r
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 J. P. B R I S S O T, 
 
 DEPUTY 
 
 OF 
 
 EURE 4ND LOIRE, 
 
 TO HIS 
 
 CONSTITUENTS, 
 
 ON THE SITUATION OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION; 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE ANARCHISTS, AND THE EVILS IT 
 HAS CAUSED ; 
 
 AND ON THE NECESSITY OF ANNIHILATING THAT INFLUENCE 
 IS ORDER TO SAVE THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 WITH A PREFACE AND OCCASIONAL NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR, 
 
 A NEW EDITION. 
 
 /- N D N: 
 
 Printed for JOHN STOCKDALF, Piccadilly. 
 1794. 
 
 [PRICE 1 WO SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE.] 
 
 Cntettli at Stationers;

 
 Tranflator's Preface 
 
 
 
 ^ 1 HE French Revolution has been the fubjeft of 
 
 ^various fpeculations, and various hiftories. As 
 
 < might be expected, the Royalifts and the Repub- 
 
 licans have differed a good deal in their accounts of 
 
 the principles of that revolution, of the fprings 
 
 which have fet it in motion, and of the true cha- 
 
 grafter of thofe who have been, or ftill are the 
 
 o> 
 
 ^principal arors on that aftonifhing fcene. 
 
 o They who are inclined to think favourably of 
 
 ^that event, will undoubtedly object to every ftate 
 of facts which comes only from the authority of 
 a Royalift. Thus much mufl be allowed by thofe 
 who are the mod firmly attached to the caufe of 
 religion, law, and order (for of fuch, and not of 
 friends to defpotifm, the royal party is compofed) 
 
 c that their very affection to this generous and manly 
 a 2 caufe,
 
 caufe, and their abhorrence of a revolution, not 
 lefs fatal to liberty than to government, may pof- 
 fibly lead them in fome particulars to a more harfii 
 reprefentation of the. proceedings of their adverfa- 
 ries, than would be allowed by the cold neutrality 
 of an impartial judge. This fort of error arifes 
 from a fource highly laudable ; but the exa&nefs 
 of truth may fufFer even from the feelings of vir- 
 tue. Hiilory will do juftice to the intentions of 
 worthy men ; but it will be on its guard againfl 
 their infirmities : it will examine with great flricT:- 
 nefs of fcrutiny, whatever appears from a writer 
 in favour of his own caufe. On the other hand, 
 whatever efcapes him, and makes againfl that 
 caufe, comes with the greateft weight. 
 
 In this important controverfy, the tranflator of 
 the following work brings forward to the Englim 
 tribunal of opinion, the teftimony of a witnefs be- 
 yond all exception. His competence is undoubted. 
 He knows every thing which concerns this revolu- 
 tion to the bottom. He is a chief actor in all the 
 fcenes which he prefents. No man can object to 
 him as a royalift: the royal party, and the ChrifHan 
 religion, never had a more determined enemy. In 
 
 a word
 
 a word, it is BRISSOT. It is Briflbt the Repub- 
 lican, the Jacobin, and the Philofopher, who is 
 brought to give an account of Jacobinifm, and of 
 Repubiicanifm, and of Philofophy. 
 
 It is worthy of obfervation, that this his account 
 of the genius of Jacobinifm, and its effects, is not 
 confined to the period in which that faction came 
 to be divided within itfelf. In feveral, and 
 thofc very important particulars, Briflbt' s obferva- 
 tion s apply to the whole of the preceding period, 
 before the great fchifm, and whilft the Jacobins 
 acted as one body : infomuch, that the far 
 greater part of the proceedings of the ruling 
 powers, fmce the commencement of the revolu- 
 tion in France, fo ftrikingly painted, fo ftrongly 
 and fo juftly reprobated by Briflbt, were the acts of 
 Briflbt himfelf and his aliociates. All the mem- 
 bers of the Girondin fubdiviiion were as deeply 
 concerned as any of the Mountain could poffibly 
 be, and fome of them much more deeply, in thofc 
 horrid tranfactions which have filled all the think- 
 ing part of Europe with the greatefl deteftation, 
 and with the moft ferious apprehenfions for the 
 common liberty and fafety. 
 
 4 A quef-
 
 A queftion will very naturally be afked, what 
 could induce BrhTot to draw fuch a picture ? He 
 muft have been fenfible it was his own. The 
 anfwer is the inducement was the fame with 
 that which led him to partake in the perpetration 
 of all the crimes, the calamitous effects of which 
 . he defcribes with the pen of a mafter, Ambition. 
 His faction having obtained their ftupendous and 
 unnatural power, by rooting out of the minds of 
 his unhappy countrymen every principle of reli- 
 gion, morality, loyalty, fidelity, and honour, 
 difcovered, that when authority came into their 
 hands, it would be a matter of no fmall difficulty 
 for them to carry on government on the principles 
 by which they had deftroyed it. 
 
 The rights of men, and the new principles of 
 liberty and equality, were very unhandy inftru- 
 ments for thofe who wiihed to eftablilh a fyflem of 
 tranquillity and order. They who were taught to 
 find nothing to refpect in the title and in the vir- 
 tues of Louis the Sixteenth, a prince fucceeding to 
 the throne by the fundamental laws, in the line of 
 a iucceffion of monarchs continued fgr fourteen 
 hundred years, found nothing which could bind 
 
 them
 
 ( vii ) 
 
 them to an implicit fidelity, and dutiful allegiance 
 to MefT. Briffot, Vergniaux, Condo'rcet, Ana- 
 chariis Cloots, and Thomas Paine. 
 
 In this difficulty, they did as well as they 
 could. To govern the people, they muft incline 
 the people to obey. The work was difficult, 
 but it was neceffary. They were to accomplifh 
 it by fuch materials and by fuch inftruments as 
 they had in their hands. They were to accompliih 
 the purpofes of order, morality, and fubmiffion to 
 the laws, from the principles ofatheifm, profligacy, 
 and fedition. Ill as the difguife became them, they 
 began to afiume the maik of an auftere and rigid vir- 
 tue ; they exhaufted all the ftores of their eloquence 
 (which in fome of them were not inconfiderable) 
 in declamations, againfl tumult and confufion ; 
 they made daily harangues on the bleffings of or- 
 der, difcipline, quiet, and obedience to a-mhority; 
 they even fhewed fome fort of difpofition to pro- 
 tect fuch property as had not been confifcated. 
 They, who on every occafion had difcovered a fort 
 of furious thirfl of blood, and a greedy appetite for 
 (laughter, who avowed and gloried in the murders 
 and maffacres of the I4th of July, of the 5th and 
 
 6th
 
 ( viii ) 
 
 6th of Oftober, and of the loth of Auguft, now 
 began to be fqueamilh and faftidious wirh regard 
 to thofe of the 2d of September. 
 
 In their pretended fcruples on the fequel of the 
 flanghter of the loth of Auguft, they impofed 
 upon no living creature, and they obtained not 
 the fmalleft credit for humanity. They endea- 
 voured to eftablifh a diftindion, by the belief of 
 which they hoped to keep the ipirit of murder 
 fafely bottled up, and iealed for their own pur- 
 pofes, without endangering themfelves by the 
 fumes of the poifon which they prepared for their 
 enemies. 
 
 Roland was the chief and the moft accredited 
 of the faction : His morals had furnimed little 
 matter of exception againfl him; old, domeftic, 
 and uxorious, he led a private life fufficiently 
 blamelefs. He was therefore fet up as the Cato 
 of the republican party, which did not abound in 
 fnch characters. 
 
 This man, like mofl of the chiefs, was the 
 manager of a newfpaper, in which- he promoted 
 the intereft of his parry. He was a fatal prefent 
 made by the revolutionifts to the unhappy king, 
 
 as
 
 as one of his minifters under the new conftitu- 
 tion. Amongft his colleagues were Claviere and 
 Servan. All the three have fince that time, either 
 loft their heads by the axe of their aflociates in 
 rebellion, or to evade their own revolutionary 
 juftice, have fallen by their own hands. 
 
 Thefe minifters were regarded by the king -as 
 in a confpiracy to dethrone him. Nobody who 
 confiders the circumltances which preceded the 
 deposition of Louis the fixteenth ; nobody who 
 attends to the fubfequent conduct of thofe minif- 
 ters, can hefitate about the reality of fuch a con- 
 fpiracy. The king certainly had no doubt of it : 
 he found himfelf obliged to remove them ; and 
 the neceffity which firft obliged him to choofe 
 iuch regicide minifters, conftrained him to 
 replace them by Dumourier the Jacobin, and fome 
 others of little efficiency, though of a better dif- 
 cription. 
 
 A little before this removal, and evidently as 
 a part of the confpiracy, Roland put into the 
 king's hands as a memorial, the moft infolent, fedi- 
 tious, and atrocious libel, that has probably ever 
 been penned. This paper Roland a few days 
 
 b after
 
 (;* ) 
 
 after delivered to the National AiTembly,* who in- 
 ftantly publimcd and difperfed it over all France ; 
 and in order to give it the itronger operation, 
 they declared, that he and his brother miniiters 
 had carried with them .the regret of the nation. 
 None of the writings which have infUmed the 
 Jacobin fpirit to a favage fury, ever worked up a 
 fiercer ferment through the whole mats of the 
 republicans in every part of France. 
 
 Under the thin veil of pred'ichoti^ he firongly 
 recommends all the abominable practices which 
 afterwards followed. In particular he inflamed 
 the mincis of the populace again (I the refp.ec~table 
 and confcientioqs clergy, who became the chid: 
 objects of the maiiacre, and who weie to him the 
 chief objects of a malignity anc] iiancoiir that one 
 could hardiy think to exift in an huivian hearr, 
 
 We have the rejiques of his fanatical peril 
 tion here. We are in a condition to judge qf tb# 
 merits of the perfecutors and of the perfecute^l 
 I do not fay the accufers and acculed ; l^ecaufe ii) 
 all the furious declamations of the atheiftick 
 faction againft thcie ai<en, not one fpeciiic charge 
 
 * Tranjiatcr.'] Prcfented to the king June 13, delivered 
 '; Iiirn the preceding Monday.
 
 has been made upon any one perfon of thofe who 
 fuffered in their maflacre, or by their decree of" 
 exile. 
 
 The king had declared that he would fooner 
 perifh under their axe, (he too well faw what 
 was preparing for him) than give his fanction to 
 the iniquitous act of profcription, under which 
 thofe innocent people were to be tranfported. 
 
 On this profcription of the clergy, a principal 
 part of the oftenfible quarrel between the king 
 and thofe minifters, had turned. From the time of 
 the authorifed publication of this libel, fome 
 of the manoeuvres long and uniformly purfued for 
 the king's depofition, became, more and more 
 evident and declared. 
 
 The tenth of Auguft came on, and in the 
 manner in which Roland had predicted : it was 
 followed by the fame confequences The king 
 was depofed, after cruel maflacres, in the courts 
 and the apartments of his palace, and in almoft 
 all parts of the city. In reward of his tceafon to 
 his old matter, Roland was by his new matters 
 asmed mintfter of the home department. 
 
 b 2 The
 
 The maffacres of the fecond of September were 
 begotten by the malTacres of the tenth of Auguft. 
 They were univerfally forefeen and hourly ex- 
 peeled. During the fhort interval between the 
 two murderous fcenes, the furies, male and 
 female, cried out havock as loudly and as fiercely 
 as ever. The ordinary jails were all filled witk 
 prepared vi&ims ; and when they overflowed, 
 churches were turned into jails. At this time the 
 relentlefs Roland had the care of the general 
 police ; he had for his colleague the bloody 
 Dan ton, who was minifterof juftice: The infidious 
 Petion was mayor of Paris The treacherous 
 
 Manuel was procurator of the Common-hall. 
 
 The magifr. rates (fome or all of them) were evi- 
 dently the authors of this maflacre. Left the 
 national guards fhould, by their very name, be 
 reminded of their duty in preferving the lives of 
 their fellow citizens, the common council of 
 Paris, pretending that it was in vain to think of 
 reflating the murderers, (although in truth neither 
 their numbers nor their arms were at all formi- 
 dable) obliged thole guards to draw the charges 
 from their mufquets, and took away their bayonets. 
 
 One
 
 One of their journalifts, and according to their 
 feihion, one of their leading flatefmen, Gorfas, 
 mentions this fad in his newfpaper, which he 
 formerly called the ' Galley Journal. The title 
 was well fuited to the paper and its author. 
 For fome felonies he had been fen fenced to 
 the gallies ; but by the benignity of the late 
 king, this felon (to be one day advanced to 
 the rank of a regicide) had been pardoned and 
 releafed at the interceffion of the ambafladors of 
 Tippoo Sultan. His gratitude was fuch as might 
 naturally have been expected ; and it has lately 
 been rewarded as it deferved. This liberated 
 Galley- (lave was raifed, in mockery of all criminal 
 law, to be miniflerof juftice: he became from his 
 elevation a more confpicuous object of accufation, 
 and he has fmce received the punifhment of his 
 former crimes in profcription and death. 
 
 It will be aiked, how the minifter of the home 
 department was employed at this crifis ? The 
 day after the mafiacre had commenced Roland 
 appeared, but not with the powerful apparatus of 
 a protecting magiftrate, to refcue thofe who had 
 furvived the (laughter of the flrft day : Nothing 
 3 f
 
 of this. On the third of September, (that is the 
 day after the commencement of the maffacre)* 
 he writes a long, elaborate, verbofe epiftle to the 
 Aflcinbly. in which, after magnifying, according 
 to the bon ton of the revolution, his own integrity, 
 humanity, courage, and patriotifm, he firft di- 
 reclly juftifies all the bloody proceedings of the 
 tenth of Auguft. He confiders the (laughter of 
 that day as a neceffary meafure for defeating a 
 confpiracy, which (with a full knowledge of the 
 falfehood of his aflertion) he afferts to have been 
 formed for a maffacre of the people of Paris, and 
 which he more than insinuates, was the work of 
 bis late unhappy matter, who was univerfally 
 known to carry his dread of ihedding the blood 
 of his mod guilty fubjedls to an excefs. 
 
 " Without the day of the tenth," fays he, " it 
 " is evident that we (hould have been lott. The 
 " court, prepared for a long time, waited for the 
 " hour which was to. accumulate all treafons, 
 *' to difplay .over Paris the ftandard of death, and 
 
 * Letter ta the National Aflembly figncd7)&r Mlnljler 
 rf dc intcrw ROLAND, dated Paris, Sept. 3d, 4^ year 
 *f Libtriy, 
 
 to
 
 " to reign there by terror. The fenfe of thtf 
 " people, (le fentiment) always jujl and ready 
 *' when their opinion i$ not corrupted, fcrefaw 
 " the epoch marked for 'the^r deftruclion, and 
 " rendered it fatal to the con fpira tors.". He then 
 proceeds, in the cant which has been applied to 
 palliate all- their atrocities from the fourteenth of 
 July, 1789, to the prefent time $ *' It is in the 
 *< nature of things," .continues he v " and in that 
 " ofthe-human heart, that victory ihould bring 
 " with it fame excefs. The fea, agitated by a 
 '* violent ftorm, roars long after the tempeft ; but 
 <c every thing has bounds^ which ought at length 
 " to be obferved." 
 
 Jn this memorable epiftle, he confiders 
 fuch excejjes as fatalities a riling from the 
 very nature of things, and confequently not to be 
 punimed. He allows a fpace of time for the 
 duration of thefe agitations ; and left he fhould be 
 thought rigid and too fcanty in his meafure, he 
 thinks it may be long. But he would have things 
 to ceafe at length. But when, and where ? 
 When they may approach his own perfon. 
 
 Tejierday," fays he, the MINISTERS were 
 " denounced: vaguely indeed as to the matter, be-. 
 
 " caule
 
 ** caufe fubje&s of reproach were wanting; but 
 ** with that warmth and force of afTertion, which 
 " ftrike the imagination and feduce it for a 
 " moment, and which mitiead and deftroy con- 
 * fidence, without which no man fhould remain 
 M in place in a free government. Tejlerday, 
 *' again, in an aflembly of the prefidents of all 
 * 6 ' the fedtions, convoked by the minifterS, with 
 " the view of conciliating all minds, and of 
 *^ mutual explanation, I perceived- that dijlrujl 
 ** which fufpe ft s, interrogates, and fetters opera- 
 " tuns." 
 
 In this manner, (that is, in mutual fufpicions 
 and interrogatories) this virtuous minifler of the 
 home department, and all the magiflracy of Paris, 
 fpent the firft day of the maflacre, the atrocity of 
 which has fpread horror and alarm throughout Eu- 
 rope. It does not appear that the putting a flop to 
 the mafTacre, had any part in the pbjeft of their 
 meeting^ or in their coniultations when they were 
 met. Here was a minifter tremblingly alive to 
 his own fafety, dead to that ef his fellow citizens, 
 eager to preferve his place, and worfe than indif- 
 ferent about its mofl important duties. Speaking 
 df the people, he fays, " that their hidden 
 
 " enemies
 
 ( xvii ) 
 
 ** enemies may make ufe of this agitation" (the 
 tender appellation which he gives to horrid 
 mafTacre) " to hurt their beft friends, and their 
 " moft able defenders,. Already the example be- 
 *' gins; let it reft rain and arreft a juft rage. In- 
 " donation carried to its height commences 
 
 o o 
 
 " profcriptions which fall only on the" guilty, 
 ** but in which error and particular paffions may 
 " fhortly involve the honejl man." 
 
 He law that the able artificers in the trade and 
 my ftery of murder, did not chufe that their (kill 
 Ihould be unemployed after their firft work ; and 
 that they were full as ready to cut off their rivals 
 as their enemies. This gave him one alarm, that 
 was ferious. This letter of Roland in every part 
 of it lets out the fecret of all the parties in this 
 revolution. Plena rimarum ejl ; hac, atque iliac 
 perjliilt. We fee that none of them condemn the 
 occafional practice of murder; provided it is pro- 
 perly applied ; provided it is kept within the 
 bounds, which each of thofe parties think 
 proper to prefcribe. In this cafe Roland fear- 
 ed, that if what was occaTionally ufeful, mould 
 become habitual, the practice might go further 
 than was convenient. It might involve the bed 
 c friends
 
 ( xviii ) 
 
 friends of the laft revolution, as it had done the 
 heroes of the firft revolution : he feared that it 
 would not be confined to the La Fayettes and 
 Clement-Tonnerres, the Dnponts, and Barnaves, 
 but that it might extend to the Brifiots and Ver- 
 ginaux's, to the Condorcets, the Petions, and to 
 himfelf. Under this apprehenfion there is no 
 doubt that his humane, feelings were altogether 
 imaffe&ed. 
 
 His obfervations on the maflacre of the pre- 
 ceding day are fuch as cannot be palled over : 
 " Yefterday," faid he, " was a day upon the 
 , " events of which it is perhaps neceffary to leave 
 " a veil\ I know that the people with their 
 44 vengeance mingled a fort of jujlice ; they did 
 " not take for victims all who prefented them- 
 44 felves to their fury; they directed it to them 
 ' * who had for a long time been fpared by the 
 44 fword of the /aw, and who they believed, from 
 64 the peril of circumftances, fhould be facrificed 
 44 without delay. But I know that it is eafy to 
 *' villains and traitors to mifrepreient this effer- 
 " vefcence, and that it mufl be checked ; I know 
 <4 that we owe to all France the declaration, that 
 " the executive power could not forefee or pre- 
 
 44 vent
 
 ( xix ) 
 
 " vent this excefs. I know, that it is due to the 
 " conftituted authorities to place a limit to it, or 
 " eonfider themfelves as abolifhed." 
 
 In the midft of this carnage he thinks of 
 nothing but throwing a veil over it; which was 
 at once to cover the guilty from punimment, 
 and to extinguift) all companion for the fufferers. 
 He apologifes for it ; in fa6l, he juftifies it. He 
 who (as the reader has juft ieen in what is quoted 
 from this letter) feels fo much indignation at 
 " vague denunciations" when made againft him- 
 felf 9 and from which he then fea'red nothing more 
 than the fubverfion of his power, is not afhamed 
 to eonfider the charge of a confpiracy to mafTacre 
 the Parifians brought againft his mafter upon de- 
 nunciations as vague as pofUble, or rather upon 
 no denunciations, as a perfect j unification of the 
 monftrous proceedings againft him. He is not 
 amamed to call the murder of the unhappy priefts 
 in the Cqrmes, who were under no criminal de- 
 nunciation whatfoever, "a vengeance mingled with 
 a fort of jujlice*" he obferves that," they had. 
 fyeen a long time fpared by the fword of the law," 
 and calls by anticipation all thofe who fhould re- 
 prefent this " efervefcence" in other colours, vil- 
 c 2
 
 Jains and traitors : he did not then forefee, how 
 fooa himfelf and his accomplices would be under' 
 the neceflity of afTuming the pretended charac- 
 ter of this new fort of " v ill any and treafon" 
 in the hope of obliterating the memory of their 
 former real villanies and treafons : he did not 
 forefee, that in the courfe of fix months a formal 
 manifefto on the part of himfelf and his faction, 
 written by his confederate BrifTot, was to reprefent 
 this " effervefcence" as another " St. Bartholo- 
 mew ;" and fpeak of it as " having made humanity 
 Jhudder, andfullkd the Revolution for ever"* 
 
 It is very remarkable that he takes upon him- 
 felf to know the motives of the ailaffins, their 
 policy, and even what they " believed." How- 
 could this be if he had no connexion with 
 them } He praifes the murderers for not 
 having taken as yet all the lives of thofe 
 who had, as he calls it, " prefented themftfoes as 
 victims to their fury." He paints the miferablc 
 prifoaers who had been forcibly piled upon one 
 'another in the church of the Carmelites, by his 
 faction, as prefentlng themfehes as victims to their 
 
 * Seep. 12, and p. 13, of this translation. 
 
 fury ;
 
 fury ; as if death was their choice ; or, (allowing 
 the idiom of his language to make this equivocal) 
 as if they were by fome accident prefented to the 
 fury of their aflarlins : whereas he knew, that the 
 leaders of the murderers fought thefe pure and 
 innocent victims in the places where they had de- 
 poiited them, and were fure to find them. The 
 very felection, which he praifes as a. fort ofjuftice. 
 tempering their fury, proves beyond a doubt, .the 
 forefight, deliberation, and method with which 
 this maffacre was made. He knew that circum- 
 flance on the very day of the commencement 
 of the mafTacres, when, in all probability, he had 
 begun this letter, for he prefented it to the Affem- 
 bly on the very next. 
 
 Whilft, however, he defends thefe a&s, he is 
 confcious that they will appear in another light 
 to the world. He therefore acquits the executive 
 power, that is, he acquits himfelf (but only by 
 his own aflertion) of thofe acts " of vengeance, 
 mixed with a fort of jiiflke" as " an excefs which 
 he could neither forefee nor prevent.'* He could 
 not, he fays, forefee thefe acts ; when he tells us, 
 the people of Paris had fagacity fo well to forefee 
 tfre defigns of the court on the loth of Auguft ; to 
 
 forefee
 
 ( xxii ) 
 
 forefee them fo well, as to mark the precife epoch, 
 on which they were to he executed, and to con- 
 trive to anticipate them on the very day : he 
 could not forefee thefe events, though he declares 
 in this very letter that vi&ory mujl bring with it 
 fome excefs ; " that the lea roars long after the 
 tempeft." So far as to his foreilght. As to his 
 difpofition to prevent, if he had forefeen the maf- 
 facres of that day; this will be judged by his care 
 in putting a flop to the mafTacre then going on. 
 This was no matter of forefight. He was in the 
 very midft of it. He does not fo much as pre- 
 tend, that he had ufed any force to put a flop to 
 it. But if he had ufed any, the fan&ion given 
 under his hand, to a fort of juftice in the mur- 
 derers, was enough to difarm the protecting force. 
 That approbation of what they had already 
 done, had its natural effect on the executive afTaffins, 
 then in the paroxifm of their fury, as well as on 
 their employers, then in the midft of the execu- 
 tion of their deliberate cold-blooded lyftem of 
 murder* He did not at all differ from either of 
 them in the principle of thofe executions, but only 
 in the time of their duration ; and that only as it 
 afFe&ed himfelf. This, though to him a great 
 
 confederation^
 
 ( xxiii ) 
 
 consideration, was none to his confederates, \\ r ho 
 were at the fame time his rivals. They were 
 encouraged to accomplish the work they had in 
 hand. They did accomplish it ; and whilft this 
 grave moral epiftle from a grave rninifter, recom- 
 mending a ceflation of their work of " vengeance 
 mingled with a fort of juftice" was before a grave 
 aflembly, the authors of the maflhcres proceeded 
 without interruption in their bufinefs for four 
 days together; that is, until the ~th of that 
 month, and until all the victims of the firft pro- 
 fcription in Paris and at Verfailles, and feveral 
 other places, were immolated at the fhrine of the 
 grim Moloch of liberty and equality. All the 
 priefts, all the royalifts, all the firft effayiils and 
 novices of revolution in 1789, that could be found, 
 were promifcuoufly put to death. 
 
 Through the whole of this long letter of Ro- 
 land, it is curious to remark how the nerve and 
 vigour of his ftyle, which had fpoken fo potently 
 to his fovereign, is relaxed, when he addrelTes 
 himfelf ,to the fans- culottes ; how that flrength 
 and dexterity of arm, with which he parries and 
 beats down the fcepter, is enfeebled and loft, when 
 he comes to fence with the poignard 1 When he 
 4 {peaks
 
 ( xxiv ) 
 
 {peaks to the populace he can no longer be direct. 
 The whole compafs of the language is tried to 
 find fynonimes and circumlocutions for maffacre 
 and murder. Things are never called by their 
 common names. Maflacre is fometimes agitation, 
 fometimes ejfervefcence, fometimes excefs ; fome- 
 times too continued an exercife of a revolutionary 
 power. 
 
 However, after what had palled had been 
 praifed, or excufed, or pardoned, he declares 
 loudly againft fuch proceedings \\\ future. Crimes 
 had pioneered and made fmooth the way for the 
 march of the virtues ; and from that time, order 
 and juftice, and a facred regard for perfonal pro- 
 perty, were to become the rules for the new de- 
 mocracy. Here Roland and the Briflbtins leagued 
 for their own prefervation, by endeavouring to 
 preferve peace. This fhort ftory will render many 
 of the parts of Briffot's pamphlet, in which 
 Roland's views and intentions are fo often alluded 
 to, the more intelligible in themfelves, and the more 
 tifeful in their application by the Englifh reader. 
 
 Under the cover of thefe artifices, Roland, 
 BrhTot, and their party hoped to gain the bankers, 
 merchants, fubftantial tradefmen, hoarders of af* 
 
 fignats,
 
 fignats, and purchafers of the confifcated lands of 
 the clergy and gentry, to join with their party, a? 
 holding out fome fort of fecurity to the effects 
 which they pofTeiled, whether thefe effects were 
 the acquiiitions of fair commerce, or the gains of 
 jobbing in the misfortunes of their country, and 
 the plunder of their fellow citizens. In this de- 
 iign the party of Roland and Briffot fucceedcd ii\ 
 a great degree. They obtained a majority in the 
 National Convention. Compofed however as that 
 Affembly is, their majority was far from ileady : 
 but, whilft they, appeared .to gain the Convention, 
 and many of the outlying departments, they loft 
 the city of Paris entirely and irrecoverably ; it was 
 fallen into the hands of Marat,. Roberfpierre, and 
 Danton. Their inftruments were the Satis ctt~ 
 bffe-s, or rabble, who domineered ui that capital,, 
 and were wholly at the devotion of thofe in-* 
 cendiaries, and received their daily pay. The 
 people of property were of no co.'iieqncnce, and 
 trembled before Marat and his janiffaries. . As that 
 great man had not obtained the helm of the (late, 
 it was not yet come to his turn to a& the part of 
 Brifiot and his friends, in the aflertioii of fubordi- 
 nation and regular govern.ment. But Roberfpierre 
 d has
 
 ( xxvi ) 
 
 has furvivcd both thefe rival chiefs, and is now 
 the great patron of Jacobin order. 
 
 To balance the exorbitant power of Paris 
 (which threatened to leave nothing to the Na-. 
 tional Convention, but a character as infigni-. 
 ficant as that which the firft aflembly had 
 affigned to the unhappy Louis the Sixteenth), 
 the faction of Briffot, whofe leaders were Ro- 
 land, Petion, Vergniaux, Ifr*ard, Condorcet* 
 &c. &c. &c. applied themfelves to gain the 
 great commercial towns, Lyons, Marfeilles,, 
 Rouen, Nantz, and Bourdeaux. The republi-. 
 cans of the Briilbtin defcription, to whom the con- 
 cealed royalifts, ftill very numerous, joined them-, 
 felves, obtained a temporary fuperiorky, iix all 
 thefe places. In Bourdeaux on account of the 
 activity and eloquence of fome of its repre- 
 fentatives, this fuperiority \vas the moil dif- 
 tinguiflied. This laft city is feated on the 
 Garonne or Gironde ; and being the center of a 
 department named from that river, the appel- 
 lation of Girondifts was given to the whole 
 party. Thefe and fome other towns declared 
 flrongly againft the principles of anarchy; and 
 againfl the defpotifm of Paris. Numerous ad- 
 
 dreflb
 
 ( xxvii ) 
 
 drefles were fent to the Convention, promiflng to 
 maintain its authority, which the addreiTers were 
 pleafed to confider as legal and conflitutional, 
 though chofen, not to compofe an executive go- 
 vernment) but to form a plan for a conftitudon. 
 In the Convention meafures were taken to obtain 
 an armed force from the feveral departments to 
 maintain the freedom of that body, and to pro- 
 vide for the perfonal fafety of the members ; nei- 
 ther of which, from the i4th of July 1789 to this 
 hour, have been really enjoyed by their aiiem- 
 blies fitting under any denomination. 
 
 This fcheme, which was well conceived, had 
 not the defired fuccefs. Paris, from which the 
 Convention did not dare to move, though fome 
 threats of fuch a departure were from time to time 
 thrown out, was too 'powerful for the party of 
 Gironde. Some of the propofed guards, but nei- 
 ther with regularity nor in force, did indeed ar- 
 rive-; they were debauched as fall as they came;, 
 or were fent to the frontiers. The game played 
 by the Revolutionifts in 1789 with refpeft to the 
 French guards of the unhappy King, was now 
 played againft the departmental guards, called 
 together for the prote&jon of the Revolutionifls. 
 d 2 Every
 
 ( xxviii ) 
 
 Every part of their own policy comes round, and 
 flrikes at their own power and their own lives. 
 
