HOYT COLLECTION 
 
 OF FRENCH HISTORY 
 
 PRESENTED TO 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HOYT 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 https://archive.org/details/newpictureofpari01 mere 
 

LES FRANQAIS SOUS LA REVOLUTION 
 
NEW 
 
 PICTURE OF PARIS 
 
 \ 
 
 BY 
 
 M. MERCIER. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY C. WHSTTINGHAM, 
 Dean Street, Fetter Lane } 
 
 FOR H. D. SYMONDS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1800 . 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 ✓ 
 
 
 <r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 v 
 
 i- 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 
 T HAD finished, towards the end of 1778, 
 the Picture of Paris, which I had begun 
 in 1761, and which formed twelve vo¬ 
 lumes; I imagined that I had said every 
 thing, at least every thing that I knew re¬ 
 specting this city, on which the eyes of the 
 whole world are continually fixed; and 
 little thought of returning to this subject, 
 when a revolution, the remembrance of 
 which will never perish, or cease to influ¬ 
 ence the destinies of mankind, overthrows 
 at once the manners of a peaceable nation, 
 changes its habits, its laws, its customs, its 
 police, its government, its religion, and in¬ 
 spires it alternately with the most heroic 
 courage and the most cowardly ferocity. 
 
 A 2 ’ How 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 How august! how abject! how impetuous! 
 how patient ! This city must necessarily 
 be divided into two distinct classes ; the one 
 
 i — 
 
 throwing itself with generous ardour into 
 the arms of liberty, intrepid, invincible-—- 
 such were the people of the fourteenth of 
 July and the tenth of August; the other, 
 cringing, rapacious, and cruel, watching to 
 seize on and appropriate to themselves the vic¬ 
 tories of the republicans; holding themselves 
 forth as the most pure, the most clear¬ 
 sighted, and most decided patriots, while 
 they were only grasping at power and 
 riches. The valorous republicans were go¬ 
 verned by these sycophants, who, hid¬ 
 ing themselves in every season of dan¬ 
 ger, rushed impudently forward when it 
 was past, to precipitate the people into 
 crimes, and put themselves at the head of 
 executioners. Thus the intrepid warrior, 
 the laborious functionary, every honest and 
 peaceable citizen, has been deceived and 
 abused by demagogues, who assumed the 
 tone of liberty to render it odious and exe¬ 
 crable, and who would be only horrible in 
 the eyes of posterity as monsters, if they had 
 not been likewise criminal through corrup¬ 
 tion ; 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 V 
 
 lion ; for the greater part acted in implicit 
 obedience to the suggestions and fury of our 
 coalesced enemies. 
 
 The greatest of all miracles is, that this 
 superb city still exists. The plan of attack, 
 which was to have taken place at Versailles, 
 against the national assembly and against 
 Paris, is one of the most horrible projects 
 which was ever conceived in the cabinet of 
 a perjured king and a corrupted court. 
 The city would have been sacked, given up 
 to pillage, and reduced to the third of its 
 population, while despotism, with its arms 
 dyed in blood, would have hovered over its 
 ruins. The courage of the Parisians, their 
 union, and the unexpected favour of for¬ 
 tune, struck pale that homicidal court. 
 The king had indeed fixed in his hat the 
 national cockade, the signal of victory and 
 of regeneration ; but with the secret inten¬ 
 tion of immediately tearing it away, aided 
 by surrounding monarchs, to whom he 
 would have given up the frontiers of France, 
 on condition that he should remain in 
 peaceable possession, within the precincts of 
 his palace, of his valets, his hounds, his no¬ 
 bility, and his parliament. 
 
 The 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The counter-revolution begun under his 
 auspices, from the day that he returned to 
 Versailles, wearing the national cockade, 
 which he had saluted before the people at 
 one of the windows of the Hotel de Ville. 
 Every thing which was afterwards done was 
 done in hatred of the revolution, and of the 
 taking of the Bastille. 
 
 Paris was the theatre, to which the agents 
 of the respective governments, of Europe 
 repaired to consummate the plans of their 
 hypocrisy.- Every day some part of their 
 projects was put into execution; and it is 
 the province of history alone to enumerate, 
 under how many masks traitors of every 
 complexion and of every rank have more 
 or less deceived the credulity of the repub¬ 
 licans : to make them the assassins of each 
 other was the whole secret of the coalesced 
 powers. 
 
 The plan was obvious, but the passions 
 were ardent, and the interest of the whole 
 was thwarted by the interests of different 
 parties. The natural impetuosity of the 
 French promoted the designs of their ene¬ 
 mies, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 mies, and a sort of inconstancy entangled 
 them in a contrariety of ideas, and some¬ 
 times pushed them ignorantly on to mea¬ 
 sures directly opposite to those which they 
 intended. 
 
 The vanity of the leaders provoked a 
 continued war of opposition among the peo¬ 
 ple, and the scaffolds were levelled by those 
 who had erected them ; not from a regard 
 to humanity, but by the ardent jealousy of 
 despotic power. The republicans have 
 risen triumphant from amidst those piles of 
 carcasses, whose mouths, though dumb, 
 seem expressively to murmur, “ Whoever 
 has willed the republic, whoever has suffer¬ 
 ed it, has been the victim of calumny and 
 murder.” 
 
 « , % 
 
 v The 13th of Vendemiaire, which was 
 only the repetition of the 31st of May, was 
 to have witnessed the ruin of the republican 
 party. A new miracle saved it. The Pa¬ 
 risians were never more deceived than on 
 that fatal day, and they cruelly expiated 
 their error. The 18th of Fructidor was the 
 triumph of the republican party. Paris re¬ 
 mained 
 
vin 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 mained calm, and the royalist conspirators 
 were crushed. The Parisians were saved 
 that day from the horrors of a counter-revo¬ 
 lution, the consequences of which would 
 
 / , 
 
 have been incalculable. They seem no 
 longer disposed to follow the standard of 
 sedition ; they turn their eyes towards those 
 brave armies which are defending the coun¬ 
 try, and feel at length, that their own pre¬ 
 cincts do not alone constitute that country ; 
 they give themselves up to fetes, to pleasure, 
 and the love of the fine arts; they have 
 perhaps suffered too much to cherish the 
 word republic , but they are republicans 
 without knowing it, and instinct will goad 
 them on, sooner or later, towards greatness 
 truly national; they will then ruminate 
 at times with complacency on the triumphs 
 of our armies and the hatred of Europe 
 towards us, which is only a disguised ho¬ 
 mage to so many splendid actions: every 
 sentiment will insensibly lead them to for¬ 
 get the words king, monarchy , and grands 
 seigneurs. 
 
 •' . i 
 
 The taste for pleasures and enjoyments, 
 which are to be found only in Paris, will 
 
 finally 
 
IX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 finally extinguish that counter-revolutionary 
 ferment which has been so industriously 
 kept up by the hostile powers. These fo¬ 
 reigners have been hitherto lavish of their 
 gold ; but the Parisian feels that it would be 
 so easy for the government to re-act an. 
 18th of Fructidor, that they will not put 
 themselves again in the way of making the 
 experiment. The government exhibited 
 itself on that day with all the pomp of 
 power, and every one exclaimed, “ Here 
 is the government! we must at length con¬ 
 fess it; and let it be respected !” 
 
 Whatever seems hazardous, though it be 
 not really so, is almost always wise; the 
 reason is, that there is nothing in the world 
 which has not its critical moment, and the 
 mastership of prudence is to know and seize 
 that moment. Prudence even commands 
 us at such times to consult nothing but for¬ 
 tune. The greatest dangers which can 
 present themselves have their charms, pro¬ 
 vided we have some glimpse of great advan¬ 
 tage in the perspective of success; but com¬ 
 mon dangers present nothing but horrors, 
 
 and 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 and the struggle is not worth the pains of the 
 undertaking. , 
 
 Great political affairs have a point of 
 maturity, which must be waited for, and 
 which it is dangerous to forestall; but when 
 this point of maturity discovers itself, he 
 who calculates the consequences with too 
 
 much scrupulosity is not made for govern- 
 
 % 
 
 ment. Your most dangerous enemy in 
 such an important crisis, is often he whose 
 alliance would be most useful to you. 
 What address is necessary at such a mo¬ 
 ment, to know how to conquer without his 
 assistance ? 
 
 * 
 
 To do your enemy less evil than that 
 which he seems to fear ; to succeed as much 
 by the faults of an opposite party, as by the 
 wisdom of your own, is the true art of go¬ 
 verning ; it is performing in politics the 
 wonderful operations of those machines in 
 physics, which the people imagine to be 
 the fruit of complicated labours, and which 
 are only the result of an ingenious but very 
 simple mechanism. 
 
 The 
 
 r 
 
/ 
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 6 
 
 The government has again shewn itself; 
 and though it displayed at first a terrible 
 physiognomy, has assumed a mild and com¬ 
 placent aspect, and gained universal admi¬ 
 ration. Would the governors arm them¬ 
 selves with new powers ? Let them place 
 moderation and humanity by their side; 
 these virtues affect every man; for punish¬ 
 ments are made to ameliorate, not to de¬ 
 stroy : what would be rigour at other times* 
 seems only justice at present. 
 
 The government has shewn itself after 
 so many years of anarchy, and the sage 
 and the politician, the weak and the igno¬ 
 rant, the friend of his country and the 
 friend of his own pleasures, every one 
 who cherishes glory or loves repose, will 
 repeat with joy, from the bottom of his 
 heart, There is now a government, and to 
 make use of a common phrase, “ This is 
 what we must shew to Europe, and even to 
 France/* 
 
 , v 
 
 That person would be endowed with 
 singular penetration who should discover 
 the particular cause of revolutions; it is 
 
 simply 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 * t 
 
 Xll 
 
 simply the ripeness of things and of events. 
 Many moral and metaphysical elements 
 may concur, but it is an action purely 
 physical which always determines the 
 crisis. ' 
 
 Our republic, agitated, tormented, lace¬ 
 rated in its infancy by triumviral, decem- 
 viral, and dictatorial tyrannies, is firmly ro¬ 
 bust, since it has resisted every effort of 
 anarchy. I have no apprehension for its 
 fate but from the infinitesimals , by which I 
 mean that multitude of little authorities, 
 which, from being too multiplied, trans¬ 
 form regulations into august laws, and sim¬ 
 ple offices of inspection into chambers of 
 inquisition. 
 
 The republic is surrounded by too many 
 mining worms; and, under pretence of es¬ 
 tablishing public order, the individual free¬ 
 man is stung by too great a number of in¬ 
 sects. Let us have general and majestic 
 laws, and few regulations, which grow up 
 into laws as disastrous for public happiness 
 as the first are useful ! Upon the whole, 
 the word liberty , strongly zvillcd and pro¬ 
 nounced,, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 nounced, has always rendered a people free. 
 The French, and especially the Parisian, 
 has only formally to will independance and 
 prosperity. Let him do as much for li¬ 
 berty as he has done for the counter-revo¬ 
 lution ; let him listen no longer to the 
 voice of him who calls himself the friend 
 of the people , but of him who is so in re¬ 
 ality. 
 
 It would be difficult at present to deter¬ 
 mine what is the prevailing opinion. Indi¬ 
 vidual opinion has an obstinacy peculiar to 
 itself. From the infinite divisions in society, 
 there is no longer any public opinion ; but 
 the opinion of the least numerous, that of 
 sensible men, who feel the necessity of a 
 
 & i 
 
 strong government, will become by degrees 
 the predominant. The people have too 
 long been prevented from understanding 
 each other by the change in the signifi¬ 
 cation of words. The Parisian is afraid of 
 the abuse of words, and suffers things to 
 proceed. Besides almost the whole code 
 of morality having been attacked, they 
 wait till the system of the legislature be 
 
 quite 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xiv 
 
 quite perfected; and the fear of failure, and 
 of being worse situated, will concur in do¬ 
 ing good. If a new crisis take place, the 
 class of good citizens would be the prey of 
 the wicked ; wise men would be under the 
 controul of fools; honest and enlightened 
 men would be the dupes of knaves and 
 blockheads; and through such trials no one 
 would wish to pass. ' We have seen in de¬ 
 mocracy, public liberty endangered by po¬ 
 pularity ; and we fear both democracy and 
 popularity, because they are very near 
 neighbours to ochlocracy. 
 
 How can it have been imagined that we 
 could ascend the stream of events ? The 
 more tremendous the fall of the throne has 
 been, the more impossible it is to raise it up 
 again. The principal hope of the royalists 
 has been in those energumenes, who, with¬ 
 out talents, prudence, or choice in their 
 measures, have precipitated the car of the 
 revolution instead of conducting it; and 
 who have taken the reins from more able 
 hands, to place them in those of men intoxi¬ 
 cated or frantic. In assuming the title of 
 
 patriots 
 
 i 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XV 
 
 patriots par excellence , the royalists imagined 
 that they aided most efficaciously their own 
 secret views. 
 
 They indeed soon came to a good under¬ 
 standing with each other; and it was justly 
 observed, that “ the white cockade had fixed 
 itself on the bonnet rouge.” This is the 
 reason why so many crimes were committed 
 in the name of the revolution, and why so 
 many witnesses remained passive spec¬ 
 tators. 
 
 As the mud of Paris is a mud quite pecu¬ 
 liar, on account of the heterogeneous parts 
 which form the mixture, so the populace of 
 a great city, who are not its natives, and 
 which flock from all parts, is a populace 
 without a name. On this populace the 
 factions built all their projects; and Danton, 
 the evii genius of France, put it in fermen¬ 
 tation. After him, the chiefs of parties have 
 made their instruments of this infernal herd, 
 from whence issued the Heberts, the Chau- 
 mettes, the Ronsins, and the atrocious mem¬ 
 bers of the rebel commune of Paris. It was 
 this populace that constantly surrounded the 
 
 scaffolds. 
 
 i 
 
XVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 scaffolds, and which, never wearied with the 
 spectacle, fatigued even the authors of these 
 bloody tragedies, and formed the horrible 
 commentary of this phrase of Montaigne, 
 which they fully and dreadfully exempli¬ 
 fied, The populace in every country rip up 
 carcases , and plunge their hands in blood to 
 the elbows . 
 
 i 
 
 . • ; . _ i 
 
 * ^ 
 
 But has not aristocracy, it may be re¬ 
 torted, had also its Chouans, its horrible 
 Chouans? It has; but the executioners 
 which aristocracy purchased were the same 
 which had been already sold to the Robe- 
 spierrists. Aristocracy has reared its tenfold 
 furies only among this populace, the scourge 
 of every government, and the ferocious in¬ 
 strument of every party. 
 
 \ 
 
 * f 
 
 L- -- / ' , * N « ’ ; • , , . 
 
 Times of revolutions are produdtive of 
 many great aftions and few great men. 
 Concurrence of talents shades their splendor, 
 and there is no giant in all these great poli¬ 
 tical commotions. Every thing is done in 
 the name of the whole; and those who raise 
 themselves a little above the rest are bro¬ 
 ken one after the other by the impetuous 
 shock of events. 
 
 - Weak 
 
 i 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 * 
 
 xvii 
 
 Weak men had said, that in revolutions we 
 must never look behind us. This is a very 
 false maxim. Revolutions are carried on 
 and finished by those who measure and 
 compare what has been done, and what 
 remains to do; and the moral virtues be¬ 
 come so much more necessary, as all ideas 
 of their existence have been lost, and inju¬ 
 rious denominations, that is to say, words de¬ 
 void of sense, become sentences of death, 
 which hover over the heads of citizens most 
 jealous of the liberty and happiness of their 
 country. 
 
 The mass of those insignificant phrases, 
 and especially those which were the most 
 unintelligible, have been the cement of pri¬ 
 sons and scaffolds. Party chiefs have ven¬ 
 tured to make use of them with success, 
 which evinces that in an enlightened na¬ 
 tion the greatest number of individuals are 
 unenlightened, and that private calamities 
 are a mere theatrical exhibition to those who 
 are not personally affected by them at the 
 moment. 
 
 vol. !• a To 
 
 4 
 
XV1U 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To paint such various contrasts we must 
 have an historian like Tacitus, or a poet like 
 Shakspeare. If a Tacitus or Shakspeare 
 appeared during my life, I should say to 
 him, 6 ‘ Form thy own idiom, for thou hast 
 “ to describe what has never been seen, man 
 “ touching at the same moment the extremes 
 “ of ferocity and of human greatness. If 
 “ in tracing so many barbarous scenes thy 
 “ stile is ferocious, it will only be more 
 “ true, more picturesque; shake off the 
 “ yoke of syntax; if it be necessary, that 
 “ thou mightest be better understood, oblige 
 “ us to translate thee; shackle us not with 
 “ the pleasure, but with the pain of read- 
 “ ing thee.” 
 
 a* 
 
 * 
 
 I do not indeed think that our language 
 can exist much longer without throwing off 
 those chains with which a gratuitous timi- 
 dity has enthralled us; amidst so many 
 new and astonishing spectacles, if the style 
 remain enslaved, they will be transmitted 
 neither to the admiration nor the horror of 
 posterity. But why should they not? Has 
 not the ambitious demagogical multitude, 
 amidst the revolutionary tempest, already 
 
 coined 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XIX 
 
 coined a language calculated to deceive 
 and seduce the crowd? I have heard it 
 bellowed in my ears, 66 Let the French 
 “perish, provided liberty triumph!” I 
 have heard, I solemnly declare, this excla¬ 
 mation in a section of Paris, “ Yes, I would 
 “ seize my head by the hair, I would cut it 
 “ off, and offering it to the despot, would 
 “ say to him, Tyrant , behold the head of a 
 “freeman!" This sublime of extravagance 
 was fitted for the mob ; it was understood ; it 
 succeeded; and shall we not form a language 
 to transmit to our remotest posterity these in¬ 
 credible moral and political phenomenon, 
 which fixed with so lengthened an astonish¬ 
 ment our looks and our understandings. 
 
 The world has spoken very differently of 
 my Pidture of Paris. I found pleasure in 
 writing it; I sought for truth in every thing. 
 This is all my answer. Let me be permit¬ 
 ted, since I have undergone so many un¬ 
 just criticisms, and have been the subject ot 
 so much satire for having composed an use¬ 
 ful and agreeable work; let me be permitted 
 to transcribe the judgment of a writer who 
 has received both the book and the author 
 
 a 2 into 
 
XX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 into his friendship, who has been the trans¬ 
 lator of the work, and who has displayed 
 for me that zeal which encourages the writer, 
 and consoles him for the injustice of his 
 contemporaries. The following is a transla¬ 
 tion from the German extract of the Citizen 
 Cramer *. I will never blot out praises, 
 because my literary career is not finished, 
 and because I shall re-peruse them in order 
 to render myself worthy of the panegyric. 
 
