by this unjufl afli- 
 milation of Louis XVI. Petion continued in the 
 fame drain, and concluded thus : " Either the king 
 " is weak, or wicked ; in either cafe he ought to 
 " be tried ; I move, therefore, that his trial be de- 
 " creed ; and that it take place before the af- 
 * e fembly, or before a convention appointed ad 
 " hoc*." Thefe violent propofitions were over- 
 ruled by the addrefs and eloquence of Barnave, and 
 the falutary check which fedition experienced from 
 the well-timed exertion of power in the Champ de 
 Mars, fo alarmed Petion, that he began to aflume 
 the veil of moderation ; and declared that although 
 he difapproved of the report of the committee, he 
 now confidered it as a law, and would fupport it 
 with his life r . 
 
 The defection of Barnave and his party had fo Perfcver- 
 reduced the ranks of oppofition, that Petion, Robef- an ". in P* 
 
 i T i n i i r n POHtlOn. 
 
 pierre, and Buzot were almolt the only iyitematic 
 cavillers at the proceedings of the aflembly ". When 
 recovered from the momentary panic with which 
 he had been affected, Petion refumed his wonted 
 virulence. He had always endeavoured to favour 
 the afcendancy of the mob ; he was an advocate for 
 the unqualified right of petitioning by every indi- 
 vidual, without distinction \ and for an unreftrained 
 
 P Hiftorical Sketch, p. 379. 1 Debatei. 
 
 Hiftorical Sketch, p. 385. 
 
 Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 56. 
 
 liberty
 
 334 P E T I O N. 
 
 liberty of printing and publifhing, without any re- 
 9th May. fponfibility. " Shall non-active citizens (he faid) 
 " be deprived of the right of petitioning ? You 
 " compel them to employ force. If houfekeepers, 
 " you require that they fhall fign their petitions : 
 " fuppofe they cannot write, are they to be deprived 
 " of the rights of man ? As to the right of pub- 
 " lifhing placards ; to declare a printer refponfible 
 " for the ills which may arife from a pofting-bill, 
 " or to profecute the authors and their abettors, 
 " would be to deftroy the liberty of the prefs : 
 " what can be more arbitrary than to decide, that 
 " fuch and fuch maxims have a tendency to diflurb 
 " the public tranquillity :" He perfevered in fimi- 
 lar fentiments till the diflblution of the afiembly. 
 
 oth Aug. He faid, " The fovereignty of the nation is one, 
 " indivijible^ inalienable^ and imperfcriptible. The 
 " nation, in delegating its powers, does not dele- 
 " gate its fovereignty ; it referves the right of ex- 
 " ercifing that, when necelfary, by conventions, or 
 
 3tlAvg. " infurrections." In difcufling the fubject of libels, 
 on another occafion, he faid, " That a prohi- 
 " bition to calumniate minifters by libels, amounted 
 " to a charter of impunity ; for that minifters would 
 " never, or very rarely be convicted before the tri- 
 " bunals. What effect (he continued) can a mo- 
 " mentary calumny produce againfl a life dedi- 
 " cated to virtue ? If libels proceed from levity, 
 " we mould defpife ; if from folly, pity ; and if 
 " from malice, forgive them c ." Thefe fentiments 
 which, though ridiculous from their exaggeration 
 and abfurdity, were highly popular ; and his 
 exertions to degrade the king, whom he laboured 
 to deprive of the power of pardoning, and to di- 
 ftinguifh by the title of chief public functionary 
 only, confirmed the opinion that Petion was a 
 zealous republican". He was fuppofed to be en- 
 
 1 See Debates on the feveral days mentioned in the margin. 
 a iiiltoikal Sketch, p. 389. 400. 
 
 gaged
 
 P E T I O N. 335 
 
 gaged in plots inimical to the fta f e, and the friends 
 of government watched his motions with fufpicion 
 and jealoufy x . 
 
 Notwithstanding thefe appearances, Petion was Attached 
 ftill attached to Orleans. He had been one of the to lleau$ - 
 moft ftrenuous advocates for his acquittal on the 
 charges relative to the fifth of October y ; and was 
 one of the privy council of the palais royal z . Or- 
 leans was fo well pleafed with his fervices, that he 
 refolved to exert his influence to get Petion elected 
 mayor of Paris a ; and intruded to his care the fafe oaoiw. 
 convoy of his daughter, and her governefs madame London, 
 de Sillery, to London. The motives of this journey 
 are differently dated. Camille Defmoulins infi- 
 nuates, and his opinion is adopted by profeflbr Ro- 
 biion, that the charms of the two females, particu- 
 larly the youngeft, were employed to confirm Pe- 
 tion's attachment to the duke's family b . Madame 
 de^ Sillery pretends that his attendance was merely 
 an act of politenefs, dictated by the danger and in- 
 convenience the ladies would experience in traverf- 
 ing the provinces of France, unaccompanied by a 
 male friend, who could on occafion harangue the 
 people and the municipalities c . This does not ap- 
 pear a fufficient reafon for Petion' s deferting Paris 
 at a period fo interefting, when the constitution was 
 jufl completed, and the election for mayor, and the 
 appointment of a new commander of the national 
 guard about to take place. There was undoubt- 
 edly fome fecret motive for this journey, but its 
 precife object is not afcertained. 
 
 Petion took leave of madame de Sillery while His ftay. 
 fhe was changing horfes, and faw her no more. 
 
 * Roland's Appeal, vol.i. p. 1*7. Impartial Hiftory, vol.i. p. 484. 
 1 Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii p. 83. 89. 
 z Hilrory of the Briflbtines by Camilie Dednoulin?, p. jo. 
 Conjuration de d'Urieans, vol. iii. p. 108. 
 
 b Hiltory of the Bnflotines, p. 9. Proofs of a Confpiracy, p. n. 
 c Piocis de la Conduite de Madame de GenJis depuis la Revolu- 
 tion, p. a6. 
 
 He
 
 336 f E T I O N. 
 
 Jte ftayed in London but eight days d , during which 
 time he afibciated with fome gentlemen who had 
 adopted Gallic principles of reform, and honoured 
 the revolution fociety with his prefence at dinner c . 
 
 lUcal. When Bailly refigned the mayoralty, Orleans 
 
 immediately difpatched a mefTage to Petion, requir- 
 ing his prefence in Paris to fill the vacancy f . Du- 
 ring his journey to London, he had fpoken on the 
 fubject to madame de Sillery. He told her he en- 
 tertained no doubt of being unanimoufly elected, 
 but that he mould decline the office. The lady ex- 
 prefTmg fome doubts of his refolution, he faid, 
 " Whatever entreaties may be ufed, if I accept the 
 " poft, I am content that you mould ever confider 
 " me as the moft contemptible of mankind g ." 
 Notwithflanding this protection, which he fre- 
 quently repeated in the courfe of his journey, he 
 obeyed Orleans's fummons without hefitation, and 
 
 Candidate immediately on his arrival declared himfelf a candi- 
 
 nta wait ^ ate ^ or mayoralty. His principal opponent 
 } 'was la Fayette, but Petion fucceeded in the election. 
 It is faid, and I believe truly, that la Fayette would 
 have had a majority, if feven-eighths of the inha- 
 bitants of Paris had not declined voting h . The 
 royalifts moft probably did not vote on the occa- 
 fion ; they could not efleem Petion ; although the 
 king, juftly incenfed agairift la Fayette, was fo little 
 apprized of his competitor's malignity, and fo little 
 apprehenfive of his power, that he wifhed him 
 
 i 9 th NOV. elected in preference to the general { . As foon as 
 n j s election, it was announced to the 
 
 d Precis de It Conduits de Madame Genlis depuis la Revolu- 
 tion, p. 47. 
 
 e Flower of the Jacobin*, p. 15. 
 
 f Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 151, 
 
 e I itcis de la Condnite, &c. p. 17. 
 
 h Netker on tre Revolution, vol. i. p. 349. Out of eighty thou* 
 fantl, the fucpofed number of aclive citizens in Paris, only ten tliou- 
 fand four hundred and thirty two voted. See Meicuie Frai^ois, 
 N du 16 Novembre 17915 p, 189. 
 
 * iieruand's Memoiis, voi, i. p. 259. 
 
 8 afiembly,
 
 P E T I O N. 337 
 
 afiembly, by a letter from Petion himfelf, in which 
 he requefted the legiflature to honour with fome 
 mark of their favour the man whom the citizens of 
 Paris had honoured with their confidence. On the 
 motion of Couthon, afterwards fo diftmguifhed for 
 fanguinary ferocity, the election was recorded in 
 the proces verbal, as a juft tribute to a man diftin- 
 guiflied for the goodnefs of his principles and his 
 zeal for the public. It was alfo moved that the 
 prefident mould anfwer Petion's letter, but the pro- 
 pofal was over-ruled by a fuggeftion, that if fuch a 
 practice were eftabliflied, the prefident would be 
 under the neceffity of writing forty-four thoufand 
 feven hundred and thirty-three fimilar letters to 
 different municipal officers k . 
 
 Petion foon difplayed his refolution to adhere to Encoti- 
 thofe principles of infurredtion and infubordination r ? es redj ~ 
 to which he owed his popularity Far from at- tlon * 
 tempting to difcourage, he countenanced the attacks 
 made by the mob, under the direction of the Jaco- 
 bins, on the club of Feuillans. He apologifed for 27t h. Dec. 
 their violences in a letter to the affembly, by which 
 he declared that Paris was divided between the 
 friends of the people and the Feuillans, and that the 
 law was in a ftate of oppofition to the public opi- 
 nion. The aflembly on reading this letter decreed, 
 that no club mould be held in the convent of the 
 fi-devant Feuillans '. 
 
 In confequence of his great influence with the Conncc- 
 Jacobins, Petion was confulted on forming the Ja- SJjJJJjJ^ 
 cobin administration m . Robefpierre aflerts, and minifey, 
 perhaps with truth, that in this inftance Petion was 
 merely the tool of Briflbt, and recommended im- 
 plicitly fuch minifters as his political preceptor 
 pointed out n . He was however in high favour with 
 
 k Debates. 
 
 1 Ibid. Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p. 4.87. 
 
 m Life of Duniouriez, vol. ii. p. 177. 
 
 n See Robel'pierre's Letter to Jerome Petion, Appendix, N X. 
 
 VOL. ii. z this
 
 33 3 P E T I O N. 
 
 this unprincipled adminiftration, who, together with 
 their fautors, exerted every effort to enhance his po- 
 pularity. Dumouriez, at firft by a moft unwarrant- 
 able breach of faith towards the king , and after- 
 wards by a mifappropriation of the fecret-fervice 
 money, iurniflied him with the means of libelling 
 the royal family p . The fums thus received and ap- 
 plied by Petion are faid to have amounted to a 
 Exertions thoufand Hvres (43 /. I5J.) a-day q . When the re- 
 km' nft thC Pelican members of the cabinet commenced their 
 outrageous attack on the royal prerogative, Petion 
 and his coadjutor Manuel aided their views by en- 
 deavouring to terrify the king, that he might be 
 induced to make his efcape, which would have 
 amounted to an abdication of the throne, and 
 fpared the faction much intrigue and exertion r . 
 This project being baffled by the firmnefs of the 
 king, and his refolute adherence to the conftitution, 
 Petion endeavoured to infpire the people with a con- 
 tinual jealoufy, that the king was defirous to take 
 ad May. the Itep he had fo repeatedly declined. Actuated 
 by a pretended alarm on this fubject, Petion wrote 
 to the commandant of the national guard, mention- 
 ing his fufpicions, and requiring him to increafe the 
 patroles about the Tuilleries, both in number and 
 23d. force. The king, informed of this circumftance, 
 wrote to the municipality, complaining of this unjufl 
 fufpicion, and declaring his confidence in the na- 
 tional guard. He faid that he was informed of all 
 the manoeuvres which had been employed to agitate 
 the public mind, and compel him to leave the ca- 
 pital, but that they would be tried in vain. The 
 effect of this letter mud have been highly prejudi- 
 cial to the views of the faction, had the public been 
 permitted to perufe it calmly and without perver- 
 fion ; but Petion, anxious to prevent this effect, 
 
 See DUMOURIEZ. P Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 79. 
 
 1 Hiftory o the BiiH'otines by Camille Defmoulins, p. 38. 
 r Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol.iv. p. 170. 173. 187. 
 
 publilhed
 
 P E T I O N. 33V 
 
 publifhed a long letter animadverting on that written 2 4th. 
 by the king, replete with fallacious arguments and 
 evafive fubtleties. Not fatisried with this, he pro- 5* 
 cured a deputation, who unexpectedly appeared at 
 the bar of the afTembly, and denounced the pub- 
 lication of the king's letter as a crime again-ft the 
 nation. Their orator declared, that " if Petion 
 " loft the public confidence, there was no longer any 
 " fafety for the people." The fpeaker was fre- 
 quently interrupted on account of the irregularity 
 of his proceeding ; but, favoured by the galleries, 
 he was heard to an end, and invited to the honours 
 of the fitting. Though the afiembly palled to the 
 order of the day on the denunciation, the deput- 
 ation was of ufe to thofe who contrived it, as it 
 ferved to inflame the public mind, and increafe the 
 popularity of Petion 3 . A few days afterwards, a agth. 
 riot was organized which threatened a renewal of 
 the fcenes of October 1789 ; the king's guard was 
 infulted, and the cap and flag of anarchy planted 
 over the principal gate of the caftle ; the whole 
 city exhibited an appearance of alarm and agitation, 
 the fittings of the affembly were declared perma- 
 nent, and the houfes illuminated ; but, probably for 
 want of a determinate project, the infurredion fub- 
 fided '. 
 
 When the Jacobin adminiftration was difmiflfed, 
 the conteft between that faction and the friends of 
 the king became more inveterate and violent than ni 
 ever. Petion co-operated with his old aflbciates, tion 
 and refolved to ufe every means which his popu- 
 larity and influence afforded to reduce the royal 
 power to a nullity, or to render the king implicitly 
 iubfervient to the miniitry or regent whom he fa- 
 voured. An infurrection was projected and organ- 
 
 Impartial Hiftory, vol. ii. p. 34. For copies of the letters on this 
 occafion, fee Mercuie Francois, N tf du z Juin 1792, p. 60. And for 
 the proceedings in the afllmbly, fee Debates. 
 
 1 Merciire Francois du ^ Jiun, p. 64. 
 
 z 2 ized,
 
 3-|o P E T I O N. 
 
 ized, in \vhich it is moft probable that the ultimate 
 intention \vas to facrifice the whole royal family ; 
 though the confpirators, not daring to avow the ex- 
 tent of their defign, had not exprefsly commiffioned 
 any individual or party to perpetrate the murder. 
 Prepar- for f ome fa ys before the infurreClion, Petion dif- 
 
 ations tor . , - n _. . . . ... . r 
 
 infurrec. played the utmoit activity in exciting the mob or 
 tion. the fauxbourg St. Antoine" ; he and Manuel covered 
 the walls of Paris with placards highly abufive of 
 i9th June, j^ e royal family x . The day before the infurrecliion 
 was appointed to take place, and while the minds 
 of the people were in the greateft fermentation, a 
 dinner was given in the Champs E/yfJes, at which 
 were prefent about five hundred gueits. Anacharfis 
 Clootz, who but two days before had propofed to 
 depofe the king, fat as toaft-mafter ; Dugazon the 
 actor fang couplets threatening deftruction to the 
 king; and in the courfe of the day, Gorfas declared, 
 that on the morrow, not the oak, but the afpin of 
 liberty, muft be planted in the garden of the Tuil- 
 leries v . The Jacobin club had declared their fit- 
 tings permanent ; and the projected infurrection 
 \vas formally announced by a declaration, that the 
 inhabitants of the faitxbturg St. Antoine would 
 meet in arms and prefent a petition to the king, 
 requiring him to fanftion the decrees againfl the 
 priefts, and for forming a camp round Paris r . The 
 aifembly took no active meafures to difcourage thefe 
 proceedings, and Petion openly favoured them, 
 aoth. O n the day of the infurrection, Petion, in imi- 
 hiTs " the tat i n perhaps of Orleans, abfented himfelf from 
 mob. Paris : he went, no one knew wherefore, to Ver- 
 , failles a . Rcederer, procureur-general-fyndique^ ap- 
 
 peared at the bar of the affembly, and formally an- 
 
 Life of Dumounez, vol. ii. p. 391. 
 * Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol.iii. 51.175. 
 
 T Fennel's Review, p. 67. Conjuration de d'Oileans, vol. iii. 
 p. 174.. 
 
 z Impartial Hiftory, vol. ii. p. 41, 
 
 8 Idtno, vol. ii. p. 45. Playfajr's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 408. 
 
 nounced,
 
 P E T I O N. 34 , 
 
 nounced, that a collection of an hundred thoufand 
 men in arms was formed on the place where the 
 Baltille flood ; that they were encouraged by the 
 tacit approbation of the afiembly and the munici- 
 pality, and by the prefence of three members of the 
 legiilature . he faid that their intention was to pre- 
 fent a petition to the aflembly, and afterwards to go 
 in a body to the Tuilleries, : he requefted the legii- 
 lature to fupport their own dignity, by adhering to 
 the law which forbad the presenting of petitions rjy 
 armed men, and by refufing admimon to the peti- 
 tioners. This application produced a debate, in 
 which the propriety of following Rcederer's advice 
 was ftrongly enforced. Before this fubjecl: was fully 
 difcufled, the mob, headed by Santerre and St. Hu- 
 ruge, prefented themfelves at the door of the hall. 
 They lent in a petition to be admitted, Hating that 
 their number did not exceed eight thoufand. La- 
 fource fupported the petition, and averred, as from, 
 his own knowledge, that if they were received in 
 the hall of the legiflature, they would leave their pe- 
 tition there, and not proceed to the palace. Swayed 
 by this argument, and terrified by the impetuofity 
 of the mob, the affembly at length admitted them. 
 Their petition was read by one Huguenin, formerly 
 an advocate in the parliament of Nancy ; he was 
 an old man, almoft feventy, remarkable for his gi- 
 gantic flature, bleared eyes, and ferocious afpecl. 
 The petition or memorial was contained in eight 
 pages, and every fentence was replete with threats 
 and inveclives againft the king and queen. When 
 he had fmifned, a motley and fqualid band of the 
 mofl wretched outcafts, drawn from all the recep- 
 tacles of beggary, idlenefs, and infamy in Paris, 
 marched through the hall : they were armed with 
 pikes, rufty fwords, fcythes, pitchforks, twy-bills, 
 bludgeons, pickaxes, and clubs. This miferable 
 battalion confided of coalmen, chimney-fweepers, 
 {hoe-blacks, wharf-porters, negroes male and female, 
 7, 3 and
 
 34 2 P E T I O N. 
 
 and women of the lowed and moft abandoned clafs. 
 They carried divers enfigns, with infcriptions denot- 
 ing fanguinary ferocity, occafionally intermixed with 
 coarfe and vapid ribaldry : among the latter efforts 
 may be enumerated feveral pairs of ragged black 
 breeches, which were hoifted on poles, with the in- 
 fcription, fibres, et fans-culottes \ feme were half 
 naked, and carried their rags on the point of a pike; 
 fome bore on their pikes pieces of bread, cheeie, or 
 other food. This difgufting troop occupied the hall 
 of the aflembly three hours, and at their departure 
 left with the prefident a banner, in token of frater 
 nity. They then divided into three companies, one 
 under Santerre, another under St. Huruge, and a 
 third commanded by the Amazonian proflitute, 
 Theroigne de Mericourt. After furmounting a 
 flight oppofition, or rather their own fears of oppo- 
 fition, from a guard, who were either difaffefted, 
 or would net act without orders, they occupied all 
 the apartments in the palace, and committed thofe 
 horrible outrages which endangered the lives of all 
 the royal family, and will ever ftigmatife the legif- 
 lature, the municipality, and the people b . 
 Conduflof When the mob had exhaufled every effort of 
 'etion. { n f u } c and brutality which their ferocious licentiouf- 
 nefs could dictate ; when they had perpetrated every 
 violence mort of abfolute' miirder, from which by 
 fonie unaccountable impulfe they were reftrained, 
 Petion made his appearance. He was driven in his 
 carriage up to the palace, with the air of a man 
 perfectly at leifure c . Convinced that the day would 
 not produce the advantages his faction expected, 
 that the king would not be induced by terror to 
 fanclion the decrees, and that the mob had not been 
 duly prepared to exterminate the royal family, he 
 
 b See THH KING, &c. Debates and Hiftories. Moore's Journal, 
 vol. ii. p. 202, et feq. Fennel's Review, p. 69, et feq. Conjuration 
 de d'Orleans vol. in. p. 176, et feq. and the Journals. 
 
 c PJayfdii-'s Hiltory of Jatpbimim, p. 40';$. 
 
 thought
 
 P E T I O N. 343 
 
 thought it would be beft to aflume an appearance 
 of kindnefs. He faid to the king, " Sire, I was 
 " only this moment informed of your fituation." 
 " That is extraordinary, (laid the king,) for I have 
 " been in this fituation above three hours V Pe- 
 tion then aflured the king he had nothing to fear ; 
 which produced from the king that energetic reply, 
 in which he difclaimed the influence of fo degrading 
 a fentiment c . He added with pointed indignation ; 
 " Go, fir, Europe will be your judge." Thefe 
 words inflamed Petion's rancour, and increafed his 
 animofity againfl the royal family f . For the pre- 
 fent, however, he reftrained his anger, and dif- 
 perfed the mob. Mounted on a ftool, he faid, 
 " Citizens, you have now made your defires known 
 " to the hereditary reprefentative, with that energy 
 " and dignity which become a free people, who 
 " underftand their rights. The king at prefent 
 66 knows the intentions of the fovereign, and will 
 " undoubtedly pay a proper regard to them. You 
 " ought now to retire with calmnefs and decency, 
 " that your intentions may not be calumniated." 
 A deputation from the national aflembly foon after- 
 wards arrived, and, in their ufual cant, proffered to 
 make a (hield of their bodies for the king. This ill- 
 timed offer was rendered ufelefs by the difperfion of 
 the mob, who, at the command of Petion and San- 
 terre, evacuated the palace 5 . 
 
 Petion's mifconducl on this occafion was fo His fuf. 
 flagrant, that the directory of the department of P cnflon * 
 Paris thought proper to fufpend him and Manuel 
 from their functions. When this decree was known 
 in Paris, every exertion was made to render the 
 
 A Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 517. This aflertion of Petioii's muft 
 have been n falfity, or at leaft an equivocation ; for lie knew all the 
 preparations for the event, and purpolcly abfented himic-lf that he 
 might not be called on to interfere. 
 
 c See THE KING. 
 
 f Peltier's late Figure, vol. i. p. izz. 
 
 6 iiiftories. Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. zi;. 
 
 z 4 authors
 
 344 PETION. 
 
 authors of it odious, and to procure the rein- 
 ftatement of the popular officers. Petion publifhed, 
 in anfwer to the letter of the directory of the de- 
 partment, an apologetical pamphlet, intitled, General 
 Rules of my Conduft towards the People^ in which he 
 declared it as a fundamental principle, that he would 
 never caufe the b^od of the people to be fried h . 
 This declaration, which confounded every diftinc- 
 tion between the peaceable citizen and the audacious 
 violator of public repofe, rendered him, if poffible, 
 more popular than before. Numerous deputations 
 were fent to the bar of the afiembly, who mingled 
 with their petitions and declamations on behalf of 
 the virtuous mayor, the mod atrocious calumnies 
 againfl the king and his advifers '. Danton endea- 
 voured to excite the commune in Petion's behalf k , 
 and Robefpierre wrote a fevere invective againft the 
 directory of the department J . The king wifhed to 
 decline interfering, but the afiembly would not 
 i2th July, permit him to difplay his forbearance. He was 
 m- b%ed to confirm the decree of the department, 
 and when his proclamation to that effect had been 
 read in the aiTembly, and Petion prefented himfelf 
 at the bar to reply, Bazire infolently exclaimed, 
 " Let us now hear the language of virtue and 
 " truth." Kis apology, which was a feries of ab- 
 furd fables compiled with the mod barefaced dif- 
 regard of confiitency or probability, was received 
 with clamorous plaudits, he was invited to the 
 honours of the fitting, and by a decree reflored to 
 the exercife of his office m . This meafure was fol- 
 lowed by the refignation of the directory of the 
 department % but the rancour of Petion was not 
 
 Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 410. 
 See Debates from i$th June to ijth July. 
 Sre MANUEL. 
 
 Defers feu r de la Conftitution, p. 4.31. 
 
 Debates. See alfo Fennel's Review ; Peltier's late Pitlure j 
 Moore's Journal, vol. li. ; and :he Hiftories. 
 11 Impartial iiiitory, vol. ii. p. 57. 
 
 to
 
 PETION. 
 
 to be fo appeafed, he commenced an active perfecu- 
 tion of la Rochefoucault, \vho had been prefident 
 of the directory, and finally, with the affiftance of 
 the ungrateful Condorcet, procured his murder . 
 
 At the confederation, Petion was oftentatioufly 
 exhibited as the popular idol. His name was in- 
 fcribed on the banners, and on the hats of the mob, federation, 
 whofe general cry was Vive Petion ! Vive le vertuettx 
 Petion ! a bas la Fayette ! a has le veto ' 'a la lanterm 
 les art/iocrates / Petion on la mort ! &c. Several mem- 
 bers of the legiflative aflembly were infulted by the 
 pretended conquerors of the Baftille, who faid that if 
 Petion had not been reilored, they would have 
 wreaked their vengeance on the affembly p . 
 
 The faction to which Petion belonged, now dif- a(5l!l J u 'y* 
 played all the exultation of fubaltern triumph with ^"ntuhe 
 the ferocity of implacable hate ; they encouraged the king, 
 moft flagrant infults and circulated the moft atrocious 
 calumnies againft the royal family. Among other re- 
 ports which gained eafy credit with the mob was that 
 of a large quantity of arms being concealed in the 
 palace. The king, with his ufual candour, invited 
 Petion to attend and fearch ; the mayor refufed, 
 but fent a deputation of fix municipal officers, and, 
 though they were perfectly fatisfied that there was 
 no truth in the fuggeftion which occafioned their 
 vifit, Petion would not certify the fact fo une- 
 quivocally as to remove the popular fufpicion. 
 The arts of the faction were fo fuccefsful, that the 
 mob, who terrified and governed the city, were 
 eager to commence acts of riot and hoftility, but 
 the fear of the national guard reftrained them from 
 attacking the palace. The night was difgraced by 
 tumultuous and incendiary meetings, and in the 
 day, the unreftrained rabble committed every act: 
 
 Confiderations on the Nature of the French Revolution, by Mallet 
 du Pan, p. 46. n. 
 
 P Mercure Frarxjois, N du 21 Juillet 1791, The reader is referred 
 to this publication for a judicious description of the ceremony of the 
 day. 
 
 of
 
 346 P E T I O N. 
 
 of violence and fury which licentioufnefs and poli- 
 *7 t l' tical fanaticifm could fuggeft. Among other in- 
 f 3 g C e "i, e ft ances ma y be mentioned the attack made on 
 inub. d'Eprememil, who but a few years before had been 
 one of the popular idols. He was walking tran- 
 quilly in the garden of the Tuilleries, when, without 
 any known provocation, a numerous party attacked, 
 wounded, robbed, and (tripped him naked ; they 
 were about to have executed him a la lantcrne^ 
 when he was refcued by a detachment of national 
 guards, \\'ho carried him, though fuppofed to be 
 dead, to the guard-houfe of the treafury. Petion 
 attended, but unwilling to check and unable to 
 juftify this mob, he politically fainted away q . 
 
 To encourage the rabble, and counteract: their 
 - dread f tne Swiis and national guards, the dema- 
 leiiiois. gogues of Paris fent for a troop of ruffians from 
 Marfeilles, men reeking with the blood fried in 
 lawlefs violence at Avignon, incapable of remorfe, 
 and rendered additionally ferocious by the con- 
 currence of climate, education, and practice. Their 
 inarch to Paris was marked by acts charaderiftic 
 of their principles ; robbery, rape, and murder at- 
 tended their footfteps ; they recruited their bands 
 with all the abandoned wretches whom want or 
 infamy had rendered defperate, and arrived at Paris 
 near leven hundred in number. In their progrefs 
 from the Barriere du Trans, where they entered, to 
 the mayor's houfe, which was at the other extremity 
 of the city, they gave a fample of the conduct they 
 intended to maintain, by infulting and defying the 
 inhabitants ; they infifted that filken .cockades 
 mould not be worn, but that worfted mould be 
 fubitituted, and overthrew the ftalls where ribband 
 
 q See Debates and Hiftoiies. Peltier's late Picture, vol.i. p. 30. 
 D'Epi eintinil recoveied, though giievoufly woundeil ; lie employed 
 his fii It eih>rt ot returning (Irength in writing to his fovertign to beg for- 
 givends for that conduct which had accelerated the revolution. He was 
 guillotined during the tyranny of Robefpiene. 
 
 cockades
 
 P E T I O N. 347 
 
 cockades were fold. The national guard, confiding 
 of thirty-two thoufand men, and the citizens re- 
 monftrated in vain, they were terror-ftruck by this 
 handful of refolute banditti, and forced to fubmit. 
 Petion received the Marfeillois with cordiality and 
 exultation, he exhorted them to be unanimous, and 
 provided them with barracks in the faux bourg Mont- 
 martre, which were afterwards exchanged for the 
 barracks of the Cordeliers, in the feclion du Theatre 
 Francois. Thefe ruffians did not take pofleffion of 
 the refidence affigned them by the mayor till they 
 had fignalized their own ferocity, and demonftrated 
 the pufillanimity of the Parifians, by attacking a 
 party of the national guard who were dining in the 
 Champs Ely sees ) fome of whom they killed and 
 wounded, and took others prifoners, with very little 
 refiftance r . 
 
 Encouraged by this reinforcement, Petion affumed 3 ' Aug. 
 a more decifive conduct. Acluated by his fadion, ^"J,* 
 the feclions of Paris had been for fome time in the depofc"tiw 
 daily habit of fending petitioners to the aflembly to kin s* 
 demand the king's iufpenfion, while the more re- 
 fpe&able inhabitants had attended with protefts or 
 counter-petitions. The affembly, inftead of/ ter- 
 minating thefe indecorous fcenes, fanftioned them 
 by indecifion, and, at length, a petition was drawn 
 up by Chenier, the poet, and Collot d'Herbois, the 
 aclor, fubfcribed by a numerous tribe without dif- 
 tinclion of feclions, and prefented by Petion, at the 
 head of a deputation of the commune. This petition 
 was replete with every calumny which invention 
 had framed againft the king, and every fuggeftion 
 with which malice had endeavoured to blacken his 
 intentions. It concluded by requiring a decree 
 which mould ordain " not his fufpeniion till the 
 " country mould be no longer in danger, but his 
 
 r Hiftories. Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 413. Peltier's 
 }ate Piftiue of Paris, vol. i. p. z8. vol. ii. p, 4.85. 
 
 " forfeiture
 
 < 34 3 P E T I O N. 
 
 " forfeiture of the crown." It is remarkable that 
 this petition deprecates the formation of a repub- 
 lic, and leems only calculated to procure the depo- 
 fition of Louis XVI. It fays, " while we hzvefucb 
 " a king, liberty can never be eftabliihed ;" and in 
 another place, " as it is very doubtful that the na- 
 " tion can ever place confidence in the prefent 
 " dynajty^ we pray, &c." Thefe expreflions afford 
 ftrong proofs that Petion was ftill attached to Or- 
 leans, and laboured for his advancement, and de- 
 mon ft rate the juftice of Robefpierre's obfervation, 
 that the republic .glided in by ftealth among the 
 various factions. The petition was received with 
 acclamations, ordered to be printed and fent to the 
 departments, and referred to a fpecial committee 5 . 
 7oth. But although the afcendancy of faction, aided by 
 the clamour of the galleries, had procured a fa- 
 vourable reception to this petition, the final event 
 could not be intruded to the aflembly, where the 
 royalifts and conftitutionalifts ilill retained a ma- 
 jority. The report of the fpecial committee was 
 deferred, and the infurrection organized which ter- 
 minated in dethroning and imprifoning the king. 
 In that part of this work where the infurrection is 
 defcribed, Petion's conduct is carefully pourtrayed *. 
 The leading features confifl in his having been in 
 the palace till the infurrection was in full force, and 
 then evading his duty of protecting the royal fa- 
 mily, by procuring an order from the national af- 
 fembly requiring his attendance at the bar ; his 
 being nominated one of the three members of the 
 new commune^ after the old commune had been driven 
 out : and his giving an order to Mandat to repel 
 force by force, and afterwards caufing that officer 
 to be murdered and the order taken out of his 
 
 8 Debates. Hiftories. Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 427. 
 Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 15. Peltier's late Picture of Paris, vol. i. 
 P-34 
 
 1 See BRISSOT. 
 
 pocket.
 
 P E T I O N. 342 
 
 pocket. The two former ^tranfaclions are fufficienl 
 to ftigmatize his name with indelible infamy, but 
 thofe who applaud the French revolution are Ib far 
 from difapproving his conduct that they confider it 
 meritorious, and generally mention it with applaufe. 
 The order given to Mandat, in which Petion did 
 his duty, is, on the contrary, adduced as an inex- 
 piable offence, it formed part of the accufation 
 againft the BrnTotines u ; and madame Roland un- 
 dertakes his defence in thefe words x : "It is not 
 *' till lately that Petion's enemies have thought of 
 " faying that he went to the palace to defend it ; 
 " while, in fact, he was expofed to the greateft 
 " danger while he remained there himfelf; it is 
 " not till lately that they have circulated the ca- 
 " lumny of his having given an order to Mandat 
 " to fire on the people. I alk for what purpofe 
 " Petion, detefted by the court and cherimed by 
 " the people, fhould have betrayed the latter and 
 " protected the former, when its fall was approach- 
 " ing ; he who had fought againft it in the pleni- 
 " tude of power, and had already acquired popu- 
 " larity, what reafon could he have for rifking his 
 " popularity, when the people had the bed of the 
 " game y . I put out of the queftion the philofopher 
 <c and zealous citizen, I confider only the man, 
 " and it is demonftrative, that under the influence 
 " of ambition or intereft, the conduct attributed 
 " to Petion is repugnant to common fenfe ; and 
 " that if his integrity would not, his judgment 
 " would have prevented his adopting it. He could 
 " not, from the nature of his place, march at the 
 " head of the infurrection ; it was neceflary to 
 " confine him, and tie his hands that he might not 
 
 u See the Ail of Accufation againft them, and the Report by Bil- 
 laud Vurenncs, made July 15, 1793. 
 
 * See Observations rapines Inr l'A^>e cl'Acculation centre les 
 Deputes. Appel a Plmpartiale Poderite, vol. ii. p. 57. 
 
 X Lorfque le Ptuple avuit plus beau jeu. Orig. 
 
 ^ counteracl:
 
 350 P E T I O N. 
 
 tf counteract It. The blunderers of the cominunS 
 " forgot to do fo, and I remember that Lanthemas 
 " went twice from the mayor's hotel to the botel-dc- 
 " vil/e to order a ftrong guard for Petion's refi- 
 " dence." In this ftatement madame Roland does 
 not relate truly, or argue correctly. It is not true 
 that the facts relating to Mandat had, at the time 
 fhe wrote, been but recently circulated, they formed 
 part of feveral narratives collected at the period 
 when they occurred, and publifhed fpeedily after- 
 wards z ; nor was his conduct fo devoid of policy 
 as fhe would make it appear. Though the infur- 
 rection was ftrongly combined, there were many 
 reafons to doubt its fuccefs, and Petion's hypocri- 
 tical conduct was calculated, not to oifend the peo- 
 ple, but, as on the twentieth of June, to fecure his 
 immunity without prejudice to his popularity. It is 
 alib to be recollected, that at the time he gave this 
 order (8th Auguft), the aifembly had, by the ac- 
 quittal of la Fayette, fhewn that they were not im- 
 plicitly governed by the diforganizing faction, and 
 the council-general of the commune contained many 
 members inimical to his views, and who had (hewn 
 the greatefl indifference to his caufe during his 
 fufpenfion ; it was neceffary for the mayor to 
 temporize with them till he was fecure of their de- 
 ftruction ; and accordingly, the nrft at of the new 
 commune was to murder Mandat, and fupprefs Pe- 
 tion's order. The whole of his conducl, even ac- 
 cording to madame Roland's ftatement, was a 
 compound of ftubborn malignity, treacherous hy- 
 pocrify, and pitiful cowardice a . 
 
 z See Moore's Journal, vo!. i. p. 149. Peltier's late Piflure, 
 vol. i. p. 144. It is however eafy to fuppofe that the faft alluded to 
 might be true, though not publicly recoidtd, as all the journals which 
 were not devoted to the ufurping miniftry weie fupprefled. 
 
 a See BRISSOT. Alfo Impartial Hirtory, vol. ii. p. 89. Pages, 
 vol. i. p. 471. 478. 486. Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 53. 144. i 4 !s. 
 151. 1'layfair's Hiltory of J'cobinilrn, p. 434. Account of the Re- 
 volt and Ma'flacre, p. 19. Hiltorical and Political Account by a 
 National Guard, p. 13. 33. Fennel's Review, p. 3.55. 558, 359. 
 Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 157. 
 
 The 

 
 P E T I O N. 35I 
 
 The friendly exertions of Petion's party were at- ,],. 
 tended with fo much fuccefs, that he was for a Chert Treatment 
 time confined to his houfe under a guard, but "oyaTfa- 
 when the king's fufpenfion had been pronounced, mily. 
 he appeared at the bar, and thanked the aflembly 
 for their conduft b . As fome fears were (till ex- 
 pelled for his perfonal fafety, he was conftantly 
 attended by two armed men as a body guard. It 
 was even afierted that two men had attempted to 
 aflaflinate him, and they were arrefted and im- 
 prifoned c . He was deputed to attend the royal ^th. 
 fiamily to their prifon, and in the way, and on their 
 arrival, behaved with the mod brutal inlblence. 
 He defired the queen to furvey the people with 
 more mildnefs, as the fuperciiioufnefs of her looks 
 gave offence j and pointed out the place where the 
 king was to ileep with peremptory ferocioumefs d . 
 During their whole confinement, Petion treated 
 the royal family with the fame malignant infolence e . 
 The plunder of the palace had reduced the king to 
 fuch a (late of penury, that he was obliged to relieve 
 his immediate exigencies by borrowing a fmall fum, 
 two thoufand five hundred and twenty-fix livres 
 (no/, los. 3^.) from the Jacobin mayor; he gave 
 a receipt for the money, which was publifhed in the 
 Chronlque de Paris with an infulting comment. 
 This act of bafe perfidioufnefs was accompanied 
 with conducl; no lefs mean and obdurate ; when the 
 king was reduced to the neceffity of applying for 
 money for his daily expences, his letters to Petion 
 were received with rude indifference, and left for 
 feveral days unanfwered f . 
 
 b Debates. Journals. 
 
 c Ibid. Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 103. 
 
 A Moore's Journal, vol.i. p. 101. Fennel's Review, p. 413. See 
 THE KING, &c. 
 
 e Tliis brutality was carried to fuch an excefs, that as Playfair 
 juftly obferves, Charles I. never experienced any thing harfh or hard in 
 comparison to what Louis XVI. fuffered. Hiltory of Jacobinifm, 
 p. 609. n. 
 
 f Moore's Journal, vul.ii. p. 3701 
 
 Petion's
 
 352 PETION. 
 
 Penon's Petion's popularity and afcendancy were con- 
 fixation firmed and in creafed by the events of the tenth of 
 Augufl, he was hailed as the magiftrate of the peo- 
 ple, and his name infcribed on a flag hoifted within 
 the precincts of the Tuilleries to commemorate that 
 eventful day g . He foon found, however, that his 
 attachment to Briffot and the miniftry was incom- 
 patible with his fituation in the new felf-formed 
 council of the commune. That body, as Petion 
 afterwards faid, inflead of putting an end to the 
 revolutionary efforts, which had already been 
 crowned with fuccefs, though it more dignified to 
 enter into a flate of rivalmip with the legiflative 
 affembly, whofe decrees they obeyed or refilled 
 only as they were favourable or repugnant to their 
 views h . But however Petion might difapprove the 
 ufiirpations of the commune^ he had not courage or 
 integrity fufficient to oppofe or refill them, he con- 
 tented himfelf with a cold diftant demeanor, and 
 fanctioned all their meafures in fuch a manner 
 as to mew his internal fentiments of difgufl. This 
 _ conduct was fufficient to expofe him to the rancour 
 of the Jacobins, who overwhelmed him with de- 
 famation. He was not poffeffed of the energy re- 
 quifite to flem this torrent, but threw himfelf help- 
 1otb. lefs into the hands of his new adverfaries. He 
 wrote a canting letter to the feet ion des Ha/Ies in 
 vindication of his own conduct towards the commune, 
 in which he meanly flattered them, and excufed 
 himfelf by general profeffioris of zeal for the public 
 31 ft. good '. To conciliate dill more the wavering popu- 
 lace, he attended the next day at the bar of the 
 affembly, at the head of a deputation of the com- 
 mune, and fanctioned by his prefence thofe pro- 
 ceedings which demonilrated that the diforganizing 
 
 K Peltier's late Pi&nre, vol. ii. p. 297. 
 
 h Petion 's intended Speech on Louvet's charge againft Robefpierre. 
 See Mercure Francois, N du 17 Novemhre 17921 p. 190. 
 * Peltier's late Picture, vol. ii. p. 291, 292. 
 
 Q faction
 
 P E T I O N. 353 
 
 faction in the commune, not content with deftroying 
 royalty, were determined to reign paramount to 
 every other exifting authority, and to brave and 
 awe the legiflature itfelf k . 
 
 Thus trembling for his popularity, and ready to O 2 h d fe ^ pt * 
 embrace every excefs rather than riik a diminution at i n, on 
 of it, it is reafonably prefumed that Petion took an his con - 
 active fhare in promoting the fatal maflacres which J th u e " 
 occurred fo foon after this difgraceful fcene in the maffaaes. 
 aflembly ; and the prefumption receives additional 
 confirmation from his known attachment to Or- 
 leans, and his intimacy with Manuel. He is feebly 
 defended by Garat and madame Roland. Garat 
 merely fays that Petion was kind and humane, and 
 had a due averfion and horror for the fhedding of 
 human blood '. This negative acquittal is not of 
 great importance in itfelf, for even if the general 
 alfertion were true as to the reft of Petion's life, his 
 conduct on this day might exhibit him in a new 
 light, and alter the impreffion made by his former 
 actions. The defence however is in itfelf of no 
 force, for however a French revolutionary journalift 
 and minifter of ftate may reafon, it is not poffible for 
 the thinking part of any other community to con- 
 cede, that the defender of the maflacres at Avignon, 
 the employer of the Marfeillois in Paris, the infur- 
 gent of the twentieth of June, and the confpirator 
 of the tenth of Auguft, had any horror of bloodfhed. 
 Madame Roland, (peaking of Amar's aft of accufa- 
 tion againfl the Briflbtines, fays, " The reporter 
 " has not, in the flighteft manner, adverted to the 
 '* maflacres on the fecond of September ; he has 
 " avoided a dilemma by not adopting any conclu- 
 " fion, for the Mountaineers have made ftatements 
 " diametrically repugnant. When Roland de- 
 " nounced thefe maflacres, the Jacobins aflerted 
 " that they were the work of the people, inflamed 
 
 k See BRISSOT. ' Garai's Memoirs, p. 17. 
 
 VOL. II. A A " tO
 
 554 PETION. 
 
 " to vengeance ; they confidered it a crime to re- 
 " frain from applauding them ; and when Petion 
 " and his colleagues obtained a decree to profecute 
 *' the authors of thefe icenes, they called Petion and 
 " the right fide enemies of the people and of li- 
 " berty. Now, lince this decree is fallen into ne- 
 " gleet ; now, that the Jacobins triumph, and the 
 *' twenty-two are profcribed, the Jacobins them- 
 ** felves, and Hebert among the foremoft, impu- 
 *' dently aflert that the maffacres were the work of 
 " the bafe Petion V Admitting this to be a good 
 party argument, it is far from eflabliming Petion' 9 
 innocence, it only mews that the Mountain were, 
 as well as their opponents, frequently guilty of in- 
 confirtencies in argument and conduct. The facts 
 are not, however, exactly agreeable to madame Ro- 
 land's flatement, Marat, even while he attributed 
 thefe acts to the people, admitted and ftrongly af- 
 ferted that Petion was a principal promoter and ac- 
 ,-complice. He fays : " As to the mairacres of the 
 " fecond and third of September, it is an atrocity 
 " to reprefent them as the work of a gang of bri- 
 " gands : if fo, the aiTembly, the minifter of the in- 
 " terior, and the mayor of Paris were the malefac- 
 *' tors ; and nothing can wafh them clean from the 
 16 crime of not having prevented arTadinations that 
 *' laited three days. But they will doubtlefs fay ? 
 " it was impoflible, being equally the aft of the na- 
 " tional guards, the federates, and the people. 
 " Petion reited tranquilly at table with Briflbt and 
 <e his friends, and dii'dained to quit the party even 
 " for receiving the commiflioners fent by the aflem- 
 <{ bly to charge him to flop thefe excefles n ." The 
 fiimfy reafonings of Petion's advocates have not been 
 able to prevent difcerning men of all nations, and of 
 
 m Obferrations rapides, &c. Appel a Flmpartiale Pofterite, vol. ii. 
 J>. 58. 
 
 " Journal de Marat, N<>. 105. Quoted in Arthur Young's Example 
 Of France, a Warning to Britain, jj. ^'i^. 
 
 both
 
 PETION. 355 
 
 both panics, royalift and republican, from confider- 
 ing and accufmg him as the chief contriver and pro- 
 moter of thefe horrible tranfaclions. Arthur 
 Young makes an exception favourable to Marat, in 
 ftating the comparative guilt of that incendiary and 
 Petion . Montjoye and Peltier exprefsly aver, that 
 he was the principal promoter of the maffacres p ; 
 and the republican Pages repeats the fame accufation 
 in various parts of his hiftory, and with all the vio- 
 lence of unqualified reprobation q . 
 
 Leaving, however, thefe ill-managed efforts of 
 exculpation, and general cenfures, it plainly refults 
 from all apparent circumftances, that Petion knew 
 and confented to, if he did not command, the fcenes 
 which difgraced his mayoralty. After the fufpen- 
 fion of the municipality, he had been inverted with 
 power to order out all the armed force in Paris, and 
 could at pleafure have terminated ^ carnage which 
 was begun and conducted only by a fmall band of 
 hireling ruffians r . From his window he could fee 
 the carriages full of priefts defigned for flaughter go 
 over the pont neuf* ; and from rooms in his hotel he 
 could not avoid hearing the fcreams of the dying, 
 and the fhouts of the murderers, in two different 
 prifons c . The infurrection was twice announced 
 in form, as having begun, and going to begin, 
 yet Petion took no notice of it u . A deputation 
 of twelve commiffioners was fent to Petion by the 
 afiembly, to confer on the ftate of public affairs : 
 if we may believe Marat, he fat at table with Briffot, 
 and mewed no inclination to receive them x ; and- 
 when at length they were admitted, kept them till 
 
 Example of France, &c. tibi fupra. 
 
 P See Confpiracy of Robefpierre, p. 74. Peltier's late Pifttire, 
 vol. ii. p. ajo. n. 
 
 1 See Hiftoire Secrete, vol. i. p. 479. vol.ii. p. 40. 319. 
 
 T Playfaii's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 499. 
 
 s Peltier's late Pifture, vol. ii. p. 306. 
 
 1 Playfair, uhi fupra. u Garat's Memoirs, p. 18. 
 
 * See quotation iroqi Marat, above. 
 
 A A 2 tWO
 
 3S S P E T I O N. 
 
 two o'clock in the morning converfing on indif- 
 ferent topics, and never mentioned the maflacres 
 in the prifons. He was afterwards reproached with 
 this fact in the convention, and feebly defended him- 
 felf by faying there was no need for him to mention 
 an event notorious to all Paris, or to defcant on an 
 evil which was then irreparable y . He even told a 
 perfon who advifed him to go to the prifons, that 
 he did not choofe to rilk his popularity z . Towards 
 the conclufion of the maflacres, Petion made his 
 appearance at the Bicetre, where the mob was em- 
 ployed in pumping, in order to drown a few pri- 
 foners, the melancholy remains of this favage car- 
 nage, who had concealed themfelves in cellars and 
 holes under ground. He addreffed the mob in the 
 language of mildnefs and pretended philofophy, 
 but when they perfifted in their proceedings, calmly 
 left them, faying, " Well, children, make an end 
 " of it a !" 
 
 5 JjJ S g t p h t * As foon as decency would permit, Petion ap- 
 isth, lythj peared at the bar of the affembly, with a ftatement 
 ath. tnat Paris was then perfectly tranquil ; and after- 
 wards wrote feveral letters, (taring the difpofition of 
 the people to return to order, and requiring that 
 state of energy might be given to the law b . At this period, 
 Pans. Paris was in a ftate of unparalleled diforder ; the 
 allied armies were fuppofed to be within a fhort di- 
 ftance, and certain of reaching the capital ; the elec- 
 tions for members to the convention were proceed- 
 ing, but all appearance of freedom or regularity was 
 deftroyed by a mob of pike and bludgeon men, who 
 conftantly befet the electors ; the populace addicted 
 themfelves to plunder to a degree fo audacious, that 
 watches, jewels, and trinkets, were fnatched from 
 
 ? See Debates, *i(t January 1793. 
 
 z See St. Jult's Repoit, 8tl July 1793. Peltier's late Pifture of 
 "Paris, vol. ii. p. 539. 
 