 The Parifians, on their part, were not flow in 
 taking the alarm. - They had juft reafon to ap- 
 prehend, that if they permitted the fmalleft delay, 
 they fhould fee themfelves beiieged by an army 
 collected from all parts of France. Violent threats 
 were thrown outagainft that city in the AiTembly. 
 Its total deftrudion was menaced. A very re- 
 markable expreffioti was ufed in thefe debates, 
 '-' that in future times it might be inquired oil 
 " what part of the Seine Paris had flood." The 
 Fadlibn which ruled in Paris, too bold to be 
 intimidated, and too vigilant to be furprifed, 
 inftantly armed themfelves. In their turn they 
 accufed the Girondifts of a treafonable defign to 
 'break the. republic one and indivijible, (whofe 
 unity as they contended could only be preferved 
 by thefupremacy of Paris) into a number of con- 
 federate commonwealths. The Girondin faction 
 on this account received alfothe name of fedgra- 
 $fe. 
 
 -. Things on both fides haftened faft to extre- 
 mities. Paris, the mother of equality, was herfelf* 
 to be equalized. Matters were com to this alter- 
 
 a^ative,
 
 ( XXIX ) 
 
 native, either that city mud be reduced to a 
 mere member of the Federative Republic, or, the 
 Convention, chofen, as they faid, by all France, 
 was to be brought regularly and fyflematically 
 under the dominion of the Common- hall, and 
 even of any one of the feelions of Paris. 
 
 In this awful conteir, thus brought to iflue, the 
 great mother club of the Jacobins was entirely in 
 the Parifian intereft. The Girondins no longer 
 dared to (hew their faces in that afTembly. Nine 
 tenths at leaft of the Jacobin Clubs throughout 
 France, adhered to the great patriarchal Jacobi- 
 nic re of Paris, to which they were (to ufe their 
 own term) affiliated. No authority of magiftracy, 
 judicial or executive, had the leaf! weight, when- 
 ever thefe clubs chofe to interfere ; and they chofe 
 to interfere in every thing, and on every occafion. 
 All hope of gaining them to the fupport of 
 property, or to the acknowledgement of any law 
 but their own will, was evidently vain, and hope- 
 lefs. Nothing but an armed infurrection againfl 
 their anarchical authority, could anfwer the pur- 
 pofe of the Girondins. Anarchy was to be cured 
 by rebellion, as it had been caufed by it. 
 
 as
 
 ( XXX ) 
 
 As a preliminary to this attempt on the Jaco-* 
 tins and the commons of Paris, which it was 
 hoped would be fupported by all the remaining 
 property of France, it became abfolutely necefla- 
 ry to prepare a manifeilo, laying before the public, 
 the whole policy, genius, character, and conducl 
 f the partifans of club government* To make 
 this expofition as fully and clearly as it ought to 
 be made, it was of the fame unavoidable neceffity 
 to go through a feries of tranfa&ions^ in which all 
 thofe concerned in this revolution, were at the fe~ 
 veral periods of their activity, deeply involved* 
 In confequence of this defign, and under thefe 
 difficulties, Briffot prepared the following decla- 
 ration of his party, which he executed with no 
 imall ability ; and in this manner, the* whole 
 myftery of the French Revolution was laid open 
 in all its parts, 
 
 It is almoft needlefs to mention to the reader 
 the fate of the deiign to which this pamphlet was 
 to be fubfervient. The Jacobins of Paris \vere 
 more prompt than their adverfaries. They were 
 the readieil to refort to what La Fayette calls the 
 moft facred of all. duties, that of infurreftion. 
 Another xra of holy iiifurreclion, commenced 
 
 the
 
 ( xxxi ) 
 
 the 31(1 of laft May. As the firft fruits of that 
 infurreftion grafted on infurrecYion, and of that 
 rebellion improving upon rebellion, the facred 
 irrefponfible character of the members of the 
 Convention was laughed to fcorn. They had 
 themfelves (hewn in their proceedings againft 
 the late King, how little the mofl fixed principles 
 are to be relipd upon, in their revolutionary con- 
 ftitution, The members of the Girondin party 
 in the Convention, were feized upon or obliged to 
 fave themfelves by flight. The unhappy author 
 of this piece, with twenty of his affociates, fuffered 
 together on the fcaffold, after a trUl, the iniquity 
 of which puts all defcription ;o ckfiance, 
 
 The Englifh reader will draw from this work 
 of Briflbt, and from the refult of the lafl ftrugdes 
 
 7 OO 
 
 of this party, fome qfeful leffons. He will bq 
 enabled to judge of the information of thofe, 
 \vho have undertaken to guide and enlighten u. c , 
 and who, for reafqns beil known to themfelves. 
 have chofen to paint the French Revolution and its 
 confequences in brilliant and flattering colours. 
 They will know how to appreciate the liberty of 
 f ranee, \vhicfy has been fo much magnified in 
 England. They will do, juftice tp the wifdom, 
 
 and
 
 ( xxxii ) 
 
 and goodfiefs of their Sovereign and his 'Parlia- 
 ment, who have put them into a Hate of de- 
 fence, in the war, audacioufly made upon us, in 
 favour of that kind of liberty. When we fee (as 
 here we muft fee) in their true colours the cha- 
 racter and policy of our enemies, our gratitude 
 will become an active principle. It will produce 
 a ft ron g and zealous 'co-operation with the efforts 
 of our government, in favour of a conftitution 
 under which we enjoy advantages, the full value 
 of which, the querulous weaknefs of human nature 
 requires fbmetimes the opportunity of a cornparifon^ 
 to underftand and to relim. 
 
 Our confidence in thofe who watch for the> 
 public will not be leflened.. We (hall be feniible 
 that to alarm us in the late ci.rcumftances of our 
 affairs, was not for our moleftation, but for ouir 
 fecurity. We (hall be feiifible that this alarm was 
 not ill timed- and that it ought to have been given, 
 as it wa-3 given, before the enemy had time fully to 
 mature and accompiiih their plans, for reducing us 
 to the condition of France, as that condition is 
 faithfully and without exaggeration defcribed in 
 the following work. We now have our arms in 
 our hands : we have the means of o^s^fing the 
 
 2 fenfe,
 
 ( xxxiii ) 
 
 fenfe, the courage, and the refources of England, 
 to the deepeft, the moft craftily devifed, the 
 bed combined, and the moft extenfivedefign, that 
 ever was carried on fince the beginning of the 
 world, again ft all property, all order, all religion, 
 all law, and all real freedom. 
 
 The reader is requefted to attend to the part of 
 this pamphlet which relates to the conduct of the 
 Jacobins, with regard to the Auftrian Netherlands, 
 which they call Belgia, or Belgium. It is from 
 page 72 to page 84 of this tranilation. Here 
 their views and defigns upon all their neighbours 
 are fully difplayed. Here the whole myftery of 
 their ferocious politics is laid open with the utmoft 
 clearnefs. Here the manner in which they would 
 treat every nation into which they could intro- 
 duce their doctrines and influence is diftindtly 
 marked. We fee that no nation was out of 
 danger, and we fee what ,the danger was with 
 which every nation was threatened. The writer 
 of this pamphlet throws the blame of feveral of 
 the moft violent of the proceedings on the other 
 party. He and his friends, at the time alluded to, 
 had a majority in the National AiTembly. He 
 admits that neither he nor they ever publicly 
 
 e oppofed
 
 ( xxxiv ) 
 
 oppoted thefe meafures ; but rre attributes their 
 filence, to a fear of rendering thernfelves fufpecl> 
 ed It is moil certain, that whether from fear, 
 or from approbation, they never difcovered any 
 diflike of thofe proceedings, till Dumourier was 
 driven from the Netherlands. But whatever their 
 motive- was, it is plain that the mod violent is, 
 and fince the revolution has always been, the pre- 
 dominant party. 
 
 Jf Europe could not be faved without our in- 
 terpofition, (moft certainly it could not) I am 
 fure there is not an Englimman, who would not 
 blufli to be left out of the general effort made in 
 favour of the general fafety, .But we are not fe- 
 condary parties in this war ; <we are principals in 
 the danger, and ought to be principals in the exer- 
 tion. If any Englimman aiks whether the de-* 
 figns of the French aiTaffins are confined to ths 
 fpot of Europe which they actually defolate a . 
 the citizen Briffot, the author of this book, and 
 the author of the declaration of war againfl Eng- 
 land, will give him his anfwer. He will find ia 
 this book, that the republicans are divided into 
 factions, full of the moft furious and deftru&ive 
 againfl each other ; but he will find 
 
 rife
 
 ( XXXV ) 
 
 alfd that there is one point in which they per*. 
 fec~Hy agree that they are all enemies alike, to 
 the government of all other nations, and only 
 contend with each other about the means of pro- 
 pagating their tenets, and extending their empire 
 by conqueft. 
 
 It is true, that in this prefent work, which the 
 author profeffedly defigned for an appeal to fo- 
 reign nations and pofterity, he has drefTed up the 
 philofophy of his own faction in as decent a garb 
 as he could to make her appearance in public : but 
 through every difguife her hideous figure may be 
 distinctly feen. If, ho\vever, the reader {till 
 wimes to fee her in all her naked deformity, I 
 would further refer him toa private letter of BrifTot 
 written towards the end of the laft year, and quoted 
 in a late very able pamphlet of Mallet du Pan. 
 ' We muft," (fays our philofopher) " fit fre to 
 " the four corners of Europe-" in that alone is 
 ** our fafety* Dumouricr cannot fuit us. I al- 
 " ways diftrufted him. Miranda is the general 
 **> for us ; he underflands the revolutionary pow- 
 " er, he has courage, lights^ &c."* Here every 
 
 * See the tranflation of Mallet Du Pan's work, printed for 
 Owen, page 53. 
 
 e 2 thing
 
 ( xxxvi ) 
 
 thing is fairly avowed in plain language. The 
 triumph of philofophy is the univerfal conflagra- 
 tion of Europe ; the only real dhTatisfaction with 
 Dumourier is a fufpicion of his moderation ; and 
 the fecret motive of that preference, which in this 
 very pamphlet the author gives to Miranda, though 
 without aligning his reafons, is declared to be the 
 fuperior fitnefs of that foreign adventurer for the 
 purpofes of fubverfion and deftrudtion. On the 
 other hand, if there can be any man in this country 
 fo hardy as to undertake th defence or the apo- 
 logy of the prefent monftrous ufurpers of France; 
 a nd if.it mould be faid in their favour, that it is 
 not juft to credit the charges of their enemy Brif- 
 fot againft them, who have actually tried and con- 
 demned him on the very fame charges among 
 others ; we are luckily fupplied with the beft pof- 
 fible evidence in fuppoit of this part of his book 
 againft them : it comes from among themfelves. 
 Camille Defmoulins publifhed the " Hiftory of 
 the BrhTotins" in anfwer to this very addrefs of 
 Briflbt. It was the counter-manifefto of the laft 
 Holy Revolution of the 31(1 of May ; and the 
 flagitious orthodox}'' of his- writings at that period 
 has been admitted in the late fcrutiny of him by 
 
 the
 
 ( xxxvii ) 
 
 the Jacobin Club, when they faved him from that 
 guillotine " which he grazed." In the begin* 
 ning of his work he difplays " the talk of glory,*' 
 as he calls it, which prefented itfelf at the open- 
 ing of the Convention. All is fummed up in two 
 points : " to create the French republic, and fa 
 " dif organize Europe ; perhaps to purge It of Xs 
 " tyrants by the eruption of the volcanic prin- 
 " ctples of equality*" The coincidence is exact ; 
 the proof is complete and irrefiftible. 
 
 In a caufe like this, and in a time like the prc- 
 fent, there is no neutrality. They who are not 
 a&ively, and with decision and energy, againfr. Ja- 
 cobin ifm, are its partifans. They who do not 
 dread it, love it. It cannot be viewed with indif- 
 ference. It is a thing, made to produce a powerful 
 impreffion on the feelings. Such is the nature of 
 Jacobinifm, fuch is the nature of man, thft this 
 fyftem muft be regarded either with 'enthufiaftic 
 admiration, or with the higheft degree of detefla- 
 tion, refentment, and horror. 
 
 Another great leffon may be taught by this book, 
 and by the fortune of the author, and his party : 
 
 * See the tranflation of the Hiftory of $e BrilTotins, by 
 Caraille Dcfmoulins, printed for Owen, p. 2. 
 
 I mean
 
 ( xxxviii ) 
 
 1 mean a leflfort drawn from the confequencies 
 of engaging in daring innovations, from an hope 
 that we may be able to limit their mifchievous 
 operation at our pleafure, and by our policy to fe- 
 cure ourfelves againft the effect of the evil exam- 
 ples we hold out to the workL This leflbn is 
 taught through almoft all the important pages of 
 hiftory : but never has it been taught fo clearly 
 and fo awfully as at this hour. The revolutionifts 
 who have juft fuffered an ignominious death, un- 
 der the fentence of the Revolutionary Tribunal 
 (a tribunal compofed of thofe with whom 
 they had triumphed in the total deftruction 
 of the ancient government) were by no means or- 
 dinary men, or without very confiderable talents 
 and refources. But with all their talents and re- 
 fources, and the apparent momentary extent of 
 their power, we fee the fate of their projects, their 
 power, tnd their perfons. We fee before our 
 eyes the abfurdity of thinking to eftablim order 
 upon principles of confufion, or with the mate- 
 rials and inflruments of rebellion, to build up a 
 folid and ftable government. 
 
 Such partifans of a republic amongft us, as may 
 
 not have the worft intentions, will fee, that the 
 
 i principles
 
 principles, the plans, the manners, the morale, 
 and the whole fyftem of France, is altogether as 
 adverfe to the formation and duration of any ra- 
 tional fcheme of a republic, as it is to that of a 
 monarchy ablblute or limited. It is indeed a 
 iyftem which can only anfwer the purpofes of 
 robbers and murderers. 
 
 The tranflator has only to fay for himfelf that 
 he has found fome difficulty in this verfion. His 
 original author, through hafte, perhaps, or through 
 the perturbation of a mind filled with a great and 
 arduous enterprize, is often obfcure. There are 
 fome pafTages too, in which his language re- 
 quires to be firft tranilated into French, at leaft 
 into fuch French as the academy would in, former 
 times have tolerated. He writes with great force 
 and vivacity ; but the language, like every thing 
 elfe in his country, has undergone a revolution. 
 The tranflator thought it befl to be as literal as 
 poffible ; conceiving fuch a tranflation would per- 
 haps be the mofl fit to convey the author's peculiar 
 mode of thinking. In this way the tranflator has 
 pp credit for ftyle ; but he makes it up in fidelity. 
 
 Indeed
 
 Indeed the fads and obfervations are fo much more 
 important than the ftyle, that no apology is want- 
 ed for producing them in any intelligible man- 
 ner. 
 
 THE
 
 The Author's Advertifement. 
 
 C T J HE whole truth has never been told from the 
 ^" beginning of the Revolution. Men were afraid 
 that in telling it they (hould hurt the caufe of 
 liberty ; that they ftiould difhonour it, that they 
 fhould difcourage the people, that they fhould 
 embarrafs the progrefs of affairs. This circum- 
 fpe&ion is proper, and even neceflary, when na- 
 tions owe their *falvation to particular men, or. 
 particular bodies of men ; but it becomes fatal 
 when the nation only can be the means of faving 
 hfelf. To conceal from a nation its own fltuatiou 
 is to nurfe its lethargy. It cannot be led to make 
 great efforts, and to give them their proper direc- 
 tion without being fully informed of that fituation. 
 
 'Such is our prefent pofition, and fuch the mo- 
 tree which has engaged me to tear away entirely 
 the veil which hides from Us the caufe of our 
 evils. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be thought that I have been too 
 fevere towards many individuals, and to many bodies 
 of men. I have told the truth ; it was my duty 
 to do to, and if I have any caufe of regret, it is, 
 that the rapidity with which this work has been 
 written and printed, has not permitted me to bring 
 together all the circumftances which might be 
 necerTary to give a juft idea of men and things. 
 
 B Then;
 
 There is, however, one body to whom I ougfit 
 here to do juftice ; it is the Revolutionary Tribu- 
 nal. I have elfewhere mentioned the mifchief done 
 by that body ; I muft here relate the good they 
 have flnce done. They conducted themfelves in 
 Miranda's trial with the integrity, the firmnefs, 
 the impartiality, that was to be expe&ed from true 
 Republicans. May they perfevere in the fame fpi- 
 rit, and pofterity will pardon the other judgements 
 with which they might juflly be reproached. 
 
 This homage which I pay to this tribunal, I will 
 pay to all my enemies, when they fhall do what 
 is right ; for. my pen is never carried aWay by 
 paffion. I am under the dominion but of one paf- 
 fion when I write, the love of liberty. The defire 
 of feeing a Republican Government eftablifhed in 
 my country, and phllofophy triumphant every 
 where, that is the paffion of my life ; the difap- 
 pointment of which has fometimes produced that 
 violence of expre'ffion of which lam accufed. 
 
 'Oh ! how afRiding it is for a man who has feeti 
 the Revolution advanced to a point, to which four 
 years ago It would have keen folly to imagine It 
 could be carried I How affiicl'ing is it to lee that 
 Revolution falling back, while every thing was 
 eo-operating for" its eftablifhinent ! After all the 
 experience that has been obtained, (hall all be loft 
 to liberty ', to other, nations^ to Jutu-re revolutions ? 
 No; if. the nation can fucCeed in efiablifhing 
 ORDER within her own bofom On that word 
 depends the liberty of the univerfe, and 'it is for 
 that alone, I write* 
 
 Paris y May 22, 1793, 
 the 2d Tear of the 
 Fnnch Republic. 
 
 J.P.
 
 J. P, BRISSOT 
 
 CONSTITUENTS. 
 
 It is time that our fellow citizens, that foreign nations fhould judge 
 between us and our adverfuries. It is time that it fhould be feen who 
 the men are who wifh to fave the Republic, and who the men are who 
 wifh to deftroy it. The evil is at its height ; myftery wbuld l&e but a 
 dangerous palliative.* 
 
 1 HAVE announced from the commencement 
 of the Convention, that there is in France a party 
 of diforganifers, who aimed at the deftrudtion of 
 the Republic, even in its cradle. 
 
 The exigence of this party has been denied. 
 All fincere fceptics ought now to be convinced. 
 
 I now mean to prove, I ft. That this party of 
 anarch ifts has domineered, and does domineer, 
 over almoft all the deliberations of the Convention, 
 and all the operations of the Executive Council. 
 
 2d. That this party has been, and is flill, the 
 fole caufe of all the evils, as well interior as exte- 
 rior, which afflict France. 
 
 3. That the Republic cannot be faved but 
 .by taking rigorous meafures ,to refcue the 
 
 * The translator prefixes the afcove little note, hecaufe his author 
 (does fo. The reader will find it repeated in the body of the work, 
 >**.- 
 
 B 2 reprelentatives
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 reprefentatives of the nation from the defpotifm of 
 this faction. 
 
 I dread the abufe of words ; it is this abufe that 
 gives fo much ftrength. to political quacks. It 
 inuft therefore be our firfl bufmefs rightly to de- 
 fine that anarchy which knaves dexteroufly con- 
 found with patriotifm. It mufl be defined before 
 I prefent the hideous pictur-e of its crimes, before I 
 offer the remedy for our diftempers. 
 
 The laws without execution ; the conftituted 
 authorities impotent and difgraced ; crimes unpu- 
 nimed ; property of every kind attacked: perfonal 
 fafety violated ; the morals of the people corrupted ; 
 no confKtution ; no government; nojuftice. Such 
 are the true features of this anarchy ; fuch is pre- 
 cifely the fyftem uniformly followed by the party 
 that I have denounced : a fyftem which has ap- 
 peared to me fubverfive of all republican govern- 
 ment. For that reafon, before I enter upon my 
 fubjecl:, I muft fet forth the principles which have 
 guided me, as well as all the other refpedtable de- 
 puties to whom I have the honour of calling my- 
 felf a friend. 
 
 It was my opinion on coming into the Conven- 
 tion, that lince Royalty was annihilated ; fince the 
 Republic was effoblifhed ; fmce all the powers of 
 government were in the hands of the people, or 
 their reprefentatives, the patriots ought to change 
 the line of their march in coniequence of the 
 change in their portion. 
 
 It was my opinion that the mfurrettional move- 
 merits ought to ceale ; becaufe, where there is no 
 longer any tyranny to dernolim, there ought no 
 longer to exift any force in a Jlate of infur region ; 
 becaufe, where to build is our bufmefs alone, 
 there, nothing is wanted but order and reaion. ; 
 
 I was
 
 ( s ) 
 
 I was nware that at the end of a Revolution, 
 of three years {landing, it was difficult enough, 
 all at once, to calm the commotions of the people; 
 becaufe their agitation was the natural effect of the 
 force of events ; becaufe it was the firft time that 
 the people had ever been in the full exercife of their 
 own authority; becaufe a people juft emerging 
 from flavery is a child, and that it is quite nature! 
 that they allb ihould fometimes break to pieces their 
 own work, and rife againft the very authorities 
 that they themfelves had created. 
 
 But I thought at the fame time that ifthofe po- 
 pular impulfes which throw lociety into terrible 
 convulfions were continued too long, the people in 
 that cafe would tear themfelves to pieces, con- 
 ceiving they were only deftroying their inftru- 
 ments. 
 
 It was my opinion, that they would foon come 
 to regret the lethargic tranquillity of their former 
 bondage, if care was not taken to procure for 
 them a republican tranquillity, becaufe the people 
 wifhed to be happy ; becaufe they more eipecially 
 wifh it, when they have made great and long fa- 
 crifices ; becanfe happinefs does not at all confift 
 in the eternal repetition of violent convulfions, 
 and if robbers live by factitious, the people live by 
 repofe. 
 
 My opinion was, that order alone could procure 
 this tranquillity; that order confided in a religious 
 refpect for the laws, the magiftrates, property of 
 all kinds, and perfonal fafety ; that this order could 
 only reful t from the due execution of the laws ; 
 and that the laws could not be executed, but by 
 inverting ail the conflituted authorities with power, 
 refpeft, and confidence. 
 
 J was
 
 1 was of opinion, that it was eafy to furround 
 them with this power, this refpect, this confi- 
 dence; fince, after the victory of the loth of Au- 
 guil, the patriotic party of neceflity became maf- 
 ters; iince there were fome good laws in exiflence ; 
 iince thofe that were .bad, might be eafily repeal- 
 ed, as there no longer remained any opposition ; 
 and fince the miniftry, the tribunals, the admi- 
 nistrations of the departments, every thing was 
 , capable of being, and every thing, almoft every 
 where, actually was of a popular composition. 
 
 I \vas of opinion, that the eftablimment of this 
 provisional order was the heft anfwer that could be 
 made to the royalifts, and to the ariftocrats, who 
 are eternally repeating, that order is incompatible 
 with .a Republican conftitution ; and that this con- 
 ftitudon docs not fuit a vaft country, and a popu~ 
 lation of 25 millions. 
 
 I was of opinion, that the eftablimment of that 
 order was the fureft means of facilitating a fupply 
 of recruits, and provisions for our armies ; of low- 
 ering the price of the necefTaries of life ; of putting 
 our manufacturers to work ; of keeping up the 
 credit of our aflignats ; and of accelerating the 
 fale of the national eftates, and the eftates of the 
 emigrants. 
 
 I confequently thought, that order was a true 
 revolutionary mcafurc ; fince on one fide it tended 
 to confirm our revolution at home; iince on the 
 other, it gave us powerful means of contending 
 with our enemies abroad ; iince, finally, it ren* 
 . tiered that revolution honourable and dear in the 
 eyes of foieign nations, whofe efteem and affection 
 to us it concjliiUed. 
 
 I conceived that this doctrine was as good and 
 more uieful for the citizen who does not poflefs any 
 
 thing,
 
 C 7 ) 
 
 thing, than for the citizen who pofleffes property. 
 Becaufe the firft can live only by his conftant labour, 
 and that there can be no conftant work where 
 there is not a conftant fafety, both of life and of 
 property, to the rich. 
 
 1 thought then, that the trueft enemies of the 
 People, and of the Republic, were the anarchifts, 
 the preachers up of an Agrarian law, the inftiga- 
 tors of fed it ion. 
 
 I was of opinion, that all mfurrection could not 
 but be fatal to the people, and to liberty, fince L 
 could be directed only againft the reprelentatives 
 of the people. 
 
 I conceived that this d&ffrine of eternal tnfur- 
 recilon muft draw after it pillage and maflacres, 
 which muft weary out and difguftthe nation with 
 the republican form of government. 
 
 1 thought that the diilblution of this govern- 
 ment could only be efTe&ed in two ways : 
 
 Either, that- the -Convention, fubjugated by 
 the anarchifts, mould fall into contempt, and 
 mould iflue decrees that would prove revolting and 
 deftru6Uve to all the departments, and they all 
 mould demand the renovation of that aflembly by 
 an infurrectitfn againft the factious; or, that our 
 external enemies, availing themfelves of thefe 
 convuliions, might invade the Republic; -might 
 ihare it out among themfelves ; or might fecond 
 the attempts of the hrft ambitious man who mould 
 endeavour to re-eftablim the hrft Conftitution, or 
 the ancient defpotiim. 
 
 I confequently thought that all my efforts ought 
 to be directed againft the anarchifts ; iince they 
 were the moil formidable enemies to the eftablifh- 
 me.it of the Republic. 
 
 Such
 
 Such is the fyftem that has uniformly guided 
 me in the Convention. I have, therefore, never 
 ceafed to mark out the anarchiftsof all forts ; both 
 the fools who talk of nothing but diforganizing, 
 when it is our bufinefs to organize ; and the 
 knaves, whofe fole view is to acquire riches and 
 dominion to themfelves by their revolutionary 
 power ; and the ariftocrats and the royalifts in 
 difguife, who coalefce with them, in hopes, 
 through diforder, to reftore the ancient govern- 
 ment. I have never ceafed to unmafk their ma* 
 iioeuvres, becaufe I faw in them the certain ruin of 
 liberty. 
 
 It is in the fame fpirit that all thofe courageous 
 men have joined me in the conflict, who have 
 firft been delivered over to ignominy, and then 
 to the daggers of aflaffins under the names of 
 Rolandines, Girondines, &c. &c. 
 
 And have we not reafon to dread the fatal in- 
 fluence of the anarchifts ? Take a view of all that, 
 has been done by the Convention, by the Executive 
 Council, by our Armies ! You will find this fatal 
 influence every where alike. 
 
 It is time that truth fhoukl be (hewn ftark naked- 
 It is time that our fellow-citizens, that foreign 
 nations, mould judge between us and our adver- 
 faries. It is time that it fhouid be feen who the 
 men are who wifhed to faye the Republic, and 
 xvho the men arc who wifhed to deftroy it. The 
 evil is at its height. Myftery would be but a 
 dangerous palliative ; myftery would expofe the 
 Republic- to ruin. For now the Republic only 
 can work its own falvation ; it muft therefore be 
 made acquainted with every thing of which it is 
 
 now ignorant. 
 
 Far
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 'Far be from me the idea of wiftiing to difparage 
 the Convention ; I would fried the laft drop of 
 my blood to fee the Convention honoured and re- ' 
 vered univerfally. Alas! what miracles would ic 
 not have wrought, if h had been left to its oivn 
 direction, divejted of -all external influence ; if rea- 
 Ibn only hud -prefided in ks deliberations. En- 
 lightened wifdom, patriotifm, ardent love of re- 
 publicanifm, incorruptible probity all thefe were 
 united in -this body ! Theie were the characters 
 of a great majority of its members. Some twenty 
 wen have palfied and degraded it. Tears of blood 
 -ought to flow from the eyes of all Republicans. 
 Liberty might fo -eafily have found no other boun- 
 daries than thofe of the world, and \\Q\vJhe mujl 
 Jbrrowfully confine b erf elf ivitbin the limits of 
 France* Can fhe folidly eftablifh herfelf even 
 'there ? This is. ftill, and I 1 peak it with grief, this 
 is ftill a problem. And why is it fo ? Becaufe a 
 fcore of anarchijls have ufurped in the Convention, 
 nd over the conftitnted authorities throughout the 
 whole empire, an influence whLh reafbn alone 
 ought to 'poflefs. 
 
 Citizens of the departments ! you are con- 
 founded, annihilated ! What^ twenty men? Yes! 
 Ye, who ftill doubt it, follow me in the enume- 
 ration of facl:s. It is with the documents in my 
 ."hand, that I will convince the credulous. What- 
 ever good the Convention has done, the anarchiits 
 have found the fecret of rendering null and 
 Void. Whatever mifchief it has done, they have 
 dictated. 
 
 Follow the debates, you will there fee on one 
 
 hand, men always occupied with the care of making 
 
 the laws, the conftituted authorities, and private 
 
 property, refpecled; and on the oiher fide, men 
 
 C al-wavs
 
 always employed to keep the people in agitation * 
 todilcredit by calumnies the conflituted authority 5 
 to protect crimes by impunity, and to relax all 
 the bonds of fociety. 
 
 In the midft of this conflift, you will fee the 
 majority of the Convention, pure, found, attached 
 to principles, inceffantly turning their attention 
 towards the law, and inceflantly too, fuftering 
 themfelves to be led by thofe who deftroy it. 
 One verfe defcribes them ; but how Shocking is 
 this verfe ! 
 
 Video meliora proboqiie \ 
 
 Deteriora fequor 
 
 Thus, you will firft fee them adopt unanimoufly 
 die principle of a departmental force, propofed by 
 Buzot ; that principle which would have infurec} 
 the independence of their deliberations ; that prin- 
 ciple which would have confecrated the unity and 
 indivisibility of the Republic ; that principle which, 
 carried into execution, would have deprived the 
 banditti of that force which they abufed, in order 
 to hold the national representation injlavery : you 
 will fee them, then (affrighted by calumnious 
 infmuations, by the words fo often repeated* 
 Praetorian Guards \ words which infulted the love 
 of liberty in Frenchmen,) abandon this proportion. 
 From that moment the violation of the freedom of 
 opinion takes its date. 
 
 You will fee them next applaud the project of 
 a decree, propofed by Buzot, againfl the inftigators 
 of murder ; feel the neceility of putting a flop 
 to incendiary writings, which every day inflamed 
 the banditti, and then bury in filence that falutary 
 
 project
 
 ( II ) 
 
 - J>roje which the anarchifts fo furioufly op- 
 pofed. 
 
 You will next fee them fanction with their una- 
 nimous votes, the exclusion of Members of the 
 Convention from places during fix years, which 
 was propofed by Genfonnc- an exclufion which 
 proved the difmtereftednefs of the party accufed 
 of aiming at the government ; which condemned 
 the ambition of the anarchifts to filence ; and 
 which forced them to give a Conftitution, pure and 
 difengaged from all fecret and particular views 
 you will fee them afterwards commit this wife" 
 decree, upon the re-iterated inftances of the chiefs 
 of the anarchifts themfelves. For the firft object 
 . of their ambition is Places ; their aim is to 
 domineer to-day, and allb to domineer to- 
 morrow. 
 