 “ If d’Alembert, though a foreigner, has 
 been honoured in Germany, amidst the sa¬ 
 cred wood of gratitude and friendship, with 
 a simple but lasting monument for the essay 
 entitled, On Men of Letters and the Great , 
 
 I venture to say that Mercier, for the chap- 
 
 * The passage cited is in a book of Charles Frederick Cra¬ 
 mer, entitled, Menschliches Leben, &c. Vol. . p. 163 (on 
 Human Life) written in 1791, a long time before this citizen, 
 then a professor of Greek and Oriental literature at the Uni¬ 
 versity of Kiel, in Holstein, was acquainted with the author of 
 the Picture, or before he could guess that the singularity of his 
 fortune and his republicanism would lead him to fix himself one 
 day amongst us at Paris. Many allusions to this passage, which 
 he had preceded by those chapters in my Picture. Apology for 
 Men of Letters, Belles-Lettres, Thirty Writers in France , and no 
 more, relate to matters previously treated of in this book, which 
 I think it necessary to observe, in order that they may not be 
 considered as misplaced or foreign to the subject. 
 
 ter 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXI 
 
 ter I have just transcribed, deserves a similar 
 tribute. Do you wish to know my opinion 
 with respect to his Picture ? I will give it 
 to you, should it even differ from any of 
 yours; I make use of the right which my 
 quality of member of your society gives 
 me, together with the article On Monu¬ 
 ments, in the code of our laws; and should 
 there be among us any persons whose rigo¬ 
 rous judgment may condemn my opinion, I 
 shall submit, though not without keen re¬ 
 gret. If it should happen that in this 
 golden age we should see in a dream the 
 arts and sciences become dearer to kings 
 than shedding human blood, and that by 
 chance the dying Alceste gave more plea¬ 
 sure in exciting melancholy sensations than 
 the exhilarating illumination of a fleet 
 blown up in the air; if at this glorious 
 and distant epocha a king of Sicilia, anxious 
 for new subjects for operas for the theatre of 
 St. Carlo, at Naples, taken from the lost 
 operas of Sophocles or the poet Accius, 
 should fall on the idea of employing some 
 millions of sequins of those enormous sums 
 which the chace of a stag costs him in his 
 states, to explore those treasures of ancient 
 
 literature 
 
XXII 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 literature which sleep in the pasted rouleaus 
 of old parchments, and which form the yet 
 unexamined library of Herculaneum and 
 Portici, supposing that these rouleaus still 
 existed, that they were not devoured by 
 the indefatigable tooth of time, and that 
 their unravelling, invented by Mazochi, 
 was not among the arts that are lost; if 
 it should happen, I say, that to the un¬ 
 speakable satisfaction of all the professors 
 of humanities and the belles lettres spread 
 over the surface of the globe, we should suc¬ 
 ceed in re-establishing the hundred and 
 twenty lyric dramas of Sophocles; that we 
 found in the same search the hymns of Al¬ 
 caeus ; that we restored the lost decades of 
 Livy, and the comedies of Menander; that 
 we printed them, and that by this kind of 
 regeneration we restored them to the repub¬ 
 lic of letters; and that amidst other volumes, 
 of which no erudite in folio De libris Ve- 
 terum deperditis, says a word, we should 
 meet, for instance, with a work of twelve 
 volumes, of one Mercier, a Latin author, 
 who gave us a description of ancient Rome, 
 the queen of cities, in the time of the im¬ 
 mortal Augustus, and of the more immortal 
 
 Cicero, 
 
PREFACE, xxiil 
 
 Cicero, Horace, and Virgil, with all its local 
 manners, its temporary habits, its moral in¬ 
 stitutions, its absurdities, its vices, its virtues, 
 its follies, its customs, &c. a work written in 
 a spirit of reflective observation, inspired by - 
 a warm love of the purest philanthropy, 
 scourging the vices of his age, sometimes 
 with caustic vigour, sometimes with delicate 
 address; a work seasoned with the graces of 
 wit, unmasking, with the most penetrating 
 glance, a thousand prejudices with respect to 
 literature, politics, and morals, a work writ¬ 
 ten under the sanction of the purest philan¬ 
 thropy ; if, I repeat, we should find such 
 a work among the perishing treasures of two 
 exhumed cities, my friends, what fate, think 
 you, would attend it in Europe, and from 
 one century to another, in every part of the 
 world, 
 
 “ What fate ? the most splendid imaginable! 
 The trumpet of Fame would echo it for six 
 months; the Villoisins and the Brunks of the 
 earth would run, their breasts panting with 
 pleasure, to decypher the manuscript; all 
 the Iieynes and the Bentleys would be writ- 
 
XXIV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ing commentaries; our Voss* would explain 
 it with the obstinate exadfitude of German 
 erudition; and translators, versed not only in 
 the language of the author, but still more 
 in their own, would translate it. The Di¬ 
 dots, the lingeries, Baskervilles, would print 
 it; the Stranges, the Willes, would enrich 
 it with engravings in metzotintos or taille- 
 douce. We should find subscribers without 
 number; and in every country you would 
 see editions of every form, printed not on 
 black paper, spotted, or coarse, but on grand 
 raisin, vellum, or jesus. These editions would 
 be published with a pomp scarcely to be 
 equalled by the catalogue of Oxford, the 
 new Testament of Woide, or the descrip¬ 
 tion of Turkey by D’Ohsson. In short, 
 such a cry of admiration, joy, and astonish¬ 
 ment, would resound from all parts of Eu¬ 
 rope, that perhaps the learned would forget 
 for a while the sanguinary Iliad of the singer 
 
 * A celebrated German poet, translator (in hexameters) of 
 the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bucolicks, the Georgicks, the 
 vEneid of Virgil, the Metamorphoses of Ovid, the Idyls of 
 Moselius, Bion, and Theocritus, &c. His countrymen place 
 him among the first critics and literati which this fertile coun¬ 
 try has produced in Hellenists. 
 
 of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXV 
 
 of Ionia, and his Odyssey, which swarms 
 with so- many geographical errors. 
 
 “ But now, when we are in possession of 
 this book, that the author is living, that 
 we can see him, whilst Theophrastus is dead, 
 the work having the misfortune of not be¬ 
 ing ancient, the dabbler in literature, the 
 pamphlet reader, the lounger, the pedant, 
 who scarcely knows how to read, assumes a 
 tone of puerile disdain, and with an affecta¬ 
 tion of critical analysis, they, &c. &c. &c.” 
 
 A thousand thanks of gratitude to citi¬ 
 zen Cramer! But whilst I was writing, 
 and my work printing, the scene has al¬ 
 ready changed its appearance, and luxury 
 springs up more brilliant than ever from 
 amidst its smoking ruins. The culture of 
 the fine arts resumes all its lustre, and lite¬ 
 rature, whatever may be said to the contrary, 
 has suffered but a transitory eclipse. The 
 theatres have been restored to all their mag¬ 
 nificence, and fashion is again what is most 
 held in idolatry. From all parts of the 
 body social we see the newly enriched 
 arise, and with them gold and opulence, so 
 
 that 
 
XXVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 that at the first glance we should say that 
 all evils are repaired ; but this is not really 
 so. 
 
 As Paris is a city essentially commercial, 
 essentially industrious, essentially cooking, 
 we might say, that the evil which exists no 
 longer never existed. A brilliant surface 
 veils complaints and murmurs. Luxury is 
 like a spirituous liquor, which intoxicates 
 the mind, and I know not by what spe¬ 
 cies of insensibility we indulge ourselves in 
 a sort of epicurism which lets things proceed 
 without caring for any thing but the present 
 moment. 
 
 The present moment forms already an 
 astonishing contrast with that of servitude, 
 of terror, of the cruel dismemberment of 
 families, of blood, and of tears! 
 
 If all the disastrous events are not for¬ 
 gotten amidst our fetes and our amusements, 
 they are covered with a curtain which we 
 are either afraid to undraw, or which we 
 are rarely solicitous to lift up. 
 
PREFACE, XXvii 
 
 May the New Paris meet with the same 
 success as the Old Picture of Paris! But 
 the touches, alas! are widely different, since 
 the model and the painter have been struck 
 by time and by circumstances the most 
 tempestuous. In spite, however, of their 
 fatal influence, both on the author and the 
 book, there is one sentiment which consoles 
 him, which will reward him for the unjust 
 criticisms which he has undergone, and is 
 yet perhaps fated to undergo, and which 
 promises his writings, not an immortality, for 
 which he is not anxious, but the esteem of 
 the good, for which he is much more solici¬ 
 tous; this is the sentiment of having been, 
 from the first instant of his literary career, 
 the herald, the friend, and the fellow-work¬ 
 man of the great regeneration undertaken 
 for the public happiness, which already he 
 sees realized in France, in Holland, in 
 Switzerland, in Italy ! and of having been 
 at the same time the adversary of those 
 who have sullied the revolution with crimes 
 for their own advantage, and through mo¬ 
 tives of sordid interest. No; the labours, 
 the courage, the constancy of the French, 
 
 their calamities, will not be forgotten or 
 
 lost. 
 
xxvm 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 lost. Posterity will reap the advantage of 
 our sufferings. It is this sentiment which, 
 from the first line of his dream , if it has 
 ever been so f to the last line of his New Paris, 
 has supported, encouraged, and sustained 
 the author, and which led him not to quit 
 his pen even amidst the night of dungeons ; 
 which, in fine, dictates to him an epitaph, 
 
 \ j 
 
 which he engraves beforehand on his tomb, 
 and which he wishes may be applicable to 
 all his contemporaries: 
 
 Hommes de tout pays, enviez mon destine; 
 
 Ne fujet, je (ms mort libre, et republican 
 
 10 Frimaire, Fan. 8. 
 (1st December, 1799.) 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 CHAP. r PAGE 
 
 1. PRELIMINARY Views . I 
 
 2. Explofion ...... 6 
 
 3. Capital Miftake. 10 
 
 4. Degradation of the Monarch ..... 16 
 
 5. The Cardinal de Lombrie. 18 
 
 6. Siege of the Courts of Juftice . 20, 
 
 7. Caiffe D’Efcompte . 26 
 
 8. The Four Whirlwinds . 28 
 
 *■ 9. Clubs. 30 
 
 10. They had but to.. . 32 
 
 11. Tricks . 34 
 
 12. Difmiffion of M. Neckar . 36 
 
 13. Club of the Jacobins . 40 
 
 14. Labours in the Champ de Mars . 43 
 
 J5. King’s Speech to the States General . 52 
 
 16. Trees of Liberty . 54 
 
 17. Jefus . 56 
 
 18. Maffacres of September. 57 
 
 19. Twenty-firft of September, 1792 . 70 
 
 20. Bonnet-rouge. 83 
 
 21. The Central Committee at the Eveche. 86 
 
 22. The memorable Week....y. 90 
 
 23. National Guard. 94 
 
 24. Security. 97 
 
 25. Commune of Paris . 99 
 
 26. Sections 
 
XXX. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 26. Sections. 101 
 
 27. Diftridt of the Cordeliers . 105 
 
 28. The hand of Bronze. . 108 
 
 29. Funeral of Michael Lepelletier . 109 
 
 30. Dome of the Pantheon . 112 
 
 31. The King of Macoco . 115 
 
 32. The infurre<5tion . 117 
 
 33. Uncloiftered Nuns. 118 
 
 34. Days of the 21ft of June and 10th of Auguft 1792 . 120 
 
 v 35. Day of the 21ft of June 1792 . 123 
 
 36. Plan of the Nobles and Emigrants to overturn the Con- 
 
 ftitution of 1791 . 125 
 
 37. Firft Symptoms of the Day of the 10th of Auguft. 126 
 
 38. The 10th of Auguft 1792 . 128 
 
 39. Gregoire ... 137 
 
 40. Bailly and a few other Portraits . 139 
 
 41. Anecdotes. 172 
 
 42. Red Book. 173 
 
 43. Is the Guillotine a mild Punifhment?. 178 
 
 44. New Cries . 183 
 
 45. New Robbers . 187 
 
 46. Ninth of March 1793 . 192 
 
 47. Friends of the Blacks . 195 
 
 48. Maximum . 198 
 
 49. Statue of Henry the Fourth . 201 
 
 50. Revolutionary Tribunal . 203 
 
 51. Briffotins . 20t* 
 
 52. Le Patriote Francois . 209 
 
 53. Philofophifm . 216 
 
 54. Apathy . 218 
 
 55. Prefence of Mind in a young Man . 219 
 
 56. Light Trefles . 222 
 
 57. Batches. 225 
 
 58. Orleanifts . 229 
 
 59. Furies of the Guillotine . 230 
 
 60. The Forty Sous . 231 
 
 61. Federalifm . 232 
 
 62. Fraternal Repafts . e .. 233 
 
 63. Of the Clergy... 234 
 
 64. Con- 
 
CONTENTS. xxx 
 
 GHAfc'. PAGE 
 
 64. Conciliarules. ... 236 
 
 65. Let him be a wolf . . 239 
 
 66. Ca ira ..,. 241 
 
 67. The Fortune-teller...„. 242 
 
 68. Citizen . 253 
 
 69. To counter-revolutionize. 255 
 
 70. Bell . 256 
 
 71. National Flag . 257 
 
 72. National Cockade . ib. 
 
 73. Impartialilis . 258 
 
 74. Senfiblerie . 259 
 
 75. Engraving.. 260 
 
 76. Decree. 261 
 
 77. Monarchian . 262 
 
 78. Ribands . 263 
 
 79. Emiffaries . 264 
 
 80. Knights of the Poignard . ib. 
 
 81. Tribune .*. 265 
 
 82. Forced Loan. 271 
 
 83. The Cabinet . 272 
 
 85. Conftitutional Pried . 286 
 
 86. Trial of Louis XVI. 287 
 
 87. Of the dethroned Race . 296 
 
 88. Balls a la Vidtime. 311 
 
 89. Bagatelle . 314 
 
 90. Affignats.-. 315 
 
 91. Ci-devant Academicians .321 
 
 92. The difadrous Day. 325 
 
 93. The Head-lopper. 339 
 
 94. Anacharlis Clootz . 341 
 
 95. Great Scarcity . 344 
 
 96. Palais Egalite, ci-devant Palais Royal. 351 
 
 97. Winter Balls . 373 
 
 98. Patriotic Offerings . 393 
 
 99. Caricatures, Follies. 394 
 
 100. Fraternity . 412 
 
 •/ 
 
 101 . Mothers who fuckle their children . ib. 
 
 102. Samfon . 416 
 
 103. Nation.*. 419 
 
 104. Sans 
 
 / 
 
xxxii 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP, s PAGE 
 
 104* Sans Culottes . 420 
 
 105. Undeify . 424 
 
 106. Fabre D’Eglantine. 425 
 
 107. Modes. 427 
 
 108. Denunciation . ib. 
 
 109. Girl . 429 
 
 110. Tappe-durs . 430 
 
 111. Sanguinocrate . 432 
 
 112. Falfe Afiignats . ib. 
 
 113. Theophage . 435 
 
 114. Roman Pried. ib. 
 
 115. Huaille . 437 
 
 116. Sacred Orders . 438 
 
 117. Farce, entitled, the lad Judgment of Kings . 439 
 
 118. Aftive Citizen . 440 
 
 119. The little Cato. 441 
 
 120. Patriot of 89 . 445 
 
 121. Letter of Rouflfeau. 445 
 
 122. Counter-revolution . 443 
 
 123. J. J. Roudeau at the Tuilleries . ib* 
 
NEW 
 
 PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 i • i ^ t * 
 
 PRELIMINARY VIEWS. 
 
 W HEREVER I turn my fteps in Paris, 
 every thing recalls to my remembrance 
 what is no more. I did well to trace my former 
 pidhire in twelve volumes; if it was not done, 
 the model is fo effaced, that it refembles a faded 
 portrait ftored in the garret of fome great grand¬ 
 father, dead at the hofpital. No man before me 
 had thought of drawing the pifture of this im- 
 menfe city, and of painting its manners and its 
 cuftoms in the moft minute detail; but what a 
 change ! A Greek poet has faid two thoufand 
 years fince, “ When difcord reigns in the city 
 the wicked man holds the place of authority 
 and when it is not the moft wicked, alas! it is 
 the moft foolifh. Thirty or forty wretches, ftill 
 more weak than wicked, have demolifhed every 
 vol. 1. P> thing 
 
Q 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 thing great and facred which genius and courage 
 had formed; and thefe thirty or forty wretches 
 were the mountain chiefs, as I lhall fhew in the 
 courfe of this work. Divine and human juftice 
 has overtaken and punifhed them by the hands 
 of each other, but we mud be careful not to con¬ 
 found their abominable maxims with thofe of 
 the Revolution. If we are carelefs in diftinguilh- 
 ing epochas, times, and places, we fhall not fail 
 to confound the a£tors; and this is the reafon 
 why it will perhaps be impoffible to form a right 
 judgment of this memorable Revolution, which 
 has had fo many different phafes. 
 
 We may fay of new Paris what Strabo faid of 
 Greece! it is in all its points a lingular and tra¬ 
 gical country. How can fo many fa£ts and 
 events be defcribed ! I will relate what I have 
 feen. Borne up on every ftormy wave, lofing no 
 gale of wind, my eye has difringuilhed amidft the 
 ftorm feme particular incidents. No; all the 
 tempeffuous winds let loofe from beneath the 
 feeptre of fEolus, ftruggling with each other, and 
 covering with ruin the places over which they 
 fweep, are but an imperfect and faithlefs image 
 of thofe conflicts of the human paliions in which 
 philofophers have been hurled headlong to per¬ 
 dition ; vvhiift every thing molt vile and con¬ 
 temptible, with refpe-Q both to flyle and matter, 
 dictated impure laws to the mob, the populace 
 
 2 of 
 
of the nation, who have adopted them as the de¬ 
 crees of heaven! 
 
 Tremendous chaos, formed by the writers of 
 the Revolution, enormous mafs of periodical pa¬ 
 pers, pamphlets, and books, obfcure and volumi- 
 
 ■ 
 
 nous magazines of contradi&ory fpeeches, deluge 
 of inveCtives and farcafms, confufed heap in 
 which calumny itfelf has been ftifled, terrible 
 charge of the moll obftinate and bloody conten¬ 
 tions, ceafe to overwhelm my fpirits! thou 
 wouldft make hiftorv fhrink back even to a Ta- 
 
 J 
 
 citus. I will not unfold, I will not confult thee; 
 
 I will read no more, I will give credit to none 
 but myfelf; what can iffue from a curve in 
 which the frothy waves are yet foaming ? 
 
 Is it for us the fport or the victims of the 
 opinions which have palled over our heads ? Is 
 it for us to inftruCt the prefent, and labour for 
 future generations ? The hiftorian will come, who, 
 with new documents, with perfect knowledge of 
 the hoffile and perfidious arts of foreign cabinets, 
 will relate how far wicked and even honeft men 
 have been obedient puppets, unconfcious of the 
 wires that gave them motion. The infernal policy 
 of the foreign enemies of freedom has mingled 
 fo much artifice in its fuggeilions, has fo well 
 known how to take advantage of the ideas and 
 paflions of every man, that the pureft and moll 
 upright have for a long time fought where to find 
 truth and juftice, and piercing even through the 
 
 B 2 veil 
 
4 NEW PIC 1 V ft F. OF PARIS. 
 
 veil of falfehood, have .Hill found themfelves per¬ 
 plexed in the labyrinth of eternal illufiotis. 
 
 In revolutions, we become better acquainted 
 with men in fix months than w T e Ihould be in 
 twenty years of ordinary lire. Then is the fea- 
 fon when thofe great and little interefts, which 
 w 7 e ufually conceal with fo much care, difeover 
 themfelves to open day. This is the moment 
 alfo when every man places himfelf without the 
 aid of a mailer of ceremonies, and that every 
 
 man finds his own ftandard, even amidft the 
 
 \ 
 
 calumnies and libels with which he is blackened, 
 in proportion as he rifes above his neighbour; 
 but it is not fo eafy to form a judgment on popu¬ 
 lar effervefcences: they may take place from ordi¬ 
 nary or accidental caufes, as well as be excited by 
 different factions. 
 