 * Peltier's late Piflure, vol. ii. p. 365. Playfair's Hiftory of Ja- 
 cohinifm,p. 498. 
 
 > Debates. 
 
 the
 
 PETION. 
 
 the perfons of their pofiefibrs in open day, and Pe- 
 tion ftated it to the aflembly as an inflance of the 
 people's fenfe of propriety, that fome of thefe rob- 
 bers had been murdered on the fpot ; the garde- 
 meuble de la couronne was broke open, and plundered 
 of jewels of immenfe value ; all was rapacity, riot, 
 infubordination, and terror c . The minifters, alarmed 
 at the hurricane they had excited, were defirous to 
 leave Paris, to carry the king with them, and transfer 
 the feat of government to a more tranquil city ; 
 Danton, however, ftrenuoufly oppofed the meafure, 
 and Petion rejected it with indignation d . It has 
 been aflerted that Petion, accompanied by Manuel 
 and Kerfaint, induced Louis XVI. to require the re- 
 treat of the combined armies ; but this account, fo 
 tar as it connects him with Manuel in the tranfac- 
 tion, is difproved by Clery e . 
 
 Notwithftanding Petion's official fituation, and 
 the ftrong alliance between him and the miniftry, 
 he had not fufficient influence to be elected deputy vention 
 to the convention for Paris '. He was however re- 
 turned for Eure et Loire, or Chartres, which place 
 he had reprefented in the conftituent afiembly. 
 His popularity was now rapidly declining ; and the 
 ill grace with .which he, the inftigator of commo- 
 tion, now recommended fubordination and obe- 
 dience to the laws, contributed as much as any 
 other circumftance to diveft him of the public fa- 
 vour g . Though he was not chofen deputy for 
 Paris, he was re-elected mayor of that city ; but this 
 was probably a manoeuvre of the Mountain, to 
 make him refign his feat for Eure et Loire ; if fo, 
 he fruftrated it by declining the mayoralty in the 
 
 c Debates. Hiftorics. Moore's Journnl, vol. i. p. 411, et feq. 
 11 Hiltory of the Krirfb tines by Camilla Dcfmoulines, p. 20. 
 e Pages, vol. ii. p. 44.. Joumal de Cleiy, p. 105. 
 f Louvet's Narrative, p zo. 
 
 t See Impartial Hiilory, vol.ii. p. 130. Moore's Journal, vol. ii, 
 p. 459. Pages, vol. ii. p, 40. 
 
 A A 3 -
 
 35& 
 
 tift Sept. 
 Prefident. 
 
 Conteft 
 with Ro- 
 befpierre. 
 
 P E T I O N. 
 
 mod pofitive manner, by a fhort letter to the 
 electors h . 
 
 At the firft meeting of the convention, when 
 royalty was abolilhed without deliberation by three 
 hundred and feventy-one members out of feven 
 hundred and forty-five, Petion fat as prefident. 
 He was alfo one of the committee appointed to re- 
 vife the conftitution ', His politics at this time are 
 extremely doubtful ; he was in the confidence, and 
 a&ed with the Briflbtine faction ; but it is faid that 
 he continued attached to Orleans, and laboured to 
 promote his views, though the afcendancy of Marat 
 and other worthlefs characters prevented his public 
 co-operation k . To this uncertainty of conduct may 
 be attributed his apparent inconfiftency when Lou- 
 vet made his denunciation againft Robefpierre. He 
 coincided in the views of the Briflbtines fo far as re- 
 lated to the punifhment and difgrace of the intended 
 dictator, but was anxious to prevent fuch a difcuffion 
 as would endanger Orleans ; he therefore avoided 
 fupporting Lou vet in the debate, and was friendly 
 to the motion for the order of the day, but he after- 
 wards publiilied the fpeech he intended to have de- 
 livered '. 
 
 The conteft between Petion and Robefpierre now 
 grew to a great excefs of peribnal rancour ; in ad- 
 dition to his intended ipeech, Petion publifhed, and 
 pofted on the walls of Paris, a letter to the Jacobin 
 club againft his rival 1 ". Robefpierre anfwered thefe 
 attacks in a letter replete with humorous- fatire and 
 polifhed ridicule, and fucceeded in making his anta- 
 gonifl additionally contemptible n . 
 
 h Merrure Fransois, N du 27 O&obre 1791. 
 
 * See Debates. 
 
 k See Conjuration tie d'Orleans, vol.iii. p. 119.143. Alfo Pages, 
 vol. ii. p. i*. 
 
 1 Louvet's Narrative, p. 43, 24. See alfo Mercure Franqois N t!u 
 17 Novembre 1792. 
 
 m A fummary of this fpeech ami a tranflation of the letter to the 
 Jacobins, are given in the Appendix, N IX. 
 
 * Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 395. See ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 Petion's
 
 PETION. 359 
 
 Petion's exertions in the convention were neither Conduft 
 ftrenuous or important ; his chief efforts were em- J" n jj 
 ployed on the king's trial, in which he acted with mat. 
 iuch timid duplicity as completely to annihilate his 
 fmall remaining portion of popularity, without ferv- 
 ing the king, or feeming attached to his caufe. 
 He appears principally to have aimed at obtaining 
 delay, as he propofed the difcuflion of the king's 3<i Dec. 
 inviolability, and remonflrated againfl the conven- 
 tion fitting as judges ; but when the appel nominal 5th J an * 
 was to decide the fate of Louis, Petion voted him 1793 * 
 guilty, referving only a difcuflion on the propriety 
 of delay . His conduct in this particular excited 
 great indignation among the populace, it was con- 
 fidered as a high crime at the Jacobin club, and 
 Petion narrowly efcaped, or rather obtained a Ihort 
 refpite from expulfion p . 
 
 In the courfe of thefe debates, Petion had fome *' ft J 3 "- 
 perfonal altercation with Lepelletier, and when that S^nV* 
 deputy was affaflinated, the Mountain took advan- party, 
 tage of the circum (lance to accufe Petion as an ac- 
 complice with the murderer. A long and tumul- 
 tuous debate enfued, in which Petion's conduct in 
 many refpects^was virulently arraigned, and his de- 
 fence was by 'no means proportioned to the vigour 
 and extent of the attack' 1 . In the conteft which 
 enfued between the Mountain and the Gironde, Pe- 
 tion was not active, though frequently attacked. 
 His known connexion with Orleans retrained his 
 efforts, and perhaps he yet retained a wifh that the 
 views of that confpirator mould be crowned with 
 fuccefs, as he could never be induced to act flre 
 nuoufly againft him. He awaited the turn of events 
 with childifli indifference, or hypocritical levity. 
 The following anecdote, related by L6uvet r , re- 
 
 Debates. 
 
 P Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 570. 574. See alfo p. 614. 
 
 H Debates. See Robelpierre a ies Conimettans, vol. ii. p. 241. 
 
 ' Louvet's Narrative, p. 35. 
 
 A A 4 fpecting
 
 P E T I O N. 
 
 fpefting the confpiracy of the loth of March, will 
 fhew that Petion was incredibly ftupid, or fo great an 
 hypocrite that even his own faction could not de- 
 pend on him. Louvet fays, " That I might be 
 " near the convention, I had taken a lodging in 
 " Honore'-ilreet, very little above the Jacobins. 
 " About nine in the evening, my Lodoiika, who 
 " had gotten home, and was expecting me, heard a 
 " frightful tumult and horrible cries. Ever anxious 
 " for me, who, with moil of my friends, had lived 
 " for three months furrounded with dangers, con- 
 '* ftantly purfued, threatened, infulted, obliged to 
 " carry arms for my defence, and forced to keep 
 " every night from home; my dear wife came 
 " down, and went on till me came into the gal- 
 " leries of the fociety, from which the noife 
 " iflued. She heard a thoufand flanders, a thou- 
 fand horrid fpeeches uttered. She faw the lights 
 " extinguiihed, and fabres drawn. She came out 
 * e with an enraged multitude, who went to the 
 " Cordeliers for auxiliaries, thence to return forth- 
 " with, and attack the convention, Lodoiika juft 
 " came back when I returned. Immediately I flew 
 c to Petion's, where fome of my friends were af- 
 " fembled. They were converfing calmly on cer- 
 " tain decrees that were to be palled in the courfe 
 * c of a few weeks. God knows how difficult I 
 " found it to roufe them from their fecurity. At 
 " laft I prevailed on them to refrain from appearing 
 " at the meeting already begun, and to ailemble, 
 " with all the principal perfons profcribed, in an 
 ""hour's time, in a houfe where the confpirators 
 " would not expect to find us. I then repaired 
 " with fpeed to the meeting, where I found Kerve- 
 " 1 gan, deputy from Finifterre. This brave man 
 " haiiened to the farther part of the fuburb St. 
 " Marceau, to alarm a battalion from Breft, which 
 " very fortunately arrived at Paris a few days be- 
 " fore, and had been detained. This battalion re- 
 
 " mained
 
 PETION. 36l 
 
 " mained all night under arms, ready to march to 
 " our afliftance at the nrft requeft, or the found of 
 " the alarm-bell. In the mean time I went from 
 " houfe to houfe, to acquaint Valaze, Buzot, Bar- 
 " baroux, Salle, and feveral others. Briflbt went 
 " to inform the minifters of what was pafTmg ; and 
 " the minliler at war, the brave and unfortunate 
 <c Beurnonville, having fcaled the wall of his gar- 
 " den, had already joined fome of his friends, with 
 " whom he formed a patrole. After a ramble of 
 " two hours, in a dark night, and in the midft as 
 " it were of my aflafims, I arrived at the place of 
 " rendezvous. Petion was wanting. He was in 
 " much danger, however, if he remained at his own 
 " houfe. I returned to feek him, ,and a fingle in- 
 " cident that palfed will depict his character. As 
 " I was preffing him to come with me, he went to 
 " the window, and opened it ; then, having looked 
 " at the weather, he faid, // rains, there will be no- 
 " thing done. Notwithstanding all I could fay, he 
 " perfifted in flaying at home." 
 
 On the triumph of the Mountain and total defeat 3'flMay. 
 of the Briffotine faction, Petion made his efcape His fll ht ' 
 from Paris, and followed the fortune of thofe who 
 were of opinion that nothing but the infurrection of 
 the departments could fave France 5 . He traverfed 
 a large part of France with a pai ty which never 
 muttered more than nineteen in number r . They 
 endeavoured to excite an infurreclion in the depart- 
 ments, but met with very little fuccefs ; their ene- 
 mies were numerous, vigilant, and active ; their" 
 friends few, cold, and inert. The people with 
 great propriety diftinguifhed between the caufe of 
 the fugitives and their own ; and many who would 
 have braved every danger to eftablifli a good go- 
 vernment, remained perfectly neuter in a conteft, 
 the event of which could only decide whether their 
 
 8 Louvet's Narrative, p, 49. * Idem, p. 8a. 
 
 lives
 
 3 52 PETION. 
 
 lives and properties fhould be at the difpofal of Pe- 
 fion or Robefpierre u . At Caen they met with jj 
 fmall (hare of protection and temporary encourage- 
 ment, and had they declared in favour of royalty, 
 would in all probability have been more confiden- 
 tially treated ; but finding them folicitous only for 
 the advancement of their own faction, general 
 Wimpfen, after trifling with them fo as to prevent 
 their fuccefs in any other quarter, finally fruftrated 
 an intended attack on the city of Vernon, abandoned 
 their caufe, and left them to their own refources x . 
 After leaving Caen, Petion and his afibciates wan- 
 dered about for fome time, expofed to every hard- 
 ihip, and eagerly purfued by their inveterate and 
 active foes. Petion was peculiarly liable to be 
 known, from the publicity of his late fituation in 
 Paris, and from the remarkable circumftance of his 
 having grey hair at a very early age. In paffing 
 through a village named Moncontoir, he was re- 
 cogniled, though not apprehended y . In general he 
 bore his fufferings with fortitude, but fometimes ex- 
 hibited fymptoms of defpair z . At length, the in- 
 creafmg vigilance of their enemies rendering it un- 
 fafe for them to travel in fo numerous a party, the 
 and death, fugitives difperfed and took different routes. From 
 this period the fate of Petion remains uncertain : by 
 fome he was faid to have been found (tabbed in a 
 field in the Gironde ; by others, (tarved to death in 
 a cave in Languedoc. For fome time after the fall 
 of Robefpierre, hopes were entertained by his ad- 
 herents, that he, like Louvet and Ifnard, would 
 emerge from concealment, and again appear in the 
 convention a : thefe hopes however were not veri- 
 fled, and doubt, myftery, and conjecture rnuft ever 
 attend the final moments of a man who, in the day 
 
 Refidence in France, edited by John Gifford, vol.i. p. 183. 
 
 * Lcuvet's Narrative, p. 56, et feq. 
 
 V Idem, p. 8<;. z Idem, p. 103. 149. 
 
 a Mils Williams's Letters in 1794.) vol.i. p. 168. 
 
 of
 
 P E T I O N. 3 ^ 3 
 
 of pride and upftart infolence, availing himfelf of 
 unmerited popularity, rivalled, endangered, and in- 
 fulted his fovereign. 
 
 During Petion's flight, his wife and mother-in- FateofhU 
 law were arrefted and confined in the prifon of W| k an< f 
 St. Pelagic b . They were in fuch pecuniary diftrefs, law.' 6 '" 
 that they were fupported only by borrowing c . The 
 mother-in-law was guillotined j of the wife's fate I 
 am uncertain. 
 
 Dr. Moore defcribes Petion as a fair, well-looking Hisperfon. 
 man, of genteel addrefs, and cheerful countenance, 
 with an habitual fmile d . Madame Roland fays ; 
 " The ferenity of a good confcience, and mildnefs 
 " of an eafy temper, with franknefs and cheerful- 
 " nefs, diftinguifh his countenance 6 ." The par- 
 tiality of this defcription of Petion's phyfiognomy 
 may be corrected by Bertrand, who fays : " His 
 " countenance, which at firft fight appeared open 
 " and agreeable, upon a nearer examination was 
 *' infipid and devoid of expreffion V His talents Talents, 
 were far from brilliant or extenfive, even madame 
 Roland avows, that " as an orator he was cold, as 
 *' a writer his flyle was loofe g ." Dr. Moore fhites 
 him to have been " a man of confiderable learning, 
 " though not fo much as he wifhed the world to 
 " believe ; of fome eloquence, but by no means fo 
 " much as he believed himfelf ; of fome judgment, 
 " though a much fmaller portion than he imagined; 
 " whereas he really poffefled a very comfortable 
 " fhare of vanity, of which it appears he was per- 
 66 Aiaded he had none at all V I incline however 
 to confider even this account too favourable to Pe- 
 tion's knowledge and intellects, and think he is 
 more correctly appreciated by Bertrand. He fays, 
 
 h Roland's Appeal, vol. i. p. 176. 
 
 c Appel a rimpmiale PoUcrite, vol. ii. p. 74.. 
 
 d Moore's Journal, vol. i. p. 130. 
 
 c Appeal, vol. i. p. jz6. f Memoirs, vol.i. p. 159. 
 
 E Appeal, vol.i. p. 127. b Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 401. 
 
 " Petion's
 
 364 P E T I O N. 
 
 <e Petion's want of information, his heavy elocution, 
 " meanly trivial or abfurdly bombaft, made me 
 " confider him as a man by no means dangerous. 
 " I even imagined that by flattering his vanity or 
 " ambition, he might be made ufeful to the king. 
 " His conduct has proved how much I was de- 
 " ceived ; and I cannot, even at thrs diftance of 
 " time, reflect without pain on my having been 
 Moral * e deceived by fo filly a knave ." Petion's virtue 
 anc i difmtereftednefs are highly extolled by madame 
 Roland ; fhe fays ; " Petion is a truly good and 
 " honeft man, equally incapable of doing the lead 
 *' thing repugnant to juftice, and inflicting the 
 " flighted injury or occafioning the lead uneafi- 
 " nefs to any one. For himfelf he can neglecl 
 *' many things, yet he knows not how to refufe a 
 " favour to any perfon in the world V The dif- 
 mtereftednefs implied in the latter part of this pa- 
 negyric is fubjecl: to much doubt, as Petion, in 
 common with' the reft of his faction, was fufpecled 
 of having greatly enriched himfelf by the mod 
 palpable peculation ] . It is no anfwer to the ac- 
 cufation to ftate s that his wife was, after his flight, 
 left in didrefled circumdances, and when in prifon, 
 expofed to want : Petion, though pofleffed of no 
 property, lived in a fplendid dyle, and his flight was 
 fo unpremeditated, as not to afford him the 
 means of fecuring his property, which, like the 
 confifcated wealth of others, was embezzled, and its 
 amount never afcertained. The fird part of the 
 lady's eulogium is refuted by every acl of Petion's 
 life ; which fully judifies the obfervation of Du- 
 mouriez, who alfo had fufficient means of appreciat- 
 ing his character, that he concealed, under a mild 
 and prudent appearance, a heart coldly wicked ra . 
 
 i Bertrand's Memoirs, vol.i. p. 159. 
 k Appeal, vol. i. p. iz6. 
 1 Impartial Hiltory, vol.ii. p. 339. 
 m Lite of Dumouriez, vol.ii. p. 187.
 
 MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 T\/J"AXI MIL IEN Robefpierre was" born in the city 1755. 
 ****** of Arras ", and an orphan from his earlieft in- 
 fancy. His father was a counfellor, in confiderable Robef- 
 praclice, and of good reputation, but fo little en- pi erie ' s 
 dowed with prudence, that he left three children in education. 
 the utmoft want. It has been aflerted that the fub- 
 ject of thefe Memoirs was the nephew of d* Amiens, 
 who was broke on the wheel for an attempt to 
 aflaffinate Louis XV. , but this ftory is abfolutely 
 untrue. It may have been the invention of fome 
 indignant royalift, or perhaps of fome friend of 
 Robefpierre himfelf. The good character of his 
 father, and the diftrefs of his children, operated fo 
 much in their favour with fome of their relation's 
 that they ufed every exertion to procure them fome 
 effectual protection ; one of them took the charge 
 of the daughter, and the two fons were recom- 
 mended to the bilhop of Arras, who brought them 
 
 " The principal tranfaftions of tins blood-tbirfty tyrant's life are 
 abridged from the wot k of Montjoye, intitled, " Hiftoirc ds la Conjuration 
 de Maximi itn Robfffiene.''' To M. Montjoye I am indebted for ail the 
 particulars of Robeipierre's early hiftory, and for the arrangement and 
 diftribution of the whole >vork. I have differed with him, and with 
 inoft writers who have preceded me on the fubjeft of Robefpierre's 
 talents ; and I have fuppreHed fome pnrtsof his narrative for brevity'* 
 fake, and others from a conviclion that they fprang from mifinform- 
 ation or h,<(te. Ail thofe parts of the enfning narrative for which no 
 authority is given, are derived entirely from him. 
 . See Peltin's late Picnic of Paris, vol. ii. p. 14.1. 210. Apologie 
 des ['rojets des Chefs de la Kevolution, p. n6t Peihaps too the 
 political romance called Couteaifs ConfcfCons may huve contributed 
 to give cuiTency to the report. 
 
 up
 
 3^6 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 up with a care and humanity worthy a Chriftian 
 paftor. Maximilian, diicovering the greateft fhare 
 of genius, and no traits of thofe vices which after- 
 wards marked his character, was the favourite of 
 the worthy bifhop % who, after leading him by the 
 hand with infinite fatisfaction through the primary 
 avenues of fcience, obtained for him, by his intereft, 
 an exhibition, or annual purfe, at the college of 
 Louis-le-grand at Paris. While he continued in this 
 fituation, the hopes of his patron were abundantly 
 realized ; his progrefs was rapid and honourable, 
 he was generally at the head of his clafs, and ob- 
 tained feveral prizes. He exhibited no fymptom at 
 this period of a bad heart or depraved difpofition, 
 but every one thought he would be diftinguifhed by 
 his prudence, and pafs through the world with 
 fome eclat. 
 
 imdietthc r fhe fame of his fcholaftic triumphs excited ardent 
 hopes in the bofoms of his provincial friends ; they 
 recommended to him to ftudy the law, and to make 
 Paris the fcene of his exertions, little doubting that 
 the fame fuccefs and eminence which had awaited 
 him in the univerllty, would be his portion in the 
 greater fcene his profefficn would open to him. To 
 obviate the difadvantages likely to refult from his 
 unprovided (late, recourfe was had to the humanity 
 of a gentleman of great eminence at the bar, of the 
 name of Ferrieres, who gratuitoufly received him as 
 a pupil, and undertook to provide him with every 
 thing he wanted, while he was profecuting his 
 ftudies. But in this fituation Robefpierre's defi- 
 ciencies firft became apparent. The acquirements 
 of the college, as it was then regulated, were con- 
 fined to a knowledge of the lives, actions, and a 
 few of the more glaring opinions of the ancient 
 
 P It has been fa5d that he repaid the kindnefs of this worthy paftor 
 with ingiatitmie ; but the fafl is fo (lightly alleged, that I am little 
 inclined to give it credit. See Chriltie's Letters on the Revolution, 
 p. 131. n. 
 
 Romans.
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 Romans. A young Frenchman was brought up 
 without any reference to the world he was about to 
 inhabit, as if he had nothing to learn, no model to 
 confult, but the heroes of antiquity. This learning, 
 requiring only a good memory, and affording little 
 fcope to the exercife of genius or imagination, 
 opened an eafy road to puerile celebrity, RobeC- 
 pierre purfued and attained it ; it was flattering to 
 the vanity, becaufe without much effort, it gave an 
 air recherche to the converfation of its pofiefibr. To 
 the prevalence of this tafte it is to be attributed, 
 that during the French revolution, the Lives of 
 Plutarch, the Annals of Tacitus, and other me- 
 morials of the vices and virtues of the Greeks and 
 Romans have been as conftantly quoted, and as 
 hypocritically defcanted on, as the Holy Bible was 
 during the civil commotions under Charles I. and 
 the usurpation of Cromwell. Robefpierre, who had 
 been accuftomed to conquer fame without an effort, 
 in this eafy level field, \vas difgufled at the neceffity 
 impofed by his newly-embraced profeffion of ac- 
 quiring new information ; of invefligating anti- 
 quity, of taking nothing for granted, but weighing 
 in the balance of extreme fcrupulofity, the difference 
 between truth and fpecioufnefs, falfchood and para- 
 dox ; of examining with attention, every different 
 complexion of men and things, of manners and 
 motives. Ufed to the facilities of collegiate de- 
 clamation, where it is only required to iliuftrate a 
 given fubjed, he had not patience fufficient to go 
 through the neceflary labour of attaining an elo- 
 quence which mould, by its perfpicuoufnefs, flrength, 
 and fluency, at once convey information, obviate 
 doubt, penetrate into the dark recedes of latent guilt, 
 and difplay in their ftrongeft light, the interefting 
 features of calumniated virtue. Incapable of this 
 exertion, he fhrunk from the tafk, and from that 
 period commenced an avtrfion to literature and 
 literary characters, which he retained during the 
 remainder of his life. At the expiration of his term 
 
 of
 
 368 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 of ftudy, his friends, who now expected the acccm- 
 plifhment of all their hopes, and that this boafted 
 genius would fpeedily attain the higheft honours, 
 fent one of his relations to partake the triumph of 
 his firft impreffion. On his arrival in the capital 
 this gentleman was effectually undeceived, he found 
 his young friend far below mediocrity in his pro- 
 feflional line, his knowledge extremely limited, and 
 his eloquence deficient both in dignity and correct- 
 nefs. He was eafily perfuaded by Ferrieres to take 
 him back to Arras, where dilligence might procure 
 him a fubfiftence, without expofmg him to com- 
 panion or competition, which muft inevitably pro- 
 duce difgrace. 
 
 Notwithftanding the horrible celebrity which has 
 fmce diftinguimed the name of Robefpierre, no 
 trace can be found .of his profeflional employment, 
 except in one folitary inftance. The invention of 
 electrical conductors, to difcharge the lightning 
 from impending clouds, made a great progrefs in 
 France ; it fpread with fmgular fpeed from the 
 capital to the provinces ; it was patronized by the 
 iearned and polite, and oppofed by the vulgar, the 
 prejudiced, the timid, and the fuperftitious. Some 
 of thefe machines were placed on buildings in the 
 neighbourhood of Arras, and produced a law-fuit. 
 Robefpierre, whom the fame of fcholaftic attain- 
 ment pointed out as a proper perfon, was fixed on 
 to conduct this caufe on behalf of thofe who had 
 adopted the conductors, but he is faid to have drawn 
 up a memorial, or cafe, on the fubject, which was 
 publifhed, in which his ignorance was fo manifeft, 
 his ftyle fo bafe, and his argumentation fo perplexed, 
 that he loft his clients, and acquired the never-end- 
 ing contempt of his fellow-citizens. The caufe 
 never came into court, an amicable accommodation 
 took place. 
 7 7? 9. The convocation of the ftates-general firft afforded 
 
 tbetoufh. m ' m an opportunity of emerging from obfcurity. 
 
 trent af. The opinion of the inhabitants of Arras had not
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 3 
 
 been able to eradicate from his mind thofe feeds of 
 vanity which had been implanted there by his ju- 
 venile fuccefles. He imagined that a large theatre 
 alone was wanting to enable him to make a con- 
 fpicuous figure. Full of this idea, he intrigued 
 amongft the lower clafs of inhabitants in the diftrict 
 where he refided, and by inceflant folicitation, by 
 promifes adapted to the imagined wants and wifhes 
 of the people to whom he looked up for fupport, he 
 finally fucceeded, not only in being returned to the 
 ftates-general as reprefentative of the tiers etat, but 
 in being permitted to compofe, in the name of his 
 conftituents, the cahiers, or inftrudlions for himfelf 
 and his co-deputies. 
 
 The talents difplayed by Robefpierre in the con- His ta* 
 ftituent afiembly have been too much under-rated leins ' 
 in confequence of the violent efforts made by 
 Briffotine as well as royalift writers to expofe him 
 to contempt q . Even impartial writers, contem- 
 plating the figure he made in the coiivention, the 
 gigantic power he acquired, and the dreadful mesns 
 he employed in its maintenance, and comparing 
 them with his unimportance in the aflembly, have 
 rafhly pronounced that he was deficient in elo- 
 quence and ability. Robefpierre came from Arras 
 to Paris not much improved in knowledge or 
 oratory, and he came into an aflembly where, on 
 both fides, there were Seated men famous for both. 
 He poflefled neither birth or wealth to give him 
 partifans, and his defe&s in (peaking occafionally 
 
 1 He is thus fpoken of by M de Montgaillard, whofc df fcription 
 will fpare the neceftityof numerous quotations. ' My oily wifli,' 
 " faid he in 1784., ' is to be attorney g<-neial for the parliament oJ Paris. 
 * Ah ! how I would make people talk of me!' In the pofte(2ioii of 
 " that office he faw the means of facisfying that conluming thirft of 
 " publicity, by which he often afterwards acknowledged himfclf 10 be 
 " influenced. 'This alfo informs us of his motives for getting returned 
 *' to the Itates-gencral. Yet he only appeared there a itupid enthulialt. 
 " At its dilToUition, he retired, leaving no other impreflion than a 
 " rooted contempt for his talents, and a total forgeifulnefs of his 
 peribn." Etat de la France, p. 9. 
 
 VOL. ii. B B excited
 
 7 o ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 excited the laughter of the audience ; but his 
 education furnifhed him with modes of knowledge 
 fufficient to give him a reputation in an afiemblage 
 fo mixed and compounded, and his perfevering 
 afliduity in polifliing his language, and extending 
 his information, together with the death and feceflion 
 of fome of the more diftinguifhed members, af- 
 forded him the means, before the diflblution of that 
 aflembly, of acquiring an extended and rather 
 brilliant reputation. Garat, who is certainly a 
 competent judge, fpeaks of his talents in thefe 
 terms r : "In Robefpierre, notwithstanding the non- 
 " fenfe and abfurdity of thofe extemporary ha- 
 " rangues which he daily uttered in the aflembly ; 
 " notwithstanding his endlefs tattle about the rights 
 " of man, the fovereignty of the people, principles 
 " of which he \vas continually talking, without 
 " ever communicating a fmgle idea about them 
 " that was, in any degree, new or exaft ; In him, 
 " I fancied that I could difcern, efpecially when he 
 44 printed his compofitions, the firft efforts of rifing 
 " genius, which was fufceptible of improvement 
 " (which did actually improve) and of which the 
 " energies might one day fully expand fo as to do 
 " much good or much mifchief. In his ftyle I 
 " faw a care to fludy and to imitate thofe forms of 
 " expreflion which poflefs elegance, dignity, and 
 " fplendour. By thofe which he imitated and 
 " produced the ofteneft, I could perceive that the 
 " writings of Roufleau were his great fchool and 
 " model?' 
 
 CopiesMi- In his oratory he afTefted to copy Mirabeau, and 
 rabeau. if he could not reach all the heights of his eloquence, 
 he could at lead obtain enough to impofe on the 
 people, and even to fecure him fome refpecl in the 
 aflembly. He refolved to attract notice by buftle 
 and detravfron, and to acquire popularity by in- 
 
 T Memoirs of the Revolution, -p. 65. 
 
 gratiating
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 3y 
 
 gradating himfelf with the loweft people, by Hat- 
 tering their caprices, extolling their virtues, repro- 
 bating all men and meafures which were diiliked by 
 them, and generally by adapting his harangues en- 
 tirely to their tafte and comprehenfion. 
 
 He was a member of the fociety formed by Briflbt Ami des 
 and others, under the title of Amis des Noirs, the Noks * 
 object of which was to procure the unconditional 
 emancipation of all the flaves in the Weft Indies. 
 In purfuit of this project he difplayed that violence 
 and inconfiderate impetuofity which characterize 
 men who fubftitute paffion for judgment, and pur- 
 fue a favourite fpeculation, in contempt of every 
 oppofing motive, and declared his willingnefs to 
 deftroy the colonies, rather than facrifice one iota 
 of principle 5 . Very early in the fittings of the 
 aflembly he was fo far noticed as to be included in 178 ?-. . 
 
 , , J . c c r i Lroes with 
 
 the deputation or twenty-four, lent up, on the mo- meifage to 
 tion of Mirabeau, to requefl the king to remove the the kin g- 
 troops from the capital l . 
 
 Yet, though Robefpierre was not of fufficient Exerts 
 confequence to be claimed as a coadjutor by any 
 party, he never failed to prefent himfelf at the biy. 
 tribune on almoft every difcuffion ; fometimes with 
 prepared orations, fometimes to utter extempore re- 
 marks. He felt no timidity in preffing his principles 
 nor any fear of contempt from the frequency of 
 his repetitions. By degrees he polifhed his ftyle, 
 and in time gained fome portion of attention. He joth July, 
 affifted in undermining the popularity of Necker by 
 making a fpeech againil the amnefly obtained by 
 him from the commune of Paris u . He was always 
 extremely felicitous for the removal of the fittings 
 of the national aflerrrbly from Verfailles to Paris % 
 
 ' Bryan Edwards'* Hiftory of St. Domingo, p. 41.61. Historical 
 Sketch, p. 415. 
 
 1 Moore's View, vol. i. p. 303. Debates. 
 
 8 Impartial Hiftory, vol. i. p. 17*. Moore' View, vol. i. p. 381. 
 
 * Moore's View, vol. i, p. 417. 
 
 B B 2 but
 
 372 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 but the events of the day which produced that change 
 were not contrived by him, nor had he the leaft 
 notion of their being in agitation. He was not yet 
 5th oa. trufted, though in the debate which took place oil 
 the fubject of the king's animadverfion on the ar- 
 ticles of the conftitu-tion, he rendered a fervice to 
 the Orleans' faction by obferving, that his majefty's 
 meflage, inftead of an acceptance, was a cenfure y . 
 Becomes He was now confidered as actively attached to 
 fft Sid 63 "" t ^ ie Orleans' party. There was more bufmefs to do 
 Jacobin, in the aflembly, in the city, and in the clubs, than 
 his fuperior aflbciate? could conduct without affift- 
 ance. Robefpierre had fo far fucceeded in imitating 
 Mirabeau, that he began to be noticed by it, though 
 not much to his advantage ; the one was faid to be 
 the flambeau of Provence, the other the taper of 
 Arras. The defire Orleans and all his party en- 
 tertained to humble la Fayette and Bailly, caufed 
 Robefpierre to frequent the company of Danton 
 and Marat, who were actively engaged in the tafk, 
 and through them he was often employed to convey 
 to the people of the fuburbs of St. Antoine and 
 St. Marceau, thofe intimations which it was thought 
 would be received with more readinefs if fanctioned 
 by a deputy. His eloquence and his manners were 
 exactly fuited to this clafs of people, and he foon 
 became their idol, a circumftance which afterwards 
 gave him unlimited rule in France, but the prin- 
 cipal engine of his elevation was the Jacobin club. 
 He was not thought worthy of a feat in the club 
 Breton ; that club, while the affembly remained at 
 Verfailles, was fmall and felect, founded at firft by 
 the deputies from Bretagne, but when the legiflative 
 body removed to Paris, they threw open their doors 
 to all the members of the left fide ', and to many 
 other perfons ; they hired the convent belonging 
 
 r Mrs. Wolftonecroft's Hiftory, vol. i. p. 4.36. The other Hiflories 
 and Debates. 
 
 to
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 373 
 
 to the Dominican, or as they were called in France, 
 Jacobin friars, in the rue St. Ho?wre, and extended 
 their influence all over the kingdom, by means 
 of affiliated focieties, and committees of corre- 
 fpondence. This club, by their pernicious agency, 
 produced infubordination in the army and navy, 
 and confirmed the licentioufnefs, fury, and infidelity 
 of the populace ; they destroyed the church, dif- 
 folved the tie of laws, and brought the king to an 
 ignominious death. The iniquity of their means 
 was proportioned to the flagitioufnefs of their ends : 
 they laid wealthy individuals under, contribution ; 
 they fhared the plunder of thofe whofe deftru&ion 
 they had occafioned ; and to defray the immenfe 
 expences they were fubje<5t to, before their own 
 creatures came into adminiftration, they abetted the 
 forgery of affignats, which they were thus enabled 
 to diftribute with incredible profufion z . At this 
 club Robefpierre was indefatigable, he made mo- 
 tions and fpeeches of the mod incendiary defcrip- 
 tion, and in all refpecls accommodated himfelf fo 
 well to the tafte of the people, that he was foon 
 elevated to the prefidency, and during the remainder 
 of his life, retained an influence the mod un- 
 limited. Here he firft began to court the galleries 
 and the populace of Paris in his fpeeches, by con- 
 ftantly ufmg a flattering cant which was fuited to 
 their intellects, by conftantly infifting on their 
 virtues, and calling them emphatically the good peo- 
 ple of Paris a * 
 
 This 
 
 z Bertrand's Private Memoirs, vol.ii. p. 276. See Page?, vol. ii. 
 p. 28. 
 
 a This ftyle he never afterward 8 difcontinued. The following are 
 fpecimens of it from a periodical work he puhlifhed in 1792, called 
 Roteffierre afesCevtmcttans. " Faken collectively, you are the moft ge- 
 " nerous, the moft moral of all people; and, but for your levity, the 
 " moft deferving of liberty." Vol. i. p. 6. " The people are naturally 
 ' juft and peaceable ; they are.always guided by the moft pure in ten - 
 " tioqs: the evil-minded cannot ftir them up, without prefenting to 
 " their view a powerful and proper motive," Vol.i. p. 405. " The 
 B D 3 " motive*
 
 37* 
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 * 
 
 This fort of eloquence he carried with him into 
 the national aflembly, where he already began to 
 exercife his addrefs, by training the galleries to par- 
 ticular expreffions of applaufe and difapprobation ; 
 a manoeuvre which afterwards fubjected the deli- 
 berative body entirely to the dominion of the au- 
 dience, or more properly to that of a party of 
 fcreaming poiffardes and vociferous fans-culottes, 
 whom the leaders of the day took care to aflemble. 
 In the conftituent aflembly this evil was firft felt : 
 the tribunes were ufed to hum applaufe, or grumble 
 diilike, at the ufe of certain phrafes uttered in a 
 certain fenfe. This fecret was foon dilcovered by 
 the right fide -, they learned, at every interval of dif- 
 approbation difplayed againft them, to correct the 
 ferment by the introduction of popular phrafeology, 
 no matter however mal a prcpos. This facility of 
 counteraction was not agreeable to the left fide ; 
 they prepared another manoeuvre ; they hired com- 
 panies of people to fill the tribunes, who were under 
 the command of certain leaders ; thefe again were 
 directed to keep their eye on particular members of 
 the aflembly ; and at a preconcerted iignal, of the 
 difplay of part of the pocket-handkerchief, the ele- 
 vation or depreflion of that part of the hat in which 
 the national cockade was placed, or other equally 
 fimple and apparently unimportant movements, they 
 were to communicate the token of applaufe or cen- 
 fure to their band, who were thus inftructed to cry 
 up or hoot down fome particular perfons. The 
 right fide foon difcovered this plan, and availed 
 
 motives of the people are always pure ; they cannot do otherwife 
 than love the public good, fince the public good is but another 
 word for the intereft of the people : but certain intriguers, who are 
 as cunning as the people are ingenuous, as perverfe as the people 
 are juft, feck fometirnes to make an ill uie even of their virtues and 
 their jult indignation." Vol. ii. p. 185. " The enors of the people 
 aierareand impermanent ; they nre always the fault of fatal circuin- 
 ilances or perveife individuals," Vol. ti. p. 291, 
 
 themfelves
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 375 
 
 themfelves of the difcovery, by hiring their groups 
 to oppofe the friends of the left fide : this introduced 
 a great confufion ; applaufe and cerifure were fre- 
 quently bellowed at the fame time by the oppofite 
 parties, and this difcordance produced animotmes 
 and contentions which it was the difgrace of the af- 
 fembly to fuffer. At other times, the fame fet of 
 men would be hired by both parties, and when con- 
 trary fignals were given, remain in a confufed ftate 
 of fufpenfe, undecided whether they ought to ap- 
 plaud or murmur ; an embarraflrnent which has 
 frequently occafioned the different journalifts, in re- 
 porting the fame fpeech, to attribute to the audience 
 violent murmurs^ and loud and frequent applaufes b . 
 This conteft continued during the fitting of the 
 conftituent afiembly : in the legiflative aflembly the 
 left fide managed better ; and in the convention, the 
 Mountain generally took care to have the tribunes 
 filled with friends of their own, for which purpofe 
 the parties frequently came and took their places by 
 break of day, and often Hayed all night. Robef- 
 pierre's known intrigues in this bufmefs caufed a 
 royalift writer to ftyle him the general of the fans- 
 culottes^ a title with which he was not difpleafed. 
 
 During the whole fitting of the conftituent afiem- Adverfa. 
 bly, he was remarked for his exertions on every ?"* to the 
 queftion in which the king's influence or authority 
 was concerned. He diftinguimed himfelf by the 
 fame perfonal rancour which he afterwards difplayed 
 in the convention with fuch baleful effedt. It is un- 
 neceflary to particularife inflances, they occurred 
 almoft daily. He voted and fpoke in favour of al- oa. J7 g 9 . 
 mod every propofition tending to narrow the king's oppoft* 
 
 . . ' " ." . , . r i martial 
 
 authority, and throw contempt on his perion and i aw . 
 government. He greatly increafed his popularity 
 by the ftyle of his fpeech in oppofition to la Fayette's 
 propofal of a martial law. He faid, " He enter- 
 
 b See Moore'* View, vol. i. p. 4za. Pages, vol.ii. p. 29. 
 
 B B 4 " tained
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " tained a cordial affection for the good people of 
 " Paris; that their difpofitions were excellent; they 
 " were feldom in the wrong, always meant well, and 
 " could not in juftice be punifhed for miftakes they 
 " might commit when pinched with hunger." This, 
 and a great deal more of the fame contemptible 
 cant, not only procured him the entire good-will 
 of the mob, but effectually deceived many who 
 thought themfelves profound politicians ; they faid, 
 " He might be a very well-meaning patriot, but was 
 " far too tender-hearted for a flatefman e ." 
 " Independently of his exertions againft the king, 
 he diftinguifhed himfelf in the national afiembly by 
 
 printed, his fpceches on the re-union of Avignon, and on 
 the organization of the national guard, both which 
 were ordered to be printed A . He flrenuoufly fup- 
 ported the right of petitioning, over which he main- 
 tained that the legiflature had no jurifdiction ; and 
 that it refided in every individual of whatever clafs 
 or country. He was no lefs perfevering in his 
 efforts in favour of the people of colour, and in the 
 
 a4.th Sept. end obtained that fatal decree which fpread defola- 
 tion over the face of the French colony of St. Do- 
 mingo, though it was afterwards repealed by the 
 
 ith May. fame affembly e . He moved that the members of 
 one legiflature mould not be eligible to fit in the 
 next, and maintained the proportion with fuch jea- 
 loufy, that it was finally decreed. Two points in 
 his conduct deferve particular notice ; he was a vio- 
 lent defender of the right of univerfal fuffrage, and 
 an affected declaimer againft the punifh?nent of death 
 
 3oth May. in any cafe. On this fubject he affected to prove, 
 that " the punimment of death was effentially un- 
 " juft ; that it was not the mod impreffive in its 
 " execution, but, on the contrary, that it tended to 
 
 c Moore's View, vol. ii. p. -ji. 
 
 d Wilde*s Addrefs, p. 479. Mercure Francis Litteraire du 14. 
 Mai 1791. 
 Edwards's Hiftory of St. Domingo, p. 89. 
 
 " multiply
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 377 
 
 " multiply crimes inftead of preventing them. A 
 " man can only kill an enemy when that effort is 
 " abfblutely neceflary for the laving of his own life; 
 " now fociety at large can have nothing to fear from 
 " a criminal whom it punifhes ; the criminal is to- 
 " tally unable to do any further mifchief, and is 
 " tried in all the fecurity of peace. A conqueror 
 " who kills his prilbners is called a barbarian ; a 
 *' grown man who kills a perverfe child, whom it 
 " is in his power to difarm and puniih, is deemed a 
 " monfter." Thefe and many other arguments in 
 the fame fpirit were unfuccefsful with the aflembly, 
 though warmly applauded by the galleries and po- 
 pulace f . 
 
 At this period he frequented the houfe of Roland, Frequent* 
 then neither miniiler or deputy, but the confidant madame 
 of Brifibt, with whom, and Petion, and a few more, h^ 1 d '* 
 Robefpierre met four evenings in every week, to ar- 
 range plans for the bufinefs in the aflembly on the 
 enfuing days. He acquired the efteem of madame 
 Roland, who thought him an honeft man and firm 
 patriot, but rather too bafhful. He ufed at thefe 
 meetings to fay little ; he advanced a few principles, 
 without maintaining them by arguments, but care- 
 fully treafured up the ideas which fell from the more 
 informed men of the party, and retailed them as his 
 own in the aflembly and the Jacobin club; ftill 
 eluding the reproaches this conduct drew on him, 
 by an affectation of pleafantry and good-humoured 
 frivolity s . 
 
 The king's departure from the capital alarmed Alarm at 
 Robefpierre beyond meafure ; he thought Louis 2* a k J. ng * $ 
 would not have taken that ftep, unlefs he was fure 
 of a party in the capital who would murder all the 
 patriots and diffolve the aflembly. This panic was 
 difpelled by- the arreft and return of the king. 
 It was in this interval that, at Petion's houfe, 
 
 f For all thefe particulars, fee Debates. 
 Roland's Appeal, vol.i. p. 56, 
 
 14 . Briflbt
 
 378 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 Brifibt and fome others firft darted the idea of a re- 
 public, and propofed to publifli a paper under the 
 title of le Republicain. Robefpierre was prefent at 
 the confutation, and probably forefaw in this 
 new fyftem a fchifm amongfl the partifans of Or- 
 leans, which would be beneficial to his interefts : 
 he wifhed to aft in a fphere where he fhould not be 
 thwarted by their fuperior talents, and would not 
 therefore bind himfelf to profecute their plan, but 
 contented himfelf with inquiring, with a fneer, after 
 they had been long difcufling the fubjecl, " And 
 " pray 'what is a republic h ?" 
 
 Condua jji s violence againft the king on his arreft was 
 an-eflr. proportioned to the terror experienced previous to 
 * a d June, that event. He moved, that thofe who flopped the 
 coach mould receive a civic crown; oppofed the 
 meafures fuggefted for fecuring the king's perfon, 
 by an obfervation, that the plan introduced to the 
 affembly for that purpofe feemed to prejudge a great 
 queftion, which he wifhed to hear folemnly difcuffed. 
 aCth June. He alfo moved, that the king and queen mould be 
 interrogated by the juflices of peace of the circle 
 . of the Tuilleries ; that as they were now to be con- 
 fidered fimply as citizens, they ought to be treated 
 i4th July, without any diftinguifhing forms of refpecl. On 
 the fame occafion, he ftrenuoufly combated the in- 
 violability of the king, and declared he mould fpeak 
 of Louis XVI. with the fame indifference as the em- 
 peror of China ! . 
 
 Petition of The event of the afiembly's decifion on the quef- 
 ibeChanrp tion of the king's abdication of the throne, was fo 
 de Mars. contrar y to his hopes as to deprive him of all pru- 
 dence ; he ran from the hall through the ftreets, 
 exclaiming to the groups of politicians who were 
 affembled, " My friends , all is loft ; the king is to 
 " be re/iored*!" He was fo convinced that the 
 
 h Roland's Appeal, vol.i. p. 58. i Debates. 
 
 k Moore's View, vol. li. p. 406. Conjuration de ^'Orleans, vol. iii. 
 
 P- "4- n . 
 
 queftion
 
 ROBESPIERRE, 
 
 379 
 
 queftion would be carried conformably to the wifhes 
 of his party, that he had omitted the precaution of 
 fecuring the tribunes. After the difperfal of the 
 tumultuous petitioners by the rrilitary, fmce called'the 
 maflacre of the Champ de Mxrs, his panic returned 
 with aggravated force ; he u as afraid of being im- 
 peached and put on his trial, and alarmed at a fup- 
 pofed plot of the Feuillans, and a dreaded defection of ,. 
 the Jacobins from his intereft. Roland and his 
 wife, affected at his fituation, went to his lodgings in 
 the Marfh to offer him an afylum, but he had already 
 quitted them. He confuked Peti6n on the pro- 
 priety of efcaping to London '. His fears, how- 
 ever, were groundlefs ; the court knew not how 
 to punifh ; the conititution was completed, and the 
 affembly diffolved '\ 
 
 Robefpierre did not quit the firfl legiflature with Diflblu- 
 contempt, as M. de Montgaillard has erroneoufly j^jfj?" 
 aflerted : it is true that he never was confidered a * 
 great leader of a party ; he was never prefident, 
 and but once fecretary : during the latter part of 
 the fittings, he, Buzot, and Petion, were left almoft 
 ' alone on the left fide n . His name was on the fa- 
 vourable fide of the pillar at St. Genon , he was 
 conftantly a great favourite of the audience in the 
 galleries, and the populace of Paris, who had in- 
 tended, on the day of the Champ de Mars, to have 
 carried his buft, crowned with laurel, in proceffion 
 through the city p . This predilection he greatly aug- * 9 th Sept. 
 mented the day before the diffolution of the affem- 
 bly, by his defence of the clubs. When the mem- soth. 
 bers quitted the hall, he and Petion were hailed 
 with the acclamations of the populace, a civic crown 
 was placed on their brows, and the people would 
 have taken off their horfes and drawn them home, 
 but they declined that proof of their attachment q . 
 
 1 Briflot a tous les Republicans, p. 191. 
 
 ro Roland's Appeal,, vol. i. p. 62. n Ibid. p. 56. 
 
 SeefiAILLY. Anecdotes du Regnede Louis XVI. vol. vi. p. 3 J9 
 t Hiftoi ical Sketch, p. 583. 
 
 1 Mercure Frangois, N ilu 3 Oftobre 1791, p. 1*5. 
 
 Robefpierre
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 ac- Robefpierre now occupied the place of public ac- 
 cofcr * cufer, which he foon refigned, without having ever 
 exercifed its functions ; a circumftance which has 
 txcited fome aftonifhment, and threw for the time 
 fome difgrace on his civifm r . It is to be fuppofed 
 that the attention neceflary to the duties of this 
 office was too great a drawback on the time he 
 \vifhed to beftow on his other avocations. He 
 continued unremittingly his attendance at the 
 Jacobins, where he was a principal fpeaker, and 
 where his party carried every point ; they com- 
 manded the applaufe of the tribunes, and filenced 
 ' all fpeakers whofe fentiments were oppofite to 
 theirs, by clamour and vociferation. The mod po- 
 pular journalifts were members of this club, and 
 fpread the renown of Robefpierre and the orher 
 chiefs all over the country. They defpifed la Fay- 
 ette*s impotent and ill-concerted efforts to difperfe 
 them : in fact they governed the country ; they 
 gave officers to the police, generals to the armies, 
 and miniflers to the crown. On the refignation of 
 Bailly, Robefpierre was candidate for the mayoralty ; 
 but the place being already difpofed of to Petion, he 
 obtained only a hundred votes s . 
 