 You will then fee the Convention moved by the 
 charges of triumvirate, and di&atormip, preferred 
 againft Robeipierre and his accomplices ; convin- 
 ced that they had degraded and endeavoured to 
 diiTblve the legislative affembly; and convinced 
 that they wiflied to lord it over France, welcome 
 in coniequence the noble ancj fpirited accufation 
 of Louvet againft Robefpierre and Marat. You 
 will fee them in the next inftant, after the moft 
 miferable j unification of Robeipierre from thefe 
 Denunciations, pals to the order of the day, and 
 thus infure the triumph of the anarchifts, under 
 pretence of bujy'mg themfehes no longer about 
 tbeje little undertakers of r evolutions ^ to niake 
 ufe of th s e words of B|irrere. Rarrere, however, 
 forgot, that not to punifti thefe little undertaker, s 
 is to encourage them, and that being encouraged, 
 they find in their Audacity the iecret of forcing the 
 C a Couveuiiou
 
 Convention to be eternally bufied about them : thfr 
 event has proved it. 
 
 You will fee them, under a fuddrn terror both, 
 of the views and the flrength of the Orleans 
 party, receive almoft unanimously the proportion 
 made by Louvet and B-uzot, to banifli the whole 
 Bourbon family from the land of liberty. You 
 \villfee them afterwards impofed upon by a (lage 
 trick, and fatigued by vociferations, fuipend the 
 execution of this falutary decree, and rei-tore their 
 leader to the anarchifts ; for' a leader they were 
 refolved to have:- Chabot avowed k iu the rof- 
 trum. 
 
 You will fee them (the Convention) now pene- 
 trated with an holy horror at the mairacres of the 
 id of September.- The maflacres which were 
 only the engine of the confpiracy, framed for the 
 purpofe of diflolving the legiflative aflembly and 
 forthwith inverting the municipality of Paris, or 
 rather thofe who lead it, with fupreme power. 
 The rnaflacres (I fay) which have made huma- 
 nity fhudder, fullied the revolution for ever, and 
 alienated foreign nations from us for many a day. 
 
 You will fee them one moment, drive from 
 them with indignation the accomplices and apolo- 
 gifts of thofe maflacres, who did- not blufli loudly 
 to (lile thefe enormities the grand creed of jfa.- 
 cabin liberty ;* You will lee them order the 
 profecution of thofe maffacres on the motion of 
 Geiilonne, and order it the next day after the 
 condemnation of Louis, for the purpoie of proving 
 to the world, their jufHce and impartiality. You 
 will then iee the Convention affrighted by 
 
 * A phrafe of Collet d'Herboisto the Jacobins. 
 
 falfe
 
 <3 
 
 falfe terrors dexteroufly fpread about, refpefting 
 the renewal of that St. Bartholomew, not only 
 futpend that proceeding, and thus plunge France 
 and all nations in mourning, but even confer the 
 moft honourable and the moil important millions 
 upon thefe atrocious Septembnzers,* who, all 
 covered with blood and with mud, obliged the 
 departments to go as it were on their knees before 
 them. 
 
 You will fee them firft fwayed by political rea- 
 fons, by the in tereft of the nation, by the intcreft 
 of the Convention, by the neceflity of paying, at 
 leaft for once, their homage to the " Sovereignty 
 ' of the People" You will iee them, I fay, in- 
 cline by a great majority to the plan of referring 
 to the people, the ratification of the fentence of 
 Louis, and then immediately yielding to calum- 
 nious iniinuations, to vociferations, to terrors, to 
 ibphifms of versatile men, abandon that party 
 which would have crufhed all factions, and de- 
 prived the Kings, who were then combined againft 
 us, or who at that time kept neuter, of a new 
 pretext for war, and the means of making all their 
 people fanatics againft the French Revolution. 
 
 You will lee them (the Convention) one mo- 
 ment, indignant at the pillage of the 26th of Fe-. 
 bruary, deviled to excite the citizens of IVris againft 
 the Convention, and to make it contemptible, order 
 the punifhment of thofe flagitious acls, and then 
 refign to oblivion the expiation of a crime, which 
 
 * An epithet of the Pruffian Cloots, a title invented by 
 him, to immortalize the authors of the maiVacres of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 2 more
 
 , ( '4 ) 
 
 -rn6re than any other enables us to appreciate the 
 audacity of the factious, the weaknefs of the coil- 
 ftituted authorities, and the depravity both of the 
 people who pillaged, and of the people who fuf- 
 fered the pillage a crime which, of all others, 
 was the bed adapted to raife the hopes of our ex- 
 ternal enemies, and to increafe the furfeit of 
 liberty. 
 
 You will next fee them thoroughly convinced 
 of the impoiiibility of fetting bounds to the in- 
 teftine diflenfions raifed in the very bofom of the 
 Convention, and to the mutual and perpetual ac- 
 culations from the two parties, without bringing 
 the nation to decide between them ; you will lee 
 them, I lay, repeatedly receive with tranfport the 
 motion for calling together the primary a.flemblies 
 a motion fo often made by Genfonne and Gau- 
 det. You will prefenily fee them repeal theie de- 
 crees, and yield to fa lie terrors, refpedting the 
 troubles the meeting of thofe affemblies might pc- 
 cafion Terrors, under which the anarchiits dii- 
 guife \he\r fears of the judgement of the People. 
 
 You will fee them, convinced that the good- 
 nefs of laws, mu.ft depend upon the fobriety with, 
 which they are deliberated upon, and that the re- 
 fpe for the law depends al.lb upon the refpect it\ 
 which the legiflator himfelf is held, adopt and 
 rigidly maintain the decree which prohibited the 
 galleries from giving any mark of approbation or 
 difapprdbation : and never did the Convention 
 (hew a piofpect more pleafing to reafon and 
 liberty.; never did the anarchifts poffefs lets in- 
 "fluence. You will then fee them allow this de- 
 cree to be violated, and this falutary law to be torn 
 to pieces, by thofe men who deleft tranquillity, 
 
 and
 
 and dignity of deliberation, becaufe they expofe 
 the nakednefs of their entire infignificance, 
 
 In mort, run over all the laws of the Conven- 
 tion, and you will fee the very bed decrees, pafled 
 upon the moft mature diicuffion, repealed in a 
 fingle inftant. 
 
 What then is the fource of all thefe changes ? 
 
 With one jingle Word you might compofe the 
 greateft, part of the hiftory of THREE ajfemblies* 
 
 FEAR fandtified the revifion of the Conjlitution^ 
 and occafioned its being adopted, 
 
 Fear Qi Republicaniim, in the time of the legif- 
 lative afTembly, ranged the independents on the 
 fide of the Feuillants ; and Fear has in a great 
 meafure produced all the variations in the Con- 
 vention. 
 
 Fear does not always fhew itfelf under the fame 
 character. Accordingly the anarchifts have the 
 art to vary the form, in order the more effectually 
 to excite it; and through Fear, to drag man- 
 kind along with them. 
 
 To men independent by fyflem, and diftruftful 
 from jealoufy, they pointed out thofe republicans 
 who were the friends to order, as a party directed 
 by men of deep ambition, who meant to engrofs 
 all benefits to themfelves. Their talents gave 
 colour to the accufation ; their virtues made their 
 crime the more dangerous ; order was reprefented 
 as their mak ; the name of the law as their watch- 
 word. So that the fear of wearing the Jivery of 
 that party drove away this clafs of independents 
 from the caufe of order. 
 
 To the fufpicious men diftruftful of good, and 
 credulous of evil, they negligently dropped certain 
 
 doubts,
 
 ( '6 ) 
 
 doubts (which they -even pretended to repel) in* 
 lin uating corruption among the friends of order* 
 They traced back their former connexions , they 
 obferved upon their connections with miniilers^ 
 and the conformity of their language with that of 
 the Feuillants ; and thus the Fear oftreafon made 
 them ready to take treafon upon trull ; and they 
 refilled order from Fear of appearing to be in con- 
 cert with the corrupt, and the tools of miniflerial 
 power. 
 
 < To men who defired to (lamp upon their deci- 
 iions the characters of principles and of exa6l juf- 
 tice, and who would not condemn without hear- 
 ing, nor without proofs, they faid, " we are in a 
 flate. of revolution*" and if they (till flood up for 
 jufrice, they were given to underfland, that fo 
 much refinance might make themielves fufpecled 
 of being accomplices. Nam, qui dehberant defci- 
 I'erunt, to deliberate is to be guilty of treafon } 
 that is the maxim of the anarchiits. Fear of fuf- 
 picion then made them to contribute to injuftice ; 
 and this is the reafon why nobody has protefted 
 againil fo many decrees'of accufation, the iniquity 
 of which time has demonflrated. Men were afraid 
 of being fufpecled as accomplices, and that is the 
 reafon why men have flood up againfhthe caule of 
 order ; after that the anarchifts had found out the 
 lecret to render order odious, by tranflating it into 
 a term fynonimous to Ariftocracy. 
 
 There is little freedom of opinion where the 
 fear of calumny prevails ; there is frill lefs, when 
 that calumny may lead to a phyjical affajfinatioti) 
 as it certainly does lead to moral alfadination. For 
 there are few men who have flrength of mind 
 enough at once to brave (I will not fay death) but 
 the inceffantly renewed fear of 'death , and the daily 
 
 torture
 
 ( tf ) 
 
 torture of unjuft reproach. It is with this two- 
 edged weapon that the anarchifh have found 
 rneans to bring under the yoke, and to harnefs to 
 their triumphant car the arijlocrats of property, 
 xvho dreaded phyfaal afTaffination, and the pre- 
 tended independents, who dreaded a moral affafli- 
 liation. 
 
 A ^ery curious Jludy is The progrefs of fear, 
 and the addrefs which it employs in its j unifica- 
 tion ; but a moft melancholy ftudy is that of the 
 mifchief it has done. 
 
 At the outfet of the^Convention, almoft all the 
 members, difgufted and mocked at the anarchical 
 maxims, and the infolent boldnefs of men, who 
 made no fecret of their refolution to be our matters, 
 received almoft unanimoufly every proportion 
 which tended to humble and crufh them* At that 
 time, on arriving from his home, every deputy 
 wimed to prove to his conftituents his refpecl for 
 order, and for the equality of the departments. 
 Infenfibly the members begin to go a little about, 
 to hold converfe with the terrors of the Parijian 
 name ; they hear the blood-thirfty motions of the 
 Jacobin Club; they learn with horror the unknown 
 details of the maflacre of the id of September. 
 They (land in dread of the renewal of it. Above 
 all, they Jland in dread of being themfehes the 
 viflims ; they imagine that in making fome facri- 
 fices, they may appeafe the anarchifts ; they are 
 therefore complaifant with regard to their inaccu- 
 racy in accounts, and to the deficit ; complaifant 
 to the ufurpation of authority ; complaifant to rob* 
 bery and murder* 
 
 The fame complaifancv, together with tiiefear 
 
 that dictates it, brings over the executive council, 
 
 D the
 
 the inferior ad mini ft rat ions ^ the tribunals, an 
 very men who haaJJoewn the greatejl horror at the 
 fyftem of the anarcbifts. Every one fays to him- 
 f'elfj "if the Convention is obliged to capitulate with 
 ee a gang of robbers, how can I have the folly to 
 ** think of contending with them ?" 
 
 They do more ; they give the name of pa- 
 triotifm to thele a6ls of -weaknefs dictated by per- 
 fonal fear. They deceive themfelves. They be- 
 lieve that they have nothing but peace for their ob- 
 ject, when their real obje6t is the defire of perfonal 
 fafety ; they contend flrenuoufly againit thofe who 
 combat this weaknefs ; and to juftify themfelves, 
 they begin to iufpecl: the juftuefs of the judgement 
 of thofe who are now their adverfaries ; and they 
 end by calumniating the honefty of their inten- 
 tions. 
 
 Weak men, whofe honefty I will not accufe, 
 behold now, what you have done \ behold the 
 abyfs into which your fatal fyftem of eternal com- 
 promife and conceffion has precipitated us. If we 
 are at- this moment the Haves of the anarchifts, it 
 is you who have prepared, who have rivetted our 
 chains. 
 
 For what has been the fruit of your complai- 
 fance to them r The banditti have had the auda- 
 cioufnefs to raife their head : from being the ac- 
 cufed, they have transformed themfelves into the 
 accufers ; from filent jpedators of our debates, 
 they are become the judges of them. Yefterday 
 at the feet of the Convention to-day they trample 
 its dignity under their feet ; mailers of the Con- 
 vention, through diforaer, they would extend 
 their domination over all France, and eternize it by 
 diforder. It is -the proceeding of ambitious agi- 
 tators. Rerum (fays Tacitus) potiri volunt ; 
 
 honores,
 
 C '9' ) 
 
 honor es, quos quiet a, republic d y defperant^ perlur- 
 bata, cbnfequi Je pojje, arbitrantur* 
 Trace their fteps with me ! 
 Thefe are the men who, making themfelves 
 matters of the roftrum, have baniThed from it 
 all wife and regular difcuiiaons ; who by concerted 
 motions of order, have inceffantly brought on di- 
 order ; and who have oppofed the cenforial inftitu- 
 tions propofed by Bancal and Mellinet; inftitutions 
 which, doubtlefs, would have deft ray ea all the 
 influence of clamour and abufe, and have reftored 
 the influence of men of real information, now con- 
 demned to filence. 
 
 They are the men who, fully ing the roflrum 
 with perpetual denunciations, have reduced men 
 of virtue to the neceffity of putting themfelves on 
 the defenfive ; when fuch only ought to have 
 been ace ufers ; and who, afterwards imputing that 
 vecy defence as a crime, have thruft afide their jufti- 
 fication. under the pretext of avoiding perfonalities ; 
 becaule they had exhaufted calumny, and dreaded 
 the refutation of it. Thus they every day vented 
 frefh calamities, and parled to the order of the day, 
 when the time of j unification arrived. 
 
 They are the men who, perpetual dictators of the 
 committee of tht infpeffors of the hall, have found 
 out the fecret of filling the galleries with creatures of 
 their own, hired to applaud their extravagances, 
 and to hoot their adversaries ; who have tolerated 
 and projected, even within its very walls, the fale 
 of the moft opprobrious publications againft the 
 Convention, under the cloak of the liberty of the 
 
 * Tran/laior.~\ The excellent paiTage applied by M. BrifTot 
 to his adverfaries, may with equal propriety be applied to 
 himfelf. The judicious reader will extend tha application as 
 far and as often as he fees it neceirary. 
 
 D 2 prefs ;
 
 prefs ; that liberty which they have not afterwards 
 blufhed to violate, in order to prevent the circula- 
 tion of republican and anti-anarchical journals 
 through the departments. For has it ever been 
 attempted to reform the abufes which make the 
 circumference of the hall zjlage of gladiators, and 
 its environs the lurking places of ajfajjination ? Has 
 it been attempted to punifli the fo frequent impre- 
 cations, outrages, and infurrections of the galleries ? 
 No ! people pretended not to hear them. This 
 diffimulation affected to be prudence ; quodfegnitia 
 erat, fapientia vocabatur, fays Tacitus. 
 
 They are the men who, having the com" 
 mittee of general f of ety in their hands, and al- 
 ways in their hands, availed themfelves of the 
 error the AfTembly fell into upon the aiTafTma- 
 tion of Pelletier, in order to drive their adver- 
 faries out of that Committee, and to take poflef- 
 fion of it themfelves ; they are the men who, 
 being mafters of the Committee, availed them- 
 felves of its refources to conlpire againft the 
 republicans, friends of order, rather than to fup- 
 prefs the ariftocrats ; who. protecting the incendiary 
 Pere Duchene atjd Marat, have haraffed the wri- 
 ters againft anarchy by their perfections ; who 
 multiplying arrefts againft them, have never, 
 in ipite of the decrees 'to that effect, given any 
 account of luch arrefts to the Aflembly ; who have 
 buried every thing in myftery, even the denuncia- 
 tion of confpiracies againft the Convention. And 
 this committee continues not only unpunifhed, 
 bur Lord and Matter. 
 
 They aie the men who have been the authors of 
 all the jarce* , that were fuccc-J - r ely played at the 
 bar ; whether to intimidate the alfembly, to impede 
 
 them
 
 them in their progrefs, to fow difcord among 
 the members, or to diigrace and diiTolve the Con- 
 vention. 
 
 They are the men who fHrred np the accufation 
 of the imaginary million and a half which calumny 
 diflributed among the members of weight and in- 
 fluence in the Legiflafive Affembly ; who were 
 the authors of the petitions from the workmen 
 employed on the camp at Paris, failing themfelves 
 the Nation, and wanting to put their own indem- 
 nity on a level with that of the deputies ; of thofc 
 infolent petitions againfl the pretended moderatifm 
 of the Aflembiy, as well as of thofe humiliating 
 leflbns which pretended federalifts came fo often to 
 read them. 
 
 They are the men who, after having extorted mil- 
 lions from the Convention to keep down the price of 
 bread at Paris (that is to fay, after having taxed all 
 France for the benefit of Paris alone) in the name 
 of the lections, never ceafed to weary the Conven- 
 tion with petitions to fix the price of all forts of 
 grain ; becaufe they knew that this eftablifhed 
 price would neceflarily bring on a famine, and 
 that famine w r ould neceflarily produce an infurrec- 
 tion againft the Convention, the diilolution of that 
 body, and the restoration of Royalty. It was in the 
 lame fpirit that Maury wanted the fuppreffion of 
 taxes ; and it is not the only fimilarity between 
 the anarchifts and the ariflocrats of the Constituent 
 AfTembly. 
 
 They are the men who, after having folicited 
 thofe addrefTes, thofe incendiary petitions, and thofe 
 infolent deputations, difavowed them, and hypo- 
 critically condemned them, when the Convention, 
 
 irritated
 
 irritated at this conduct, was going to proceed fi- 
 ve rely againft them ; and who carrying their per- 
 fidy ftill farther, imputed them to their adverfa- 
 rics,* &s they have always Imputed to them the 
 comrti'iiionS) the pillages, and the burnings, which 
 they themf elves advlfe or execute, 
 
 They are the men who have inceflantly oppofed 
 the (Secrets for public education, becaufetjieyknew 
 that the education of the people is the moft pow- 
 erful antidote againft revolts, and famine ; and 
 above all, againft the quackery of agitators ; and 
 'education is annihilated. 
 
 They are the men who, for the perpetuation of 
 their own power, finding it neceliary to perpetuate 
 diforders, have divided iociery into two claiTes ; 
 thofe who have 'fomething, and thofe who have, 
 nothing, the Sans Culottes and the Men of property ; 
 who have excited one of thefe claries againft the 
 other ; who, in order to ruin the latter clafs, 
 \vanted to have an army compofed exclufively of 
 perfons, all of the former clafs, and paid compu/fo- 
 rih by the latter, and this army has been decreed. 
 
 They are the men who, in order to erTecl: the dif- 
 fblution of the Convention, have endeavoured todU 
 vide it into two parties : while (fetting afide them- 
 lei yes j the whole Convention has but one fpirjt ; 
 have invented the diftin&ion -of a right hand 
 nd of a left handjide ; and the denomination 
 of appellants and non- appellants ; who have charged 
 the opinions of the former as a crime, and a title 
 for the reproach and hatred of the people ; that 
 opinion fo politic, fo falutary, fo honourable to 
 the people ; and who have never ceafed to raiie 
 
 * Tni>ifiaior.~] The pra6licc of the French revolution's 
 from the beginning againft the ariilocrats, 
 
 I . li
 
 C *3 ) 
 
 up againfl their adverfaries, addrefles, poignards, 
 and fcaffolds. 
 
 They are the men who, not being able to fucceed 
 in duTolving the Convention by this line of demar- 
 cation between the appellants and the non-appel- 
 lants, have endeavoured to trench upon the com^ 
 plete and entire flate of the national rep re fen tat ion, 
 in pointing out TWENTY-TWO of its members 
 whom they feared the moft, and loudly called 
 for their expulfion fometimes, and fometimes for 
 their murder; and theArlembly, after having de- 
 clared the petition againft thefe twenty-two pro- 
 (bribed men to be calumnious, has fufFered, has 
 been forced to furTer, the commonalty, and many 
 fections of Paris, to ordain with (till more fury 
 and infolence the compulfory fignature of that pe- 
 tition ! The Convention has fufFered the vilefb 
 means, and the moft illegal, to be employed to 
 force the citizens to iign. Would fuch outrages 
 be ftill unpunimed if the Convention was free, 
 or if it enjoyed that power with which fuch an af- 
 fembly ought to be furrotmded ? 
 
 But is it poffible to miitake the end, the real 
 end which the anarchifts propofe to themfelves in 
 their cruel earnefhiefs againft the twenty-two pro- 
 fcribed peribns ? 
 
 When Cromwell wiflied to get the command 
 of .the long parliament of England, in order to dif- 
 folve it afterwards, he ordered alfb an expulfion of 
 all true republicans ; who could not endure either 
 a king or an ufurper. Colonel Pride arrefted 
 andimprifoned, by Cromwell's order, fixty of the 
 firmed members ; he drove away one hundred 
 more, and the remainder, devoted to the perfi- 
 dious Cromwell, were, in his hands, nothing but 
 A machine for making decrees, which he broke 
 
 ' prefentiy
 
 prefently after, as foon as the machine thought 
 oT revolting againft the workman who put in in 
 motion. 
 
 We'll ! this is Colonel Pride's purge (as it was 
 called at the time,) which they want to repeat in 
 the Convention ; becaufe the chiefs of the anar- 
 chifts expect from it the fame effects ; and becaufe 
 they fee that the difTolutiori of the Convention 
 would make room for the throne, which is prepa- 
 ing itfelf for an ufurper. 
 
 If this conftant object of domination and of the 
 diflblution of the Convention has been marked 
 out by any events ; if there is any event which 
 proves with the higheft degree of evidence, oil 
 one fide, the wickednefs and the power of the 
 anarchifts ; and on the other fide, the impotence 
 and the abafement of the Convention, it is the 
 forced, the commanded impunity of the confpi- 
 racy of the ioth of March, the impunity of Marat, 
 the impunity of the Commune and of certain fee- 
 tions of Paris ; in a word, the impunity of the 
 chiefs of the Jacobins of Paris. 
 
 Is there, in fact, one man of reflection, who 
 having brought together into one view all the 
 circum dances of that audacious confpiracy of the 
 ioth of March, who after reading and meditating 
 on that eloquent, but too delicate difcourfe of 
 Vergniaud, and that profound publication of Lou* 
 vet, muft not be convinced that the exiflence of 
 that confpiracy is phyfically demonflrated ? With 
 what art did they, two days before, bring on the 
 quefKon of the permanency of the Convention ! 
 It offered 16 fine an opportunity to the afTaflms, to 
 comprehend in a (ingle blow, in a iingle night, 
 in a iingle maffacre, all the heads of all the Re- 
 publicans, 
 
 Thefc
 
 With what art did they drefs out, in the 
 colours of patriotifm, -the Revolutionary Tri- 
 bunal ; that inftrument, created by the confpira- 
 tors, either to deter the fimple citizens who might 
 otherwife attempt to oppofe themfelves to their 
 f jry, or perhaps to deftroy by the fvvord of the law 
 thole republican deputies, who might efcape the 
 dagger of the aflafims ! Ferocious men ! they 
 would furpafs Cromwell himfelf in cruelty ; for 
 Cromwell imprilbned the members of parliament 
 who difpleafed him, but he did not affaffinate them 
 by means of the law. With what addrefs did they 
 take care utterly to remove from their odious infti- 
 tution all thole falutary forms, which are the 
 protection of innocence! They would riot admit 
 juries. They feared that they might perfuade them- 
 ielves to entertain a good conicience; and as to the 
 anarchifts, confcience is with them but a counter- 
 revolutionary word. The alTembly, however, 
 refufed to violate its principle. They obtained 
 their end in another manner ; they inlifted that 
 the jurors * mould give their refpe&ive voices 
 aloud in court ! -Aloud in court ! When it was 
 known that this tribunal too, would have its gal" 
 leries under the direction of the confpirat.rs I 
 Aloud in court ! When it was known that 
 this mode alone would have enabled the Convention 
 to have chofen the vilejt wretches for members of 
 the jury /Is it not faying to the jurymen, " either. 
 " you mall perilli yourfelf, or you mall make 
 " them perifh whom we (hall mark out to you f " 
 Caudet was not afraid to aflert this im the roftrum 
 
 If, indeed, they can be called jurors, whom the party ac- 
 cufed can neither choofe nor rejecl, and who are perpetual 
 in that office- it is, in truth, a commiflion f judges. - 
 
 E amidft
 
 amidft the bellow ings of thofe monfters. The a 
 iembly thought asGaudet thought; it condemned 
 the principle. So irrefiftible was the influence of 
 the confpirators, that they made them decree over 
 again, in contradiction to all principle, that the 
 jurors fttould be chofen by them, the Convention ! 
 without "doubt that the hatred which this tribu- 
 nal mould heap upon its own head, might ulti- 
 mately return back upon the Convention.* 
 
 The f cm tiny at once deceived their hopes. 
 Good men prevailed they were to compofe this 
 dreadful tribunal. Anarchy, in its turn, trembled 
 for the heads of its chiefs ; anarchy was on the 
 point of pallying this Revolutionary Tribunal; 
 but the neceility of giving the fuffrage aloud in 
 court ; but the terror Ipread abroad by the people 
 about the aflkflins, drove away the friends of juf- 
 tice and order, who had been juft nominated, and 
 they left their places to fuch men. Would you 
 appreciate their value ? Read the minutes of their 
 proceedings; their interrogatories; their judge- 
 ments. They make one's hair perfectly ftand on 
 end ! Tes, if it is a tribunal fit to make one regrej 
 the Baft iles oj~Defpotifm, if it is an inilitution proper 
 for ripening and rapidly bringing back a counter- 
 revolution in favour of loyalty, it is alfo a tribunal 
 as arbitrary in its forms, as ablurd, as partial in its 
 proofs, as iniquitous in Jbme of its judgements. 
 
 It was by a iimilar tribunal that the Counter- 
 revolution was battened in England at the end of 
 the lafl century. For the anarchifts of that time, 
 fearing alike the juries and the ordinary forms, 
 
 * Tranjlator .J The reader ought to take notice, that the 
 French inftitution of juries refemblcs our's only in name, and 
 it is formed upon different principles, and in feme particulars 
 the very reverfe of our's. 
 
 decreed
 
 decreed an high court of juftice, which difpatched 
 the viftims handed over to it, in a moft military 
 manner ; which fpread abroad a general confter- 
 nation and indignation every where* Such was the 
 tribunal which was in ibme meafure of iome 
 fervice to Cromwell and afterwards to Charles 
 the Second ! Such was the tribunal fo much exe- 
 crated, as to make the people receive the expuliion 
 of the long parliament with delight. 
 
 What enlightened Member of the Convention 
 has not clearly ieen the fatal confequences of this 
 institution ? What member has not feen that it 
 was the work of vengeance and of ambition, efpe- 
 cially at the time when Robefpierre and Lindet 
 perfidiouily fuelled the lift of crimes that were 
 to be fubjedt to its judgement ; doubtlefs in order 
 that none of the bold writers who had combated 
 their party mould efcape their fury ! What member 
 did not revolt at the thirft of (laughter which ran 
 through their cruelties planned in cold blood ! 
 Fury in the convuliions of the face, criminality 
 in the eyes, arrogance in the tone of voice ; is 
 not this the pidlure of Robefpierre ? The indig- 
 nation was univerfal ; but the confpirators were 
 abfolutely mafters, and iilence became a matter 
 of neceflity. 
 
 Did not their defpotifm difplay itfelf with ftill 
 more audacity in the nomination of commiflioners, 
 whom they fent into many departments among 
 themfelves with an impudence beyond all belief ? 
 Did they not violate all the ufual forms in the no- 
 minations ? Did they not publicly exclude all 
 appellants as fo many traitors ? and if they art- 
 fully flipped into their fcandalous lift the names 
 of refpe&able men, who had no participation 
 2 in
 
 in their opinion, nor in their crimes, was it not 
 done for the lake of impofing on the refpeclable 
 part of the departments, and to give fome autho- 
 rity and weight to their arbitrary and tyrannic de- 
 cifions? Decifions in which thole refpeclable men 
 could have no influence, fince they were always 
 in the minority in every commiffion. 
 
 Ah ! what was the object of thele commiffions ? 
 The neceffity of impofing upon the departments 
 in regard to the views of the confpiracy ; of irri- 
 tating them againft the deputies, the friends ot 
 order, to juftify the affaffi nation of thofe depu- 
 ties. It was the fame object, which had dic- 
 tated the decree, by which the deputies were 
 prohibited from writing journals. They hoped to 
 exterminate or render thofe inactive who remained 
 under their power ; they hoped to frighten all the 
 journal writers out of the Convention. A narrow 
 computation of little confpiratois ! They knew 
 not that a revolution, at all times and in all places, 
 brings out men of courage, who fear not to brave 
 death, in order to reveal the truth to the people. 
 
 Since every thing concurs to prove to an im- 
 partial man, that the confpiracy of the loth of 
 March had been contrived by the anarchifts ; that 
 it had no other object, than to iecure the govern- 
 ment in their own hands by the maflacre of the 
 Republican deputies; that the Revolutionary 
 Tribunal was only instituted with a view to 
 flrengthen their power by terror ; that the fend- 
 ing, that the choice of the commiilioners had 
 ub other object, rhan to get the departments 
 to approve of their domination : how can we 
 explain the filence of the Convention upon 
 a crime, whofe object was ib atrocious, the 
 
 proof
 
 (;*$> ) 
 
 proof of which was in the hands of the Con- 
 vention, and the authors of which publicly 
 avowed themfelves ? How can we avoid conclu- 
 ding, that thisfilence was commanded by the men 
 who ruled the allembly, and who weie themfelves 
 dipped in the confpiracy ; by thofe who, after 
 having propofed it to the Jacobins, came then, 
 coldly to watch over the execution of it, in 
 the bofom of the Convention ; by thofe who 
 complained bitterly that their victims did not give 
 themfelves up .complaifantly at the place of facri- 
 fice ; by thole, who after having fhared the de- 
 partments among themfelves, wanted, alfo tb fhare 
 the administration ? That administration which 
 they would have ufurped, had it not been for the 
 courageous difcourie of Lareveiliere Lepaux ; had 
 it not been for the Steady refinance of Bancal I 
 That adminiftration which the chiefs of the con- 
 ipirators then affected to defpife, becaufe even 
 their own people had feen through their fecret; 
 that administration, which they have fince found 
 the means to appropriate to themfelves under 
 another form ! jor ambitious men twijl and turn, 
 but never abandon their objefl. In a word, what 
 conclufion can be drawn from all thefe facts, but 
 that the Convention is under the yoke of thele 
 very confpirators? 
 
 Has not the laft triumph of Marat brought this 
 truth to full proof? What ! that man whole foul 
 is all kneaded up of blood and dirt ; that man, the 
 difgrace of the revolution, and of humanity, who 
 polluting the Convention ' by his prefence, and 
 degrading it every day by his exceffes, has done 
 more hurt to the eftablifhment of the republic than 
 all the foreign armies ; that man, whole unpu- 
 hilhed crimes, with the maflacres of the 2d of 
 
 September,
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 September, have put back the univerfal revolution 
 of mankind for whole, ages ; that man, who was 
 convicted of having preached up royalty, the 
 dictatorship, the abafement of the Convention, the 
 maflacre of the deputies, and the counter-revolu- 
 tion ; that man has remained fix months unpunifh-r 
 ed, in fpite of the remonstrances of all the depart T 
 rnents', and for fix months has been daily infulting 
 the Convention. 
 