 Paris is a lingular city, where we find perfon- 
 ages of whatever kind and complexion we w 7 ould 
 wifli. In lefs than twenty-four hours a familiar 
 of the old police would collect together three 
 hundred individuals, whom he w ould place around 
 an edifice, and order to vociferate in fuch or fuch 
 a tone. We know that in the time of the 
 league, the Cardinal de Retz and the other chiefs, 
 engaged people to fire blunderbuffes at their 
 carriages, in order to have a pretence for ani¬ 
 mating their followers againff the Queen and the 
 Cardinal. In the fame manner, the court, an¬ 
 xious to know if they could depend on the re- 
 4 giment 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, £ 
 
 giment of French guards, caufed the manufadfure 
 of Reveillon to be pillaged, to furniili them with 
 a plaufible reafon for fending in troops. The 
 regiment of guards fired on the plunderers, and 
 killed them; this was a fort of rehearfal of the 
 bloody tragedy which they were deftined to aft 
 fome days after; but the court fell into their 
 own fnares ; the blood which they had (lied made 
 the foldiers reflect; they w r ere informed that 
 they had been careffed, debauched ; they trem¬ 
 bled at what they had done, and fhuddered at 
 the idea of having killed their fellow citizens. 
 One of them, who was tampered with in order 
 to detach him from the court party, heard the 
 propofitions made him in a fort of reverie, and 
 plunged in deep meditation; when afked if he 
 would determine, he anfwered, u Not yet; I am 
 confulting the ghoft of Colonel Biron !” 
 
 The furious Charles the Ninth fired himfelf,on 
 the unfortunate victims that were flying, and 
 during thofe days of blood, walked through the 
 city, accompanied by his court, dwelt with de¬ 
 light on the traces of the maflacre printed on all 
 the walls, and went to the gallows to fee the body 
 of the A dmiral. Almighty God ! under the power 
 of what princes doff thou fometimes place the 
 greateff empires! The neareft connexions of Lewis 
 the Sixteenth, made the tour of the metropolis to 
 infpeft the plan of the liege, the places where 
 the troops fliould enter, and rubbed their hands 
 
 with 
 
6 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 with joy. Perfidious monfters! if they could 
 have eftablifhed an univerfal famine of money 
 and provifions, they would have done it with de¬ 
 light. But their murderous plans, the great 
 confpiracy which every day increafed, gave the 
 commune of Paris that irrefiftible energy which 
 decided the Revolution. 
 
 Nothing is more real, nothing better proved, 
 or more certain, than the confpiracy of the court, 
 and reckoning from that day, there can be no 
 peace between royal ills, and republicans ; and 
 though the number of republicans fhould be 
 more circumfcribed than ever, republics would 
 not be lefs the conquerors. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 EXPLOSION. 
 
 « 
 
 It is Paris which has made the Revolution, and 
 Paris which has fpoiled it ; I fhall confider it 
 under this double'point of view. 
 
 Of all Revolutions ours has been the moft juft, 
 the moft legitimate, the moft imperiouily com¬ 
 manded by circumftances. We muft have de- 
 ftroyed the court of Verfailles, or have been de- 
 ftroyed by it ourfelves. 
 
 The 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 7 
 
 The Revolution was made, becaufe it ought to 
 have been made, becaufe the capital was threat¬ 
 ened by the fatellites of the court. The popu¬ 
 lation of this great city performed a re-a&ion, 
 and it was high time ; it was the droke of the 
 whale’s tail which overfet the harpooner’s lkiff. 
 
 Paris was about to be delivered up to all the 
 horrors of a city taken by dorm; all was treafon 
 and perfidy on the fide of the court; and the 
 States-General were alTembled onlv to re-edablifh 
 
 J 
 
 the finances, to pay the debts which the court 
 had contracted, and to open the next day a new 
 account. M. Necker was made the tool ; and 
 the minider, though placed very near the con- 
 
 fpiracy, did not fufpeff the explofion. 
 
 \ 
 
 It would not indeed have taken place, if the 
 court had not meditated and prepared the mod 
 fanguinary and ferocious projects. The deter¬ 
 mination taken on the 11th of July faved us. 
 The court had not admitted into its calculation, 
 that all the monied men and creditors of the king¬ 
 dom placed their foie confidence in M. Necker, 
 who, in comparifon wdth Calonne, the public 
 defpoiler, was in pofiefiion of the public edeem. 
 The capitalids trembled for their coffers, and the 
 Rue Vivienne paid a part of the regiment of the 
 French guards. Apprehenfions, which w r ere 
 well founded, fpread everywhere; every man 
 was armed in an indant, becaufe every man was 
 afraid; while the troops of the court, who came 
 
 to 
 
8 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 to exterminate, were flow in their march. The 
 prince of Lambefc had condefcended on the eve 
 to give warning to the Parifians, by ftriking an 
 old man in the Tuilleries with his fabre. That 
 good patriot, the prince, has a claim to all our 
 gratitude. A lucky cannon ball broke the chain 
 which held the drawbridge of the Baftille, and it 
 was this cannon ball which overthrew the mo¬ 
 narch and the monarchy. I fmile with pity when 
 
 0 
 
 I fee a multitude of writers driving to affign the 
 caufes of the Revolution, hunting for its authors, 
 ignorant meanwhile, that, in political events, it is 
 one day which produces another; that each day 
 is, or may become, the day of a new revolution 5 
 as in an earthquake, each fhock has an horizon¬ 
 tal, or vertical, or diagonal, and often oppofite 
 direction. An engagement had taken place be¬ 
 tween the court and the people of Paris, but 
 from that point to what has fince refulted, there 
 has been a feries of events, all of which, or each, 
 if I may ufe the expreffion, form a particular 
 revolution. 
 
 The rage of fpeaking, and the itch of writing, 
 have engendered a crowd of pamphlets, in which 
 Marat and Robefpierre, though decided revolu- 
 tionifts, are no more like each other than Mallet 
 du Pan and Rivarol, in their counter-revolutionary 
 projects. 
 
 Paper fuffers itfelf to be ftained. We may 
 feme day be led to think, that all that has been 
 
 written 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 9 
 
 written is only a fepulchral romance ; but the 
 mobility, the Angularity, the terrible, and the 
 comic ol events, all prove that they are the off- 
 fpring of each other, that they have had the 
 fame common origin, the fame compafs, the fame 
 direction; that they have been unforefeen and 
 fudden, confounding the mod fagacious and moil 
 attentive obferver. The leaven which has raifed 
 this immenfe mafs of pafte, is of a kind hitherto 
 unknown; the eternal lamentations of fome 
 prove that they forefaw neither the evening nor 
 the next day; and the declamations of others 
 difcover their ignorance, infomuch as they had 
 never feen the complication of events. 
 
 It is therefore impoffible to determine the 
 caufes of this political phenomenon. This great 
 volcano might yet have flept a long time; it 
 threw out its flames, was extinguiflied, and has 
 been lighted again. Writers have wiflied that 
 its lava fhould run down on one fide rather than 
 another; the lava has fwept away both the 
 writer, and his pen ! 
 
 CHAP. 
 
10 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 0 
 
 CAPITAL MISTAKE. 
 
 Our old government was defpotic and de¬ 
 grading, and we have overthrown it by an effort 
 of generous enthufiafm ; but we have confounded 
 what was right to defiroy, with what was necef- 
 fary to preferve; what was intimately connected 
 with defpotifm, with what might have allied 
 itfelf with every form of government. The pro¬ 
 ject was to form an entire new race of men, and 
 we have been transformed into favages. In our 
 rage for creating and defiroying, of exploding 
 received ideas, we have never known on what 
 foundations to reft. In proferibing fuperftition, 
 we have annihilated religious fentiments; but 
 this was not the mode to regenerate the world. 
 Amidft this diforder, tins moral anarchy, let us 
 endeavour to feize a thread to guide us. The 
 end .of thefe terrible innovators was to fubllitute 
 the love of our country in place of every other 
 affedlion. The love of our country ought un¬ 
 doubtedly to be the balls of republican virtue; 
 but in order to feel this affe&ion, we muft find 
 happinefs in our country. This attachment, 
 which ought to warm the republican, is not 
 merely that inftinft which binds man to the 
 
 glebe 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. It 
 
 glebe where he was born, which Endears him to 
 the tree that (hades the cottage where his cradle 
 was rocked, the republican embraces in his affec¬ 
 tion all who furround him ; all his fellow-citizens 
 are dear to him, he is connefted with them all 
 by a kind of patriotic confanguinity. 
 
 In this new order of things, we could not con- 
 fcientioufly embrace and cherifh the French no¬ 
 bility. This clafs was in fome fort a proud caft, 
 like the bonzes, the gymnofophifts of India, more 
 anxious to feparate themfelves from the commu¬ 
 nity than to be ufeful. The nobility ought to 
 have feen, that the world is condemned to perpe¬ 
 tual convulfions. Empires fall into ruins, nations 
 dif?ppear. Barbarians iffue from their forefts, 
 fubjugate countries enervated by luxury, the arts 
 and enjoyments. Errors, follies, and violence, 
 compofe in every age and in every country the 
 hiftory of mankind. In hearing all the lament¬ 
 able cries which have been uttered againft the 
 Revolution, one might fuppofe that the Parifian 
 had never read hillory, fincehe feemed to imagine 
 himfelf a privileged being, for ever exempted 
 from thofe ancient calamities which were only 
 deflined to figure on paper; in the fame manner 
 as when, in full health, w r e read books on medi¬ 
 cine, and are aftonifhed, afflifted, and groan at 
 the difeafe which attacks us, as if all were fubjedt 
 to feci it but ourfelves. The child, who (Irikes 
 the table againft which he has hurt himfelf, is but 
 
 a feeble 
 
12 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 a feeble image of Parifian puerility accufing all 
 nature, all mankind, all events, for the political 
 evils of which his city was the centre. The Pa¬ 
 rifian had no forefight of what has happened, and 
 believed that it was an unexpe&ed fcourge, creat¬ 
 ed, arranged, and prepared folely againft himfelf, 
 and the language of his complaint was fo extra 
 vagant, that it became at times humorous and 
 comic, being an incredible mixture of every thing 
 new which wit and folly could colleCt together. 
 
 Ancient and modern hiftory was carefully fem¬ 
 inized, and every thing which bore the flightell 
 refemblance to the events of the day was feized 
 on as prediction and prophecy. Every book that 
 bore the title of revolution was bought up and 
 carried away ; editions which rotted in the ware- 
 houfes of the bookfellers faw the light, and no 
 voice of the purchafers was heard by the fhop- 
 keepers but this: “ Give me the hifioryof a Re- 
 “ volution 1” Books which had been forgotten 
 or defpifed for an hundred and fifty years, were 
 now fought for, and obtained the honours of a 
 binding in a library. At kales, we were always 
 hearing thefe words: “ Give me the Roman Re- 
 “ volutions, the Revolutions of Sweden, of Italy 
 and bookfellers, in order to fell their old books, 
 printed falfe titles, and took the purchafe on the 
 credit merely of the label. All thefe kudies did 
 not give a grain more of patience either io the 
 noble or the roturier ; they pretended, that they 
 
 ought 
 
 / 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 13 
 
 ought to have been inacceflible to thofe ftrokes 
 of fortune, and loaded with imprecations every 
 one who had not known how to forefee or hin¬ 
 der the lofs of their privileges. Abbe Maury, 
 their advocate, who by his imprudent and ex- 
 cefhve confidence in a vain aflemblage of words, 
 had done them more harm than good, was enve¬ 
 loped in the difgrace of their reprobation; they 
 interefted themfelves neither for him or his bro¬ 
 ther, who peri hied on the fcaffold., Every thing 
 iimilar or curious of the declamatory kind, either 
 for vehemence or extravagance, palled in con- 
 verfations and in pamphlets, and rufhed on a 
 noify cataract of ufelefs phrafes. The voice of 
 Mallet du Pan mingled itfelf wifely with that 
 of Duroai* and Barruel Beauvert; and the whole 
 of this inflated, continuous, monotonous tribe, fell 
 into the abyfs of forgetfulnefs and derifion. 
 
 This arofe from placing almoft the whole of 
 the actors in the Revolution on the fame line, from 
 not knowing how to diftinguilh between Condor- 
 cet and Marat, Briffot and Robefpierre. It is 
 from this fpecies of ignorance that the tribe of 
 fhamelefs journalifls have met with all the con¬ 
 tempt which they deferved; by denying the vir¬ 
 tue of faithful reprefentatives, the ferocious 
 Montagnard was emboldened ; and a man .below 
 
 * Guillotined the 2.5th of Augult. lie faid, that the hap- 
 pieft day of a Royalifl was to die on the day of the fete ot St, 
 Louis. 
 
 even 
 
u 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 even mediocrity in talents, as well as patriotic 
 virtues and perfonal qualities, a man without 
 energy or difcernment, that dwarf called Robef- 
 pierre, dazzled the gueux and the fans culottes , 
 while the grofs inve£tives poured out on the party 
 of the Gironde, that animofity towards men who 
 were irreproachable, thefe abfurd denominations. 
 Men of the marfhes changed into toads , created Col- 
 lots d’Herbois, Carriers, Lebons, and others of 
 the fame defcription; the enemies of the Revo¬ 
 lution imagined they had gained every thing in 
 loading the BriiTotins, the Girondins, the Roland- 
 ills with infults; and thus the party of the Moun¬ 
 tain raifed the fcaffolds, becaufe the National 
 Convention, opprelfed and degraded for two 
 years, could not refume its refpeflabiiity till it 
 -had been horribly mutilated. The Parilians 
 have paid dear for the contempt which they ven¬ 
 tured to manifeft towards upright and virtuous 
 men; the whole nation was deceived by Paris, 
 and by all thofe infamous pamphlets which were 
 applauded and circulated bv the Parifians. The 
 Mountain party, which at that time was far from 
 fubjugating or deceiving the whole of France, 
 took an anfcendancy, becaufe luch of the repre- 
 fentatives as were enlightened, moderate,, and phi- 
 lofophical men, had been the victims of the mod 
 deplorable errors. If the people had had the 
 good fenfe to adhere to thofe deputies whojoined 
 firmnefs to prudence, and courage to wifdom, 
 
 who. 
 
\ 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 15 
 
 who, penetrated with the facrednefs of their 
 duty, had united to overthrow the double fac¬ 
 tion, they would not have opened fo wide a field 
 to the Anarchifts, the Terrorids, and the drinkers 
 of blood, nor would they have been fo puniflied 
 for their long and invincible blindnefs. But: 
 whenever the plan wasptopofed to march again!! 
 the National Convention, they were always ready; 
 and alter the fpread of all tliefe virulent writ¬ 
 ings, which robbed every reprefentative of the 
 people of his merit or his virtue, it became the 
 mode to run down the deputies, and menace 
 them. I folemnly declare, that the afiaffination 
 of a reprefentative was looked on as an amufe- 
 ment, that both the tongue and the pen were 
 continually employed as dedructive weapons 
 againft them, and at no epocha, and amongll no 
 people, w^as there ever conceived an opinion 
 more erroneous, more unfortunate, more dedruc- 
 tive of that tie which ought to bind the national 
 reprefentation to the city which it inhabits. This 
 is the origin of all our blooddied: by loading with 
 infults every man who was honed or courageous, 
 no man had a right to the public efleem ; the 
 mod virtuous became the mod feeble, and vil¬ 
 lains and plunderers feized the reins of authority. 
 It is you, Parifians, who willed thefe outrages 1 
 Read your own indithnent, and then fit in judg¬ 
 ment on yourfelves! 
 
 CHAP. 
 
16 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 DEGRADATION OF THE MONARCH. 
 
 % 
 
 It might be faid that, in 1783, there were 
 five or fix kings in France. The Queen was a 
 king, the grofs Monfieur was a king: all difputed 
 the authority of the king in the nomination to 
 charges, to places, to employments, to benefices, 
 to falaries. Thefe perfons embarraffed themfelves 
 very little about king or kingfhip, as we may 
 eafily judge by their condu6t, their proceedings, 
 and, above all, by their converfation. Louis the 
 XVIth was the perpetual objeft: of their raillery 
 and contempt. Sareafms, lies, and calumny, 
 were the arms which they wielded* with an ad- 
 drefs that was peculiar to themfelves ; and they 
 may certainly boaft, that under no reign the ta¬ 
 lent of epigram was ever carried to fo high a 
 pitch of perfe&ion as againft the perfon of the 
 prince. When the idol was completely degraded, 
 this group of privileged perfonages, very foolifh, 
 very knavifh, and for the moft part very arrogant, 
 imagined, or w r ere defirous of making it believed, 
 that all the powers of Europe ought to arm 
 themfelves to defend their places, their charges, 
 their benefices, their penfions, and all their noble 
 gratifications, and they were aftonifhed when 
 
 thee 
 
 j 
 
 \ 
 
NEW PICTURB OF PARIS. 1? 
 
 they found that France would no longer be their 
 dupe. 
 
 The poor Monfieurhad put himfelf at the head 
 of a band which wore a ribband, I forget what; 
 and every man who was not of this band was to 
 be regarded as the greateft fcoundrel in the uni- 
 verfe. This clafs of high nobility treated the 
 king with avowed contempt, and entertained 
 ferious ideas of reftoring the old feudal govern* 
 nient. Louis the XVIth was advifed of this, 
 which determined him to lean towards the po¬ 
 pular party, and affemble the States-General. 
 We were then fo entanged, that friends and ene¬ 
 mies of the Revolution all found themfelves un¬ 
 able to draw back a Tingle Hep without the great- 
 eft danger. 
 
 Thefe confequential nobles had each their cir¬ 
 cle of authority: they have fince been called 
 Ariftocrats. They were every where in open 
 war, both againft the people, and againft the fo- 
 vereign, whom they defpifed, whom they torment¬ 
 ed, and whom they menaced, when every thing 
 did not go according to their mind. They had 
 even plotted to carry off the king, and make him 
 prifoner, and they were anxious to have him con- 
 ftdered as fuch. * At length, when the decrees ol 
 the National Affembly reftored to the king the 
 whole of his authority, they publifhed in their li¬ 
 bels, that his authority was degraded and de- 
 ftroyed. Thefe fhamelefs Ariftocrats had no other 
 
 C king, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
18 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 king, no other country, than their own intereft, 
 their pride, and their vanity. 
 
 The great fault of the National Affembly was 
 that ot attempting to conciliate things, which 
 by their own nature were irreconcileable. The 
 crown and the plough were the greateft gainers 
 by the French conflitution. The Ariftocrats in 
 their fury became the official defenders of all 
 crowns, and were anxious to render them refpon- 
 fible for the general infurreftion of France, whilft 
 it is well known that the French had no perfonal 
 objection whatever againft the king. 
 
 The enemies of the republic never complained 
 of the indifcipline of the troops of the line un¬ 
 til they had been difappointed in employing them 
 tor their own defigns, and in exciting a civil war 
 from one end of the kingdom to the other. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 THE CARDINAL DE LOMBRIE. 
 
 This Archbiffiop, who was held forth as a fort 
 of general deliverer, took poffieffion of the feene. 
 As a reward for his promifes, it was thought 
 fit to decorate him with the title of firft minifter. 
 The whole of his aaminiftration was employed in 
 ruining his own reputation, and in rccompenfmg 
 
 his 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 19 
 
 his ufeleffnefs with all the great abbeys on which 
 he could feize. 
 