 He was foon involved in difputes with the Gi- 
 rondift faction, and although on good terms with 
 Petion, was denounced by Brifibt and Gaudet at the 
 *5b April Jacobin club. It is to be prefumed that the defire 
 * 7$2 ' entertained by the Briflbtine party to involve the 
 country in war was the caufe of their difagreement j 
 for it is well known that all the members of that 
 cabal were refolute for war, while Robefpierre was a 
 ftrenuous oppofer of it, and for a long time after- 
 wards retained a wifh to avoid giving unneceflary 
 offence to foreign powers 1 . The attack made on 
 him was however attended with little fuccefs j he 
 
 ' Bertrand's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 116. Etat de la France, p. 9. 
 
 * Mercure Francois, Ndn 26 Novembre 1791, p, 289. 
 
 * Pages, vol. i. p. 456. Mercure Francois, N du 7 Avril I79Z> 
 p. 67, See alio Robefpierre i fes Commettans, vol. ii. p. 326. 
 
 anfwered
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 3*' 
 
 anfwered it the next day but one, and his fpeech 
 was printed and diftributed at the expence of the 
 lociety u . 
 
 About this time he commenced a weekly pub- Writes a 
 lication, called le Defcnfeur de la Conftitution^ in ^ e r Jj lcal 
 which he difcufled, as occafion required, all public 
 meafures and events, occafionally attacking his ad- 
 verfaries, and explaining his own conduct. When 
 the conftitution was no longer thought worth de- 
 fending, and he was elected deputy to the national 
 convention, he changed its appellation, and called it 
 Lettres de Maximilien Robefpierre a fes Commettans^ 
 under which title he continued it for fome time after 
 the king's death. From an attentive perufal of thefe 
 publications, I have formed my judgment of Robei- 
 pierre's ftyle, which I think very far above medi- 
 ocrity. His oratory, fubje&ed to the difadvantages 
 of a bad voice, and an unconquerable provincial 
 accent % might fail of producing a graceful effect 
 in difcourfe, but his expreffions were not ill chofen, 
 nor did they betray poverty of language or barren- 
 nefs of imagination j his logic is frequently faulty 
 in its conclufions, and he is extremely negligent of 
 truth in his narratives ; his forte is humorous 
 reafoning, where gravity feems hardly maintainable 
 from the ludicroufnefs of the fubjecl: ; his farcafms 
 are forcible and appofite, and his irony fpritely and 
 effectual y . 
 
 During the reign of the legiflative affembly, the toth Aug. 
 conteft was changed from its former ground. In His con - 
 
 duct. 
 
 u Defenfeur <le la Conftitution, p. 37. 
 
 * Roland's Appeal, vol.i. p. 57. 
 
 y One of his belt efforts in this Ityle, his letter to Jerome Petion, is 
 given in the Appendix (N X.)- Camille Defmoulins does rot 
 icruple to fay that, for its attic wit, it is equal to the belt Provincials *; 
 and it has been already, in part, introduced to the acquaintance of the 
 Englifh reader, by the extra't horn it in Moore's View, vol. ii. p. 396. 
 That, and his i'peech in anl'wer to Louvet's accufation abridged, will form 
 fufficient fpeci.men of his powers in either fpecies of corppofition. 
 
 f The Provincials are celebrated Letters by Father Pafcal agalnft the Jefuits. 
 C.imille DefoiouJins' Hiityry of ths Brifl : jtir.ei, p. 06. 
 
 the
 
 3 8z ROBESPIERRE, 
 
 the condiment aflembly, the Conftitutionet* waged 
 war ;-ga'n(l the royalifts, in the prefent thefe vere 
 attacked in their turn by the republicans. The 
 writers and orators of that party had contrived to 
 render their doctrine fo palatable, that Orleans 
 and Robefpierre were obliged to accede to the 
 general opinion, and affect to be zealous repub- 
 licans, Republicanifm became the order of the 
 day at the Jacobins, and every thing yielded to 
 the iinpulfe. To reduce the royal power fo much 
 as to prevent all oppofition to their fcheme, the 
 republicans planned and executed the inrurrec- 
 tion of the loth of Auguft. It was much to the 
 difadvantage of the Briflbtines to be obliged to call 
 in the aid of Danton, who was fo intimately con- 
 nected with Robefpierre their declared enemy, but 
 their weaknefs and his energy rendered it unavoid- 
 able. Though the cowardice of Robefpierre kept 
 him from being an aclor in that fcene ; though, as 
 Louvet afterwards told him % he concealed himfelf, 
 like Sofia in the play, till the battle was over, yet 
 he was named one of the council-general of the 
 commune, as without the aid of his popularity their 
 meafures would have been but imperfect *. He was 
 alfo appointed one of the judges of a tribunal erected 
 to try criminals involved in the imputed guilt of the 
 court on that day b . His exultation in the event of 
 the conteft may be learned by the account of the 
 i4th Aug. tranfaction which he gave to the public c ; and by 
 the propofition he made in the aflembly, for the 
 erection of a column to the memory of thofe who 
 
 . 
 vol. i. p. 497. Etat de la France, p. 10. 
 
 b Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 108. Peltier's late Pifture, 
 vol. ii. p. aao, &c. 
 
 c Detenfcur de la Conftituticn, p. 567. 
 
 fell
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 3 8 3 
 
 fell in the aflault, on the place where the ftatue of 
 Louis XIV. had formerly flood d . 
 
 The events of the loth of Auguft placed the mi- ad Sept. 
 nifterial junto fo firmly in pofieffion of the public His CXcr - 
 efteem, and appeared to inveft them with fo great 
 a command over the populace by means of their 
 Marfeillois, that it became a point of the higheft im- 
 portance to Robefpierre to counter act their influence. 
 It has already been mentioned that he declared open 
 war againfl Briffot ; the quarrel involved Condorcet 
 and all their party e . To fnatch from the hands of 
 this faction as much of the power of influencing the 
 populace as they could, and to place as much as pof- 
 fible in the reach of perfons devoted to them, was 
 the principal aim of thofe who perpetrated the maf- 
 facres of September. Robefpierre was undoubtedly 
 a principal contriver of thefe fanguinary executions. 
 Previous to the fatal day, he had been very adive 
 in making domiciliary vifits f ; and the day preced- iftSpt. 
 ing the maifacre, he had denounced Briflbt at the 
 Jacobin club for having fold the country to the 
 duke of Brunfwick g . But though Robefpierre had 
 fo great a mare in arranging the horrible plan of the 
 day h ; yet on that occafion, like the former, his 
 pufillanimity kept him from the fcene of action, and 
 he did not make his appearance till the carnage 
 was ended. The event, however, confirmed his 
 
 J Debates. 
 
 e Defenfeur de la Conftitution, p. 96. 99. Mercure Francois, 
 
 N' du 19 Mai 1792, p. 108. 
 
 f Peltier's late Picture, vol.ij. p. 479. 
 
 S Briflbt a tous les Republicans, p. 183. Peltier's late Piclure, 
 
 Tol. ii. p. 294. See alfo Louvef s Narrative, p. 17. 
 
 h Necker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 433. Briflbt a tous les Re- 
 
 publicains, p. 184. Etai de Ja France, p. 10. It occafioned fome 
 
 furprife when I faw in the New Annual Rcgifter for 1794, p. 381. 
 
 the following expreffion: " He certainly had no part in the events of 
 the loth of Auguft; and the count de Montgaillard acquits him 
 even of any principal fhare in the maflacres of September." Mont- 
 illard fpeaks of him in thefe terms : " Robefpierre difparut pendant 
 cette crife decifive (le 10 Aout). On lui a reproche fouvent la 
 prudence aec laquelle il fe derobait aux dangers} H paroitaujfi avoir 
 tu tocov Jtfart aux majfaret du z Septemirt," 
 
 power,
 
 384 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 power, and enabled the commune to domineer over 
 the aflembly with aftonifhing infolence ' l . 
 
 In the interval between the loth Auguft and the 
 2C * September,- the aflembly had decreed its own 
 diffolution, and the calling of a national convention. 
 In this new aflembly, Robefpierre's popularity, 
 aided by the purfe of Orleans, procured the return 
 of a powerful party. The finks of infamy and vice 
 were raked, the retreats of obfcure dabblers in lite- 
 rature explored, and even the refufe of foreign coun- 
 tries reforted to for legiflators, for men whofe fir ft 
 bufmefs it was to decide whether France mould be 
 a monarchy or not. Robefpierre was returned for 
 Paris, during the height of the carnage in the pri- 
 *> ft Sept. fons k . The convention decreed, im mediately on 
 J 79 2 their meeting, that France was a republic. Since 
 the 2d of September, the fchifm forfeen by Robef- 
 pierre had taken place amongfl the friends of Or- 
 leans : the contrivers of the i oth of Auguft, jea- 
 lous of the overweening influence of the men of the 
 ad of September, formed themfelves into a party 
 under the banners of Briifot and Roland, from 
 whom they were called Briflbtines or Rolandifts. 
 Thefe men, depending on their influence in fome of 
 the departments, were accufed of a project to form 
 what they called a federal republic ; or a republic, 
 where the different provinces, having each feparate 
 interefls and rights, mould be reprefented in one 
 general aflembly. Robefpierre, on the other hand, 
 inflated with his extenfive popularity, and little at- 
 tached to Orleans, whom he defpifed, now afpired 
 to the dictator fhip. His party, from their occupy- 
 ing the higheft feats in the hall, were called the 
 Mountain. The habits of intimacy which had fub- 
 fifted between his colleagues and the Briffotines laid 
 open to him all their plans, and the indifcreet efforts 
 
 * Necker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 365. Peltier's late Pilur<, 
 vol. ii. p. 141. Hiftories and Journals. 
 
 k Conjuration de d'Orleans, vol. iii. p. 214. 
 
 of
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 385 
 
 of RobefpierreV partifans in founding different 
 members of the convention, occafioned a difclofure 
 of his views to the other party. 
 
 They met in the convention prepared for hoflility Animofity 
 and mutual crimination. The BrhTotines had the a g air >ft. the 
 advantage of fuperior talents, minifterial influence, u otine *' 
 and ihefederes from Marfeilles. The Mountain op- 
 pofed to thefe advantages, clamour, activity, the Ja- 
 cobin club, the armed fans-culottes, and the jour- 
 nalifls. But, perhaps, what principally turned the 
 fcale in favour of the latter was, that the BrhTotines, 
 feeing no farther advantage to be derived to them 
 from riot and popular tniurreclion, were become the 
 advocates of obedience to the laws, and preachers of 
 regularity and fubordination ; while the Mountain, 
 the majority of whom rather wifhed to perpetuate 
 anarchy and plunder, than for any particular form 
 of government, refilled all thefe efforts, and con- 
 ftantly fecured the good-will of a clamorous popu- 
 lace. The Mountain gained the firfl prize of popu- 
 larity, as the propofition for the abolition of mo- 
 narchy came from them. A few days after the 
 meeting of the convention, a regular attack was 
 made on Robefpierre, Danton, and Marat : this 
 hoflility was perfevered in for a long time, and con- 
 dueled with fo much acrimony as to form an inte- 
 reiling crifis in the life of Maximilian. 
 
 It was commenced by Kerfaint, who, after dating 24th Sept. 
 in a fpeech of confiderable eloquence, that affaflin- J^tlJIT. 1 '* 
 ations were encouraged in all the departments, and 
 blood profufely med at the call of private animofity 
 and revenge, continued to obferve, that fuch 
 crimes were not to be charged on anarchy or "the 
 want of focial regulation, but that tyrants of a new 
 defcription were caufing citizens to butcher their 
 fellows ; brothers to murder each other : that the 
 walls of Paris were conftantly covered with pofting- 
 bills, inftigating maffacre and pillage ; and that frefh 
 lifts of profcriptions were publilhed every day. 
 
 VOL. ii. c c "I know
 
 38(5 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " I know (he concluded) that there is fome feme- 
 " rity in rifing up againft thefe afiafTms ; but, 
 " mould I perifh by their daggers, I will mew my- 
 " felf worthy the confidence of my fellow-citizens." 
 He then moved, that a committee mould be ap- 
 pointed to frame a law againft affaffination ; and 
 that a guard for the convention mould be furniftied 
 by the eighty-three departments, to prevent the ty- 
 ranny of the council-general of the commune of 
 Paris. This motion, though violently oppofed by 
 the Mountain, was at length carried, and commif- 
 fioners appointed to frame the propofed law. 
 2 5 thSeitt. This attack on the murderous principles of the 
 by c j" e party, was only a prelude to others on their ambi- 
 Source. tion, tyranny, and fraud. The next day, Merlin of 
 Thionville ftated to the aflembly, that la Source had 
 informed him that there was a faftion in the con- 
 vention who had it in view to eftablifh a dictator. 
 La Source, though a BrhTotine, evaded a perfonal 
 explanation, but Rebecqui and Barbaroux, both of 
 Marfeilles, brought the matter home to Robef- 
 pierre, and accufed Marat and Panis of having 
 founded them on the fubjecl. Danton, alarmed for 
 his party, endeavoured to avert the difcuffion, by 
 moving that death mould be the punifhment of 
 thofe who attempted to make of France a federal 
 republic. This obfervarion, meant to intimidate the 
 BriiTotines, was parried by Buzot, and Robefpierre 
 was obliged to afcend the tribune to defend himfelf : 
 inftead, however, of fpeaking to the point, he entered 
 into an eulogium of his own conduct while he fat in 
 the conftituent aflembly. Tired of his egotifms, a 
 member at length exclaimed, " Do, pray, Robef- 
 " pierre, finifh this tedious bead-roll, and give us 
 * e in a few words your opinions on the point in 
 " quefHoh, not a hiftory of your whole life." This 
 brought him a little nearer to the point ; he touched 
 on the acls of the fecond and third of September ; 
 but ftili prevaricated as to the diclatorfhip : he 
 
 alleged
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 3 8 7 
 
 alleged generally the improbability of his confpiring 
 againft liberty ; and after reflecting on thofe who 
 wiflied to federalize the country, finifhed by fecond- 
 ing the motion of Danton. The inconclufivenefs 
 of this reafoning called up Danton again ; but he 
 merely defended himfelf againft the charge of en- 
 couraging the incendiary placards which were (luck 
 on the walls, and left the diftatorfhip entirely un- 
 noticed. The avowal of this intention furpaffed the 
 effrontery of both thefe men ; they durft not ftate 
 fuch a wifh in the face of the convention, and yet 
 would not appear contemptible in the eyes of the 
 other confpirators by totally diiavowing it. But 
 what effort of impudence was too great for Marat ? 
 He afcended the tribune, and acknowledged that 
 the idea of a dictator had originated with him, and 
 that he ftill maintained the neceffity of having one 
 to counterpoife the intrigues of the court, and the 
 exertions of certain corrupt deputies. This avowal 
 turned the courfe of the debate ; it became a per- 
 fonal difcuffion relative to Marat, and Robefpierre 
 was forgotten '. 
 
 But a third attack, better concerted and com- *9 th oa. 
 bined, and executed with much more ability, was 
 made on him and his party. Roland, the minifter 
 of the interior, laid before the convention a memo- 
 rial on the ftate of Paris, in which he enumerated 
 the crimes of the commune fince the tenth of Au- 
 guft, and plainly intimated that they had embezzled 
 the money and other valuables feized at Senlis, 
 Chantilly, 1'Hotel de Coigny and other hotels, of 
 which he had frequently demanded an account with- 
 out fuccefs. He accufed them of having violated 
 public and . private property j of having inftigated 
 the murders of September ; and of meditating fur- 
 ther projefts of blood and deftruftion, to gratify 
 their ambition and rapacity. In fupport of thefe 
 
 1 See MARAT. 
 
 c c 2 allegations
 
 3 88 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 allegations he produced a letter addreffed to the rm- 
 nifterof juftice, in which information was given, that 
 it had been infmuated by certain perfons, that the 
 bufinefs begun in September was yet incomplete ; 
 that the whole faction of Roland and Briffot mould 
 be cut off; that Vergniaud, Gaudet, Buzot, la 
 Source, and others, were obnoxious to the real pa- 
 triots ; and that Robefpierre was the propereft per- 
 fon to direct the helm of government. The read- 
 ing of thefe papers occafioned a violent uproar, and 
 a motion that the memorial mould be printed. 
 Robefpierre afcended the tribune, but remained a 
 long time before he could obtain a hearing, which 
 at laft was only granted him on the ground of the 
 manifeft injuftice of decreeing any meafure without 
 permitting the parties interefled to be heard againft 
 it. His difcourfe, inftead of a defence, was an eu- 
 logium on himfelf; inftead of oppofmg the printing 
 of the memorial, he hardly noticed it ; the admo- 
 nitions of the prefident, and the boifterous impa- 
 tience of the affembly, were equally ineffectual to 
 reftrain this propenfity to felf-commendation : he 
 perfevered till, animated by his own applaufes, he 
 loft all fear, and from the ftores of his newly- 
 acquired confidence drew a boaftful challenge, which 
 involved him in ferious danger. " A fyftem of ca- 
 " lumny is eftablifhed, (he laid,) and againft whom 
 " is it directed ? A zealous patriot. Yet who 
 " is there amongft you who dares rife and accufe 
 " me to my face ?" " I," exclaimed fome one at 
 the end of the hall. A profound filence enfued. 
 The fpe;.ker (talked folemnly along the hall, flopped 
 oppofite the tribune, and prefented to the eyes of 
 the confufed and aftonimed challenger, the perfon 
 of Louvet. " Yes, Robefpierre, (faid he,) it is I 
 " who accufe you." Pronouncing thefe words, he 
 afcended the tribune ; while Maximilian, pale and 
 "terror-ftruck, fhrunk from fight. In vain Danton 
 endeavoured by words of encouragement to rally 
 
 his
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 389 
 
 his fpirits ; in vain he appeared in the tribune, and 
 endeavoured, by expreffing a diflike of Marat, to 
 divert the attention of the aflembly ; their curiofity 
 \vas thoroughly aroufed ; and Louvet, determined to 
 proceed, drew from his pocket a long, written 
 oration, which he read to the aflembly m . 
 
 In his exordium he craved an uninterrupted hear- 
 ing. " I am about to denounce (he laid) a plot 
 " which will aftonifh you ; to trace fcenes of woe 
 " which will make your humanity groan ; and to 
 <c unveil the guilt of men, againfl whom I muft beg 
 " you to fufpend for a time your indignation. I 
 " mail fpare nobody, but fpeak the direct truth : 
 " I mall touch the fore without hefitation, and un- 
 " doubtedly thofe who are hurt will be apt to 
 " fcream." " Put your finger in the wound, (faid 
 " Danton,) never mind thofe who are fore." 
 " I intend to probe it to the quick (replied Louvet); 
 " but why do you, Danton, fcream beforehand.'* 
 In the progrefs of his fpeech he related, that a con- 
 fpiracy was formed to perpetuate anarchy, to vilify 
 the reprefentatives of the people, to fubvert liberty, 
 and to found on its ruins the authority of a dictator : 
 that the means ufed to fecure applaufe at the Jaco- 
 bin club, by a clamorous gallery, had firft led to a 
 fufpicion that Robefpierre, the vain-glorious Robef- 
 pierre, was the head of a party, and his fubfequent 
 conduct had fully demonftrated it, and proved that 
 he had formed a fyftem of disorganization, by 
 which he hoped to attain fovereign power. " The 
 " memorable revolution of the loth of Auguft 
 " (continued Louvet) belongs to the people of 
 " Paris ; Robefpierre and his party have attempted 
 " to arrogate to themfeves the honour of that day, 
 " to fay that it belonged only to them :- to you ! 
 " treacherous confpirators ! the 2d of September 
 " only belongs to you; it is ftamped with your 
 
 m Robefpierre a fes Commettans, vol. i. j> z&j. 
 
 c c q " charac-
 
 39 o ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " chara&eriftics. The people of Paris know how 
 " to fight, but they do not know the vile trade of 
 " afiaffination. All Paris was at the Tuilleries on 
 " the i oth of Auguft ; but who were witnefies of 
 " the murders in September ? Some two or three 
 " hundred perfons drawn together before the pri- 
 " fons by an incomprehenfible curiofity. It may 
 " be afked, why then did not the citizens of Paris 
 " prevent them ? Why ! becaufe they were ftruck 
 " with terror, the alarm-guns had been fired, the 
 " tocfm had been founded, their ears were im- 
 " pofed upon by falfe reports, their eyes aftonimed 
 " by the fight of officers in their municipal fcarfs 
 " prefiding at the executions ; becaufe Roland ex- 
 " claimed in vain ; becaufe Danton, the minifter 
 " of juftice, was filent ; and Santerre, the com- 
 " mander of the national guard, remained inactive. 
 " Soon after thefe lamentable fcenes, the legiflative 
 " afiembly was frequently calumniated, infulted, 
 " and even threatened, by this infolent dema- 
 " gogue." 
 
 At this period, Robefpierre's friends, who had 
 before endeavoured to interrupt the fpeaker, could 
 contain themfelves no longer : a fcene of clamour 
 and diforder enfued, during which Lacroix and fe- 
 veral other members attefled the truth of Louvet's 
 aflertions. Robefpierre attempted to obtain pof- 
 feflion of the tribune ; but was told that he ought 
 to apply to be heard at the bar ; and that, at all 
 events, the accufer mould fir/I be permitted to 
 conclude. 
 
 Louvet proceeded to remark, that this infolent 
 demagogue, with profcriptions eternally in his 
 mouth, accufed fome of the moft deferving repre- 
 fentatives of the people, of having fold the nation to 
 Brunfwick ; and made that accufation the very day 
 before the aflaffinations began. In all his bloody 
 profcriptions the new minifters were always included, 
 except one, and that one always the fame. " Will
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " it be in thy power, Danton, (he added, darting his 
 " eyes on the late minifter of juftice,) to juftify thy 
 " character to pofterity for fuch an exception ? Do 
 " not think, Robefpierre, to blind us by dilavowing 
 " Marat, that enfant perdu del'affajjinat; it was through 
 " your influence, by your harangues at the electoral 
 " aflemblies, where you blackened Prieftley, and 
 " white-waflied Marat, that he is now a member of 
 " the convention." Louvet then, after relating the 
 oppofition he made to Marat's nomination, and the 
 danger he incurred by it from the pike and blud- 
 geon-men who formed the body-guard of the dic- 
 tator, continued ; " I accufe you, Robefpierre, of 
 " having calumniated the belt patriots, at a time 
 " when your calumnies amounted to profcriptions. 
 " I accufe you of having, as much as in you lay, 
 " degraded the national reprefentadon. I accufe 
 " you of having held yourfelf out as an object of 
 " popular idolatry ; of having given out, and 
 * caufed it to be repeated, that you were the only 
 " virtuous man in the republic. I accufe you of 
 " having tyrannifed over the electoral aflemblies. 
 " I accufe you of having aimed at fovereign autho- 
 " rity by all means in your power." In conclu- 
 fion, he implicated Marat in the charges he had 
 advanced ; required that a committee mould be 
 appointed to examine into the conduct of Robef- 
 pierre ; that a decree mould be pronounced againfl 
 thofe monfters who excited murders and aflaflin- 
 ations, againfl a faction which, from motives of 
 perfonal ambition, was tearing the republic to pieces ; 
 and that the executive power mould be inverted 
 with authority, in all cafes of civil commotion, to 
 call in the aid of the military force in the department 
 of Paris, to be employed as they fhouid judge 
 expedient. 
 
 Though Robefpierre, by his filly vanity, had 
 
 drawn this attack on himfelf, he was fo unprepared 
 
 for a defence, that he was confufed, deftitute of 
 
 c c 4 prefence 
 
 39'
 
 392 
 
 5th Nov. 
 Kobef- 
 pierre's 
 precau- 
 tions. 
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 prefence of mind, or words to exprefs himfelf. The 
 convention was agitated with the mod violent in- 
 dignation, and the galleries, not having received any 
 inftructions, remained neuter. When Louvet had 
 finiflied, Robefpierre appeared in the tribune ; fome 
 members faid he ought not to be heard but at the 
 bar ; fome wimed to adjourn till the morrow ; 
 Louvet voted that he mould be heard immediately ; 
 but Robefpierre faid he only appeared there to re- 
 queft that he might be permitted to make his de- 
 fence on the fifth of November, which was granted. 
 Louvet avers that in this fpace, the coward, think- 
 ing his lad hour was come, waited on him to folicit 
 mercy, and complains that Petion, Briffot, and 
 fome others did not fecond his efforts with fufficient 
 ardour n . He was not apprized that their connexions 
 with Orleans were fuch as not to permit them to 
 commit themfelves too far in the profecution of any 
 of his partifans, and that, though they now ranked 
 as virtuous republicans, they were, in fact, worthlefs 
 intriguers. Barbaroux, however, feconded Louvet's 
 efforts by a frem denunciation againft Robefpierre, 
 which he made in the interval preceding the fifth of 
 November, but it had no other effeft than attacks 
 made out of time and place generally have, that of 
 exciting ufelefs indignation on one part, and pro- 
 ducing a vigorous defence on the other. 
 
 At length the day fo important to the welfare, 
 and even to the life of Robefpierre arrived. He 
 omitted no precaution to infure fuccefs j the gal- 
 leries were rilled with women properly inftrufted 
 how to aft ; the public walks and gardens were 
 crowded with orators, who harangued in his praife, 
 and fome fellows carried tripe on a pole, which 
 they fwore they would compel thofe to eat who 
 mould vote againft fo diftinguifhed a patriot . 
 There is little reafon to doubt that gold and terror 
 
 Lonvefs Narrative, p. 23. 
 
 Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 434, 
 
 had
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 393 
 
 had alfo been employed to fway the decifion of the 
 members. It was, in fact, not the particular caufe 
 of Robefpierre that was depending, but the caufe 
 of all his party ; the coffers of Orleans, and the 
 plunder of the murdered prifoners were devoted to 
 the neceflary expences of bribery within the affem- 
 bly, and agitation without. 
 
 Robefpierre took his place in the tribune, with H;S <* 
 reftored fpirits and confidence, and with a prepared fence * 
 fpeech, in which he propofed to vindicate his con- 
 duct from all afperfion. 
 
 After a fhort exordium, in which he demanded 
 from the convention the fame patience and attention 
 they had beftowed on the voluminous charge of 
 his adverfary ; he faid : 
 
 " Of what am I accufed ? Of confpiring to be a 
 " dictator, a triumvir, or a tribune ; my adverfaries 
 " feem to have no decided opinion which of thefe 
 " I aim at, but thefe Roman words, which are in 
 " themfelves mutually repugnant, may be tranflated 
 " fupreme power, a phrafe which my accufer has 
 " ufed on another occafion. Now it muft be al- 
 " lowed, that if fuch a project were criminal, it 
 " was ftill more audacious ; for, to give it effect, 
 " it would be neceffary not only to fubvert the 
 " throne, but to annihilate the legiflature, and, 
 " above all, -to have prevented its being replaced 
 " by a national convention ; but in that cafe, how 
 " happens it that I was the nrft who, in fpeeches 
 " and in writing, invoked a national convention 
 " as the only remedy for the ills which affailed the 
 " country ? This proportion was denounced by my 
 " prefent adverfaries as incendiary, but the revolu- 
 " tion of the tenth of Auguft more than fanctioned, 
 " it realized the project. Need I obferve, that in 
 " order to obtain the dictatorfhip, it was not enough 
 " for me to make myfelf mafter of Paris, I muft 
 " alfo fubjugate the remaining eighty-two depart- 
 M ments ? Where were my treafures ; ^ where my 
 
 " armies?
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 44 armies ? Where the fortified places which I muft 
 44 have fecured ? All power was lodged in the hands 
 44 of my enemies. The moft moderate deduction 
 " I can make from thefe premifes is, that before 
 ** this accufation can acquire a character of proba- 
 " bility, it mufl be demonftrated that I am abfo- 
 *' lutely mad : nor do I fee that my enemies 
 " would be great gainers by this fact ; for then it 
 44 would remain for them to account how fo many 
 *' wife men mould have given themfelves the trouble 
 " to write fo many fine difcourfes, fo many elegant 
 * c polling-bills ; in fhort to ufe fo many exertions in 
 44 order to expofe me to the national convention, 
 " and to all France as the moil formidable of con- 
 44 fpirators." 
 
 Robefpierre then fpoke of his connection with 
 Marat ; " This, I mall not deny, is one of the moft 
 " dreadful reproaches againft me ; I (hall give my 
 " profeffion of faith refpecting Marat, but without 
 44 faying any thing againft him or in his favour, 
 *' more than I actually believe, for I am incapable 
 " of betraying my own confcience to captivate the 
 44 public opinion." He then proceeded to relate 
 the circumftances of their acquaintance, which he 
 pretended began only in January 1792, and that 
 Marat was fo diflatisfied with his opinions, that he 
 fpcke of him with contempt, as pofTeffing neither 
 the views or the audacity of a ftatefman, and, on 
 one occafion, denounced him as a Feuillant, for not 
 having faid in a periodical paper (le Defenfeur de la 
 Conjunction} that it was neceffary to fubvert the 
 conftitution. 
 
 44 From the period of Marat's vifit in January, 
 44 (Robefpierre continued,) I never faw him again 
 44 till we met in the electoral aflembly, and here 
 44 too I meet with M. Louvet, who accufes me of 
 44 having pointed out Marat for a deputy, and 
 44 calumniated Prieftley, in fhort, of having ty- 
 44 rannized over the electoral body by means of in- 
 9 " trigue
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 39S 
 
 * trigue and terror/' In anfwer to this accufation 
 he fays, that fo far from propofmg Marat as a de- 
 puty, he propofed no one, but following the ex- 
 ample of fome of his colleagues, he confidered 
 himfelf as performing an ufeful taik in fubmitting 
 fome general obfervations on the rules which ought 
 to guide the electors in the exercife of their func- 
 tions. " I did not fpeak ill of Prieftley ; I could 
 " not fpeak ill of a man known to me only by his 
 " literary reputation, and by an infult which ren- 
 " dered him interefting to every friend of the 
 " French revolution p . Do you wifh to know the 
 " real caufe which united the voters iii favour of 
 " Marat ? In that critical moment, when the heat 
 " of patriotifm was inflamed to the higheil degree, 
 <c when Paris was threatened by the approach of 
 " the armies of tyrants, men were lefs afte&ed by 
 " certain exaggerated or extravagant opinions with 
 " which he was reproached, than by the attempts 
 " of thofe treacherous enemies whom he had de- 
 " nounced, and the prefence of thofe woes, which 
 " he had foretold." 
 
 The orator then adverted to Louvet's charges 
 refpeding his conduct in the Jacobin club, and in 
 the council-general of the commune. " I exercifed, 
 " if my accufer is to be believed, a defpotifm of 
 " opinion at the Jacobin club, which could only be 
 " contemplated as the forerunner of a didatorfliip. 
 " In the firft place, I do not know what is meant 
 " by a defpotifm of opinion, particularly in a fociety 
 " of free men, unlefs it be the natural domination 
 " of principles. Now this domination is not peculiar 
 " to a man who happens to utter thofe principles, 
 " but belongs to univerfal Reafon, and to all thofe 
 " who liften to her voice. You fay, that fmce lad 
 "' January the club has been entirely governed by 
 
 P Alluding to the burning of Dr. Pi ieftley's lioufe, and to his being 
 hanged in effigy by the populace of Birmingham. 
 
 " a faction,
 
 396 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " a faction, fmall in number, but loaded with 
 " crimes and immoralities, of whom I was the head, 
 " while all prudent and virtuous men, like yourfelf, 
 " fighed in filence at their oppreffed condition. 
 " But if, fince this month of January, the Jacobin 
 " club has not forfeited the efteem and confidence 
 " of the nation, and has never fufpended its exer- 
 " tions in the caufe of liberty ; if, fince that period 
 " it has difplayed an increafe of courage againft the 
 " court and la Fayette ; if, fince that period, it has 
 " incurred the hatred of Auftria and Pruffia ; if, 
 " fince that period, it has received into its bofom 
 " the federates affembled to combat tyranny, and 
 *' with them prepared the holy infurrection of the 
 " loth of Auguft, what is the obvious conclufion 
 " to be drawn from your affertions, but that this 
 " handful of fcoundrels have overthrown defpotifm, 
 " and that you and your party were too prudent, 
 " and too much friends of good order to engage in 
 " fuch confpiracies. Suppofing it then to be true, 
 " though I am far from admitting it, that I had, in 
 " faft, obtained that influence among the Jacobins, 
 " which you fo liberally impute to me, what de- 
 " du&ion could you make againft me from that 
 " circumftance ? You have adopted a very effec- 
 " tual and commodious method of fecuring your 
 " own triumph ; you lavifh the names of fcoundrels 
 " and monfters on your adverfaries, and difplay 
 " your own adherents as models of patriotifm ; 
 " thus you crufh us at once with the weight of our 
 ' own vices, and of your virtues. But by what 
 <; right do you affeft to make ufe of the national 
 " convention itfelf to revenge the injuries offered to 
 " your felf-love, or to your fyftems ? I will not 
 *' require you to emulate the fentiments of repub- 
 " lican fouls, but, at leaft, be as generous as a 
 " king, imitate Louis XII. and let the legiflator 
 " forget the injuries fuilained by Monficur Louvet" 
 
 In
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 397 
 
 In treating of his conduit in the council-general 
 of the commune^ Robefpierre took a rapid, but 
 partial furvey of the operations of that body, which 
 he defended by ingenious hypothefes, and falla- 
 cious deductions. He faid : " Intrigues vanifh 
 " with the pitiful paffions to which they owe their 
 " exiftence. Great actions and great characters 
 " alone remain. We know riot the names of the 
 <c factious wretches who pelted Cato in the tribune ; 
 " the eyes of pofterity are fixed only on the god- 
 * c like image of that great man. I will not con- 
 " defcend to obferve, that I was never charged 
 " with any kind of commiffion, that I never, in any 
 " manner, meddled with any peculiar operation, 
 " that I never, for an inftant, was prefident of the 
 " commune^ and never had the flighted connection 
 <; with the committee of infpe&ion, fo foully ca- 
 " lumniated ; I do not infill on thefe circumftances, 
 " for taking the whole feries of fafts collectively, I 
 " would cheerfully confent to take upon myfelf all 
 " the good as well as the evil deeds attributed to 
 " that body, who have been fo often attacked, for 
 " the fake of involving me in the inculpation. 
 
 " They are reproached with arrefts which are 
 " ftyled arbitrary, though not one was made with- 
 " out a previous interrogatory. When the conful 
 " of Rome had fupprefled Catilina's confpiracy, 
 " Clodius accufed him of having violated the laws. 
 " When the conful gave an account of his ad- 
 " miniftration to the people, he fwore that he had 
 " faved the republic, and the people applauded. 
 " I have feen at this bar certain citizens, who are 
 *' not Clodiufes, but who, fome time before the 
 " revolution of the loth of Auguft, prudently 
 " fought refuge at Rouen, emphatically denouncing 
 *' the conduct of the council of the commune 
 " of Paris. Illegal arrefts ! Is it then with the 
 " criminal code in hand, that we are to appreciate 
 " the falutary precautions which the public weal 
 
 " requires
 
 398 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " requires in thofe critical emergencies which arife 
 " from the impotency of the laws ? Why do you 
 " not reproach us with having illegally deftroyed 
 " the pens of thofe mercenaries whofe trade it was 
 " to propagate impofture, and blafpheme againft 
 " liberty ? Why do you not inftitute a commiffion 
 " to collect the complaints of ariftocratic and 
 " royalift writers ? Why do you not reproach us 
 " for having confined all the confpirators within 
 " the gates of this great city ? Why do you not 
 " reproach us for difarming fufpeded citizens ; 
 " for baniming from the councils, where we deli- 
 " berated for the public good, the avowed enemies 
 " of the revolution ? Vv hy do you not, at once, 
 " criminate the municipality, the electoral aflem- 
 " blies, the feclions of Paris, and the primary af- 
 " femblies, even in the provinces ? In fhort, why 
 " not criminate all public bodies who have imitated 
 " us ? for their conduct has been in every refpect 
 *' illegal, as much illegal as the revolution, the over- 
 " throw of the throne, and of the Baftille ; in a 
 *' word, illegal as liberty itfelf. But what do I fay ? 
 *' What I depicted as an abfurd hypothefis, is a too 
 " certain reality. We are, in effect, accufed of all 
 M thefe things, and many more. Are we not ac- 
 " cufed of having, in concert with the executive 
 " power, fent commifl'aries into various depart- 
 ** ments, to propagate our principles, and determine 
 " the people to unite with the Parifians againil the 
 " common enemy ? 
 
 " What an idea muft thefe men have formed of 
 " the laft revolution ? Did the fall of the throne 
 " appear fo eafy before it was accomplimed ? Was 
 " nothing neceflary but a coup-dc-main at the Tuil- 
 " leries ? Was it not alfo requifite to annihilate, 
 " throughout France, the partifans of tyranny, 
 * e and, in courfe, to communicate to all the de- 
 " partments the falutary commotion with which 
 " Paris had been recently electrified? But who, 
 
 " after
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " after having fanctioned infurrection, can mark 
 " the precife point where the waves of popular 
 *' tumult mail begin to fubfide ? At this rate, what 
 " people could ever make off the yoke of de- 
 " fpotifm? For if it be true that a great nation 
 " cannot rife by a fimultaneous movement, and 
 " that tyranny can only be (truck by the portion of 
 " citizens neareft to it, how mail thefe dare com- 
 " mence an attack, if, after the victory, the dele- 
 " gates, coming from the remote corners of the 
 " ftate, are authorized to make them refponfible 
 " for the duration or violence of the political hurri- 
 * e cane which faved the country. The world, and 
 " poflerity will only furvey in thefe events their jufl 
 " caufe and fublime effect ; you ought to furvey 
 " them in the fame manner. You mould judge 
 " them, not as judges of a pe.try tribunal, but as 
 " ftatefmen, and legij/ators of the unlvcrfc. But do 
 " not imagine that I invoke thefe eternal principles, 
 " for want of a veil to cover certain reprehenfible 
 " actions ; no, we have no fuch need ; I fwear it, 
 " by the fubverted throne and rifing republic." 
 
 Robefpierre next treated of the maiTacres in 
 September, in refpect of which he obferved, that 
 Louvet's charges were vague and general. Speak- 
 ing of Roland, he faid, " As to the man who 
 " (depending on the fuccefs of defamation, the 
 " whole fyftem of which he had previoufly ar- 
 " ranged) thought he might, with impunity, affert 
 " in print that I directed thefe events, I could be 
 " content to leave him to his own remorfe, but re- 
 " morfe implies the poffeflion of a foul. For the 
 " fake of thofe whom his impoftures may have 
 <c milled, I will (late that, before the period when 
 " thefe tranfactions took place, I had left off fre- 
 " quenting the council-general of the commune ; the 
 " electoral affembly, of which I was a member, 
 " had commenced its fittings ; and I only learned 
 " what was pafling in the prifons by public report, 
 
 " and
 
 400 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " and much later than mod other citizens. To 
 " form a correct idea of thefe events, the -truth 
 tc muft be fought, not in thofe calumnious writings 
 " and fpeeches which have totally mifreprefented 
 " them, but in the hiftory of the laft revolution." 
 He then proceeded to account for, and recapitulate 
 the events of the fecond of September in a fallacious 
 and partial manner, borrowing according to Dr. 
 Moore, his principal ftatements from a book written 
 by Tallien, one of the moil diftinguifhed afiaffins on 
 that day, intitled, La Vcrite fur les Evenemens du 
 2 Septembre q . 
 
 Availing himfelf of the inconfiftency of his ac- 
 cufers, he faid : " The mod ardent zeal for the 
 " execution of the laws cannot juftify exaggeration 
 " or calumny ; befides, on this occafion, I can 
 * e cite againft the declamations of M. Louvet, a moft 
 " unqueflionable witnefs, the minifler of the in- 
 " terior himfelf, who, while blaming popular exe- 
 " cutions in general, was not afraid to fpeak of the 
 " fpirit of prudence and juftice which the people 
 <c (I ufe his own words) had fhewn in thefe illegal 
 " tranfa&ions. What do I fay ? I can cite in fa- 
 " vour of the council-general of the commune, M. 
 " Louvet himfelf, who began one of his numbers 
 " of the Centinel in thefe words, 6 Honour to the 
 " council-general of the commune, they caufed the 
 c< tocfin to be rung and faved the country 1 J This 
 " was in the time of the elections." 
 
 " 1 am affured," faid Robefpierre, with the moll 
 audacious hypocrify, " that one innocent perfon 
 " perimed, people have chofen to augment the 
 " number ; weep, citizens, for this cruel miftake, I 
 " have long wept for it : a good citizen ! he was 
 " then my friend ! Weep, even for the guilty 
 " victims referved for the fword of the law, who 
 " fell beneath the blade of. popular juftice j but let 
 
 1 Moore's Journal, voJ. ii. p. 333. 
 
 " your
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 40I 
 
 <c your grief, like every other earthly thing, have 
 " an end. That fenfibility which deplores, almoft 
 " exclufively, the enemies of liberty, appears fuf- 
 " picious. Ceafe to wave the bloody robe of the 
 " tyrant before my eyes, or I fliall think you are 
 " defirous to put Rome again in chains. In hear- 
 * c ing thefe pathetic lamentations over the Lam- 
 " balles and Montmorins, fuch touching defcrip- 
 " tions of the confternation of worthlefs citizens, 
 " and fuch furious declamations againft men, 
 " known by a mode of conduct the exact reverfe, 
 " did you not think you heard a manifefto of 
 " Brunfwick or of Conde ? 
 
 " To thefe alarming pictures my accufer has 
 <f annexed the project which he imputes to me of 
 " vilifying the legiflative body, which, he fays, was 
 " perpetually tormented, dif graced, and infulted by an 
 " infolent demagogue, who came to the bar to dittate 
 " its decrees. This is a kind of rhetorical figure by 
 " which M. Louvet has difguifed two petitions, 
 " which I was inftructed to prefent to the legiflative 
 " aflembly, in the name of the council-general of 
 " the commune, relative to the formation of the new 
 " department of Paris. Vilify the legiflative body { 
 " What grovelling idea had you formed of its 
 " dignity ? Learn that an affembly in which the 
 " majefty of the French people refides, can never 
 " be vilified, not even by its own acts. When it 
 Cc rifes to the elevation of its fublime miffion, how 
 " do you conceive that it can be 'vilified by the in- 
 " fenfate difcourfes of an infolent demagogue ? It 
 " can no more be 'vilified, than the Divinity can be 
 " degraded by the blafphemies of atheifm ; no 
 *' more than the luftre of that planet which ani- 
 " mates all nature, can be dimmed by the clamours 
 6f of the favage hordes of Afia." 
 
 Robefpierre then proceeded to narrate the cir- 
 cumflances which attended the prefenting of the 
 two petitions, in which he infilled ftrongly on the 
 
 VOL. ii. D correctnefs
 
 4 oz ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 correclnefs of his own proceedings, and ridiculed thft 
 timid conducl and vain-glorious language of his 
 adverfaries. He faid, " Citizens, if ever, after the 
 " example of the Lacedemonians, we erecl: a tem- 
 " pie to fear, I am of opinion that the minifters of 
 <J his worfhip mould be chofen among thofe who 
 " are for ever boafting of their courage and the 
 " dangers to which they have been expoied." 
 
 After animadverting on Tome other lefs important 
 points of accufation, and expofing the mifconduft 
 of his opponents, he concluded thus : " Inde- 
 " pendent of the decree refpecling an armed force, 
 " which you have ufed fo many efforts to extort ; 
 " independent of that tyrannical law againft the 
 " liberty of individuals and the liberty of the prefs,. 
 " which you have dilguifed under fpecious pre- 
 * " tences of repreffing excitements to murder, you 
 " demand for the miniftry a kind of military dic- 
 " tatorfhip, you demand a law of profcription 
 *' againft thofe citizens who difpleafe you, under 
 " the name of an oftracifm. Thus you no longer 
 <c blufh openly to avow the fhameful motives of fo 
 " many impoftures and intrigues ; thus you fpeak 
 " of a diclatorfhip only to exercife it yourfelves 
 " v> ithout reftraint ; thus you declaim againib 
 <e profcription and tyranny, that you, yourfelves, 
 " may profcribe and tyrannize ; thus you have 
 " imagined, that in order to make the national 
 " convention blind inftruments of your guilty de- 
 " figns, it would be fufficient to pronounce a crafty, 
 " romantic declamation, and move that they mould, 
 ' e without adjournment, decree the deftruction of 
 46 liberty and their own difgrace ! What need is 
 * 6 there for me to accufe men who accufe them- 
 " felves ? Let us, if pofiible, bury thefe contempti- 
 <e ble manoeuvres in everlafting oblivion. May we 
 " conceal from the eyes of pofterity thefe inglorious 
 " days of our hiftory, when the reprefentatives of 
 " the people, deluded by bafe intrigues, have 
 
 " feemed
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 4 o 3 
 
 " feemed to forget the exalted deftiny to which 
 " they were called. As for me, I mall make no 
 " conclufion relating perfonally to myfelf. I have 
 " renounced the eafy advantage of replying to the 
 " calumnies of my adverfaries by more formidable 
 " denunciations. I renounce the juft vengeance 
 " which I had a right to claim againfl my accufers. 
 " I afk no revenge but the return of peace and the 
 " triumph of liberty. Citizens, prefs forward with 
 " a firm and rapid ftep in your glorious career ; 
 " and may I, at the expence of my life, and even 
 " of my reputation, contribute with you, to the 
 " glory and welfare of our country." 
 
 This defence was heard with profound attention ; 
 it gained the applaufe of the galleries, and of a party 
 in the convention. Robefpierre's adverfaries were by 
 no means intimidated : after the printing of his fpeech 
 had been decreed, feveral of them prefented them- 
 felves in the tribune and at the bar, to be heard in 
 fupport of the accufation ; but his party were ftre- 
 nuous in calling for the order of the day. Some 
 who appeared on the other fide were apprehenfive 
 left a difcuffion might produce a difclofure of truths 
 injurious to their caufe ; fome dreaded the length 
 of debate which was like to enfue from the number 
 of intended fpeakers, and the known tedioufnefs of 
 fome of them. Louvet profefled himfelf ready to 
 anfwer every averment, and to combat all the argu- 
 ments advanced by Robefpierre ; but both Gi- 
 rondifts and Mountain rofe to prevent his fpeaking. 
 Barrere took advantage of this circumftance : he 
 faid, thefe petty undertakers of great revolutions 
 ought to be more juftly appreciated, and the con- 
 vention no longer troubled with their manoeuvres ; 
 the littlenefs of their abilities formed the beft gua- 
 ranty that they would never become Syllas or Crom- 
 wells ; and concluded by the old observation, that 
 their attention ought to be referved for the great 
 queftions which interefted the republic. The order 
 D D 3 of
 
 404 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 of the day was voted. Thus terminated this great 
 bufmefs: the Mountain obvioufly gained an important 
 advantage in filencing the accufation : the printing 
 of Robefpierre's fpeech, which contained fo many 
 points ad captandum "vulgus, and which was profufely 
 diftributed, confirmed his popularity, and extended 
 the influence of his faction in the departments. 
 The Briflbtines, whom fear had induced to accede 
 to the meafure, affected to confider it a triumph ; 
 and Condorcet, in his paper, rather blamed Louvet 
 for bringing the bufinefs forward. Louvet, how- 
 ever, though not informed as to particular facts re- 
 lating to his own party, faw the matter in a juft 
 light. " BriiTot, Vergniaud, Condorcet, and Gen- 
 " fonne (he fays) thought that paffing to the order of 
 " the day, if it faved Robefpierre, would difgrace 
 " him fo completely, as to to deprive him of all 
 " influence for the future : as if difgrace had any 
 " weight with that fanguinary faction, and as if phy- 
 " fical impunity could have any other effect than to 
 " harden him in guilt. This aftonifhing ftep of the 
 cc republican party grieved me to the heart. From 
 " that moment I forefaw that fooner or later the 
 " poignard-men would prevail over the men of prin- 
 " ciple : that moment I announced to my dear Lo- 
 " doifka, that we mufl prepare for banifhment or 
 " the fcaffold r ." The event, inftead of tending to 
 the difgrace of Robefpierre, produced an immediate 
 acceffion of popularity and refpect. The manner in 
 which Barrere treated the poffibility of his ever be- 
 coming a dictator, by removing fear and fufpicion, 
 gained him a large portion of public confidence 5 . 
 A report of the proceedings in the convention was 
 made the fame night at the Jacobin club, the mem- 
 bers of which were rendered furious with indigna- 
 
 r Louvet's Narrative, \>-iZ- 
 
 ' For a very ample and fpirired account of thefe attacks on Robef- 
 pierre, fee Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 30 to 344. See alfo Debates 
 and Hifioiies. 
 
 tion
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 4 o 
 
 tion againft the Girondifts, and the names of Lou- 
 vet, Roland, Barbaroux, Lanthenas, Rebecqui, and 
 Girey-Dupre, were ordered to be inftantly ftruck off 
 from the lifts of the fociety ; while the dwellings of 
 Robefpierre and Danton were conflantly guarded by 
 a numerous patrole, under pretence that ihefederes 
 of Marfeilles, inftigated by the deputies, intended to 
 murder them l . Louvet foon publimed the reply 
 he had been prevented from delivering in the tri- 
 bune, under the title, " A Maximilien Robefpierre et 
 " fes Royaliftcs" Roland, fenfible of the miftake his 
 partifans had committed, repaired it as far as lay in. 
 his power, by a profufe diftribution of this pam- 
 phlet u . Briflbt, too late aware of his error in fanc- 
 tioning the motion for the order of the day, ex- 
 prefled himfelf violently againft the meafure, con- 
 temptuoufly of Robefpierre's defence, and favour- 
 ably of Louvet 's publication x . Petion publifhed a 
 letter on the fubjecl:, addrefled to the Jacobin club y , 
 which occafioned Robefpierre's celebrated anfwer. 
 Petion had refigned the mayoralty of Paris, and 
 Robefpierre was again candidate for the office, but 
 gained only one hundred and thirty-nine votes z . 
 