 At laft this man, after a fitting of twenty-two 
 hours, is decreed to be in a ftate of accufation, in 
 fpite of the horrible imprecations of the banditti 
 clifperied through the galleries, in fpite of ninety- 
 two deputies, who did not blufh to undertake his 
 defence, and to exhauft all their fbatagems to fave 
 him ; he refills the law ; from his hiding-place 
 Jie braves the affembly, and they leave him uiir 
 punifhed \ He fixes the day for his trial, prefents 
 himf elf there with audacity, farroxnded by bis own 
 people, plays the part of an accufer rather than 
 that of a perfon accufed rather that of a judge 
 than that of an accufer ; that of the jupreme head 
 of the Convention, and of the nation, than of a 
 judge I Even there be tramples the decrees under 
 his feet, drags the Convention through the tnire 9 
 and boajh of his crimes. 
 
 And the tribunal, after a moft blameable farce, 
 where they amufe themfelves with my trial, inftead 
 of Marat's, after a ridiculous interrogatory, after a 
 panegyric upon Marat, pronounced by the public, 
 accufer ; in a word, after having fported with all 
 forms, and even with the decree itlelf, this tribu- 
 nal, in a judgement announced beforehand, acquit 
 Marat ; though before and after, they condemn 
 eooks and coachmen to death, for holding 
 
 ariilocratical
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 ariftocratical and monarchical language: certainly 
 rery much to be condemned, which, without 
 doubt, deferved punimment, but' which the law 
 never intended to punifh with death. 
 
 And this man is carried in triumph into the 
 midfl of the Convention itfelf, which he came 
 ftill farther to outrage ! He appears there as a 
 conqueror ! and Danton called this day of mourn- 
 ing for virtue and liberty, a beautiful day ! Ofleliu 
 demanded the infertion of that fcandalous judge- 
 ment in the bulletin of the day ! and the anembly 
 (if we muft always decorate with that name an 
 hundred members, who, for the moft part, were 
 compoied of the protetors of Marat, or of thofe 
 protected by him, and that affembly) flood dumb, 
 difmayed, Ihutting their eyes upon the prevarica- 
 tion, the violation of the law, and the outrages 
 done to the national reprefentation. 
 
 1 now put it to every man of candour, where is 
 the fupreme authority at this moment lodged ? Is 
 it in the Convention, or in the Revolutionary Tri- 
 bunal ? Js it in that tribunal, or in Marat ? Is it 
 in Marat, or in the factious band which protects 
 him ? 
 
 Oh fhame! oh grief! Marat above the Con- 
 vention ! What enemy of France has not been 
 intoxicated with this fcandalous triumph ? What 
 republican has not been wounded to the foul, and 
 has not defpaired of liberty ? What man has not 
 laid to himfelf, no, the Convention is not free ; 
 were it free, it would not have lufFered itfelf to 
 have been dimonoured by fuch enormous crimes ; 
 were it free, it would have fufpended the court, 
 and brought the members of it to trial for having 
 outraged juftice, and the reprefentation oftheiovc- 
 reignty ? 
 
 Is
 
 ./ Is it not farther the fad conclufion that mnft be 
 drawn, when we bring to mind all the ufurpations 
 of power, and all the violations of law, of which 
 the municipality and the fections of Paris have 
 been constantly rendering themfelves guilty fince 
 the roth of Auguft, and which have always re- 
 mained unpunifhed ? For which of the laws is it 
 that they carried into execution ? 
 
 When the late municipality is feen in the face 
 of the legiflative affembly to arrogate the fupreme 
 power to itielf, to cafhier the department, to give 
 a name to the new one, then to take away all 
 power of action from it ; to refufe all correfpon- 
 dence with the minifter of the interior, to open a 
 correfpondence with all the municipalities, to fend 
 about commiiiioners every where, in order to 
 gather the whole nation round about its car ; to 
 difobey the decree which ordained the giving in 
 the public accounts, to difobey the decree which 
 ordered the election of a new municipality, and 
 even to force the afiembly to re-commit their 
 decree : 
 
 When one fees the lections, participating in this 
 delirium, give their committees a right to arreft 
 the citizens, multiply thefe arrefts to a frightful 
 degree, make laws upon the mode of nomination, 
 and perievere in ipite of the decrees in the mode 
 of election, by a poll inftead of a ballot: 
 
 W 7 heu one fees ihe new municipality follow 
 the errors of the old one, in contempt ot the 
 fovereignty of the people, arrogate to itfelf the right 
 of expelling the members who difpleafed them; 
 force by a ihoufand vexations the mayor, whole 
 principles xvere a reitruint upon them, to give in 
 his reiignation, and defer the organization of the 
 public force, in ipite of ten decrees, becaufe that 
 
 force
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 force might in the end protect the execution of the 
 law : 
 
 When one fees that municipality command the 
 national reprefentation, to facrifice enormous and 
 perpetual fums of money, fometimes to re-imburfe 
 letters of credit, fometimes for the fupplies of 
 corn and bread, and fometimes for the expence of 
 the police : 
 
 When one fees a fingle committee, in fpite of 
 the commune, the feclions, the Convention, re- 
 fufe to account for enormous fums dilapidated, and 
 the members of the committee not only remaining 
 unpunifoed^ but even Jit ting in the bojom of the Co?i- 
 vention, but daring even to accufe the moft virtuous 
 men : 
 
 When one fees this municipality, in fpite of 
 decrees, fliut the barriers and the play-houfes at 
 their pleafure, forbid fuch or fuch pieces, fuch or 
 fuch journals, order to their bar the deputies, ge- 
 nerals, and minifters, enjoin them to difrnifs cer- 
 tain fubaltern function a ries, and fend inquifito- 
 rial commiffioners to their houfes to watch over 
 the execution of their decrees : 
 
 When one fees this municipality make laws 
 upon the recruiting fervice, upon the certificates 
 of civifm, changing at every moment the form of 
 them, eftablifh them, annul them again, then 
 allow them only to fuch as had figned the petition 
 againfl the twenty-two profcribed deputies, or 
 only to fuch as had the approbation of the popular 
 ibcieties, and thus by their own authority conjlitute 
 thefe focieties in a corporate capacity : 
 
 When one fees this municipality at length info- 
 
 lently demand of the Convention, whether it is in 
 
 a ftate to prefer ve the public weal, openly avow 
 
 F the
 
 . ( 34 ) 
 
 the deiign of re-placing the Convention, declare 
 itfelf in a ftate of infurreclion againft the Con- 
 vention, encourage the moft atrocious calumnies 
 again ft its members, in its own bofom form a 
 central committee for all the municipalities, and 
 call to its affiftance troops from different depart- 
 ments : 
 
 In feeing this chain of criminal a6h, and the 
 impunity of them, fo much audacity on one fide, 
 and fo much weaknefs on the other, it is impoffible 
 that the citizens of the departments, and that all 
 foreigners, ihould not conclude either that the na- 
 tional representation lies in the commune of Paris, 
 W that that commune is fuperior to it, fmce die 
 Convention is neither at liberty to make a decree 
 againft the committee, nor has power to enforce 
 the execution of its own decrees. 
 
 What do I fay ? No 1 it is not in the com- 
 monalty of Paris that the exercife of the national 
 fovereignty refides. It refides in a club,, or rather 
 in a Jcore of thofe robbers who direB that club ; 
 who oblige all the authorities that are conftituted 
 by the nations, to bend under them. 
 
 It is there, it is in that club where the anarchifts 
 of the Convention domineer. It is there that the 
 decrees are fabricated which are to come upon 
 them with the force of a command. It is there, that 
 under the title of petitions or addreifes, orders are 
 fabricated which are intimated to them. It is in 
 that warehoufe of calumny, that they every day 
 diforganize every thing, the miniftry, the admi- 
 niftrations, and the army. It is from thence that 
 the deputies, the minifters, and the generals, are 
 called upon to make their appearance before them, 
 and humbly bend the knee. It is there that they 
 ive in their accounts, that they make their 
 
 anfwers
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 anfwers to the denunciations againft them. It is 
 there they pay obedience to the decrees of the 
 club, who expel or condemn their fubalterns. 
 It is there that, occupied in accufing the Girondins 
 of governing every thing, and of ufurping every- 
 thing, the leaders of the club, drawing to them- 
 felves all authority, govern all, carry off all money, 
 bargains, places, commiffions, nominations to 
 tribunals, &c. &c. 
 
 It is from thence, that the orders go to 
 the revolutionary tribunal, to adjourn, to 
 condemn, or acquit. Jt is there that the ac- 
 cufer of this tribunal complains that blood is not 
 filed in fufficient abundance. It is there that the 
 jurymen of this tribunal promife very foon to 
 bring to the fcaffoid the heads of thofe deputies 
 who are enemies to the Jacobins. It is there that 
 they make it a fport to trample the decrees under 
 foot j to outrage the Convention, whofe appellant 
 deputies they make it a point of conference to en- 
 courage themfelves in poignarding. It is there, 
 that to engage the mob to madacres, they corrupt 
 the morality of the people ; they preach up the 
 neceffity of levelling all fortunes and all perfons, 
 and to carry every where the icy the of equality. 
 It is from thence that originate the numberlefs 
 writings which tend to fow the fame principles, 
 the fame hatred, the fame feditions in the de- 
 partments. It is from thence that the emiiTaries, 
 who go about preaching the war of the Sans 
 Culottes againft the people of property, &c. 6cc. 
 are commirTioned ax\&paid. 
 
 Every day, every night, are witnefles of thefe 
 
 atrocious enterprises. Every night the fpirit of 
 
 the people is irritated, and exafperated againft the 
 
 Convention. Every night men go to bed with 
 
 F ? rage
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 rage in their hearts, fwearing to exterminate the 
 enemies of the Jacobins. Upon their return to 
 their homes, in their family, in their warehoufe, 
 in their feclions, the fimple and credulous arti- 
 fan communicates to every thing around him 
 the contagion with which he is himfelf infected. 
 It is thus that the public fpirit is fucceflively 
 poifoned, and that the feditious heat themfelves 
 upon daily calumnies. 
 
 Yet I alk any man who has ftudied the bafis of 
 republics, can it exift at the fide of fo active a 
 focus of confpirators, who communicate with 
 thofe of the municipality of fedions, and other 
 clubs of the empire ? Can there exift a Conven- 
 tion free and independent, a government and 
 juftice ? 
 
 Gaudet has faid, " if two hundred counter-revo- 
 " lutionifts were to preach the fame maxims in a 
 " club, at the fide of the Convention, they would 
 *' all foon periih upon the fcaffold." What have 
 names to do here ? The crime is the fame, and 
 that of the Jacobins of Paris remains unpunifhed. 
 
 For in a word, who among them preaching up 
 murder or pillage, or carrying them into execution, 
 has been denounced, and handed over to the Tribu- 
 nal ? Who among them, openly confpiring againft 
 the Convention, has been brought to the icaffold? 
 What do I fay ? Which among them has any one 
 dared to arreft ? No ! Inviolability is no longer a 
 privilege of the national reprefentation. It is the 
 qualification of that band of robbers who violate 
 this principle every day. Their image refembles 
 the head of Medufa ; it petrifies every thing. One 
 trembles at the idea of purfuing a robber, who 
 Decorates himfelf with the name of Jacobin. It is 
 
 almoil
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 almoft an aft of courage to be prefent at the de- 
 nunciations againft them, but they foon fall into 
 the duft of the committees. 
 
 Yes, I declare, from the deep conviction of my 
 foul, that as long as there exifts no power able to 
 reprefs the crimes of the leaders of the Jacobins, 
 there can exift no Convention, no Government. 
 All the powers are neceflarily with the Club. 
 There is the legiflative body ; or rather there is the 
 body above the law above all the conftituted au- 
 thorities. There is the abfolute power of France. 
 
 I have-fhewn that the club of the anarchifts was 
 the fovereign of the Convention. Since the loth 
 of Auguft it is fo of the minifters. Follow me 
 upon this new fcene. 
 
 I fpeak not to you of Danton. Danton was the 
 creature of thofe factious men ; He could not but 
 facrifice every thing to them. 
 
 But I will fpeak to you of Roland not that 
 Roland was fubdued by the anarchifts ; he made 
 head againft them, even at the moment when 
 with fovereign power they difpofed of poignards ; 
 but his difmiffion, but the filence of the Con- 
 vention, who ought to have paid a folemn homage 
 to his courage, to his immenfe labours, and to 
 his irreproachable probity ; but the abandonment 
 of all nature, which ought to have been fo fenfible 
 towards that virtuous man ; but the perfecutions, 
 and humiliations, with which they ftill drench 
 him y but thofe infulting feals put with fuch bru- 
 tality on his goods, by a ftupid deputy ; but that 
 perfidious citation before that bloody tribunal, 
 before which, many of the jurymen boafted foon to 
 bring down his head; but that impunity of the 
 
 301281
 
 . ( 38 ) 
 
 falfe witnefTes who denounced him, and calumnia- 
 tors who accufed him -, but the impofiibility that 
 he lies under (after four months, and after ten let- 
 ters,) of obtaining any report upon his accounts, in 
 which to the laft penny every thing is rigoroufly 
 justified j but the impoffibility of obtaining even the 
 right fo natural of going to breathe the country 
 air ; but in a word, that fecret ihivering which 
 made almoft every individual dread the fufpicion 
 of being his friend, or even fimply his relation.* 
 Do not all thefe facts bear witnefs to the exceffive 
 power of his enemies, and the defpotic empire 
 that they exerciied over the Convention ! Over 
 the Convention, forced to facrifice virtue itfelf, 
 and every day to hear the repetition of invectives 
 againft that venerable old man !....- 
 
 His enemies never ceafe to tell us, that the de- 
 partments are Rolandized ; that they are infected 
 with the moderantifm which he preached ; that 
 the opinion of the public muft be changed muft 
 be directed. 
 
 * Trail/later.] This man made his efcape. His wife was 
 murdered by the revolutionary tribunal. Soon after he laid 
 violent hands upon himfelf. Thus perifhed one of the prin- 
 cipal ators in the revolutionary rebellion. 
 
 f TranJlatorJ} The fentence following in the original is 
 fo obfcure, that I have not attempted to tranflate it. The 
 author himfelf, by breaking it {hort, chofe, perhaps, rather 
 to hint his meaning than to bring it out fully. He certainly 
 did not mean to fay, that the Convention really did believe 
 the charges againft his friend Roland. The paflage runs 
 thus: " La Convention qu'on pourroit accufer de croire inieri- 
 *' eurement a un de ces griefs qu'on a tant rebattu contre Roland^ 
 " SL rie f 1 ti * n'eji pas dijjlpe^ quilfaut detruire en/in." There 
 is little loft by its omiflion.
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 Direct the opinion of the public ! Senfeles 
 people ! You .know not then what the public opi- 
 nion is, how it is formed ! You know not then 
 that it is the refult of the public confcience, that 
 no power, an enemy to morality and to juftice, 
 can for any length of time give it its direction. 
 That it governs itfelf but by the eternal notions of 
 juft and unjuft ; but by the comparifon of facts, 
 of opinions, of difcuflions, of facts that the cabi- 
 net is filent upon ; that it governs itfelf upon the 
 fentiment of enlightened men. You know 
 then, that if public opinion can be for a moment 
 abufed, and go aftray, its error endures not long; 
 becaufe the error is foon refifted 3 becaufe public 
 opinion in a free government knows no paflion, 
 that is able for any length of time to keep up an 
 error. 
 
 Public opinion admired the Jacobins of Paris in 
 1792, becaufe (lie faw in them only the enemies of 
 defpotifm, of ariftocracy, and of feuillantifm. The 
 opinion of the public abandoned them, from about 
 the end of 1792 and in 1793 ; becaufe flie faw in 
 them nothing but the blind inftruments of fadlion, 
 which aimed to govern France, to level pro- 
 perty, and of courfe to overturn the republican 
 form of government. It is thus we explain the 
 inexplicable dearth of the Jacobin journals from 
 that date, and the abandonment of their caufe by all 
 patriot journaltfts, who had fo vigoroufly defended 
 them till then.* 
 
 A minifter direct public opinion ! But have they 
 fquandered more money than Montmorin and 
 DeJefTart, to royalize and feuillantize Fiance ? 
 
 * Tranflator.] They have, however, triumphed. 
 
 What 
 6
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 What millions have been lavifhed, and upon 
 writers who were not without addrefs ! 
 
 Well ! has the public opinion been perverted ? 
 No ! Feuillantifm has had its faction j but the 
 public opinion has continued found : and the uni- 
 verfal congratulations upon the victory of the loth 
 of Auguft have proved it. And Roland would 
 have done more in three months than other minif- 
 ters would have done in three years. Roland 
 would with thirty thoufand livres have done what 
 Montmorin and Deleflart would not have done with 
 millions. If thefe principles had obtained fo 
 many partifans, if they had obtained the fuffrage of 
 almoft all France, they would have been indebted for 
 it to Truth alone, and not to money, and not to 
 fuppofed hired journals. For he preached up hatred 
 to thofe who had committed the maflacres, and 
 all France execrated thofe who had been guilty 
 of them. He preached up refpecl to the law, and 
 all France knows that without that refpecl: no 
 Republic can exift. Roland preached truth with 
 energy and conftancy. That was his fecret, that 
 was his fyftem of corruption, which he employed 
 with the journalifts, not one of whom was hired 
 by him. For the Patriot Journalifts had too much 
 pride to receive money, and Roland had too much 
 virtue to pay any. * 
 
 Roland is no more!* The journals have not 
 changed their principles. Who then continues 
 their pay ? All the treafures are at the difpofal of 
 the men they attack. 
 
 Certainly one might find among the anarchifts, 
 Ibme, who, whether they touch foreign funds, 
 whether they enriched themfelves by pillage, or 
 
 * Tranjlator."] Roland, he meant to fay, had abfconded ; 
 for he had not then, nor till long after, killed himfelf. . 
 
 by
 
 ( 4' ) 
 
 by other culpable means, have fqtiandered money 
 to make profelytes to anarchy, and to pervert the 
 public opinion *. Have they fucceecled? No! In 
 ipite of all the efforts of that hundred com*- 
 
 * On a view of the immenfe Turns expended by the anarchifls, 
 it is often afked, where is the fource of their wealth ? Our 
 aftonifhment ought to ceafe, in my opinion, when we recoi- 
 led the dilapidations of the comite de furveillance, the lucrative 
 bargains which were made by Pache, the mayor of Paris, in 
 favour of his friends ; the deficit of his accounts ; the millions 
 given to the municipality of Paris, no application of which 
 appears ; and the fecret funds granted to the executive council. 
 What ! will any one venture to cffirm^ that the inconceivable 
 robbery of the crown jewels has not its Jhare in feeding this perennial 
 fpring of corruption ? I obferve, that Thurict had drawn into his 
 hands the management of that bufmefs ; that he purfued it 
 with a fmgular carneftnefs ; that he afterwards configned it to 
 oblivion ; that Fab re d'Eglantine revived it three months after, 
 and without any apparent motive; that he revived it at a time 
 when the fa<5ts were forgotten ; when Roland appeared to be 
 abandoned ; when thofe whom he protected were ruined by 
 Supporting him ; when the fadion prefled Rejiout to make a 
 depofition againft him, at a time when they prefled Beauvctr, 
 Kolly and his wife, who were their prifoners, to make a depofition 
 againft this fame Roland; when they employed carefles, promifes, 
 menaces, to obtain this depofition, which, joined to that of the 
 falfe witnefs Gauthier^ might have put Roland's head in danger! 
 I obferve, that this infmuation of Fabre was made the day be- 
 fore the fetting fire to the Hall of Jujlice. A fire which their 
 emiflaries raifed a cry upon againil the Rolandins, as having 
 been the caufe of it, in order to make away with the teftimonies 
 that were on record in the inquiry into the robbery ! 
 
 It is the conftant manoeuvre of- the anarchifts to accufe their 
 adverfaries of having laid fchemes for fedition, mz fiacre, and 
 robbery : Return them their loan, and you never will be guilty 
 of calumny againft them. 
 
 Tranjlator.] With all the author's earneftnefs to clear his 
 friend Roland of this foul robbery and breach cf truft, his friend 
 is by no means acquitted in public opinion. Nor does his own 
 character efcape from cenfure : as far as can be judged from 
 pamphlets, (which are however certainly not to be admitted 
 as proofs,) the public voice feems to fuppofe, that Brifibt (hared 
 the guilt of Roland in this foul tranfaftion. 
 
 G miflioners
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 mlfTioners from the Mountain difperfed through 
 the departments, in fpite of the circulated notes 
 public end private, in fpite of the journals and 
 placards, the public opinion remained attached 
 to order, becaufe public opinion is incorruptible ; 
 becaufe (he confulers not the Mountain, and that 
 fne neither does nor can fee any thing but the 
 truth under a free government. 
 
 I return to the m'millers, who, fince i muft be 
 plain, have been, and tire rather the minifters of 
 the Jacobins of Paris than thofe of the nation, and 
 I put Garat at the head of thefe enilaved minifters. 
 Garat, vvhoic pacific character, and vvhofe opi- 
 nions, laid down in his journal (during the con- 
 ftituent aflembly) made the friends of order hope, 
 that under his adminiftration, the law would at 
 lad be refpecled. What has he done? Scarce 
 was he inftalled, when he openly fhewed his 
 complaifance for the anarchifts in a perplexed me- 
 moir upon the maflacres of the ad of September ; 
 a memoir in which he faliely paints thofe maf- 
 facres as the confequence of the revolution of the 
 icth of Auguftj* in which he abfolves, he even 
 honours the criminal authors. 
 
 A decree expels the Bourbons j and Garat, when 
 the law itielf forbad him to give an opinion, 
 pays his court to the factious partifans of Orleans, 
 by a turn of phrafe which difcovered his oppofi- 
 tion to that decree. 
 
 * Travfator.] No impartial man can with Monf. Briflot 
 deny, that all the fubfe-quent maflacres were the confequence 
 of the hfil mafTacre of the icth nf Auguft, which was planned 
 and execu e i by Brifibt and his friends j nor will any man, but 
 the authors of fuch ac~ts, affect to make diftintion3 between the 
 crime perpetrated at different times. 
 
 The
 
 ( 4.T ) 
 
 The law ordered him to profecute the incen- 
 diary writers, and he was filent. 
 
 The law orders him to profectite thofe who 
 had perpetrated the mafTacres of the 2d of Sep- 
 tember, and a culpable fainthcartednefs charac- 
 terifes that profecution. Yet he was not ignorant, 
 he, a member of the council, was not ignorant, 
 that if there was any thing that could reconcile fo- 
 reign nations to us, it was the rigorous profecu- 
 tion of thofe marTacres. I know he will cite to 
 me certain letters written to die public accufer, 
 and fome <lepontions that were collected. But it 
 is by no means, by fnch apifh tricks, that a debt 
 facred to humanity and the revolution is to be 
 acquitted. 
 
 I know, too, that he will quote to me his fear of 
 expofing virtuous men, even Petion, in that pro- 
 ceis. Falfe and perfidious managements ! Petion 
 could not be expofed but by that wicked nefs, 
 which would make the inactivity it had con- 
 demned him to, a crime in him. Petion would 
 have get out of that abfurd accufation in tri- 
 umph. Petion and his friends proudly rejected 
 all managements on that head. Let us fpeak 
 out Carat's real object: was to wreft from 
 that profecution, other men who flood charged 
 in the proceedings, Robefpierre, Dan ton, :;nd 
 Marat. Accordingly we muft attribute the fuf- 
 penfion of that procedure to their influence. 
 
 What did Garat do befides to find out the au- 
 thors of the pillage on the 26th of February, and 
 to bring them to puniihment ? Where are the 
 profecutions which he has ordered ? Has he even 
 ever given in his account of them, although many 
 decrees have ordered him to do fo ? 
 
 G 2 The
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 The confpiracy of the xoth of March breaks 
 out. .What did he do to prevent it ? He, who 
 if he could not precifely fix the place for the fit- 
 ting of the committee of infurreclion, knew at 
 leaft by a multitude of reports and proofs, that a 
 formidable confpiracy was on foot againft the 
 lives of many deputies, againft the liberty and 
 fafety of the whole Convention! and when that 
 confpiracy had been difcovered, what miferable 
 fophifms did 'he not employ to perfuade the Con- 
 vention, and alt France, that it was nothing but 
 a chimera ; that the committee of infurreclion 
 was a fable; when at the fame time the journals of 
 the Jacobins announced to all the world, that the 
 plot was'a&ually on foot in the very heart of their 
 fociety : at the very time that even the guilty 
 avowed themfelves. No! never was a confpiracy 
 more evidently proved ; never had any confpiracy 
 a more frightful object: in view; and yet the 
 minifber of juftice treated it with an indifference 
 *vhich became the real guilt of an accomplice.* 
 
 Garat endeavoured to palliate his inertnefs by 
 his pacific intentions, by his defign of bringing 
 the parties together, and by that means preferving 
 the public weal. 
 
 I am willing to believe, that he was guided only 
 by that motive. I am willing even to pardon Garat 
 the outrage he did to good men, whofe irreproach- 
 able character he is obliged to efteern, in putting 
 them upon the footing of weak men whom he 
 defpifes, and of profligates whom he detefts. But 
 when he law the impoffibility of being able to 
 eftablifh a durable peace between virtue and 
 
 * Tran/Jator.] This is the confpiracy which afterwards pro- 
 duced the revolution or" the 31 ft of laft May. 
 
 4 crime;
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 crime ; when he favv that the anarchifts perpetu- 
 ally fported with their promifes, and their fchemes 
 of reconciliation, which were never followed by any 
 thing but abortive confpiracies ; when he faw that 
 the true republicans labour only for two points, 
 provifionary order, .and conftitution ; when he 
 faw that the anarchifts would admit neither order 
 nor conftitution, and though the fafety of the re- 
 public depended on both : Could he have balanced 
 between the two parties ? Ought he not then 
 to have exerted his admin iftration in all its 
 rigour ? And if he had not the courage to do 
 this ; if the fwords which they fometimes threat- 
 ened him with, terrified his fluctuating imagina- 
 tion, ought he not to have renounced his place, 
 and have abandoned it to fome citizen who might 
 have had firmnefs enough to make head againft 
 the factious ? 
 
 Inflead of following that line which the public 
 good prefcribed to him, Garat quitted the adrrri- 
 niftration of juftice ; but it was to exchange it for 
 another place, the load of which was heavier. 
 And what has he done in this new miniftry, 
 which they had already found too vaft for Roland, 
 -and which neverthelefs Garat alone had the 
 direction of for fix weeks, with the adminiftra- 
 tion of juftice 5 which, from its extent, they 
 found too well adapted to favour the defpotifm of 
 a fmgle man, and which neverthelefs they no 
 longer chofe to divide, when Roland was not the 
 pofieflbr of it ? This thoroughly proves, that 
 party principles lean more to perfons than things. 
 What, I fay, did Garat do ? Always devoted to 
 the will of the anarchifts, he fhut his eyes upon 
 the crimes of the adminiftrative body, which they 
 influenced. For has he annulled any of the feditious 
 
 deliberations
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 deliberations .of the commune of Paris, and of 
 its turbulent fecYions ? No, he bent the knee 
 before them, to obtain a certificate of civifm. Did 
 he denounce that department which runsj the 
 alarm beli upon the queftion of fubTulence r Did 
 he denounce that formation of the army which the 
 anarchifts had commanded in the department of 
 Bouches du Rhone, and which at prelent may 
 ierve to fupprefs their projects ? Did he pro- 
 jecute the dilapidators of the month of September, 
 who never intended to give in their accounts ; all 
 the proofs ef which were fent him by the com- 
 mune of Paris on the i8th of February ? Did he 
 annul, or denounce that judgment of the depart- 
 ment of the Indre and the Loire, which violated 
 the liberty of the prefs, in permitting them to 
 flop the circulation of this or that journal ? &c. 
 Garat carried into the interior adminiftration the 
 fame weaknefs, the fame inertnefs, the fame art of 
 the-fophift to juftify excefs, and to difpenfe with 
 the punifhment of criminals. To what then 
 muft this conduct be attributed ? To a want of 
 Ipirit; that is to fay, to a want of that vigo- 
 rous determination of a man refolved to die rather 
 than to deviate from his principles ; to that fear, 
 which always offers incenfe to reigning power. 
 He who dares not brave tyrants, he who has 
 carefied the feuillants, muft flatter the anarchifts. 
 What does it coft to a man of fennbility to judge 
 fo harfhly of one of his fellow citizens, with whom 
 that fweet fraternity which exifts amongft men of 
 letters, that kind of new fenfe, that new lan- 
 guage, which is well underftood by philofophers 
 only, ought to unite him ? 
 
 How hard it is to be under the necefiity of tear- 
 ing a minifter to pieces, who, as a private man, as 
 
 a writer,
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 a writer, merits efteem ! To fpeak ill, may be aft 
 enjoyment to a caluminator by "profeffion ; it is a 
 punifhment to good men who would wifh to be 
 employed in praifes only, who would wifh to fee ail 
 men happy and virtuous. But this feverity becomes 
 a duty. To be filent would be treafon. It is thus, 
 I know (I have but too much experience of it) that 
 a man brings burning coals on his own head. 
 But what is true repnblicanifm, if it is not a per- 
 petual facrifice of our own intereft, and our own 
 tafte, to the public weal ? 
 
 And fuch is (till the painful fentimcnt, which 
 affiidls me in running over the administration of 
 Pache and Monge. 
 
 The purity of the principles which they profefied 
 raifed them to be ministers ; and fear foon made 
 them the (laves of the anarchifts. Frightened at the 
 power of the Jacobins, at theireagerneis to denounce 
 all ministers, and the facility with which the public 
 and the Convention received them, they foon ar- 
 ranged themfelves on the fide, of thofe, who, al- 
 moft always with fuccefs, wielded the poignards 
 of calumny. 
 
 That lazy abandoning of principle wanted 
 j uftification. They have faid, they have repeated 
 it, that it was the caufe of the people j that the people 
 muft be fupported. Thus they difhonoured the 
 fair name of the people, to invert with it an hand- 
 ful of ignorant or wicked men, who roared out in 
 the roftrums, or among the mobs. The atrocities, 
 the threats of affafiination, the cries of cannibals, 
 were the ordinary enjoyment of this people. They 
 have juflified them; they have gone the length 
 of regretting with the Prujjian C loots, that they 
 bad not Sufficiently feptemberifed : they have had 
 
 the
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 the bafenefs, as I may fay, to deify Marat j and td 
 glory in following his party. 
 