 He was defirous of fixing the (lamp duties 
 according to his own plan, but not knowing how 
 to gain over the Parliament* who refufed to en- 
 regifler it, he difplayed all the refources of his 
 genius in ordering the courts of juftice to be be- 
 fieged by the French and Swifs guards. A 
 Member of the Parliament was carried off from 
 the chamber of his peers. The Revolution would 
 perhaps have taken place on that day, but the 
 Parifians embarrafled themfelves very little about 
 the Parliament; they rofe, as I fhall prove here¬ 
 after, only becaufe at the moment of the impu¬ 
 dent and abfurd manoeuvre of the 11th and 12th 
 of July, fome trembled for their money, and 
 others for their lives. I was one of the latter 
 defcription, and I own that I thought of nothing 
 but my perfonal defence againfl the troops of the 
 court. If Verfailles had not menaced Paris in 
 the moft openly hoftile manner, Paris would have 
 remained perfectly tranquil. But when every¬ 
 one took arms, even poets and authors, on ac¬ 
 count of the ftrange capers of the Prince of Lam- 
 befc, whom I fhall ever call a good patriot, and 
 which filled up the meafure of general apprehen- 
 fion, there was but one cry, which refounded 
 from every quarter, and this was the cry of ven¬ 
 geance, 
 
 C 2 lam 
 
20 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 I am therefore founded in faying, that we do 
 wrong in looking at diftant fa£ts for the caufes 
 of the Revolution. It was the fight of cannon* 
 and of all the apparatus of war: it was the 
 ftroke of a fabre on the bald head of an old 
 man: it was the lucky impertinence of the 
 prince who penetrated into the Tuilleries on a 
 Sunday, and violated the facrednefs of the gar¬ 
 den at the head of a troop ot horfe, which afted 
 like a fignal of defpair, and electrified every head 
 to fuch a point, that the commotion which fol¬ 
 lowed aftonilhed even thofe who excited it. An 
 infurreCtion like this was neither combined nor 
 organized: it might have taken place amidfi: 
 the moft peaceable people. The Parifians never 
 thought of deftroying Yerfailles : it was Verfaillcs 
 which forced Paris to defiroy it. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 SIEGE OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 How glorious were the firfi: days of the Re¬ 
 volution! D’Artois and Conde had taken their 
 flight. They had till then marched with fronts 
 ereCt, and openly protected the confpiracy againfi: 
 the fafety of the people of Paris. If the pro¬ 
 jected mafifacre did not fucceed according to 
 2 their 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 21 
 
 their wifhes, it was not their fault; they did all 
 they could towards its fuccefs, and the National 
 Affembly had nearly been blown up at Verfail- 
 les. Thefe princes took their flight whenever 
 they faw two heads fluck on pikes ; and Conde, 
 who had taken refuge at Chantilly, having en¬ 
 quired if the burghers had engaged in the affair, 
 and being anfwered in the affirmative, decamped 
 acrofs the country without following any road. 
 The princes and nobles could fcarcely find legs 
 enough to efcape the lantern: they abandoned 
 the king as foldiers in a rout, crying aloud, “ The 
 
 “ devil take the hindmofl!” 
 
 « 
 
 The courtier, the counfel, the clergy, and the 
 parliament, had formed fo ftrong a league againft 
 Turgot, that they forced the king todifmifshim ; 
 and on the day of this minifler’s difgrace, the king, 
 in croffing the gallery, was applauded with en- 
 thufiafm: this was the fined: eulogium that ever 
 was beftowed on Turgot. It feemed as if a troop 
 of malefadtors had affembled together to rejoice 
 at the breaking up of the Marechaufee. This joy 
 appeared fo indecent to the ambaffador of Na¬ 
 ples, that he could not help faying to his neigh¬ 
 bour, “ I think 1 fee a great feigneur difmiffing 
 “ an honeft man ; hisfleward, and his infolent va- 
 “ lets, feem to rejoice in prefence of their maker, 
 “ becaufe this honeft fteward kept them in or- 
 
 0 
 
 “ der.” Thefe men were alfo the caufe or the dif- 
 million of the Maleffierbes, and the Neckers 3 and 
 
 it 
 
22 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 it was under the adminiftration of the latter that 
 the fovereignty of the princes began to take the 
 afcendancy, which ruined them. Their plans 
 were directed by an affiociation of fubaltern intri¬ 
 guers, who were called in the modern flile fai- 
 feurs. Two agents of this fpecies, who do not 
 merit the honour of being named, were detached 
 to work up, as they called it, the dire&or-general; 
 they were countenanced by the old men of Pontf- 
 chartrain, and by the charges and places which 
 they held under the princes. The dire£tor-gene- 
 ral contented himfelf at firft with keeping them 
 at bay by a pure confcience and profound con¬ 
 tempt; but worn out by intrigues and oppofition, 
 he determined to withdraw. He might have faid 
 to them at leaving Marli, You will not fuffer 
 • c me to reform you : I forefee that in lefs than 
 “ ten years you will all perith.” The retreat of 
 the Direftor-General w r as the epoch of their ruin. 
 Upon the whole, we ought not to reproach them 
 with this wrong ; they have been feverely pu¬ 
 nched, and France has reaped an abundant har- 
 veft from their folly. 
 
 They ordered the courts of juftice to be be- 
 fieged, becaufe they had a profound contempt 
 for the long robe, and yet the greateft part of the 
 officers of the guardshad their relations or friends 
 in the parliament; but everything confpired to 
 blind thofe nobles, inafmuch as they imagined 
 that the king was only the primus inter pares ; 
 
 they 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 23 
 
 they have told me fo themfelves, and after this 
 tine reafoning they confidered him merely as their 
 cath-keeper, or their treafurer. It was under 
 this point of view that fome blamed and 
 others approved the holding of the States-Gene- 
 ral; fome fearing that they fhould no longer 
 have the means of pillaging the royal coffer; 
 others flattering themfelves that it would be the 
 way to replenifh it. Their fhort-fighted views, 
 and their infolence, were of fervice to the na¬ 
 tion, who came on them by furprize in this hate 
 of difunion, and crufhed them. 
 
 Thofe who were not of the high nobility, re¬ 
 membered what paffed in the States in 1614. 
 A deputy of the nobility of the Upper Limofin 
 hruck the lieutenant of Uzarche, a deputy of 
 the tiers-etat of the Lower Limofin. The fa id 
 chamber made their complaints to the king, who 
 laid the affair before the parliament; and as all 
 the officers looked on themfelves as interefted in 
 this infult, the Parliament condemned this noble¬ 
 man to be beheaded, which, as he had efcaped, 
 was executed in effigy. And, as if in the face 
 of the States each one amufed himfelf in playing 
 the impertinent, and mani'fefting an open con¬ 
 tempt of the laws, Rochefort dealt feveral blows 
 to Maffillac, under pretence that he had flan- 
 dered M. le Prince, and fpoken irreverently of 
 the Queen, declaring feveral particularities of his 
 defigns againft her. Geran, and fome others, of¬ 
 fered 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 24 
 
 ✓ 
 
 fered the Queen to cane M. Rochefort, but M. 
 de BuilJon diffuaded him, and undertook to fol¬ 
 low up the affair on the part of the Queen. Not- 
 withhanding all that the Prince did, M. de 
 Buillon, who profecuted the affair for the Queen, 
 was himfelf arrehed. It is to be remarked, that 
 the Prince had prefented his defence to the par¬ 
 liament, in which he owned the violence com¬ 
 mitted by Rochefort, pretending that princes 
 of the blood might commit fuch violences with 
 impunity ; but having afterwards received notice 
 that it was very probable that his own confef- 
 fion would commit the perfonal fafety of Ro¬ 
 chefort, and that the parliament would proceed 
 
 9 
 
 againff him in confequcnce, it being true that 
 princes of the blood could ufe no fuch violence 
 without being liable to juflice, he withdrew his 
 defence. A pJeafant fort or defence, which 
 hated the right of princes of the blood to cane 
 people of quality ! 
 
 After the fittings, thefe perfons did, as they 
 had done when the prince and his party de¬ 
 manded the convocation of the States. They 
 had hoped to lay a fnare for the Queen, and to 
 excite fuch difficulties and div ilions as would fet 
 the kingdom in a flame; but when they faw that 
 they were all confpiring for the good of the 
 hate, they then turned towards the parliament, 
 and tried to produce the effeft which they had 
 not been able to do with the hates. They fowed 
 
 jealoufy 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 25 
 
 jealoufy in this body again# the government, per- 
 
 fuading them that they were defpifed, and that 
 
 they had not the ffiare which they ought to have 
 
 in the great affairs which were then in agitation. 
 
 They promifed to aid them in fupporting their 
 
 authority. Thofe reprefentations made to per- 
 
 fons who had already a fufficiently good opinion 
 
 of themfelves, fo influenced the parliament, that. 
 
 they affembled all the chambers on the 24th of 
 
 March, four days after the deputies of the States 
 
 had been difmiffed. It was decreed, that bv the 
 
 * 
 
 good pleafure of the king, the princes, dukes, 
 peers, and officers of the crown ihould be in¬ 
 vited to meet in the faid court, to advife refpeft- 
 ing the propofitions which fhould be made for 
 the fervice of the king, the alleviation of his fub- 
 jefts, and the good of his hate. 
 
 This decree of the parliament was immediately 
 broken by a decree of the council: the king fent 
 for the prefidents, and reprimanded them very fe- 
 verely; telling them, that it was their duty, as 
 his firft parliament, to employ the authority 
 which they held from him the king, to help him 
 to fupport, inhead of degrading it in his prefence, 
 and that he forbad them any further deliberations 
 on this fubjeft. 
 
 They were not of the fame opinion, but refolv- 
 ed the next day that the parliament had at all 
 times took part in the affairs of the hate, and 
 that kings were even accuhomed to fend them 
 
 treaties 
 
26 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 treaties of peace, and alk their advice concerning 
 them. 
 
 In fhort, after four or five decrees rendered and 
 broken, there the affair relied ; the obftinacy of 
 the parliament bore down the will of the king. 
 
 Is not this, with fomc trifling difference, the 
 hiftory of 1788 and 1789? 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 CAISSE d’eSCOMPTE. 
 
 The Caiffe D’Efcompte has a right to claim 
 its place amongft the principal caufes which have 
 produced the Revolution. Verfailles never would 
 have been able, or have even ventured to abandon 
 itfelf to thofe wild and extravagant feenes of dif- 
 fipation which made fo great noife throughout 
 Europe, had it not found fo much facility in mak¬ 
 ing loans, which facility would not have offered 
 itfelf without the afli fiance of the Caiffe D’Ef¬ 
 compte. 
 
 This bank engendered that mongrel breed of 
 ftockjobbers, princes, courtiers, magifirates, mi¬ 
 litary men, financiers, notaries, and fa&ors. The 
 immenfe quantity of fictitious money which was 
 thrown into the capital made thofe imprudent 
 and unreflecting youths who furrounded the 
 
 throne, 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 27 
 
 throne, imagine, that they were placed at the 
 head of a nation which was inexhauftible, and 
 for ever at their orders. They dreamt, that they 
 had nothing to do but to enjoy life, thinking 
 themfelves abfolute mailers, and above every kind 
 of controul, and prefumed that they might even 
 throw afide their cumbrous dignity, that magical 
 virtue of courts. The Queen began with over¬ 
 turning all thofe old eftablilhed ceremonies which 
 
 o 
 
 hood in the way of her tahes and her pleafures, 
 without confidering that etiquette was the palla¬ 
 dium of the houfe. 
 
 The retreat or difgrace of the Mallherbes, the 
 Turgots, and the Neckers, indicated to the na¬ 
 tion that it would be more eafy to dehroy Ver- 
 failles than to amend it. 
 
 There was not a corner of the French domi¬ 
 nions which was not fullied with the fcandalous 
 debaucheries of thofe who were called the young 
 Seigneurs > and as to their reputation, they had 
 themfelves taken fo much liberty with it, that ca¬ 
 lumny had nothing to add on that head. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
28 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 * 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE FOUR WHIRLWINDS. 
 
 One of the great errors confecrated by irre 
 fle&ion, and by the ufual afcendency of words 
 over things, is that of having confidered France 
 as one of the mod ancient monarchies of the 
 world. France has been conftantly governed by 
 the mod ancient, the mod dexterous, and moil en- 
 terprifing aridocracy that ever exided. 
 
 The great, the high clergy, and the magiftra- 
 ture, being the whole, and the nation being no¬ 
 thing, the nobility divided the nation into three 
 dalles, that oi high ferfs, rich ferfs, and poor 
 ferfs. 
 
 We are a Horn* died at what is palling at prefent, 
 but the folly and duration of the old regime is a 
 thing dill more adonilhing. We fhould marry 
 the pen of Juvenal to that of Moliere, if wewifli- 
 ed to prefent in all its odious and ridiculous co¬ 
 lours the arrogance of the great, it was fuch, 
 that France ought to have a thoufand years of 
 conftitution and of liberty to wadi itfelf from the 
 fhame of having been fo long oppreffed and infult- 
 ed by fuch mem 
 
 * Yes, 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. e J9 
 
 Yes, what ought to excite mod aflonilhment 
 
 r t y 
 
 in him who is acquainted with the hi dory of 
 France is, that this Revolution which has changed 
 the face of France, and which occupies all Eu¬ 
 rope, fhould have been made at a moment when 
 aridocracy feemed to have carried its fydem of in- 
 folerite to the highed perfection. 
 
 The Encyclopsedids and the economids held a 
 number of opinions which called for great re¬ 
 forms; but if the nobility had not been divided, 
 if the parliament had not often fet fire to the 
 houfe of its neighbour the'clergy, if the high 
 nobility had not triumphed over the lower with 
 
 . i 
 
 the mod imprudent policy, this coloffus, exempt 
 from taxes and all date charges, would never 
 have been fhaken. The Parliaments were the 
 focus of the French aridocracy; and the arido¬ 
 cracy, ignorant how to didinguifh true courage 
 from pride, and feudal haughtinefs, fo humbled 
 the long robe, that the parliament made no fur¬ 
 ther oppofition to the convocation of the Statcs- 
 General. 
 
 It was towards the term of the definition ol 
 the parliaments, that the marriages of three princes 
 of the royal family took place. They were treated 
 like fovereigns, and certainly had no need to envy 
 any crowned head of Europe, either for their ho¬ 
 nours or their eftablifhment, 
 
 There was fome quedion of a marriage be¬ 
 tween the houfe of Orleans and the royal family, 
 
 but 
 
30 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 but the latter found that D’Orleans was not no- 
 ble enough, and treated him very nearly in the 
 fame manner as he himfelf would have treated 
 a limple gentleman. Thefe follies all turned to 
 the advantage of the nation, which emancipated 
 itfelf amidft the lingular quarrels of the court. 
 That court, divided into four, formed four whirl¬ 
 winds, which fwept away all the minifters and all 
 their affairs, from hence four councils, in which 
 it was ufual to conlider the king as the titular of 
 the kingdom, the property of which belonged to 
 themfelves. France was merely an inheritance* 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 CLUBS. 
 
 In the eftablifhment of newfpapers, of literary 
 focieties, of thofe clubs where men fpoke freely, 
 and efpecially in Freemafon’s lodges, which 
 formed a kind of fchool for oratory, and where 
 the fame rules in fpeaking were fuch as were 
 ufed in the legiflative body, we may difcover the 
 different focufles of that infurreftionary fpirit, the 
 explofion of which could not have long been re¬ 
 tarded, while its immaturity would have fpoiled 
 its effe£h 
 
 The 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. Si 
 
 ['he women, who at firft admire every thine 
 that is great, looked upon the Revolution as a kind 
 of comedy; but as they love all forts of Iuxurv, 
 oftentation, and riches, they were diftrefled when 
 they faw their lover’s two epaulettes, the blue rib¬ 
 band, the mitre, the parliamentary robe, the crofs 
 of St. Louis, and even the cane a corbin of the 
 comptroller of finance, all fwept away ; they per¬ 
 ceived that there was fomething fevere and fe- 
 rious in a Revolution, and from that moment they 
 turned againft it. 
 
 The wives of the long robe were thofe who 
 were moft angry, and openly accufed their huf- 
 bands of imbecility; but even if the Parliament 
 of Paris had undertaken to force the monarch 
 to chufe as a model the compofition of the States 
 aflembled in 1614, the national wifh, the infor¬ 
 mation of the prefent day, would have rifen in 
 oppofition to that mode. The empire of public 
 opinion, and of its increasing force, were then 
 truly incalculable. The French fpirit, fo long 
 monarchifed, became fuddenly difpofed for the 
 eftablifhment of every political theory, and every 
 fyftem of legiflation. I may affert without pride, 
 as well as without fliame, that the reading of 
 my work, entitled The Year 2440, which was fo 
 written as to be intelligible to every clafs, had al¬ 
 ready fhevvn that the greateft changes were pof- 
 fible, and that it was time to give over the ftrug- 
 
 gle 
 
32 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 gle between fuperannuated worn-out maxims and 
 the vigorous principles of eternal juftice. 
 
 Opinion governs the world, and every pen di¬ 
 rected opinion towards the reform of abufes ; and 
 there were fo many abufes in France, that they 
 would have been fufficient not to kill a kingdom, 
 but the world. 
 
 We writers were defirous of debating fuch 
 matters with the head , but other perfons came, 
 who faid. Will you decide it by the arm f 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 THEY HAD BUT TO-. 
 
 We hear nothing but this phrafe, when we 
 talk of Revolution: “ They had but to do this; 
 “ they had but to do that; they had only to 
 <e take fuch a one; they had only to march fuch 
 “ a day and fuch an hour:” all great and marvel¬ 
 lous prophets after the event—all in retrogade 
 motion towards the pail, without being able to 
 fay a fyllable of what is to happen to-morrow ; all 
 employed in ufelefs declamation, haranguing a 
 noify cataraCl, and imagining that their voice is 
 to fufpend the foaming waves. 
 
 How can a journalift read over his papers 
 without blufliing at what he has written? How 
 
 many 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 33 
 
 many falfe calculations! how many erroneous 
 opinions ! what ignorance of the chain that binds 
 all the events of this world ! “ It was but—it 
 
 “ was but—” When I hear thefe words, I turn 
 aiide my attention, and fuffer the fpeaker to wafte 
 his fyllables in empty air. 
 
 Others fay, “ Oh ! if I had been in the place 
 
 « of- ? I would have foon blown up all thefe 
 
 “ rulers in theory.” They may be fatisfied: fome 
 have been arrefted, others have only juft had time 
 to make their efcape. No perfon will acknow¬ 
 ledge his want of fagacity, yet each complains of 
 the blow he has received. 
 
 It might have been fuppofed, that this Revolu¬ 
 tion was the work of fome man of extraordinary 
 
 * 
 
 genius, of fome vaft head of antique phyfiognomy, 
 of fome mind beyond the ordinary ftandard : not 
 at all. We have all been, what Marivaux, who 
 was of the number, calls u the great middling ,” and 
 this perhaps is the reafon why things have been 
 no worfe. There are no miftakes more dange¬ 
 rous than thofe of men of genius. Our faults at 
 leaft have been reparable, and the machine has 
 not been cruflied between our hands. Alternately 
 conquerors, and vanquiihed, we have had nei¬ 
 ther chief nor diretlor, and in the bloody fray the 
 wicked have perifhed with fome good men. Af¬ 
 ter a battle, we bury the dead! 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 D 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 o 
 
 <kJ 
 
 4 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 TRICKS. 
 