 The popularity of the Mountain, and the difgrace H; S exer- 
 of the other party, were much increafed by the pro- {J, e n J". s 
 pofed trial of the king, to which the former were trial. " 
 urging the convention with unexampled diligence 
 and rancour, while the others oppofed and delayed 
 it by all means in their power. The populace, ex- 
 cited by the Jacobins, were clamorous and impatient 
 for the event : Robefpierre was indefatigable in 
 profecution of the bufmefs : he furmounted diffi- 
 culties, and repelled objections : he made motions, 
 decrees, and fpeeches. One of his orations on this 3 d Dec. 
 occafion has been much celebrated ; Garat fays that I792 ' 
 
 1 Louvet's Narrative, p. 27. u Idem, p. a6. 
 
 x Briflbt a fes Commettans, p. 15. 
 
 r See Appendix, N" IX. 
 
 z Mercure Francois, N du 3 Novembre 1792, p. 48. 
 
 D D 3 "it
 
 406 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " it rapidly brought the fcale of condemnation to 
 " preponderate in the balance of national juftice." 
 He adds, relating a converfation between himfelf 
 and Robefpierre, and defcribing himfelf as the 
 fpeaker : " Of all the fpeeches delivered on that 
 " occafion, yours made incomparably the moft 
 " powerful impreffion on my mind. Your funda- 
 " mental idea is new and unexpected, and abfo- 
 " lutely confounds with aftonilhment the judg- 
 " ment of the hearer or reader : the (lyle is bold 
 " and elegant ; it abounds in paffages glowing with 
 " paffion, and in fldlful tranfitions ; it is an effort 
 " of genius ; but, I confefs, the logic of it appears 
 " to me very extraordinary, and entirely falfe. 
 " You prove fuccefsfully enough, that it would 
 " have been lawful to put Capet to death on the 
 " loth of Auguft, either at the Co/lie^ or in the 
 " box of the Logographe, in the national afiem- 
 " bly, in which he took refuge. It would have 
 " been but the exercife of the right of war. But 
 " the right which war gives of putting an enemy to 
 " death, is confined in its operation to the time of 
 " battle. When the battle is over, the right of 
 " flaughter ceafes. None but Tartars think them- 
 " felves at liberty to butcher their prifoners in cold 
 " blood : none but the favages of the American 
 " forefts think they have a right to devour their 
 " captives taken in war. Your ipeech may be a 
 " model of eloquence, but it is, neverthelefs, a fpeci- 
 " men oT inconclufive logic : to your leading prin- 
 " ciples there muft be other principles added, in 
 " order to prove that the law condemning Capet 
 " to the block was a grand aft of national juftice 
 " on the part of France ; and to the whole world 
 *' a great and confpicuous example, more lawful, 
 " more neceflary, more ufeful, than the example of 
 " the trial and execution of Charles I. of England V 
 
 8 Carat's Memoirs, p. 71. 
 
 This
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 This criticifm, which, it muft be remembered, 
 comes from the pen of a republican, is very candid 
 and correct. Montjoye's judgment, though a 
 {launch royalift, is far more favourable to Robef- 
 pierre. He fpeaks of the oration in thefe words : 
 " The fpeech which Robefpierre made at this me- 
 *' morable epoch is perhaps the lead faulty of his 
 " productions : it is far fuperior to all thole which 
 " he had produced hitherto : the ftyle of it is cor- 
 " reel ; the ideas are not gigantic ; it is not in- 
 " fected with that affectation which is a certain 
 " proof of the depravation of tafte, and which 
 " alone gave reputation to Mirabcau V 
 
 Robefpierre exerted himfelf incefTamly during 
 the whole courfe of the trial, and ufed all his in- 
 fluence to make the people partake in his ideas of 
 precipitation and violence. The whole ferocity of 
 his character feems to have difplayed itfelf. He 
 complained of the intrigues to avert the propofed 
 end of the trial. " Louis ought to be tried (he 
 " fays) as a tyrant condemned by the infurrection 
 " of the people : a procefs is inftituted againft him, 
 " as in the cafe of an accufed citizen whofe crimi- 
 " nality is doubtful. The revolution ought to have 
 " been cemented by his death : the revolution it- 
 " felf is put in litigation. He ought to have been 
 " tried by the principles of the rights of man : 
 " his trial is founded on forms not applicable 
 " either to natural right or ancient law ; but an 
 " equivocal and monftrous jumble of both. He 
 " is tried, not according to the fpirit of repub- 
 " licanifm, but according to the prejudices of mo- 
 " narchy c ." He oppofed every propofition ad- 
 vanced in the convention, tending to fecure to the 
 king the advantage of a fair hearing, or of a trial 
 according to the forms of the conftitution. He at 
 
 > Confpiracy of Robefpierre, p. 98. See the fpeech at length. 
 Robefpierre a fes Commettans, vol. i. p. 193. 
 * Robefpierre a fes Commettans, vol. i. p. 443. 
 
 r> j> 4 r ft
 
 4oS ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 firft propofed, that after the king had fubmitted to 
 an interrogatory, the convention mould decide on 
 his fate in twenty-four hours, without feparating d . 
 When the convention decreed that the king fhould 
 have counfel, a deputation from the commune pre- 
 fented the plan of a decree which would have de- 
 prived him of every benefit of their afliflance ; the 
 convention felt indignant at the brutality of the 
 propofal, but Robefpierre, in fpite of the prevailing 
 clamours, defended it, and even maintained that it 
 was too mild for the occafion e . He argued and 
 \ r oted for the immediate death of the king ; oppofed 
 the hearing of his counfel on the fubject of an appeal 
 to the people ; and, after they had been heard, op- 
 pofed the purport of their obfervations. But what 
 enabled the convention to perpetrate this atrocious 
 3 6th Jan. a6l, was a decree obtained by Robefpierre, altering 
 * 793 * the exifting law that two thirds of the voices mould 
 be necefiary to the condemnation of an accufed per- 
 fon, and enabling a fingle carting vote to decide it f t 
 That Robefpierre's ambition urged him to many of 
 thefe meafures, is not to be doubted ; but fear had 
 moft probably its (hare in influencing him, fmce he 
 declared at the Jacobin fociety, that if the king were 
 acquitted, the members of the legiflative affembly, 
 and the convention, muft of courfe be confidered 
 and puniflied as rebels z . 
 
 TothMar. The popularity and influence of Robefpierre in- 
 Suppofed crea f ec i ver y mu ch after the death of the king, yet it 
 is not afcertained that his views led to the eftablifh- 
 ment of a diclatorfhip ; on the contrary, though it 
 is much againft probability, he is accufed of ftill en- 
 tertaining intentions of placing Orleans on the 
 throne. It is afferted, that a project was formed 
 for that purpofe, in which he was to have been 
 amfted by Dumouriez, and by a general infurrec-. 
 
 <! Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 495. Debates. e Meip, p. 5*3 
 s Debates. S Moore's Journal, vol. ii. p. 612. 
 
 ton
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 tion and mafTacre in Paris. What renders this very 
 improbable is, that Orleans at the time was loaded 
 with general execration, as much diflikcd by the 
 republicans as the royalifls, menaced, detefted, and 
 miferably iinpoverifhed. Robefpierre had too much 
 cunning, and too little generality, to continue his 
 attachment to a man in his circuinftances; and as 
 to Dumouriez, his army was in want of every 
 thing, and the perfevering libelifts of Paris, the Ma- 
 rats, the Chaumettes, &c. had rendered his cha- 
 racter fufpicious to all, and abhorred by many. 
 The confpiracy of the loth of March is one of the 
 inexplicable myfteries of the French revolution. 
 To what precife end it was directed, or how fruf- 
 trated, are points equally unknown. A great 
 alarm prevailed refpecting it ; the BriiTotines afifert 
 that the aim of the confpirators was, to murder all 
 their opponents, to ftrengthen their own, power and 
 the domineering influence of the city of Paris over 
 the reft of the republic h . Whatever the fcheme was, 
 it failed, fome aflert by rcafon of the cowardice of 
 the duke of Orleans ; others, by means of the vi- 
 gilance and refolution of the Girondifts. But the 
 project was not without effect, it gave the party of 
 anarchifts an opportunity of obtaining a decree for 
 organizing the Revolutionary tribunal, that infernal 
 engine of tyranny and horrors; of renewing the ter- 
 rible outrage of domiciliary mi/its, to difcover, as it 
 was pretended, concealed traitors j and of deftroy- 
 ing the liberty of the prefs. 
 
 The conteft between the rival parties was now 3 iftMay. 
 drawing to a crifis : the Jacobins had refolved the Kecr of 
 deftruction of the Briflbtines, and though fruftrated againft'tTie 
 in feveral of their plans, their determination was too Bi-ifl'otines. 
 ftrongly taken for difappointment to deter them 
 from exerting every means for its final execution. 
 
 h Briflbt a fes Commettan?, p. 41. Louvet's Narrative, p. 19. 
 311038. See aifo Conjuration ded'Orleans, vol. in. p. 446. Con- 
 Ipiracy of Robefpierre, p. loz. 
 
 The
 
 4 io ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 The eloquence, the knowledge of public affairs, the 
 intereft thefe men had in the departments, and the 
 majority they generally retained in the convention, 
 rendered them dangerous to their rivals, and made 
 it extremely probable that calamity or popular ver- 
 fatility would reftore to them the fuperiority they had 
 once attained over the public mind. Roland, in re- 
 tiring from office immediately after the death of the 
 king, had left a very forcible memorial on the ftate 
 of affairs during and at the clofe of his adminiftra- 
 tion ; this, if taken into confideration by the con- 
 vention, would in all probability have been pub- 
 limed, a thing the Mountain had no reafon to wi(h ; 
 and therefore, in fpite of the ex-minifter's repeated 
 letters, refufed to permit it to be reported. Marat, 
 as prefident of the Jacobin club, published an ad- 
 drefs inviting ail the popular focieties to exert them- 
 felves in procuring the expulficn of thofe unfaithful 
 deputies, who betrayed their truft in not voting for 
 the death of the tyrant. This produced a decree 
 for his commitment to the Abbaye prifon : he was 
 tried and acquitted, and refumed his feat in 
 triumph '. It is afferted by an author of the Brif- 
 fotine faction, that there was a bargain between the 
 crowned heads in alliance againft the republic, and 
 the chiefs of the Mountain, that twenty-two of the 
 Briflbtines mould be maflacred : and he adds, that 
 this plot was to be carried into execution the 2oth 
 of May : they were then to have been arrefted, 
 conveyed to a houfe in the fuburb of Montmartre, 
 and murdered. A forged correfpondence between 
 them and Cobourg was prepared, which after their 
 death was to have been brought forward, and a 
 flory circulated of their having emigrated. He fays 
 they had abundant proofs of this confpiracy ; but 
 as none of thefe appear, as the ftory itfelf is ex- 
 tremely improbable, and no account given of the 
 
 * Sec MARAT. 
 
 means
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 4 n 
 
 means by which the plan was difclofed and fru ft rated, 
 it is not entitled to credit k . There is no doubt 
 Louvet believed fome fuch plot to be in agitation, 
 and the miferably haraffed ftate of the party during 
 this conteft is expreffively defcribed by his obferv- 
 ation that, from the loth of March to the 3oth of 
 May, they ilept from home perhaps fifty times, that 
 is, every other night l . A committee of twelve had 
 been appointed to examine into the caufes of the 
 projected infurre&ion of the i oth of March ; their 
 report was ready, Rabaud de St. Etienne was to 
 prefent it to the convention, and Hebert, one of 
 the municipality, had been arrefted by their orders. 
 The Mountain were fenfible that it was their interefl 
 to oppofe thefe proceedings, and made arrangements, 
 in private committees held at Charenton, to infure a 
 victory. Revolutionary committees had been formed, 
 who, under pretence of fearching for foreigners and 
 traitors, committed the mod barefaced and impudent 
 robberies ; great numbers were fent to prifon, and 
 it was freely intimated to them, that the fcenes of 
 September were to be renewed. This induced 
 many to facrifice part of their fortune to obtain 
 their freedom, and the plunder increafed the power 
 of the Jacobins. A central committee, compofed 
 of Marat and feveral other furious ruffians, many of 
 them foreigners, exerted a control over the revo- 
 lutionary committees, from which they were felected, 
 and finally ufurped the whole powers of govern- 
 ment. This committee refolved to effect the impri- 
 fonment and death of the Briflbtines ; and, as a pre- 
 liminary ftep, demanded of the convention a fup- 
 preffion of the committee of twelve ; which was de- 
 creed, but its report was firft to be made on the 
 31(1 of May. On that day the central committee 
 gave the command of the national guard to Hen- 
 riot, a creature of theirs ; who, at the head of fixty 
 
 k Louvet. See his Narrative, p. 53. 
 * Louvct's Narrative, p, 4.6. 
 
 thoufand
 
 412 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 thoufand men, with cannon, and furnaces for heat- 
 ing balls, furrounded the convention. The tocfin 
 had been rung, the generate beat, and the whole 
 city put into a flate of conilernation and infurreclion. 
 The prifoners, who thought they were to be imme- 
 diately maffacred, filled the air with dreadful cries. 
 The Girondifls were in the greatefl confufion and 
 alarm ; fome repaired to their polls in the conven- 
 tion ; fome fought fafety in concealment and flight. 
 Rabaud flood with his report in his hand, but not 
 being able to obtain a hearing, left the hall. A 
 deputation appeared from the commune, who pre- 
 fented a petition, demanding the heads of twenty- 
 two members of the convention, befides the com- 
 mittee of twelve. The convention referred this to 
 the committee of public fafety, requiring them to 
 jft June, make a report in three days. Though the Moun- 
 tain were not entirely fuccefsful in this attempt, they 
 would not give up the point. The central com- 
 mittee, the next day, of their own authority arrefled 
 the ex-miniflers, le Brun and Roland, and the wife 
 of the latter. At three in the afternoon, they 
 marched at the head of the armed force again to in- 
 veft the hall of the convention, and renewed the pe- 
 tition of the day before. The convention had ftill 
 firmnefs fufficient to pafs to the order of the day, 
 and required the petitioners to fupport their denun- 
 ciation by proofs. But this kind of proceeding 
 was not farisfaclory to the infurgents, they gave 
 Henriot more decided inflruclions, and refolved 
 on the morrow 10 bring the affair to a termi- 
 te! Jane, nation. Accordingly the tocfin was again founded, 
 the whole city under arms, and Henriot, with a 
 confiderable reinforcement, furrounded the hall. 
 The galleries were filled with revolutionary women, 
 armed, with daggers, with which they threatened the 
 obnoxious deputies ; and all the avenues to the hall 
 were filled with armed people, who prevented the 
 members from retiring. It is probable that many 
 
 of
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 of the orders given by the revolutionary committee 
 were extremely vague and uncertain, or perhaps 
 kept fecret from fome of the apparent heads of the 
 Mountain, for in many inftances they difplayed a 
 want of unanimity which would have ruined them, 
 had the other party been at their pofts, and ready to 
 have taken advantage of circumftances. The cen* 
 tral committee renewed their demand : the conven- 
 tion again patted to the order of the day. Imme- 
 diately the infurrection aflumed a moft formidable 
 appearance : the cannon were pointed towards the 
 avenues, and the members forbid to leave the place. 
 Several battalions feized the inner ports of the hall, 
 and prevented all communication between the de- 
 puties within and the people without. The prefi- 
 dent ordered Henriot to draw off his troops, but he 
 returned for anfwer, that as foon as he had fulfilled 
 the orders of the people, he would attend to thofe of 
 the convention ; but that if they refufed to deliver 
 up the traitors, he would order the cannon to be 
 fired upon them. Danton, unacquainted with all 
 the fecrets of his party, burfl into a rage at this in- 
 folence, and demanded the death of the ruffian 
 Henriot. The convention ordered the officers next 
 to the entrance of the hall to be called to the bar : 
 they appeared, but gave no information towards un- 
 ravelling the confpiracy. Barrere, feeing the Gi- 
 ronde like to be overcome, made an infidious pro- 
 pofal to the profcribed deputies, for the fake of 
 peace and the good of the country, to fubmit, and 
 fufpend themfelves from their functions. Some of 
 them were weak enough to fall into fo grofs a fnare; 
 but Barbaroux and Lanjuinais refifted it, and ex- 
 pofed the tyranny exercifed over them with fo much 
 force, that it is extremely probable, if all the reft 
 of the deputies had been in their places, if the elo- 
 quence and credit of BrhTot, Rabaud, and the others 
 had been exercifed, they would have obtained the 
 1 5 viftory,
 
 4 i 4 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 victory, by difuniting the Mountain. The combuf- 
 tible foul of Danfon had already caught fire ; and 
 Lacroix, another Mountaineer, had protefted with 
 vehemence againft the tyranny of making the mem- 
 bers prifoners in their own hall. The feeblenefs 
 of the Briflbtines afforded the prefident, Herault de 
 Sechelles, a Jacobin, an opportunity to prevent the 
 difunion of his party, by a childifh trick : he infifted 
 that the whole afiembly mould demonflrate how 
 much they were at liberty, by leaving the hall. 
 They did fo ; and he marched with them in the 
 garden, till Henriot, at the head of fome troops, and 
 with his hat on, informed him he mould not pafs, 
 and ordered the cannoneers to their guns. They re- 
 turned to their hall, where Herault told them, that 
 after fo ftriking a proof, the convention could no 
 longer have reafon to compla'n of their want of 
 freedom. Immediately on their return they did the 
 very act they had fo long refufed, they decreed the 
 arreft of the proscribed deputies, and the infurrection 
 was at an end ra . 
 
 increafing This victory and the fubfequent imprifonment of 
 rower of the deputies attached to the Girondifts, gave Ro- 
 befpierre a decided afcendancy in the convention. 
 The departments, excited by the deputies who had 
 taken refuge there, were, fome of them, in a ftate of 
 formidable infurreftion, but the activity, the tret 
 mendous means, and the prevailing influence of the 
 Mountain, increafed by fome timely ads of apparent 
 patriotifm, at length fucceeded in ftifling the com- 
 motion; the deputies were hunted from place to 
 place, fome fell into the hands of their enemies, 
 and fuffered on the fcaffold, fome appear to have 
 perimed by famine, fome were driven to the defperate 
 
 m For an account r of thefe tranfaclions, fee the Hiftories; New 
 Annual Regifter for 1793, p. 176. j Mils Williams's Letters, vol. i. 
 p.73; Louvet's Narrative, p. 41 to 50. } Peltier's idle Picture, vol. ii. 
 p. 530.5 Garat's Memoirs, p. 171. 
 
 refource
 
 ROBESPIERRE, 4 , 5 
 
 refource of fuicide, and a few efcaped, after en- 
 countering difficulties of every * kind almbft in- 
 credible. 
 
 The unlimited afcendancy of Robefpierre arofe Histy- 
 not fo much from his majority, or rather from his ranny * 
 having deftroyed all parties in the convention but 
 his own, as from his having contrived to annihilate 
 all remains of authority in that body. This he 
 effected by means of the committee of public fafety, 
 which, at firft, was renewable at the end of every 
 month, but he having been appointed one of it's 
 members, and having a majority entirely devoted to 
 him, obtained a decree from the convention to 
 render the committee permanent, and thus per- 
 petuate the reign of twelve tyrants, whom, as he 
 iwayed in the mod abfolute manner, he, in fact, 
 was the fole ruler of the country. This atrocious 
 body, fecure of fupport from Robefpierre, ufurped 
 many of the powers of legiflation, they promulgated 
 decrees, fent agents or viceroys into the depart- 
 ments, invefted with unlimited authority, and 
 feveral times refufed to give an account of their 
 motives to the convention. The duties of that 
 body foon became limited to the hearing of reports 
 from the minifters who formed the committee, 
 which, from their fallacy, and the affectation of their 
 ftyle, were called Carmagnols a la Barrere % to the 
 regiftration of decrees without confidering of their 
 probable effect on the country, to a patient ac- 
 quiefcence in, or fubmiffive reverberation of the 
 applaufes bellowed on the committee, and on 
 Robefpierre. Their number, by reafon of pro- 
 fcriptions, committees, miflions to the departments 
 and armies, and feceffions, feldom exceeded two 
 hundred . To the original powers of the committee 
 of public fafety, Robefpierre added others by means 
 
 Mifs Williams's Letters ^1794, vol.iii. p. 61. 
 bee Etat tie la Frame, p, i , a pafiira. 
 
 Of
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 of decrees gained from the complaifant convention, 
 which feemed to promife a perpetual flavery to 
 France. He obtained a decree, that the country 
 mould be in a ftate of revolution till a general 
 peace. He obtained the appointment of a revolu- 
 tionary army, with a guillotine for part of its 
 equipage, which being compofed of ruffians of his 
 own feledtion, and for whom he procured a pay of 
 forty fous a-day, was entirely at his devotion. He 
 obtained a decree, the mod extraordinary, perhaps, 
 ever made by a legiflative body, authorizing the 
 apprehenfion of fufpected perfons, and making the 
 fufpicion of his enemies a crime in the individual, 
 for which he fuftained imprifonment and death. 
 Priefls, nobles, and foreigners were perfecuted with- 
 out mercy or remorfe ; tranfported, put to death 
 without trial, buried in dungeons in daily fear of 
 affaflination, or murder under colour of the law; 
 many thoufands of thefe unfortunate clafTes in- 
 voked the vengeance of Heaven on their inhuman 
 perfecutor. The people imbibed, or were taught 
 to affume an air of ferocity. One of the fe&ions of 
 Paris prefented an addrefs to the convention, in 
 which it requefted them to facriiice nine hundred 
 thoufand heads, and the revolution would be per- 
 fectly eftablifhed. The Jacobins, flill the obedient 
 and ready tools of Robefpierre, required of the 
 convention that terror mould be declared the order 
 of the day, and that the law that members ihould 
 be heard before the paffing of an accufation againfl 
 them mould be repealed. Will it be believed by 
 pofterity ? The ftupid and enilaved convention 
 adlually pafifed this felf-murdering decree. They 
 eftablifhed as principles, that pity was a fign of 
 treafon ; that the exigence of a republic could 
 not be maintained without the power of deft roy ing 
 every thing which oppofed it. This extended alike 
 to perfons and opinions, to fentiments avowed and 
 acted upon, and to thofe only imputed by fmifter 
 
 jealoufy,
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 4,7 
 
 jealoufy, or interefted furmife. It was decreed, 
 that death fhould be the punimment of thofe who 
 Ihould confpire to change the republican form of 
 government ; of thofe who mould refift the revolu- 
 tionary government, of thofe who mould harbour 
 perions accufed of confpiracies after their denuncia- 
 tion ; of thofe who mould correfpond verbally or 
 by writing with prifoners, and of the jailors whb 
 affifted or permitted fuch correfpondence. All ex- 
 nobles were banifhed from Paris, and obliged to 
 fubmit to fuch ftrift forms of regiftration, as left 
 them every hour at the mercy of the committee of 
 pub'lic fafety. It was decreed that tranfportation 
 to the coaft of Africa fliould be the punimment of 
 thofe who complained of the revolution, which was 
 extended to mean of any of the a&s done by the 
 ruling party p . 
 
 Thefe extraordinary powers were not granted all The revo. 
 at once,- but were never withheld when an applica- I^7 
 tion was made to the convention; The revolu- 
 tionary tribunal, entirely devoted to the party from 
 whom it derived its exiftence and authority, made 
 with the moil favage indifference, and even plea- 
 fantry, all the facrifices required of them. The 
 forms of inculpation^ defence, and evidence were 
 totally difregarded, and the perfons whofe lives were 
 required, were merely infulted by the pretence of a 
 trial by jury* It i?, in fact, a cruel mockery to give 
 the name of jury to a number of men permanently 
 eftablifhed in their fituation ; not elected by the 
 prifoner, or fubjecl: to be challenged ; deliberating 
 in public, and pronouncing feparately their opinions 
 aloud q . Their deliberation was a mere farce, for 
 one of the judges daily attended Robefpierre with 
 a lift, from which he marked out a certain number 
 with a crofs, and they were devoted to certain de- 
 
 P On thefe fubjefts, fee Debates and Proceedings of the" Convention ; 
 Necker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 4.38. ; Pages, vol. i. p. 186. 190. j 
 Etat de la France & Suite de 1'Erat tie la France, paffim. 
 
 1 Sec Briflbt a ies Cprmnctnns, p. 37. 
 
 VOL. ii. E ftru&ion.
 
 4 i8 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 ftrudion r . The powers of this tribunal were fo 
 e^tenfive, and the decrees on which they were 
 founded of fuch extraordinary latitude, that it was 
 almoft impoflible for innocence to efcape. The 
 only punilhment they pronounced was death, and 
 that was applied to fuch indefinite crimes as favour- 
 ing the impunity of arijlocraty ; calumniating pa- 
 triotifm ; feeking to vilify the revolutionary tribunal ; 
 to corrupt the public mind and confcience ; and flopping 
 the progrefs of revolutionary principles. The necef- 
 fary proofs confifted of every defcription of docu- 
 ment, whether material, verbal, or written, which 
 carries in itfelf a felf-evidence, and when there 
 were material or moral proofs, no witnefles were to 
 be heard. The rule of the fentence was the confcience. 
 of the jurors ; and the procefs the means which 
 good fenfe mould indicate to eftablifti the folidity of 
 the facts V No perfon denouncing another was 
 obliged to affign his motives, to difcover his name 
 or place of abode. The party denounced, was ar- 
 refted without proof, interrogated without atten- 
 tion to form, infulted by the court, and condemned 
 without mercy or hope of pardon '. 
 
 Punifh- Invefted, by the concurrence of circumftances 
 Sverai^ rather than any effort of premeditation or con- 
 members trivance on his part, with powers fo unlimited, it 
 of the con- was perfectly natural for Robefpierre to feek his own 
 ution. f ecur j t y a j n the deitruction of thofe who could 
 make any refiftance to his authority. The Briffotine 
 deputies were early victims to this principle. The 
 unfortunate queen, and the \vorthlefs Egalite, the 
 perfecuted and the perfecutor, fell under the fame, 
 punimment, and fo entirely was Robefpierre matter 
 of the public opinion, that equal applaufes attended 
 theie two acl:s, fo apprently contradictory. But it 
 
 r Meeker on the Revolution, vol.!. p. 4.33. 
 
 See Necker on the Revolution, vol. i. p. 4.47. Jordan's Political 
 State of Europe, vol. vii. p. 23. 
 
 Suite de 1'Etat ile la France, p. 29. 
 
 wai
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 4 , p 
 
 Xvas not fufficient to rid himfelf of thofe who had 
 conftantly been his opponents, fome of his affociates 
 were too volcanic to be trufted long. Bazire, who, isth Nor. 
 unconfcious that he was digging his own grave, had 17 9 J% 
 applauded and fupported the decree which deprived 
 deputies of the privilege of being heard, was one of 
 the earlieft obje&s of its oppreffion. He, together ,6th Mar. 
 with Chabot, Thuriot, and feveral others, was fent *794- 
 to jail, and from thence to the fcaffold. But a more i 5 th Mar. 
 important operation demanded 'a greater exertion ; ] 79+- 
 Hebert, jealous of Robefpierre's power, and anxious of Hebert. 
 to extend his own, matter of the club of Cordeliers, 
 as Robefpierre was of the JacobinSj meditated his 
 impeachment. Maximilien, informed of the fad, 
 refolved Hebert's deftruction ; yet he proceeded with 
 caution : he firft employed Camille Defmoulins to 
 write him down, which he did with confiderable 
 wit and humour. Hebert, feeing by this that fome- 
 thing was in agitation againft him, took advantage 
 of an illnefs with which his rival was attacked % 
 to excite the Cordeliers to infurreclion. He made 
 a fpeech againft Robefpierre, in which he declared 
 that tyranny exifted ; he caufed a veil to be thrown 
 over the table of the Rights of Man, and actually 
 fucceeded in caufing one of the feftions of Paris to 
 declare itfelf in a flate of infurfe&iori, but his 
 triumph was fhort, he, with eighteen of his accom- 
 plices, was apprehended, delivered over to the re- 
 volutionary tribunal^ and from them, in natural 
 eouffe, to the guillotine. The club was diflblved x . 
 
 The atrocities committed and excited by thefe Hopes of 
 people, made their deftruftion an aft of great popu- the P eo P le - 
 larity. All who retained any refpeft for religion ; 
 all who wifhed for the re-union of their countrymen 
 in the accuftomed bonds of focial intercourfe ; all 
 who felt felicitous for the termination of thofe fcenes 
 of murder and horror which daily infulted hu- 
 
 tt Playfair's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 615. 
 
 x See Htftories. Mifs Williams's Letteis in 1794., vol. Hi. p. 64.. 
 
 E 2 nianity,
 
 420 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 inanity, hailed this epoch as the dawn of that day 
 which was to produce the accomplifhment of their 
 hopes, and gave way to the tranfports excited by 
 fuch an expectation. The event proved the fallacy, 
 religion was no farther re-eftablimed than by a 
 verbal acknowledgment of the exiftence of a God, 
 and a feflival in honour of him, more like burlefque 
 than religion ; focial intercouyfe became more dan- 
 gerous than ever, from the increafed referve re- 
 quired by fanguinary edicts and frequent accufa- 
 tions ; the torrents of blood which every day flowed 
 from the fcaffolds demonstrated too forcibly that 
 the reign of Robcfpierre and that of anarchy and 
 terror were to be coeval. 
 
 Exceffive \^ho (hall defcHbe all the horrors which at this 
 Rob*?." period Itained the foil of France? What mode of 
 I'icn-e. narration can convey to the mind of the reader an 
 adequate idea ? A general enumeration of victims 
 would convey no diitinct notion of that dreadful 
 fyftem which involved guilt and innocence, which 
 refpected neither old age, adolefcence, fex, ficknefs, 
 pregnancy, courage, or pafl fervices; while a feparate 
 recapitulation of the cafes of the various fufferers 
 would fill volumes with records of cruelty un- 
 paralleled in the annals of tyranny, without afford- 
 ing a clear picture of the horror, diffraction, and 
 delegation which pervaded the country. Who mall 
 in future times obtain belief when he relates the 
 cruelties and aflafli nations practifed at Lyons, Mar- 
 fcilles, NantZj and in la Vendee ; the horrible joy 
 with which the national convention applauded and 
 repeated the revolutionary jokes of the afiamns and 
 encouraged their bloody progrefs ; and the indif- 
 ference with which that body furTered their own 
 members to be matched from them, and the citi- 
 zens of Paris law their relations and friends daily 
 configned to the executioner by wretches, who 
 outraged juflice by an utter contempt of all forms 
 of jurifprudential proceeding, and humanity by the 
 
 favage
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 favage indifference, and even affe&ed pleafantry with 
 which they committed their murders y ? Will it be 
 believed, that the wives and children of innocent 
 prifoners, when they went to the houfes of deputies, 
 to folicit in their behalf, were turned to indecent 
 ridicule, and compelled to drink and dance 2 ? Will 
 it be believed, that in one of the departments, a 1 ! 
 the unmarried young women, and even all the 
 children of a town, down to feven years old, were 
 compelled to march in proceffion to the Temple of 
 Reafon, and take an oath never to marry any but 
 true republicans a ? " The complete portrait of 
 " Robefpierre's political life (fays FreronJ is re- 
 " ferved for hiftory, but we may now briefly touch 
 " upon the oppreflion which he extended over us, 
 " and over all the republic. How, in a fociety of 
 " brothers and friends, a word, a gefture of his 
 ^ was fufficient to procure any man's expulfion 
 *' from the Jacobin club, and how the man who was 
 " ftruck out from the liil of that fociety, was foon 
 " ftruck out from the lift of the living. How, 
 " under the pretence of a revolutionary govern- 
 * e ment, he artfully contrived to fet the convention 
 " above principles, the two committees above the 
 " convention, the committee of public fafety above 
 " the committee of general fafety, and himfelf above 
 " the committee of public fafety. How, in this 
 " hall, to deliver an opinion contrary to that of 
 " Robefpierre, was to obtain a paflport to the 
 " guillotine ; how he filled all the prifons with 
 " excellent republicans ; how he corrupted the re r 
 " volutionary tribunal, where judgments of den.th 
 " were pronounced in terms of jocularity V 
 
 To what did all this tend, or what were the fpe- E 
 cific obje(Vs of his views ? becomes a natural queftion. 2 
 
 X See Pages, vol. ii. p. 191. 
 
 z Briflot a I'tsCqinmettans, p. 84. 
 
 * 'Tench's Correfpondence, p. 128. 
 
 b Speech on the Liberty of the Prel's. See Debates, Aug. 1794. 
 
 E E 3 He
 
 422 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 He has been accufed by fome of a confpiracy with 
 the combined powers to difmember France; by 
 others of royalifm, or a view to reftore fome branch 
 of the royal family ; but either of thefe imputations 
 becomes incredible when the fuccefs of the meafures 
 in war which he fanctioned, and the unabating aver- 
 fion he conflantly kept alive againft royalty are 
 confidered. It is averred that he meant to aflume 
 the royal dignity himfelf, either as king, or under 
 fome other name ; and that he had privately vifited 
 the princefs royal in prifon, with an intention to fet 
 her at liberty, and marry her c ; but this and many 
 other reports I confider as mere inventions of the 
 triumphant party, and not entitled to credit. His 
 ambition was abundantly gratified by the exalted 
 fituation to which he was raifed, and in which he 
 might have fecured himfelf by relaxing, after the 
 deftru&ion of his opponents, the fyftem of terror ; 
 but this was fo far from the cafe, that to his lafl 
 hour his third for blood feems to have grown more 
 and more infatiable. Avarice had no (hare in his 
 compofition, for though he permitted the mod 
 iniquitous peculation in his inferior agents, his 
 hands were clean, and he died without having 
 amafied any property d . Luxury had few charms 
 for him ; he was refined rather than otherwife in 
 his taftes, but fo moderate in his enjoyments as to 
 acquire the name of the French Cato e . What then 
 had he in view ? Nothing ; abfolutely nothing deter- 
 minate. Fumed on by accident, not contrivance, 
 raifed by the fortuitous occurrences of the times, 
 and by explofions prepared by other men, to an un- 
 expected eminence, power had the ufual effect on 
 
 Page?, vol.ii. p. 407. 
 
 d He is faid to have encouraged the peculation of his inferior ngents, 
 that he might be enabled, at any time, to effcft their deitrudlion. 
 Suite de PEtat de la France, p. 34. 
 
 e He is faid to have been addicted to liquor, See Tench's Corre- 
 (jpondence, p, 7^6. 
 
 him
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 423 
 
 him in drawing forth the latent propenfities of the 
 heart. He was ungrateful, jealous, envious, and 
 timid; and to thefe qualities, whetted by the fenfeof the 
 perilous ftate in which he flood, muft be attributed all 
 the terrible fcenes which marked his reign f . Blood 
 was become his element, and he caufed the effufion 
 as neceffary to his exiftence.- Talents, virtue, birth, 
 wealth, excited in him envy or fear, and marked 
 out their poffeffors to his fury. Surrounded with 
 men devoted to crimes, and whofe ruin muft have 
 produced his own, he fought in the continuance of 
 anarchy and profcription, the perpetuation of his 
 own power and fafety. Crimes were become familiar 
 to him ; and the depraved propenfities of his heart 
 being aroufed, he no longer knew any bounds to 
 his defire of blood. The whole period of his exalt- 
 ation afforded no one inftance, except in the field, 
 which was honourable to the nation. The requi- 
 fition, and rifmg in a mafs, an idea of the moft 
 extenfive fublimity, was converted into an engine of 
 oppreflion ; the maximum, that abominable offspring 
 of tyranny and folly, was a fource of endlefs rapa- 
 city, plunder., profcription, deterioration of pro- 
 vifion, and famine. Religion, that corrector of the 
 human heart, that confoling panacea for every mental 
 wound, was profcribed ; the torpid doctrine that 
 " Death is an eternal fleep," publicly avowed, ex- 
 tended its influence, and blighted every affection 
 and every principle. There never was known, in 
 the annals of man, a period where the want of 
 virtue was encouraged as a public boafl ; where 
 Hypocrify drelfed herfelf in the character of Vice 
 inftead of its oppoiite ; yet this phenomenon dif- 
 
 f Necker fays of him, " No one hitherto has difclofed the refervei 
 * fecrets of this unparalleled tyrnnt , no fine ha* unveiled ihe dark 
 combinations of his mind ; thus the fyftem of his ambition, the 
 limit of his hopes, have remained to be guefled at 5 and perhaps it 
 is of confequence to the honour of human nature to confider him as 
 a preternatural being, with whom, even from Study apt! ebfervation, 
 the mind can enter into no affinity. '' 
 
 E E 4 iinguifhed
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 tinguifned the reign of Robefpierre. Every one 
 who valued his own fafety was forced to applaud and 
 repeat fentiments which made his blood run cold ; 
 and many who had incurred fufpicion were obliged 
 to boail of actions they had never committed, and 
 at which their hearts recoiled. How could it be 
 otherwife when informing, treachery, calumny, and 
 affaffination were erected into virtues ; when the fen- 
 timents of nature were carefully extinguifhed, and 
 fury, perfidy, and inhumanity lighted up in their 
 ftead. The fervant denounced his mailer, the friend 
 betrayed his friend, brothers accufed their brothers, 
 fathers their fons, and children their parents ; they 
 were applauded, and received the homages of their 
 corrupted country. Men of genius and talents in 
 every clafs excited the rage of the tyrant, they were 
 clafled as a new ariftocracy ; it could not, in every 
 iijftance, be fear which occafioned this fentiment ; 
 men of letters might have unfolded and held him up 
 to deteftation, but what had he to fear from artifts, 
 chymifts, and the actors of the theatre Francois ? 
 It was envy, the bafe offspring of a cold, contracted 
 heart, acted upon by the recollection of difappoint- 
 ment in one of the roads to celebrity. The nobles 
 were, in the mod wanton manner, confined and 
 moved from prifon to prifon ; every avenue to the 
 city prefented the difgufting fpectacle of one or more 
 tart-loads of thefe unfortunate perfonages of both 
 fexes and of every age, from infancy to extreme old 
 age, exempt from a charge of crime, tied with their 
 hands behind them, and expofed to the heat of the 
 fun, the fury of the elements, or the (till more 
 diftrefiing outrages of the hordes of revolutionary 
 banditti, who loaded them with every difgufting 
 infult language can fupply. The inhabitants of 
 Paris were daily mocked with the fight of cart-loads 
 of perfons fimilarly bound, going to the guillotine \ 
 this infernal object took away the pleafure of their 
 belt walk, reddened their (treats with the gore which 
 
 adhered
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 42S 
 
 adhered to the flioes of thofe who had directed their 
 iteps near the place where it was erected, and (hed 
 human blood in fuch profufion, that the earth being 
 incapable of abforbing it all, it ran to difcolour the 
 waters of the Seine. The night was no lefs terrible 
 than the day, for befides the dread of domiciliary 
 vifits, of plunder and aiTaflination, thofe whom ill- 
 nefs or accident kept awake were alarmed with the 
 noife of carts carrying people to fome of the prifons, 
 which were new to be found in every ftreet, and 
 from one to the other of which the prifoners were 
 conveyed in the mod outrageous and wanton manner. 
 The guillotine feemed to iuperfede or prefide over 
 every thought ; even the women are faid to have 
 given to their babes, inftead of a coral, a machine 
 which reprefented the action of that inftrument, and 
 the falling of the human head under its ftroke. 
 The paflage of the condemned through the ftreets 
 to the guillotine was embittered by every farcafm 
 and infult brutality and malice could fuggeft, 
 and it was not uncommon to fee children of twelve 
 years old fucking the blood v/hich trickled from the 
 fatal machine s . 
 
 The expences of government were incalculable. Expenceof 
 The fabrication of afli gnats was fo great, that the f^" 1 " 
 daily confumption of paper for them alone amounted 
 to fix thoufand reams h . The committees of furveil- 
 lance, thofe abominable hofts of fpies and robbers, 
 were maintained at an expence of near thirty-two mil- 
 lions of pounds fierling a-year' 1 . Thefe were but the 
 lead considerable parts of the public expenditure ; 
 the convention, the armies., the navy, all other de- 
 partments were adminiflered with equal prodigality. 
 The people were expofed to all the miferies of fa- Mifeiy of 
 niiuc ; commerce was annihilated, and induftry fup- the p e i''*. 
 preifed : the poflfeilion of wealth was certain de- 
 
 9 Efat de la France, p. 77. 
 
 Tench's Ccnei'pondence, p. 177. * Idem, p. 189. 
 
 fl ruction,
 
 42 6 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 ftru&ion, as Robefpierre had been known to de- 
 clare, that he did not think it neceifary for the rich- 
 eft man in the republic to poflefs more than three 
 thoufand livres (i3i/. 5-r.) a-year k . The holding 
 any of the necelfaries of life fubjected the citizen to 
 the infults of revolutionary plunderers, and the hor- 
 rors of a breach of the law of maximum. Humanity 
 fliudders at hearing the diftreffes to which the poor 
 were reduced ; there was in Paris a general want of 
 bread, meat, milk, eggs, and even fuel. The de- 
 preciated paper-money would not afford a fufficiency 
 of thefe articles to fupport the wives and families of 
 the labourers, and the difficulties fuflained by 
 the poor furpafs defcription and belief. When 
 they complained of diftrefs at home, they 
 were directed to turn their thoughts towards the 
 glories of the armies of the republic, to fuffer with 
 patience for the good of the country, and to impofe 
 on themfelves voluntary fafls, or chic tents. Far 
 more harfh treatment awaited them if they uttered a 
 complaint on the fubjeft of their profcribed or im- 
 prifoned relatives : a deputation of women, in con- 
 fiderable number, came one day to the convention, 
 to folicit the enlargement of parents, fons, or huf- 
 bands, fnatched from them and buried in dungeons. 
 Their tears, the eloquent language of nature, which 
 foftened the tribunes into filence, only increafed the 
 fury of Robefpierre ; he accufed them of arifto- 
 cracy ; of a wifh to oppofe the progrefs of the revo- 
 lution, by enervating the meafures of the convention. 
 After hearing thefe, and many more brutalities, they 
 were difmifled to devour their chagrin in retirer 
 ment. 
 
 A party i n the latter part of his life, Robefpierre feems 
 agahfft gradually to have loft fight of all his cunning, to 
 Robef- have forgot the means to which he owed his eleva- 
 pierre. fo^ and, intoxicated by a plenitude of power, to 
 
 * Pages, vol.ii. p. 50$, 
 
 have
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 have addi&ed himfelf without referve to his moil 
 ferocious propensities, regardlefs of the public opi- 
 nion, and indifferent to the cenfures of his colleagues. 
 An oppofition from any of them was, as Freron 
 faid, a paflport to the fcaffold ; but on the flighteft 
 hint of a contrariety of opinion, he gave way to the 
 violence of his temper, and overwhelmed them with 
 the coarfeft abufe. His ingratitude or fear tri- 
 umphed over his judgment in the deftrudion of 
 Danton, his conftant friend and defender, and the 
 principal engine of his elevation; Camille Defmou- 
 lins, and Fabre d'Eglantine, to whom he owed 
 much of his popularity. The execution of thefe 
 deputies alarmed the reft ; Danton had a ftrong 
 party in his interefts, and thefe reinforced by others, 
 xvhom fear, jealoufy, or honefty united againft the 
 tyrant, formed a confpiracy which at laft freed their 
 country from the fcourge of his exiftence. This 
 tafk was attended with difficulty and danger appa- 
 rently infurmountable ; the power of Robefpierre 
 exceeded that of any monarch in Europe ; the Ja- 
 cobins were entirely devoted to him, and by means 
 of their affiliated focieties, fpread their fentiments all 
 over France ; the ftaff and principal officers of the 
 national guard were of his own appointing, and the 
 major part of the artillery of the capital was at his 
 difpofal ; the commune of Paris was fervilely de- 
 voted to his commands, and many of them were 
 judges of the revolutionary tribunal. That ex- 
 ecrable court, together with the revolutionary com- 
 mittees, and his legions of armed ruffians, infured 
 the fubje&ion of Paris, and the influence of that 
 city extended over the remainder of France. The 
 rnembers of the committee of public iafety, in their 
 reports to the convention, loaded him with the 
 moft exaggerated praifes, and the journalifts extolled 
 him above all the heroes of antiquity. Wherever 
 he went he was furrounded by a crowd of officious 
 flatterers, who attended to every one of his motions, 
 9 and
 
 423 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 and feemed to place their whole happinefs in his fmile. 
 The Jacobins had given him the title of incorruptible ^ 
 and this was generally annexed to his name. He re- 
 ceived numerous addrefles from the departments, 
 in which all the modes and exprefllons of adulation 
 were exhaufled. He was flyled, " the glorious, 
 " incorruptible Robefpierre, who covers the republic 
 " by his virtues and talents, as with a mield ; who 
 " joins to the felf-denial of a Spartan or Roman of 
 " early date, the eloquence of an Athenian. Even 
 " the tendernefs and humanity of his difpofition 
 " were praifed ! One man congratulated himfelf 
 " on a perfonal refemblance to him ; and another, 
 " at the diftance of fix hundred miles, declared he 
 " was haftemng to Paris to feafl his eyes with a 
 < fight of him. He was compared, not by an in- 
 " dividual, but by a body of people, to the Mef- 
 " fiah, announced by the Supreme Being as the 
 " reformer of all things ; and afterwards, he was 
 " faid to manifeft himfelf, like the Almighty, by 
 " miracles. On fome occafion a Te Deum was 
 " performed for him, the burthen of which was 
 " Vive Robefpierre vive la Republique '/" 
 * 5 d May The enthufiafm of admiration and fervile adula^ 
 s u 17 ofed ^ on was ca e d to * ts extremeft height by a re- 
 aSipMo ported plot to aflaffinate him, entered into by a wo- 
 aflaiiinate man o f t ^ e name of Cecile Regnaud, and a man 
 named Amiral. The only fads proved againft the 
 woman were, that me demanded to fee Robefpierre 
 with impatience and haughtinefs, and faid me vvifhed 
 to know how a tyrant was made. Amiral had at- 
 tempted to piftol Collot d'Herbois. Regnaud m was 
 
 guillotined 
 
 1 Tench's Correfpondence, p. 194. From Courtois 1 report of 16 Ni- 
 vofe (jth January). 
 n AIMEE CECILS REGNAULT or REGNAUD, was daugliterof a 
 
 ftationer, living in rue la Lantern, in the feftion of la Cite. From her 
 conduct (he appears to have been deranged in her intellects. She went 
 to the houle where Robefpierre redded, and demanded to fee him : 
 being informed he was not at home, fhe anfwered, it was very aftonifti-
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 guillotined together with her father, mother, and 
 aunt, who, without proof, were adjudged to be ac- 
 complices in her plot. This circumftance afforded 
 the fanguinary tyrant a plea for accelerating his 
 courfe in the race of blood ; he was diflatisfied with 
 the tardinefs of the revolutionary tribunal, which, 
 though it deftroyed fifty or threefcore a-day, with 
 no form of trial, or any ceremony fave that of call- 
 
 ing that, as a public functionary, he was not at home. PofTeffing fuch 
 a place as he did, he ought always to be at home and ready to fee 
 thofe who hid bufmefs with him. '1 he purport of thefe words alarmed 
 Duplai, the mafter of the houft-, who immediately apprehended and 
 carri d her befoie the committee of public fafety. In their way (he ob- 
 lervtd that, during the old government, the king was always accifliblc; 
 and that fhe would fhed the lad drop of her blood to have a king again. 
 Jieing Mflced by the committee if fhe had ufed the above exprefTions, 
 fhe readily acknowledged them 4 and added, that there were then in 
 France fifty thoufand tyrants, and (he wanted to fee how a tyrant was 
 made. On this (he was committed to the Conciergerie, together with 
 her father, mother, and aunt. She underwent another examination, 
 during which fhe repeated her former aftertions : her inquifitcrs wanted 
 her to add that fhe went to Kobefpierre's houfe in confequer.ee of a 
 confpiracy to affiflinate him, and threatened that if fhe did notconfefi 
 it, all her family fhould fuffer. She perlHled, nevei thelefs, in deny- 
 ing any fuch intention. Anew fpecies of torture for the difcovery 
 ot truth was invented by thefe fapient inveftigators : as Cecile was in 
 the prime of youth, in her twentieth year, very handlome, and drefTed 
 with care and neatnefs, they had her clothes taken from her, and after 
 making her put on fqualid rags in their (lead, renewed their interro- 
 gatory : flie perfevered in her denial of the confpiracy, and with con- 
 fiderable effeft rallied her examiners on the abfurdity of their experi- 
 ment. She was then transferred to the revolutionary tribunal, and 
 put to the bar, together with Amira), her own relations, and upwards 
 of threefcore perlbns bellde, molt of whom had been in prifon fix 
 months before, and had never feen or heard of her. The jury, ou 
 hearing their names called over, declared themfelves fufficiently in- 
 ftru&ed, and pronounced fentenceof death on the whole party, fixty- 
 nine in number, without hearing evidence or defence} they were all 
 guillotined the 251!! of May. Her two brothers, who were fight- 
 ing on the frontier, were arrefted, loaded with chains, and lent to 
 Paris ; but before the executioners had time to beftow their attention 
 on them, the revolution of the 7th of July deprived them of their 
 murderous power. There is no doubt but inia ; ty mud have been 
 the caufe of this unfortunate yeung woman's proceeding; that (he 
 was not emulous of imitating Charlotte Corday appears by her going 
 unprovided with ctfenlive weapons; that fhe did not expeft impunity 
 appears by her having furnifhedherfelf with a bundle of linen, exnrefsiy 
 Letaufe it would be ufetul to her in prijTon.
 