 Such is the excefs of madnefs or hypocrify to 
 which the people have been carried by fear. They 
 are become cannibals through fear. It is in this 
 f ketch you are to recognize Pache. No, I can 
 never confole myfelf for having for fome time 
 given fome (hare of my efteem to that man ; for 
 having fo long kept back thofe attacks which 
 would have deftroyed him in public opinion 
 and in the Convention, from fome of my friends 
 who had better penetrated his real fentiments 
 than I had. I fhall never confole myfelf for the 
 iliare I had in the elevation of that man, who is 
 the greateft cheat of all the anarchifts, if he is not 
 the greateft fool or the greateft coward amongft 
 them ; of this man, whole reputation was made by 
 Roland ; of this man, who, as the reward of that 
 fervice, would have given up the head of his be- 
 nefactor to his bloody enemies j of this man, who, 
 through complaifance to the factious, diforga- 
 nifed all our armies ; and who for them, difpa- 
 raged, and outraged the Convention, in protecting 
 the feditious decrees of the fedions againft it. 
 
 Ever attentive to the orders of the demagogues, 
 who governed the multitude, Pache received their 
 orders with fubmiffion. His offices were filled by 
 thofe only whom they protected ; the places in the 
 army, and the interior, were only porTeffed by thofe 
 who call themfelves Sans Culottes. The murderers 
 of September had every where the preference ; all 
 the bargains were for their advantage: thence pro- 
 ceeded that enormous dilapidation of all the de- 
 partments of the war. Pache diftributed the funds 
 ro the creatures, of thofe who commanded the 
 
 roftrum ;
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 roftrum ; and they had the fecret of conftantly 
 abfolving Pache to the Convention. Four or 
 five hundred millions were laid out under that 
 voracious minifler. Where are the accounts, which 
 the Convention had ordered to he given in every 
 fifteen days ? Thofe accounts which the minifter 
 was bound to give in upon quitting his admi- 
 niftration ? Bourno?iville t on entering upon his 
 adminiftration, and after having examined the flate 
 of the expciices, has declared that there was a 
 fum of 160 millions, [about fix millions Jlerling\ 
 of the expenditure ', of which there appeared no 
 particulars. Cambon [aid to the committee in the 
 r oft rum, that it ivas impoj/ibk to bring the expen- 
 diture of that department to light ; that a fpungc 
 muft be drawn over it. (I copy his very words;) 
 and Cambon, who has fhewn fo much rancour to 
 get a decree againft thofe miferable little pilfer- 
 ings, and to profecute thofe obfcure contractors, 
 Cambon has (hut his eyes upon the frightful 
 expenditures of Pache. He has kept, in regard td 
 him, a profound filence, while, in concert with the 
 party under whofe banners he continues to ferve, 
 he never ceafed to declaim again ft Roland, who 
 has given in his account clear to the laft farthing ; 
 and while the irreproachable Roland is treated almoli 
 as a criminal, Pache has not accounted for an hun- 
 dred millions which he has touched -, Pache holds 
 the firft place at Paris, and they give new millions 
 to his difpofal ? What is then this confufion 
 of all ideas ? What is this fecret magic which 
 covers the guilty by punifhingthe innocent? It is 
 the protection of the anarchifts. 
 
 Yes, if Roland had committed the thoufandth 
 part of all that, with which Pache is to be re- 
 proached, Roland would be no more : and Pache 
 H ileeps
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 fleeps in tranquillity. He fleeps, after having pal- 
 fied and diforganifed our forces, and occasioned 
 our external difafters ! Do I fay, he fleeps ? He 
 wakes; but it is that he may prefide over a munici- 
 pality, where they give in their accounts by 
 threatening to Hied blood. 
 
 Run over the accounts that have been prefented 
 to you by the commiflaries of different armies ; 
 you will every where fee through the whole ad- 
 mi nift ration of Pache, that is to fay, the miniftry of 
 the anarchifts, that he has been the principal 
 caufe of all our calamities. You will fee every 
 where, at the Pyrenees, at the Alps, on the 
 Rhine, upon the Mofelle, in Belgium, a per- 
 fect concert of complaints upon the dearth of 
 cloaths, of arms, of ammunition, of provifions ; 
 although the Convention had decreed immenfe 
 fums for all thefe articles ; although the ridicu- 
 lous HaiTenfrats, who, with his five millions of 
 plebeian generals, is fit company for the madman 
 who talked of 1200 departments, difplayed to 
 all comers fuperb ftatements in which our armies 
 were fwimming in abundance. 
 
 You will fee the provijions every where paid 
 for two or three times over, warehoufes hired 
 at an exce/Jive price, battalions, though reduced 
 to a third or a jixth, ftill paid for at their full 
 compliment. ' And why ? Becaule the undertakers 
 for the markets and the warehoufes, the commif- 
 faries for the war, and the clerks in all the offices, 
 were all the creatures of the anarchifts; all profited 
 from the diforder ; all enriched themfelves under the 
 cover of their mafqucrade of rough ftern virtue, and 
 their continually Theeing and Thouingeach other. 
 
 Such, too, is the talifman which governs the of- 
 fices of the marine. It is there, more than even any 
 
 where
 
 where elfe, that they have condemned themfelves to 
 a complete inactivity ; and the hiftory and the 
 caufes of that inactivity deferred to be examined to 
 the bottom. 
 
 From the month of October, the poflibility of 
 a war with the maritime powers was forefeen. 
 The diplomatic committee, and that of the ge- 
 neral defence, had forewarned Monge ; they had 
 put confiderable fums into his difpofal ; he had 
 promifed to keep himfelf well provided on all the 
 coafls ; to have the fhips and frigates all repaired ; 
 he had promifed a fleet of thirty fhips of the line 
 for the month of April ; he had promifed above 
 50 fhips of the line to be ready to put to fea for 
 the month of July ; he had promifed to cover the 
 fea with frigates, and to protect our commerce; he 
 had promiled to fend fuccour to St. Domingo, 
 and to Martinique : an exprefs law of the month 
 of October had ordered him to do all this. Be- 
 hold what he has done ! In the month of March 
 all our privateers are deftroyed by the Englifh in 
 the channel ; and the minifter at that period 
 confeffed to the committee that he had not a fmgle 
 advice-boat to protect them. And yet this very 
 minifter, who had not a fmgle advice-boat at his 
 difpofal in the month of March, had in an impru- 
 dent and culpable circular letter, publifhed in the 
 beginning of the month of January, of which Pitt 
 well knew how to take his advantage to ftir up the 
 people of England againft us, this minifter had, 
 I fay, threatened England to throw fifty thoufand 
 liberty caps into her very bofom. In the month 
 of April our trading veffels were taken by Englifh 
 frigates at the very mouths of our rivers ; our 
 fhips could not go into the Mediterranean without 
 danger -, and yet we had a fleet there of 15 fhips of 
 he line. 
 
 H 2 What
 
 What is become then of that fleet which 
 threatened Sardinia and all the Levant ? How 
 came it that Monge has not even yet accufed the 
 authors of that inaction to which that fleet was 
 condemned for fome months? 'How comes it that 
 he has not brought this confpiracy to light, by 
 which the arms of France were diflionoured at 
 Cagliaii ? 
 
 Hew will he juftify himfelf for not having fent 
 any competent fuccour to the Earl Indies ? For 
 not having forewarned our colonies at the period 
 of December, when the war with England was 
 apparent? How will hejuftify himfelf for having 
 deferred his fending a fleet to Maitinico, when a 
 decree had ordered him to do fo ? How will he 
 juflify himfelf for having in the month of March 
 ordered the frigates difpatched for Martinique to 
 cruize in the channel at the feafon of the equinox, 
 \vhich occafioned on one hand the failure of that 
 expedition ; which, on the other hand, expofed that 
 fleet to perifh, and acluallv did force it to return to 
 port? And during all thefe delays, England, who 
 did net begin to arm till three months after its, 
 fent Admiral Gardiner with feven fhips of the line 
 and a number of frigates to the Weft Indies, and 
 that fleet made itfelf mafter of the richeft fhips of 
 our colonies. Is there then nothing here worfe 
 than folly or than negligence ? Has not the per- 
 fidy of fomedifgtiifed counter-revolutionifts in the 
 x direction of the marine offices, vifibly rendered our 
 maritime forces incapable of activity, and deceived 
 thelpirit of thofe "Republicans who flattered triem- 
 felves with the hopes of feeing revived thole times 
 of the Englifli republic, where the celebrated 
 Blake rendered their flag refpefted, made kings 
 trerpble on their thrones* beat the. Dutch fleets, 
 
 ruined
 
 ( S3 ) 
 
 ruined their commerce, and kept the colonies In 
 their Duty ? 
 
 This is what an active, enlightened, enter- 
 prifing minifter of the marine would have done ; 
 one who would have troubled himfelf with no 
 other anfwers to the Jacobins, than grand enter- 
 prifes and brilliant victories. 
 
 But to what then niuft this incredible inertnefs 
 in the department of the marine be attributed ? 
 Is it owing to the incapacity of Monge alone, an 
 incapacity that he has himfelf twenty times 
 confefTed, and which became a crime when he ob- 
 ftinately perfevered to continue minifter at a crilis 
 fo perilous ? 
 
 It is to be attributed to thefe leaders of the 
 Jacobins, who directed Monge by means of 
 their creatures placed under him in his office ; 
 it is to be attributed to thofe leaders who, for 
 1 a long time had declared that they would have 
 nothing to do with an offenfive war, which they 
 oppofed every where in order to force us to re- 
 nounce it; to thofe leaders who, knowingly or ig- 
 norantly were the inftruments of foreign powers, 
 who were interefled to "make our forces incapable 
 of activity, and whofe agents, whether by bribing, 
 or by flattering their vanity, led thofe leaders to 
 that fyftem ; to thofe leaders who, fpeculating 
 for themfelves, or for their creatures upon the 
 jobs in the marine, filled them with negligence or 
 with roguery ; to thofe leaders who dictated their 
 own choice, commanded them to drive away all 
 well informed men, who infefted the offices, the 
 ports, the arfenals, with the men whom they 
 protected, whofe ignorance fhackled the progrefs 
 of the navy, or whofe wickednefs obftructed it 
 intentionally. 
 
 We
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 We muft farther attribute this inertnefs of the 
 marine to thofe white people of the colonies, arifto- 
 crats or independents, who, coalefcing with the 
 chiefs of the Jacobins, had ufurped a great influ- 
 ence in the marine offices, and at their own plea- 
 fure retarded the operations with regard to the 
 colonies, or made them ftand totally ftill, in order 
 to favour their independence, or their mvafion by 
 foreigners. 
 
 We muft finally attribute it to Perigni, who 
 in every thing directed Monge ; whom Monge 
 was ftubbornly refolved to preferve as his inti- 
 mate, although the committee of general defence 
 had denounced that man to him as an ariftocrat in 
 difguife, under the form of Sans Culoterie, as an 
 ex-noble, the fon of a colonift, interefted in the 
 independency of the colonies. 
 
 Thefe are the caufes of the inertnefs of the 
 minifler of the marine; an inertnefs which has 
 ruined our privateers, ruined our commerce, 
 ruined and humiliated France in all the Teas ; an 
 inertnefs which muft in the end deprive us of all 
 provifions, and of all the primary articles which 
 foreigners furnifh. 
 
 You who, to keep your places, or through 
 dread of denunciations againft you, carefs the 
 factious, whofe nullity you defpife in your hearts, 
 whofe crimes you are acquainted with ; you, 
 whofe names I do not fet down, but who are ne- 
 verthelefs the flaws of thofe profligates -, I hold your 
 fecret 'in my hands-, you {hall not efcape from 
 inflexible pofterity, even though you fhould not 
 youiidves ftand the witneffes of your own ig- 
 nominy *. 
 
 * Tranfator.'] This paragraph may be among the caufes 
 which ftortened the trial of the author before the Revolutionary 
 /Tribunal* 
 
 Republicans !
 
 ( 5S ) 
 
 Republicans ! It is not the habit, but the foul 
 which makes the republican ; It is the inflexible 
 man, who purfues crime even in the moment of its 
 triumph, in the very midft of its poignards ; who 
 tramples its favours under his feet. Cato pierced 
 his bofom rather than receive a favour from an 
 ufurper, who would have felt himfelf honoured by 
 being his friend. Cato was as much fuperior to the 
 Lilliputian creatures of thefe times, as genius can 
 be to flupidity. This is the republican 1 
 
 I am fatisfied that I have fully proved that the 
 anarchifls under the name of the Jacobins of Paris, 
 of the municipality and of the fe6lions, have go- 
 verned, and do govern the Convention, the exe- 
 cutive power, and all the adminiflrafions, and con- 
 fequently that they govern the whole empire. 
 . It remains for me to prove, that the fyflem of the 
 anarchifls is the principal caufe of all the evils that 
 we fuffer, whether internal or external. What in 
 truth, are the calamities which afflict us internally ? 
 
 Toe multiplicity of crimes. That multiplicity 
 is produced by impunity ; the impunity by the 
 inactivity of the tribunals ; the anarchifls pro- 
 tect this impunity ; they flrike all the tribunals 
 with a palfy, either by the fear they excite, or by 
 denunciations and accufations of ariflocracy. 
 
 The repeated afts of violence from every quarter 
 againft property and perfonal fafety . 
 
 The anarchifls of Paris give every day the ex- 
 ample ; and their immediate ernhTaries, and their 
 emifTaries decorated with the title of commiilaries of 
 the Convention, every where preach up this viola- 
 tion of the rights of man. What do I fay ? They 
 pradife that violation every where. For what town 
 has not been witnefs to thefe outrages? What town 
 5 has
 
 ( 56, ) 
 
 has not been witnefs of thefe violations ? What 
 town has not been in mourning on account of 
 them ? What town has not feen its beft citi- 
 zens thrown into irons ? In what town have 
 not thefe anarchifts formed committees of fuper- 
 intendence, and revolutionary committees, who, 
 under pretext of ftriking at ariftocrats, ftrike at 
 good patriots, becaufe they are zealous for order, 
 and for the refpedt due to property ? 
 
 The dearnefs of bread it is produced by the 
 fcarcity of the markets, and the want of the 
 circulation of grain. What is it produces this 
 folitude in the markets ? What flops this cir- 
 culation ? The eternal declamations of the anar- 
 chifts againft men of property, or againft mer- 
 chants, whom they mark out by the name of 
 monopolizers', the eternal petitions of ignorant men 
 who call for a rate upon grain, The labouring 
 man fears he fuall be plundered, or have his throat 
 cut, and he leaves his ricks untouched. 
 
 *fbe defcit of the public contributions. Many 
 individuals pay nothing, becaufe the law has no 
 force ; and the law has no force, becaufe the anar- 
 chifts take away all force from it ; many diftricts 
 of departments pay nothing ; becaufe the example 
 of Paris, and of Bouches du-Rhone is feduci'ng; be- 
 caufe they fear nothing ; neither the minifters, nor 
 the council, who dare not break the adminiftrators; 
 nor the Convention, which is obliged to Ihut its 
 eyes upon thefe ads of federalifm; becaufe, in 
 fhort, the alignments given for this or that occa- 
 fion, annihilate the return of the revenue to the 
 center of the contributions. 
 
 The difcredit of ajjignats. They are difcredited 
 becaufe they are too numerous j and they are too 
 numerous, on one hand, becaufe the expenditure 
 
 is
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 is exceffive and uncontroled ; on the other hand, ; 
 becaufe the fale of the national goods is flopped, 
 and that the fale of the goods of the emigrants is 
 nothing ; The influence ol tne anarchy caufes this 
 double effect. It is fubftantiaily the anarchifts 
 who order, direct, and controul all the expendU 
 tures ; and on the other fide, acquifitions are no 
 longer made, when men of property are ineefTant- 
 ly deftined to the fword of robbers, and when the 
 defpotifm of anarchy caufes an apprehenfion of 
 the return of the antient defpotifm. 
 
 The failure of the admimjlrations almoft through- 
 out. The anarchifts alone occafion it, by cry ing out, 
 and by making others who are their trufty friends 
 in the clubs, cry out too, againft all adminiftrators, 
 even the popular ones. From the moment that a 
 man is in any adminiftration he becomes odious to 
 the anarchifts; he feems culpable; he is denounced. 
 It is the way to curry favour by adulation to that 
 multitude whofe morals they have corrupted, and 
 which delights in nothing but deftruction. 
 
 The palfy of the adminiftrations is alfo owing 
 to thofe acts of arbitrary authority exercifed in al- 
 moft all the departments by the commirTaries of 
 the anarchifts, over the adminiftrators, who will 
 not participate in their refpect for pillage and maf- 
 facre. Thefe acts of defpotifm have remained un- 
 punifhed ; and then foriboth they expect the ad- 
 miniftrators will put the laws in execution ! 
 
 Confider the department which have been able to 
 chain down the fury of thefe ferocious men. Con- 
 lider for example the department of the Gironde. 
 Order has prevailed. The people have always 
 been fubmiffive to the law ; although they paid 
 as high as ten fols a pound for their bread, nume-* 
 rous battalions well difciplined have been fentto the 
 I armies
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 .armies againft the rebels. The public contribu- 
 tions have always been well paid. It is that in 
 that department they have baniflied the preachers 
 of an Agrarian law ; it is that in that department 
 the citizens have bricked up the doors of that 
 club, where they teach the fanguinary doctrines 
 which are every day preached by the Jacobins of 
 Paris. In fhort, it is, that there, the admi- 
 niftrators, men of integrity, of underftanding, 
 and of courage, have braved both the poig- 
 nards of calumny, and the menaces of the 
 commirTaries, who are at the orders of the Ja- 
 cobins.* 
 
 The troubles of /'Eure, de I'Orne, &c. Thefe 
 have been occafioned by the . preachings againft 
 the rich, againft monopolifcrs, by the feditious 
 fermons upon the neceffity of fetting a rate on 
 grain, and all provifions, by force of arms. 
 
 Troubles of Orleans. This town has from the 
 beginning of the revolution lived in the enjoyment 
 of a tranquility which has not been affecled by the 
 troubles excited by the fcarcity of corn in other 
 places, although this was a corn country ; be- 
 caufe the people were made to underftand the fub- 
 jec~l ; becaufe the workmen in the manufactories, 
 the moft numerous clafs of people in that town, 
 found a certain fubfiftence; becaufe the facrifices 
 from men at their eafe were confiderable. This 
 harmony between the poor and the rich was not 
 among the principles of anarchy : and one of thofe 
 men, employed to duTeminate thofe principles; 
 
 * Trmijlator.'] The reader will obferve, that for this re- 
 "bellion againft the Jacobins, the people of Bourdeaux have 
 been molt feverely punilhed, and this rich commercial city put 
 "under the guardianftiip of the Sans Culottes. 
 
 one
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 one of thofe men, in whom order creates defpair, 
 whofe only object is trouble, beftirred himfelf to 
 break that happy concord, and laboured to excite 
 the Sans Culottes againft men of property. An 
 accidental wrangle brought a few blows upon him, 
 and there is that grand confpiracy which has occa- 
 fioned a perfectly innocent town * to be declared 
 in a ftate of rebellion. The commifTaries, fay 
 they, muft be furrounded with reipecr.. Eh! 
 that they could firft furround them with virtues ; 
 and that opprefled town ftill groans under a more 
 tyrannic yoke than that of Algiers or of Conftan- 
 tinople ! That town has experienced refinements 
 of cruelty fuch as Tiberius would not have per- 
 mitted himfelf to be guilty of. 
 
 'Tbe troubles of La Sendee. They are owing 
 to the ariftocracy ; but nothing has been of more 
 fervice to them, than the diibrders and the fyftem 
 of anarchy. For what has more contributed to 
 excite the fanaticifm of the country people towards 
 their priefts, and their worlhip, than the .cruelties 
 conftantly ordained by the anarcbifts againji the re- 
 fratfory priefts ?~\- What has more contributed to 
 
 * The wives, the children of the unhappy prifoners 
 retorted to the houfes of the deputies ; who amufed them- 
 felves with their mifery; they obliged thefe people to drink, to 
 dance. 
 
 You will find nothing like this in the hiftory of Ti- 
 berius. 
 
 Shall I cite the crimes of the commifiaries of Lyons, Rovere, 
 Bazire, and Legendre ; their infolent pride, the impudence of 
 their anfwers, their numerous Baft'ulements ordered by Mem in 
 the midft of debauches ? 
 
 f Translator. ~\ They could not exceed the cruelty of Briflbt's 
 own faction with regard to the fame objects. 
 
 I 2 render
 
 .( 60 ) 
 
 render the republican form of government fhock- 
 ing to all men of property, and all men who live 
 by their induftry, and who want repofe, than the 
 preachings again ft property and peace ? Who has 
 nominated that ftupid minifter of war, the com- 
 mirTaries employed to reprefs thofe troubles, and 
 thofe generals who are incapable of concerting a 
 good plan for hemming in the rebels ? Was it not 
 the anarchifts ? Are not they the men who have 
 palfied the executive council : who have placed it 
 under the guardianfhip of the committee of public 
 iafety, which they have made up at their own 
 pleafure ; of that committee, which allowed itfelf 
 to be impofed upon by idle tales, and which never 
 adopted efficacious meafures ? In fhort, who 
 commanded that fanguinary law by which every 
 rebel, taken in arms, is on the iriftant condemned 
 to death ? a law, which flrikes the peafant who. 
 has gone aftray, and who was forced, indeed, by 
 his former lord to make himfelf the aflbciate of his 
 crimes ; a law, the effect of which foon turned 
 upon our own troops, fmce the rebels have not 
 failed to make reprifals ; a law, the re- action of 
 which has been ftill more fatal to our recruiting ; 
 as it would have been more wife, more political, 
 to have condemned none but the chiefs to death ! 
 In making the law general, they favoured the 
 counter-revolution ; to have made it particular, 
 by affecting the chiefs only, they would have di- 
 vided thole chiefs from the good people, whom 
 they had led aftray. How eafy too might it have 
 been, to have brought back or to have reduced 
 thofe people, under an active and fpirited mi- 
 niftry, under a wife and refpected Convention, 
 wi-h order every where eftablifhed.
 
 'The treafon. of Dumouricr and the other general 
 officers. I was fenfible of the ambition, of the 
 immorality of Damourier, and of his total indiffe- 
 rence to the caufe of liberty. He never was fin- 
 cerely inclined to a republic; he wiihed for a 
 monarchy, tempered by democratic forms, be- 
 caufe that fort of government is more fuitable to 
 men of great talents, joined with ftrong pailions. 
 // is obferved, that even in the cafe of virtue iff elf 
 joined with great talents, uniform virtue does not fix 
 the people -, but the man of the pur eft intentions, who 
 has bejl ferved his country, is under the republican 
 form expofed tofwalloiv the hemlock draught. What 
 ought they to hope, then, fay they to themfelves, 
 who have talents only, and are void of virtue ? 
 But I will not be afraid to fay it, the calumnies 
 which followed Dumourier, even in his triumphs, 
 the fpirit of diforganization with which the anar- 
 chifts had infected his army, were the caufe that 
 precipitated his treafon, and confequently preci- 
 pitated our misfortunes. 
 
 If the Convention do not foon pafs a law to put 
 a flop to this corrofive fyftem of calumny, which 
 fattens itfelf on every thing which is great and 
 virtuous ; (he will foon find neither generals of 
 experience at the head of her armies, nor men of 
 understanding in the guidance of her adminiftra- 
 tions. There is no furer way, not only of con- 
 demning honeft men to folitude, but of even 
 multiplying deferters and traitors, than thefe 
 eternal denunciations of imaginary treafons, in- 
 vented at pleafure. How can it be imagined, that 
 genera i s who have filled their functions with fide- 
 lity, who every day expofe their lives in battle, 
 jhould not feel indignation at feeing themfelves 
 ? marked
 
 ( 62 ) 
 
 marked out by the moft worthlefs wretches as 
 villains > in feeing all their acYions, every dif- 
 courfe of theirs, all their plans, mifreprefented by 
 calumny, and their victories themfelves denounced 
 as trea forts ? At feeing thefe calumnies greedily 
 gathered up by the multitude, heard without in- 
 dignation by the Convention, often followed even 
 by fufpenfions, with orders to appear at the bar, 
 and followed even by decrees ? Muft not the 
 Mood of a general boil in his veins ins reading 
 fuch a decree, efpecially when he recollects the 
 coldnefs with which j unifications are heard ; with 
 what cruelty they cavil upon certain miferable 
 pretended proofs ; with what favour they receive 
 as truths, fometimes the dreams, fometimes the 
 treacherous report of a difcontented foldier ; in a 
 word, at feeing the facility with which fufpecled 
 generals are transferred to the Abbaye ? To the 
 Abbaye ! The very name of which place, in re- 
 calling to memory that dreadful day of the 2d of 
 September, muft freeze the heart of the boldeft 
 and mod virtuous man. Citizens ! anarchy has al- 
 ready made Anitus's and Cleon's fhoot up among 
 us. But where is Socrates, where is Phocion ? 
 Are they not {lifted at their birth ? A republic 
 {lands on bad ground, where, at its very 
 beginning, the chances of a man's fuccefs, are all 
 in favour of crime and againfl virtue. 
 
 I pafs now to our exterior calamities, and I {hall 
 prove them on the fame evidence, that they are all 
 owing to the anarchifts. 
 
 I do not place the war with Auftria'in this 
 clafs ; here we had no choice, it was forced 
 upon us, we were outraged and threatened. We 
 were under a neceflity of beginning that war, 
 
 that
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 that we might enfure fuccefs in it. That war 
 promifed the moft happy fuccefs ; the fall of the 
 houfe of Auftria, the liberty of the Low Countries, 
 ought to have been the infallible confequence of 
 it, if our leaders had had the prudence to avoid a 
 maritime war. 
 
 But war with England, with Holland, and 
 with Spain, has changed the face of affairs, and it 
 has flopped the courfe of our victories. Then 
 what has occafioned this laft war ? There are 
 three caufes of it : 
 
 i ft. The abfurd and impolitic decree of the i pth 
 of November which very juftly excited uneafinefs 
 in foreign cabinets ; a decree which men of know- 
 ledge oppofed in vain ; a decree brought to nothing 
 by the anarchifts themfelves, who had puflied it 
 on with rage : it was brought to nothing after a 
 fatal experience ; but this was done too late, fince 
 the mifchief had already been produced. 
 
 2d. The maflacres of the 2d of September, the 
 impunity of which, commanded by the anar- 
 chifts, has alienated from us all the neutral na- 
 tions. 
 
 3d. The death of Louis. 
 
 I have already faid it, and I will never ceafe to 
 repeat it, fince they do not ceafe to attribute the 
 war with England to me, though I employed all 
 my endeavours to avoid it ; thoie maflacres, and 
 that condemnation to death, have moft of all 
 contributed to that war. Hear my proofs, which 
 are not to be fufpecled. 
 
 I was in England at the time, fays Thomas 
 Payne, in a work upori the point of being pub- 
 liflied, juft at the time of the maflacres on the 2d 
 and jd of September, 
 
 Before
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 Before that unhappy event, the principles of the 
 French revolution were making a rapid progrefs > 
 Icarcely was the fatal news of thefe maffacres ar- 
 rived, but a general change was apparent in the 
 public opinion j all the friends of France were in 
 mourning, every man feared to meet his friend : 
 the enemies of the revolution triumphed, and 
 made every place ring with anathemas and cries of 
 horror againft France, and thefe cries diftracted 
 every heart. Thus, ail France, the whole revo- 
 lution fuffered by the proflicacy of a few indi- 
 viduals. In vain was it faid that thofe who pe- 
 rifhed were guilty perfons ; the anfwer was, 
 that a prifon was as facred as an altar, and that he 
 who could violate a prifon, was capable of betray- 
 ing his country. 
 
 Interrogate all the flrangers, interrogate our 
 ambafladors at foreign courts, Chauvelin, Bour- 
 going; they will tell you what an unhappy fen- 
 fation that death made upon the minds of all 
 men, while it was utterly ufelefs as to adding the 
 lea ft ftrength to the republic. 
 
 Fox faid to an Englifoman, a friend to our 
 principles and to our revolution : Let them be 
 prevented from paffing that fentence of death, and 
 I will be anfwerable to you that there will be no 
 war, that the oppofition will prevail, that the na- 
 tion will be with it ; the enemies of France in the 
 cabinet of St. James's want only that death to 
 bring about a declaration of war. 
 
 Read, in fhort, the numerous writings, the 
 Gazettes which have appeared fince that time in 
 England, in Germany, in Italy, in Switzerland. 
 We are every where painted as cannibals - y we are 
 detefted every where, and that hatred has been 
 
 worth
 
 worth armies and treafures to the kings coalefced 
 againft us. 
 
 I have faid it in the roftrum before the Conven- 
 tion, if yu vote the death of the tyrant, without 
 confulting the nation, you muft the next day vote 
 a war againft England, againft Holland, againft 
 Spain, who will not only make war upon you, but 
 who will fiad their advantage in the ufe they will 
 make of the fanaticifm of their people, which this 
 death will occafion. 
 
 They would not believe me ; and the death of 
 Louis was fcarcely known in foreign nations 
 but our ambafTadors were affronted and igno- 
 minioufly driven away. This outrage was either . 
 to be fubmitted to or be refented. Our anfwer was 
 a declaration of war. 
 
 Who, then, has been the author of this war? 
 The anarchifts only ; and yet they make it a crime 
 in us ! It is anarchy which has brought all Eu- 
 rope on our backs ; it is anarchy which has aliena- 
 ted every nation from us, which has been thecaufb 
 of all the reverfes of fortune we have fuffered ; 
 and the anarchifts have the infamy to impute that 
 reverfe of our fortunes to men who have laboured 
 to put a ftop to thofe extravagancies, and to prevent . 
 thofe misfortunes. 
 
 If, however, after having for no rational pur- 
 pofe brought all Europe upon our back, they 
 had manifefted that fpirit which is becoming 
 of twenty-five millions of republicans, inha- 
 biting a country the moft fertile in refources -, 
 if, inftead of limiting themfehes to an ignomi- 
 nious defence, they had conceived, and executed 
 ome of tbofe great expeditions which brought 
 K M
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 all the kings of the Earth projlratc before tht: 
 Romans : 
 
 What a noble career then opened itfelf before 
 our eyes ! 
 
 * At the Pyrenees, Spain offered to us only 
 mountains that were eafy to pafs over j . . . 
 
 At a dillance, and beyond our feas, the Spanifh 
 eftablifhments are inhabited by a numerous people, 
 who roar while they bite the curb, who wait only 
 for a deliverer. 
 
 Louifiana is a country to which we owe great 
 reparation on account of the cowardice with which 
 we there facrificed our brethren. 
 
 In the Weft Indies, the Englifh colonies which, 
 it was fo eafy to have turned topfy-turvy, fimply 
 in putting the finiihing ftroke, to the purification 
 of the government of our own colonies ; a mea- 
 fure which is not even understood by this council. 
 
 In the Eafl Indies it would, perhaps, be diffi- 
 cult to conquer the Dutch colonies -, it would be 
 perfectly eafy to reftore them to liberty. 
 