 Before the Revolution, Monfieur, the king’s 
 brother, in fpite of the enormous weight of his 
 inafs of matter, was a wit-monger, and kept a 
 wit-warehoufe. In this office were manufa&ured 
 many an epigram, many a joke againft the poor 
 Parifians. The great atchievement was to mijlify 
 them; the moft ridiculous things in the world 
 were announced in the Journal ot Paris, fuch 
 were the letters of the fociety ; Beaumarchais, 
 at the age of fifty-five, was fent to be fcourged 
 at St. Lazare. 
 
 Bon mots was the choiceft food of the fociety 3 
 their own good tafte and wit kept them in ex- 
 ilafies. 
 
 This coterie was highly difpleafing to men of 
 letters, who, hurt by the mifchievoufly cauftic 
 charafter of the Prince, ere&ed their batteries 
 againft him in their turn. He was reprefented to 
 the public as a fcurvy author, prefiding over a 
 literary areopagus, where he was nothing but the 
 fofter-father of every thing that iffued from it. 
 
 The Prince alfo mingled himfelf in certain 
 affairs, and afted a part in that of the Marquis 
 
 de 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 35 
 
 de Favras ; fo much the more mal-ci-droit , and 
 pufillanimous, as he not only unmafked himfelf 
 to every experienced obferver, but was the caufe 
 of the execution of the Marquis, who carried 
 his complaifance fo far as not to mention the 
 name of the Prince ; the laft a£t of a courtier, 
 which all the courtiers efteemed fublime. The 
 Prince took his flight at the departure of the 
 king for Varennes, and having alternately be¬ 
 come regent of the kingdom, and monarch in par- 
 tibus , was called the gros regent, and King of 
 Verona. The counter-revolutionifts denominate 
 him Louis the XVIII; and his nullity is an affair 
 fo well underftood, that the Republicans give 
 him this title by way of dcrifion. 
 
 D 2 
 
 CHAP. 
 
3G 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 DISMISSION OF M. NECKER. 
 
 The book of great events from little caufes is 
 but juft begun, and it is from long meditation 
 that I do not travel far in fearch of the caufe of 
 any event, when that of yefterday gives me often 
 the true folution. 
 
 The privileged orders, who from condefcen- 
 fion meant to employ only treachery, ftratagem, 
 and certain little tricks to fpread divifton, penury, 
 and even famine throughout the provinces, and 
 bring about the diftolution of the National Aftem** 
 bly, feeing that it had the impertinence to wifti 
 to eftablifh the rights of man, refolved to afiociate 
 the pleafure of vengeance with the pride of em¬ 
 pire, to ftrike horror at once into the capital, 
 and brave the whole army. They treated as 
 bourgeois fix hundred poor deputies, almoft 
 crufhed beneath the weight of national calamity j 
 and quite aftonifhed that the tiers etat were not 
 difpofed to fubmit to the fame humiliations 
 which they had borne in the aflemblies of former 
 reigns ; they decreed in their fecret committee, 
 that the minifter of finance fhould be driven out 
 with eclat , that they fhould make themfelves 
 
 mailers 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 37 
 
 matters of Paris, and of the attembled bourgeois, 
 that if they found any who were difpofed to be 
 mutinous, they fhould be difperfed, no matter 
 how ; in fhort, that the words of States Genera], 
 and of National Attembly, fhould henceforth be 
 effaced from all French dictionaries. Twenty- 
 five or thirty thoufand men, horfe and foot, had 
 orders to march towards the environs of Paris 
 and Verfailles; but were they quite fure of the 
 military who began to difcufs the propriety of 
 the order, and who were indignant at the plan 
 of being made only inftruments of flavery ? In 
 order to folve this quettion, a rehearfal of this 
 bloody tragedy was performed. The court party 
 caufed a mutiny of the workmen in a manufac¬ 
 ture in the fuburb St. Antoine ; the manufacture 
 was fet on fire, to furnifh a pretence for march¬ 
 ing the French and Swifs guards againtt the pre¬ 
 tended revolters, and to have the air of protecting 
 houfes and property againtt incendiaries. The 
 rehearfal fucceeded to their wifhes ; the foldiery 
 fired, and wounded as many as they could ; and 
 the burning of the barriers was likewife contrived 
 to ferve as a pretence for a more formidable in- 
 troduftion of troops. 
 
 The full-grown children had however been fo, 
 accuftomed to tricking, that at length they trick¬ 
 ed themfelves. They had not the patience, dur¬ 
 ing the whole of this fine undertaking, to wait 
 
 for 
 
 2 
 
38 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 for the arrival of all the troops. They precipi¬ 
 tated the difmiffal of M. Necker; and on Satur¬ 
 day evening, the 11th of July, he received orders 
 to leave the kingdom in twenty-four hours, with 
 as little noife as poffible. 
 
 This was the fignal of bankruptcy, and at the 
 end of the royal fitting and the plenary court, 
 every mind rallied itfelf to the ftandard of infur- 
 rection. The army of ftockjobbers affembled in 
 the Palais Royal; a man mounted on a table, 
 animated with that boldnefs, the impulfe of the 
 moment, that audacity which effefts great things, 
 taking two piftols from his pocket, harangued 
 the people ; and exclaiming, cc Our ruin is de- 
 cc creed, fee what is palling in the Champs Ely- 
 fees; the troops are taking poffeffion of the 
 “ whole fpace between the Star of Chaillot and 
 c< the Tuilleries, they are drawn up in a line 
 <c of battle; we have deliberated enough, let us 
 “ deliberate with our arms, we are the moll nu- 
 “ merous, and we fhall be the ftrongeft ; let us 
 “ arm ourfelves, let every citizen arm, let us 
 “ march!” The people poured out in crowds; 
 the orator had torn off a branch of the tree 
 which fhaded him ; this branch was transformed 
 into a green cockade, and a green ribband was 
 tied to every man’s button-hole ; it was the tint 
 of hope. But recollecting immediately that 
 green was the colour of D’Artois, they took 
 
 thofe 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 39 
 
 thofe of the city of Paris; hence the three-coloured 
 cockade, which, from the obftacles that are thrown 
 in its way, will pollibly make the tour of the world. 
 
 The alarm-bell was rung, gunfmiths and ar¬ 
 mourers (hops w T ere dripped 3 fearch was made 
 everywhere for arms $ working {hops were fet up, 
 didrifls were organized. The hammer refounded, 
 iron was bent or flatted ; kitchen utenfils were 
 formed into weapons; innumerable crowds 
 thronged to the invalids, feized on all the mufkets, 
 and to the great aftonifhment of the foldiers, com¬ 
 mitted no kind of diforder; the multitude traverfed 
 cellars full of wine without touching it; it was 
 arms alone that they fought; they dragged away 
 cannon of the heavieft metal; and marched off 
 as by enchantment. Expert cannoneers would 
 have taken two days to perform what was exe¬ 
 cuted in three hours. 
 
 While M. Necker was travelling quietly in 
 his poftchaife, his difmifiion had excited the 
 moft extraordinary and moft rapid commotion 
 recorded in hiftory. What a night from Monday 
 toTuefday! Patrols on foot, and eroding each 
 other at every fifteen heps ! a multitude agitated 
 by fear, anxiety, and indignation 1 a hollow 
 murmur, accompanied by inceffant knocking, 
 without any determinate objeft, at doors and 
 (hops! the melancholy, monotonous, and conti¬ 
 nued found from all the bells of this immenfe 
 capital! the alarm-bell, amidft the darknefs, 
 
 feemed 
 
40 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 feemed the fignal of the indignation and ven¬ 
 geance of a great nation, rouzed to crufli a 
 throne!—What a night!—And ye princes, mi¬ 
 ni hers, and governors of empires, who have never 
 heard this tocfin, expeft to hear it found on the 
 firft attempt againd liberty. 
 
 This alarm-bell of the capital was heard from 
 one end of the empire to the other. An invi- 
 fible power druck in every part this land of op- 
 predion ; and every where we faw men in arms 
 idue forth from its bofom. 
 
 e. 
 
 And on what depended this great commotion ? 
 Shall we explain it? It was excited by a divi¬ 
 nity which we call Fear. The court had terrified 
 the capital by the apparatus of war ; from hence 
 that memorable day, which was the greateft, the 
 mod: fublime, and the mod: majedic, which will 
 ever be recorded by poderity. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 CLUB OF THE JACOBINS. 
 
 How has the bned gold become dim ; how 
 has it been changed into the vileft lead ! The 
 popular focieties, the patriotic clubs, the friends 
 of the conditution were indifpenfably necedary 
 
 in 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 41 
 
 in the firft years of our political change. Thefe 
 focieties alone, by the union of the mafs of the 
 people, could oppofe with advantage the preju¬ 
 dices and errors they had to overthrow, accelerate 
 the progrefs of information, diffeminate great 
 truths, eftablifh principles, fpread the love of ci¬ 
 vic virtues, implant patriotifm in every heart, and 
 finally form the public fpirit, which could alone 
 produce unity of opinion as well as unity of ac¬ 
 tion. Such were the labours which were glo- 
 rioufly undertaken by the Jacobins 1 To what 
 a degree of happinefs fhould we have arrived a 
 long time fince, if they had continued as they 
 had begun, or as they proceeded during two or 
 three years fucceeding the Revolution, The ma¬ 
 lignant genius of faflion had otherwife decided ; 
 already he had hovered over France, glided amidft 
 patriotic clubs, and breathed his impure fpirit of 
 madnefs and fury into all their members. The 
 Jacobins Hill fubfift, but from the inftant of the 
 creation of the Republic, thefe men no more re- 
 fembled the patriots of 89, 90, and 91, than the 
 French of the prefent day, republican as they 
 are in name, refemble the Spartans or Romans at 
 the molt brilliant periods of their virtue, and 
 their glory. 
 
 If we are delirous to be informed of the caufe 
 of fo melancholy a change, let us hear the words 
 of an intelligent reprefentative ; u The popular 
 cc Societies,” fays he in one of his reports, 4C were 
 
 “ at 
 
42 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 ££ at their birth the temples of liberty and equa- 
 “ lity. The citizens and reprefentatives of the 
 “ people crowded thither to meditate together 
 ££ on the overthrow of tyranny, the fall of kings, 
 “ and the great means of confolidating liberty. 
 ££ In thefe focieties, we faw the people in union 
 ££ with their mandatories, enlightening and ex- 
 “ amining their conduct. But fince thefe fame 
 ££ affemblies have been filled with artful men, 
 <£ who refort thither to canvas, by their vehe- 
 “ ment cries, their elevation to the legiflature, to 
 “ the miniftry, to the higheft offices of the army, 
 ££ fince thefe clubs are made up of too many 
 ££ public officers, and too few citizens, the peo- 
 ££ pie are become nothing ; it is no longer the 
 ££ people who judge the government, it is the 
 ££ coalefced functionaries, who by uniting their 
 “ influence, filence, terrify the people, feparate 
 ££ them from their legifiators from whom they 
 “ ought always to be infeparable, and corrupt 
 ec the public opinion, on which they feize, and 
 ec by which they impofe filence even on the go- 
 e£ vernment, by making themfelves the denun- 
 ££ ciators of the liberty which they infult, ruin, 
 ££ and deftroy,” 
 
 The luminous truths contained in this extract, 
 ought to appear fo much the lefs fufpicious to 
 the impartial reader, as they were dictated by 
 one of the molt zealous partizans for clubs; and 
 it is principally to the Jacobins of Paris that 
 
 thefe 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 45 
 
 thefe great truths are applicable. In reality, 
 when the Dantons, the Marats, the Robefpierres, 
 the Collots, the Billauds, the Couthons, the Du¬ 
 mas, and many other individuals whofe names 
 efcape me, predominated in the fociety, when 
 every deputy of note, the minifters, the magi- 
 ftrates of the people, and other public function¬ 
 aries were become members, they thought much 
 lefs of the government than the governors, and 
 were confidered as objeCts to whom court was 
 to be paid, and from whom were to be torn, ei¬ 
 ther by flattery, meannefs, or importunity, the 
 molt lucrative employments. The fociety was 
 quite devoted to thofe perfons, and its members, 
 which before fat as judges on their conduct 
 with fo much dignity, became their vilefl para- 
 fites, their flaves, the blind inftruments of their 
 ambitious and deteflable paffions. 
 
 Such is the abridged hiftory of the Jacobins, 
 of whom we have been the impartial obfervers 
 from their origin to their fall. At different 
 epochas they fometimes did good, fometimes 
 evil; they formed the public mind, then de¬ 
 graded it into demagogical fanaticifm ; and dil- 
 honoured by their excelfes that liberty which 
 they had fo powerfully ferved by their labours. 
 
 Confidered with refpeCt to its members, the 
 fociety prefented, at its birth, an union of men 
 formed to aftonifh us by the boldnefs of their ge¬ 
 nius. Divided in fentiments, thefe apoflles of 
 
 liberty 
 
I 
 
 \ 
 
 44 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 liberty difbanded, and were replaced by weak 
 ignorant men, whofe defe£l of underftanding 
 pufhed them on to idolize the very intriguers by 
 whom they were vanquifhed. 
 
 Viewed in its chef de file , or leaders, this fo- 
 ciety was nothing more than an aflemblage of 
 fa&ious, miftaken men, accomplices, and viftims 
 of Robefpierre, and other great criminals. 
 
 One of the greatell faults of the Conftituent 
 AfTembly, was not having had forefight and cou¬ 
 rage fufficient to fhut up all the clubs, and 
 chiefly that of Paris, at the moment the conftitu- 
 tion was accepted by the people ; if it was im- 
 poffible to fupprefs entirely at that period thefe 
 formidable clubs, it was right at leaf! to circum- 
 fcribe them within fuch narrow limits as to ren¬ 
 der them incapable of ever becoming rivals with 
 the conflitutional authorities, and difturbing the 
 public peace. Was it prudent to fuffer altar to 
 be eretted againft altar ? By preferving the fcaf- 
 folding of the edifice, the enemies of liberty laid 
 hold of the vulgar among the Jacobins, and em¬ 
 ployed them as hirelings ; we may compare 
 them to foldiers fuddenly difbanded, and without 
 pay. Thus there has not exifted a fingle con- 
 fpiracy againfl the republic, which has not had 
 its principal focus at Paris. It is under the 
 fanftion of the laws that all law has been de- 
 flroyed. The Jacobins have aflumed every mafk, 
 you will find them again in every primary af- 
 
 fembly. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 45 
 
 fembly, taking poffeffion of the feftions, and 
 forming them into arenas of counter-revolution 
 and anarchy ! Do not imagine that the cannon of 
 Vendemiaire has foftened their fury ; everywhere 
 they had formed new confpiracies, and prepared 
 for Conde his entrance into the departments of 
 the Doubs, and the Jura. To provoke maffacre, 
 pervert public opinion, profcribe the animating 
 fongs of liberty fo formidable to our enemies; 
 fuch is the work of the Jacobins, degenerated, 
 and fold to royalty. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 LABOURS IN THE CHAMPS DE MARS. 
 
 Never, perhaps, has there been feen amongft 
 any people fuch an aftonilhing and ever memo¬ 
 rable inftance of fraternity ! I never think of it 
 but with admiration. Here I faw a hundred and 
 fifty thoufand citizens, of every clafs, age, and 
 fex, forming the mod: delightful picture of con¬ 
 cord, labour, motion, and joy which was ever 
 exhibited! Oh, what monitors are thofe who 
 have effaced thefe fplendid colours 1 what a hap¬ 
 py difpofition belongs to thefe good and brave 
 citizens of Paris, who could transform eight days 
 
46 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 of labour into eight days of the raoft joyous fef- 
 tival, the moff unexpe£ted and the neweft that 
 had ever been celebrated ! It was a fpectacle 
 fo original, that it was impoffible for the moft 
 indifferent or corrupted to have beheld it with¬ 
 out emotion. In an immenfe fpace, filled with 
 citizens who were truly active and eager to la¬ 
 bour, the moft varied fcenes prefented themfelves 
 at once to our view; here, they melted into 
 tears at the fight of their general, who came to 
 lliare in the toils of his fellow citizens; there, we 
 heard acclamation and cries of joy at the arrival 
 of the king’s houfehold; further on, a military 
 band of mufic announced the arrival of the 
 Swifs, thefe children of liberty, who came to 
 partake of the fefiival with their old allies and 
 friends. By the fide of gardener’s apprentices, 
 diftingui'fhed by the flowers and fhrubs tied to 
 their inftruments, were the pupils of the fchool 
 of painting, diflinguiflied by a banner reprefent- 
 ing France. After thefe came the hopes of the 
 riling generation, the children of our legiflators, 
 who had joyoufly exchanged the exercifes of the 
 college for the labours of the Champ de Mars. 
 Athwart a crowd of monks, women, abbes, and 
 coalheavers, I perceived the gallant Captain Ker- 
 faint, with a phyfiognomy radiant with liberty, 
 driving the wheelbarrow with the fame gaiety 
 as he mounted the Belle Poule , when he went to 
 fight the enemies of his country. 
 
 The 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 47 
 
 The refult of fo glorious and fo aftonifhing an 
 example of fraternity, deferves to be tranfmitted 
 to the mod diflant poflerity. When the Federes 
 arrived, we beheld the mofl augufl of federations, 
 the mofl folemn triumph of the people, a day of 
 alliance, of admiration, and of tendernefs. 
 
 This memorable day was like an experiment 
 in electricity. Every thing which touched the 
 chain partook of the fliock ; it was great; it was 
 univerfal; it was fuch in fhort, that the bare re¬ 
 collection is enough to rally the whole family of 
 the French, if our external enemies, jealous of 
 our liberty, fhould come to attack us. Such an 
 event would produce a happy crifis, a national 
 effort, which would fuddenly rebuild the edifice 
 of liberty. It cannot be too often repeated ; 
 never has the court of kings offered fo magnifi¬ 
 cent a fpe£tacle, and fince Lewis the Sixteenth 
 was faithlefs to that facred oath, fince he' could 
 never forget that he took it in the face of heaven 
 and earth, before a generous nation, he can ne¬ 
 ver be pitied for the evils which have fallen on 
 his head for the mofl deteflable of perjuries. 
 
 Alas ! what did he poffefs fo brilliant at his 
 Verfailles, in that kind of fortrefs where courtiers 
 and accomplices, the heralds of flavery, retained 
 him as a prifoner ? They never loft fight of 
 him; they continually befet him, and all this to 
 make him fign whatever ferved their ambition, or 
 increafed their interefl, by the fubjefiion of the 
 
 nation. 
 
48 NEW PICTURE OF PARJS. 
 
 nation. Lewis the Sixteenth dethroned himfelf, 
 by his difgraceful flight, and twenty millions of 
 inhabitants, who were called Franks , flaves as they 
 were, by way of derifion, became free by a kind 
 of miracle. 
 