 430 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 ing over their names, feemed too flow for the 1 
 rapidity of his deflructive defires; it was propofed 
 at the Jacobin club to kill three thoufand a-day with 
 grape-mot, till the prifons mould be emptied ; and 
 orders were actually given for enlarging the court of 
 the revolutionary tribunal, fo that two or three hun- 
 dred perfons might be difpatched at once. Whether 
 his fears of aflaffination were real or affefted, he 
 made ufe of the reports raifed on the fubjecl: to 
 i 5 th May. gratify his vanity as well as his cruelty ; he made a 
 pompous fpeech in the convention, wherein he ex- 
 aggerated the magnitude of his fervices and dangers* 
 and challenged the gratitude of his cotemporaries, 
 and the admiration of pofterity. He alfo made ufe 
 of it to a purpofe ftill more deteftable ; to obtain the 
 decree for giving no quarter to Englifh or Hano- 
 verian prifoners n . 
 
 *th June. j n t h e m idft of the horrors he excited, of the 
 honouTof executions with which he enfanguined his native 
 the Su- land, hardened againft the impreffions of felf-abhor- 
 J2 e rence, which a confcioufnefs of his unrelenting 
 favagentfs ought to have infpired, Robefpierre had 
 the incredible aflurance to propofe a feftival in ho- 
 nour of the Supreme Being, that creative power j 
 who even in the majefty of offended juftice, defireth 
 not the death of a finner, and to propofe himfelf as 
 high-prieft on the occafion. In a prepared fpeechj 
 replete with affectation, he afierted, as if it were a 
 difcovery of his own, the exiftence of a Deity, and 
 the immortality of the foul ; and enforced the doc- 
 trine with thofe trite topics which would hardly be 
 thought worthy to fill a page of a fchool-boy's exer- 
 cife, expreflfed in all the flotid pompofity of felf- 
 conceit, and uttered in the complacent accents of 
 felf-applaufe. This feftival actually took place 5 
 
 n For an account of CecileRcgnault's apprehenfion and examin- 
 ation, ice Jordan's Political State, vol. vi. p. 461. ; Mils Williams's 
 Letters in 1794, vol.ii. p. 66.; New Annual Regilbf for 1794, 
 p. 366. j Playf ail's Hiftory of Jacobinifm, p. 637,1 
 
 David
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 David the painter arranged the order of the pro- 
 ceffion, the decorations of the altar, the ornaments 
 of the houfes, and the whole Jpeftade of the Champ 
 de Mars. The following animated and accurate de- 
 fcription of it is taken from the Letters of Mifs Wil- 
 liams . " David, ever ready to fulfil the mandates 
 " of his mailer, Robefpierre, fteps forth, marfhals 
 " the proceflion, and, like the herald in Othello, 
 " orders every man to put himfelf into triumph ! 
 " At this fpot, by David's command, the mothers- 
 44 are to embrace their daughters at that, the 
 ** fathers are to clafp their fons here the old are to 
 M blefs the young, and there the young are to kneel 
 *' to the old upon this boulevard the people are to 
 " fing upon that, they mufl dance at noon they 
 " muft liften in filence, and at fun-fet they muft 
 
 *' rend the air with acclamations. The citizens 
 
 " of Paris had been invited, and the invitation 
 " amounted to a command, to decorate their houfes- 
 " in honour of the feflival. Accordingly Paris on 
 ** that morning, lighted up by brilliant fun-miwe y 
 " prefented the moll gay and charming fpeftacle. 
 " imaginable. "Woods had been robbed of their 
 " ihade, and gardens, to the extent of fome leagues, 
 " rifled of their fweets, in order to adorn the city. 
 ** The walls of every houfe were covered with luxu- 
 c riant wreathes of oak and laurel blended with 
 " flowers ; civic crowns were interwoven with 
 " national ribbands j three-colou/ed flags waved 
 ** over every portal ; and the whole was arranged 
 ** with that light and airy grace which belongs to 
 ** Parifian fancy. The women wore garlands of 
 ** frefh-blown rofes in their hair, and held branches 
 " of palm or laurel in their hands ; the men placed 
 " oaken boughs in their hats, and children ftrewed 
 " the way with violets and myrtle. The repre- 
 * e fentatives of the people had large three-coloured 
 " plumes in their hats, national fcarfs thrown acrof* 
 
 Letters in I794-* vol. ii, p. 86, 
 
 " their
 
 43 2 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 " their moulders, and nofegays of blended wheat- 
 " ears, fruits, and flowers in their hands, as fymbols 
 " of their miffion. A great amphitheatre was 
 " raifed on the garden of the Thuilleries imme- 
 " diately before the palace, now the feat of the 
 " convention. Upon a tribune in the centre of 
 " the theatre, Robefpierre, as prefident of the con- 
 " vention, appeared ; and having for a few hours 
 " difencumbered the fquare of the revolution of the 
 " guillotine, this high-pried of Moloch, within 
 " view of that very fpot where his daily facrifice of 
 " human victims was offered up, covered with their 
 " blood, invoked the Parent of univerfal nature, 
 " talked of the charms of virtue, and breathed the 
 " hope of immortality. When the foul fiend had 
 *' finifhed this impious mockery, he defcended from 
 " the tribune, and walked with great folemnity 
 " towards a grotefque kind of monument that was 
 " raifed upon the bafon in the front of the palace, 
 " which had been covered over for that purpofe. 
 " On this monument was placed a mif-fhapen and 
 " hideous figure, with afs's ears, which for fome 
 " hours ferved as an enigma to the gaping crowd, 
 *' who knew not how to account for this fingular 
 *' appearance ; till Robefpierre having fet fire to 
 *' this image of deformity, which was declared to be 
 " the fymbol of atheifm, its cumbrous drapery 
 " fuddenly vanimed, and a fair and majeftic form 
 " was difcovered, emblematical of wifdom and 
 " philofophy. Atheifm being thus happily de- 
 <c ftroyed, the convention, attended by a numerous 
 " proceffion of people, and preceded by triumphal 
 " cars and banners, inarched to the Champ de Mars, 
 <c where, with much toil and coft, a rocky mountain 
 " had been reared, upon whofe lofty fummit the 
 ** tyrant and his attendants climbed, and from 
 " whence he once more harangued the people ; 
 " and the feftival clofed with hymns and choral 
 (( fongs in honour of the Supreme Beine\" 
 
 While
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 4?3 
 
 While this execrable monfter, by this facrilegious Hlsimpro- 
 ceremony, feemed to place himfelf point-blank in the [Su^ 00 "" 
 very aim of the vengeance of an offended Deity ; 
 while making his puerile harangue, he waved in one 
 of his blood-ftained hands a nofegay, in the other his 
 hat : doubtlefs many who had to require of him the 
 blood of parents, children, relations, and friends, 
 lifted up their hands to the God he profaned in 
 ardent and pious ejaculation for an emanation of 
 divine wrath to rid the earth of its greateft peft. 
 Their prayers were heard ; from that day he feems 
 to have ftood marked as a perfon on whom the 
 ftroke of Death was ready to defcend. In the pro- 
 grefs of the feftival, he gave much offence by affect- 
 ing to walk at the head, and at fome diftance from 
 his colleagues. He had put them out of temper by 
 a childifh difplay of vanity in keeping them and 
 the impatient fpeclators waiting two hours after the 
 appointed time before he made his appearance. A 
 feeble attempt was made by fome of his moft refolute 
 partifans to raife a cry of " Vive Robefpierre!" but 
 it was not re-echoed by the multitude. 
 
 The motives of Robefpierre's conduct during the Efforts of 
 latter part of his life are involved in a confiderable |jen s H . p " 
 degree of obfcurity, they form a riddle which it is 
 not eafy to folve. The power he already porTeffed 
 fo extenfive, fo apparently (table, left him nothing 
 to defire, unlefs it were a greater name, as that of 
 king, dictator, protector,, or perpetual prefident ; 
 but to have attained that end it was neceffary to 
 have conciliated the affections of the people, by re- 
 mitting in fome degree the operation of terror. So 
 far was he from doing this, that every day pre- 
 fented an enlarged lift of victims to his rage for 
 blood, and meafures were in agitation to increafe 
 ftill more the exterminating power of the revolu- 
 tionary, tribunal. If his own fafety prompted him 
 to meafures fo deftructive, he ought not to have 
 remained fo long as he did indifferent to the move- 
 
 VOL. ii. F F merits
 
 434 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 ments of the junto he faw forming in the convert^ 
 tion againfl him. It is faid that a party, headed by 
 Bentabole, and confiding of Collot d'Herbois, 
 Vadier, and Tallien, had been leagued together for 
 fome months, and that thefe men had refolved, if 
 other means failed, to affaflinate Robefpierre in the 
 convention p ; but there is much improbability in the 
 joth June, account. Two days after the feftival, an abridgment 
 of his power took place, which ought to have con- 
 vinced him of the decline of his influence, and 
 urged him to its re-eftablifhment by fome fpeedy and 
 effectual ftroke. The aft alluded to is that which 
 deprived the committees of public fafety and of gene- 
 ral fecurity, of the power of fending members of the 
 convention to trial before the revolutionary tribunal, 
 till that body mould have framed the articles of their 
 accufation. Robefpierre's conduct on this occafion 
 {hews the littlenefs of his mind ; incapable of pre- 
 paring, combining, and maturing a confpiracy, but 
 accuftomed to lurk in a recefs during the hurricane, 
 and afterwards to come forward and amime to 
 himfelf the credit, that he might derive advantage 
 from the event, he, on this occafion, left the front 
 of the battle to his partifans, and for four decades 
 abfented himfelf from the committees and the con- 
 vention. His pufillanimity confounded his parti- 
 fans ; the committee of general fecurity was inimical 
 to him, and he meditated their deftruction, but 
 had not time to effect it. In the committee of 
 public fafety a flrong party was formed againft him, 
 he knew their intentions, and included their names 
 in one of his lifts of profcription ; this lift was found 
 in the hands of one of the revolutionary jury who 
 had been arrefted, and by alarming the fears of 
 thofe vvhofe names were infcribed in it, accelerated 
 the event of an open rupture. The Jacobins, 
 amongft whom were a great many of the friends of 
 
 P Suite d 1'Etat de la France, p. 57. 
 
 6 Damon,
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 4J 
 
 Damon, and many confidants of the profcribed de- 
 puties, were not difpofed to enter into all the views 
 of Robefpierre with fo much ardour as he wifhed. 
 They maintained, on many occafions, a torpid in- 
 difference, which drew on them the reproaches of 
 the younger Robefpierre. The ingratitude of Maxi- 
 milian was now about to be thoroughly and feverely 
 punifhed. The energy and refolution of Danton, 
 the eloquence of Camille Defmoulins, and the ad- 
 drefs of Fabre d'Eglantine were wanting to him in 
 this emergency, and very ill fupplied by the brutality 
 and inconfideratenefs of Henriot, the vulgarity and 
 heavy ignorance of Couthon and St. Juft, and the 
 negative amftance and ftudioufly concealed fervices 
 of the abbe Syeyes and la Clos 9 . Yet to triumph 
 over the tyrant was not matter of facility; the 
 habitual deference paid him, the ftrength of his 
 party, united by a guilty fear, and the difunion of 
 his opponents, occafioned by terror, rendered the 
 event of a conteft extremely precarious. He was 
 known to poflefs an unlimited influence over the na- 
 tional guard, and the camps in the vicinity of Paris 
 were devoted to him. The party in oppofition did 
 not know their own ftrength ; for many who inwardly 
 hated the tyrant, and faw in his deftruftion their only 
 hope of fafety, externally paid him the mofl fervile 
 homage, and, as well in his abfence as when he was 
 prefent, made his praifes their favourite theme. 
 
 At length, he himfelf threw down the gauntlet rf^ J"'y. 
 of hoftility. He appeared in the tribune of the ^"con- m 
 convention after a long feceflion, and in a prolix, vcnnoa. 
 ill-connected fpeech, complained of the treatment 
 he received from intriguers and calumniators, both 
 abroad and at home ; at the head of thofe abroad he 
 placed the duke of York and Pitt; thofe at home he 
 would not name, but intimated fo ftrongly certain 
 members of the convention, that feveral rofe to ex- 
 
 < See Etat i1c la France, p. 15. 
 
 .F F 2 culpaje
 
 436 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 culpate themfelvcs. The other party, thus called 
 upon, were obliged to put theinfelves in a ftate of 
 defence ; Bourdon de 1'Oife moved that the fpeech 
 might be referred to the committees previous to 
 its being printed ; Cambon and Vadier complained 
 of Robefpierre' s infmualions againfl them : Couthon 
 defended Robefpierre, reprobated the fyftem of ca- 
 lumny which prevailed, infilled that a line of de- 
 marcation mould be drawn between the patriots and 
 the intriguers, and that the fpeech mould be printed 
 without being referred to the committees. A tu- 
 multuous debate enfued, in which Freron demanded 
 the exemption of the members from arrefl, adding, 
 that no man could fpeak freely while influenced by 
 that fear. Billaud de Varennes anfwered him with 
 a logic altogether fingular, that he, whom fear hin- 
 dered from delivering his opinion, was unworthy the 
 title of reprefentative of the people. Barrere fpoke 
 a few words perfectly equivocal ; in the end, how- 
 ever, the matter took a favourable turn for the 
 ufurper ; the printing of his fpeech was ordered 
 unconditionally. From the convention he haflened 
 to read his fpeech at the Jacobins, where it excited 
 a general enthufiafm in his favour. Couthon de- 
 nounced the two committees as traitors ; Coffinhal 
 propofed the purification of the convention, which 
 was well underflood to import the deflruclion of all 
 the members except thofe devoted to his patron; 
 and David, embracing Robefpierre, promifed if he 
 drank hemlock, to drink it with him. 
 
 P 7: .!* ffi' The imminence of the danger could not aroufe 
 beipierre. * * ne opponents of Robefpierre to a decifive mode of 
 conduft. The convention met the next day, and 
 bufinefs was proceeding in its ufual channel, till 
 St. Jult, inftigated by his evil genius, afcended the 
 tribune, and after Hating that the committees of 
 government had directed him to make a report on 
 the (late of the country, added, that their remedies 
 were inefficient for the exifting grievances, and he 
 
 would
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 43? 
 
 would fpeak to the convention from bimfelf. 
 Tallien pufhed him from the tribune, complained of 
 the audacity of individuals in attacking government, 
 and demanded that the veil mould be withdrawn. 
 He was interrupted by Billaud de Varennes, who, 
 from his feat, demanded an unequivocal explanation. 
 He dated that the convention was between two pre- 
 cipices ; the public force was in the hands of a man 
 denounced by the committee, but who was retained in 
 his command by an individual that individual had 
 for more than a month paft plotted the diffolution of 
 the convention: that individual was Robefpierre. 
 He deprecated tyranny, and afked if any members 
 prefent would wifh to live under it. Robefpierre 
 was, at firft, thunderftruck ; he afterwards endea- 
 voured to fpeak, but was prevented by the menaces 
 of Tallien, who drawing a dagger, and brandifhing 
 it in the eyes of his colleagues, faid he would deftroy 
 him with it unlefs the convention delivered him to 
 the fword of juftice. After fome amplification, he 
 moved that the fitting mould be declared permanent. 
 His efforts were feconded by Delmas and Barrere, 
 by Billaud and Collot d'Herbois, who was prefident. 
 They obtained a decree for the arreflation of Hen- 
 riot, d'Aubigni, Lavalette, Dufraiffe, all the flafF 
 of the national guard, and a man of the name 
 of Sijas; but they had not yet the courage to 
 arreft the tyrant himfelf. While the prefident was 
 arranging thefe decrees, Robefpierre got poffeffion. 
 of the tribune, but they would not permit him to 
 utter a word : " Down with him ! down with 
 " Cromwell !" refounded from every quarter. As 
 he perfevered in his efforts to obtain a hearing, a 
 member faid to him ; " Robefpierre, you mail not 
 " fpeak ; the blood of Danton is upon your head, 
 " it flows into your throat, it choaks you'!" " Ah, 
 " ah ! (exclaimed he grinding his teeth and foam- 
 " ing with rage,) Ah, ah ! robbers, it is Danton, 
 ** then," He was heard no more; Vadi'er inter- 
 
 F F 3 rupte4
 
 3 8 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 rupted him, and made a fpeech wherein he unfolded 
 his tyranny and all his iniquities : this blow com- 
 pletely overpowered him ; he caft a look of piercing 
 indignation towards the Mountain, and reproached 
 their defertion ; he is even faid, in his extremity, to 
 have turned to the right fide^ to folicit their pro- 
 tection, but in vain. Tallien and Billaud poured 
 frefh accufations on his head with unceafmg arfiduity. 
 He perceived the world fliding from under him, and 
 that he would be fpeedily precipitated into the abyfs 
 of deftruction : " Well ! (exclaimed he in a tone oi 
 " defperation,) lead me, then, to inftant death." 
 " Execrable monfter ! (exclaimed Dumont, with a 
 " threatening gefture,) thou haft deferved it an 
 " hundred times!" The decree for his accufation 
 was then put and carried unanimoufly, and Couthon 
 and St. Juft were added. The younger Robefpierre 
 and Lebas, indignant at what was paffing, infulted 
 the convention, and threatened fome of the members 
 in fuch a manner as to get included in the decree of 
 accufation. The officer who was ordered to take 
 them into cuftody, and lead them to the committee 
 of public fafety, imprefled with the habitual refpeft 
 and fear excited by the prefence of Robefpierre, 
 hefitated to obey the repeated commands of the pre- 
 fident, and would not receive the prifoners, till the 
 chief of them made a fign expreffive of his obedience 
 to the law, when they were all led out. 
 Oppcfnion Meantime the rumour of what was doing in the 
 Uruflio'n convention fpread all over Paris ; Robefpierre's parti- 
 o his fans loft no time in endeavouring to oppofe the rifmg 
 ** rljr * ftorm. The Jacobins aflembled in their hall, and fent 
 to put the feftions of Paris in a ftate of infurre&ion. 
 The toe/in was founded, the greve covered with 
 armed men, and feveral pieces of artillery planted 
 pn the Quai Pelletier, threatening the hall of the 
 convention ; the barriers were fhut, and Henriot, 
 who had been arrefted and had efcaped, was in- 
 defatigable in collecting an armed force to refift the 
 
 execution
 
 ROBESPIERRE. ^ 39 
 
 execution of the decree. The keepers of the various 
 prifons, participating in the general dread excited 
 by his name, had refufed to receive Robefpierre 
 and the other deputies, who were fpeedily refcued 
 from their guard, and having opened a fitting at the 
 hotel-de-ville, outlawed the national convention. 
 After fpending much time in debate, which con- 
 fpirators of only moderate talents would have em- 
 ployed much more effectually, they fent a part of 
 the armed force, and Henriot at their head, to dif- 
 folve the convention. But that body, convinced 
 that they were ftruggling for their lives, had in the 
 time fo foolifhly wafted by their opponents, con- 
 certed meafures againft them ; Legendre had dif- 
 perfed the Jacobin club, feven deputies were fent 
 into the various parts of the city with a procla- 
 mation, explaining the true ftate of things ; a decree 
 of outlawry was paffed againft the commune, and 
 when Henriot, at the head of his troop, made his 
 appearance in the court-yard of the Tuilleries, they 
 put him out of the law alfo. The effect operated 
 like electricity ; his foldiers, panic-ftruck, refufed to 
 obey his orders, and the people demanded his 
 arreftation ; confufed and abaihed, he haftened to 
 the hotcl-de-ville^ and informed his comrades of his 
 ill-fuccefs. The convention, feeing the operation of 
 their new engine, proclaimed fentence of outlawry 
 againft Robefpierre and all his aifociates, and fet a 
 price on their heads. The feven deputies had fuc- i8th July, 
 ceeded inraifing a party of the' armed inhabitants of 
 Paris in their favour, and with thefe, reinforced by 
 fome foldiers, who remained faithful to the national 
 reprefentation, they found theiiifelves able, at about 
 three o'clock in the morning, to march againft the 
 commune, having firft perfuaded the cannoneers at 
 the Chiai Pelletier to refift the commands of Henriof, 
 who was now out of the law, and to join them. 
 The botel-de-ville might have made a powerful rc- 
 (iilance, and perhaps have turned the tide of fuccefs ; 
 F F 4 but
 
 440 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 but the foldiers of the national guard, hearing that 
 the commune and the deputies there affembled were 
 outlawed, refuted obedience ; the cannoneers were 
 differently difpofed, but the curious mob had ob- 
 tained pofieffion of the gun-carriages, and ufed them 
 as ladders to enable them to look into the windows 
 of the hotel-de-ville^ to fee how the confpirators be- 
 haved in this emergency. Bourdon de 1'Oife, having 
 read to the people the proclamation of outlawry, 
 rufhed into the hotel-de-viHe, armed with a fabre and 
 piftols, and followed by a confiderable force. The 
 difcomfited confederates were moft of them taken on 
 the fpot, a few efcaped, but were fpeedily brought 
 to juftice.- 
 
 His fecond Robefpierre was found in one of the apartments 
 ion > of the hoteLde-vil/e, fitting fquat againft a wall with a 
 knife in his hand, apparently intended for the pur- 
 pofe of felf-deftru&ion, but which he durfl not ufe. 
 A foldier who found him, apprehending fome 
 refiftance, fired two piftols at him, one of which 
 wounded him on the head, the other broke his 
 under jaw ; he was taken and conducted before the 
 committee of general fecurity in a Morocco-covered 
 arm-chair, his broken jaw bound up with a cloth, 
 pafled under his chin, and tied at the top of his 
 head. As he was carried along in this condition, 
 he refted his chin on a handkerchief which he held 
 in his right hand, while the elbow was fupported by 
 his left. A mefTage was fent to the convention to 
 know if he mould be brought to the bar, but the 
 members unanimoufly exclaimed that they would 
 no more furTer their hall to be polluted by the pre- 
 fence of fuch a monfler. He lay for fome hours in 
 an anti-chamber of the committee of general fecurity 
 ftretched on a table, motionlefs, apparently infen- 
 fible of corporeal anguifh, though the blood flowed 
 in ftreams from his eyes, mouth, and noftrils, but 
 torn with racking recollections, and abandoned to 
 remorfe, he pinched his thighs with convulfive 
 5 agony,
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 44 
 
 agony, and fcowled gloomily around the room, 
 when he fancied hirnfelf unoblerved. After endur- 
 ing, in this fituation, the taunts of all who beheld 
 him, he was replaced in the arm-chair, and carried 
 to the hofpital, called the hotel-de-Dieu, where his 
 wounds were drefled, merely to prolong his exift- 
 ence, and from thence was fent to the prifon of the 
 Conciergerie. He was brought before the revolu- 
 tionary tribunal the fame day, together with his ac- 
 complices, in number twenty-one ; as they were all 
 out of the law, the identification of their perfons alone 
 was necefTary, and fentence of death was demand, 
 ed againfl them by their former friend and creature 
 Fouquier Tainville, the public accufer. In the 
 evening of the fame day, at about five o'clock, they 
 were conducted to the place of execution, amidil 
 the acclamations of numerous fpeclators, who con- 
 fidered the proceflion before them as the earned of 
 future happinefs. The ftreets, the windows, and 
 the roofs of the houfes were crowded ; even the 
 guard who efcorted them partook of the general 
 tranfport ; and, which they were never before known 
 to do, joined the cry of Vive la convention! A 
 group of women flopped the carts and danced 
 around them to teftify their joy. 
 
 During this fatal progrefs, Robefpierre, pale and and exe- 
 disfigured, held down his head on his breaft, and ciuion - 
 never looked up except once, when a woman, de- 
 cently dreffed, approached the cart and uttered thofe 
 heart-piercing exclamations, and deep-drawn male- 
 dictions, which put it almoft beyond conjecture that 
 me was a mother whom his cruelty had deprived of 
 a fon, or a widow from whom he had matched her 
 hulband ; at hearing her horrible denunciations, 
 Robefpierre turned his eyes languidly towards her, 
 and ihrugged up his moulders. He fuffered lad but 
 one ; when he was about to be tied to the fatal plank, 
 the executioner matched the dreffing from his broken 
 jaw, which immediately fell, and a profufion of blood 
 
 gufhed
 
 44 2 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 guflied out ; the horrible chafm occafioned by the 
 width of his mouth, owing to this accident, rendered 
 his head, when held up by the executioner, the 
 moft terrible and difgufting fpeclacle \vhich can be 
 imagined r . 
 
 Rrmarks Thus perifhed Maximilian Robefpierre, in the 
 wn bi tali, t hi rt y _f lxt h y^ o f n j s a g e . jjj s j]f e fad b een f or 
 
 fome time paft a perpetual provocation of the thun- 
 der of the Omnipotent ; and his death afforded, in 
 all its circumftances, a moft ample vindication of 
 eternal juftice. He was cut off in the prime of life, 
 and at the height of unexpected exaltation meditat- 
 ing new crimes, and unrepentant of thofe he had 
 already committed. He who had med blood with 
 unexampled profufion, went to the fcaffold covered 
 with his own blood ; he who had banimed from 
 France the fentiment of humanity, was in his laft 
 hour overwhelmed with infult, reproach, fcorn, and 
 cruelty ; he whofe life had been a fcene of the moft 
 atrocious perfidy and ingratitude, died renounced 
 by all mankind, and his death was called for by a 
 man he himfelf had put into office, and on whom he 
 relied as a friend ; he who had abrogated every form 
 of jurifprudential proceeding, was led to execution 
 without the ceremony of a trial. Even the minuter 
 circumftances of his fate were not without a moral. 
 In the prifon of the Conciergerie, could he avoid 
 thinking of the perfecuted queen whom he had fo 
 Jong (hut up there ? Muft not the fight of the guil- 
 lotine have conjured up to his imagination an im- 
 menfe crowd of innocent victims, with his murdered 
 fovereigns at their head, clamouring to heaven for 
 vengeance ? It is even worthy of obfervation, that 
 the coat he wore when he was thus called before his 
 
 f For the account of Robefpierre's decline and fall, with all the 
 antecedent and attendant circiimfiances, fee Con/piracy of Robefp'enej 
 Debates ; Mil's Williams's Letters in 1794, vol. iii. p. 158. 168, tt 
 ieq. ; Pap,t c , vo!. ii. p. 2.01 to 113 ; New Annual Regiiter for i?94> 
 p. 369 t.s 3X1 ; Necker on the Revolution, vol. ii. p. 35 to 44. 5 
 rlajtair** Hiibiy cf jacobin'ifm, p. 680 to 699. 
 
 Maker,
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 44 ^ 
 
 Maker, with "his crimes full blown, and all his 
 *' imperfections on his head," was the fame he had 
 worn xvhen wantonly and facrilegioufly he obtruded 
 himfelf into his facred prefence, and profaned the 
 land where chriftianity had been profefied, with a 
 mock-feftival. 
 
 The perfon of Robefpierre was fhort and puny, His per- 
 and he was of a tender conftitution. His complexion J^" m a a n n a ' 
 was livid and cadaverous, his features harm and for- abiiuie*. 
 bidding. The fmileof confidence never retted on 
 his lips, but they were almoft always contracted by 
 the four grin of envy aiming to appear difdain. 
 His eye was dead and funk, except when his irafcible 
 propenfities were aroufed by oppofition or the de- 
 fire of vengeance, and then his look alfumed a 
 ferocity fo fmgular, as to lead an accurate obferver 
 to compare his general afpecl to that of the cat- 
 tyger. Referved in his temper, and rarely addicted 
 to excefs, he never was betrayed into any of thofe 
 weak efforts of confidence which arife from an un- 
 referved indulgence in Jove and friendfhip, and very 
 feldom inro thofe which refult from conviviality. 
 His dimmulation was exceflive; and he was fo ap- 
 prehenfive of the fentiments of his mind being read 
 in his eyes, that he commonly wore green fpeclacles, 
 and, on fome occafions, covered his eyes with his 
 hands. Ever delirous of admiration, he would not, 
 even when the rage of equality was at its greateft 
 pitch, degrade himfelf by afiuming the blue panta- 
 loon, red cap, and dirty linen ; on the contrary, 
 though the word mufcadin was a term of pro- 
 fcription, he was always well drefled, and fometimes 
 elegantly. Though forbid by nature to riot in the 
 exceffes of fenfual enjoyment, he was ambitious, even 
 to coquetry, of being admired by the fair fex; and 
 fucceeded fo far that they were amongft his moft 
 zealous partifans. In the earlier part of his life he 
 was fupple, infmuating, and complaifant, but latterly 
 uncontrolled power had carried the ferocity of his 
 
 temper.
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 temper to the excefs of unreilrained violence in 
 fpeecb. Whoever contradicted or difpleafed him 
 \vas affailed with the coareft invective ; an indecorum 
 which, acting on Gallic fenfibility, probably increafed 
 the rage of his enemies, and accelerated his fall. 
 Of the extent and nature of his abilities, his life 
 affords a fufficient difplay. Condorcet eftimated 
 them juftly when he faid, " The French revolution 
 ** is a religion, in which Robefpierre is the leader of 
 " a feet; he has all the characterises, not of the 
 " founder of a religion, but the leader of a fchifm." 
 He poffefied confiderable vigour of mind, though 
 not fufficient to entitle him to a comparifon with 
 Cromwell. His eloquence has been already noticed ; 
 its characteriftic is elegance rather than clofenefs of 
 reafoning ; he had improved verv much from the 
 time of his coming to Paris as a deputy; his enemies, 
 therefore, chofe to characterife him by his earlier 
 efforts, rather than thole made at a more advanced 
 period. He is defcribed, in the New Annual Re- 
 gifter, as being more a ftatefman than an orator 5 ; I 
 think exactly the reverfe : his ideas on negro eman- 
 cipation, on the penalty of death, on fubfiftence, 
 and in almofl every other particular where he affected 
 to legiflate, will fufficiently prove that his rhetoric 
 was fuperior to his judgment. His ingratitude, and 
 the facility and indifference with which he aban- 
 doned, and even facrificed his friends and former 
 coadjutors, were his conftant characteriftics. His 
 want of perfonal courage was remarkable, and 
 bore an exact proportion to his favage and unre- 
 lenting cruelty. He was difmterefted to a certain 
 degree ; that is to fay, without children, without 
 affections, he took no pleafure in the fordid folly of 
 amailing unneceffary wealth ; but in his life he main- 
 tained much more fplendor and elegance than a 
 man without patrimony or employment could derive 
 
 * For 1794, p. 183, 
 
 from
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 445 
 
 from the falary allowed to a deputy ; and though 
 he did not outrage decency by a difplay of inordinate 
 luxury, he lived in a ftyle equal to his exaltation in 
 other refpe&s. His felf-denial in matters of fen- 
 fuality, arifing from the formation of his perfon, 
 and made confpicuous by an affe&ation of aufterity, 
 procured him the name of Cato ; after his fall he 
 was denominated Catiline, and has been compared 
 to Cromwell ; but he is not worthy to aflbciate with 
 either character '. He owed his elevation to accident 
 rather than defign, and loft it through his vanity, 
 treachery, and cowardice. His vanity and treachery 
 made him, thinking himfelf all-fufficient, deftroy his 
 only friends ; his cowardice rendered him incapable 
 of thofe exertions which might have turned the im- 
 pending dorm on the heads of his adverfaries. His 
 conduct in the great crifis which decided his fate 
 was aftonifhingly weak and imprudent. When he 
 went to the convention on the 26th of July, he was 
 well apprifed of the party which was formed againfl 
 him, yet he omitted his cuftomary precautions ; he 
 had not prepared the tribunes to applaud his fpeech ; 
 he had appointed no clamorous fans-culottes to 
 drown the voices of his opponents ; no armed ruffians 
 to terrify them in their approach to and paffage from 
 the hall. On the 27th, though he muft have known 
 that the manner in which his caufe was taken up 
 at the Jacobins would bring the conteft to an iflue, 
 no preparations were made ; even his own party 
 were uninftrufted how to act. St. Juft, uncalled, 
 be?an a fpeech in the tribune, which rendered the 
 opposing party furious ; Robefpierre's adherents 
 out of doors were unprepared ; the voice of ru- 
 
 ' For clefcriptinns of his perfon and manners, nnd remarks on his 
 cha'-a6ter, lee Kohnd's Appeal, vol. i. p. 58. ; Moore's journal, 
 vA. i. p. 338. vol. ii. p. 239 ; J'?ges, vol. it. p. 17. zi, 11.5 New 
 Annual Regiltei for 1794, i. 381, 382, 383.; Ncckcr on the Revolu- 
 tion, vol.ii. p. 37. 39 j Eiat de U Fiance, p. n, 15, 16.; Garat'j 
 Memoirs, u, zj6. 
 
 mour
 
 ROBESPIERRE. 
 
 incur was the alarm-bell of the Jacobins ; and, when 
 they were affembled, the armed force was yet to pro- 
 vide, and yet to feduce. This furprifmg want of fore- 
 fight proves that Robefpierre owed his elevation to 
 accident and the operations of others, and that he 
 was deficient in the genius, courage, and conduct 
 requifite to form an illuflrious chief of a party.
 
 C 447 3 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 The KING'J LETTER to the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, 
 when required to function certain Articles of the 
 Conjlitution ; read the $th October 1789. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 "^[EW conftitutional laws can only be properly judged of 
 * by being acquainted with the whole of them ; for in 
 fo great and important a work, every part is connected inti- 
 mately with the whole. It appears, however, to me na- 
 tural that, at a time when we invite the nation to come to 
 the afliftance of the (late by a fignal aft of its confidence 
 and patriotifm, we fliould allure it of our attention to the 
 principal object of its intereft. So on the perfuafion that 
 the firft articles of the conflicution which you have pre- 
 fented to me, when added to the reft of your labours, will 
 fulfil the defire of the people, and infure the happinefa 
 and profperity of the kingdom, I grant, according to your 
 defire, my conferit to thefe articles ; but under the exprefs 
 condition, from which I mean never to depart, that by the 
 general refult of your deliberations, the executive power 
 {hall be wholly lodged in the hands of the monarch. A 
 feries of fa&s and obfervations, a particular account of 
 which (hall be prefented to you, will convince you that, 
 in the prefent ftate of affairs, I cannot infure cither the 
 raifing of the legal impofts, or the free communication of 
 provifion, or the individual fafety of the citizens. It is 
 my wifti to fulfil fhefe eflential duties of royalty. The 
 bappintfs of my fubje&s, the public tranquillity, and the 
 
 maintenance
 
 APPENDIX, No. I. 
 
 maintenance of focial order depend upon it : I therefore 
 demand that we fhould, in common, level all the obftacles 
 that may crofs the execution of fo defirable and neceflary 
 an end. 
 
 You cannot but be fenfible that the exifling inflitutions 
 and judicial forms ought to undergo no change till they 
 are replaced by the new order of things ; I have therefore 
 no need to make any observations on this head. 
 
 It remains that I mould frankly affure you, that though 
 1 confent to the different articles of the conftitution which 
 you have offered, it is not that all of them without diflinc- 
 tion prefent to me the idea of perfection, but becaufe I do 
 not think it advifable to delay acceding to the prefent wifh 
 of the national deputies, and to the preflure of thofe 
 alarming circumflances which fo powerfully invites us to 
 \vilh, above all, for the immediate re-eitablifhment of 
 peace, order, and confidence. I .make no remarks on your 
 declaration of the rights of man and a citizen ; it contains 
 fome excellent maxims, very proper to regulate your la- 
 bours; but principles fufceptible of different applications, 
 and even interpretations, cannot be juflly appreciated, 
 neither do they require being fo, till their true meaning is 
 fixed by thofe laws to which they ferve as the bafe. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 Letter from M. BERTRAND DE MOLEVILLE to the 
 PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION, 
 containing a Defence of THE KING. 
 
 I 
 
 Mr. Prefident, 
 
 HAD the honour of announcing, in my lafl letter, that 
 I fhould, without delay, addrefs to you an exal decla- 
 ration of all the important and unknown fats with which 
 I am acquainted, and which have any relation to the pre- 
 fent circumftances. I am the more eager to fulfil this en- 
 gagement, fince I learn, from thd public papers, that the 
 great queition, Whether Louis the Sixteenth ought to be 
 
 tried ?
 
 APPENDIX, No. II. 
 
 tried ? is at prefent open for difcuflion ; and that the na- 
 tional convention are difpofed to receive lights and proofs 
 from every quarter on that momentous fubjeft. 1 flatter 
 myfelf it will receive with fatisfa&ion thofe I now have 
 the honour of addreffing to you, becaufe I am firmly con- 
 vinced that it feeks nothing but truth, and defires nothing 
 but juftice. This conviction alone is fufficient to allay the 
 inquietudes of good citizens, and to keep up the hopes of 
 thole who, having had opportunities of nearly obferving 
 the conduct of Lewis the Sixteenth, and of knowing his 
 virtues, cannot help taking a great intereft in his mif- 
 fortunes. 
 
 The following then are the fads, the truth of which t 
 atteft, and of which I can either give or point out proofs. 
 
 On the pretended favours and aJJiJJance given to the emigrants. 
 
 It is published in all the journals and all the pamphlets, 
 and has been repeated a thoufand times from the tribune, 
 that the king always approved of and favoured emigration. 
 This opinion, unfupported by proof, has become general in 
 the kingdom, and is the principal motive of the regicide 
 addrefles daily received. 
 
 Towards the end of October 17.91, one of the minifters 
 having informed the king, in full council, of a report gene- 
 rally circulated, that the emigrants in arms againfl France, 
 and particularly the body guards, were in the pay of the 
 civil lift 5 ' This (replied the king, in the firmeft tone) is 
 " an egregious calumny j for I have, on the contrary, 
 " given the moft exprefs orders to M. de la Porte, that 
 *' none mould receive pay but thofe who were able to 
 " fhew the certificate required by the decree of laft July 
 " (1791). I am certain this order is put in execution. 
 < It was propofed to me to make an exception in favour 
 of the gardes du corps, but I refufed." 
 
 Notwithstanding this order, the exigence of which can 
 be attefted by many deputies to whom it was originally 
 communicated, and which muft have been found among 
 the papers of M. de Septeuil, they have continued to give 
 out that the emigrated gardes du corps were paid by the 
 civil lift: and this is affirmed as certain, in the loth and 
 I ith pages of the report made to the afiembly at the fitting 
 of the 27th of September laft. The reporter was not 
 aware, that the only writings cited by him in fupport of his 
 aflertion, clearly demonftrate its falfehood. The firft is a 
 
 VOL. n. c G memorial
 
 45> APPENDIX, No. II. 
 
 memorinl found in the king's writing-defk, in which M. de 
 Poix propofed the paying the whole corps of gardes du corps 
 up to the r ft of January 1792. If the king had approved 
 this proposal, he would have affixed his aflent to the me- 
 morial, and fent it to the intendant of the civil lift. Thus 
 from the circumftance alone of this memorial being found 
 in the king's writing- defk, without any mark of his appro- 
 bation, is a complete proof that the payment propofed by 
 M. de Poix had not been ordered by the king. As to thofe 
 orders of payment figned by the king at the bottom of the 
 
 teneral lifts of the four companies of his guards, it is fuf- 
 cient to compare thofe lifts with the regifters of pay- 
 ments, to be convinced that in reality only thofe of the 
 gardes du corps, who proved their refidence according to the 
 form prefcribed by the decree, were paid ; and that if the 
 ordinance lifts contained all the names, it proceeded en- 
 tirely from an ignorance of who had and who had not 
 emigrated. For the fame reafon, the minifters of war and 
 marine, in their refpective departments, regulated in a (imi- 
 lar manner the general lifts of the officers of the different 
 corps, v.'ithout violating the decree concerning the certi- 
 ficates of refidence, becaufe its execution was always gua- 
 ranteed by the vigilance and perfonal refponfibility of the 
 treafurers, conformably to the regulations of this decree. 
 It is alfo proved by a letter of M. de Poix, in the i6th 
 page of the thirteenth collection of papers found in the 
 houfe of M. de la Porte, that the execution of thefe orders 
 for payment of the gardes du corps was fo much retarded, 
 that on the 28th of laft January there had been nothing 
 paid of the arrears due for the firft fix months of 1791. 
 
 Were I now to cite the letters written by the king, in 
 the beginning of October 1791, to the officers of the/ 
 army and of the corps pf marines, to induce thofe who 
 h.ul left the kingdom to return, and to retain thofe who 
 had intended to emigrate, I fhould undoubtedly be told^ 
 that thefe letters being the works of the minifters, no con- 
 clufiou could be drawn from them : but I declare, that 
 the minute written to the officers of marine remained two 
 days in the king's poffemon, who with his own hand made 
 many corrections in it, fome in the margin, others inter- 
 lined j and this minute, with many other important 
 papers, muft have been found in a red port-folio, which 
 the commiffioners of the committee of furveillance de la 
 commune carried away from my houfe wiih my other pa- 
 pers.
 
 APPENDIX, No. II. , 45I 
 
 pers. Jmuft prefume that this writing has been fup- 
 prefled, fince there is no mention made of it in the report 
 made to the aiTembly the 6th of this month. It would 
 however, be of the more importance to produce this 
 paper, becaufe the corrections in it being the king's own, 
 the free and pure exprefiion of his fentiments may there 
 be found. I have no doubt, therefore, but the national 
 convention feels the neceffity of ordering that paper to be 
 fearched for and produced. 
 
 The king exprefsly commanded me to employ, in his 
 name, every method of perfuafion and authority to prevent 
 the emigration of the officers of marine ; and if the exe- 
 cution of this order had not all the fuccefs I could have de- 
 fired, I at lead ufed every exertion in my power, and am 
 not afraid on this point to call upon the teftimony of the 
 chief clerks of my office. I cannot indeed quote many- 
 written proois, but fhall mention one of fufficient weight to 
 render any other unneceflary from me. 
 
 A fuperior officer of the mod diftinguifhed merit, having 
 been forced by frequent outrages to give up his command, 
 came to Paris laft P'ebruary with the intention of leaving 
 the kingdom. After having in vain attempted by my ad- 
 vice and exhortations to diffuade him from his purpofe, 
 I mentioned the affair to the king, who authorifed me to 
 fend him an order, couched almoft in fimilar terms with 
 the old lettrts de cachet. The words follow : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Being informed that your knowledge and experience 
 enable you to give important information concerning 
 the marine fervice, my pleafure is, that you hold your- 
 fclf in readinefs to furnifli the minifter of that depart- 
 ment with the informations he may require from you. 
 On this account I prohibit you from leaving Paris until 
 " further order, under pain of difobedience. 
 
 (Signed) " Louis. 
 (And under,) " De Bertrand." 
 
 The minutes of tin's order, addrefied to M. de Marigni, 
 (hould be found in my'office, (bureau des officiers t ) amongft 
 the minutes of the month of February. If it has been ac- 
 cidentally withdrawn, M. de Marigni, who has not left 
 Paris, will produce the original. 
 
 I muft here declare, that amongft the officers whom I 
 
 perfuaded to flay at Paris to infure their not leaving the 
 
 GG 2 kingdom
 
 APPENDIX, No. II. 
 
 kingdom, there were fome unable to fupport themfelves ; 
 to whom the king ordered different fums of money to be 
 paid, fometimes by me, at other times by M. de la Pore* 
 The laft which was fent to me by the king for this purpofe 
 was the fum of 12,000 livres, in the beginning of March 
 1792. If the national convention be defirous minutely 
 to examine this matter, I can point out to whom the money 
 was given, 
 
 How then is it poflible to reconcile the reproaches which 
 are thrown out againft the king, relative to the emigrants, 
 with all thefe facts, none of which can be difputed ? 
 
 On the treafons and confpiracies in which it is pretended the 
 king had ajhare. 
 
 Thefe names certainly cannot be given to the meafures, 
 always weak and inefficient, taken for the perfonal fecurity 
 of the king ; and of which he never failed to prevent the 
 effect, when he obferved the avowed afiafiins accompanied 
 by a party of the people ; becaufe while furrounded by 
 them he was always confident that he had no danger to 
 fear. We faw him, on the 2oth of June, remove from 
 his perfon thofe faithful fervants who were ready to fpill 
 the laft drop of their blood in his defence, and prefent him- 
 felf, accompanied by four national guards, to the armed mul- 
 titude who had come to force open the gates of the palace. 
 
 It is impoilible at this day to doubt that a formidable 
 confpiracy was formed againft the court. The deputies 
 Loavet and Barbaroux arrived, and attefted this important 
 fact in the tribune, in the fitting of the 3oth of October. 
 " It was at Charenton (faid they) that the confpiracy 
 " againft the court was fixed to be executed, on the 2pth 
 *' of July, but which did not take place until the icth of 
 '* Auguft." (Moniteur of the ift of November, p. 1298, 
 col. 3.) The king having been informed of this, did un- 
 doubtedly take fome precautions to defend the palace from 
 the impending attack : but as foon as he knew, from the 
 members of the directory of the department, that thou- 
 fands of the citizens and national guards had joined the 
 confpirators who furrounded the palace, he did not hefi- 
 tate to deliver himfelf and family to the national aflembly, 
 leaving orders for the Swifs not to fire a . It is indeed cer- 
 tain, 
 
 a When the king had determined to deliver himfelf up to the af- 
 t he fpoke to the minifters and others who were around him 
 
 theft
 
 APPENDIX, No. II. 453 
 
 tain, that the gates of the court royal were forced without 
 any refiftance on the part of the Swifs, who did not fire 
 until five of their companions had been mafiacred at the 
 bottom of the great ttairs. The events of the loth of 
 Auguft can, no more than thofe of the 2oth of June, fur- 
 nifh the flighted caufe of accufation agaiuft the king. It 
 is therefore neceflary to look for proofs in his conduct 
 prior to thefe periods. But it is impoiTible, with any {hare 
 of candour, to form conclusions againft him from letters, 
 memorials, or plans, addreiTed to him, and which were 
 found, or faid to be found, either in the palace or the 
 houfe of M. de la Porte. If treafonable or criminal 
 writings could involve the perfons to whom they are ad- 
 drefled, the lives of the moft innocent and moil virtuous 
 of mankind would always be in the power of the moft 
 wicked. 
 
 With regard to the numerous writings, the impreflions 
 of which were paid out of the civil lift, and which are 
 quoted as fo many proofs of treafon, it is fufficient to re- 
 mark, that before the abolition of royalty, the anti-repub- 
 lican writings were fo much the lefs reprehenfible, that at 
 the memorable fitting of the 7th of July laft, the affembljT 
 decreed unanimoufly, and by acclamation, that thofe who 
 (hould propofe a republican government, or the eftablifh- 
 ment of two chambers, mould be devoted to public exe- 
 cration. The violent writers on both fides were indeed 
 equally diftant from the fpirit and principles of the con- 
 
 thefe memorable, though too little known words : " Let us depart, 
 " gentlemen ; there is nothing for us to do here." This was cer- 
 tainly giving the cleareft and moft pofitive order to ftay no longer at 
 the palace, fmce nothing was to be done there. And if this order 
 had (as it ought) been officially conveyed to the Swifs officers and 
 guards, they would have all retired ; the r-ntry to the palace would 
 have been left open ; and though perhaps it might have been de- 
 molilhed, yet not a mufket would have been fired, or a drop of blood 
 fheri. Unfortunately this order was not conveyed to the Swifs. From 
 thence it followed, on the one hand, that the Swifs, the national 
 guards, and all thofe who had repaired to the palace to defend the 
 king, believed he was only anxious about his perfonal lately, and 
 complained that he had abandoned them; while, on the other, the 
 people believed that the king, at his departure, had ordered the refift- 
 ance and firing which happened. Such is the origin of the fufpicions 
 and clamours againft the pretended treafons of the king, and the 
 confpiracies of the court. Thefe details are corroborated by fo many 
 ocular witnefles, that it is impoflible I can ever call their truth in 
 queftion. They prove that the reproaches againft the king are not 
 better founded on one fide than on the other. 
 
 G G 3 ilitution,
 
 454 APPENDIX, No. II. 
 
 ftitution ; and their incendiary productions fupported and 
 maintained the agitation of the people. It was incumbent 
 on the king to turn his attention to the ferious incon- 
 veniences which muft have refulted from hence. Obliged 
 by his oath to maintain the conftitution by every poflible 
 means, his authority and his duty prompted him to choofe 
 as one of thofe means, the inftrucling of the people by 
 prudent conftitutional writings, which might operate as 
 antidotes to the dangerous pamphlets daily publiihed. It 
 is, however certain, that both my colleagues and myfelf 
 confidered it ?s our duty to give this advice to the king, and 
 accordingly we did often give it. Thus it is very pofiible 
 fuch an order was given to the intendant of the civil lift. 
 As to the method in which it was executed, every body 
 jnuft be fenfible the king could not poflibly enter into all 
 the detail of the bufmefs. Bcfides, it is an eftabliftied 
 principle, that the moll culpable execution of a lawful 
 order can never involve the perfon wbo gives that order, 
 but only him who executes it. An order to diftribute 
 prudent and conftitutional writings was certainly legal. 
 The king had the right of giving fuch an order, and he 
 afluredly gave no other. But the following facts perfonally 
 concern the king, and from them we can judge of his 
 true fentiments. 
 