 In Indoftan, a prince overcome in battle but 
 not fubdued j terrible, like Mithridates, even in his 
 defeats, even in the feafon of his repofe , a prince 
 
 * Tranjlator."] The reader is acquainted with the licence 
 of the Jacobin ityle, and the injurious and indecent manner 
 in which they treat all other nations. Some of his fcurrilities 
 are iupprefled. 
 
 whofe
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 'whofe implacable hatred againft the Englifh waits 
 only a feafon, when fome a ffi fiance may enable 
 him to attack the Englifh power afrefh ; and the- 
 t bread by which the power of England has its 
 hold in India is fo {lender. 
 
 In Europe, Ruflia and Auflria might have been 
 humbled by the Port ; Poland might have been 
 preferved by the Port ; and your Mediterranean 
 fleet, at that time fplendid, could eafily have per- 
 iuaded the Sultan ; it could alone, if they had 
 not been ilupidly obftinate in loiing it on the 
 rocks of Sardinia, have changed the face of the 
 war in Europe. 
 
 Ireland, whofe movements towards liberty we 
 were bound to encourage. 
 
 England is a country on which we might eafily 
 enough have retaliated the terrors which (he has 
 at times excited among us, by imaginary projects 
 of invafion. 
 
 Throughout the whole commerce of our ene- 
 mies, great advantages were offered to us for its 
 deflru6tion, without fear of a dangerous return- 
 of iimilar evils upon our own commerce. 
 
 Such are the great ideas which ought to have 
 been entertained, which ought to have been exe- 
 cuted, Jince the determination was made to brave 
 all Europe. Such were the projects that men, 
 long familiar with the nature of republican ifm, 
 and the great effects of which it was capable, 
 propofed to the committee of general defence,' 
 propofed by thofe men whom they acc.ufe of 
 having been the occafion of declaring the war,, 
 and of not having carried it on in a grand ftile, 
 when their oppofers exerted themfcives .'for the 
 K 2 ddtr action
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 deftrucYion of all their means, or at leaft for 
 rendering them all impotent. Richelieu, Louvois, 
 Alberoni, had conceived fimilar projeds j and they 
 were men who could carry their projects into exe- 
 cution, only by a few thoufand fatellites : here 
 the whole nation is in action, to carry her plans 
 into execution. 
 
 But where were thefe meafures to be found ? 
 In our courage, in our love of liberty, in the re- 
 fourcesofour foil. Queftioners, with narrow minds, 
 read the hiftory of the revolution of Holland, and 
 of the long parliament in England ; behold the 
 prodigies which have chara&erifed thofe intereft- 
 ing epochs.* Has England ever been matter of 
 fuch formidable fleets as thofe which under Blake 
 and Penn fought with Ruyter and Tromp ? It 
 was, however, three or four millions of men who 
 bravely decided in favour of liberty. Here are 
 twenty-five millions in arms. 
 
 And thefe twenty-five millions found themfelves 
 even in the month of January lad, pofiefied of 
 fufficiently efficacious means, and with more mo- 
 ney than all the foreign powers ; even more than 
 England, proud as ihe is of her riches. The 
 French have a mafs of refources, fuch as no nation 
 In the world has ever pofleffed before j-f- a mafs 
 
 which 
 
 * Tranjlator.] M. Briflbt had but to look to the naval hiftory 
 of the laft naval war, or to the one before it, to have found 
 the Englifh navy more formidable and more fuccefsful than 
 in the time when he fuppofes her to have beerv at her highcft 
 glory. 
 
 f Tranjlator,"} No people but the prefent French ty- 
 ranny could perhaps prevail on themfelves to boaft of public 
 riches^ raifed by the perfect annihilation of all private pro- 
 perty. Liberty and property are terras never feparated in the 
 
 public
 
 which would doubtlefsly have doubled itfelf, could 
 order but have been eftablifhed, for all was con- 
 tained in our plan j but they not only combated 
 our ideas, but they even coalefced themfelves with 
 the anarchifts, who ruined all our refources by 
 diforder, in hopes of reigning by their affiftance. 
 
 I had laid open thefe refources in my two 
 reports upon England. Kerfaint had alfo proved 
 them before me, and an event has proved the 
 fact better than we did. The Spaniards entered 
 the country ; the frontier was deferted ; the 
 alarm bell was rung in the fouth; and above forty 
 thoufand men fprung out of the earth in an inftant, 
 uniting themfelves together at Perpignan. Thefe 
 are the miracles of liberty. 
 
 No, never did the Executive Council What 
 do I fay ? No, never did men who decreed the 
 committee in order to cripple it, and who crippled 
 it in order to govern in its flead No, never did 
 thefe creatures of mediocrity rife to a conception 
 of the ftrength of the French nation, nor of the 
 effe&s of liberty. It was with labour that they 
 flammed along the ground; they were not fenfible 
 that the defenfive excites no electricity ; that the 
 offenfive only could exalt a people who are 
 impetuous, like the French ; they faw not, that 
 to form men into a great nation, vaft ideas, great 
 objects, fubiime and difficult defigns, were in- 
 difpenfable. 
 
 One only fear feemed to me conftantly to 
 poflefs the council, which was not under the 
 guardianlhip of free republicans, of whom the 
 
 public expreffion of Englifh happinefs. When men have 
 once loft the idea of private property, it is impoffible that the 
 jdea of liberty can be preferved to them. 
 
 committee
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 committee of general defence had been at firft com- 
 pofed, but who were fallen under the iron rod of. 
 their enemies. The council flood in dread of 
 ^denunciations, and of the calumnies of the Jaco- 
 bins j they dreaded decrees of accufation, if fuccefs 
 did not accompany their projeds. This is the 
 idea that froze the imagination, and crippled the 
 mental faculties of every one of them. Here is the 
 fole caufe of the inertnefs to which our admi- 
 niftraticn condemned itfelf. Here is the caufe of all 
 our misfortunes, of all our humiliations. It is' 
 all owing to the murderous influence of the calum- 
 niating anarchifts ; they flifte all the plans which 
 would have made us triumph over our enemies 
 abroad, und would have eftablijbed our liberty 
 every 'where. That influence has- reduced us to 
 fhut ourfelvesup within our proper limits, and we 
 have ilill to fear farher humiliations and defeats! 
 
 Thus the Spaniards with whom we might have 
 "been beforehand on their own ground ; (for from 
 the month of November, the minifter Pache had 
 been charged to form a confiderable army at the 
 Pyrenees, and to provide it with every thing, 
 which was not done even in the month of March.) 
 Thefe Spaniards, I fay, had the prefumption to 
 (lain the land of liberty, and attack us within our 
 very walls ; and in their frigates, protected through 
 that port pa/jage* where the tri-colour flag ought 
 to fly j their frigates intercept our trade (hips even, 
 in the view of our harbours. 
 
 Thus we could, we ought to make the Spanir 
 ards, the Engliih, the Dutch, tremble for their 
 colonies ; and it is we who are to tremble for our 
 
 * Tranjlator.] I do not know whether the author means 
 St. Sebaftian's, or what other port. 
 
 own
 
 ( 7' ) 
 
 own. And if thefe very fame republicans, whom 
 calumnies ceafe not to accnfe, had not by a decree 
 concerning the men of colour, acquired twenty 
 thoufand native defenders of St. Domingo, where 
 would that ifland have been, which was abandoned 
 by the minifter ? Thus we could have ruined 
 the commerce of our enemies by our numerous 
 privateers, and thefe privateers of ours are deftroy- 
 ed in a few days, whereas the rich galleons of Spain 
 enter quietly into their own ports. 
 
 Thus we might difturb England by exciting 
 fermentation in her boforn, in Ireland which is 
 jealous, in Scotland which is difcontented j inftead 
 of this, it is England which with fuccefs excites 
 and favours rebellion among ourfelves. 
 
 Thus it was in our power to ftraiten the fub- 
 fiftence of our enemies by laying wafte their com- 
 merce, and exciting commotions among them 
 through the fcarcity and dearncfs of provifions ; 
 whereas it is we who are threatened with this, 
 fcarcity by the unfkilfulnefs of thofe men, .who, 
 after having forced us to declare war, have incef- 
 fantly fhackled all the meafures of the republicans, 
 and who have, and who ftill will have, the infa- 
 mous cruelty to accufe them to the people for that 
 fcarcity which they themfelves occaiioned. 
 
 In fhort, we, who fhould no longer know any 
 barrier except the Rhine ; we. have been obliged to 
 abandon the fields in which we were victorious, 
 and thofe brothers to whom we have given li- 
 berty. 
 
 That evacuation of Belgium which has tar- 
 nifhed the luflre of our arms, and obliged the 
 liberty of Europe to lofe ground, is ftill the product 
 of anarchy. This event which holds fo great a 
 place in our hiftory deferves to be fathomed. 
 
 8 Three
 
 ( 72 ) 
 
 Three forts of anarchy have ruined our affairs 
 in Belgium. 
 
 The anarchy of the adminiftration of Pache r 
 which has completely diforganifed the fupply of 
 our armies ; which by thatdiforganization reduc- 
 ed the army of Dumourier to itopin the middle 
 of its conquefts ; which ftruck it motionlefs 
 through the months of November and December ; 
 which hindered it from joining Bournonville and 
 Cuftine, and from forcing the Pruffians and 
 Auftrians to repafs the Rhine, and afterwards from 
 putting themfelves in a condition to invade Hol- 
 land fooiier than they did. 
 
 To this firft ftate of minifterial anarchy, it is ne- 
 ceffary to join that other anarchy which diforganifed 
 the troops, and occafioned their habits of pillage ; 
 and laftly, that anarchy which created the revolu- 
 tionary power, and forced the union to France of 
 the countries we had invaded, before things were 
 ripe for fuch a meafure. 
 
 Who could, however, doubt the frightful evils 
 that were occafioned in our armies by that doc- 
 trine of anarchy which under the fliadow of equa- 
 lity of right, would eftablifti equality of fad: ? 
 This is univerfal equality, the fcourge of fociety, 
 as the other is the fupport of fociety. An anarchi- 
 cal doctrine which would level all things, talents, 
 and ignorance, virtues, and vices, places, ufages, 
 and iervices ; a doctrine which begot that fatal 
 project of organizing the army, preiented by Du 
 Bois de Crance, to which it will be indebted for 
 a compleat diibrganifation. 
 
 Mark the date of the prefentation of the fyftem 
 of this equality of fact, entire equality. It had 
 been projected and decreed even at the very open- 
 ing of the Dutch campaign. If any project could 
 
 en-
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 encourage the want of diicipline in the foldiers, 
 any .fcheme could difguft and banim. good offi- 
 cers, and throw all things into confufion at the 
 moment when order alone could give victory, it 
 is this project in truth fo ftubbornly defended by 
 the anarchifls, and tranfplanted into their ordi- 
 nary tactic. 
 
 How could they expect that there fhould exifl 
 any difcipline, any fubordination, when even in the 
 camp they permit motions, cenfures, and denun- 
 ciations of officers, and of generals ? Does not 
 fuch a diforder deftroy all the refpect that is due 
 to fuperiors, and all the mutual confidence without , 
 which fuccefs cannot be hoped for ? For the fpirit 
 of diftruft makes the foldier fufpicious, and inti- 
 midates the general. The firft difcerns treafon in 
 every danger -, the fecond, always placed between 
 the neceffity of conqueft, and the image of the 
 fcafFold, dares not raife himfelf to bold conception, 
 and thofe heights of courage which electrify ah 
 army and enfure victory. Turenne, in our 
 time, would have carried his head to the fcafFold -, 
 for he was fometimes beat: but the reafon why he 
 more frequently conquered was, that his difcipline 
 was fevere : it was, that his foldiers confiding in - 
 his talents, never muttered difcontent inftead of 
 fighting^ Without reciprocal confidence between 
 the foldier and the general, there can be no 
 army, no victory, efpecially in a free govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Is it not to the fame fyftem of anarchy, of equa- 
 lization, and want of fubordination, which has been 
 recommended in fome clubs, and defended even 
 in the Convention, that we owe the pillages, the 
 murders, the enormities of all kinds which it was 
 difficult for the officers to put a flop to, from the 
 general fpirit of infubordination j excefles which 
 L have
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 have rendered the French name odious to the Bel- 
 gians ? Again, is it not to this fyftem of anarchy, 
 and of robbery, that we are indebted for the inven- 
 tion of the revolutionary power, which has fa 
 juftly aggravated the hatred of the Belgians againfl 
 France ? 
 
 What did enlightened republicans think before 
 the j oth of Augufl, men who wifhed for liberty, 
 not only for their own country, but for all Europe ? 
 They believed that they could generally eftabli/h 
 it) by exciting the governed againfl the governors, 
 in letting the people fee the facility and the advantages 
 offuch infur regions. 
 
 But how can the people be led to that point ? 
 Py the example of good government eftablifhed 
 among us ; by the example of order $ by the care 
 of fpreading nothing but moral ideas among them -, 
 to refpecl their properties and their rights ; to 
 refpedl their prejudices, even when we combat 
 them j by difmtereftednefs in defending the people, 
 by a zeal to extend the fpirit of liberty amongft 
 them. 
 
 This fyftem was at firft followed.* Excellent 
 pamphlets from the pen of Condorcet prepared the 
 people for liberty > the i oth of Auguir, the repub- 
 lican decrees, the battle of Valmy, the retreat of 
 the Pruffians, the victory of Jemappe, all fpoke in 
 favour of France ; all was rapidly deftroyed by 
 the revolutionary power. Without doubt, good 
 intentions made the majority of the ailembly adopt 
 it ; they would plant the tree of liberty in a foreign 
 foil, under the fhade of a people already free. To 
 
 * Tranfiator."] The rnoft feditious libels upon all govern- 
 ipents, in order to excite infurre&ion in Spain, Holland, and 
 ether countries, 
 
 the
 
 < 7S ) 
 
 the eyes of the people of Belgium it feemed but 
 the mafk of a new foreign tyranny. This opinion 
 was erroneous ; I will fuppofe it fo for a moment ; 
 but ftill this opinion of Belgium deferved to be 
 confidered. In general we have always confidered 
 our own opinions, and our own intentions, rather 
 than the people whofe caufe we defend. We 
 have given thofe people a will ; that is to fay, we 
 have more than ever alienated them from li- 
 berty. 
 
 How could the Belgic people believe themfelves 
 free, fmce we exercife, for them, and over them, 
 the rights of fovereignty ; when, without con- 
 fulting them, we fupprefs all in a mafs their an- 
 cient ufages, their abufes, their prejudices, thofe 
 clafles of fociety which without doubt are con- 
 trary to the fpirit of liberty, but the utility of 
 whole deftrudHon was not as yet proved to them? 
 How could they believe themfelves free, and fo- 
 vereign, when we made them take fuch an oath 
 as we thought fit, as a tell to give them the 
 right of voting ? How could they believe them- 
 felves free, when openly defpifing their religious 
 worihip, which religious worihip that fuperfti- 
 tious people valued beyond their liberty, beyond 
 even their life ; when weprofcribed their priefts $ 
 when we banifhed them from their afiemblies, 
 where they Were in the practice of feeing them 
 govern ; when we feized their revenues, their do- 
 mains, and riches, to the profit of the nation ; 
 when we carried to the very cenfer tliofe hands 
 which they regarded as profane ? Doubtlefs thefe 
 operations were founded on principles ; but thofe 
 principles ought to have had the confent of the Bel- 
 gians, before they were carried into practice, 
 L 2 otherwiffe
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 otherwife they neceffarily became our moft cruel 
 enemies. 
 
 Arrived ourfelves at the laft bounds cf liberty 
 and equality, trampling under our feet all human 
 fuperftitions, (after however, a four years war with 
 them,) we attempt all at once to raife to the fame 
 eminence, men, ftrangers even to the firft ele- 
 mentary principles of liberty, and plunged for fif- 
 teen hundred years in ignorance and fuperftition - 3 
 we wifhed to force men to fee, when a thick ca- 
 taract covered their eyes, even before we had re- 
 moved that cataract ; we would force men to fee, 
 whofe dulnefs of character had raifed a mift be- 
 fore their eyes, and before that character was al- 
 tered.* 
 
 Do 
 
 * Tr an/later.] It may not be amifs once for all to remark 
 on the ftyle of all the philofophical politicians of France. 
 Without any diftin&ion in their feveral fe&s and partie?, they 
 agree in treating all nations who will not conform their 
 government, laws, manners, and religion, to the new French 
 fafhion, as an herd of JJaves. They confider the content with 
 which men live under thofe governments as {tupidity, and all 
 attachment to religion, as the effect of the grofleft ignorance. 
 
 The people of the Netherlands, by their conftitution, are 
 as much entitled to be called free, as any nation upon earth. 
 The Auftrian government (until fome wild attempts the em- 
 peror Jofeph made on the French principles, but which have 
 been iince abandoned by the court of Vienna,) has been re- 
 markably mild. No people were more at their eafe than the 
 Flemifti fubje&s, particularly the lower clafies. It is curious 
 to hear this great oculift talk of couching the catarafl by 
 which the Netherlands were blinded, and hindered from fee- 
 ing, in its proper colours, the beautiful viiion of the French 
 Republic, which he has himfelf painted with fo mafterly 
 an hand. That people muft needs be dull, blind, and bruta- 
 lized by fifteen hundred years of fuperftition, (the time elapfed 
 it ace the introduction of Chriflianity amongft them,) who 
 'could prefer their 'former Irate to the prefent ft ate of France ! 
 
 The
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 Do you believe that the docTrine which now 
 prevails in France would have found many par- 
 tifans among us in 1789? No ; a revolution in. 
 ideas, and in prejudices, is not made with 
 that rapidity ; it moves gradually ; it does not 
 efcalade. 
 
 Philofophy does not infpire by violence, nor 
 by feduclion, nor is it the fword that begets the 
 love of liberty. 
 
 Jofeph the Second alfo borrowed the language 
 of philofophy when he wifked to fupprels the 
 monks in Belgium, and to feize upon their reve- 
 nues. There was feen on him a ma(k only of 
 philofophy, covering the hideous countenance of 
 a greedy defpot, and the people ran to arms. 
 Nothing better than another kind of deipotifm 
 has been feen in the revolutionary power. 
 
 We have feen in the commillioners of the 
 National Convention, nothing but pro-confuls, 
 working the mine of Belgium for the profit of the 
 French nation j feeking to conquer it for the 
 fovereign of Paris j either to aggrandize his 
 empire, or to fhare the burdens of the debts, and 
 'furniQi a rich prize to the robbers who domineered 
 in France. 
 
 Do you believe the Belgians have ever been 
 the dupes of thofe well-rounded periods, which 
 they vended in the pulpit, in order to familiar! fe 
 them to the idea of an union with France ? Do 
 you believe they were ever impofed upon by thofe 
 
 The reader will remark, that the only difference between 
 Briffot and his advcrfarie?, is in the mode of. bringing other 
 nations into the pale of the French Republic They would 
 abolifli the order and clafies of fociety and all religion at a 
 flroke ; Briflbt would have juft the fame thing done, but with 
 more addrefs and management. 
 
 votes
 
 votes and refolutions, made by what is called accla- 
 mation, for their union, of which corruption paid 
 one part,* and fear forced the remainder ? Who, 
 at this time of day, is unacquainted with the 
 fprings and wires of their miferable puppet fhew ? 
 Who does not know the farces of primary ajfcm- 
 blies, compofed of a prefident^ of a jecretary, and of 
 fome .ajjijiants, whofe days 'work was paid for? 
 No ; it is not by means which belong only to 
 thieves and defpots that the foundations of liberty 
 can be laid in an enflaved country. It is not by 
 thofe means, that a new-born republic, a people 
 who know not yet the elements .of republican 
 governments, can be united to us. Even Haves 
 do not fuller themfelves to be feduced by fuch 
 artifices ; and if they have not the nrcngth to 
 refift, they have at lean: the fenie to know how to 
 appreciate the value of fuch an attempt. 
 
 If we would attach the Belgians to us, we 
 muft at ieaft enlighten their minds by good wri- 
 tings ; v we mud lend to them mijjionariesy and 
 not defpotic com miffi oner s.j~ We ought to give 
 them time to fee j to perceive by themfelves the 
 advantages of liberty ; the unhappy effects of fu- 
 perflition ; the fatal fpirit of priefthood. And 
 whilil we waited for this moral revolution, we 
 fhould have accepted the offers which they incef- 
 fantly repeated, to join to the French army, an 
 army of 50,000 men ; to entertain them at their 
 
 * See the correfporulencc of Dumouricr, efpecially the letter 
 of the 1 2th of March. 
 
 f Trar:JlatQr.~\ They have not as yet ptoceeded farther 
 with regard to the hnglith dominions. Here we on 1 .'.- ice as 
 yet the good writings of Payne, and of his learned aflociates, 
 and the labours of .the mij/'onary clubs, and other zealous iu- 
 ilruckrs. 
 
 i owa
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 own expence : and to advance to France, the 
 ipecie of which fhe ftood in need. 
 
 But have we ever feen thofe fifty thoufand fol- 
 cliers who were to join our army, as loon as the 
 flandard of liberty fhould be difphyed in Belgium?* 
 Have we ever feen thofe treafures which they were 
 to count into our hands ? Can we either ac- 
 cufe the ftcrility of their country, or the penury 
 of their treafure, or the coldnefs of their love for 
 liberty ? No ! defpotifm and anarchy, thefe are 
 the benefits which we have tranfplanted into 
 their foil. We have acled, we have fpoken like 
 matters ; and from that time we have found the 
 Flemings nothing but jugglers, who made the 
 grimace of liberty for money ; or flaves, who in 
 their hearts curfed their new tyrants. Our com- 
 miilicners addrefs them in this fort'; " you have 
 *< nobles and priefts among you, drive them out 
 " without delay, or we will neither be your bre- 
 " thren nor your patrons." They anfwered: give 
 us but time ; only leave to us the care of reform- 
 ing thefe inftitutions. Our aniwer to them was, 
 " No! it mud be at the moment; it muft be on 
 f the fpot, or we will treat you as enemies ; we 
 " will abandon you to the refentment of the 
 f Aufrrians." 
 
 What could the difarmed Belgians objecl: to all 
 this, furrouncled as they were by feventy thoufand 
 men ? They had only to hold their tongues, and 
 to bow, down their heads before their matters ! 
 They did hold their tongues, and their filence is 
 received as a fincere and free aflent. 
 
 Have not the ftrangeft artifices been adopted 
 to prevent that people from retreating, and to con- 
 |train them to an union ? It was foreseen, tliat as 
 
 long
 
 long as they were unable to effect an union, the 
 ftates would preferve the fupreme authority amongfl 
 themfelves. Under pretence, therefore, of re- 
 lieving the people, arid of exercifmg the fove- 
 reignty in their right, at one ftroke they abo- 
 liihed all the duties and taxes ; they (hut up all 
 the treafuries. From that time no more receipts j 
 no more public money; no more means of paying 
 the falaries of any man in office appointed by the 
 ftates. Thus was anarchy organifed amongfl: the 
 people, that they might be compelled to throw 
 themfelves into our arms. It became neceffary for 
 thofe who adminiftered their affairs, under the 
 penalty of being expofed to fedition, and in order 
 to avoid their throats being cut, to have recourfe 
 to the treafury of France. What did they find 
 
 -in this treafury? ASSIGNATS. Thde Af- 
 
 fignats were advanced at par to Belgium. By 
 this means, on the one hand, they naturalifed 
 this currency, in that country j and on the other, 
 they expected to make a good pecuniary tranfac- 
 tion. Thus it is that covetoufnefs cut its throat 
 with its own hands. 'Ihe Belgians have feen in 
 this forced introduction of affignat^ nothing but a 
 double robbery -, and they have only the more vio- 
 lently hated the union with France. 
 
 Recollect the folicitude of the Belgians on that 
 Jiibject. With what earneflnefs did they conjure 
 you to take off a retro-active effect from thefe aflig- 
 nats, and to prevent them from being applied to 
 fche payment of debts that were contracted anterior 
 to the union ? 
 
 Did not this language energetically enough fig- 
 iiify that they looked upon the affignats as a k- 
 profy, and the union as a deadly contagion ? 
 
 And
 
 And yet what regard was paid to fo juft a de- 
 mand ? It was buried in the committee of finance. 
 That committee wanted to make anarchy the 
 means of an union. They only bufied themfdves 
 in making the Belgic provinces fubfervient to their 
 finances. 
 
 Cambon faid loftily before the Belgians them- 
 felves ; the Belgiari war coils us hundreds of mil- 
 lions. Their ordinary revenues, and even fome 
 extraordinary taxes, will not anfwer to our reim- 
 burfements j and yet we have occafion for them. 
 The mortgage of our affignats draws near its end. 
 What muft be done ? Sell the church property of 
 Brabant. There is a mortgage of two thoufand 
 millions, (eighty millions rterling.) How fhall 
 we get pofieffion of them ? By an immediate 
 Union. Inftantly they decreed this Union. Men's 
 minds were not difpofed to it. What does it 
 Signify ? Let us make them vote by means of 
 money. Without delay, therefore,, they fecretly 
 order the minifter of foreign affairs to difpofe of 
 four or five hundred thoufand livres, (20,000!. 
 fterling,) to make the vagabonds of BruJ/els drunk, 
 and to buy profelytes to the union in all the jlates. 
 But even thefe means, it was faid, will obtain bit 
 a weak minority in our favour. What does that 
 iignify ? Revolutions, faid they, are made only by 
 minorities. It is ihe minority which has made the 
 revolution of France ; it is a minority which has 
 madt the people triumph. 
 
 The Belgic provinces were not fufficient to 
 fatisfy the voracious cravings of this financial 
 fyftem. Cambon wanted to unite every thing, 
 that he might fell every thing. Thus he forced 
 the union of Savoy ; in the war with Holland, 
 he faw nothing but gold to feize on, and affignats 
 M to
 
 to fell at par.* Do not let us dhTemble, faid he 
 one day to the committee of general defence, 
 in prefence even of the patriot deputies of Hol- 
 land, you have no tcclefiaftical goods to offer us 
 for oar indemnity. IT IS A REVOLUTION 
 IN THEIR COUNTERS AND IRON 
 CHESTS,! that mail be made amongft the 
 DUTCH. The word was faid, and the bankers 
 Aberna^ and Ktinftapborft understood it. 
 
 Do you think that that word has not been 
 worth an army to the Stockholder, that it has not 
 cooled the ardour of the Dutch patriots, that it 
 has not commanded the vigorous defence of WiU 
 liamftadt ? 
 
 Do you believe that the patriots of Amfter- 
 dam, when they read the preparatory decree 
 which gave Fiance an execution on their goods; 
 do you believe, that thofe patriots would not 
 have liked better to have remained under the 
 government of the Stadtholder, who took from 
 them no -more than a fixed portion of their pro- 
 perty, than to pafs under that of a revolutionary 
 power, which would make a complete revolution 
 in their bureaus and ftrong boxes, and reduce 
 them to vvretchednefs and rags?-}- Robbery, anc( 
 
 * Author.'] The fame thing will happen in Savoy. The 
 periecution of the clergy has foured people's minds. The 
 CommifTaries represent them to us as good Frenchmen. I put 
 them to the proof. Where are the legions ? Hov/, thirty 
 thonfand Savoyards Are they not armed to defend, in concert 
 with us, their liberty? 
 
 J Tranjiaior.] Portcfeuille is the word in the original. 
 It ilgnifies all moveable property which may be reprefented in 
 bonds, notes, bills, fipcks, or any fort of public or private 
 fecurities. I do not know of a fmgle word in Englifh tha$ 
 anfwers it; I have therefore fubftituted that of Iron Cbejh^ a$ 
 poming neareft to the idea. 
 
 f In the original , a la Sanfiuloterie* 
 
 anarchy*
 
 anarchy, in Mead of encouraging, will always ftifle 
 revolutions. 
 
 But why, they objed to me, have not you 
 and your friends chofen to expofe thefe meafures 
 in the roftrum of the National Convention? Why 
 have you not oppofed yourfelf to all thefe fatal 
 projects of union ? 
 
 There are two anfwers to make here, one 
 general, one particular. 
 
 You complain of the filence of honeft men ! 
 You quite forget then, honeft men are the objedts 
 of your fufpicion. Sufpicion, if it does not ftain 
 the foul of a courageous man, at leaft arrefts his 
 thoughts in their paffage to his lips. The fufpi- 
 cions of a good citizen, freezes thofe men, whom 
 the calumny of the wicked could not flop in their 
 progrefs. 
 
 You complain of their filence ! You foi*get 
 then, that you have often eftablifhed an infulting 
 equality between them and men covered with 
 crimes, and made up of ignominy. 
 
 You forget then, that you have twenty times 
 left them covered with opprobrium by your 
 galleries. 
 
 You forget then, that you have not thought 
 yourfelves fufficiently powerful to impofe filence 
 upon thefe galleries. 
 
 What ought a wife man to do in the midft of 
 thefe ci re urn (lances ? He is filent. He waits the 
 moment when the paflions give way : he waits 
 till reafon fliali prefide, and till the multitude iliali 
 liften to her voice. 
 
 What has been the tacYic difplayed during all 
 thefe unions ? Cambon, incapable of political 
 calculation, boafting his ignorance in the deplo- 
 matic, flattering the ignorant multitude, lending 
 his name and popularity to the anarchifts, feconded 
 M 3 by
 
 by their vociferations, denounced inceflandy as 
 counter-revolutionifts, thofe intelligent perfon? 
 who were defirous, at leaft, of having things dif- 
 cufled. To oppofe the acts of union, appeared- 
 to Cambon an overt act of treafon. The wifh fo 
 much as to reflect and to deliberate, was in his 
 eyes a great crime. He calumniated our inten- 
 tions. The voice of every deputy, efpecially my 
 voice, would infallibly have been ftified. There 
 were fpies on the very monofyllables that efcaped 
 our lips. 
 
 Well I who were joined with Cambon in com- 
 manding thofe precipitated Unions ? Who ftifled 
 all difcuffion upon them ? Who before-hand 
 poifoned the intentions of well-meaning men t 
 The anarchifis ! Acls of union feemed to double 
 their prey. It was adding to the heap of their 
 Dilapidations. In their thoughts they devoured 
 the inheritance of the people. They opened their 
 throats againft every man who from regard to 
 juftice would tear it from them. 
 
 In fpight of their rage, Gaudet in the com- 
 mittee frequently fet himfelf in opposition to this 
 fyftem 3 becaufe the oppofition, which was im- 
 poflible in the roftrum, was, at leaft poffible at 
 a committee. I myfdf combated it, in concur- 
 rence with him ; becaufe thefe fchemes of union 
 did not feem to us defirable, but fo far as they 
 were founded upon attachment and upon a reci- 
 procal intereft j becaufe in thefe compulfory ads. 
 of union, we faw neither that intereft, nor that 
 reciprocal attachment ; becaufe we believed, that; 
 before we can effect an union, we ought to make 
 ourfelves beloved j to prove ourfdves virtuous and 
 humane, and, not robbers and murderers ; becaufe, 
 in fhorf, we forefaw the denouement of this 
 
 tragedy:.
 
 ( 85 ) 
 
 tragedy : we fore fa w that the Belgians would 
 foon be againft us, from the moment they did 
 not mow themfelves for us, in numbers and with, 
 alacrity. 
 