 It is impoffible to give a defcription of thefe 
 labours which would not fall fliort of the reality. 
 Citizens of all ages were proud of the honour 
 of preparing with their hands the place, where 
 they affembled to fwear to defend the conflitution, 
 and live or die free. The multitude of people, 
 the brifknefs of their motions, the diverfity of 
 drefs, every thing concurred to the piclurefque 
 variety of this fete; here was a company of 
 coal-porters, there a company of laundreffes, 
 the flour-men, the water-carriers; the fcavengers 
 were unwilling to remain idle ; the invalids fhew- 
 ed that their arms were yet as vigorous as their 
 hearts were courageous. We faw even women, 
 decked with the ornaments of their fex, forget 
 its weaknefs, and driving wheelbarrows. The 
 travellers who palled by Verfailles exclaimed, 
 with tears in their eyes, What men are thefe 
 Parifians ! It was an object worth feeing, that 
 vail ant hill of citizens, employed in the coarfeft 
 occupations ; the long chain which they formed 
 harneffed in overloaded carts. Enormous flones 
 yielded to their efforts, it feemed as if they were 
 dragging mountains ; there was not a company 
 who were not felicitous to ereft an altar to their 
 
 country. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 49 
 
 country. Preceded by bands of military mufic 
 marching four deep, bearing with gaiety the 
 fhovel and fpade, chanting that immortal chorus 
 of a new fong which they call the national ca¬ 
 rillon ; all finging, ga ira , ca ira , yes ! pardieu ! 
 ca ira was re-echoed by all who heard them. 
 The inhabitants even of diftant villages joined in 
 the ceremony, with their mayor at their head, and 
 his fcarf and pickaxe on his {boulder. 
 
 But what was moft furprifing was the or¬ 
 der which reigned amongft fo great a number 
 of citizens of every clafs. Not an infulting 
 look, not the flighted: quarrel. There were up¬ 
 wards of two hundred and fifty thoufand in 
 the Champ de Mars, and not a {ingle centinal. 
 A great number of deputies of the federation 
 came and joined in the labours, accompanied by 
 different members of the National AfTembly; 
 among them Father Gerard was dillinguifhed, 
 who, like an ancient Roman, pafifed from the 
 plough to the fenate, and from the fenate to the 
 plough. M. M. Syeyes, and Beauharnois, made 
 up the groupe, harnefifed in a cart ; it was re¬ 
 marked that they drew more towards the left 
 than the right; Abbe Maury drew always to¬ 
 wards the right. On the ninth, the coal-porters 
 drew their banner behind them, and one of the 
 fociety, in a fhort cloak and band, was the figure 
 of ariftocracy perfonified by this fame J. F. 
 Maury. The colleges and boarding-fchools took 
 
 VOL. i. E part 
 
50 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 part in thefe labours. A fchoolmafler of Vin¬ 
 cennes, over heated by his toil, exclaimed, “ I 
 <f can only give my fvveat to my country at pre- 
 “ fent, when will the happy moment come w T hen 
 “ I may died my blood for it r” 
 
 The butchers had painted a large knife in 
 their banner, and wrote underneath. Tremble 
 ariflocrcites, here are the butchers apprentices ! Enor¬ 
 mous maffes gave way under their nervous arms ; 
 the workmen of the Baftille brought in their 
 carts all the inftruments which they made ufe of 
 to overturn that horrible fortrefs. The printers 
 lent a hand to this patriotic work, and had in¬ 
 scribed on their flag. The prefs, the firjl banner of 
 liberty. 
 
 Several communities of monks repaired alfo 
 to the circus of the federation, a young eccle- 
 liaftic, well powdered, perfumed, and fparkling, 
 feemed to look on this glorious feene with con¬ 
 tempt. To the wheelbarrow , to the wheelbarrow ! 
 exclaimed the by-ftanders, and he takes it with 
 an air of indifference. A vigorous patriot, who 
 in order to expedite more labour, had a hod on 
 his back, while he drove a wheelbarrow full of 
 earth, preffes near him, and exclaims, Leave , 
 leave in its place that infer time nt which you pro¬ 
 fane. He quits his own wheelbarrow, feizes 
 on that oi M. the Abbe, goes and- empties the 
 . earth without the Champ de Mars, in order that 
 
 he 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 51 
 
 be might not fully it, returns, refumes his hod, 
 and continues his work. 
 
 A whole family were feen working on the 
 fame fpot, the father dug, the mother loaded the 
 wheelbarrow, and the children drove it by turns, 
 whild the younged, only four years old, in the 
 arms of his great grandfather, who was ninety* 
 three, lifped out in fmiling, Ah ! ca ira , ca ha l 
 
 A drcumftance truly remarkable amidd this 
 tmmenfe crowd of people unknown to each other, 
 was the extreme confidence which reigned 
 amongft them ; a young man arriving, takes off 
 his coat, throws down his two watches, takes a 
 pickaxe, and goes to work at a didance. The 
 people call to him. Your tzvo watches t “ No mif- 
 44 trud amongd brethren,’’ anfwered he in mov¬ 
 ing on, and the depofit was religioufiy refpe&ed. 
 
 An honed citizen was obferved, followed by 
 a wheelbarrow loaded with a calk of wine, with 
 glades in his hand, which he offered gratis to 
 thofe who were at work. Do not drink , my bre¬ 
 thren ^ if you are not thirjiy , that the cafk may lajl 
 the longer ; and indeed none accepted his 
 offer but fuch as were worn out with fatigue, 
 and whole wearinefs was not equivocal ; the king 
 came to take a view of this new fpeftacle ; im¬ 
 mediately with their fpades and pickaxes on their 
 flioulders, the citizens formed around him a guard 
 of honour. 
 
 E 2 CHAP: 
 
52 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 king’s speech to the states general. 
 
 The king enters, he puts on his hat, the 
 whole of the nobility put on their feathered hats 
 alfo; the roturiers inftantly clap on their unfea¬ 
 thered hats, in a fort of angry mood. The king, 
 who obferved all this, takes off his hat, and im¬ 
 mediately all the feathered hats follow the ex¬ 
 ample. This kind of parade gave an air of 
 jocularity to the place and the circumftances. I 
 amufed myfelf a good deal with the ftory of the 
 hats ; befides hats and caps have always played 
 a diftinguifhed part in the hiftory of this world. 
 
 The fifth of May 1789, was the day of the 
 opening of the States General. <c Let us unite, 
 “ gentlemen, the king permits it; let us pay our 
 “ debts.” Such was in fubftance the fpeech of 
 M. Necker. The violent revolution of fenti- 
 ment, the quick fuccelfion of events, every thing 
 commanded the renunciation of old maxims of 
 politics; but the government pretended to 
 meafure us out a partial dofe of liberty, and at¬ 
 tempted to place bounds to the will of the na¬ 
 tion, but in vain. The court feemed to intimate 
 to the States General, “ Y ou may do a little good 
 
 <c to 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 5$ 
 
 <e to the people, provided you previoufly fettle all 
 “ our affairs.” 
 
 It was refolved to excite conteftation in the 
 affembly. The wifh of the commune was for a 
 fingle national chamber, and the court hoped 
 that the increafe of difficulties would bring about 
 the diffolution of the States General. 
 
 What meant thofe illufory phrafes, “ The king 
 “ makes the facrifice of a portion of his autho- 
 “ rity!” A nation is free, a nation becomes 
 the regulator of its own happinefs when it takes 
 poffeffion of its rights. Every inconfiderate aft 
 of authority prepared our liberty. The foil or 
 climate remained the fame, every thing elfe was 
 changed; yet it is not a particular circumftance 
 which in great commotions determines the flux 
 of opinion, there mud be a combination of many 
 circumftances to that effeft. 
 
 The re-union of the orders was celebrated by 
 an illumination of three davs. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
54 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 TREES OF LIBERTY. 
 
 A tree is a fine objeft in the vegetable 
 world; and in the glorious days of the Revolu¬ 
 tion, trees of liberty travelled from all the neigh¬ 
 bouring woods, difplaced the pavement, took root 
 at the foot of houfes, and married their green 
 treffes with the balconies of the different flowers 
 which they fliaded.- 
 
 The fymbols of infant liberty were welcomed 
 with lively emotions; what more foothing fight 
 than this mixture of edifices and green and weav¬ 
 ing branches ? This ufage, fo favourable to the 
 falubrity of the air, has been conftantly dear to 
 thofe patriots who have laboured for the free¬ 
 dom of the French, and who, juftly irritated at 
 the prejudices of a king, and the crimes of a 
 court thirfting for blood, wiflied to immortalife 
 the great epochas of liberty, by changing our 
 cities into rural afpects. Thefe toils are amufe- 
 ments ; the great city was decorated, and in a 
 fhort fpace the royaliA and counter-revolutionary 
 fpirit fuffered thofe natural monuments of our 
 courage to wither. Their yellow foilage feemed 
 an emblem of the fickening republican fpirit, 
 
 and 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 55 
 
 and their beautiful and verdant branches were 
 now difplayed only on the frontiers, where our 
 armies triumph. How has the vigorous fap been 
 dried up ? Thofe fymbols of invincible courage 
 have been infulted, they have been banifhed to 
 the fields; and the facrilegious faw has cut thofe 
 robufl items which were fo faithful an image of 
 a fpeedy and vigorous regeneration ; the genius 
 of liberty, like morality, may be attacked, but 
 is indeffruftible. A generous repentance has 
 often replaced anew thofe trees of liberty which 
 were cut down, or which peridied naturally. 
 The prefence of Buonaparte makes all their 
 branches refume their green, and lends them a 
 new luftre. Frefli twigs, and green branches, 
 rife high as the roofs ; as the fpring renews na¬ 
 ture, fo the great name of the Conqueror of Italy 
 has given to the great city, this beautiful green 
 clothing, which announces both the vegetable 
 circulation, and the refurreclion of the republi¬ 
 can fpirit. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
56 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 JESUS. 
 
 Oh what a time for robbers is a Revolution ! 
 many bad men become rich, and many good 
 men remain poor! We would not however 
 change our virtue againft their riches, for virtue 
 lads for ever, and riches change hands every 
 day. 
 
 Who would have guefTed that our Lord Jefus 
 Chrid would have been called the Sans-culotte 
 Jefus, that he would have no other furname in 
 the journals, in the tribunals at the Jacobins; 
 and that this name was not given as a farcafm, 
 but a true title of refpeft ? A prodigious change 
 then has taken place in the ideas of the people; 
 the permiffion of faying every thing created a 
 peculiar kind of fpirit, which, joined to a good 
 portion of ignorance, was only more humorous. 
 The moft tumultuous commotions were accom¬ 
 panied by a number of ludicrous incidents, and 
 this great drama has been a true tragi-co- 
 medy. 
 
 But it feems as if the evil done to another 
 were a fort of elaftic fpring, which returns to 
 wound the hand by which it has been bent. 
 
 The 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 5T 
 
 The more violent the preffure, the more terrible 
 is the ftroke. Thus evil and injuftice have their 
 reprifals; cruelty produces cruelty, and the 
 Mountain, by cutting itfelf in two, has nearly 
 done itfelf juftice. 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 MASSACRES OF SEPTEMBER. 
 
 Future generations will refufe to believe, 
 that fuch execrable crimes have ever taken place 
 amongft a civilized people, in prefence of the 
 legiflative body, under the eyes and by the will 
 of the depofitaries of the laws, in a city peopled 
 with eight hundred thoufand inhabitants, who 
 remained motionlefs, and ftruck with ftupor, af 
 the fight of a handful of wretches, hired for the 
 perpetration of crimes. 
 
 The number of aflaflins did not exceed three 
 hundred; and in this number we muff compre¬ 
 hend the quidams, who, in the infide of the pri- 
 fon, had conftituted themfelves judges of the pri- 
 foners. 
 
 The promoters of anarchy, the movers of the 
 people, in fhort, the accomplices of the crime, 
 never ceafed exclaiming, that a great confpi- 
 racy would break out in Paris, in the firft days of 
 
 Sep- 
 
5S 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 September. No one, alas l will now contefr 
 with them that truth, which the event has jufti- 
 fied in fo.atrocious and cruel a manner; but in 
 order to know the confpirators, and of what na¬ 
 ture was their confpiracy, we muft examine its 
 fource. In eftabliflaing a chain of fads, no fuper- 
 natural penetration will be neceffary to convince 
 us, that thefe maffacres were the work of that 
 devouring fadion, which at length attained do¬ 
 minion by robbery and affaffmation. 
 
 Whatever be the horror with which thefe days 
 of blood and oppreffion infpire me, I would con¬ 
 tinually recall them to the remembrance of the 
 Parifians, till they have the courage to avenge 
 them. The fituation ot the city feeming to ex- 
 ad a more adive and extenlive kind of vigilance, 
 the counfel general of the commune created a 
 committee of twelve commiffaries. 
 
 The partizans of the maffacres undoubtedly 
 will not affert, that the diamonds and jewels of 
 the perfons arrefted were fufpicious. Never- 
 thelefs they carefully took poffeftion both of per¬ 
 fons and property. This lingle fad is fufficient 
 to give the key of the maffacres. When you 
 alk the anarchifts, why the Committee of In- 
 fpedion caufed property as well as perfons to 
 be fwept away, they can give no anfwer. 
 
 The depots made at the Committee of Infpec- 
 tion, proceeded from the effeds taken out of the 
 Tuilleries, and from thofe who were there arrefted, 
 
 fuch 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 59 
 
 Rich as Laporte, and Septeuil, who had aban¬ 
 doned their houfes and their riches at the time of 
 the domiciliary vifits which preceded the mafia- 
 cres. 
 
 The magazines of the depot were the halls of 
 the offices of the Committee of InfpeQion; it was 
 notorious, that in this office the trunks, boxes, 
 &:c. were ftored. There was moreover in the 
 hall one or two great preffies, which were filled 
 with objedls of great value. On another floor in¬ 
 deed, were placed matters little worthy the at¬ 
 tention of thefe men of prey, fuch as piftols, fa- 
 bres, mufquets, tuck-flicks, &c. &c. 
 
 In this cavern, the maflacres of September 
 were imagined ; in this abominable den fentence 
 of death was pronounced againft eight thoufaud 
 Frenchmen, imprifoned for the raofl part without 
 any legitimate motive, without denunciation, 
 without any trace of crime, only by the will and 
 pleafure of the banditti of the Committee of In- 
 fpeftion. 
 
 Some days before the maflacres, the members 
 of the committee, terrified at this violation of 
 principles, affeflecl by the frightful fpeftacle of 
 a multitude of citizens fliut up at the mayoralty, 
 who protefied againft their arreft, and loudly de¬ 
 manded to be made acquainted with the mo¬ 
 tives ; thefe commiflaries propofed to employ day 
 and night in interrogating them, in order to fet at 
 liberty thofe who were ipiprifoned without caufe, 
 
 and 
 
5t> NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 and to remand fuch as were liable to be taken 
 before the tribunals. 
 
 The 2d of September, news was brought that 
 the town of Verdun was taken by the Pruffians, 
 who, added the retailers of this new r s, had been 
 introduced by the treafon of the Verdunois, after 
 a feigned refinance. Immediately the alarm-guns 
 were fired, the call to arms was beaten, and the 
 tocfin began to found. Municipal officers on 
 horfeback ride to the public fquares, confirm this 
 news, and make proclamations, in order to ex¬ 
 cite the citizens to march againft the enemy. 
 
 At the firft ftroke of the tocfin, every one en¬ 
 quired why, on the appearance of the leall dan¬ 
 ger, Paris was to be thrown into alarm, and its 
 inhabitants flruck with terror, inftead of having 
 their minds infpired with that kind of energy 
 which belongs to w r arriors, and which is the har¬ 
 binger of victory ? Why ufe means which tended 
 rather to enervate their courage? But thofe 
 who were not in the fecret of the confpirators, 
 w r ere foon inftrufted by their own experience. 
 Ah ! day of difgrace and mourning ! It was at 
 this fignal that the affaffins were to afiemble, it 
 was the prelude to the moil terrible carnage. 
 
 The ruffians, marffiallcd in bands, vinarched to 
 the prifons, broke the gates of fome, made the 
 gaolers give up others, and feized the viftims 
 whom the Committee of Infpecfion had huddled 
 together for fifteen days. 
 
 Thefe 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 61 
 
 Thefe aftaftins, armed with fabres and murder- 
 rous inflruments, with arms naked to the elbows, 
 holding in their hands the lifts of profcription 
 which had been made out fome days before, cal¬ 
 led over each prifoner by his name. 
 
 Members of the general council, clothed with 
 the three-coloured fcarf, and other individuals 
 took their feats in the hall of the prifon, where 
 was placed a table covered with bottles and 
 glafles, around which were grouped the pretend¬ 
 ed judges, and fome of the executioners of their 
 fentences of death. On the middle of the table 
 was placed the regifter of the prifon. 
 
 The aftaftins went from one chamber to ano¬ 
 ther, called over each prifoner as his name flood 
 on the roll, then led him before the tribunal of 
 blood, who commonly aiked him this queftion ; 
 “ Who are you?” As foon as the prifoner had 
 given in his name, the cannibals in fcarfs in- 
 fpected the regifter, and after fome vague and in- 
 fignificant interrogatories, delivered him over to 
 the fatellites of their cruelty, who led him to the 
 gate of the prifon, where flood other aftaftins, 
 who maftfacred him with a ferocity unparallelled 
 amongft the moft barbarous nations. 
 
 At the Abbaye prifon, they agreed that each 
 time a prifoner fliould be led out to the wicket, 
 that pronouncing thefe words,— To the Force , 
 fliould be equivalent to the fentence of death. 
 
 Thofe 
 
62 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Thofe who performed the fame fun£tions at the 
 Force, that is, the office of executioners, pro¬ 
 nounced fentence by ordering the prifoners to be 
 fent to the Abbaye. Thofe who were acquitted 
 were fet at liberty, and led to fome diffance from 
 the prifon amidft the cries of Vive la Nation. 
 
 The Legiflative Affembly deputed fome of its 
 members to go to the prifons, and preach the law 
 to the ruffians who were breaking it in fo atro- 
 cious a manner. But of what influence could rea- 
 fon or morality have on affiaffins thirfling for 
 blood, the greater part of whom were plunged 
 into the moft difgufting intoxication! Such mea- 
 fures were neceffarily ineffectual, no harangues 
 were attended to; nothing but force of arms 
 could tame beings of this defcription, or the af- 
 fembly in a body ought to have gone and formed 
 an infurmountable rampart around each prifon. 
 The affaffins rejected with menaces every advice 
 
 and every counfel tending to peace. The Abbe 
 
 \ 
 
 Fauchet, Bifliop of Calvados, a member of the 
 deputation, was threatened, infuited, and had 
 nearly become himfelf the victim of the murderers. 
 He withdrew, and made a report to the Affem¬ 
 bly, which was itfelf in a Hate of ftupor and de¬ 
 gradation, threatened with a total diffolution by 
 Robefpierre, who exercifed an unbounded tvrannv 
 over Paris. 
 
 If we perufe the accufation of the deputy Lou- 
 vet againft Robefpierre, publiffiecl in the fir ft davs 
 
 of 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 of the Convention, in which the conduft of this 
 falfe patriot, with refpedt to the Legiflative Aflem- 
 bly, is laid open to the day, we lhall there be¬ 
 hold that impudent confpirator attempting to 
 raife the diftatature on the wrecks of the national 
 reprefentation, neverthelefs Robefpierre never 
 ceafed talking of his civic virtues, and of his 
 diiintereftednefs; this wretch left the place of 
 public accufer to the criminal tribunal of Paris, 
 to retire, as he laid, from public life. He had 
 printed, that he was no intriguer, that he defired 
 no place, that he would accept none, and all at 
 once he found himfelf niched in the counfel-ge- 
 neral of the commune, from whence he mounted 
 to the capitol. 
 