 FIRST FACT. 
 
 I mewed the greateft reluctance to accept the miniftry, 
 and I cannot deny that my principal reafon for this reluc- 
 tance was my uncertainty of the real fentimtnts of the king 
 ^relative to the conftitution. He was informed of this ; 
 and when I was prefented to him on the 3d of October, 
 by the minifter of the home department, he addrefled me 
 in his prefence, in the very words which, follow : 
 
 " I know your uneufinefs, and do not blame your defiring 
 " to know how it is expected that you (hould conduct 
 yourfeif. I now inform you, that I do not pretend to 
 confider the conftitution as unexceptionable. I am even 
 convinced, that had not the aflembly prohibited the 
 receiving my obfervations, it would have adopted the 
 principal alterations which I would have propofed. But 
 that is now over. I have accepted the conftitution in 
 its prefent form. The general opinion is in its favour ; 
 we can, therefore, no longer think of changes until ex- 
 perience (hall make us feel the neeeflity of them ; for 
 
 " force
 
 APPENDIX, No. II. 
 
 " force can do nothing againft opinion. The fuccefs of 
 " this experience depends upon the fidelity with which 
 " the conftitution is carried into execution ; and it is my 
 " intention to execute it as completely and as well as 
 <f poflible. iSuch, then, is the line of conduct I have 
 " marked out for inyfelfi and I require my minifters not 
 " to depart from it. If the means for carrying it into 
 " execution may appear infufficient, or if they experience 
 " embarraflmetits, let them appeal to the aflembly." 
 
 The queen, to whom I was prefented the fame day, 
 fpoke to the fame purpofe; and concluded with faying, 
 " Obferve the plan the king has adopted ; I think it is 
 tf the only reafonable one, and hope you will not make 
 " him change it." 
 
 I affirm this fact upon my honour and confcience, and 
 will fupport the affirmation with my oath, which I offer 
 to renew before whatever perfon, and in whatever form, 
 the afiembly (hall think proper to prefcribe. Upon my 
 return home, I immediately made a memorandum of what 
 the king and queen had faid. The memorandum dated 
 the 3d of October, was in the fame red port- folio which 
 the commiflioners of the committee de furveillance de la 
 commune carried away. If the national convention think 
 proper to order that it (hould be fearched for, it will not be 
 difficult to have it laid before them. 
 
 SECOND FACT. 
 
 Towards the end of December laft, or the beginning of 
 January, an old officer, retired from the fervice, came to 
 confult me, at the office of marine, upon a propofal which 
 had been made to him the evening before, to enter into an 
 aflbciation with fome gentlemen to efcort the king, who 
 intended, as they faid, foon to leave the kingdom. The 
 perfon who made this propofal to him, introduced himfelf 
 at his houfe under the title of a marechal-de-camp, and 
 gave him twenty-four hours to reflet on the fubject. I 
 advifed the perfon who gave me this information to (hew 
 a difpofition to join the aflbciation, provided they would 
 explain to him the whole of their plan, their means of 
 executing it, and inform him of the perfons who were 
 engaged in it. I exprefsly enjoined him to forget nothing 
 they might tell him, and particularly to make himfelf ac- 
 quainted with the name and refidence of this marechal-de- 
 camp. He promifed foon to acquaint me with the refult 
 c G 4 of
 
 456 APPENDIX, No. II. 
 
 of his fecond converfation. He accordingly gave me, the 
 very next day, a detached account of what paffed. I took 
 an exat memorandum of it, which I read the fame night 
 at the council. The king was full of indignation, and 
 ordered the minifter of the home department immediately 
 to denounce the affociation to the dire&ory of the depart- 
 ment, and to enjoin him to make every poffible fearch 
 after this pretended marechal-de-camp, to watch him nar- 
 rowly, and even to feize his perfon, if there fhould be 
 occafion. As this letter was inftantly written by M. Ca- 
 hier de Gerville, and fent directly after the council, it is 
 poffible that he did not keep a memorandum of it ; but the 
 original may be eafily found among the papers of the di- 
 rectory of the department. The inquiries ordered by the 
 king were carefully made. They difcovered the ufual 
 refidence of this man, but he had concealed himfelf in 
 fuch a manner, that it was not poffible to feize him. It 
 appeared, moreover, by the accounts obtained at the police 
 office concerning him, that he was a worthlefs, wrong- 
 headed fellow. But whatever truth there is in this, the 
 conduft of the king in this affair proves, at lead, that he 
 did not favour affociations formed under pretence of con- 
 fulting his perfonal fafety. 
 
 THIRD FACT. 
 
 In January laft, M. Cahier de Gerville, reading in the 
 council a rough draught of a proclamation, the king inter- 
 rupted him at the expreffion " the love ofwy people" and 
 defired him to correct it by inferting the words " the 
 " love of the French people. I can no longer," added he, 
 with emotion, and his eyes fwelled with tears, " I can no 
 ' longer fey my people : but they cannot prevent that 
 * from being the expreffion of my heart." 
 
 This interefting fa& can be attefted by the rmnifters 
 who then compofed the council \ and I require all thofe 
 who have been in it, either before or fince, to declare 
 whether they did not obferve, in many rnftances, that one 
 of the moft prevailing feritiments with the king, was that 
 of a moft tender and affectionate attachment to the French 
 people. It r> not yet forgotten, that on the day of his 
 arrival fvom Varennes, one of the principal officers of his 
 houfehold, expreffing his regret at the ill fuccefs of that 
 expedition, and particularly at the increafe of credit and 
 power which it would give to the aflembly, the king imme- 
 diately
 
 APPENDIX, No. II. 457 
 
 diately made this remarkable anfwer, So much the 
 " better, a thoufand times; fo much the better, provided 
 " it conduces to the happinefs of my people." 
 
 FOURTH FACT. 
 
 At the fitting of the 6th of this month, the reporter 
 Valaze read a note found in my houfe, concerning a new 
 order of knighthood, called that of the queen ; and in 
 order to give this writing (which juftly excited the rifi- 
 bility of the aflembly) more importance, he faid it was 
 found in my port-folio. The reporter Valaze is miftaken ; 
 and if the aflembly will order the verbal proeefs, which 
 took place at the examination of my papers, to be looked 
 into, it will appear that this writing was not found in any 
 of my port-folios, but in a different place, which I (hail 
 not name. It would have been difficult to have read it, 
 had they not feparated it from a letter which was inclofed 
 under the fame feal. This letter, dated the beginning of 
 September or October 1790, was nearly in the following 
 terms : 
 
 " I fend you the note which I mentioned the day 
 " before yefterday. I muft forewarn you, that I had it 
 " from one whofe fancy is a little exalted j fo you may 
 " believe what you pleafe of it." 
 
 The place in which it was found proves that I had \ 
 
 formed the fame judgment concerning it with the na- 
 tional convention. 
 
 The members of the committee de Surveillance de la 
 totntnufie y who fpent nine hours in examining thefe papers, 
 found alfo a lift of an Auftrian committee, compofed of 
 about thirty fictitious names. They were eager to feize 
 that writing, which they at firft confidered as a moft im- 
 portant difcovery. Fortunately, however, the key to thofe 
 names was written in the fecond column of the fame page, 
 and contained the names of M, M. Syeyes, Condorcet, 
 Biifibt, Robefpierre, &c. &c. But had this key been 
 written upon a different fheet, and could they have as 
 eafily feparated it from this lift as they did the note con- 
 cerning the order of Chevalier de la Reine t from the letter 
 above mentioned, they might then have employed the lift 
 as a ftrong proof of the exiftence of an Auftrian com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Such then are the" fa&s which I thought it incumbent 
 on me to make known to the aflembly. Their accuracy 
 
 ill
 
 458 A P P E N D I X, No. II. 
 
 will be eftabliflied by the proofs which I cite, which can 
 be verified by the witnefies whom I point out. I fhould 
 have had a much greater number to prefent, if the cata- 
 ftrophe of the month of September had not driven from 
 France, or deftroyed, the perfons who could have attefted 
 the truth. 
 
 (Signed) DE BERTRAND. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 Denunciation of Prevarications committed in the Trial 
 of Louis XVI. addrefled to the NATIONAL CON- 
 VENTION, by M. BERTRAND DE MOLEVILLE, 
 Minifter of State in France. 
 
 M. Prefident, 
 
 T DENOUNCE to the national convention, to the people of 
 * France, and to all Europe, the odious prevarications 
 which have taken place in the trial of Louis XVI. of 
 which I fhall here point out the proofs, in order to have 
 juflice administered againft the guilty. 
 
 In the courfe of laft month, I fent papers for the defence 
 of Louis XVI. to the garde du fpeau t with formal requifi- 
 tion to have them delivered to the king. I thought that 
 the fureft means of having them conveyed to their facred 
 deflination, was to addrefs them to that minifter of juf- 
 tice. I accordingly wrote the following letter to him : 
 
 Sir, 
 
 *' As it is one of the moft facred duties of a minifter of 
 <c juftice to protect thofe who are under accufation, and to 
 fecure to them every means of clearing their innocence, 
 I addrefs thefe papers to you, folernnly requesting that 
 they may be delivered into the hands of Louis XVI. 
 As the king's ancient minifter, I feel not only autho- 
 rized, but obliged in duty to point out thofe circum- 
 ftances during my adminiftration, that tend to overfet 
 the principal articles of the accufation brought againft 
 him. Such is the object of my demand , and you rnuft 
 
 be
 
 APPENDIX, No. III. 
 
 '* be fenfible, Sir, that you c-nnot reject it, without fiiew- 
 " ing yourfelf the .iccoiuplict of one of the mod atrocious 
 " crimes of which there is any example." 
 
 A few days afterwards, I lent under cover to the fame 
 minifter a packet for M. de Malcfherbes, intitled, " Papers 
 " for the juftification of Louis XVI." I wrote at the 
 fame time to advertife M. de Malefherbes of my fending 
 them as above mentioned to the garde duffcau> and requir- 
 ing that he fhould afk them from that minifter. 
 
 I am this day informed, that when, in confequence of 
 that letter, M. de Malefherbes went himfelf to claim thefe 
 packets, he was anfwered by the minifter of juftice, that, on 
 finding they contained papers for the jutlification of 
 Louis XVI. he had thought himfelf obliged to fend them 
 to the national convention. 
 
 I muft obferve here, that the conduct of the minifter of 
 juftice upon this occafion is of a piece with the barbarous 
 praclice of the keepers and jailors of prifons under the 
 ancient government, in fending all letters or papers ad- 
 drefled to the prifoner, to the magiftrate fuperintending 
 the prifons. There was then, however, one fure means 
 of having letters, &c. remitted to the prifoner, namely, by 
 addrefling them directly to that magiftrate. Nevertheless 
 the conftituent affembly, juftly indignant at the flownefs 
 of this means, and the inhumanity of thefe precautions, 
 formally abolifhed this cuftom by the new criminal code. It 
 decreed, that the prifoner fhould not only receive all papers 
 and memorials which might affift in their defence, but that 
 a copy of their indictment, and of the procedure, fhould 
 be given them in twenty-four hours after it was demanded, 
 either by themfelves or their counfel. But when I fo- 
 lemnly addrefs myfelf to the minifter fpecially appointed 
 to maintain the execution of this law, he does not fcruple 
 to infringe it, under pretence that he has no communica- 
 tion with the prifoner. 
 
 If fuch a pretext is admitted, every law made for the pro- 
 telion of the accufed may be equally violated by his judges 
 themfelves, as there is not one of them who has any com- 
 munication with the prifoner. 
 
 The co..ndut of the minifter of juftice is ftill more un- 
 
 juftifiable with regard to M. de Malefherbes. Could he 
 
 poffibly imagine it was his duty to deprive the defender of 
 
 Louis XVI. of papers fent for his client's juftification ? 
 
 So that the fuperfcription which I wrote upon the packet, 
 
 as
 
 4<5o APPENDIX, No. III. 
 
 88 a fecurity for its being delivered, was exactly what de- 
 termined the minifter of juftice not only to keep it up from 
 M. de Malefherbes, but to fend it to the very committee 
 which conducted the procefs ag?.inft the king. 
 
 Could we fuppofe a legal court of aflaflins, what con- 
 duct could more naturally be expected from the principal 
 agent of fucha court, than to deliver the papers tranfmitted 
 to him for the defence of the accufed, into the hands of 
 the accufers ? 
 
 I fubmit the above confiderations to the juftice of the 
 national convention, and (hail proceed in my ftatement of 
 fatts. 
 
 M. de Malefherbes went to the committee, and claimed 
 the packets. He found that both had been opened ; they 
 contained printed and written papers. The printed pa- 
 pers were delivered to him ; but he was informed that he 
 could not have the others without an order from the con- 
 ventiorn A member of the committee went with the pa- 
 pers to the convention to demand this order. He re- 
 turned, and told M. de Malefherbes, that, upon his de- 
 mand, the afiembly had pafled to the order of the day. 
 The member did not bring back the papers, he left them 
 on the bureau. 
 
 M. de Malefherbes afked what means he could take to 
 obtain thefe papers ? The members of the committee 
 looked at each other, but nobody anfwered him. 
 
 The ftriking injuftice of refufing to allow M. de Male- 
 fherbes fo much as to read thofe papers, muft be imputed 
 to the ignorance or guilt of fome inferior agent of the 
 committee ; for certainly none of its members would have 
 been, acceflbry to fuch illegal conduct. 
 
 I am equally convinced that the afiembly would not have 
 pafled to the order of the day, on the demand of M. de 
 Malefherbes, had the nature of the requeil been clearly 
 reprefented. The fact however is, that thofe intruded 
 with the king's defence were obliged to make it without 
 the afliftance of thefe papers. Unfortunately they were 
 not the only papers which were kept up ; for it is known, 
 that when the papers in the king's cabinet were feized and 
 carried away, none of the formalities which the law exacts, 
 and the particulars can loudly called for, were ufed to 
 prevent Subtraction, alteration, or fubftitution ; of courfe 
 none of thofe papers can, with the leaft colour of law or 
 juftice, be produced againft the kingj yet they are pro- 
 duced
 
 APPENDIX, No. III. 461 
 
 duced and urged againft him, as if all thofe formalities 
 had been obferved ; and befides, a colle&ion, falfely called 
 complete, of the papers found in his majefty's cabinet, was, 
 by orders of the committee, printed, and profufely diftri- 
 buted over the kingdom ; but this collection, fo far from 
 being complete, confided only of fuch papers as admitted 
 of malignant interpretations, which were with much afli- 
 duity given to them, enforced and illuftrated by calumnious 
 notes. It is to be hoped, that the authors of thefe notes 
 are not of the number of the king's judges, no more than 
 thofe deputies who have betrayed fuch a third for the king's 
 blood, that they have anticipated their votes for his death 
 by printing and publishing their opinions. According to 
 the laws of all civilifed countries, a judge who condemns 
 a perfon accufed, without having heard his defence, thereby 
 lofes the right of finally judging him, and is confitiered as 
 on the fame footing with the accufers. Were it poffible to 
 fuppofe that this law could be violated in the cafe of 
 Louis XVI. the French nation, fired with indignation 
 againit fuch flagrant injuftice, would undoubtedly rife like 
 one man, and pour vengeance on the bafe infringers of 
 a principle fo felf- evident and facred. Trufting to the 
 juftice of the national convention, I demand that the pa- 
 pers for the j unification of Louis XVI. which I fend under 
 cover to the minifter of juftice, may be remitted to the 
 king's defenders ; and as to the papers found in the king's 
 cab.ntt, but which the authors of the printed collection 
 thought it expedient to fupprefs, I can, from my own cer- 
 tain knowledge, only point out the following : 
 
 i ft, A copy of a letter to the king from three deputies, 
 of the legiflative aflembly, of great influence, dated in the 
 month of July laft. This letter contained a prediction of 
 the loth of Auguft j and the recall of Servan, Claviere, 
 and Roland, was propofed AS the only means of preventing 
 that cataftrophe. As I f;iw the king in public only after 
 my retreat from the miniftry, I had not an opportunity of 
 reading the letter myfelf, but I was informed of its con- 
 tents by perfons who have rend it. I (hall name thefe 
 perfons, and likewife the deputies, as foon as the proofs 
 (hall be taken into confideration, and the witnefles in fa- 
 vour of the king arC to be heard, according to the indif- 
 penfable form in all criminal caufes. 
 
 TJie letter of thofe three deputies may at leaft ferve to 
 , that the torrents of blood (bed, n the loth of Au- 
 
 guft
 
 4 6 3 APPENDIX, No. III. 
 
 guft ought not to be attributed to Louis XVI. but to the 
 faction who wifhed to dethrone him, in order that Servan, 
 Claviere, and Roland might be recalled to adminiftration. 
 Thyerry, the king's firfl valet de chambre, who received the 
 letter from them, and delivered it to the king, was after- 
 wards alTaOinated, though he was abfent from the palace 
 on the icth of Augufl. 
 
 2d, A copy of a plan, confi fling of twenty one articles, 
 fecretly agreed on at Mantua, in the month of May 1791, 
 by tlie emperor Leopold j the object of which was the re- 
 eitablifhment of the king's ancient and legal authority. 
 For this end the emperor propofed to enter France with 
 his army, in the beginning of the month of July following, 
 a period in which neither our armies nor frontiers were in 
 a itate of defence. 
 
 The king alone could have prevented the execution 
 of this plan, and he did prevent it. All exacted from him 
 was his confent, which was to be kept fecret. He refufed 
 this, without confulting any body ; he needed no advice 
 when the tranquillity of his people was at flake ; and he 
 (aw that this plan could not be executed without bloodfhed. 
 
 The two only miniflers who had knowledge of thefe 
 facls, and of an infinity of others equally important for 
 the king's justification, were Meflrs. Montmorin and de 
 Leffart, who unfortunately have both perifhed. It is diffi- 
 cult to attribute to chance either the feleclion of the vic- 
 tims facrificed on the 2d of September, or that of the king's 
 pnpers which have been fupprefltd. However that may be, 
 if Leopold's plan is not found, I (hall, as foon as the king's 
 procefs is commenced, name three perfons who had a 
 complete knowledge of all the particulars of that plan, 
 and can afcertain the contents in as fatisfatlory a, manner 
 as if the original plan itklf were laid before the con- 
 vention. 
 
 jd, A journal written by the king himfelf for his own 
 private ufe, containing every thing of confequence he has 
 done fince he afcended the throne ; his projects, views, 
 and even the faults he hns to reproach himfelf with, are 
 there inferted. This journal, which may be confidered 
 as a faithful picture of Louis XVI. drawn by himfelf 
 only, would be a moil intereiling part of the intended pro- 
 cefs. Even in the faults with which he reproaches himfelf, 
 his virtues, and uniform attachment to his people, would 
 evidently appear. 
 
 ' 5 That
 
 APPENDIX, No. III. 4< 5 3 
 
 That this journal was amongft the king's papers, is 
 proved by a letter which M. de Malefherbes has juft re- 
 ceived from M. de Liancourt. 
 
 Thefe, Sir, are the fats on which I call for the ani- 
 maclverfion of the national convention, and the attention 
 of all Europe ; and for this purpofe I have thought it my 
 duty to render this application as public as poffible, by 
 confiding it in the hands of the lord mayor of London, 
 and directing it to be published in the newfpapers. And 
 I now folemnly call on you, Sir, as prefident, to commu- 
 nicate it to the convention, otherwife you become perfon- 
 ally anfwerable for the confequences of thofe important 
 facts remaining unknown to them. 
 
 (Signed) DE BERTRAND. 
 
 I 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 JEAN SILVAIN B A ILLY, to his Fellow-citizens. 
 
 WAS fummoned as a witnefs on the trial of Marie 
 Antoinette ; I found myfelf named and inculpated in 
 the act of accufation directed againft her. In the courfe 
 of my depofition, I was interrogated refpefting the events 
 of the 1 7th of July at the Champ de Mars ; I was aJfo 
 queftioned refpecling my connections with la Fayette and 
 la Rochefoucault. It was fuggefted that I had had cri- 
 minal relations with the ci-devant court j and I was afkecl 
 concerning certain fecret meetings faid to have been held 
 at the caftle. My anfwers, fatisfaclory as they were, could 
 only be heard by the citizens prefent at the trial. 
 
 He who has occupied an important pod owes to the 
 people an account of his conduct in the exercife of thofe 
 functions with which they have intruded him. I am 
 going, therefore, at prefent to difcharge the duty. 
 
 The act of accufation againft Marie Antoinette con- 
 tained the following paflage : " It is manifeft, from the 
 " declarations of Louis Charles Capet, and of the girl 
 
 Capet,
 
 464 APPENDIX, No. IV. 
 
 Capet, that la Fayette, a favourite, in every fenfe of the 
 " word*, of the widow Capet, and Bailly, then mayor, 
 " were prefent at the flight from the palace of the Thuil- 
 " leries , and that they favoured it with all their power." 
 It is falfe, that I was at the Thuilleries on the day of the 
 20th of June. It is falfe, that 1 in any manner facilitated 
 the flight of Louis's family. It is true, on the contrary, 
 that I did every thing in my power to prevent it. 
 
 Upon being informed of the declaration made by young 
 Louis and his fitter, I requefced the prefident of the tri- 
 bunal to demand of the accufed, ift, At what hour me 
 and Louis left the Thuilleries on the 2oth of June? 2dly, 
 If I were prefent ? The prefident replied, that the accufed 
 had in her examination anticipated my queftions, by de- 
 claring, ift, That they had let off between eleven and 
 twelve o'clock at night j and 2dly, That 1 was not prefent. 
 Thus the teft'imony of the mother overthrew that of the 
 children. 
 
 For feveral months it hnd been rumoured, that the 
 flight of Louis was at hand. I had conftantly tranfmitted 
 to the committee of refearch all the information that I re- 
 ceived. Thefe rumours were renewed on the ipth and 
 2oth. I had been for feventeen days ill of a quinfey, 
 from which I was beginning to recover. On the .vening 
 of Monday I received frefh information, which induced 
 me to fend for three of the neareft municipal officers to 
 rny houfe, that I might not have to decide alone on the 
 exigencies of the moment. 
 
 I ftnt for the commander in chief of the national 
 guards -, and in the meanwhile drefled myfelf at all events. 
 The citizen Cochon de 1'Apparent, at that time member 
 of the conftituent aflembly and of the committee of re- 
 fearch, came to communicate- to me what he knew : he 
 was witnefs to what pafled at my houfe, and can give 
 tcftimony of my conduct. Upon the arrival of the com- 
 mander in chief, we communicated to him the information 
 which we had received, and the apprehenfion which we 
 
 * Any one would conclude from this expiffilon, that la Fayette 
 wns vtry much in the queen's good graces. She could not endure 
 him, and often ufed to lay to her friends, " Mutt I always have that 
 " coxcomb before my eyes ?" I have this anecdote from perfons of 
 veracity. Recourfe was had to la Fayette only becaufe he was com- 
 niander of the national guard, and might have difconceited their pro- 
 jecls. 
 
 ? had
 
 APPENDIX, No. IV. 
 
 had entertained. We reminded him that it was his duty 
 to guard the Thuilleries. He anfwered, that he was going 
 to the palace ; that he would give the ftri&eft orders; and 
 that, though he thought the fuppofed projeft very im- 
 probable, he would take care to prevent the poffibility of 
 its execution. La Fayette went in fat to the, palace, and 
 returned a little after twelve o'clock to my houfe. He 
 aflured us that all the gates were faft ; and that he had 
 himfelf renewed the watch-word at all the entrances ; he 
 added (an expreffion which I very well remember), that a 
 moufe could not get out of the palace. He further faid, 
 that Gouvion, the major-general, would pafs the night at 
 the gate of Villequier. Thefe are the fafts which are in 
 the knowledge of the perfons before-mentioned ; befides 
 which, the fteward and porter of the houfe, Jean Baptifle 
 Mouflbn, my prefent fervant, my former coachman (named 
 Bellanger), Francois the infpedor of the lights, and all 
 thofe who were in my fervice on the 2oth of June, can 
 atteft that I did not leave my houfe on that day. 
 
 Louis and his family, it is well known, travelled with a 
 paflport given by Montmorin, for a perfon named, if I 
 recollet right, the baronefs de Kroff. Some days before 
 the flight in looking over my letters, I found that M. Si- 
 molin, the Ruffian ambafTador, had applied to me for a 
 paflport for the baronefs de Kroff. I had fome pafiport* 
 ready figned, which were delivered to me by the minifter. 
 After a moment's reflection, I faid, " But why does the 
 <c Ruffian ambafiador defire a paflport for a foreigner ? 
 " He ought to apply to the minifter for foreign affairs." 
 I referred him, therefore, to that minifter, and thus ef 
 caped, by good fortune, the fnare which was laid for me. 
 Montmorin, ic is known, declared that he gave two pair- 
 ports, on an affurance that the firft was burnt. 
 
 It is, therefore, faife that I was prefent at the flight of 
 Louis, and that I favoured with all my power the liberti- 
 cide projedl. It is, on the contrary, moft indifputable, 
 that I did every thing in my power to prevent it. , 
 
 I was interrogated refpe<fHng certain' private meetings 
 faid to have been held at the Thuilleries, and compofed, 
 ns it was aflerted, of intriguers and members of the con- 
 ftituent aflembly, Mirabeau, Barnave, Lameth, &c. : it 
 feemed that I was fuppofed to have aififted at them. I 
 affirm that I never had any knowledge of fuch meetings; 
 that I never affifted at them ; that I never wa connected 
 
 vol.. ii. B H with'
 
 4 <5<5 A P P E N D I X, No. IV. 
 
 with any of thofe who were confidered as party-leaders, 
 fuch as Mirabeau, Barnave, and the two Lameths , that 
 my connexions with la Fayette neceffarily refulted from 
 the mutual relation of our offices ; that the confidence 
 which I had in him, efpecially during the firft year, was 
 dictated by the whole nation ; but that thofe connections 
 were only official, and that I never poffeffed his peculiar 
 confidence. 
 
 It was afferted that fome of their meetings were held at 
 la Rochefoucault's. I anfwered, that I knew feveral de- 
 puties, and amongft others la Fayette, often met in the 
 evening at the houfe of la Rochefoucault ; but that I was 
 never there myfelf.' 
 
 .The unfortunate day of the Champ de Mars was men- 
 tioned ; and it was termed a confpiracy to afiaffinate the 
 true patriots. The national afTembly being informed that 
 mobs were collecling to refift the decree pafTed the pre- 
 ceding evening, and judging that every appearance of re- 
 fiftance againft the law was criminal, ordered the depart- 
 ment and the municipality to reftrain thofe mobs by all 
 the means with which the conftitution had invefted them. 
 The official accounts, which are preferved among the ar- 
 chives of the national afiembly, and of the municipality, 
 prove that the municipal body had in the morning em- 
 ployed all the means of perfuafion to difperfe the multi- 
 tude. 
 
 When the municipality in a body afterwards entered the 
 Champ de la Federation, every one knows the magiftrates 
 had not time to make the fummonfes prefcribed by the 
 law; but that the municipality and the national guard 
 were afiaiied with a (bower of ftones ; that one of the 
 rioters fired a piftol-fhot againft the municipality; and 
 that the ball, after paffing by me, ftruck the thigh of a 
 dragoon of the troops of the line who had joined the na- 
 tional guards, and who afterwards died of the wound. 
 
 It has been faid that the authors of thefe diforders, and 
 of this murder, were not at all connected with the citizens 
 aflembled round the altar of their country. But, in fat, 
 the national guard only fired upon the bank from whence 
 the ftones and the piftol-fhots had proceeded. It is added, 
 that the men who occupied this bank had been fent by la 
 Fayette and me. This accufation is without proof; and 
 it is abfolutely falfe. I make this affirmation as far as 
 regards myfelf. It is, moreover, evident that if thefe men, 
 3 had
 
 APPENDIX, No. IV. 467 
 
 had been our agents they would doubtlefs have avoided 
 firing on me or on the municipality. 
 
 But it is faid, la Fayette was reconciled, in June 1791, 
 with Lameth and the others, and they altogether plotted 
 the downfal of liberty. I know not what plots may have 
 been formed by men with whom I never had any connec- 
 tion. I remarked indeed that reconciliation, and I was 
 furprifed at it ; but it cannot be faid that I was reconciled 
 with the Lameths, fince I had neither any quarrel or con- 
 nection with them. I do not recollect that I have fpoken 
 with either of them for two minutes together fince the 
 revolution. I have never had a continued intercourfe 
 with any of the deputies, unlefs it was what the affairs of 
 the city gave me in the different committees. If la Fayette 
 engaged in any intrigues, he was too well acquainted with 
 my patriotifm to make me his confidant. 
 
 With regard to my conne&ions with the court, a cir- 
 cumftance which fully proves my innocence, is, that 
 among the numerous papers belonging to Louis, which 
 were found both at the houfe of la Porte and in the iron 
 clofet, papers in which a great number of perfons are im- 
 plicated in affairs more or lefs culpable, there is not one 
 which can draw on me the fmalleft reproach. What is 
 more, I am named in fome of thofe papers, but it is as an 
 enemy. Some attack me by farcafm, and endeavour to 
 place me in a ridiculous point of view (fee Gazette's 
 letters) ; others, fuch as Talon, fay, " Sire, if you make 
 * { fuch facrifices, Bailly will come and make you a fine 
 <f harangue." Others fay, and that of the date of 179!) 
 " the mayor of Paris will be managed, fo as to prevent 
 " him from giving us any further trouble." Finally, fome 
 of them talk of the neceflity of taking off my head. 
 
 I have gained nothing in the revolution ; on the con- 
 trary, if has caufed me to lofe fome valuable places ; and 
 it has almoft entirely deftroyed my fortune. I have need, 
 my dear fellow-citizens, of your efteem ; I am fure that 
 you will fooner or later do me juftice, but I have need of 
 that juftice whilft I am alive and in the midft of you. I 
 had previoufly deferved it by fifty years of continued pro- 
 bity ; and my claim cannot but be augmented and con- 
 firmed by nearly three years of entire devotion to your 
 interefts, with no other recompence than your efteem. 
 
 (Signed) BAILLY. 
 
 HH a
 
 4 68 APPENDIX, No. V. 
 
 No. V. 
 
 Letter from CHARLOTTE CORDAY to BARBAROUX. 
 
 In the prifon of the Ahhaye, from the 
 room formerly occupied by BriflTor, 
 the fecond day of my preparation 
 for peace. 
 
 X7OU requefted, citizen, an account of my journey ; I 
 * will not excufe you from a detail of the flighteft anec- 
 dote. I travelled with good mountaineers, whom I fuf- 
 fered to talk ?s much as they pleafed, and their difcourfe, 
 which was as abfurd as their perfons were difagreeable, 
 contributed not a little to lull me to fleep. I was not 
 perfe&ly awake till I came to Paris. One of my fellow- 
 travellers, who undoubtedly is an admirer of fleepy wo- 
 men, took me for the daughter of one of his old friends, 
 fuppofed me pofiefled of a fortune which I have not, gave 
 me a name which I had never heard, and in conclusion, 
 offered me his fortune and his hand. When I was tired 
 of his converfation, I faid, We are admirable comedians, 
 " what a pity, that with fuch talents, we have no fpecla- 
 11 tors : I will go and fetch our fellow-travellers, that 
 " they may have their mare of amufement." I left him ia 
 a very ill humour j all night he fung plaintive fongs, ex- 
 cellent provocatives of fleep. At length I parted with him 
 at Paris, refuCng to give him my addrefs or that of my 
 father, of whom he wifhed to afc me in marriage. He 
 left me evidently difpleafed. 
 
 I did not know that the people here had interrogated 
 my fellow-travellers, and I maintained that I knew none 
 of them, that I might fpare them the difagreeable talk of 
 undergoing interrogatories refpecting me. In this, I fol- 
 lowed my oracle, Raynal, who fays, it is not our duty to 
 tell truth to our tyrants. The lady who travelled with 
 me, gave them the information that I was acquainted with 
 you, and had fpoke to Duperret. 
 
 You know the firmnefs of Duperret's mind ; in his 
 anfwers he told them the exact truth, and his depofition 
 was corroborated by mine, nothing appears againft him, 
 but his courage is a crime. I confefs, I was apprehenfive 
 that my having fpoke to him would be discovered, and re- 
 pented
 
 APPENDIX, No.V. 
 
 pented it when too late. I wiflied to repair my fault by 
 inducing him to go and join you, but he was too refolute 
 to take my advice. Sure of his innocence .md of the in- 
 nocence of every one elfe, I refolved to execute my pro- 
 ject. Would you believe it ? Fauchet is in prifon as my 
 accomplice ; he who did not even know of my exigence. 
 
 But the people are not content to have only an un- 
 important woman facrificed to the manes of that great 
 man. Pardon me, my fdlow T creatures ! for fuch an ufe 
 of this word asdifhonours your fpecies ; he was a ferocious 
 bead, who intended to deltroy the reft of France by the 
 flames of civil war. Now, peace for ever ! 
 
 Four members were prefent at my firfl: interrogatory. 
 Chabot looked like a madman ; Legendre infilled that he 
 had feen me in the morning at his houfe ; I who never 
 thought of the man ; I do not confuler him pciTeficd of 
 fufficient abilities to be the tyrant of his country, and it 
 was not my defign to punim every body. All who fee me 
 pretend that they have known me a long while, though, 
 in fact, they never faw me before. 
 
 I believe that the dying words of Marat have been 
 printed. I doubt whether he uttered any, but t^efe are 
 the laft he faid to me. After having written down all 
 your names, and thofe of the adminiftration of Calvados 
 who are at Evreux, he faid, for my comfort, " In a few 
 " days, I will have them all guillotined at Paris." If the 
 department places his buft oppofite to that of St. Fargeau, 
 they may have thefe words engraven on it in letters of 
 gold. 
 
 I 'will give you no details of this great event, the journals 
 will be fuffidently explicit. I confefs that my refolution 
 was rendered complete, by my obferving the courageous 
 manner in which our volunteers inrolltd themfelves on 
 the feventh of July ; you may recollect the delight I felt, 
 and I promifed myfelf that I would make Petion repent of 
 the fufpicions he had manifefted refpecting my fentiments. 
 In fhort, I reflected that all thofe brave fellows were 
 fetting out to obtain the head of one fmgle man, that they 
 would be difappointed, or that his deftrution would have 
 occafioned the death of many good citizens. He did riot 
 deferve fo diftinguiflied a fate ; the hand of a woman was 
 fufficient. 
 
 I acknowledge that I ufed a treacherous artifice to in- 
 duce him to admit me: all expedients are juitifiable in 
 H H 3
 
 APPENDIX, No. V. 
 
 fuch a caufe. I intended, when I left Calvados, to have 
 facrificed him on the fummit of the Mountain, but he no 
 longer attended the convention. 
 
 I with I had kept your letter, it would have proved that 
 I had no accomplices ; but time will elucidate that point. 
 
 We are fuch good republicans at Paris, that it is not 
 conceived how an ufelefs woman, who, if fhe lived her 
 longeft poflible term, would do no good, could, in cold 
 blood, facrifice herfelf to fave her country. I expected to 
 have been inftantly put to death, but fome men, truly 
 courageous, and fuperior to all commendation, preferved 
 me from the excufable rage of thofe whom I had rendered 
 unhappy. As I really retained my prefence of mind, I 
 felt hurt at the exclamations of fome women, but thofe 
 who fave their country think nothing of the price it cofts 
 them. May peace be eftablilhed as foon as I wi(h it ! This, 
 however, is a grand preliminary, without which it would 
 never have been obtained. For thefe two days I have en- 
 joyed a delicious (late of peace. The happinefs of my 
 country conflitutes mine ; there is no at of felf-devotion 
 which dues not over-pay in pleafure, the pain of refolving 
 to adopt it . 
 
 I have no doubt that my father will be tormented on my 
 account : the lofs of me will be a fufficitnt affliction. If 
 my letters are found in his pofftffion, the greater part of 
 them are portraits of you-, if they contain any pleafantries 
 reflecting on you, I beg you to forgive me, and impute 
 them to my levity. In my laft letter I led my father to 
 believe that, apprehenfive of the horrors of a civil war, I 
 intended retiring to England. My project then was to 
 remain incognita, to kill Marat publicly, and, by an imme- 
 diate death, leave the people of Paris to an unavailing in- 
 quiry after my name. 
 
 I beg, citizen, that you and your colleagues will take 
 care to defend my relations and friends, if they are mo- 
 lefted ; I fay nothing of my dear friends the ariftocrats, 
 the remembrance of whom I preferve in my heart ; I 
 never hated but one fingle being, and I have demonftrated 
 how violent that hatred was ; but there are thoufands 
 whom I love with {till more warmth than, I hated him. 
 A lively imagination and a feeling heart promife but a 
 ftormy life ; I beg thofe who may regret my fate to think 
 of this, ami they will rejoice at feeing me enjoy repofe in 
 the Elyfian fields with Brutus and a few of the ancients. 
 
 As
 
 APPENDIX, No. V. 
 
 As for the moderns, there are few real patriots, who 
 know how to die for their country ; they are almoft all 
 felfifh. What a difmal people to form a republic ! 
 
 It is necefiary, in the firft place, to eftablifh peace, and 
 a government will afterwards come as it can : at leaft, if 
 my advice may be taken, the Mountain would not be per- 
 mitted to reign. 
 
 I am exceedingly well accommodated in my prifon ; the 
 jailors are the bed kind of people in the world ; to keep 
 away ennui they have placed military men in my room. 
 I like that very well by day, and very ill by night. I have 
 complained of the indecency, but no one has thought fit 
 to pay any attention to my remonftrance : I belic-ve this 
 muft be an invention of Chab*ot 5 none but a Capuchin 
 could have fuch ideas. 
 
 I pafs my time in writing fongs ; I give the laft ftanza 
 of one written by Validi to all who will accept of it ; I 
 allure all the Parifians that we only take up arms againft 
 anarchy, which is the exadt truth. 
 
 [At the time of writing; this part of her letter, Charlotte 
 Corday had undergone her firft examination ; when {he 
 had proceeded thus far, fhe was interrogated a fecond 
 time, and committed to the Concier^erie, from which 
 prifon fhe continued her epiftle to Barbarous in thefe 
 words ;] 
 
 Here am I, committed to the Conciergerie, and the 
 gentlemen of the jury having promifed to fend you my 
 letter, I proceed. 
 
 I have undergone a long interrogatory, which, if it is 
 publifhed, I beg you will obtain. I had in my pofieflion, 
 when arrefted, an addrefs to the friends of peace ; I can- 
 not fend it to you, and it, would be in vain for me to de- 
 mand that it mould be publifhed. I had thought yefter- 
 day of making a prefent of my portrait to the department 
 of Calvados ; but the committee of public fafety, of 
 whom I demanded it, returned no anfwer, and it is now 
 too late. 
 
 I defire, citizen, that you will communicate this letter 
 to citizen Bougon, proatreur-general fyndic of the depart- 
 ment. I do not write to him for feveral reafons ; i am 
 not certain, in the firft place, that he is now at Evreux. 
 I fear, moreover, that being naturally compaffiouate, he 
 H H 4 will
 
 472 APPENDIX, No. V. 
 
 will be affected at my death, yet I believe him good 
 citizen enough to confole himfelf in the hope of peace ; I 
 know how fmcerely he defires it, and hope that in faci- 
 litating its return I have fulfilled his wifhes. If any of 
 my friends defire to fee this letter, I hope you will not 
 refufe them. 
 
 I muft have a defender, for it is a rule ; I have chofen 
 one from the Mountain, Guftavus Doulcet ; I fuppofe he 
 will refufe me the honour, it would, however, coft him 
 but little trouble. I thought of afking Robefpierre or 
 Chabot. I fhall require leave to difpofe of the remainder 
 of my money, which, if I obtain, I will devote it to the 
 wives and children of the brave inhabitants of Caen who 
 have marched to the deliverance of Paris 
 
 It is aftonifhing, that the people fuffered me to be con- 
 ducted from the Abbaye to the Conciergerie, it is another 
 proof of their moderation ; mention the circumftance to 
 the good inhabitants of Caen. They indulge themselves 
 with occafioaal infurrections, and are not fo eafily re- 
 ftrained. 
 
 My trial comes on to-morrow at eight ; probably at 
 noon, according to the Roman phrafe / Jliall have lived. 
 I cannot fay how I (hall encounter my laft moments : I 
 have no need to affect infenfibility, for I never yet knew 
 the fear of death, I never loved life but in proportion to 
 its poflible utility. 
 
 I hope Duperret and Fauchet will be fet at liberty to- 
 morrow ; they afTert that Fauchet conducted me to the 
 convention, and placed me in the gallery. What buGnefs 
 could he have to take women there ? As a deputy he 
 ought not to have been in the galleries, and as a bifhop, 
 he ought not to have been with a woman ; thus there is 
 fomewhat of a charge againft him, but Duperret is totally 
 exempt. 
 
 Marat will not be placed in the Pantheon, yet he was 
 "highly deferving of it. I beg you will collect the proper 
 documents to make his funeral eulogy. 
 
 I hope you will not lofe fight of madame Forbin's in- 
 tereft ; this is her addrefs in cafe you fhould wifh to write 
 To Alexandrine Forbin, Mandrefie, near Zurich, Swit- 
 zerland. I beg you will inform her that I love her with 
 all my heart. I am going to write a line to papa ; I fay 
 nothing to the reft of my friends, I alk nothing of them 
 bat a fpeedy forgetfulnefs j grief would difgrace my 
 
 memory.
 
 APPENDIX, No. V. 473 
 
 memory. Tell general Wimpfen that I think I have 
 helped him to gain more than one battle by facilitating 
 peace. 
 
 Adieu, citizen. I recommend myfelf to the memory of 
 all true friends of peace. 
 
 The prifoners in the Conciergerie, far from infulting 
 me like the people in the ftreets, looked as if they pitied 
 me : misfortune ever renders men compaflionate ; this is 
 jny laft reflection. 
 
 M. C. CORDAY. 
 
 %"uefday the i6th, at 8 o'clock at night. 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 FORM of AdmiJJion In a LODGE of FREE-MASONS 
 in Palermo. 
 
 A LL' Oriente di Palermo luogo Illuminato ove regna U 
 ** Silenzio & la pace & 1'unione & 1'amicizia 1'anno del 
 lume 5766, & li 17 del fefto mefe 
 A* tutti le R. R. LL. fparfe fu la fuperficie della terra. 
 
 (S.S.S.) 
 
 Noj. V. M. della R. L. di S. Gio: di Scozia di Palermo, 
 figlia della R. L. di_S. Gio: di Scozia di Marfiglia adiftito da 
 tutti li noftri flli regolarmente aflbciati pelli numeri 
 mifteriofi & facri certifichiamo, ed atteftiamo che il caril a 
 fllo c . A. B. e ftato per noi ricevuto al grado d'apprendente 
 di cui egli ha fofferto li prove neceflarie, in teltimonio di 
 che la R. L. li ha accordato il prefente certifichato fatto 
 pma controfignare per lui fteflb pregando & ricercando le 
 R. R. L. L. regolari ove egli fi prefentera d'ammetterlo 
 in quefta qualita nel loro Oriente offerendo loro in fimile 
 cafo I'iteffo. Daro all Oriente di Pal in Loggia & col 
 figello generale. 
 
 L.S. E!F.' 
 
 A.B. G.H.
 
 474 APPENDIX, No. VII, 
 
 No. VII. 
 
 TranJIatlon of the Introduction, and a general Ac- 
 count of MIRABEAU'J ESSAY on the Seft of 
 ILLUMINATI. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 "\T7HEN I wrote this book, I did not flatter myfelf vith 
 * the hope of obtaining belief, and, confequently, 
 did not flatter myfelf that I (hould impart conviction. 
 The man who difclofes facts fo extraordinary muft be re- 
 figned, 'and expect to pafs for a mere declaimer. When 
 that character is once given of an author, no perfon 
 troubles himfelf to examine his work. But if the import- 
 ance of the fubject alone has inflamed his imagination, if 
 the knowledge of iniquity has foured his judgment, if the 
 noble defire of faving his fellow-creatures has armed him 
 with thofe fublime powers of eloquence which overwhelm 
 error with the force of thunder, if he has only ftepped be- 
 yond the line of his character from a conviction of immi- 
 nent danger, the impartial reader ought at lead to obey 
 that falutary impulfe of fear which difturbs a treacherous 
 fecurity, and judge for himfelf, whether the evils pointed 
 out are merely chimerical, or whether prudence demands 
 that they fhould be attended to. 
 
 The fimple are alarmed, the lukewarm doubt, the guilty 
 deny, the wife reflect ; thefe then I invoke on the pre- 
 fent occafion, thefe are the men whofe zeal I wiQi to 
 ftimulate. 
 
 This myftical machination would be fufficiently de- 
 tefted ; but its exiflence is not believed. To obtain ge- 
 neral belief, it would be necefTary to fpecify facts, to 
 afford means of proof, to name agents, accufe impoftors, 
 produce witnefles, publifh writings, commence a regular 
 fuit, and follow it to conviction. All this might be 
 done ; but the Coriphies of the feet ftifle every voice 
 which raifes itfelf in thofe countries where the fp.vereign 
 is the pontiff of this new church. 
 
 I know
 
 APPENDIX, No. VII. 4?s 
 
 I know not by what magic It happens that princes, who 
 in general are divided between the love of pleafure and 
 the dehre of a brilliant reputation, have been the firO- to 
 accede to a confederacy by which they mn ft infallibly be 
 lofers. In Europe there are no lefs ti.'.m thirty, ..eigning 
 and not reigning, Ib imbued with thefe abfurdities, that 
 they are inacceffible tv> re ifon however recommended by 
 moderation If an attempt is made to compromife differ- 
 ences of opinion, and the realbnc-r proceeds by moft ob- 
 vious modes of argumentation, they foon miftruft, and 
 finally avoid him. Some of them, who would be the out- 
 cafls of mankind but for the refpec*. attached to the names 
 they bear, turn preachers, and diffufe the dogmas of the 
 illuminati^ in an infipid jargon. Others conftitute them- 
 felves fanatical protectors of a religion they do not under- 
 ftand, and open their dominions (which they call ftates) 
 to all the adventurers employed by the feel: for the further- 
 ance of their views. The greater part of them court with 
 a fanatical eagernefs every one who wears the livery of 
 Swedenburg or Schrcepffer. 
 
 The court of France is unacquainted with the elements 
 of this theofophy. The rapidity of thofe motions by 
 which their minds are agitated does not afford leifure for 
 any religious fyftrm to unfold itfelf. The literary bodies 
 deride it ; the middle clafs, fully employed, and (fortu- 
 nately) little informed, are as yet inacceflible to this kind 
 of feduftion: but there exifts a number of little anti- 
 philofophical parties, compofed of learned ladies, theolo- 
 gical abbes, and a few pretended wife mm. Each of thefe 
 parties has its creed, its prodigies, its hieropkantes t its mif- 
 fionaries, its adepts, its detractors. Thus Paris, the centre 
 of all deception, as well as of all knowledge, affords a 
 fpecimen of every clafs of vifionaries. Every one afFel* 
 to explain the Bible in favour of his own fyftem, to found 
 his own religion, to fill his temple, and increafe his cathe- 
 cumens. Here Jefus Chrift acls a confpicuous part; 
 there 'tis the Devil ; in another place it is Nature ; a 
 little farther it is Foith. They all agree that reafon is a 
 nullitv, knowledge ufelefs, and experience chimerical. 
 Barbarin fomnambulizes, Cagliollro performs cures, Lava,- 
 ter adminiders confolation, Saint Martin affords inftruc- 
 tion, d'E**** f, res facra mifcr. All of them ufe deceit to 
 
 f- He wns, at the time this was written, fufFcring the horrors of 
 exile in the ifles of Saint Marguerite. 
 
 acquire
 
 APPENDIX, No. VII. 
 
 acquire a profitable reputation; and, if we except Lavater, 
 who, by means of a medley of genius and fimplicity, makes 
 his dupes with the utmoft fincerity, their vifions are to the 
 others a fpring the movements of which they regulate 
 with the greateft addrefs. 
 
 In Germany, the courts give an impulfe to the public 
 mind. The people are charafterifed by folidity rather 
 than by refinement, and are therefore convinced by un- 
 truths put into the form of fyllogifms. When their fim- 
 plicity has once received a bias towards their idol, called 
 philanthropy, there are few paradoxes which they are not 
 ready to adopt. The petty princes who are infe&ed with 
 the mania of being praifed, and whofe names would eafily 
 be forgotten amidft the important difcuffions by which 
 Europe is continually agitated, fuffer themfelves to be 
 gained by the fwect incenfe with which the priefts of the 
 illuminati, men prodigal of eulogium even to fatiety, are 
 ever ready to regale them in books which every body be- 
 gins, but nobody perufes. The ladies alfo encourage this 
 myftic illufion, in the hope of recalling the happy days of 
 their original innocency ; the courtiers embrace the inte- 
 refts of the new feel, becaufe, between the protectors and 
 the adepts, there is a conftant commerce kept up in pen- 
 dons, prefents, and titles, which are given in exchange 
 for initiations, revelation of myfteries, and confolatory 
 predictions ; this accounts for their great fidelity to thefe 
 remuneratory dogmas. 
 