 This prediction was verified ; and once more 
 I fay, we owe our misfortune to this revolutionary 
 power t which was but a defpotifm in difguife, and 
 to the tyranny of commiffioners, and to the pil- 
 lages, and exceffes of the foldiers. The fource of 
 all has been in the fyftem and in the preponde- 
 rating influence of the anarchiils. 
 
 I do not however mean to diffemble the faults 
 and the treafons of many of our generals, not 
 that I believe they had great part in our misfor- 
 tunes. 
 
 I know, that in delivering himfelf too much 
 up to his natural prefumption, hoping,, as he 'did 
 in Belgium, to fupply by fortunate accidents every 
 thing that was wanting to him, Dumourier di<J 
 not take all the meafures that were neceiiary foe 
 the execution of his deligns. 
 
 I know that Miranda had not all the flores 
 which were neceflary for bombarding Maeftricht ; 
 that Dumourier had reckoned too much upon his 
 intelligence with the patriots of that town, ilncc 
 he wrote to Miranda that the gates would be 
 opened at the third bomb ; while five thouiand 
 were thrown in vain-. 
 
 I know that Valience, who commanded the army 
 of obfervation cantoned at Liege and upon Roeiv 
 fliould have repaired thither fifteen days focner ; 
 that the cantonments fbould have been broken 
 up j that the camp of obfervation fhould have 
 been formed, and prepared to prevent the paflage 
 of the Roer ; that the generals Lanoul and Stin- 
 gel might before-hand have been able to prepare 
 
 another
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 another camp behind Aix la Chappelle : and, irt 
 fhort, have made themfelves fure of preventing 
 the paflage of the Meufe. 
 
 I know that all being forced, and Liege 
 menaced, it was agreeable to the Hate of affairs 
 To empty it of its wealth, and to burn the maga- 
 zines there ; and that general Thouvenot has, 
 perhaps, given proofs of his treafon in letting all 
 fall into the hands of the Auflrians. 
 
 I know all that; but I afk myfelf how our 
 commiffioner inquifitors who were on the fpot, 
 who ought to have known every thing, the 
 plans for the campaign, the fituations of the 
 armies, the reports concerning the marches of the 
 enemy, how they c^ame not to be acquainted 
 with the formation and progrefs of that army of 
 fifty thoufand men ? How they came not to take 
 the neceflary means to obftrudt its paifage, or to 
 difpute it better, in order to enable us to empty 
 our magazines, to carry away the foreign riches, 
 and to render the retreat of the troops lefs difaf- 
 ftrous, and lefs humiliating ? 
 
 I aik myfelf, how the commiffioners, living in 
 intimacy with Dumourier, the other generals, and 
 their etat major, hearing every day the dpclara- 
 tions of Dumourier and of his principal officers 
 againft the Convention, how they did not pene- 
 trate their perfidious defigns ? How comes it 
 that they have not endeavoured to prevent their 
 effecls ? I aik myfelf how it happens, that 
 inftead of making them known, they came to the 
 committee, and to the roiirum of the Conven- 
 tion, to make the eulogy of Durnourier ? How 
 comes it that they declared with vehemence 
 againft that fedion which demanded a decree 
 againft him i^ I afk myfelf how it happened, and' 
 by what accident it was that, prcciicly at that 
 
 epoch,
 
 epoch, Roberfpiere difcontinued his declama- 
 tions againft Dumourier ? Marat not only gave 
 up his denunciations, but even affirmed., that the 
 fafety of France depended upon Dumourier ! On 
 that man who at that very hour was confpiring 
 againit the republic ! I aik myfelf hoiv, and by 
 what means thofe fuddcn eulogies, inexplicable 
 to us, coincided with the confpiracy of the tenth 
 of March ? A confpiracy which alfo tended to 
 difTolve the Convention, and to change our go- 
 vernment ? I afk myfelf how it has happened, that 
 in the midft of all thefe treafons, the commiffioners 
 fufpended only one general, and that general faith- 
 ful to the Republic, who hadrefufed to enter into 
 
 the coalition of the counter- revolutionifts 
 
 general Miranda ? 
 
 I lofe myfelf in this chaos of enigmas. Time 
 has not given us the key ; and it becomes not a 
 republican to ground an accufation upon mere 
 probabilities. . % 
 
 But I will fay, that if the commiffioners, inftead 
 of delivering themfelves up to their pleafures, to 
 their intrigues, or to acts of authority, had dilU 
 gently iludied the fpirit of the Belgians, if they 
 had given us faithful reports upon their difpo- 
 fitions, if they had freely announced the horror 
 this people felt at the revolutionary power, the 
 Convention, to be fure, would have abandoned 
 that difaftrous fyftem of Cambon, which the 
 commiffioners chofe to fofier. They would have 
 preferred more fraternal meafures, and have fpared 
 many misfortunes to France. 
 
 Thefe are not the only misfortunes which we 
 owe to the headflrong difpofitions of Cambon 
 The ciifafters of our finances are in a great degree 
 his work 5 and I fhould think myfelf culpable 
 
 towards
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 towards the nation, which muft be at laft en- 
 lightened, if I did not here Jay open my whole 
 thoughts. 
 
 Supplying the want of information, by a great 
 activity, by an happy memory, by an imagination 
 lively, but without regularity, without juftnefs, 
 without judgement, and without 'knowledge -, 
 carrying into his reafonings upon finance, and 
 into his calculations, the fame impetuofiy, the 
 fame violence, which he difplays in his impaf- 
 lioned controverfies, Cambon has nevertheless 
 acquired a reputation in the finances which he is 
 not entitled to , and he has obtained a prepon- 
 derancy which is fatal to France. He owes the 
 one to certain flatements which it is difficult to 
 attribute to his pen, or to his parts, when they 
 are known ; he owes the other to the favour 
 of the patriots, whofe efteem he gained by the 
 Services he did to the revolution in his part of the 
 country. 
 
 Supported by this, he arrogated to himfelf, 
 as well in the legiilative aflembly as in the Con- 
 vention, a kind of financial diclatorfhip -, for no 
 one has ,more ftrongly declaimed againft a dicla- 
 torfhip, and no one has more frequently ujurped 
 it than Cambon; no one has better known the 
 fecret of bringing his colleagues into fu ejection, 
 and of driving away fuch of them as were his 
 fuperiors in knowledge His genius confifts in 
 one- word to ifjue and always to ijfue affignats ! 
 He has augmented the rnafs by above 3,000 
 millions in eighteen months. But has he thought 
 of any one meafure to reduce that mafs ? Why 
 has he not employed thofe that were prefented 
 by Condorcet, whofe natural timidity has always 
 riinfortunately kept him at a diftance from the 
 
 roftrum ?
 
 roftmm? Why has he not propofed and carried a 
 decree for ibms o thofe meafures prefented by 
 Claviere in 1791, who never ceafed from that 
 time to lay before his eyes the cruel diforders 
 into which we mufl be thrown by the fucceffive 
 iffijes of affignats, if from the' very firfl ifiiie 
 of them meafures were not taken to reduce the 
 quantity? Why did he not propofe his loan iri' 
 affignats, fb.eafy at that time, and which would 
 have obtained that reduction ? Why did he not 
 prefs the fale of the national forefts, which mufl 
 have brought back a quantity of affignats 
 Forefls, whofe incalculable ivajte - leflens their 
 value every day ? Why, again, did he not adopt 
 the meafures that were propofed to induce the 
 purchafers of the national property to anticipate 
 their payments ; an anticipation which mufl have 
 augmented the rnais of the paper to be burnt ? 
 In a word, why has he difdained fo many other 
 ingenious expedients that were (hewn in the memo- 
 rials of Claviere, that were too little read, of that 
 Claviere from whom he wifhed to take leffons in 
 1791 , and whom he wifhed to make his difciple in 
 1792; whofe talents and genius he has inceffantly 
 kept dormant and perfecuted ; becaufe he knew 
 the man's fuperiority over thofc miferable plagi- 
 aries, who lent him their narrow conceptions, 
 by fuggefting to him expedients that were either 
 ruinous or illufory. 
 
 For inflance, wherefore was that prohibition of 
 felling gold, when the national intereft obliges the 
 treafury to make a cuftom of purchafing it; when 
 commerce itielf wanted it for its foreign balances ? 
 
 What was that fanguinary law that was pro- 
 pofed againft the fale of gold, but a tacit confd- 
 iion of the impotence of the law ? Wherefore 
 N
 
 ( 90 ) 
 
 was that interruption of commerce with London, 
 Amfterdarn, and all the great towns, when France 
 is obliged to draw fo much from abroad, when 
 foreigners are fo much indebted to France ? Does 
 not the circuit occafioned by this interruption, 
 operate as a tax entirely to the lofs of the nation ? 
 
 But they would profcribe all flock-jobbing.- 
 Why, then, did not Cambon (hut up the exchange 
 fooner, as Claviere has been inceffantly requir- 
 ing iince 1791 ? it was going flrait to the very 
 fource of the evil. Why, after he had himfelf 
 confefied that flock-jobbing could only be 
 combated by counter ftock-jobbing ; why, after 
 he had confefled that flock-jobbing fo prodi- 
 gioufly raifed the price of fpecie, why did they 
 not grant to the executive council fome millions 
 for the operations of a bank for railing exchange? 
 fiuce it was proved, that with that facrifice, it 
 might, perhaps, have made a faving of more than 
 an hundred millions, ufelefsly facrificed in that 
 purchafe of money, which is enveloped in fuch 
 darknefs, although it may be the mod cruel and 
 the mod burthenfome tax for the nation, and 
 with which confequently he ought to be befl ac- 
 quainted. This purchafe has often been trufled to 
 the hands of men who had an intereil in running 
 counter to the revolution, and to the operations 
 of government.* 
 
 Why 
 
 * Author.] They have without ceafmg reproached Cam- 
 bon that he employed in thefe purchafes ariftocratic brokers. 
 He has always kept them ; he has crufted coniiderable opera- 
 tions of this kind to fuch houfes as Bourdieu and Cholet ii> 
 England j which, after the declaration of war, has made the 
 
 Englifh
 
 ( 9' ) 
 
 Why again did not Cambon employ himfelf 
 in finding out means to diminish the uic of- af- 
 Jignats ? and for example, why did not he (who 
 never ceafed in the roftrum to denounce the little 
 dilapidators) denounce the firft of dilapidations ? 
 Why did not he, who from the month of Auguft,- 
 
 1792, afferted, that the accountant branch of 
 the war office, that gulph which fwallows up the 
 wealth of the nation, was in a frightful diforder, 
 why has he not propofed meafures to cure that 
 diforder ? Why has he left things to continue qui- 
 etly in the fame Hate; infomuch that in May, 
 
 1793, he, Cambon, ftill announced, that it was 
 impoilible for any man living to draw out a clear 
 account of the fiate of that department ? It is, be- 
 caufe, to clean thefe augean ilables courage was 
 wanting boldly to look in the face thofe anarchifts 
 who domineer and peculate with impunity in that 
 department ; it is, that it was neceffary to have 
 the courage to make them empty their pockets ; 
 it is, that Cambon not only never has had that 
 courage, but that he has iince coalefced with the 
 offenders ! He who neverthelefs had confeffed to 
 the committee of general defence that bankruptcy 
 was inevitable if anarchy prevailed, if they did 
 not feverely punim the preachers up of the Agra- 
 rian Law, of feditions, &c. 
 
 Englifii government feize from them about five millions. 
 They have never given in an account of this lofs to the 
 Convention. At this period the treafury, directed by 
 Cambon, had about twenty-five -millions of money purcha- 
 fed in England, and which was expofed to feizure. What 
 is become of that money no one knows. 
 
 What is the Jlaie of this tranfaftion ? We know nothing 
 of it. [Travjlatsr.] Poflibly the author may have done in- 
 juftice to thole agents in London. 
 
 N 2 At
 
 -At prefent, what is the refult of this complai- 
 fance of Cambon for the anarchifts r* Of this 
 want of (kill, and want of forefight with which 
 he has fuffered the accumulation both of difburfe- 
 merits and of the mafs of the affignats ? 
 
 The ftill increafing mafs of affignats depreci- 
 ation always increafing, the mortgage fecurity 
 decreafmg in value and in quantity, expendi- 
 ture always increafmg, public revenue decrea- 
 iing in proportion, impofiibility of being able 
 to maintain the war and to fulfil engagements, 
 impoffibility of drawing materials from abroad. 
 Fall of manufactures, diftrefs of the labourers, 
 exceffive rife in the price of proviiions, 
 general mifery of the people, fedition, &c. &c. 
 
 Here are the evils to which we are expofed by 
 falfe calculation, and by the vicious fy item of finance 
 
 * Author. ~\ I fhould make two obfervattons which have 
 ilruck me in examining Cambon's conduct. I obferve 
 that immediately the Roftrum affects to flatter the mul- 
 titude, and every flatterer of the multitude makes me fufpect 
 his views. 
 
 I obferve that Cambon has never been attacked by the 
 Journalifrs who, attack the moft virtuous men, and thefe 
 managements of calumny increafe my f'.ifpicions ; poftibly 
 it is the refult of his connections with certain perfons who 
 difpofe of the pens of Calumniators who are in their pay. 
 
 I fay nothing of the reports that are fpread upon the 
 increafe of fortunes. I know nothing; of it, and I do not 
 fo eafily adopt common reports ; yet how is his oppofi- 
 tion to the law propofed by Buzot explained ? Who forces 
 every Deputy to give in the balance of his fortune a -quired 
 fince the Legiflative or Conftituent Aflembly, and to juf- 
 tify the caiifes of its increafe. Does Cambon fo much fear 
 the light? Mine is ready The account ftands in one 
 word. Nothing-- and it is the only anfvver that I make 
 to the epithet that he has given me---The ally of PITT. 
 If madnefs has not then turned his head, if he has faid it, 
 if he could repeat it in cold blood Cambon is an infamous 
 calumniator. 
 
 that
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 that Cambon has followed : evils that a man of 
 genius at the head 'of the finance would infallibly 
 have prevented; always fuppofing that he ha4 
 attached himfelf to a fyftem of order, the only 
 one that is capable of eftabliming the republican 
 government, and faving France ; always fuppo- 
 fing he had combated that fyftem of a revolu- 
 tionary power, which cannot but ruin the republic 
 as well as the finances : evils of which it is ft ill 
 poiTible to diminim the extent and the conie- 
 quences ; if at length a difpofition is found to 
 abandon that fatal fyitem. 
 
 I confefs I am ftill to learn, how men hope to 
 eftablifh liberty by defpotifm, or to repel their 
 enemies, or to difperfe the difcontented, or even 
 to diminiih their number, without eftablifhing 
 order throughout. 
 
 I am again at a lofs to know what the anar- 
 chifts mean, what they aim at, by the word re- 
 volutionary. 
 
 When we aik an explanation from an anar- 
 ch ift, he is very much embarrafled, which is ne- 
 ver the cafe with his adverfary. I wifh, fays 
 the latter, for order provtfionaHy ; and confe- 
 quently for the execution of the laws. 1 wifh 
 to find a conftitution as fpeedily as poflible : be- 
 caufe every one wtfies to know the facial con- 
 tract under which he miift hve : becaufe it is in 
 that contract only, that he will find a folid 
 pledge of his happinefs, and an incentive to fight 
 with refolution again ft the enemies of his coun- 
 try. 
 
 The anarchift fays, without doubt there muft 
 be order, there muft be, a conftitution, but the 
 time for it is not yet come. Well ! why not ? is 
 the anfwer. 
 
 Becaufe,
 
 ( 04 ) 
 
 Becaufe, fays he, the revolution is not finimed, 
 bccaufe we have mal-contents within, enemies 
 abroad, and that the revolutionary power is alone 
 able to fubdue both the one and the other. 
 
 I anfwer to the anarchiih by what means 
 will you fubdue your enemies abroad ? Is it not 
 by troops, by money, and by provifions ? By 
 what means do you propofe to have troops ? Is 
 it not \vhen your fellow-citizens (hall become 
 lincerely attached to your new government ? Is 
 it not when they mall be acquainted with it ? 
 But if government <J es not exifl, if inftead 
 of liberty, nothing mail be feen but acts of def- 
 potifm ; if inftead of order, nothing is feen but 
 confufion, how will you find men ready to med 
 their blood to promote diforder ? How can you 
 expect that the labourer can low the earth, of 
 which he has no affurance that he (hall gather 
 the fruits ? That the merchant will buy and fell 
 when his mop may be pillaged ? How will you 
 get money or affignats while fear makes men hide 
 their money - y when diforder reduces the value of 
 atTignats, and prevents the purchafing of lands, 
 the produce of which would augment their 
 value ? 
 
 Let us examine things at home. What is it 
 that increafes the number of malcontents ? Is it 
 not the fear that every citizen feels either for his 
 fortune, or for his enjoyments, or for his life ? 
 and by what means do you propofe to diminifli 
 the number of thefe mal-contents, if you per- 
 fift in that ftate of violence, where every day 
 property is violated, or the fafety of individuals is 
 attacked ? Is it by commifiioners, who in one day 
 dijlribute more tboufands of Leltres de Cachets, 
 than were dijiributed in the old times by all 
 6 the
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 the inquifitors ? Is it by an enormous creation of 
 affignats, which portend disturbances beyond the 
 power of calculation ? Is it by exciting the poor 
 againft the rich, that you will make profelytes to 
 your fyftem ? 
 
 In fhort, be perfuaded that to continue what 
 you call the " revolutionary power" is to wifh 
 the deftruclion of the revolution. Convulfions 
 in politics -as well as phyfics rnuft have their 
 term : their too long duration is mortal. 
 . In two words, do you wifh to have ftrength 
 fufficient to overcome your enemies abroad ? 
 Have order, have a conftitutiort. With a con- 
 ftitution you will have armies. Without a con- 
 ftitution your armies will foon difappear. 
 
 Have order, have a good conftitution, and your 
 mal- contents will loan be difperfed. 
 
 I go farther, have order, have a conftitution, 
 and the foreign powers will foon aik peace of 
 you. How can you expect, that in this uncertain 
 and 'watering fiate in which you are, foreign pow- 
 ers can conjent to treat with a Convention, 'which 
 is every day dragged through the dirt ; becauje it 
 is the loweft difgrace to treat with an executive 
 power which is without intennijjion denounced, 
 humiliated) and tottering * . 
 
 When 
 
 * Traii/tatar.] Will any one contradicfc M. Br.flbt, and 
 aflert, that Great Britain might have treated with France in 
 the lail feifions, in 1792, when it was propofed in the Houfe of 
 Commons to fend ambailadors to Paris for that purpafe ? Is the 
 ti/ne s or the people now more fitted for r.ezo :',<; inn ? All thefe 
 interrogatories have iince received one coacluilve atilvver 1"he 
 Guillotine. This is the refource by which they uave hitherto 
 fupportcd that fyftem, by which oar author iuppoies they muft 
 be ruined. 
 
 It hardly feemed poflible to add any thing to the humi- 
 liation of that affcmbly and executive power when the 
 
 authof
 
 ( 96 r 
 
 When "the powers of Europe fent their am- 
 bafiadors to the long Parliament of England and 
 fought its alliance, that parliament, and the exe- 
 cutive council appointed by them, pollened a 
 great force. They caufed the laws to be refpecl- 
 ed ; they broke, and without meeting any rcii fi- 
 ance, the mayor and the aldermen 'of London, 
 who had refufed obedience to their decrees. 
 There was an authority, there was a force ! they 
 were fure that the treaty concluded with fuch a 
 power would be executed. 
 
 But foreign- powers who would treat wiib us 
 m the a5iual jtate that ?ve jland in, could they 
 entertain a flmilar hope ? No, they fay France 
 is divided by factions. One triumphs to-day : 
 to-morrow it will be the 'triumph of another. 
 If you treat with one, the other will break the 
 treaty. There is no {lability. Let us wait for 
 that fhbility -, and then we will treat. 
 
 I, believe more than perhaps any other man 
 does, that we have within ourfelves all poilible 
 refources for the fubjugaticn of our enemies, pro- 
 vided thofe refources are well adminiilered. I 
 believe that we ought not to lay down our arms 
 till the honour of our Republic mall be vindi- 
 cated, and her independence confirmed and ac- 
 knowledged. But I believe, too, that the object 
 of this war, like the object of all other wars, 
 ought to be peace : and that every good French- 
 man ought to look out for the means of acce- 
 lerating that event, becaufe the moil fuccefsful 
 war always moil cruelly preiTes upon the indigent 
 clafs of the people. 
 
 The 
 
 ?uthor wrote. We, however, fee that they can be placed 
 in, a fituation far more bafe and degrading, and, far more 
 removed from the pofiibility of any negociation with 
 them.
 
 f 97 ) 
 
 The end then of the foreign war lies in the 
 end of the domeftic anarchy. Have a conftitu- 
 tion ; have .an energetic government which puts 
 the laws in execution, and you. will foon have 
 peace. For foreign powers alfo feel the want of 
 peace : but they ID ant to have It Jo lid and. dura- 
 ble. What oppofes itfelf with moft force to the 
 perfecting of this confutation, and to the efta- 
 bliihment of this government ? It is anarchy 
 that does it, which will be fatisfied with nothing 
 hut a revolutionary power, with nothing but 
 revolutionary meafures ; and which fulminates 
 an anathema ag^inft a conftitution, as againft an 
 aft of treafon.* 
 
 We have run through the caufes of our mif- 
 fortunes j our aclual lituation mufl be looked at, 
 to the end that we may be able to apply the re- 
 medy. 
 
 Here, then, is our lituation 
 
 *d nation numerous, active, induftrious, fer- 
 tile in refources, that nature feems phyfically to 
 have predeftined to a republican government, by 
 its facility of interior communication, and by the 
 natural dependencies which the departments have 
 on one another : a nation, the majority of 
 which wiflies for a republic but would alfo have 
 order. 
 
 * Tranjlator.] The Anarchifts have, fince the author's 
 imprifonment, made a fort of code which they call a con- 
 ftitution. It does not differ fubftantially from the former 
 delirious contrivance of the fame kind. But, whatever its 
 intrinfic merits may be, it is fufpended as ta its execution, 
 by the. Revolutionary Power ^ the Revolutionary Committee^ 
 and the Revolutionary Tribunals ; all which are in far greater 
 activity than ever. 
 
 O Several
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 Several departments where the be ft difpofition 
 is predominant, which the anarchifts could not 
 corrupt, by miffionaries of blood, whom they 
 have twice fent for that purpose. Departments 
 who are ftill to learn that the Convention has 
 neither liberty nor power to bicak the force of 
 the factious who hold a dominion over it. And 
 why are the departments thus ignorant ? Becaufe 
 the beft patriots among the journalifts have 
 kept up their error, in order to preferve the con- 
 fidence of the departments to the Convention: 
 which is neceflary to her.* 
 
 Some departments t inflamed by the fire of a re- 
 volt, which our rulers ought to have endeavoured 
 to appeafe by inilruclion, whilft they ought alfo 
 to have put a flop to it by arms : a revolt that 
 they have certainly inflamed by linking indif- 
 tinctly with the fword of the law, not only the 
 chiefs, but all thole unfortunate men who, whe- 
 ther by feduction or by compulfion, follow their 
 banners ; a revolt that will not be quelled, 
 but by combining meafures gentle, and fit to en- 
 lighten, with that great difplay of force, which 
 would difpenfe with the fpiiling ib much blood. 
 For it is the blood of our brethren. 
 
 Armies, which wiih only to fight for the re- 
 public ; and who equally deteil kings, dictators, 
 and triumvirs, and all fpirit of faction, but who 
 are fo far removed from the fcene that they do 
 
 * TranJ!ator.~\ The author has endeavoured in vain to 
 optn their eyes. They Jcnow the ftate of the Convention, 
 yet all the departments whofe difpofition he commends have 
 fubmimd by fear or by force, to thofe whom he, properly 
 enough, calls the anarchifts ; he has ttraiigely rriifcalcuiated 
 the power, or at leaft the energy, of thofe whom, he fuppofes 
 fober and orderly republicans. 
 
 not
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 not fee, even in the journals, any thing to enable 
 them to form a right judgment. 
 
 Popular Jbdeties, which have almoil every 
 where contributed to raife the edifice of liberty, 
 which all wiih a republic ; but fome of which 
 are milled upon the queftion of the mode of en- 
 furinr a good republican government, by the 
 anarchifts who direct the focieties of Paris, by 
 their perfidious correfpondence, by their fecrcc 
 emiilaries, and by the long habit that all thofe 
 focieties are in, of looking on that of Paris as 
 the moll pure focus of patriotifm ; in mort, by 
 the defpotifm by which they have driven from 
 thofe focieties, all regular difcuffion, all men of 
 information, and all the documents which might 
 have enlightened them. 
 
 In turning our attention to Paris as a center, 
 there is to be feen a Convention, pure in its ma- 
 jority, but conftrained in its movements ; wafted 
 in its energy ; almoft always commanded in its 
 refults and determination ; reckoning too much 
 upon the chances of what may happen ; having 
 no vigour but at fuddcn jerks ; excellent when it 
 purfues its firil impreflion ; but liable to fufpi- 
 cions j fubject alfo to be intimidated. This Con- 
 vention is compofed of three elements, of three 
 parties eaiily to be diftinguimed. 
 
 * The mft the fworn enemy of the anarchifts, 
 enlightened, irreproachable, courageous, and deter- 
 mined either to die or to eftablifh liberty by order. 
 
 * jfuthor.] They maiked this party under the name of 
 " the right band fide." The other under the name of *< tht 
 fiat fide" and the third has taken the name of " the moun- 
 tain** 
 
 O 2 The
 
 The fecond willing to hold the balance 
 among republicans, , friends to order, compre- 
 hending confiderable talents, great probity, real 
 patriotifm, but intermingled with many weak 
 men who can do nothing but complain ; who be- 
 lieve that to capitulate with crimes is the way to 
 {line them ; put in motion by whifpers of certain 
 artful men who play the part of fpies to the 
 anarch ifts, and move the fprings of terror, of 
 fufpicion, of calumny; directed, without daring 
 to cwh it, by five or fix individuals, who, cry- 
 ing out again (1 the arijlocracy of talents , have 
 craftily arranged for themfeives a pretty agreeable 
 fort of defpotifm, which they exercile, by fomc- 
 times capitulating and participating with the an- 
 archills, and fometirnes by declaiming againft 
 them, when they perceive that they are the 
 weak ell, 
 
 ,A third party (the anarchifts) few in number, 
 but who well know how to fupply the deficiency 
 by management compolld of dupes and rogues 
 compofed of men of good lungs, who have only 
 the faculty cf coining phrafes, of fhouting and 
 bawling, andraifing clamours and outcries, directed 
 by certain, hypocritical chiefs, who talk continu- 
 ally of Sans Cit!otterie whilft they are affecting an 
 infolent luxury ; whilft they are augmenting every 
 day their own property, who are puppets of the 
 dictator {hip rather than dictators ; who pufh 
 France towards royalty, by always talking of a 
 republic; and not being fatisfied to eftabliih it, 
 except upon laws of blood. 
 
 Galleries, where the fovereign mafiacres domi- 
 neer, fo well painted by the energetic Fauchet. 
 Galleries defignedly familiarized, and for a long 
 time, with infolence, diforder, and vociieration, 
 
 infulting
 
 infulting with impunity the deputies of whofe 
 courage the anarchifts are in dread. 
 
 Jmt at the outfide of the ball certain groups of 
 cut-tbroats, placed there to outrage and menace 
 the deputies in their paiTage. 
 
 In the wardens and the places about, groups of 
 idlers, who go there as to a fhow ; and of banditti, 
 who preach the order of the day, ifiued by the 
 fecret directories ; and of female bacchanals, who 
 talk of'nothing but cutting-ofF heads. 
 
 Sefthns where, till the movement given in 
 thefe latter times, by the recruiting law, honeft 
 men dared not (hew themfelves ; where twenty or 
 thirty individuals idle, or in pay, dictated laws. 
 Sections numeroufly attended at prefent, and con- 
 fequently better, but too fubjecl: to change, making 
 and unmaking their refolutions, according to the 
 time, and to the humour of the party which hap- 
 pens to be uppermoft. 
 
 A people more divided in opinion than it 
 appears to be ; compofed of a great number 
 of aristocrats, who fecretly define the return of 
 the old government ; who hate the republicans 
 ftill more than they do the anarchifts; who to make 
 fure of their property, would defend the former : 
 who to gain their beloved object ftir up the lat- 
 ter ; compofed in part of men who live upon their 
 induilry ; who weary of commotions which give 
 no means of livelihood, Jet things go on, are 
 willing to fee what will happen, applaud the 
 friends of order in fecret, but command even 
 their faces to be mute ; compofed of men who 
 iincerely wim a republkf, but who are not 
 numerous enough .to convert the ariitocrats, to 
 cure the indifferent' of their lethargy, or to 
 4
 
 conquer the profligacy of three or four thoufand 
 robbers difperfed up and down in this city. 
 
 A public force which is not organized, which 
 is not armed ; to which, however, tl>e juftice 
 muft be done, to fay that they keep uj/ the par- 
 ticular police with cars. 
 
 A department that is nuU> or rendered paraly- 
 tic, when it does not join itfelf with the anar- 
 chifts. 
 
 A municipality, entirely at their devotion, and in 
 a ftate of open rebellion againft the Convention. 
 
 A focicty of yaczbins entirely abandoned by 
 all true patriots, by all well informed men, by all 
 the deputies who deferve any efteem, or who 
 pofTefs any modefly, a fociety which is delivered 
 up to ambitious and covetous leaders, 
 
 An executive council too much difcredited to 
 be obeyed, tied down with cords too numerous 
 to be able to proceed ; loaded with all refponfibi- 
 lity, though deprived of all power. A council 
 where the minifter who holds the moft impor- 
 tant department, that on which the fafety of 
 France depends, the minifter of war, is a weak 
 man even in the opinion of his protectors j 
 who, in fpight of his weakncfs, in fpight of 
 the difoiders in his offices, in fpight of the evil 
 he does, is ftill kept in his place. 
 
 A committee of public fafety in the hands of 
 which the whole power is really placed ; which 
 holds the miniftry under its ferula, difpofes of 
 every thing, nominates to every thing, without 
 the leaft reiponfibility ; which is able to influ- 
 ence the departments and the armies, by its com- 
 miffioners, and the fpirit it infpires into them; 
 which commands the afiemblies, by its being 
 the reporter, and by the terror of what they 
 
 give
 
 give to be underftood, rather thrm what they 
 exprefs, and by that influence, which fo ealily 
 transfers itfelf from things of importance to men, 
 who are themfelves of no importance at all; 
 a committee plainly invented, to ufurp under 
 another name, the miniftry, which they could 
 not directly ufurp ; a committee which can 
 ruin or ferve France, according to its moral, 
 or its immoral character, the talents, or the 
 folly of its members, a committee, the nomina- 
 tion of which has been produced by an ar- 
 rangement between the ambition, the fear, and 
 the jealoufy dictated by the confpirators of the 
 loth of March, which had all of them their 
 reprefentatives therein ; a committee where we 
 look in vain for the extenfive views, capable of 
 embracing the immenfe fcene occupied by the 
 French Revolution, and for that decided character 
 which, if it does not make itfelf matter of 
 events, is never mattered by them, a committee 
 in which there is found among fome, rectitude 
 without fpirit, among others, a fort of fpirit with- 
 out rectitude, and in hort, among a third, thofe 
 who turn fentences, phrafes, and mew a kind of 
 animation, without either fpirit or rectitude. A 
 committee where the mediocrity of the doers can 
 alone give us feme fecurity againft the extent and 
 the abufe of their powers, but where no confola- 
 ti0n is found for the evil brought uoon us by their 
 folly. 
 