 The priefts imprifoned at the Cannes were $11 
 mafiacred, fave one; they were forced to walk 
 out one after the other, and often two together. 
 At firft, the affailins killed them with mufquets, 
 but on the obfervation of a multitude of women 
 who were prefent, that that kind of death was too 
 noify, they made ufe of fabres and bayonets. 
 Thefe unhappy victims prollrated themfelves in 
 the midil of the court; and during a moment ot 
 meditation, abandoned by all nature, without 
 aid, without any other confolation than the tefti- 
 mony of their own confidence, they lilted up their 
 eyes to heaven, and feemed to implore the Su¬ 
 preme Being for pardon on their murderers. 
 
 Ye 
 
64 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Ye partizans of thofe murders! favage confpi- 
 rators! who have never ceafed deluding the cre¬ 
 dulous multitude, will you tell us that it was im- 
 poflible for you to arreft the arms of the mur¬ 
 derers? Will you tell us, that it was not in your 
 power to reprefs them? You declared to the 
 departments by the lying organ of your commif- 
 faries, that you could not reftrain the anger of 
 the people. Wretches! You have proftituted 
 the name of the people, which you have never 
 invoked, but to diflionour and cover with it 
 your own turpitude and guilt! Was it the peo¬ 
 ple, then, who committed thefe execrable crimes? 
 No, the people mourned in filence: it was you, 
 ye ferocious adminiftrators, who, in league with 
 the counfel-general of the commune, and the mer- 
 cilefs Danton, prepared and executed every thing. 
 It was ye, who with a fmall number of confiden¬ 
 tial accomplices, committed thefe crimes, in or¬ 
 der to enrich yourfelves with the bloody fpoils of 
 your numerous vi&ims! It is you who made Paris 
 the murderous cavern of the rich, and prepared 
 the mifery of the people, by breaking all the fo- 
 cial ties, drying up all the canals of circulation, 
 and deftroying public confidence, fo neceflary, fo 
 indifpenfible to the profperity and happinefs of 
 the whole! 
 
 If it were not proved that the opprobrium of 
 the firft days of September belongs to this admi- 
 5 niftration. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 63 
 
 niflration, I would bring to recollection two faCts 
 which cannot be denied, the payment of eight 
 hundred and fifty livres, made by the order of 
 the general counfel, to the wine merchant who 
 furnifhed the affaffins at the Force during their 
 horrible execution ; and the circumftance of the 
 Committee of Infpection having hired, on the eve 
 of the maffacre, the carts which were made ufe 
 of to tranfport the dead bodies to the quarries of 
 Charenton. 
 
 If the national guard had been called out in the 
 name of the law, which thofe perfidious and fangui- 
 nary chiefs were induftrious in pallying, howflrong 
 and intrepid would they have proved! The whole 
 world would have rifen in mafs: but were not this 
 national guard, the main body of which has re¬ 
 mained pure ainidft every kind of corruption and 
 plunder, afraid of being accufed of acting with ¬ 
 out orders ? Were they not apprehendve, that 
 their delire of punifhing crimes would be con- 
 itrued into criminal intentions? Such motives 
 reftrained their zeal, and they remained motion- 
 lefs. 
 
 I faw the fquare of the French theatre covered 
 with troops, whom the alarm-bell had gathered 
 together. I faw them ready to march, and im¬ 
 mediately retire to their quarters, becaufe fome 
 one had come with the traitorous news that it 
 was a falfe alarm, that it was nothing. Heavens ! 
 it was nothing. The courts of the Cannes and 
 voi. i. F the 
 
66 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 / 
 
 the Abbey were inundated with blood, and filled 
 with corpfes, and this was nothing. 
 
 I faw three hundred men armed, performing 
 their exercife in the Luxembourg Gardens, two 
 hundred Heps from the prieffs whom they were 
 mafTacreing at the Cannes,. Would they have re¬ 
 mained immoveable it they had received orders to 
 march again ft the affafiins? 
 
 At the gates of the Abbey and the other prifons 
 were defolated wives calling with fhrieks on their 
 hufbands, feparated for ever from them by their 
 murderers ; others endured the torture of feeing 
 them mafiacred at their feet. The fame carnage, 
 the fame atrocities, were repeated at the fame 
 time in all the prifons in every place where 
 groaned the viclims of arbitrary power, thefe 
 cruelties were exercifed, attended with circum- 
 ltances more or lefs tragically remarkable. 
 
 At the feminary of St. Firmin, the priefis 
 who were confined, waited peaceably, like the 
 other priefts imprifoned at the Cannes, till the 
 municipality of Paris had indicated the day of 
 their departure, and delivered them paffports to 
 go out of France, according to the tenor of a de¬ 
 cree which enjoined their exile, and granted 
 them three livres a-day for their journey. It is 
 ineonteilible, that it depended only on the confti- 
 tuted authorities that this decree ihould be put 
 in execution before the mafiacres, but the priells 
 were referved for this dav. Thev were mutilated, 
 4 - and 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 67 
 
 and torn limb from limb. At St. Firming it was 
 thought a pleafant amufement to throw them 
 headlong from the roof to the ground. 
 
 At the Salpetriere, thofe monfters murdered 
 thirteen women, after having violated feveral. 
 
 At the Bicetre, the keeper feeing a horde of 
 thefe affiaffins on their march, put himfelf in a 
 pofture of defence. He had pointed two pieces 
 of cannon, and at the moment that he was 
 about to difcharge them, he received a mortal 
 wound. The aflallins triumphant, left not a fingle 
 prifoner alive. 
 
 At the prifon of the Chatelet, the fame car¬ 
 nage and the fame ferocity took place ; nothing 
 efcaped the rage of thefe cannibals ; whoever 
 was a prifonei;, appeared to them worthy of the 
 fame treatment. 
 
 At the Force they remained five days. Ma¬ 
 dame, the ci-devant Princefs of Lamballe was 
 there imprifoned. Her fincere attachment to the 
 wife of Louis the XVIth was all her crime in the 
 eyes of the multitude. She had afled no part 
 amidft all our agitations, and nothing could ren¬ 
 der her fufpecled to the people, to whom file was 
 known only by her multiplied aclsof beneficence. 
 The moil exaggerated writers, the mod ferocious 
 declaimers, had never mentioned her in any of 
 their papers. 
 
 The 3d of September fhe was called down to 
 the office at the Force ; the appeared before the 
 
 F 2 • bloody 
 
68 
 
 NEW PICTURE OP PARIS. 
 
 bloody tribunal compofed of a few individuals. 
 It furely required a kind of fupernatural courage 
 to fupport the afpeCt of thofe murderers, covered 
 with blood. 
 
 Several voices were heard amklll the crowd, de¬ 
 manding pardon for Madame de Lamballe. The 
 affadms feemed undecideed and fpared her for a 
 moment, but immediately after (lie received feve- 
 ral llrokes, fell bathed in her blood, and expired. 
 
 Her head and her breads were inftantly cut off, 
 her body was opened, her heart was tom out, her 
 head was afterwards duck on a pike, and borne 
 throughout Paris; her body was dragged after it 
 at fome didance. The tygers who had thus mu¬ 
 tilated her, amufed themfelves with the barba¬ 
 rous pleafure of going to the Temple and fliew- 
 ing her head and her heart to Louis the XVIth 
 and his family. 
 
 Every thing mod hideous and mod deliberately 
 cruel that horror could conceive, was exercifed 
 on the body of Madame de Lamballe. 
 
 I can add no more. This I can atted, that every 
 man of humanity in the Convention made the 
 greated exertions during three months to fearch 
 after and profecute thefe abominable afiadins, and 
 that every motion to this effect was condantly re¬ 
 jected by the Montagnards. It was in order to 
 efcape the vengeance of the law, and from the 
 fear of exemplary punidiment, that they entered 
 into the confpiracy of the 31 ft of May, imagin¬ 
 ing 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
JffEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 69 
 
 ing that further murders were the moft effec¬ 
 tual means of wafhing out the traces of their for- 
 ' mer crimes. 
 
 When we refle£t, that it was under this bloody 
 planet that the labours of the National Conven¬ 
 tion began, we ought to reverence the courage 
 of thofe who accepted this dangerous office. The 
 very great majority were difpofed to follow no 
 other path than that of juftice and virtue. The 
 Revolution was completed, the throne demolifh- 
 ed, a fmall minority hard, arrogant, ignorant, and 
 ferocious, were refolved to go on revolutioniz¬ 
 ing. The divinity Marat was placed on the 
 fore-ground, and his apoftle Robefpierre, his 
 hands withered and dried with convulfive twitch- 
 ings, clung to the tribune, where he defcanted 
 on his virtues, while the partifans of defperate 
 demagogy, infolently affumed the title of Repub¬ 
 licans, and called the true republicans the found¬ 
 ers of the republic, the moft pure and liberal wri¬ 
 ters, Federalids, a name which they had them- 
 felves invented. 
 
 At the bare fight of thefe new men, who rob¬ 
 bed the Revolution of its facred character, I pub- 
 lifhed a prophetic letter, in which I announced 
 at the fame time their horrible triumph and their 
 tremendous fall. The exaggerated fanatic, the 
 fophiftic barbarian filenced both the philofopher 
 and the ftatefman ; and it muff be owned, that 
 
 the 
 
70 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 the foreign courts knew well how to chufe their 
 inftruments. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 TWENTY-FIRST OF SEPTEMBER, 1792. 
 
 Let us turn for a moment to the time when 
 the Convention opened its fird feflion. The Le- 
 giflative Affembly had juft overturned the throne; 
 but aflonifhed, and in fome fort ftupified at the 
 great blow which it had ftruck, felt itfelf unable 
 to fupport the weight of Empire, and leaving to 
 other hands the painful care of taking advantage 
 of the viftory, withdrew, furrounded by honour¬ 
 able ruins. The Legiflative Body had overturned 
 the monarchy, but had not dared to put any thing 
 in its head. In the perfon of the monarch, it at¬ 
 tacked every king in the univerfe, but its energy 
 was exhaufied by this fublime exertion : it held 
 out to France, royalty abolifhed, but had not 
 the courage to pronounce the word Republic. 
 
 The Convention fignalized the opening of its 
 feffion by this aft of courage; and at what a 
 moment! when we werewithout armies, when the 
 defence of our frontier towns was confided to 
 Royalifts, jmd confequently to traitors ; when the 
 
 people. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 71 
 
 people, attached to old prejudices, beheld with 
 fenfations of difmay the fall of monarchy, fo long 
 the object of its worffiip and its affections 3 when 
 the legions of Pruffia inundated the plains of 
 Champagne, and might almofl without obftacle 
 have traverfed France; when every thing, in diort, 
 feemed to intimate that the enemy was about to 
 efface by the blood of its authors the daring de¬ 
 cree, which transformed into a republic a country 
 invaded and fubjugated by the fatellites of kings. 
 
 We had to defend our territory, create an army, 
 and raife public fpirit; we were without finances, 
 and were to combat with paper money thofe who 
 had the treafures of Mexico. We could only op- 
 pofe a raw and undifeiplined militia to the moff 
 warlike troops in Europe, generals of a day made 
 on the eve of an engagement to face the mod 
 able taftitions. Thofe great creations were the 
 work of a moment. The voice of danger was 
 beard : eight hundred tboufand men quit their 
 homes, arm to fly to the frontiers; crowds of work- 
 fliops were edablifhed in every corner, they make 
 faltpetre, prepare the thunder, they drive back 
 the enemy beyond the frontier, and the French 
 Eoift the dandard of victory in a foreign terri- 
 torv. 
 
 j 
 
 * Never were fuch great things performed by 
 fuch weak means, never was there a date labour¬ 
 ing under circurndances fo difficult; divided at 
 home, attacked by all Europe, torn by fanaticifm, 
 
 : - and 
 
72 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 and factions, the National Convention triumphed 
 over all thefe united obdaclcs, and iorced the 
 Englifh to fly from our ports, which had been 
 won only by perfidy. It repaired the effe£ls of 
 that treafon, which, driving us back from Flan¬ 
 ders, opened the gates of the republic to our ene¬ 
 mies, and loft us the fruits of the molt glorious 
 campaign, and of the mod fplendid victories. 
 Our triumphant armies penetrated anew into Bra¬ 
 bant, and the Hollanders beheld foon after, amidft 
 the molt rigorous of winters, heroes who knew 
 how to brave the inclemency of the feafons, and 
 triumph over nature itfelf. The Greeks, that 
 people whom the friends of liberty ever love to 
 cite, becaufe they afford us the nobleft examples, 
 boafted in the fpace of feveral ages but of three 
 or four triumphs. The battles of Salamis, of 
 Flatea, of Marathon, infpire the remembrance 
 of what glorious efforts the human mind is capa¬ 
 ble, warmed with the love of its country, and the 
 enthufiafm of independence. But the French 
 people performed more in three years than that 
 people, fo juftly celebrated, atchievcd in three 
 a^es. The Rhine and the Scheldt were almod at 
 
 O 
 
 the fame moment the theatres of our courage. The 
 Greeks had to combat the effeminated people of 
 Afia, men enervated by the mildnefs of the cli¬ 
 mate and the luxuries of life; and we, we have 
 conquered the warriors of the north, flrengthened 
 by exercife, labours, and the fevered difeipline. 
 
 When 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 73 
 
 When Fame everywhere published our tri¬ 
 umphs, what could the univerfe think of that 
 government which had created an army of he¬ 
 roes, and organized victory in twenty different 
 places ? Was not the Convention confidered as an 
 affembly of men united in the fame fentiments, 
 warmed by the moft ardent patriotifm, grangers 
 to every faftion and every private intereft? an 
 affembly, of whom it might be afferted what the 
 minifter of Pyrrhus faid of the Senate of Rome. 
 Alas! thofe men who made Europe tremble, 
 who abroad impreffed ideas of greatnefs and fub- 
 limity, exhibited to their fellow-citizens the pic¬ 
 ture of the moft contemptible paffions. At a dis¬ 
 tance, it was the Splendour of Olympus and the 
 majefty of the gods; near, it w T as the melancholy 
 Spectacle of a few frivolous virtues, little contefts 
 of Self-love, and the fhameful Struggles of hatred 
 and revenge. We recolleft what w r as the fur- 
 prize of the ambaffadors which Theodoric the 
 Second Sent to Attila. After the terror which 
 his name had infpired, they expected to fee this 
 monarch Surrounded with all the luxury of Afiatic 
 greatnefs, they beheld, on the contrary, a man 
 of Short ftature, and whofe outward form disco¬ 
 vered nothing elevated. “ What!” exclaimed 
 they ,“ Is this the conqueror of nations! Is this he 
 “ whom we fear, admire, and who fills the world 
 “ with the Sound of bis name!” A foreigner, in 
 Seeing our National Affembly, w r ould have con¬ 
 ceived the fame aftonifhment. In the Space of 
 
 three 
 
74 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 three years, it prefented the image of the molt 
 difgraceful pufillanimity, and moft devoted con 1 
 rage. Sometimes it brought to oiir recollediion 
 the Senate of Tiberius and Domitian, and at 
 other times we faw it difplay the great charac¬ 
 ter, the heroic firmnefs of the Senate of Rome on 
 the fack of the city by the Gauls. Among!! its 
 members, were fome to be execrated by the re^ 
 
 r 
 
 motet! poderity, and others who would have ho¬ 
 noured Athens and Sparta at the mod glorious 
 oeriods. The Convention was divided into two 
 
 s 
 
 faftions, one made up of energetic, violent men, 
 who were refolved to have liberty at any price. 
 The mod terrible meafures did not affright them; 
 they would have facrificed without remorfe the 
 two-thirds of the prefent generation, if they had 
 thought that facrifice neceffary. Convinced of 
 
 O J 
 
 the perverfity of the human heart, they were per- 
 fuaded that their fellow-citizens were not capa¬ 
 ble of making this facrifice to the public good, 
 not only of the lead part of their fortune, but even 
 of the did motions of pride and illufions of vanity ; 
 experience has but too well juftified their fufpi- 
 eions, it has but too well taught us that miffrud 
 is the beginning of wifdom. Thefe ardent and 
 impetuous revolurionifts defpifed as pufillanimous 
 the mild and humane conceptions of philofophy, 
 they thought, that in order to edablifh a new or¬ 
 der of things, it was indifpenfable to profcribe 
 or drike without mercy at every thing which held 
 ' - - - to 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 f* t+ 
 
 i o 
 
 to the old. At the head of the other party were 
 men who had borrowed from the ftudy of fcience, 
 and the praftice of literature, thofe mild difpoft- 
 tions which are valuable in ordinary times, but 
 little fitted to weather or mafter the ftorms of a 
 revolution. They thought alfo too favourably of 
 their cotemporaries: they believed that our mis¬ 
 fortunes were more the effefl of errors than the 
 refult of depravity ; and that to make men in 
 love with virtue, it was fufticient to prefent it to 
 their view. 
 
 A wide interval exifts between the ftudy of 
 books and the commerce of life. The philofo- 
 pher, in his retreat, creates to himfelf an imagi¬ 
 nary world, which no more refembles the real 
 world than Elyfium refembles Tartarus. Thefe 
 of whom we fpeak, wiftied for a republican go¬ 
 vernment, but they fhuddered at the means made 
 ufe of by their opponents for obtaining it; they 
 wiftied it with as few calamities as pofiible; they 
 did not believe that it was neceflary to facrifice 
 human viftims on the Altar of Liberty; they had 
 given the people the firft impulfion, and imagined 
 that they could direcf and ftop them at their plea- 
 fure; they did not refledl, that it was much more 
 eafy to raife the paflions than reftrain them, to ex¬ 
 cite infurreftions than to eftablifh order, and that 
 it w r as not impoftible to fay to a great nation, af¬ 
 ter having employed every means of inciting it, 
 as the Eternal fayS to the waves of the fea, thus 
 
 far 
 
76 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 far fhall you go, and no farther —Ufque hue , et 
 non procedes amplius. If thefe men could have 
 governed events, the pafiage from defpotifm to 
 liberty would not have been marked either by 
 that affli£tive glare of lightning, or by the fight 
 of fo many devaftations. In finifhing their revo¬ 
 lutionary career, they might have applauded 
 themfelves like Pericles at the clofe of his life, 
 that he had made no perfon wear mourning. But 
 they could neither fiop the effufion of blood, nor 
 even fave their own heads. 
 