 In Poland and Ruffia they gain many profelytes ; efpe- 
 cially in Ruflia, where the eftablifhed religion affords 
 countenance to myftic fyftems, and to every thing tending 
 to excite etithufiafm. There many great perfonages be- 
 come apoftles, and though the emprefs rejects every thing 
 which can enfeeble the human mind, there are theofo- 
 phers under her very eye, who evade detection, or brave 
 fcrutiny. May her iucceflbr inherit her philofophy ! 
 May her vaft dominions urver experience any other flavery 
 than that to which they were doomed by their original 
 matters ! 
 
 Will it be believed that England, the country where men 
 thinky is not totally free from this degrading fuperflition ? 
 There is not a complete fyftem as in Germany, but 
 there are certain confraternities, where the adepts dog- 
 matife, and keep up the zeal of the initiated by the charm, 
 of fecrets. Their progrefs, however, is not fo rapid as in 
 
 other
 
 APPENDIX, No.VIL 4?7 
 
 other countries, becaufe the Englifh travel a great deal ; 
 and though the greater part of them travel to very little 
 purpofe, yet they learn to appreciate the mafs of mankind, 
 and at lead acquire this knowledge, that, in all countries, 
 the viled and mod contemptible of the fpecies are thofe 
 who make a trade of deceiving and degrading their fellow 1 
 creatures. 
 
 We were long undecided on the fubject of publifliing 
 this work. We (hall be told that it is founding an alarm, 
 and giving confiftency to a feel jud ftruggling into life, 
 and which is compofcd of a hundred times more dupe* 
 than importers. None of the great bodies, the depofi- 
 taries of knowledge, have as yet embraced thefe new dog- 
 mas; and if the fet were diflinguiftied but by one juft 
 man, yet for his fake favour ought to be {hewn to fo great 
 a number of individuals, whofe only crime is that of not 
 being endowed by nature with a fortunate and uncom- 
 mon perfpicacity, which forms an effe&unl barrier againft, 
 deceit. 
 
 Far from us be fuch a principle ! It is pufillanimity, 
 under the mafk of commiferation. What ! mull we be 
 fifent for fear of being exclaimed at for calumny, libelling, 
 and malignity ? Calumny ! But there are men whom it 
 is not poflible to calumniate. The atrocity of their pro- 
 jets forms a mephitic abyfs into which vulgar mortals are 
 unable to penetrate, and which would have remained dill 
 undifcovered, but for its treacherous exhalations, which, 
 unhappily for mankind, fpread themfelves far and wide. 
 A libel! Yes, undoubtedly, thofe parts of the work 
 wherein they are mentioned may be fo denominated, for 
 they will be occupied in the detection of vice, the difplajr 
 of guilt, and the expofure of hypocrify. Malignity ! 
 Who is moft obvious to the charge? He who coolly 
 beholds the deftruclion of his fellow-citizens, or he who 
 places centinels in the path which leads to the precipice ? 
 No delicacy, consideration, or politenefs, can be claimed 
 by an iron-hearted race* who with the dagger in their 
 hands are marking out their victims. 
 
 Follow, follow this bafe principle, you whofe trade it is 
 to offer adulation to kings, to excufe their failings, to extol 
 the flighted indications of beneficence, and to immortalize 
 a few equivocal virtues. Purchafe, at this price, I will 
 not even fay didinftions, vain as they are, but a fmall 
 quantity of g6ld, a prefent worthy of your fordid fouls,
 
 47 APPENDIX, No. VII. 
 
 and do not come to us with declarations of your love of 
 truth, of your philanthropy, and your attachment to 
 virtue ; take back your irfulting efteem for thefe daughters 
 of heaven, and referve it for the divinities of your feel:. 
 
 When they are addrefied in this ftyle, they cannot re- 
 ply, much lefs confute. Then they commence perfecutors, 
 and fubftitute a tyrannical ufe of the authority lodged in 
 their hands, for the force of reafon, which would but 
 feebly affift them. To efcape the ftigma attached to per- 
 fecutors, they divert the dream of favour, nay of juftice ; 
 for the employment of modeft men of ability is no more 
 than the difcharge of a debt. They divert, : fay, the 
 ftream of favour from their adverfaries, and fuffer them to 
 vegetate in that difgraceful obfcurity which amounts to a 
 perfecution, and which is perhaps the only perfecution 
 capable of putting genius to the torture. Stung with con- 
 tempt, fhe goes in fearch of climes lefs unjuft ; or if {he 
 remains inflexibly attached to her penates, fhe ftays to 
 maintain the combat, and difplay the ftandard of reafon. 
 Then parties are formed, quarrels arife, plans of defence 
 are combined, difcontent becomes general, ambitious 
 neighbours take advantages, vifionary commanders are 
 placed at the head of a neglc&ed army, more interefted 
 about the money with which they are to be paid, than the 
 defence of a country from which they are completely 
 alienated. The higheft ports are occupied by men with- 
 out vigour, without genius, or by fome men of ability, 
 but who have been (ludioufly fubdued, and fubjetted to 
 the infignificant junto in favour. Freedom of thought is 
 annihilated by au inquifitorial watchfulnefs ; the enflaved 
 prefs keeps back every kind of truth, or perfecutes religion, 
 row a fugitive, and compelled to yield her pulpits and her 
 altars to fantaftic divinities ; the lyceums are converted 
 into extenfive folitudes, for, where all the branches of 
 fcknce are fubjeftfd to it'/uminati, the boxes, and not the 
 universities, ought to be frequented. 
 
 However charming it may be to avenge the caufe of in- 
 tegrity, it was not the contemptible pleafurc of railing 
 which induced us to take up the pen. The hope, faint as 
 it is, yes, the hope of refcuing a few virtuous men from 
 the fafcinations of the illuminati, has animated me in this 
 attempt. For fome years I have prcfented myfelf in the 
 Arena under varicr. fhapes. Sometimes enveloped in the 
 veil of fi&ion, fomedmes in the rtftridled line of academical 
 
 difputation,
 
 APPENDIX, No.VtI. 
 
 difputation, but more frequently in difcuflions of greater 
 profundity, I have difclofed extraordinary fecrets.' I now- 
 come to place the fubjet in a moft important point of 
 view, and to prefent a train of ideas, which by degrees 
 will lead to conviction. 
 
 Seeking the fource of the evil in the fatal prediledion 
 of all mankind for the marvellous, a rapid view of the ages 
 of our asra will demonftrate that all ages have reafon to 
 blufh for incredible errors by which mankind has been 
 continually harafied, errors which have been expofed, but 
 never eradicated. 
 
 Men receive thefe errors with joy, and feem in yielding 
 to them to fhield themfelves from the auflere leflbns of 
 truth. Some privileged countries naturalize them, and 
 give themfelves up to their deceitful influence ; all nations 
 refpecl, at lead, if they do not embrace them. 
 
 With what warmth has all Europe defended the Jefuits, 
 a feet which has fupplied fo many refources to the theo- 
 fophic fyftem. They were formed under the diadem 
 and under the tiara, under the helmet and under the 
 mitre, under the prefident's cap and under the doctor's. 
 The fame fanaticifm which preferved them has revived, 
 within thefe thirty years, the languifhing order of free- 
 mafons, who find no difficulty in keeping a feeret, which 
 nobody is anxious to difcover. 
 
 A philosophical inquiry into the fyftem of free-mafonry 
 has led to a ftill more elaborate invefligation of the myf- 
 teries of the illuminati. Was it not indifpenfably necef- 
 fary to diftinguim vulgar and precipitate notions, from the 
 judgment which ought really to prevail, refpeHng an in- 
 fcrutable aflbciation, the myfteries of which are carefully 
 hid from profane infpection. 
 
 It was neceffary to traverfe thofe famous circles, the 
 true feeret of the order, the grand initrument of their 
 frauds, thofe laboratories of iniquity, where chains are 
 forged for kings, and poifons diililled for mankind, and 
 then to difclofe the dreadful probations which precede 
 thofe oaths, of which the wretches themfelves pofTefs no 
 written forms, and which they would not dare to adopt 
 for the consolidation of their plots, oaths which realize the 
 fanguinary fable of Atrsus, and would cover the whole face 
 of the earth with a nation of affaflins. 
 
 Granting thefe alarms to be exaggerated, yet certainly 
 it ought to be believed that the fc of illuminati will ne- 
 
 ceflarily
 
 480 APPENDIX, No. VII. 
 
 ceflarily deftroy every kingdom in which they find pro- 
 tetiion, and will not even refpect the inftitutions of 
 fociety. This double truth is as clearly proved as one im- 
 mediately confequent to it, namely, that kings themfelves- 
 have the greateft intereft in hewing down this poifonous 
 tree, the roots of which defcend even to hell, while the 
 branches caft a gloom over their thrones. 
 
 After the woful fpeclaele on which our eyes had 
 dwelt too long, we fought for a pleafant illufion in the 
 means of effacing thofe fatal impreffions, and adverted to 
 the notions entertained of them in ages anterior to our 
 own. This idea alone, developed by a more able pen, 
 would leave the mind in a ftate of profound reflexion 
 very unfavourable to the fe&aries, a ftate which muft be 
 ftrengthened by a faithful delineation of their founder, 
 and an impartial review of the condition of thofe nations 
 who have protected thefe modern errors. 
 
 The laft divifion of the work concludes with an offer of 
 fome means adapted to diminifh their credit. We have 
 thrown together, at the end, hiftorical annotations. There 
 are, amongft them, fome pieces tranflated from the 
 German, and entirely unknown in France and Italy. The 
 greater part of the remainder is original. We might 
 have made' them more numerous, but have faid enough 
 for thofe wno really wifli to be inftruted. 
 
 We will not affect to conceal that moft of our ideas 
 are directed againft Germany, and that we have drawn 
 moft of our portraits from the life. But does not even 
 that prove the neceffity of this book ? If there do exift 
 fuch men as we have pourtrayed, we are threatened with 
 an imminent peril. If we have only difplayed imaginary 
 beings, thefe (heels will foon float on the tide of oblivion, 
 and will fail to excite even that momentary curiofity which 
 is very far from fuccefs. 
 
 But the fame at of fincerity which puts the public in 
 poflemon of our intentions, will alfo guarantee the purity of 
 our judgment with a great number of perfons of the firft 
 ability, conftantly animated, like ourfelves, with a facred 
 horror againft vifionaries. 
 
 Yes, Germany, in almofl every clafs, prefents to us 
 men with honeft hearts, who figh over the projects of 
 thefe myftical innovators. They feel aftonifhed that a 
 people, whofe national character is franknefs, can be fo 
 altered as to give them/elves up to a fet of pretended 
 
 apoftles
 
 APPENDIX, No. VII. 481 
 
 apoftles, whofe principal refource is impofture. Thev 
 lament that a nation, whofe favourite idol is reafon, fhould 
 fubmit to a few madmen, whofe profeflion is abfurdity, 
 whofe doctrine is a chimera. They ufe the two refources 
 committed by Heaven to the hands of the wife, contempt 
 and retirement. They encourage and animate thofe whp 
 enter the lifts. 
 
 They are fenfible, like ourfelves, that the efficacious 
 remedy would be, perhaps, one of thofe mighty convul- 
 fions which are produced by the chain of events, and 
 which it is not in the power of kings to prevent. In- 
 volved in one of thofe fanguinary difputes which agitate 
 all Europe, a nation does not invoke the aid of fpeculifts, 
 judgment and experience then become the tutelary deities 
 of the univerfe j precepts are regenerated, the afcendancy 
 of valour is exercifed, every one appears at his proper 
 flation, the ufurpers of celebrity are unmaflced, men of 
 flrong minds govern the country, and men whom fate had 
 deflined " ts the limited honours of one Jingle legion" fly 
 and difappear before them, to grow old in the fubaltern 
 labours of fome obfcure chanceries. What a defliny ! 
 by what incredible fatality are we reduced to beg of 
 heaven as a boon, that which is the laft effect of its 
 wrath ? To what an excefs do our woes amount, when 
 our only hope is in one of the moil dreadful fcourget? 
 Yet nothing is more true. The evil would be tranfitory, 
 and might, perhaps, rid the world of a cruel error which 
 will laft for feveral ages. 
 
 As to France, we may hope that in the verfatility of 
 principle, which feldom permits any object to take a deep 
 root, her theatres, her ballads, and her faftiions, will come 
 to her aid. Occupied as flie is with various fermenta- 
 tions, theofophy will hardly become a complete religion. 
 It is in itfelf too heavy, too infignificant to act on a peo- 
 ple who ftill preferve fome remains of gaiety, and who 
 have refifted the dull difputes of Janfenifm, the difcuffions 
 of their parliaments, the tedious invectives of the econo- 
 mifts, and the mania of thinking, all gifts of the modem 
 philofophy. Befides, that philofophy does not afford fo 
 unfteady a light as fome of her detractors would wifh. 
 A month feldom elapfes in which there is not a fuccefsful 
 re-production of eternal truths. It would not be difficult 
 to demonftrate that philofophy has only loft her enthu- 
 fiafm, her fareaftic bitternefs, and her defpotic ftyje, 
 
 VOL. II. II whl1 "
 
 4 S2 APPENDIX, No.VIT. 
 
 while the has ftrengthened her proofs, and increafed her 
 perfpicuity. 
 
 It remains to be examined how far it is proper to be 
 explicit with refpeft to great men, and thofe to whom 
 they intruft the cares of adminiflration. They are, almoft 
 every where, like the ark of the Lord. Whoever touches 
 them, is ftruck in the moment of his prefumption. It 
 feems to me, however, that a prudent warning is a duty 
 rather than an intrufion, an homage rather than an infult. 
 The offer of truth to any man, implies a fuppofition that 
 he is a friend of truth ; not to dare to point out error, is 
 to aft as if he were an accomplice in it. So far from its 
 being a crime to write with a courageous freedom, it 
 would be criminal to palfy energetic pens. They weaken 
 the vapours of that incenfe which intoxicates men in 
 power and efteem ; they fnatch the one from torpor, the 
 other from thoughtleflhefs ; they plead the caufe of the 
 people, of virtue, of wifdom three flrangers at court, 
 and who are treated there as impertinent intruders. If 
 revenge dips thefe pens in the gall of fatire, if they are 
 degraded by being employed in the caufe of felfifhnefs, 
 they then become unavailing arms, but feldom dangerous ; 
 for abufe reflects difhonour only on thofe who have re- 
 courfe to it. 
 
 Ah ! why are there no means of eradicating from man- 
 kind the mania of flattery ! A prince fends ten thoufand 
 men to be butchered, he is praifed ; he overwhelms his 
 fubjels with ill-contrived taxes, the day of his acceffion 
 to the throne is hailed as a feftival ; he makes an ufelefs 
 and expenfive voyage, at his return he pafles under 
 triumphal arches ; liilleflnefs fends him on a periodical 
 tour through his provinces, crowds afTemble to lavifh on 
 him acclamations to which he has no claim. The idol, 
 accuftomed to this perfidious concert of praife, is irritated 
 at the voice of the fage who tenders wholefome inflruc- 
 tion, and only appeafed by the flattering founds which 
 efface the fombre traces left on his mind by auftere 
 truth. 
 
 O facred truth ! In fpite of this ungracious reception, 
 do not abandon the throne of kings ! Protect them, in 
 fpite of their irritability, againfl the illufions with which 
 they are furrounded. Reftpre to us the courage which 
 difarms perfecution, imprefs on our writings thy celeflial 
 ftamp, and compel man to acknowledge thine empire. 
 
 All
 
 APPENDIX, No.VIL 483 
 
 All others disappear under the fcythe of time, thine alone 
 receives additional vigour from his trembling hand. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 On the Predilection of Mankind for tie Wonderful. 
 In this chapter the author, taking a review of the new 
 feb which every age has produced fince the firft eftablim- 
 ment of Chriftianity, refers the propenfity of mankind to 
 adopt the vifions of the illuminati to the fame difpofition 
 which induced them to give credit to religious fchifmatics 
 and irr-poftors. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 On the moral Difpojitions of the European Nations. 
 
 Mirabeau makes a rapid and incorrect eftimate of the 
 progrefs of learning and liberty in different countries, and 
 attributes the fuccefs of the illuminati to the want of 
 freedom in various governments, and concludes that Ger- 
 many will be the theatre of theofophifm, whence it 
 will fpread to the north, and make fome progrefs in 
 France. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 On Jefuitifm, as the firjl Source of the Theofephic Sfam. 
 
 In treating of the Jefuits, Mirabeau refcues them from 
 many imputed crimes and immoralities, but he charges 
 them with the mod extenfive views of ambition, and 
 defcribes them as the bafis on which the illuminati have 
 founded themfelves. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 On Free-mafonry, confidering it as the mojl ufeful Eftablijh ment 
 to the Illuminati. 
 
 This inflitution is treated with refpe& on account of 
 its fundamental principles, equality and charity ; but he 
 adds, " Whatever may be the operations of the free- 
 " mafons, they give rife to an aflbciation, the aflbciatiori 
 " produces meetings, thefe meetings are rilled with elo- 
 c quent orators, the progrefs from religious eloquence 
 " to fanaticifm is but fhort, and the difcourfes of thefe 
 << orators excite the defire of attempting it. Inftructions 
 U2 " are
 
 484. APPENDIX, No. VII. 
 
 " are imparted on the attainment of new degrees, degrees 
 
 " are the reward of zeal, zeal leads to the formation of 
 
 " engagements, engagements to oaths, oaths to every 
 
 " thing." 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Account of the Seel of Illuminati. 
 
 They are defcribed as confpirators " in favour of 
 " defpotifm againft liberty, of incapacity againft genius, 
 " of vice againft virtue, of ignorance againft knowledge. 
 " Formed in the recefles of impenetrable darknefs, this 
 '* fociety conftitutes a new race of beings : they are ac- 
 " quainted without feeing each other, underftand without 
 " the aid of exprefiion, and aflift each other without 
 " friendfhip. The aim of this fociety is to govern the 
 " world, to appropriate to itfelf the authority of fove- 
 " reigns, to ufurp their place, leaving them only the 
 " barren honour of wearing the crown. From the Jefuits 
 f< they have adopted the principles of blind obedience, 
 " and the regicide fyftem of the feventeeth century ; from 
 " free-mafonry, probations, and exterior ceremonies ; from 
 " the templars, fubterranean incantations, and an incredible 
 " boldnefs. They make ufe of phyfical difcoveries to 
 " impofe on the unlettered multitude ; the fafhionable 
 " fables to awaken curiofity, and encourage profelytifm ; 
 " and the opinions of antiquity to familiarize mankind 
 " with the commerce of intermediate fpirits. Every kind 
 " of error which afflicted mankind, every experiment, 
 " every invention, is rendered fubfervient to the views of 
 * the illuminati." 
 
 Speaking of their artifices to gain efteem and prevent 
 fufpicion, he fays, " The illuminati have alfo the ad- 
 " drefs to load with honours, fimple mafons of acknow- 
 ft lodged probity. The vulgar (and by this word I do 
 " not mean the mere mob, but men of every clafs who 
 " reflect but little), the vulgar I fay, confound objefts, 
 " and guarantee the integrity of Orontes and Cleon. 
 <{ Well ! there is no doubt that Orontes and Cleon are 
 <c men of honour, zealous citizens, and warm friends j 
 *' but they themfelves are dupes to their leaders, and thus 
 " become the firft fprings of a machine, the ufes of 
 " which they do not underftand, and people more artful 
 " than themfelves exhibit t<x the world, the integrity of 
 
 t( Orontes
 
 APPENDIX, No. VII. 485 
 
 Orontes and Cleon, as an affurance of the purity of 
 " their myfteries, and thus give an effectual contradic- 
 " tion to any one who entertains a doubt of the inno- 
 ** cency of their occult fittings." 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Of the Circles. 
 
 The circles are defcribed as the adminiftrative com- 
 mittees of the feel, fcattered in different provinces, and 
 compofed of nine perfons each. Their myfterious opera- 
 tions and local connection are defcribed with affected 
 minutenefs, and a mixture of truth and falfehood. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Of the Probation which muft be undergone to ccnjlitute one of 
 the llluminati Member of a Circle. 
 
 This chapter, written with great affected exactnefs, 
 and no inconfiderable (hare of invention, difplays a feries 
 of probations at once difgufting, impious, and obfcene, 
 and gives the form of an abjuration, which releafes the 
 party who makes it from all previous ties, however facred 
 and binding, and delivers him over entirely to the illu- 
 jninati. The account is curious, and even, if totally un- 
 true, becomes interefting by the furprife and .horror 
 -which it excites, 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 That the SeH of Illaminati mujl neceffarily deftroy any King* 
 dom luher-e- they are encouraged. 
 
 This is proved by a variety of pofitions and inductions, 
 and by a review of the different proftflions and public 
 bodies which affect government, 
 
 CHAP. IX, 
 
 'Xhat Kings are peculiarly interejled to, dcjlroy the new Seft. 
 
 In this chapter a diftinction is made between the 
 dignity of the crown, and the general interefls of the 
 kingdom, and the topic is inforeed by a variety of argu- 
 ments and inftanc.es. 
 
 113 CHAP.
 
 486* APPENDIX, No. VII. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 That the Se& of Illuminati would, if it were pcffible t dejlroy 
 Society itfelf. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 On the Means of dejlroying the Seel of Illumlnatl. 
 
 This Mirabeau propofes to effel by means of a com- 
 bination of men of letters who fhall expofe their princi- 
 ples, fecrets, and exertions to the abhorrence of fociety. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 The degree of Eftimation befloived on the Illumlnatl In former ', 
 and In the prefent Times. 
 
 After relating the principles and fates of feveral ancient 
 impoftors, Mirabeau defcribes the hatred and jealoufy 
 which prevail among the vifionaries and magnetifls of 
 thefe times, and the contempt with which Swedenborg 
 and Lavater treat all fedaries but their own. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 The Degree of Eftimation in which the Founders of the 
 Modern Seel are held. 
 
 In this chapter, the author derides and ridicules feveral 
 noted vifionaries and founders of feds, as Saint Germain^ 
 lc Grand, Schrcepfer, together with their adherents. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Of the State of thofe Countries which are confidered as pro* 
 tecling the Seel. 
 
 This chapter contains a fevere fatire againft many mo- 
 dern governments and focial inftitutions. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Different Methods of diminijhing the Eflimation of the Sett, 
 
 The fubjeft begun in the eleventh chapter is here 
 refumed and extended. The means propofed are, ift, 
 The productions of men of letters. 2d, To infpire a 
 
 tafte
 
 APPENDIX, No. VII. 
 
 tafle for literature. 3d, A new fyftem of education. 
 4th, A reform in the order of free-mafons. 5th, Ridi- 
 cule, and principally dramatic fatire. The treachery of 
 thefe fuggeftions is remarkable, as every one of the means 
 adverted to, except the fourth, which is a mere abfurdity, 
 has been ufed or referred to by the members or favourers 
 of the fet. They have had a ready and determined band 
 of literary afliftants prepared to aid their caufe by every 
 poflible effort. They have eftablifhed book-focieties and 
 reading-rooms for the mere purpofe of extending their 
 pernicious fyftems. They have been conflant advocates 
 for and projectors of new fyftems of education. And 
 the drama in Germany and France I as been almoft en- 
 tirely devoted to the celebration of their heroes, to the 
 enforcement of their dogmas both moral and political, 
 and to the ridicule both of perfons and eftabliftiments 
 which they were defirous to deftroy. 
 
 The notes, which are twenty-one in number, are many 
 of them extra&ed from fcarce publications, and are in 
 general curious and interefling. 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 Letter from THOMAS PAIN to Sir ARCHIBALD 
 MACDONALD, then Attorney-General ; read at 
 Guildhall on Pain's Trial ; the Hand-writing being 
 proved by THOMAS CHAPMAN, Printer, and JOHN 
 PURDUE Efq. oftheExcife Office. Extra fled from 
 GURNEY'J Edition of his Trial, p. 92. 
 
 PARIS, nth of Nov. 
 ill Year of the Republic. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 A. s there can be no perfona! refentment between two 
 *^ ilrangers, I write this letter to you, as to a man 
 again ft whom I have no animofity. 
 
 You have, as attorney-general, commenced a profecu- 
 
 tion againfl rne, as the author of the Rights of Man. 
 
 1 1 4 Had
 
 488 APPENDIX, No. VIII. 
 
 Had not my duty, in confequence of my being elected a 
 member of the national convention of France, called me 
 from England, I (hould have flayed to have contefted 
 the injuftice of that profecution ; not upon my own ac* 
 count, for I cared not about the profecution, but to have 
 defended the principles I had advanced in the work. 
 
 The duty I am now engaged in is of too much import- 
 ance to permit me to trouble myfelf about your profecu- 
 tion : when I have leifure, I fhall have no objection to 
 meet you on that ground ; but as I now {land, whether 
 you go on with the profecution, or whether you do not, 
 or whether you obtain a verdict, or not, is a matter of the 
 moft perfect indifference to me as an individual. If you 
 obtain one (which you are welcome to if you can get it), 
 it cannot affect me either in perfon, property, or reputa- 
 tion, otherwife than to increafe the latter ; and with 
 refptct to yourfelf, it is as confident that you obtain a 
 verdict againfl the man in the moon as againfl me ; neither 
 do I fee how you can continue the profecution againfl me 
 as you would have done again jl one of your- o r wn people 
 who had abfented himfelf becaufe he was profecuted : 
 what patted at Dover proves that my departure from 
 England was no fecret. 
 
 My necefTary abfence from your country now, in con r 
 fequence of my duty here, affords the opportunity of know- 
 ing whether the profecution was intended againfl Thomas 
 Paine, or againfl the rights of the people of England to, 
 inveftigate fyflems and principles of government ; for as I 
 cannot now be the pbject of tli profecution, the going on 
 with the profecution will (hew that fomething elfe was the 
 object, and that fomething elfe can be no other than the 
 people of England, for it is againfl their rights and not 
 againfl me, that a verdil or fentence can operate, if it 
 can operate at all. Be then fo candid as to tell the jury 
 (if you choofe to continue the procefs) whom it is you 
 are profecuting, and on whom it is that the verdil is to 
 fall. 
 
 But I have other reafons than thofe I have mentioned 
 for writing you this letter, and, however you may choofe 
 to interpret them, they proceed from a good heart. The 
 time, Sir, is becoming too ferious to play with court pro- 
 fecutions, and fport with national rights. The terrible 
 examples that have taken place here, upon men who lefs 
 thau a year ago thought themfelyes as fecure as any pro-. 
 
 (ecuting
 
 APPENDIX, No.Vin. 
 
 fecutlng judge, jury, or attorney-general, can now do 
 in England, ought to have fome weight with men in 
 your fituation. That the government of England is as 
 great, if not the greateft, perfection of fraud and corrup- 
 tion that ever took place fince governments began, is 
 what you cannot be a ftranger to, unlefs the conftant 
 habit of feeing it has blinded your fenfes j but though 
 you may not choofe to fee it, the people are feeing it 
 very faft, and the progrefs is beyond what you may choofe 
 to believe. Is it pofTible that you or I can believe, or 
 that reafon can make any other man believe, that the ca- 
 pacity of fuch a man as Mr. Guelph, or any of his profli- 
 gate fons, is neceflary to the government of a nation. I 
 fpeak to you as one man ought to fpeak to another ; and 
 I know alfo, that I fpeak what other people are beginning 
 to think. 
 
 That you cannot obtain a verdict (and if you do it will 
 fign'fy nothing) without packing a jury, (and we both 
 Juiow that fuch tricks are practifed,) is what I have very 
 good reafon to believe. I have gone into coffee-houfes, 
 and places where I was unknown, on purpofe to learn the 
 currency of opinion, and I never yet faw any company of 
 twelve men that condemned the book, but I have often 
 found a greater number than twelve approving it, and this 
 is I think a fair way of collecting the natural currency of 
 opinion. Do not then, Sir, be the inftrument of drawing 
 twelve men into a fituation that may be injurious to them 
 afterwards. I do not fpeak this from policy, but from 
 benevolence ; but if you choofe to go on with the procefs, 
 I make it my requeft to you that you will read this letter 
 in court, after which the judge and the jury may do as 
 they pleafe. As I do not confider myfelf the object of 
 the profecution, neither can I be affected by the iflue, one 
 way or the other, I (hall, though a foreigner in your 
 country, fubfcribe as much money as any other man to- 
 wards fupporting the right of the nation againft the pro- 
 fecution j and it is for this purpofe only that I (hall do it. 
 
 THOMAS PAINE. 
 
 To ARCHIBALD MACDONALD, 
 Attorney-General.
 
 499 APPENDIX, No. IX, 
 
 No. IX. 
 
 Alftracl (T/'PETION'.T Speech^ intended to have been de- 
 livered in Reply to ROBESPIERRE J s Anfaer to 
 LOUVET'J- Accufation ; and PETION'^ Letter to the 
 Jacobin Club. Extracted from the Mercure 
 Frangois, No. du 17 Novembre 1792. 
 
 THS inferences drawn from Petion's publication are 
 thefe : 
 
 i. That the men who have aflumed to themfelves the 
 glory of the rcth of Auguft, are thofe to whom it leaft 
 belongs ; that it is due to thofe who prepared the event, 
 to the imperious nature of things, to the brave federates, 
 and their fecret directors. 
 
 a. That the commune^ inftead of putting an end to the 
 revolutionary effort when its object was attained, thought 
 it more dignified to enter into a ftate of rivalfhip with the 
 legiflative atTembly -, whofe decrees they obeyed or refitted, 
 juft as they found them favourable or contradictory to 
 their views. 
 
 3. That from that epoch, Petion retained only a fliadow 
 of power, and that he was unwilling that his name fhould 
 be annexed to a multitude of irregular acts. 
 
 4. That Robefpierre aflumed the greateft afcendancy 
 in the council ; that fubfequently to the decree for open- 
 ing the barriers, he faw nothing but precipices and con- 
 fpiracies, and was continually denouncing fuppofed con- 
 fpirators ; that he inflamed the people by the moft ani- 
 mated declamations ; that the ftctions were influenced by 
 ^hefe imprefiions, communicated them to others. 
 
 5. That the committee of infpedlion filled the prifons ; 
 that a man, whofe very name is become odious, and in- 
 fpires terror in the minds of peaceable citizens, Marat, 
 had aflumed the direction of the police. 
 
 6. That the crimes of the ad of September and the fol- 
 lowing days would not have taken place, or ;would have 
 been Hopped, if thofe who had in their hands the direction 
 of the armed force had beheld them with horror $ that 
 
 thofe
 
 APPENDIX, No. IX. 4gl 
 
 thofe who committed the maffacres in the prifons were very 
 few in number ; that Petion was only informed of the 
 event in a vague and indirect manner ; that he immedi- 
 ately wrote to the commandant-general, from whom he 
 received no anfwer ; that he wrote again, and the com- 
 mandant-general replied, that he had given orders, but 
 they were not obeyed. 
 
 7. That the committee of infpection of the commune 
 had, in fact, iflued a decree of arreft againil the minifter, 
 Roland, on the 4th of September, a period when the maf- 
 facres were ftill continued. 
 
 8. That the electoral afTembly was influenced, com- 
 mandad, by a fmall number of men ; and that the elec- 
 tions were regulated by lifts which were exactly fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 9. That frefh maflacres were announced for the 2oth 
 of September ; that feveral reprefentatives of the people, 
 the mofl ardent defenders of liberty, were pointed out as 
 victims ; that Petion had often fevercly reproached Robe- 
 fpierre for the fufpicions he entertained of feveral deputies, 
 and particularly Briflbt, and that Robefpierre had affured 
 him that Briflbt was fold to Brunfwick. 
 
 Finally, That he did not believe that Robefpierre had 
 afpired to the dictatorfhip, but that Marat had folicited it 
 on his behalf. If ferocity were not the characteriftic of 
 folly, Petion added, there would be nothing, fo ridiculous 
 as that being whom nature feems exprefsly to have marked 
 with the feal of reprobation. 
 
 JEROME PETION'J- Letter to tie Jacobin dub. 
 
 For fome time paft attacks, more or lefs direct, more 
 or lefs violent, have been levelled at me in this fociety. 
 Till now, I never thought it neceflary to anfwer, but it is 
 time to ftop this fyftem of intrigue and calumny. I do 
 not love to fpeak of myfelf; 1 never permitted myftlf in 
 public to fay a fingle word of the fervices I had rendered ; 
 at this day it becomes a duty, and I (hall perform it, with- 
 out Affecting a falfe delicacy. 
 
 I loved and cultivated liberty before her birth in my 
 country. 
 
 I gave myfelf up to the ftudy of laws and governments, 
 and," before the revolution, was the author of feveral 
 works, which breathe the lo/c of equality and liberty. 
 
 In
 
 APPENDIX, No. IX. 
 
 In the conftituent aflembly, I defended the rights of the 
 people with courage and conftancy. 
 
 At the period of the famous feceflion, I faved this fo- 
 ciety. I remember a period when it was compofed only 
 of three members of the national aflembly, and twenty or 
 thirty other citizens. Terror had difperfed the reft. It 
 had driven away many who, at this day, aft the moft 
 confpicuous parts in the club. Of the three members of 
 the aflembly, one was little known. Robefpierre, though 
 he enjoyed a high reputation for patriotifm, had not ac- 
 quired that eftimation which is derived from wifdom and 
 temperance in the conduct of public affairs. I have feen 
 ILobefpierre trembling ; Robefpierre propofing flight ; 
 Robefpierre not daring to fhew himfelf in the aflembly. 
 Afk him if I trembled. 
 
 I fayed Robefpierve himfelf from perfecution, by at- 
 taching myfelf to his lot, when he was deferted by the reft 
 of the world. 
 
 I have more than once faved Paris, and fpared the blood 
 of the people. 
 
 I contributed, in no flight degree, to bring on the events 
 of the icth of Auguft. 
 
 I have, fmce that period, found my influence iconfider- 
 ably reduced; the public will judge whether that reduo. 
 tion has been beneficial or injurious to the welfare of this 
 city, and the tranquillity of the inhabitants. 
 
 I ftill retain hopes of ferving my country. 
 
 I declare that I do not, nor ever will belong to any 
 party. 
 
 I declare that I know not of a Brijjotine faft'wn ; that in 
 fpite of the general blindnefs and warmth on this fubjet, 
 this faction is a mere chimera, and that there is no man 
 fo little qualified to be the head of a party as Briflbt. 
 
 I declare that the Jacobin club has rendered moft im-? 
 portant fervices to the country, that it may ftill continue 
 to do fo, and that I will defend the fociety with all my 
 ftrength, but without prejudice ; that I will adopt their 
 opinions when I think them reafonahle, but will combat 
 them when I think them erroneous. 
 
 When we contemplate feme of thofe men who affect 
 an appearance of fuch ardent patriotifm ; thofe boafters in 
 the caufe of liberty, who but lately were flaves, and who 
 would to-monow relapfe into the fame condition under a 
 king ; thofe men who have the prefumption to aflert that; 
 
 no
 
 APPENDIX, No. IX. 493 
 
 no one elfe is capable of attaining their height : it is fuf- 
 ficient to excite a difguft againft patriotifm, in every heart 
 where that virtue is not deeply engraved. 
 
 As for myfelf, I am, at this day, what I have ever been. 
 Immovable in my principles, I fay that whatever may 
 happen, I will die free. 
 
 No. X. 
 
 ROBESPIERRE'/ Letter to JEROME PETION, octa- 
 fumed by the preceding Publications. 
 
 TTow great, my dear Petion, is the inftability of human. 
 ** affairs, when you, heretofore my brother in arms, 
 and at the fame time the moft gentle of mankind, on a 
 fudden declare yourfelf the moft violent of my accufers ! 
 Do not fuppofe from this exordium that it is my intention 
 to fpeak either of you or of myfelf. We are but two 
 atoms, loft in the immenfity of the moral and political 
 world. I am not going to anfwer your inculpations ; (I 
 am accufed of having already fhewn too much condefcen- 
 fion in that refpeft ;) but your prefent political doctrines. 
 It would now, perhaps, be rather too late to refute your 
 fpeech ; but it is always time to defend truth and prin- 
 ciples. Our quarrels are but topics of a day j principles 
 are eternal. 
 
 It is on this condition only, my dear Petion, that I will 
 take up the gauntlet you have thrown. You will even ic- 
 cognize, in my manner of combating, the friendmip or the 
 weaknefs I formerly felt for you. If in this difpute, which 
 is entirely philanthropic, you (hould be expofed to fome 
 flight blows, they will be aimed only at your vanity ; and 
 you have, beforehand, put me quite at eafe on that head, 
 by declaring that you have none. Befides, the right of 
 cenfure is reciprocal ; it is the (hield of liberty , and you 
 are fo fincerely attached to principles, that you will, I am 
 fure, feel more pleafurc in being yourfelf the object of itj 
 than you experienced in exerciting it againft me. 
 
 I will
 
 APPENDIX, No. X 
 
 1 will not difi'emble that one of the mofl powerful of 
 the motives which induce me to enter into the lifts againft 
 you is the defire of feeing thofe heroic actions which do 
 honour to the French nation, and to the human race, and 
 which you, undoubtedly from not knowing them, have 
 mifreprefented, faithfully tranfmitted to pofterity. I will 
 remind you of circumflances known to fix hundred thou- 
 fand perfons ; and I {hall not be expofed to fufpicion ; for 
 I was, almoft as much as yourfelf, a ftranger to the glori- 
 ous events of our laft revolution ; we have only the fatif- 
 faclion of knowing, that at that memorable period the 
 country had many defenders, more ufeful than either of us. 
 
 In the firfl place, it feems to me that you do not fpeak 
 of the revolution which has broken our fetters with all the 
 refpecl that it deferves. Whence arifes the acrimony 
 with which you exprefs yourfelf refpe&ing every tranf- 
 a&ion, and every individual at all connected with that 
 event ? 
 
 When you fay that the event is principally to be 
 afcribecl, to thofe 'who prepared it, it is evident that 
 you allude to thofe who did not accomplifh it. And 
 if it is to yourfelf that you mean principally to ad- 
 vert, you mull {hare that merit with all thofe who 
 havfi defended the caufe of liberty* You are willing 
 to yield a fmall portion to the federates, to whom you 
 never ceafed to recommend inaction ; whom you gave 
 yourfelf no trouble to procure the means of remaining at 
 Paris ; to their fecret directors, of whom you never fpoke 
 but with uneafinefs and millruft, men whom you and 
 your afibciates now clafs in the rank of agitators. Do you 
 know that member of the legiflative aflembly who on the 
 yth of Auguft faid to one. of his friends, " If the people 
 " are timid, or hefitate, blow my brains out with a piftol, 
 " and let my bloody corpfe be dragged about Paris, that 
 " revenge may lead the people to liberty ! This is one 
 of the men whom your friends inceflantly calumniate. 
 
 But why do you not, with equal readinefs, do juftice t* 
 the people of Paris ? 
 
 Why do you not, at leaft among thofe who prepared 
 the revolution, enumerate the feHons of Paris, fo much 
 flandered fince that period by your affociates ? Inftead of 
 aiding their pernicious defigns, why do you not remiad 
 the departments, deceived by their impoftures, that, for 
 more than a month, they had declared themfelves perma- 
 nent,
 
 APPENDIX, No.X. 
 
 hent, that they had fignalized their ufefui a&ivity by Im- 
 mortal decrees, the infallible precurfors of the revolution ? 
 Why did you not fay that it was they who folemnly dif- 
 cuiTed the facred neceffity of infur reft ion, who rallied all 
 the foldiers of liberty, and who, in the night of the gth, 
 of Auguft, at length gave the fignal of battle againft a 
 rebellious and confpiring court ? Uo you not perceive that 
 this politic and courageous proceeding was abfolutely ne- 
 ceiTary, to unite and direct the popular force againft the 
 anti-revolutionary army alTembled by the tyrants in Paris ? 
 This was not all ; it was necefiary to create a central 
 authority, to fubftitute for thofe who had loft the confi- 
 dence of the people. This authority could not be veiled 
 in the department, notorioufly fold To the court; or in 
 ybur old department, which had juft refufed the requeft 
 of the citizens to throw down the Ipufts of la Fayette and 
 Bailly, where the mod zealous reprefentatives of the people 
 had been infulted with impunity, by fateliites, and evert 
 by their colleagues, while you prefided, and even in- your 
 prefence. You might, then, have praifed the prudence 
 of the fettions who named commifnoners to replace thfc 
 old council-general of the commune, and who inverted them 
 with full powers to fave the commune of Paris, and aft 
 France. By what fatality, my dear Petion, does it happen 
 that this new council-general is the principal object of the 
 libellous publication on which we are now engaged ? You 
 have permitted an important avowal to efcape you, under 
 the form of a qualification of your reproaches. " Thefe 
 " commiffioners, nevertkelefs, (you fay,) conceived a grand 
 " idea, and took a bold ftep, in poiTefling themfelves of 
 " all the municipal powers, in putting themfelves in the 
 " place of the council-general, whofe weaknefs or cor- 
 " ruption they dreaded j they courageoufly riflced their 
 " lives, if fuccefs had not crowned their enterprife." 
 What was this enterprife ? The deftruclion of tyranny : 
 then they expofed themfelves in the caufe of liberty. Add, 
 if you pleafe, that in the firft days of September they 
 (hook Paris, and ail France, to cruth the armies of defpo- 
 tifm ; and you will be compelled to own, that they have 
 twice faved the country. Do you then aflume the pen to 
 join their detractors ? When fublime actions prefent them- 
 felves for admiration, whence arifes this mania of feeking 
 for a few defects to cenfure ? If a nation is ungrateful, it 
 has fome fort of right to be fo. Citizens owe every thing
 
 A P P E N D I X, No. X. 
 
 to their country, and the country owes nothing to them"; 
 or at lead it is their duty to pardon her injuftice : but 
 you, citizen, by what right do you fpeak of the deftroyers 
 of tyranny in the fame terms as tyrants themfelves ? You 
 even go the length of attempting to wreft from them the 
 merit of thofe fervices you have fo recently acknowledged, 
 by faying that the revolution of the ioth of Augujl "would have 
 been tffefted without them. Strange manner of appreciating 
 thofe who fo powerfully contributed to it ! Had you been at 
 the houfe of the commune you would have known where 
 was the rallying point for the people ; that it was with the 
 new magiflrates that the defenders of liberty maintained a 
 conftant communication ; you would have known how 
 great were their exertions to procure for the citizens am* 
 munition and arms, and to flifle the confpiracy of the 
 court. You would have feen the calm and tranquil cou- 
 rage with which, among other things, they performed, in 
 that dreadful crifis, a decifive adlion. I allude to the 
 treachery of the commandant of the national guard, who, 
 in confederacy with the confpirators of the Tuilleries, had 
 given orders to the officers of the corps-de-referve to let the 
 people advance, and then fire upon them in the rear, at 
 the fame time that the cannon of the caftle mould mow 
 them down in front. The council-general difcovered this 
 plot in the middle of the night ; they fent twice for the 
 commandant-general, who did not obey till the fecond 
 fummons ; they prefented to him the fatal order, figned 
 with his hand, and which ftill remains in the archives of 
 the commune ; the council-general caufed the traitor to be 
 arrefted, and adopted meafures equally prompt and vigor- 
 ous to difconcert his treafonable defigns. Without this, 
 liberty was at an end , and yet you do not deign to give 
 this circumftance a place among thofe which decided the 
 victory in favor of the people ! What are the enormous 
 crimes which, in your contemplation, have effaced the 
 merit of thefe fervices*? 
 
 Robefpierre difplays confummate art in giving this falfe account 
 of the circumltances attending the murder of Mandat. He knew that 
 Petion, who himfelf had figned the order to repel force by force, 
 would not dare to contradict, or challenge a proof of thefe facls ; and 
 the infinuation that fome written document was preferved in the 
 archives of the ctmn-.unt is well calculated to intimidate the treacherous 
 Petion. 
 
 Who
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 407 
 
 Who would believe it? You reproach the council- 
 general for not having abdicated, on the morrow of the 
 combat at the Tuilleries, the authority with which they 
 had been intruded by the people, and which the legifl.uive 
 aflembly had fan&ioned, in order to recall the old munici- 
 pality, and, confequsntly, the old directory. You attribute 
 this ccndnEl to the love of power ! 
 
 You reproach the council-general with having prolonged 
 the revolutionary effort beyond the neceflary period. 
 What was this effort ? You do not defcribe it : it is pro- 
 bable that the neceflary period to which you allude, was 
 the fame you had fixed as the time for abdication. So 
 that, according to you, the revolutionary effort ought to 
 have lafted four-and-twenty hours precifely ; you meafure 
 political revolutions by thofe of the fun. But as you 
 found yourfelf pofleffed of that infinite wifdom, which re- 
 gulates by certain laws the mod irregular phenomena of 
 the moral world, why did not you fay to the people, as 
 the Almighty fays to the ocean, " Thus far ihalt thou 
 " come, and here fhall thy proud waves be flayed ?" Why- 
 did you not come, and create in one day a new political 
 world, as the Creator formed the world in three days. 
 You did not appear at the commune till the third day after 
 the capture of the Tuilleries. You came to announce to 
 us, that the committee of twenty-one in the legiflatix^e 
 aflembly was willing to fandlion the revolution, and con- 
 firm all the acls of the commune. This was but a preamble 
 to the further information that the committee of twenty- 
 one in the legiflative affembly had a report ready, the ef- 
 fect of which was to recall the old municipality. This idea, 
 with which you feemed infinitely delighted, was unani- 
 moufly rejected by the council general, as the infallible 
 means of knitting up the threads of thofe confpiracies 
 which ought to be broken for ever. The fame day you 
 made a long fpeech to prove that Louis XVI. ought not 
 to be fliut up in the tower of the Temple, and that if he 
 was not lodged in a magnificent hotel, all France would 
 rife againft the commune ; your opinion was over-rul~d. 
 You appeared alarmed ; you feemed to think that the 
 council-general was actuated by madnefs. You fpoke of 
 it in the mod unqualified terms ; you thought its Jlyle and 
 difpofttion both reprebenftble. Ycu were continually fighing 
 for the return of your femi-ariftocratic municipality. You 
 thought to punifli the council-general by^abfenting your- 
 
 VOL. ii. K K
 
 49 3 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 felf ; and continually held councils with your friends, 
 either at the committee of twenty- one, or at your own 
 houfe, to concert meafuresfor its diflblution. You were, 
 like Achilles, fulky with the Greeks. You fee how much 
 your reproaches againlt the commune are disfigured by 
 paflion, and, I will not fay how unjuft, but how childifh 
 they are. You were terrified^ you fay, at the diforder, the 
 tumult, tJ-e fpirit 'which prevailed in that ajjembly. The 
 fpirit which animated the defenders of liberty terrified 
 you ! You difcufs the necefiity of filence, not like a ftatef- 
 man, but like the regent of a college. You wonder that 
 the council general, inftead of confining it felf 'to the affairs of 
 the commune, rather refembled a political ajjembly. The 
 public liberty occupied a part of their deliberations on the 
 1 2th and I3th of Auguft ! They were wrong, undoubt- 
 edly, they fliould have debated only on the duties of fca- 
 vengers and lamp-lighters ! For what befidcs had the people 
 appointed them ? They difcourfed of plots againjl the public 
 liberty. What folly to think of plots ! Did any ever exift? 
 or if they did, was it the bufinefs of the council-general to 
 counteract them ? Citizens were denounced before them. 
 Was it not enough, on the loth of Auguft, to have con- 
 quered the Swifs foldiers, and have loft a great number of 
 patriots ? Could they think the following days properly 
 fpent in arrefting confpirators ! in denouncing Montmorin, 
 Depoix, Duport, Lamballe, and fo many other worthy 
 people ! Thefe crimes muft be puniuhed. They cited them 
 to their bar. They ought, at leaft, to have waited on them, 
 at their own houfes, to have paid them a vifit in a body ! 
 They heard them in public. It would have been better to 
 fubjedt them to a private interrogatory. They difmiffed 
 them if acquitted^ or elfe detained them. They ought, neither 
 to have been difmified or detained ! The cuftomary rules 
 were totally difpenfed 'with. Hang me up thefe municipal 
 officers ! what, violate cuftomary rules during a revolu- 
 tion ! You do not tell us what rules thefe were, but with 
 fuch guilty magiftrates, it is not worth while to defcend 
 to particulars. Was it any bufinefs of theirs to adopt 
 precautions to render the event of the battle of the Tuil- 
 leries favourable to liberty? Prudent Petion, the commune 
 of Paris had raifed the ftandard of infurreclion, in the 
 name of the country j the caufe of the commune interefted 
 all France, 
 
 The
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 499 
 
 The effervefcence of the public mind was fo great > that it 
 was impo/ible to rejlrain the torrent. What ravages were 
 occafioned by this torrent of effervefcent minds ! All their 
 deliberations were inflamed with the impetuofity of enthufiafm. 
 Roufe up your choler againft the enthufiafm of liberty ; 
 never ftop to inquire whether thefe deliberations were 
 good or bad. They fucceeded each other with a terrifying 
 rapidity. You are always terrified : take courage ; in an 
 urgent crifis, when all people animated with the fame 
 fpirit, rapidity of difcuflion is rather a confolatory, than an 
 alarming phenomenon. Day and night the council -general 
 continued their fittings* Scoundrels ! to confecrate their 
 days and nights to the public weal ! 
 