 Men of difcernment ought to judge of the 
 dommittee by one fact. If this committee had 
 fearched for the caufe of our evils they would 
 tfot have flopped merely, where the fire mewed 
 itfelf, on the frontiers, and at Vendee they 
 iiiould have fearched higher ; they would have 
 
 4 found
 
 that caufe in the want of a confutation", 
 They fhould have faid to the aflembly, the re- 
 volt at Vendee, the war abroad, the mifcry, the 
 exhaufted Hate of the finances, our inteftine di- 
 vifions, our anarchy, all is there, all is in the 
 one word, " there is no constitution" 
 
 Obtain then a conftitution, obtain one in a 
 month ; in a fortnight ; in a week if you can ; 
 let it but be accepted, and r.11 your evils will be 
 finished. A conftitution is better than arms. 
 A conftitution is better than the bell miiiiona-\ 
 ries to the rebels, better than the befr. negociators 
 with foreign powers, better than the heft meafures 
 for checking the men who come to tyrannize over 
 you, even within your very precincts. 
 
 They tell of favages who cleave their fculls in 
 order to cure themfelves of the head-ach. That 
 is the very image of our committee of fafety. 
 It dreams only of war, and of laws of blood, yet 
 it fpeaks to us of negociations children ! whom 
 they amufe ! It is madnefs or imbeciility itfelf to 
 reckon upon a peace, or upon allies, while we 
 are without a constitution. There is no making 
 an alliance, there is no treating with anarchy. 
 To treat with men, who have not the power 
 to arreffc the guilty, who infult them at their 
 door, or the women, who in fpite of their teeth, 
 exercife the police of their precinct, or the Jaco- 
 bines who haughtily fubfcribe their contingent of 
 heads to be cut off'*. 
 
 "Tyrants 
 
 * Author."} The fame talic always takes p'ace in the environs 
 of the new hall. The banditti and the female bacchanals have 
 found means to gain polieilion of it. What can a guard com- 
 pofed of plain citizens do, who are changed every day, and 
 
 who
 
 C 105 ) 
 
 'Tyrants are not to ttupid. They treated with 
 Cromwell, whom they detefted, becaufe he knew 
 
 ho'w to make himfelf refpe&ed. Our caufe is' 
 
 as good as his was execrable. Let us make 
 
 ourfelves refpected at home, and tyrants will foon 
 be at our feet ; that is what the committee of 
 public fafety. mould have, faid to the Convention 
 ten days after its formation, and without doubt 
 it would have taken a vigorous part. 
 
 Such are the individuals, fuch the bodies who 
 play a part in the republic ; who may caufe its hap- 
 pinefs, or its mifery. After fuch a ilate of fads, it 
 is our bufinefs to fee how the republic can be 
 faved. The Convention is, and alone ought to be 
 intruded with that care; all ought to center in 
 her ; all ought to proceed from her bofom. Is it 
 good, is it free? All its meafures will be good 
 and will be powerful. Is it mattered ? The mea- 
 fures partake of the nature of the men, and of the 
 bodies which obtain the dominion. 
 
 The Convention' cannot fave France, except 
 by ettabl;iLing proviiional order, and in finishing 
 a conttitution. 
 
 It cannot" eftablim order but in making decrees 
 repreiTive of anarchy as well as carrying them intQ 
 execution. 
 
 Thefc decrees' cannot be made and carried into 
 execution but ^"hen the deputies fi all be 'fet free 
 from all per fonal fear. 
 
 who have no jdea like the former guard ofhwour t of. keep- 
 ing off a mob from the hall. 
 
 A refolution was parted that 400 tickets fhould be given to 
 the -deputies for their brethren of the departments. Thefe 
 women infult and ftrike all who pafs to thofe places. Do 
 you recollecl the outrage done to Bonneville, author of thofe 
 excellent patriotic writings ? Has th? outrage been punilhed ? 
 
 P This
 
 ,Thi fear will never go off till the Conven- 
 tion, is in perfect tranquillity, is furrounded with 
 refpetSt, with confidence, or at leafl with a force 
 capable of making general tranquillity and the 
 liberty of every individual refpected. 
 
 The deputies never will believe themfelves free, 
 but when they fhall be calmly liftened to, and 
 without being hooted at by the galleries : when 
 they m-ill be no longer threatened (within -their 
 own precincls) to have their throats cut for their 
 opinions : when, in order to repel thefe threats 
 and provocations, they (hall no longer be obliged 
 to come to the Convention armed with iwords, 
 piftols, and poignards ; for every deputy is ft ill 
 reduced to that fad extremity : when they ihall 
 no longer for the fake of their opinions be ca- 
 luminated, nor profcribed as a mark for the 
 fvvords of affaffins, in the clubs, in the municipa- 
 lity, in the fedtions: when they fhall fee the 
 Convention, or the tribunals, punim or caufe to 
 be. feverely punifhed, both caluminators, ring- 
 leaders, and aflaflins, 
 
 Thefe are the conditions, without which per- 
 fonal liberty of opinion cannot exift, nor of 
 courfe can the Convention exift. 
 
 But, it is irnpoffible to reprefs the galleries, the 
 aflaffins, and the calumniation, the daring at- 
 tacks of the clubs of Jacobins, * and the uiurpa- 
 
 tions 
 
 * Have you not feen in thofe latter .times, Chaumette An- 
 nounce to the municipality of Paris, that he had at laft form- 
 ed the committee of. correfpondence with the 44,000 munici- 
 palities, in fpite of the law of the 25th of Oilober r Have you 
 not feen'that municipality caufc the author of the fedlion of 
 Bon-Counfeil to be arrefted, becaufe in the name of that fec- 
 lion, he came to proteft his zeal for maintaining order, and 
 
 the
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 tlons of the municipality; becaufe it is witli 
 thefe elements that the leaders of the Jacobins 
 form their army, an army neceffarily protected 
 by them ; becaufe thefe leaders are matters of 
 a real power, which not only rivals that of the 
 aflembly, but even entirely crumes it. I have 
 cited too many examples. 
 
 Guadet has propofed the only fit meafures 
 that are fuitable to the occafion. They go at 
 once to their object ; they apply a cauftic to the feat 
 of the evil. At every other time, and in every other 
 body, nothing could appear fo iimple, fo natural* 
 
 the independence of the aflembly ? Has this tranfgreffion 
 which reflected on the atlembly, been punilhed ? 
 
 As to the Jacobins, though there exifts a law, condemning 
 to death all inftigators to murder, and the dilTolution of the 
 Convention ; though the profecution of the confpirators of the 
 loth of March was ordered, have not the Jacobins at every 
 fitting renewed this confpiracy, and provocations to mur- 
 der ? I will quote an example taken literally from the journal 
 of the fittings of the Jacobins, 1 2th May, 1 793. 
 
 A military man " Do you wifh to fave the country ? 
 
 " the way t9 do it is, to exterminate all the wicked before they 
 " efcape ; I have ftudied the Convention, it is partly compofed 
 <l of wicked men, on whom juflice mujl be bad, and to that endj 
 " alarm-guns mull be fired and the gates fhnt." (Applaufes.) 
 
 Bentabole, the deputy prefident, pretended not to obferve 
 this inftigation to murder, and paid the foldier fome vague 
 compliments. They cried out that he is a man of moderation 
 and a Feuillant. 
 
 A citizen of Lyon calling himfelf deputy of the conftltuent 
 authorities of this city " People, you fuffer mifery in the 
 midft of bleflings which encompafs you, and know not 
 how to ftrike ! The mountain cannot fave the public 
 weal, l/ecaufc the majority of the Convention is corrupted. We 
 muft make every thing that is impure vanifli from France. 
 You can never effe& a revolution, without bloodfhed. You 
 would be mere children without it. The moderate traduce the 
 friends of the people, but there is a method to put yourfelves 
 above their cahimnies, it is to exterminate the moderate." 
 
 P 2 Well !
 
 ( '0.8 ) 
 
 Well! The very reading of GuadetV plan made 
 thefe timid men ihndder ; they trufted ftill to 
 their palliatives ! 
 
 Yet, (and it is a truth that ought to be in- 
 ceffantlv repeated,) as long as the Convention has 
 not the courage to carry the ideas of Guadet into 
 execution ; as long as the Convention dares not 
 io order an nd to be put to the fittings of the Ja- 
 cobins of Paris ; as long as it will not order their 
 hall to be fhut up, and a leal put upon their papers ; 
 as long as it declines to order profecution to be car- 
 ried on againft thofe who inftigate men to murder, 
 and to the diffolution of the Convention ; as long as 
 it fuffers kfclf to be rendered every day more and 
 more contemptible, every day to be more and 
 more iniulted ; as long as it leaves the open rebel- 
 lion of the municipality of Paris unpunimed, the 
 Convention will not be free, me will not be any 
 thing. She cannot fettle order in any one place, 
 fmce me cannot command it at her own door.--- 
 So much for order. 
 
 As for the Conjliiution, there is no hope of 
 fettling it, but in. putting an end to the quarrels, 
 the hatreds, and the iuipicions which excite one 
 party of the Affembly againftthe other; but by find- 
 ing the fee ret to hinder thcfcenes of tumult made 
 by the men who are averie to all conftitu- 
 tions, the fecret to have our debates calm, 
 undifguifed, and mature. But is this pofiible ? 
 Men who love, peace, imagine they always leer 
 it. Such men are but .too readv completely tojo-r- 
 get the Jlorm when they are out of danger. One 
 or two calm fittings reflore- their hope, till ano- 
 ther violent tempefl .again blows it away. Jt is 
 thus that, they float in perpetual uncertainty, 
 yielding, during the ftorm, and adding flrength 
 
 to-
 
 to the error of the departments, from the xkluuVe 
 hopes they derive from every momentary calm. 
 Every one fays to himfelf, reafon has had a tri- 
 umph to day ; anarchy has had the worft of it; 
 let us then have patience ! They do not fee that 
 the anarchifts have always. the upper hand in the 
 conduct of affairs, and in important decifions ; 
 and it is of thefe men that yen. \vouJd filence 
 the paiiions, in order to perfect fuccefs in 
 your million ! Of thefe men, who have iworn 
 to eternize the di feu Hi on of the .conftitution, 
 in order to eternize their own power ! Of thefe 
 men, who know the iecretof their own (irengtb, 
 fince they have an hundred times found that 
 twenty of their people, by dint of nolle, and 
 clamour, and howling, have, after a five or fix 
 hours ohftinate debate, dictated to three or four 
 hundred men, fuch decrees as they chofe ! No, 
 that fort of difpute would have no end, efpecially 
 if you* add to the calculation oil' pafiions, the 
 chances of events, which rapidly ilicceed each 
 other, and which will almoft always draw the at- 
 tention of the Aflembly. 
 
 In fhort, as to the force with which it will be 
 neceiYary to encompafs either the Convention or 
 the authorities, to whom the execution of the law- 
 is committed, it can be but of two kinds, moral 
 or phyfical. 
 
 The moral force will be null, while there exifts 
 with impunity, whether in the municipality, or 
 in the clubs, fchools of defamation again ii the con- 
 ftituted authorities. 
 
 Every neceflary difUncVion is to be here made. 
 Undoubtedly the Convention continues to hold 
 the confidence of the departments ; ancfr this truth 
 deferves to be well thought upon, efpecially by 
 
 Grangers,
 
 Grangers, who are but too ready to calculate the fall 
 of the Convention, from the local degradation that 
 ihe fuffers, in the opinion of thofe ftrangers who 
 foolilhly confider this local degradation as a national 
 degradation. No, this lad does not exift, and there 
 lies the fafety of France.* For the confidence 
 which the Convention is in poffeffion of through- 
 mi t France, is fufficient to enfure execution of the 
 Jaws, and refpedt to the members. 
 
 Perhaps it may be concluded, through another 
 miftake, that the Convention having the confi- 
 dence of the departments, muft have that moral 
 force which is neceflary to her for fulfilling the 
 duties of her million. That confidence is not fuf- 
 ficient to that purpofe ; ihe muft alfo join to it in 
 particular the confidence of that great city which 
 Ihe inhabits. 
 
 I am very ready to believe with Petion, who 
 has well flu died the fpirit of Paris, that if all her 
 inhabitants were united in the lections, and were 
 interrogated upon their opinions in regard to the 
 ailembly, they would aTmofl all of them vote in 
 her favour. How is it then that addreffes, peti- 
 tions, and arrefts, are every day ifluing from that 
 town, announcing to the Convention, that (he has 
 loft the confidence of Paris? It is that honefl men 
 abandon the place to the anarchiftg.-f- What is 
 the relult ? -That in appearance the Convention 
 
 * Tranftator*} All the world has feen how well thcfe de- 
 partments have provided for their fuppty. The jacobins of 
 Paris have triumphed every where : and the author and his 
 friends, members ot the Convention, have been abandoned. 
 
 \ Author. \ Quid expefla* ? One might fay with Cicero, 
 who apoftrophiled the fame inertnefs of that clafs of men, 
 during the leditions of Cataline. Quid ergo in vacation* 
 omnium tuas poffeffiones facro fanflas fore putas ? 
 
 is
 
 ( III ) 
 
 is,.at war with Paris, and has not her confidence. 
 From the moment then that this war has ex- 
 igence, wherein libels, placards, and addreffes, take 
 off from the Aflembly that moral force which 
 ought to furround her ; -tvhere, in faff, (he is an- 
 nihilated by ufurpation, and the rivalfhip for 
 power, which is fet up by the clubs, the lec- 
 tions, and the municipality, it is evident, that - 
 the Convention no longer poffeffes the fmalleft 
 moral force, although me does poflefs, in appear- 
 ance, all of that force with which the eighty-four 
 departments can furround her. The reafbn is evi- 
 dent : this laft acts only from a diftance ; acts only 
 by addreiles, which are laughed at, which never 
 aims a blow at the robbers, and is to them no better 
 than a vain phantom. 
 
 To fupply this moral force, the phyfical force, 
 the force of arms, muft be called in to make the 
 Affembly reflected, and her decrees executed. 
 
 Phyfical force ! cry the anarchifts. You are then 
 tyrants: they only want that force: make your- 
 f elves beloved by the people, and the people will 
 ferve you for a guard. 
 
 Make yourfelves beloved by the people ! But by 
 what people do you mean to fpeak of ? By the 
 people of France ? The Convention is in pof- 
 iefTion of their confidence. Of the people of Paris ? 
 The Convention believe themfelves to be in po 
 fefiion of it. Js it by that people of robbers who 
 furround her incloliire, commit outrage in the 
 galleries, in the clubs, and in the defer ted fections ? 
 The Convention would confider herfelf as de- 
 graded, if (he pprTerTed the love of that clafs of 
 people ; and it is againft them, and not againfl 
 the real people, that (he calls for actual force. 
 
 Bui
 
 But how is fhe to procure that force? The 
 whole of the regular military force which Paris can 
 fupply, is difpofed of in the different armies. The 
 Parifian guard which ftays there, and which is 
 honoured by that name, is too much in a ftate of 
 dependence, from its want of daily bread, and 
 from their individual opinion'?,' and from the rela- 
 tion it holds with the men who put the mob 
 into action, and from a thoufand other incum- 
 brances which will not allow 1 the "Convention to 
 rely always upon the fervice of that p^uard in 
 her defence. ' .^ 
 
 Will you call for ran force from the depart- ,' 
 ments r The anarchift^wili bh'vvl out a counter- 
 revolution ! Federalifm ! This departn-nnl 
 might be, perhaps, at prefent- a pretext for cliicord 
 in Paris, or might be 'ihortly Debauched from' the 
 Convention. 
 
 Nevertheleft it is impofiibl^ for the Convention 
 to fave France'' without beino- f re e in rhaking her 
 decrees,' and without fully inforcing their : execu- 
 tion. If {he cannot in lure tliat'-liberty, that fa- 
 culty, except through public confidcn;:: 1 , or by 
 force; if the confidence- of the eighty-live depart- 
 ments is maHe null by 'the robbers \vho ihfeft 
 Pans ; if no force is on fciotable to repreis them; 
 if by the concurrence of thefe circumrhnces., the 
 Convention is under the 1 yoke of a fccYton which 
 governs her, and who' by her moans', expects to 
 govern France in making lier ^ null for decrees (as 
 lihard expreiled it) we muft- either confent to de- 
 it roy the republic in allowing the prefent Conven- 
 tion of to-day to die of a conlumption in the mire, 
 orapromptand vigorous part muft be takerrto draw 
 her out, in order to give Fiance a roprefentatioti 
 lhacihall carry with it dignity, liberty, and power. 
 
 Maiiy
 
 ( "3 ) 
 
 , Many methods have been propofed we will 
 rapidly run them over. 
 
 i ft. To transfer the Convention to Verfailles, 
 or to fome other place. But this tranflation will 
 not remove our paffions, nor our divifions from 
 us, nor will it efface the degradation that we lie. 
 under. But the body of the people does not pro- 
 nounce between the parties. Betides, is this 
 tranflation in other refpects practicable ? 
 
 2d. To convoke our fuppleants (thofe who are 
 chofen to iucceed on vacancies) to another town. 
 They are not fufficient in number ; and befides, 
 the fenfe of the people is not taken by this mea- 
 fure. 
 
 3d. To augment the Convention by a third of 
 its members. It is the way to double the tu- 
 mult ; to fill the empty feats of every party, 
 without annihilating the parties. This increafe of 
 a third of the members would neither produce 
 in their favour more liberty nor more force. \Ye 
 have -members enough, who wifh well to liberty ; 
 but there are ftill more who apprehend violence. 
 
 4th. To prefent, all at once, to the primary af- 
 femblies a plan of a committee of conftitution ; 
 to engage them to accept it j and to name another 
 legiflature. 
 
 This would be the beft .way if we had the 
 flrength of mind to raiie ourfelves above little 
 pailions, and wildom to look for nothing in this 
 plan of conftitution, but a meafure prelled upon 
 vis by a regard for general fafety, rather than a 
 plan requiring minute care to make all its parta 
 perfect. Without doubt it has defects, but ic 
 offers eafy means of reform when we mail have 
 peace. 
 
 Q I will
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 I will not ceafe to repeat it. Let us have * 
 conflitution, and . \ve fhall have a refpefted legifr 
 latnre, laws that will be obeyed, phyfical force" to- 
 enfxire the execution of them, and -an executive power 
 refpecled and independent of the hgijlqture, 'with 
 which foreign powers may treat. Let us have a. 
 conflitution and we mall be delivered tx>ch from 
 that committee of public fafety, which is a dif- 
 guftful monfter, which annihilates air refponfibi- 
 lity, monopolizes all power. We (hall be delivered 
 by the tame means from thefe commiffioners 
 or defpots diftributed through the departments, 
 and the armies who can anfwer- no purpofe but, 
 that of difbrganjzing every thing, of driving 
 away men of talents from the public fervice,"* and. 
 of making republicanifm odious : befides, there 
 cannot be a confiitution ready, except by this 
 fourth meafure. If we attempt feebly to difcufs 
 it now, we (hall not have it in readinefs thefe two, 
 years. 
 
 The fifth method is preferable, provided thc ; 
 fourth is not adopted ; it conrrits in immediately 
 convoking the primary affemblies to proceed to the 
 ele&ion of a new Convention, with a recommen- 
 dation to them not to elecl: the prefent deputies. 
 
 This plan of Genfonne differs frorn that of La- 
 fource ; the refult of whofe proportion would 
 have been a nullity, becaufe if it were practica- 
 ble to make an expurgatory fcrutiny of five or 
 
 * Author. J Docs not what has juft happened in Guftine's 
 cafe, offer proof? Is it not difguftful to make a general 
 (who has done, important fervice, and given proof of genius 
 in the military art) fubordinate to men who have no military 
 knowledge or talents ? 
 
 N. B. They have fmce this publication difpofed of the 
 general by their guillotine. 
 
 2 flX
 
 fix million of men ^tipdn thirty deputies, who aredl 
 well known, it is impofiible that it fhould reach forty 
 or fifty obfcure deputies who diftinguim them- 
 felves only by the bowlings and vociferations they 
 make in chorus. Thefe men are, perhaps, more 
 dangerous than the orators ; for it is they who 
 fatigue the affembly by their cries, and carry 
 the decrees by force. One of thefe two confe- 
 iquences wonld follow : either the recommenda- 
 tion to exclude all the prefent members would be 
 adopted, and -then the new legiflature would be 
 delivered from the tyranny of thofe turbulent 
 men ; or, if that general recommendation fhould 
 not be attended to, they are too well known by 
 their exceftbs in their departments not to be ex* 
 eluded in a new election. 
 
 This project of Genfonne is much better than 
 that of Condorcei ; becaufe its execution is imme- 
 diate. Condorcet does not convoke the primary 
 aflemblies till tbe month of November. Either 
 \ve are found, or we are diftempered ; if we are 
 found, we do not want the remedy : if we are dif- 
 tempered, it will not come in time. 
 
 I look for the motive which could dictate Con- 
 tiorcet's project. Could he imagine it a cure for 
 the maladies which afflict the Convention ? This 
 would be to lead the nation into a pernicious er- 
 ror. The Convention might perfect a cure, if 
 fhe were free. Is (he fo ? Surely Condoreet will 
 not affirm it. Will (he be more fb in the month 
 of November ? Who will dare to play with the 
 fafety of the nation upon this chance ? It is how- 
 ever what they do, who will not take a meafure 
 that is prompt and deciiive. 
 
 I like the meafure of Gen&ane. It carries 
 
 his (tamp. It applies an inftaiic remedy, be- 
 
 2 caufe
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 caiife the evil is preffing. It is an appeal to the 
 French people ; to the people who ought in the 
 end to pronounce between us, and our adverfaries, 
 who ought to pronounce between order and anar- 
 chy ; her voice alone Can completely crufh the 
 anarchifts. The people too of themfelves caii 
 adopt this meafure, whenever they fee the evil at 
 its height. 
 
 The meafure interrupts no bufmefs. We all 
 remain at our potts. We continue the difcuffion 
 of the plan of the conftitution ; we watch over 
 -affairs at home and abroad. 
 
 The new Convention brings a change of men ; 
 and that is what we feek. Thofe who compofe 
 theprefent Convention hate one another too much 
 not to fight with an eternal rancour, and no public 
 good is done in the midft of that fierce battle. 
 
 The new Convention will either change the 
 place of her fitting without any convulfions, or 
 even if* me returns to Paris, me will come fur- 
 rounded with a force from the departments, capa- 
 ble of making herfelf refpe&ed, and will take the 
 direction of the police and of the public force into 
 her own hands. 
 
 Genfonne propofed fome time ago this meafure 
 of putting the police into the hands of the Con- 
 vention. It was treated as a tyrannical meafure. 
 It was not even put to the vote. Time has fhewn 
 the wifdom of this rejelion. 
 
 The national reprelentation muft have the pa* 
 Jice of the place where me fits, or fhe never can 
 be free.* 
 
 .. To decide the place where trie legiflative body 
 muft refide is a great queftion. For her liberty, 
 
 * Yet an accumulation of all power is the Xery defcrip- 
 txon ofdefpotifrn. 
 
 her
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 her independence, is the only fecurity for the 
 goodnefs of her decrees, and for the equality of 
 the departments. 
 
 This queftion was long difcufled in the Ameri- 
 can Congrefs, and the experience of fifteen years 
 has proved, that whatever they could do, the 
 dilpoiuion of the fpot where the Congrefs reiided, 
 had always more influence upon its deliberations 
 than any of the other tfates. This experiment 
 was often made in Pennfylvania, in Jerfey, at 
 New Yoik ; it has always given this fame refuh. 
 Hence it is, that there were eternal difcuffibns be- 
 tween the different ftates ; hence it is that they 
 at length refolved to build a federal town diftant 
 from great cities ; upon a ground belonging 
 to the Congrefs only, where (he alone might ex- 
 crcife the rights of government. 
 
 The Congrefs betides experienced another in- 
 convenience not lefs confiderable by refiding in a 
 great town. It was in perpetual difputes with the 
 conftituted authorities either of the town itfelf, or 
 of the particular ftate ; they would have a rival- 
 Ihip with the Congrefs. But there (in America) 
 as reafon prefides in their heads, it is not violence 
 that fupports thefe rival (hips ; they (hew them- 
 ielves only in altercations, in punctilios always 
 vexatious, always too apt to alter that confidence 
 which ought to furround the legiflative body. 
 
 At the end of the war a great number of fol- 
 diers prefented themfelves to the Congrefs to de- 
 mand indemnities. The petition was iniolent. The 
 Congrefs called upon the government of Philadel- 
 phia for forces to reprefs the feditious foldiers. 
 The government (hewed no earneftnefs ; and the 
 Congrefs adjourned itfelf immediately into the 
 
 Jerfeys,
 
 ( "8 ) 
 
 Jerfeys, though no violence had been committed 
 
 again ft it. 
 
 What would that Congrefs fay if it knew the 
 actual pofition of the French Convention ? Would 
 it not juftly blame the republic for continuing in a 
 town where its deliberations are not free, where 
 its authority is every day trampled under foot by 
 inferior authorities, where its deputies are infulted 
 and menaced ? 
 
 I do not at all examine here, whether if in time 
 of peace, and when the confritution mall be tho* 
 roughly fettled, circumftances, phyfical and poli* 
 tical, will not demand that the legiflative power 
 may be fixed in Paris. Without doubt, it is not 
 impoffible to eftablifh the independency of the le- 
 giflative body in that great city. But I maintain 
 that the meafures which can eftabliih that inde- 
 pendence of the legiflative body in any town what* 
 ever, ought to be prefcribed by the constitution, 
 to the end that they may not be always counter- 
 'a&ed. I maintain that the Convention has not 
 at this time in Paris, the liberty which is necef- 
 fary for taking her meafures, nor the force for car* 
 rying them into execution. 
 
 There is nothing on which to hefitate. The 
 new Convention muil have a provi/ional meeting 
 fomeisohere e/fe, to enable her to deliberate. 
 
 But the prof per ity of Paris \ -but the happmejs 
 , of the people I What will become of them^ will be 
 the cry ? I anfwer, that without doubt, Paris has 
 done immenfe fervice to the revolution ; but it 
 will be paying too dear for her fervices, if we 
 facrifice the liberty of France as an acknowledge- 
 ment. That will be b:traving the defires of Paris 
 herfelf. 
 
 The
 
 The republic ought to employ her care for the 
 happinefs of Paris ; it is a facred debt ; me will 
 discharge it with honour. A crowd of meafures 
 prelent themfelves to reftore the ancient profperity 
 of that city, or rather to beftow on her a profperity 
 built upon a more iolid and more honourable foun- 
 dation. 
 
 But the firfl, the mod efficacious of thefe mea- 
 fures is, the reftoration of order and of law. For 
 it is a matter of demonftration, that order will never 
 be eftablifhed in Paris as long as the Convention is 
 ruled by the robbers who ufurp the name of its in- 
 habitants, as a difguife to decorate their fangui- 
 nary decrees. This fecpk of robbers, ivhodijlraft 
 Pans, and outrage the Convention, mnjl be exter- 
 minated. 
 
 And it is to thefe robbers, whom they call the 
 people, the fovereign, that our anarchifls would 
 fubjeft all France. 
 
 Do you believe them, (I fay as Cicero faid to 
 the Cataline of his day,) do you believe that the 
 people of France is only a compound of thole 
 mercenaries, hired to beiiege the fenate, to in fait 
 the ma gift rates, to ftimulate to pillages and to- 
 conflagrations, and to call for murders without 
 end ? What a fiqe picture of the dignity of the 
 French people, of that people, who, even in the 
 midft of their adverfity, are able to make kings 
 tremble, together with their people of (laves !* 
 Js this troop of banditti who daily furround the 
 fenate ; is this the French people ? The true 
 people of France are they, who fill our towns, 
 
 * Tra>i/7ator.~\ This defcription of the unhappy people of 
 France is not iurely written for any other ptc^ic than 
 tlrem. 
 
 who
 
 C J20 , 
 
 +vho are occupied in making our manufactures flou- 
 rifh ; employed in our fields in fertilizing our foil ; 
 employed in our armies in defence of their 
 country againft foreign tyrants. There, there is 
 the people of France whom we wifh to ferve, 
 ivhole interefl ought to prevail with us above all 
 things ! There is the people who wifh that their 
 reprefematives mould be free, in order that they 
 may give them falutary laws ! There is the people 
 who fay to the robbers, " I will facrifice you all, if 
 " the blood of a (ingle individual of my reprefenta- 
 " fives is fpilt!*" There is the people from whom 
 it is- our duty not to conceal the truth ; to whom 
 we owe the truth naked, whole, and entire ! 
 Well, it is to that people that I fay the Conven- 
 tion is not free at Paris. The prefent Conven- 
 tion cannot fave- you, another -muft be called, 
 jt muft (it fomewhere elfe ; otherwife you will 
 have neither conftitution nor government. 
 
 What an happinefs it will be for me, if I am de- 
 ceived in holding this opinion, but I cannot im- 
 pole upon my confcience. I know the anarchiiU 
 too well ; I am too well inftru&ed in what has 
 palled, to allow myielf to be abufed by a few mo- 
 ments of perfidious calm, by a few fittings, where 
 reafon prevailed. 
 
 Departments, liiten to me ! Here is my thermo- 
 meter : it ought to be your's. When they tell 
 you that the Convention is free and obeyed, alk if 
 the municipality is difiblved ; if thofe who inftiga- 
 ted murders, and the difiblution of the Conven- 
 tion, have left their heads upon the fcarTbld ? Are 
 they unpunilhed ? Do they with the fame auda- 
 
 * T+. n/lator.~] Mark the event: twenty-two of their 
 heads (truck off on the fcafFold amidft the cries of rive la 
 Kkpubtiiuc I Who has attempted to revenge tUU ? 
 
 city
 
 ( I" ) 
 
 city every day renew their exceffes ? Say that the 
 Convention is not free, and confequently cannot 
 lave you. Whoever affirms the contrary is mif- 
 taken, or impofes upon you. Either have force, 
 or fly from hence. This is my laft word, 
 
 Anarchifts, robbers ! You may now ftrike ; I 
 have done my duty ; I have told truths which will 
 furvive me; truths which will at leaft efface the 
 difgrace with which you would wim to cover my 
 name ; truths that will prove to all France that 
 good men have conftantly exerted their whole 
 ftrength to open the eyes of France, and to pre- 
 ferve her liberty. 
 
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