 / "would not fuffcr my name to be annexed to a multitude of 
 acJsy no lefs irregular than contrary to principle. What prin- 
 ciples ? Not thofe by which tyranny was deftroyed. What 
 are we to conclude but that your {lumbers were lefs inter- 
 rupted, and that the revolution is a nullity, becaufe not 
 fan&ioned by the fignature of Jerome Petion ? 
 
 / ivas equally fcnfible that prudence required me not to ap- 
 prove, or Jlrengthen by my prefence, the tranfacJions then pajf- 
 ing. Exactly fo ; the council-general was without autho- . 
 rity ; in vain the people had created it ; in vain the people 
 approved it ; you ref'ufed your approbation. Take care of 
 yourfelf, my dear Petion, this language excites a fufpicion 
 of didtatorfhip. 
 
 Thofe whom my prefence incommoded were very felicitous to 
 make the people believe that I prejided at all their operations ; 
 and that nothing was done but in concert with me. Whom 
 did your prefence incommode ? Were you not a good ci- 
 tizen ? and the delegates whom the people, in the night 
 of the pth of Auguft, had judged worthy to defend their 
 caufe, were they of lefs importance than yourfelf ? Had 
 the people forbid them to fulfil the object of their mifTion 
 without the confent of Jerome Petion ? Do you believe 
 that citizens armed for the overthrow of defpotifm are fo 
 idolatrous, fo cowardly, fo flupid as you would infinuate ? 
 
 Ifeldom made my appearance : if at that time I had loudly 
 declared my fentiments of oppofttion, it would have occafioned a 
 fchifm which might have been productive of unhappy confe- 
 quences ; there is in every thing a moment of maturity, which 
 eught prudently to be turned to advantage. I firmly believe 
 you 19 be a man eminently endowed with the gift of pru- 
 K K 2
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 aehtly turning to advantage the moment of maturity. Yet, 
 whether you had declared in favor of the old municipality, 
 difmifled by the public voice, or for the new council of 
 the commune, or for or againft the revolution j I much 
 doubt whether you would have been fo unfortunate as to 
 have occafioned a fatal fchifm. 
 
 It muft be acknowledged that this flyle of reafoning ap- 
 pears extraordinary ; but your imagination, though gene- 
 rally quiet enough, is fo much ftruck with every thing re- 
 lating to our lad revolution, thr.t you fee monflers and 
 crimes where other men difcern only ordinary events, or 
 virtuous actions. Thus you confefs yourfelf to be (hocked 
 that the council-general of the commune fhould have thought 
 it necefiary to prolong the fhutting of the barriers four- 
 and-twenty hours beyond the moment you had fixed for 
 their being thrown open ; and becaufe I was accidentally 
 of their opinion, you fpeak of my propofal in terms like 
 thofe you would ufe to defcribe an eruption' of Mount 
 Vefuvius. You indulge yourfelf in declamations, arid 
 draw portraits, but you prefent no facts ; and ftill lefs 
 reafons. You are compaflionate towards thofe traitors 
 who were adverfarious to liberty, and inexorable only to- 
 wards the moft zealous patriots. 
 
 You even renew the reproaclres which Louvet has vent- 
 ed againft the commune^ for having prefented too violent 
 petitions to the legislative affembly ; but in terms much 
 more vague, and infignificant, though not lefs rafh. I 
 can only refer you to my anfwer to Louvet. But how 
 could you fo far forget every principle of liberty, as to- 
 fubmit to this abfurd and procraftinated inquiry into 
 words uttered during the >roft ftormy days of the revolu- 
 tion ? How could you forget in what manner the confti- 
 tuted authorities were then compofed, and what were the 
 rights of the people ? I am particularly grieved to fee you 
 tranfgrefs the fidelity of hiftory, to transfer to the phan- 
 tom of a conftituted power, which now no longer exifts,. 
 the glory of thofe illuftrious acts, which belongs to the 
 people. In the legislative aflembly we can only praife a 
 few individuals who were worthy of the public confidence; 
 but who does not know that the majority was bafe and 
 corrupt ? that it deified la Fayette, acquitted all confif- 
 cators, and was in league with the court againft the na- 
 ticjn ? Who does not know that the afiembly favored, as" 
 much as poffible, all thofe treafons, which, but for the 
 
 in fur-
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 501 
 
 infurrecHon of the icth of Auguft, would have yielded 
 France into the hands of the foreign armies, and to the rage 
 of tyrants ; who does not know the fervile bafenefs with 
 which Louis XVI. was received in the bofom of the af- 
 fembly, at the moment when viftory was yet wavering 
 between liberty and defpotifm ! Who does not know that 
 when all parties rofe with a fudden motion, and faluted 
 the nation, with an unanimous exclamation, the thunder 
 of the people had already pealed in their ears ? Who does 
 not know, that it was at the roar of cannon, the cry of 
 victory, and even on the petition of the triumphant people, 
 that the alTembly took the oath of equality ; that when it 
 aboliflied the diftinftions between a&ive and paflive citi- 
 yens, the fetions, then permanent, had already received 
 them without discrimination; that the people were already 
 overturning the ftatues of kings, when the aflembly de- 
 creed their deftrudtion ; that the people were mafters of 
 the king's fate when the aflembly decreed his fufpenfion ; 
 that the people were mafters of their own lot, and had re- 
 fumed the exercife of their right, when, on the formal de- 
 mand of the people, the aflembly decreed the convocation 
 of a national convention ; in fine, that the people were 
 abandoned or betrayed by all their delegates, when they 
 were obliged to effet their own deliverance : what do 
 you mean, then, by that dignified charaSler of the legtflative 
 body, which faved the empire, and that indirect reproach 
 againft the city of Paris, for having rtftrained the liberty . 
 of the aflembly, when it is obvious that all the decrees 
 which you extol were produced by thofe imperious- cir- 
 cumftances which the people had created by the infurrec- 
 tion of the loth of Auguft ? What right have you to im- 
 pute as a crime to the commune of Paris certain petitions 
 which the public intereft required, which were adopted, 
 almoft without exception, by the nflembly itfelf ; petitions 
 which united with the language of free men, the rules of 
 decorum, and a refpecl even for the fhadow of an expiring 
 reprefentation. 
 
 It was not//'*- commune that entered into aftateof rivalfiif) 
 with the affembly ; but certain members of the aflembly, 
 your Mentors, who were defirous todeilroy the commune; 
 who, on the very morrow of the loth of Auguft, began 
 to rally all the enemies of the revolution, who, from that 
 moment, caluminated the people of Paris in all the de- 
 partments, who laboured inceflantly to lull or to deceive 
 K K 7 the
 
 502 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 the legiflative body, that it might become the inftrumcnt 
 of their pitiful intrigues. In a fortnight afterwards, 
 when the Pruffians were advancing towards Paris, when 
 the commune, to the found of the tocfin and the alarm 
 gun, aflembled in the Champ- de- Mars the innumerable in- 
 habitants of this great city, what were Briflbt and his 
 allies about ? Caballing, and telling lies. What was Ro- 
 land doing ? Porting up bills againft the Parifians : he 
 wanted to take flight, with the executive council, the king, 
 and the aflembly. To flatter thofe who have endangered 
 the people, to defame thofe who have ferved them, what 
 can we call this conduct, but doubly to betray the public 
 caufe ? 
 
 Here, I confefs, you embarrafs me extremely. How 
 does it happen, I (hall be afked, that a man fo praife- 
 worthy in the republic, as Jerome Petion, can have rea- 
 foned and written in fuch a manner ? I believe, however, 
 that I can explain the matter, by means which you your- 
 felf have furnifhed. 
 
 The mayor of Paris, you fay, in your fpeech, fpeaking 
 of this difaftrous epoch, the loth of Augufl, was no longer 
 a centre of union. I -was csntinued in tny place ; but had only 
 an empty title. I feldom appeared at the commune. / ivas 
 not informed of any thing. That is the fat; you were riot 
 there. You were the Crillon of the laft revolution. But 
 the whole truth muft be told : it will, at fiift, aftonifli 
 thofe who, far from the fcene of action, learn the hiftory 
 of France in Roland's pamphlets, and in the journals of 
 Rcederer, Gorfas, and other writers of that ftamp. You 
 will not, however, deny the facts I am about to unfold. 
 You will ingenuoufly confefs that you did all in your power 
 to impede the revolution of the joth of Auguft. Not 
 that you are inimical to liberty, far from it : but, in the 
 firfl place, you are naturally unfufpicious, and could not 
 believe in the cor.fpiracies of the court, with which we 
 were begirt. You had a pitying fmile for thofe who men- 
 tioned them to you ; fo that you feparated yourfelf from 
 the patriots of the committee of police, who did believe in 
 them, and they were obliged to difpenfe with your figna- 
 ture, in giving orders for the distribution of ammunition 
 to the federates. 
 
 You h.id already, feveral times, rendered the incipient 
 infurreclion abortive, by running through the fe&ions 
 and the fuburbs, preaching order and tranquillity. Ypu 
 
 had
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 had fettered the courage both of the people and the fede- 
 rates. Nothing could be more dangerous than this con. 
 duel:, an attempt of the kind, if relinquished, delivered 
 up the people to the fword of tyranny. Mean time the 
 danger became more urgent, and proofs of the project 
 framed by the court to murder the patriots, were universal. 
 The revolutionary directory of the citizen federates had 
 fixed on the night of the pth of Auguft for fupprtfling it. 
 Your ufual prudence led you to exert every means to op- 
 pofe their intention. You fpoke to all men of the neceflity 
 of remaining calm and peaceful. The yth of Auguft, I 
 was furprifed by a \in*t from the Mayor of Paris ; it was 
 the firfl time of my being fo honoured, though formerly 
 extremely intimate. I concluded that fome great motive 
 had brought you : you harangued to me, for a whole hour, 
 on the dangers of infurretlion. I had no particular in- 
 fluence over events : but, as I often went to the fociety 
 of friends of the con (tit ut ion, where the members of the 
 directory of the federates habitually went, you enrrieftly 
 preffed me to preach your dolrine in that fociety. You 
 told me it would be necefl'ary to defer refiftance to oppref- 
 fion, until the afiembly {hould have pronounced the king's 
 forfeiture of the crown : but, at the fame time, leifure 
 muft be allowed for the difcullion of this great queltion, 
 will all poflible premeditation. You could, however, offer 
 no fecurity that the court would adjourn their project of 
 cutting our throats, for fo long a time as it might pleafe 
 the national aflembly to adjourn the king's forfeiture ; and 
 it was well known that at that time, the royalift party 
 predominated in the aflembly ; your own Briflbt, himfclf, 
 and his friends had pronounced feveral long fpeeches, the 
 only object of which was to prove, that the difcufliorj 
 ought to be deferred, and deferred without end. You 
 even know how much their equivocal conduct had dif- 
 gufted the public ; who perceived that their project was 
 to alarm the court with the fear of an infurre&ion, in 
 order to fecure the return to office the minifters of their 
 own choofing. I myfelf might have developed thefe myf- 
 teries j but fuch was my confidence in you, and fuch, to 
 fpeak the truth, the fentiments of friendfhip, which your 
 unexpected condefcenfion revived in my heart, that I, to 
 a certain degree, thought you in the right ; but the people 
 and the federates judged differently, and there was a ge- 
 neral preparation for infurrecYion. Your opinions ftill 
 KK 4 biafled
 
 04 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 biaffed your conduct, and even in the night of the pth of 
 Auguft, at the moment when the fections were all ready 
 to march, they received from you a pr effing circular letter, 
 in which you conjured them to remain quiet. What a 
 moment to give fuch advice ! Some appeared inclined to 
 follow it, and a general confutation was held. The fec- 
 tion dtt Theatre Fratifois, where the Marfeillois battalion 
 refided, had acquired a great afcendency, by the courage 
 which it had conftantly difplayed. Danton,who was pre- 
 fident of that fection, rejected your letter with the energy 
 which he always has exhibited in moments of great danger 
 to the country ; the tocfin was rung in all quarters. But 
 all thofe who were going to devote themfelves in the caufe 
 of liberty were fenfible that their efforts would be unavail- 
 ing, if his honor the mayor came, according to cullom, 
 to thwart their operations, and to relax and divide the 
 effect of the popular force. Citizen.3 of Paris and fede- 
 rates, all were agreed on the neceffity of one preliminary 
 flep of infinite prudence, which you do not mention, the 
 object of which was to put it out of your power to renew 
 your pacific operations and fermons : you were confined 
 by order of the people, in your own houfe, under the ho- 
 nourable pretence of in faring your fafety. You muft re- 
 collect, that on the' morrow of the i ith or 1 2th of Auguft, 
 when the victory was gained, Briffot and Guadet, in de- 
 fpair at the turn things had taken, loudly vented their 
 choler at your table, in prefence of many witneffes; they 
 openly reprimanded you for the facility with which you 
 obeyed the will of the people ; Briffot even carried his 
 familiarity fo far as to accufe you of cowardice ; he 
 charged you, at leaft, to put a fpoke in the wheel of the 
 revolution, which you had been unable to keep inactive ; 
 and you, like a docile pupil, appeared the next day at the 
 commune , to announce that project of a cornmittee of twenty- 
 ,one, fuggefted by then-), and which I have already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 I do not mean to afiert that you have an invincible 
 antipathy for popular commotions, or that your zeal for 
 the public tranquillity admits of no exception ; but you 
 are always guided by the fame impulfe. You (hewed as 
 niuch complaifance for the riot of the 2othof June, as you 
 difplayed repugnance to the indirection of the loth of 
 Auguft. What could occafion tVis contradiction of con- 
 duct. I 'will explain it. The revolution in Auguft was 
 
 expected
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 expected to produce public liberty ; the a-ined proceffidh 
 in June, the recall of the minifters Claviere and Roland. 
 The event in Auguft was provoked by the neceflity of the 
 public welfare \ that in June by the artifices of intrigue. 
 On both occafions, the citizens were guided by the purelt 
 motives, but on the 2oth of June they were deceived. 
 They were not apprifed that the petition prefented in their 
 name would be furreptitioully altered, and that, to the 
 grand objects of national welfare which formed its ban's, a 
 dexterous hand would fubjoin a demand of the recall of 
 Meflrs. Claviere and Roland. While the throne yet con- 
 tinued to ftand, I was cautious of publifliing my opinion, 
 on this point ; it was enough for patriots to know that the 
 court attempted to turn this event to the difadvantage of 
 liberty, to attempt justifying it, and no one ftept forward 
 with more zeal and franknefs than myfelf to defend you 
 ngainft all the perfecutions to which it gave rife. But at this 
 day it is of ufe that I mould freely publim my real opinion. 
 Befides, the intriguers who furrounded you preferred the 
 kind of infurreftion which took place in the aoth of June, 
 as tending to reltore them to office. Thus, though it was 
 publicly announced for eight days, though their emifla- 
 ries publicly ran about the fuburbs, and even complained 
 of the ill fuccefs of their efforts, you took no ftep to pre- 
 vent them. You might have done it with much more fa- 
 cility than you retarded the general iufurre&ion againft 
 tyranny. Even the court was not difpleafed, as your party 
 furniflied a pretence for calumniating the popular caufe; 
 good citizens, only, publicly oppofed trie infurretion. The 
 clay before it took place I met Chabot, who, like myfelf 
 faw with uneafmefs the miferable manoeuvre which was 
 in preparation. I advifed him to repair to the fauxbourg 
 St. Antoine, where the petitioners were affembled, to en- 
 lighten them with refpect to the nature of this proceeding; 
 he harangued the people in the church of the ghiinze- 
 Viugts. He was too late, and his civic homily was cut 
 fhort by thefe words, pronounced in the prefence of three 
 thoufand perfons : " We are fecure of Petion : It is 
 " Petion's order : Petion is on our fide." It was fortunate 
 for you on this occafion that you were attacked by the 
 enemies of the people, and defended by thofe very pa- 
 triots, who internally blamed your conduct ; for you had 
 ferioully endangered your reputation for prudence and in- 
 te<mty ; and however wrong the directory who perfecuted 
 
 you
 
 APPENDIX, No X. 
 
 you might be in their motives and means, it is certam 
 they were but too much in the right as to certain fads ; 
 and however conftitutional Camus might feem,in an opinion 
 which he published againft you, which I was far from ap-- 
 proving, at lea ft he was not in the wrong when he accufed 
 you, very ungenteely to be fure, of having lied to the public, 
 and to the legiflative afiembly, in the account you gave 
 thenvof your conduct in this particular. The people alone 
 was in the right. Neither you nor your adverfaries were 
 exempt from blame : yet this was one of the principal 
 fources of your popularity. 
 
 The court daily laboured to augment it by their abfurd 
 attacks, and by their plots. The intriguers, calling them-, 
 felves patriots, who looked on your popularity as their 
 patrimony, fwelled it by all the great means then at their 
 difpofal. The real friends of the country fupported it 
 with all their powers. The thick-headed Louis XVT. 
 thought he faw a rival in the Jacobin mayor of Paris ; 
 but Coefar, on contemplating, your countenance, dilated 
 with an eternal fmile, would have faid, " This is not the 
 " man who will tear the empire from me." The day of 
 the federation arrived, and the armed citizens came from 
 all parts of the country to offer to you the homage of public 
 cfteem. You were the hero of the federation in 1 792, as la 
 Fayette was in 1 790, but la Fayette's adorers were flaves ; 
 your partifans were free men ; the applaufes they were pleaf- 
 ed to lavifh on you, turned to execrations which they level- 
 led againft the f tyrant. Your glory was pure as the heart of 
 patriotifm, or as the love of liberty. How eafy would it 
 have been to you to aflure for ever the happinefs of your 
 country, and with the fame blow to deftroy both defpotifm 
 and intrigue. But, far from fuffering yourfelf, even for a 
 moment, to be led away by the glorious deftiny of France, 
 you employed yourfelf only in arrefting its progrefs. From 
 that day you have been continually retreating towards that 
 miferable fyftem of intrigue, in which you were girt by 
 that petty ambitious faction which befet you. 
 
 Such are the unfortunate circumftances which have 
 foured you, my dear Petion, even without your knowledge, 
 againft the laft revolution, and even againft the city of 
 Paris. Anger, fometimes, entered into celeftial minds ; 
 and anger has placed in your hands the arrows which you 
 let fly againft the electoral affembly of the department of 
 Paris.
 
 APPENDIX, No.X. S07 
 
 You perfuaded yourfelf that you had grounds of com- 
 plaint againft that affembly, becaufe you were only nomi- 
 nated as a deputy to the convention on the fecond fcrutiny. 
 O human weaknefs ! you could not even for a moment 
 difguife your chagrin ; and rather than be affronted by the 
 priority of another citizen, you preferred being chofen third 
 at Chartres, to being fecond at Paris ; and on the very next 
 day, at the opening of the fitting, you eagerly declared to 
 the electoral affembly, that you would not be deputy for 
 the department of Paris ; you fhunned the affembly from 
 that moment, as before you had fhunned the commune. 
 Yet you repeat all the calumnious abfurdities heaped on 
 that body by difap^ointed ftupid intriguers. I am again 
 obliged to refer you to my aniwer to Lou vet, whom you 
 have weakly and imperfectly copied. 
 
 But what have the Jacobins done to you ? What could 
 be your inducement to poft that ftrange placard ? Was it 
 the fervices they have rendered their country, and the great 
 influence they alfo had in bringing about the laft revolu- 
 tion ? Does this fingle crime efface, in your judgment, all 
 the benefits for which you were yourfelf indebted to the 
 patriots who people this immortal city? 
 
 I no longer retain the fame influence over events t you con- 
 tinually exclaim in a plaintive tone ; time nvilljheiu whether 
 that circiimjlance has teen beneficial or injurious to Paris and 
 the we/fare of its inhabitants. Is this meant as a threat ? 
 Are you determined to punifh us ? Does only a remnant of 
 pity plead in your breaft in favor of Paris ? Why then do 
 you not undertake her defence againft the bafe perfecuticns 
 of her daftardly enemies ? 
 
 I have more than once faved Paris ; and I have fpared the 
 blood of the people. 
 
 Who is the man that can deliberately rank among the 
 fervices which he has rendered to the people, that of not 
 ordering them to be aflaffinated ? If a general boafts, that 
 by ordering a ceflation of carnage, he has fpared human 
 blood, I can conceive him : but what affinity is there be- 
 tween the functions of a mayor, and the maffacre of citi- 
 zens ? Are the friends of humanity to eflimate their civil 
 virtues by a contraft with the monftrous excefies of tyranny ? 
 But by what right could Petion command the murder of 
 the people who protected him ; of the people who, on the , 
 2oth of June, might have exclaimed, " It is you and 
 " your party who have led us to Daughter." 
 
 I have
 
 So8 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 I have more than once faved Paris ; (before the loth of 
 Augull,) It is certain that many heroic actions are ftill 
 fbrouded in darknefs, but pray inform us exa&ly honv many 
 times you faved the country, and we will erect to you, at 
 leaft, an equal number of ftatues. The gratitude of the 
 whole human race has confecrated the names of thofe 
 who have only once faved liberty, what {hould we do for 
 the man to whom this fort of tranfa&ions is fo familiar 
 that he does not even condefcend to enumerate them? 
 
 / have faved Rtbefpierre hlmfelf from pcrfecutlon^ by c.L'acJ:- 
 itig tnyfelf to his lot. What a combination ! After fo great 
 an a&ion, what need can there be to recite one fo indif- 
 ferent ? It would not claim difcuffion but for the import- 
 ance you annex to it. You are defirous to recur to that 
 honorable period of your life, when, during the revifion of 
 the conftitution, you, with a few of your colleagues, ful- 
 filled the duties of a faithful reprefentative. By whom 
 was I then perfecuted ? By la Fayette and his faction, as 
 I now am by the factions which fucceeded them. For 
 what caufe was I perfecuted, but the caufe of liberty ? And 
 why were you not alfo perfecuted, yourfelf ? Why do you 
 affume that you attached yourfelf to my lot, rather than 
 lhat I attached myfelf to yours ? What do I fay ? Why 
 is it fa id that you were attached to me, rather than to the 
 country, or, at lead, to your own honor ? And how could 
 you imagine that your protection availed me more than 
 the public intereft, and the facred caufe which I had ef- 
 poufed ? 
 
 But admitting that you have faved us all ; would this 
 great kindnefs give you a right to deftroy us, er even to 
 calumniate a fingle individual ? The vileft infect revolts 
 againft the man who attempts to crufh him ; and I againft 
 Jerome Petion, as well in my own name, as in the name 
 of all good citizens againft whom he declares war. What 
 a moment have you felecled for your attack? I had, in 
 oppofition to calumny, juft gained a victory, an eafy 
 victory, in which I was far from exulting. You fecretly 
 came to the field, armed cap-a-pie, but the rapidity of the 
 combat was fuch, that you had not time to draw your 
 fword, and at the moment when I was peaceably retreat- 
 ing from the field of battle, you came and afiaulted me in 
 the rear. 
 
 You could not then refolve to return into your port- folio 
 
 your difmal fpeech. The directors of your political con- 
 
 8 fcience
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 fcience gave you to underftand that the credit of the party 
 Was too cruelly endangered, by fo (hameful a check, that 
 your civic chef-d'oeuvre alone could repair it, and you de- 
 livered it to the printer. But as it undoubtedly forms one 
 of the principles of the coterie *, that all means are legi- 
 timate which tend to promote the good caufe, you thought 
 it your duty to prepare for the fuccefs of this fagacious 
 manoeuvre, by a pofting-bill againft the Jacobins, in which 
 you fend forth a fharpened arrow againft me. The refult 
 was, a decree from the directory of mayoralty, confirmed 
 by that of the minifter of the interior, importing that the 
 above-mentioned pofting-bill fhall be printed at the end of 
 Jerome Petion's fpeech ; that mod honorable mention fhall 
 be made of both by all the public news-writers, and that 
 they fhall be diftributed to ail the adminiftrative bodies, to 
 all the municipalities throughout the republic, to all rectors, 
 and clergymen. The virtuous Roland ought honeftly to 
 inform the committee of finance, how much this new dif- 
 tribution will coft the republic : he might alfo tell us, 
 whether thofe who ftop the juftificatory publications at the 
 poft-office, when they are fent to the departments by order 
 of the commune, and franked by the mayor, are more cau- 
 tious with refpect to covers franked by the minifter. Caft 
 it be juft, my dear Petion, to attack us with fuch unequal 
 arms ? Your want of generofity is the more confpicuous 
 in this refpedt, that you are emboldened to the combat by 
 an opinion which you entertain, that your name alone 
 will give to youraffertions the authority of a demonftrative 
 proof, as you yourfelf infinuate in your preface. Thus 
 am I, without appeal, attainted and convicted, before the 
 tribunal of the eighty three departments, of all the ab- 
 furdities and all the vices which you impute to me. For 
 I have not even a right to anfwer you. Did I ever difpute 
 your right of printing every day, and even of pofting your 
 virtues, when no man was employed in difcuffingthem? And 
 againft me, who never juftified myfelf, but in defe'nce of 
 my life, you have paffed a law, by which I cannot repel 
 your calumnies, without proving, by that fmgle act, an 
 cxcefs of vanity. Suffer at lead, a word of animadverfion 
 on the abufe you make of this ftrange privilege. In fact, 
 it is too much to arrogate a right of loudly accufmg me of 
 
 * Alluding to the meetings held by the Briflbtines at madame Ro- 
 land's. 
 
 cowardice,
 
 5 io APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 cowardice, of polling that you faw me trembling. And 
 when ? At the very time when la Fayette was profcrib- 
 ing the patriots ; the day when with thirty individuals, 
 among whom you were not, I remained at the Jacobin 
 club, furrounded by fatellites, while the blood of patriots, 
 which he had recently (hed, was dill dreaming ; at that 
 time when I obftinately defended that tutelary inftitution 
 of liberty againft the formidable fadtion which governed 
 the conftituent aflembly. They trembled then, in your 
 opinion, all thofc who denounced that faction, in the 
 midft of Its guilty fuccefs, and who never ceafed their 
 ftruggle for the rights of the people, which that faction 
 had prcfcribed. 
 
 But for what purpofe do you thus cavil at my conduct 
 in the conftituent aflembly ? You pretend to explain your- 
 felf on the accufation againft me for afpiring to the dila- 
 torftiip, which you acknowledge to be a calumny. What 
 then was left for you to fay ? You were precifely em- 
 ployed to come to the relief of Louvet, whofe defeat was 
 forefeen, though it was not expected to be fo fpeedy. Your 
 commiflion was to make a digreffion on my general cha- 
 racter ; and as it is well known that, in the eyes of frivo- 
 lous men, abfurdities and errors are more degrading than 
 vices, you have depicted me captious, morofe, and atra- 
 bilious. Thofe who directed you knew, by inftint, that 
 the only refource of intrigue was to hold up, beforehand, 
 to the public opinio.., thofe who might unmafk them, as 
 fitfplcious , vijionary beings, ever ready to denounce rajhly ; men 
 of gloomy imaginations, ivho every where fee chimeras , preci- 
 pices ^ plots , and movers , and moreover ', vain, ambitious, and 
 
 Jeftrous of making court to the people. Very well, my 
 
 dear Petion, nothing can be better conceived than to com- 
 pare the people to kings, and the friends of liberty to 
 courtiers ; for if this opinion prevails, a vaft field lies 
 open to thofe political (harpers, who do not flatter the 
 people, but who plunder them, and cut their throats. 
 And, in fact, fo many pay their court to kings or to mi- 
 nifters, the depofitaries of the public power and wealth, 
 that they may eafily hope for pardon who court the people, 
 by defending the caufe of juftice and humanity ; for I 
 call you yourfelf to witnefs that fuch are the only means 
 by which they can be flattered. 
 
 As for men of gloomy imaginations, I muft do you the 
 juftice to acknowledge, that you were ever exempt from 
 
 that
 
 APPENDIX, No.X. 
 
 that fault. I am a witnefs that you never believed in any 
 plot againft the ftate, till after it was executed. I am a 
 witnefs, that till the day of the Champ- de-Mars^ you caft 
 an eye of pity on thofe who fpoke ill of la Fayette ; that, 
 even after that period, you never ceafed to put a favour- 
 able interpretation on his intentions. I am a witnefs, that 
 when the faction, of which he was at the head, named, 
 in the conftituent aflembly, commiffioners to go and meet 
 Louis XVI. in his return from Varennes, they caft their 
 eyes on you, as the lead dangerous of all the patriots, 
 and as a proper perfon to be joined with Barnave, and la 
 Tour Maubourg. I am witnefs, that after la Fayette had 
 afTumed the command of the armies, you, on an hundred 
 occafions, guaranteed his innocence, and faid to every one 
 who would give you a hearing ; " La Fayette is on our 
 " fide." I further atteft, that you fpoke of the Patriot Nar- 
 bonne, and of the Patriot Motitefquieu, with peculiar vene- 
 ration, precifely in the fame terms as the Chronique, and 
 the Patriote Frafifols. In a word, I atteft, that there is 
 hardly a man at this day accufed as a traitor to the coun- 
 try, to whom you have not delivered a fimilar brevet of 
 patriotifm. 
 
 I will pafs my word for you, that far from being 
 troublefome, miftruftful, and melancholy, you are the mail 
 of all others whofe blood flows moft placidly, whofe heart 
 is leaft agitated by the fpelacle of human perfidy, and 
 whofe philofophy moft patiently endures the miferies of 
 others. 
 
 For myfelf, I acknowledge my faults ; and though, ac- 
 cording to the opinions of thofe who have the beft means 
 of judging, I am no lefs eafy, and unfufpicious in private 
 life than you think me miftruftful in public affairs ; 
 though you have long experienced this truth, and my 
 friendftiip for you exifted long after the date of thofe 
 proceedings which were moft offenfive to my principles, I 
 own, to my fhame-, that I have the weaknefs ftill to be- 
 lieve in the exiftence of fatal intrigues, which you perhaps 
 will guefs at, when all France is facrificed to them. 
 
 But you, who but a fortnight before the revolution of 
 the loth of Auguft, of your own fpontaneous motion^ 
 had the turpitude to go to the king ; we know not whe- 
 ther it was to convert him or to juftify yourfdf ; you who, 
 on the very eve of the infurre&ion, went, in all fimplicity, 
 to range iii that royal foreft, to expofe Jerome Petion to 
 
 the
 
 5 i2 APPENDIX, No.X. 
 
 the derifion of Herod's court, you who could not believe 
 that there was fo much wickednefs, even in a court, how 
 can you flill be fo unrelenting towards thofe who,' on cer- 
 tain occafions, have proved that their folly was more 
 feafonable than your wifdom ? Does your kind-heartednefs 
 extend only to mountebanks and tyrants ? Is it a law in 
 nature that minds diftinguifhed by apathy hate thofe pof- 
 fefied of ardour and energy ? This is certain, that I al- 
 ways thought I perceived in you lefs kindnefs for the 
 ebullitions of patriotifm, than for the excefles of ariflo- 
 cracy. For example, I have feen you lefs prepoflefled 
 againft la Fayette, than againft Danton ; lefs angry with 
 the court at Coblentz, than with the Jacobin club. 
 
 You indemnify yourfelf, however, for the pain you ex- 
 perience in accufmg fo many perfons ; you lay down the 
 cenfor's rod, to affume the panegyrift's cenfer. It is not 
 neceflary for me to fay in whofe favour ; your remnant of 
 popularity was not to be expended for the fole purpofe of 
 defaming Paris and the Jacobins ; it was alfo to revive the 
 credit of a faftion trembling for itfelf. 
 
 You dogmatically allure us that you know not of a 
 Briflbtine faction \ that Briflbt, of all men in the world, 
 is the lead proper to be the head of a party. You aflert it 
 in your pofting-bill, you repeat it in your fpeech. And 
 what does it fignify ? It is not my intention here to enter 
 into a difcuffion of Brifibt's character. Who ever faid 
 that he was the head of a party ? 
 
 I have not yet feen among us a real head of a party ; 
 even la Fayette was not to be confidered in that light ; he 
 was an agent for the king ; his only aim was, to be the 
 moft powerful man in the court of Louis XVI. In France, 
 and in a revolution, the object of which is not to fubilitute 
 one tyranny for another, but to reftore the reign of juftice 
 and equality, heads of parties can only be petty knaves, 
 without either courage or genius. Now, thefe kind of 
 .men can eafily plunder, ruin, and tear the (late to pieces : 
 that is the mod eafy of all trades, but they can never en- 
 flave us. Two powerful obftacles will always oppofe that 
 undertaking, their mediocrity, and the good fenie of the 
 .people. 
 
 As for your Briflbt, fince you will return to the fubjeft, 
 
 .does it follow, becaufe his name is become the root of a 
 
 new conjugation, that the public look up to him as the 
 
 head of a party ? Efcobar pofiefied the fame honour, and 
 
 yet
 
 APPENDIX, No*X. 
 
 yet he was nothing but a Jefuit. If father Briflbt was ac- 
 knowledged generaliflimo of all the Briflbtines in the re- 
 public, he would certainly be the molt formidable power 
 in Europe. You have repeated to me twenty times, that 
 Briflbt was a mere child, and that is a cant word of the co- 
 terre, when they wifh to fofren down certain frauds, fome- 
 what too glaring, with which he is reproached : they even 
 pretend that he is not difpleafed at being thus exhibited, 
 juft as Sixtus Quintus fometimes affected simplicity, 
 fometimes pretended to be ill. You will however give 
 me leave to confider him as a perverfe child; but as I 
 am unwilling to undertake the taflc of correcting him, 
 permit me to leave him to the public. Clootz, who 
 judges him with great forbearance, fays, in his in- 
 genious and infinitive opinion, To contemplate his in- 
 direct proceedings t his lies, Src. &c. one would think be ivas 
 in the pay sf the enemies of France, and of the human race ; 
 and I, ftill more forbearing, confider him only as one of 
 the mofl extenfive mercantile agents in Europe. If the 
 public form a more uncharitable opinion, make your com- 
 plaint to them : and as you complain of the general blirtd- 
 nefs on that fubjecJ, be you the operator to remove the 
 cataradr. which deprives them of the fight of fo many vir- 
 tues. Do not difdain to enlighten thofe whom you have 
 faved. Briflbt, you fay, has knowledge and genius. Be it 
 fo. We are even credibly informed, that he has written 
 fome large books : he is, at leaft, a revolutionary Dacier, 
 and a political Scudery. Clootz alfo pretends, that he 
 does not carry his head a jot higher than he did ten years 
 ago. Now, I cannot fay whether, ten years ago, "he held 
 his head very high. But again, what does all this fignify ? 
 We might both of us have avoided this difcuifion. You 
 yourfelf ought not to have begun it. BrifTot, extolled by 
 you, feems to be praifmg himfelf. The pupil is not con- 
 fulted refpeding the capacity of his mafter, or the lover 
 on the charms of his miilrefs. Was Orgon a competent 
 judge of the character of Tartuffe ? How many were the 
 proofs requifite for the difenchanting of the credulous man ? 
 and proof of what a nature ! Nothing lefs than an Elmira 
 can effecl: fuch a prodigy. Lepauvre homme, is the conftnnt 
 anfwer he t^ives to every argument : and fimilarly at your 
 houfe, every one continually repeated Lepauvre Warvillc*. 
 
 In 
 
 # Robefpierre alludes to Moliere's comedy called TartufFe. on 
 rimpofteur. Th endearing tendernels of die French exclamation, It 
 
 VOL. II. It t wvr9
 
 514 APPENDIX, No.X. 
 
 In vain you deny this difgraceful fubjecHon, the very 
 efforts you make to repel the fufpicion only confirm it. 
 Why do you always begin your fpeeches with this exor- 
 dium: Never did man in place think nt:d act for bimfclf fy 
 much as 1 ? Why, in the preface to the fpeech we are dif- 
 cuffing, are you fo folicitous to inform your readers, that 
 in order td ccmpofe it you retired ivithin yourfelf ; you ivcre 
 deaf to the voice of friendship ; and had no communication iviih 
 any perfon ivhcmfoever. Is an author obliged to prove that 
 he put himfelf in clofe confinement to compofe his books ? 
 And are not fuch oratorical precautions fomewhat fufpi- 
 cious ? 
 
 Befides, your whole fpeech proves, that nothing in it 
 Belongs to you, except perhaps, the colouring, and the 
 flyle : but the thoughts, the principles, the moral, the 
 aim, the moment of publication, the vague accufations, 
 the declamations unfupported by proof, the malignant in- 
 fmuations, the equivocal tone, the crafty windings, grofs 
 contradictions, even the political abfurdities, the mixture 
 of fimplicity and art, of moderation, and rooted malice ; 
 thofe exhortations to peace, immediately followed by thofe 
 infidious reflections which revive dormant prejudices, thofe 
 farcalms by which that difcord is renewed which feemed 
 at an end, and the pofting-bill parted on our walls ; all 
 thele things are not your own. You calumniate yoyrfel 
 when you pretend that you are led by nobody. Perhaps 
 you even believe it , but I will take my oath you are 
 
 Saite miftaken. Do people know when they are led ? 
 nly obferve what pafles on our theatres : when a dexter- 
 ous chambermaid, or an intriguing valet, leads a Geronte, 
 or an Orgon, as it were in leading-firings : don't you fee 
 with what art the rogues extol the wonderful wifdom 
 and incredible firmnefs of the poor man, v/hile he, in 
 the mid ft of their noify joy, cries, " Oh I am very certain 
 that I am not a man to be led, and if there is a fleady 
 head in France, I warrant it is this on my moulders." 
 
 Make proper allowances for the exaggeration neceflary 
 in the dramatic ar, and above all for your great merits, 
 and I would almoii venture to affirm that there is in this 
 portrait fome refernblance of yourfelf. For example, in 
 the month of January laft, when a new adminiftration was 
 
 fawn b-MV.t t is not adequately conveyed by the English exprefiion, 
 t>oor mart ! 
 
 il formed,
 
 APPENDIX, No.X. 
 
 formed, I faw that you were in the firm conviction that 
 it was you who had chofen them. When I alked you, if 
 that meafure of the court did not ftrike you as a little 
 fufpicious ; you anfwered, with an air of extraordinary 
 fatisfaclion, " Oh if you did hut know what I know ! If 
 you knew who it was that pointed them out." I per- 
 ceived your meaning, and laughing at your credulity, faid 
 " it was you, perhaps ;" on which, rubbing your hands 
 together, you gave an aflenting hem ! hem ! It was in vain 
 that yoU perfifted in alluring me the fact was fo. I had 
 too fincere an efteem for you to fuppofe that you had fuf- 
 ficient credit with Louis XVI. and his courtiers, to form 
 a mihiftry. But I will inform you by what means you 
 perfuaded yourfelf that you had created thefe minifters; 
 When Briflbt, and certain patriots of the fame ftamp in 
 the legiflative aflembly, in concert with Narbonne, by 
 the confent of la Fayette, and the intervention of certain 
 women, fuch as the baronefs de Stael, and the marchionefo 
 de Condorcet, had made all the arrangements, and the 
 whole tranfa&ion was fettled, Briflbt came to you and 
 faid, " Whom mall we appoint minifters ? Roland, Cla- 
 ** viere, they are good men ! do you approve of them ? . 
 " Eh egad, yes ! Roland, Claviere Oh that would be 
 " charming ! let them be appointed by all means j" and 
 then you thought you had formed the adminiftration. 
 
 When thefe minifters were thruft out by another faction, 
 the fame men dexteroufly availed themfelves of your po- 
 pularity to obtain their recall. Thus originated the tranfac- 
 tions of the 2oth of June i you perfevered with firmnefs 
 towards that object, but you carried your views no farther, 
 becaufe your leaders did not wifh that you fhould go faf- 
 ther. The torrent which fubverted the throne, deranged 
 their real projects; and their only confolation for the events 
 of the loth of Auguft was, that they were enabled to recall 
 Roland and Claviere. They wifh, under the name of thefe 
 two minifters, to reign for ever; to effect which, they 
 muft enflave the people ; divide the convention, in order 
 to govern it, and perfecute the friends of liberty. Hence 
 arife all their intrigues, all their calumnies, all their crimes, 
 their alliance with the old partifans of royalty and arifto* 
 cracy. You fufpect nothing of this, and you ftill remain 
 with them, beeaufe you are accuftomed to follow where - 
 cver they lead you. They have already led you far 
 tnough, and I ato afraid they will lead you ftill farther 
 LL 2 aftray.
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 aftray. Reflect on yourfelf, if it be poflible, and exa- 
 mine how heavy the conditions, by which you are bound to 
 them, hang on you. 
 
 I own that you are, in fome degree, obliged to them ; 
 they have materially accelerated the maturity of your re- 
 putation ; cried up in all the journals which were at their 
 difpofal, you were a deity to all who took thofe journals 
 for oraclts. In a diftant view fpots are not diicerned, the 
 fpvings of political events are not perceived ; and you per- 
 haps are the only inftance among the defenders of liberty, 
 throughout the world, of a man who has enjoyed the ple- 
 nitude of his glory. You ought, however, to miftruft 
 your good fortune, Rouffeau will inform you, that a real 
 flatefman fows in one century, and reaps in the fucceeding 
 ages. Read hiftory, and you will find that the benefactors 
 of the human race were its martyrs. Agis was con- 
 demned by the Ephori, for his attempt to revive the laws 
 of Lycurgus ; Cato plunged the dagger in his own entrails ; 
 the younger Brutus was obliged to deftroy himfelf, after 
 having killed the tyrant ; the fon of Marius expired under 
 the i'word of tyranny > Socrates drank hemlock ; Sydney 
 died on a. fcairbkl ; but Petion, in an inftant, found him- 
 frif loaded with the honors recently lavifhed on la Fayette. 
 Had you fought to fathom the caufes of this phenomenon, 
 you might have difcovered that a detached intrigue lent 
 its fupport to your patriotifm. You would have reflected 
 that the Guadets of Athens were not the friends of So- 
 crates 5 that Brutus and Cato were not deified by the 
 BriiTotines of Rome : and you would have difcovered that 
 you were the hero of June 1792, becaufe you were not 
 deftined to be the hero of future ages. But thefe fervices 
 of your friends qre abundantly compenfated by the advan- 
 tages you have procured for them. Reflect, in the firft 
 place, that you furnifhed the moft precious article of their 
 whole ftock in trade, I mean the reputation for integrity 
 which you brought from the conftituent afiembly ; for in 
 the eyes of judicious obfervers, that was your real title to 
 glory. Your new partners have increafed it by their in- 
 duftry, but for their own benefit. It has ferved as a veil 
 to their manoeuvres, as an inftrument of their ambition- 
 It is your reputation that has furnifhed them the means of 
 privately undermining the edifice of liberty, and of convert- 
 ing the firft days of the republic into days of difcord, diforder, 
 and tyranny. To them you have facrificed your glory. Pleafe 
 
 Heaven
 
 APPENDIX, No. X. 
 
 Heaven that you mr.y, at lead, have preferved your virtue ! 
 Obferve how they already dare to place you in the front as a. 
 forlorn hope, on defperate occafions ; how they place you. 
 in the fame line as their Barbaroux's and their Birot- 
 teau's. Why is it not in my power to counteract the 
 effects of their pernicious councils by auftere and ufeful 
 truth ? They alone to whom nature has imparted greatnefs 
 can love equality. Others require (lilts or triumphal cars; 
 when once they defcend from them, they feem to enter 
 the tomb. Many men appeared republicans before there 
 was a republic, and ceafed to be fo when once it wasefta- 
 blifhed. They wiftied to degrade thofe who were above 
 them, but would not defcend from the eminence to which 
 they themfelves were elevated. They only love thofc 
 revolutions of which they are the heroes; if they do not 
 govern, they think all is anarchy and confufion ; if the 
 people conquer without their aid, they are in a (late of 
 revolt j they do not even forgive the people for reducing 
 the importance of individuals by elevating its own majeftic 
 h^ad. 
 
 Such is the melancholy fecret of human vanity which 
 explains fo many wonderful metamorphofes. Such too is 
 the only clue which can guide the public opinion in the 
 maze of modern political events. As for us, my dearPetion, 
 let us diveft ourfelyes of thefe fhameful weaknefles, let 
 us not be compared to that tyrant who .wiflied to reduce 
 the fize of man to a determinate ftandard ; let us not re- 
 quire that fortune (hould find a full compenfation for our 
 merit ; let us be content with tlie deftiny which nature 
 has referved for us, and let the lot of the human race be 
 accomplifhed. 
 
 To conclude, I repeat your own phrafe, let us occtepy 
 our/elves in the important concerns of the republic. But, above 
 all, let us endeavour, if poffible, to acquire the morals aud 
 principles of true republicans. 
 
 THE END.
 
 The following valuable WORKS have been lately pub? 
 li/hedby T. CADELLJUH. andW. DAVIES, Strand. 
 
 i. PRIVATE Memoirs relative to the laft Year of the 
 Reign of Louis XVI. late King of France. By Ant. 
 Fr. Bertrand de Moleville, Minifter of State at that Time. 
 Tranflatcd from the original Manufcript of the Author, 
 which has never been publifhed. Adorned with five Por- 
 traits, elegantly engraved from original Figures of the 
 King, Queen, Prince Royal, Madame Royale, and the 
 Princefs Elizabeth. 3 Vols. 8vo. il. is. in boards. 
 
 2. Memoirs relating to the French Revolution. By the 
 Marquis de Bouille. Translated from the French Manu- 
 fcript. 8vo. 8s. in boards. 
 
 3. On the French Revolution. By M. Necker. Tranf- 
 lated from the French. 2 Vols. 8vo. 145. in boards. 
 
 4. Proofs of a Confpiracy againft all the Religions and 
 Governments of Europe, carried on in the fecret Meeting* 
 of Free Mafons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies. Col- 
 lected from good Authorities. By John Rcbifon^ A. M. 
 Profeffor of Natural Philofophy, and Secretary to the Royal 
 Society of Edinburgh. 8vo. 75. in boards. 
 
 5. A Sketch of Modern France. In a Series of Letters 
 to a Lady of Fafhion. Written in the Years 1796 and 
 1797, during a Tour through France. By a Lady. Edited 
 by C. L. Moody, LL.D. F. A. S. 8vo. 8s. in boards. 
 
 6. The Britifh Mercury, or Hiftorical and Critical Re- 
 pofitory for the Events of the Prefent Times. By J. 
 Mallet du Pan. Publifhed in Numbers, once a Fortnight. 
 
 7. Memoirs of the Life and Adminiftration of Sir Robert 
 Walpole, Earl of Orford. With original Correfpondence 
 and authentic Papers never before publifhed. By William 
 'Coxe, M. A. F. R. S. F. A. S. Retor of Bemerton. 3 Vols. 
 4to. with a Portrait of Sir Robert Walpole, engraved by 
 Mr. Bovi, from arj original Picture, 3!. 155. in boards. 
 
 8. A Complete Hiftory of Great Britain, during the 
 Reign of Queen Anne. By Thomas Somerville, D. D. 
 F,R. S. E. Author of the Hiftory of Political Tranf- 
 a&ions, and of Parties, during the Reign of King William. 
 4to. il. 53. in bsards.
 
 BOOKS publfied by T. CADELL jun. and W. DATIES. 
 
 9. Ccnflant:nop!e, Ancient and Modern, with Excur- 
 fions to the Shores and Illands of the drchlpelago, and to* 
 the Troad. By James Dallatvay, M. B. F. S. A. Late 
 Chaplain and Phyfician of the BritiJJj EmbafTy to the Porte. 
 Elegantly printed in one Volume, 4to. with Plates of 
 Views, engraved from original Drawings, taken on the 
 Spot, and a Sketch of the Geography of the Troad, 
 ll. 1 is. 6d. in boards. 
 
 * is * A few Copies are printed on Royal Paper, with 
 coloured Plates, Price 3!. 33. in buirds. 
 
 10. A Surrey of the Turkifh Empire. In which are 
 confidered, I. Its Government, Finances, Military and 
 Naval Force, Religion, Hiftory, Arts, Sciences, Manners, 
 Commerce, and Population. II. The State of the Pro- 
 vinces, including the Ancient Government of the Crim 
 Tartars, the Subjection of the Greeks, their Efforts to- 
 wards Emancipation, and the Intereft of other Nations, 
 particularly Great Britain, in their Succefs. III. The 
 Caufes of the Decline of Turkey, and thofe which tend to 
 the Prolongation of its Existence, with-a Developement of 
 the Political Syftem of the late Emprefs of RnJJia. IV. The 
 BritJjf} Commerce with Turkey, the NecefTity of abolifhing 
 the Levant Company, and the Danger of our Quarantine 
 Regulations. With many other important Particulars. 
 By IV. Eton, Efq. many Years refident in Turkey and ..v/C 
 
 Jia* One large Volume 8vo. 8s. boards. 
 
 1 1. An Account of the EngKft* Colony in New South Wales. 
 With Remarks on the Difpofitions, Cuftoms, Manners, 
 &c. of the Native Inhabitants of that Country. To which 
 are added, fome Particulars of Neiv Zealand ; compiled, 
 by Permifiion, from the MSS. of Lieutenant Governor 
 fi-ing. By David Collins, Efq. late Judge Advocate, and 
 Secretary of the Colony. One large Volume, 410. with 
 Twenty-four Plates of Views, Ceremonies, &c. engraved 
 from original Drawings by Heath) Laiury. y Neagle, &c. 
 2l. 23 in boards. 
 
 *^* A few Copies are printed on Fine Paper, with 
 early Imprefficms of the Plates. Price 3!. 33. in boards.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 
 an LMJRL APR 3 
 
 MAY 2 200$ 
 
 APR 2 4 2005 
 
 1989
 
 TT 
 
 DC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY 
 
 A 000006300