 Between thefe two parties was a crowd, with¬ 
 out energy of mind, and ever ready to range 
 themfelves under the banner of the triumphant 
 party. Blood flowed like the waters of a torrent, 
 they fighed in fecret, but this was all they were 
 capable of doing. Their fons, their fathers, their 
 brothers, might have been facrificed before their 
 eyes, and they would have hid themfelves, left 
 their tears fliould betray their grief, and awaken 
 the fufpicions of the tyrant. A few others, am¬ 
 bitious and ferocious, faw nothing in the Revolu¬ 
 tion but means of fortune or celebrity. Repu¬ 
 tation has charms which feduce all mankind, but 
 molt men entertain very falfe ideas on that fub- 
 ject. They with for nothing but to be fpoken 
 of, and they would purchafe fame at any price. 
 Unable to become iiluftrious, they endeavour to 
 make themfelves notorious. The annals of the 
 world tranfmit to us alike the names of the de- 
 
 ftroyers 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 77 
 
 flroyers and founders of empires. We read of 
 Gengis-kan as'well as Romulus. There were 
 alfo a few madmen in this collection, who feemed 
 to have impofed on themfelves a kind of obliga¬ 
 tion to violate every rule of decency, and whofe 
 extravagant cynifm would have excited only pity, 
 if it had not been the mafic of the hypocrite. But 
 a new Socrates would eafily have diftinguiflied 
 thefe new Antifthines through the holes in their 
 cloaks. They neverthelefs had their profelytes. 
 Contempt of all form, vulgarity of language and 
 demeanour, were under their aufpices the figns 
 of patriotifm. Folitenefs, urbanity, and refpecf, 
 were baniflied as remnants of flavery, and in a 
 fliort time we ihould not have yielded in barba- 
 rifm to the CafFres or the Negroes of Guinea. 
 Amidfl thefe philofophical patriots and fanguinary 
 republicans, thefe ambitious dwarfs and thofe 
 extravagant cynicks, arofe one man, who, with 
 the narrowed: mind and mod limited underhand- 
 ing, fucceeded in edablifhing the mod horrible 
 and mod inconceivable defpotifm that has ever 
 exided. He had neither thofe external advan¬ 
 tages which captivate the vulgar, nor thofe bril¬ 
 liant qualities which command even the admi¬ 
 ration of the wife ; with thofe little plans of hv- 
 pocrify, and thofe little tricks which a great cha¬ 
 racter difdains, he became the idol of the multi¬ 
 tude, incapable of difcerning virtue, and eftimat- 
 ing true merit. The fentiment of his mediocrity 
 
 made 
 
78 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PA&IS. 
 
 made him the enemy of every man of fuperior ta¬ 
 lents. Genius, ability, knowledge, were fo many 
 titles of profcription in the eyes of this new Omar, 
 under whofe favave domination we witneffed the 
 
 O 
 
 deflruftion of the greater part of thofe men who 
 did honour to their country, and whom foreigners 
 would have envied us. The part which this tri¬ 
 bune a£ted amongft us is an eternal fubjeft: of 
 opprobrium for France. The yoke is much le& 
 difgraceful, when thofe who impofe it have a de¬ 
 cided fuperiority of underftanding over us, which 
 it is almoft impoffible to refill; it has been 
 thought, that it was neceffary to have great qua¬ 
 lities, in order to commit great crimes. The 
 fcourges of nations have always prefented them- 
 felves to our eyes under ilriking colours.- Never- 
 thelefs, in the moral, as in the phyfical world, the 
 malevolent qualities are not always the attribute 
 of flrength. The ferpent, which creeps under 
 the grafs, is more dangerous than the tyger who 
 difplays terrific majefty. We fhould have many 
 reproaches to make to nature, if fuperior ta¬ 
 lents always or even often accompanied per- 
 verfenefs. This man, to whom pofterity will af- 
 fign the rank which he ought to hold, and will 
 certainly never place amongft thofe whofe fplen- 
 did vices excite at once horror and admiration, 
 , made a complete trial of our cowardice. During 
 the fpace of two years, every thing gave way to 
 his atrocious will, and he might have continued 
 
 his 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. *79 
 
 his favage domination much longer, if he had not 
 imprudently marked out his victims before he fa- 
 crificed them. He peri (lied: fear accompliihed 
 what patriotifin ought to have effected, he pe- 
 riilied, and nothing remains of him but the re¬ 
 membrance of his crimes, and of the humiliation 
 with which he has covered his country. 
 
 Robefpierre has left us no marked feature to 
 record. Every thing about him bore the ftamp of 
 pufillanimity, of a dark, diftruftingfoul, barbarous 
 conceptions and infane projeQs. It will not be 
 forgotten, that he had the mania of wifhing to 
 create a new religion, and exercife its ridiculous 
 funfitions. This burlefque fcene, which he de- 
 fcribed to us as the happieft day of his life, did 
 not long leave him very pleafant recolIe£tions, 
 He felt, in dying, the juftnefs of the application 
 of the title of Cromwell, a much greater multi¬ 
 tude flocked around his fcaffold than had crowded 
 to the altar, when he erected himfelf into the pon¬ 
 tiff of the Supreme Being. But it was not fuffi- 
 cient to have overthrown this favage tyrant, it 
 was neceffary to crufli the faftion that had clung 
 around him, to reftrain the herd which they gain¬ 
 ed over by their corruption and their flatteries, 
 and wrefl from their hands the power which they 
 had exercifed as tribunes under him. The means 
 employed were not, as experience has proved, 
 calculated according to the rules of found poli¬ 
 cy. In order to crufli demagogical fury, a fatal 
 
 afeen- 
 
80 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 afcendency was given to the enemies of the re 
 public. Thofe who defended the Convention in 
 the days of Praireal, thought they had laboured 
 for the re-eftablifhment of the throne ; they hop¬ 
 ed, that by crulhing the people, they fhould have 
 been able to crufh the Convention itfelf. 
 
 We foon beheld a cow r ardly and effeminate 
 fet of young men deferting the frontiers, haden- 
 ing to opprefs, nay, affaffinate the patriots, the 
 eldeft friends of liberty; tliefe vile Sybarites, on 
 whom the name alone of republic (truck terror, 
 effaced and everywhere profcribed the figns and 
 emblems of independence. To the fongs of vic¬ 
 tory they fubftituted the atrocious cries of ven¬ 
 geance; they prowled everywhere for victims, 
 and thirfted to make an hecatomb of the whole 
 mafs of republicans. Such, at lead, was the hor¬ 
 rible wifli which they did not affe6t to conceal at 
 the theatres, and in every public place. The 
 whole of the fouth was the fcene of the mod 
 dreadful maffacres. They readily conceived, that 
 after facrificing every patriot, the re-eftablifhment 
 of the throne would not be difficult. In ffiort, 
 they believed, that the moment was come, and 
 the confpiracy of the 13th Vendemiaire un- 
 rnafked this faftion, which had been too much 
 refpe&ed, and in whofe hands arms had been in- 
 difcreetly placed. The Convention terminated 
 its career by the mod important of victories. It 
 created liberty at the opening of its feffion, and 
 
 did 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 81 
 
 did not break up without having faved it. This 
 is what it can oppofe to its enemies and its gain* 
 
 layers. 
 
 Prejudice and animofity may blind its con tern- 
 poraries, but pofterity will do it juftice. It will 
 be felt, that it was not poffible to make a Revo¬ 
 lution which gave a fhock to fo many paffions 
 and fo many prejudices, without commotions. It 
 is not calm and refleftive wifdom which fits 
 amidft political tempefts, but enthufiafm, firong 
 paffions, and even fanaticifm, that ride the whirl¬ 
 wind. The philofopher mourns in filence front 
 amidft his retreat over human calamities, and in¬ 
 dicates the means by which they may be reme¬ 
 died ; but ambitious men, greedy of titles or 
 wealth, cannot dived themfelves, at the voice of 
 the fage, of thofe riches or didin£b‘ons which they 
 have ufurped. It is not fufficient that there are 
 philanthropies who write, there mud alfo be ar¬ 
 dent fpirits who are capable of afting. Private 
 vices often aflame, indeed, the place of public 
 intered ; but wherever there are men, we fhall 
 ever behold the wcaknefs of their nature imprint¬ 
 ed on their works, and we never ought to indulge 
 the flattering hope that the world will ever be 
 governed by celedial intelligences. 
 
 Our Revolution has undoubtedly been the 
 caufe of very great evils, but the pad is no longer 
 in our power, let us labour for the future, and 
 take advantage of our faults. Adverfity ought 
 vol. i. G to 
 
82 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 to be a faithful fource of inftruCtion to nations 
 as well as to individuals. We have palled through 
 every trial, we have prefented the picture of 
 every extravagance, and of every kind of folly ; 
 but thefe afflictive fcenes have been compenfated 
 by aCts which are fitted to do honour to human 
 nature. No people have carried their enthufiafm 
 for liberty further, or given more proofs of cou¬ 
 rage and of devotednefs; we fhould have done 
 greater things if we had known how to take ad¬ 
 vantage of our impetuous and impaflioned cha¬ 
 racter. Though we have been badly directed, 
 we have refifted all Europe ; we have overthrown 
 every faCtion; and, in fpite of the inconftancy 
 and the lightnefs with which w T e have been re¬ 
 proached, have fhewn ourfelves firm and obftinate 
 in the defence of our rights. It is now time to 
 Hop, longer llorms would make us lofe the fruit 
 of our labours. It is time to prefent to Europe 
 the fpeCtacle of a great republic, formed amidft 
 tempefts, which had difplayed at its birth the 
 greateft vigour, and which promifes to reach the 
 highelt ddtinies. 
 
 CHAP 
 
 V 
 
83 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 BONNET-ROUGE. 
 
 The ftandard of Jacobin perfection! This ri¬ 
 diculous drefs was adopted by a foolifh kind of 
 a fellow, a reprefentative of the people, who 
 wore it conftantJy on his head. He attempted 
 to fpeak one day at the tribune without taking 
 off his cap. The Cote droit was angry; upon 
 which he took his red cap, and placed it on the 
 buft of Marat: this tour d'ej/irit had been whif- 
 pered to him by fome byftander. 
 
 The aflaflins, who, after having committed their 
 atrocious deeds under the name of patriots in 
 1793, continued their crimes after Thermidor 
 under the banners of ex-royalty, were defirous 
 of making the bonnet-rouge the French head- 
 drefs; no objection was made to the cap, as the 
 enfign of liberty, but a very flrong one to its co¬ 
 lour, the emblem of blood. The cap was hoifted 
 at every theatre, and covered every head in the 
 revolutionary committees. Under the influence 
 of this red cap, the extravagant conftitution of 
 1793 was compofed. It was the fignal of anar¬ 
 chy, the helmet of Henriot, the diadem of Chau- 
 mette. The Montagnard party, without abfo- 
 
 G 2 lutely 
 
84 $EW PICTURE 0 ? PARIS. 
 
 lutely admitting, or rejecting it, were pleafed at 
 feeing it worn by their executioners, as an orna¬ 
 ment which portended nothing gay. 
 
 The revolutionary women, known by the name 
 of furies of the guillotine, paraded through Paris 
 dreffed in this cap, and prefented an addrefs 
 to offer to mount guard, to ferve the artillery 
 while their hufbands went to fight the enemies 
 of the republic. This extravagance was applaud¬ 
 ed with enthufiafm by all the wearers of red 
 caps. 
 
 Chabot, that odious Capuchin, who came 
 one day to the Convention in the filthy drefs of 
 the Sans-culottes, his breaft uncovered, his legs 
 naked, in wooden fhoes, held the red cap fhame- 
 lefsly in his hand. It was under his aufpices 
 that the Commune demanded the abrogation of 
 the martial law, in order to fubftitute a fyftem 
 of affaffination, which was to mow down with¬ 
 out diftin&ion the poor and the rich, all who ad¬ 
 hered to the principles of juftice and virtue, and 
 thereby realife the proje£f of the famous Marat, 
 in cutting off two hundred and fifty thoufand 
 heads. 
 
 This bonnet-rouge was made a kind of banner 
 againfl the Federalills. Federalifin was a fable 
 invented for the purpofe of making the impri- 
 ioned deputies refponlible for all the misfortunes 
 of which news arrived every inftant at the Con¬ 
 vention. A multitude of fefctions and of com¬ 
 
 munes 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 85 
 
 munes around Paris marched in proceffion through 
 the hall of the Convention, drums beating, and 
 crying out, Vivent les Sans-culottes! Five le bcn- 
 net-rouge ! It was after thefe vociferations, that 
 the Montagnard party decreed that all the ar- 
 relied deputies fhould be transferred into a na¬ 
 tional houfe, from whence they only came out to 
 go to the fcaffold. 
 
 A member of the General Revolutionary 
 Council ufed to fleep in his red cap, and in¬ 
 ful ted every one who did not wear it. He was 
 called James Roux, an apollate priefr, who 
 charged himfelf with conducting Louis the XVlth 
 to punilhment, inftead of the executioner, who 
 was fatisfied to wait for his victim at the fcaffold, 
 , He was (till more ferocious and more incendiary 
 than his colleagues, fo much that he even teriified 
 them. He difhonoured the bonnet-rouge : by 
 degrees the molt exaggerated blufhed at this em¬ 
 blem; it did not difappear altogether, but remain¬ 
 ed mixt with the three colours. We fee it (till 
 at many of the theatres. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
86 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARI& 
 
 CHAP. XXL 
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE AT TPIE EVECHE. 
 
 If we could for a moment doubt of the adliye 
 part which foreigners have taken in our affairs* in 
 fubfidizing feveral chiefs of the Jacobins* and 
 forcing the rdf into crimes* we have only to 
 throw our eyes on the Central Committee of the 
 Eveche, which was formed all at once as by en¬ 
 chantment* which declared itfelf inverted with 
 illimited powers by all the feciions of Paris, which 
 declared the city in a ftate of infurreclion* and 
 ordered the barriers to be lhut. 
 
 The greater part of the members of the com¬ 
 mittee were not Frenchmen ; among!! them w^as 
 one Gufman, a Spaniard, from whom I gained 
 many confeilions at the time of my captivity, 
 
 and who fo faj* intereftcd himfelf in my fate, that 
 
 * m ' 
 
 he wirticd to fave me* in feparating me from my 
 colleagues* which I conflantly refuted. 
 
 TheSwifs Pache, the Brabanter Dubuiffon, the 
 Neufchatelois Marat, the ex-capuchin Chabot* 
 brother-in-law to two Aurtrians, fuch w r ere the 
 perfons who named Henriot temporary com¬ 
 mander of the armed force* and who gave forty 
 fols a day to fuch Sans-culottes as would remain 
 
 under 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 87 
 
 -under arms. They filled alfo the galleries of the 
 Convention with their violent agents. They 
 broke the chains of that anarchy by which they 
 were at length devoured ; and what is mod in¬ 
 credible is, that in driking thefe blows, in diflolv- 
 ing the conventional union, they wifhed that this 
 diflolution fhould have the air of coming from 
 the Convention itfelf. 
 
 The alarm-bell was in the hands of the com¬ 
 mittee. Barrere flattered it with his vile falfe- 
 hoods, Robefpierre confidered it as his pedeftal, 
 and we, honed and enlightened men, it was in 
 vain for us to fay to the Convention and the 
 Mountain, “ It is your heads they are looking 
 u after ; do not you fee the ferocious Henriot, 
 “ he refledls the confpiracies of the foreign cabi- 
 “ nets ^ he holds the lighted match in his hand, 
 “ with which he is going to fire the cannon againd 
 cc the national palace. Herauld de Sechelles is 
 “ a traitor, a perfidious wretch, who is in league 
 “ with him.” The Jacobins, blinded by the ha¬ 
 tred and ferocity of their character, preferred the 
 defpotifm of Henriot, his hat on his head, and 
 infolence on his brow, to the virtues of Vergniaud, 
 of Genfon-ne, of Barbaroux, of Briflbt; and the 
 fervile inftrument of the cruelties of Robefpierre, 
 and Couthon, all made the Montagnards the obfe- 
 quious fatellites of Henriot, exclaiming that the 
 fovereign people were in infurre&ion. 
 
 The 
 
88 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 The Mountain therefore approved the conduct 
 of the commune, and humbled by the mod in- 
 folent audacioufnefs, itfelf fan&ioned the violence 
 of a few obfcure demagogues, and made way for 
 that deluge of evils with which France was about 
 to be overwhelmed. 
 
 Where then was that republican virtue which 
 confided only in murdering republican colleagues, 
 in creating the words of federalifm and fede- 
 ralids, which they taught the tricotenfes , fiders la 
 the furies of the guillotine, in propagating thofe 
 magical and fanguinary exprellions of which the 
 wretches who ufed them were not the dupes, 
 and with which they would have thrud the head 
 of every imprifoned deputy under the axe of de- 
 cemviral tyranny ? And let it not be faid that 
 the day of the ninth of Thermidor faved the re¬ 
 publican deputies. The feventy-three members, 
 who alone had done their duty and proteded 
 againd that anarchy, languifhed dill in prifon for 
 more than four months. And the Parifians, who 
 hated every thing that adhered to the republic, 
 did not dare to deliver them; the whole of the 
 Convention bending under the yoke of fliame 
 and infamy, was forced to recall them into the 
 
 t 
 
 fenate, if I may ufe the expreffion, in fpite of 
 itfelf. 
 
 Thy poignard, oh, Tallien! thou refervedd for 
 thy executioner, but thou couldd not arm thyfelf 
 
 with 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 89 
 
 with it for the true republicans; thou haft faved 
 thy own head without faving the lives of others! 
 What imported it to thee, that upright deputies 
 o-roaned in dungeons ! After the criminal indif- 
 ference with which the republican party was 
 conftantly attacked or menaced, let no one be 
 aftonifhed at the days of Germinal, Praireal, and 
 Vendemaire ; thefe days would not have taken 
 place, if the victorious party of the tenth of Au- 
 guft had performed what juftice and the love of 
 the republic equally enjoined; but hard and 
 frigid egotifm affimilated thofe reprefentatives 
 who had not been in peril, to thofe cowards 
 who, faved from a common danger, abandon 
 their neighbours, becaufe it would coft them a 
 flight effort to crufh a band of robbers. 
 
 Tallien ! thou raifedft thyfelf as a cowardly 
 fluggard rifes at length when the fire reaches the 
 mattrefs of his bed ; thou haft indeed a£ted a part 
 in the tragedy which finifhed the reign of Robef- 
 pierre, but thou wert not the author of it; and 
 decemviral tyranny and the Montagnards ftrove at 
 that very period to renew thofe fcenes of horror. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
90 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 V . t* e • . ■. i> •. ' • A ,i . . 
 
 THE MEMORABLE WEEK. 
 
 I : f * ( i ' • \ • . *J i , » • 
 
 . This is the name given to that fliort fpace of 
 time which was marked by events, fuch as have 
 never been feen amongftany people in any country f 
 The imprifonment of the eleven French guards, 
 who from their patriotic refufal to fire on the 
 people, had incurred the difgrace of the court, 
 induced the people to arm. The officers of the 
 regiment of guards fliook with rage, when they 
 faw thofe brave foldiers lay down their arms. The 
 grateful people forced the prifon of the Abbey of 
 St. Germain-des-Cres ; and all the prifoners were 
 let at liberty. The buft of the Duke of Orleans was 
 carried in triumph, and we do not conceive even 
 yet what was the plan or view of this prince; 
 hp probably had none, or perhaps we ought to 
 confider him as the mereft automanton that has 
 ever figured in hifiory. After having been the 
 puppet of the foreign cabinets, he became the in- 
 ftrument of every faction. One would have 
 thought that it was neceffary to commit fome a£i 
 of violence on his perfon, and carry him feated 
 to the throne, in order that it might be faid, that 
 he had afcended it in fpite of himfelf. "The 
 
 worn- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 91 
 
 worn-out ftate of his body, no doubt, influenced 
 his mind, fince he manifefled at the fame time fo 
 much credulity and careleflhefs, fuffering a fac¬ 
 tion to aft under his name, to which perhaps he 
 did not belong, and which, changing its own 
 principles, and efpecially divided with refpeft to 
 its members, did not fail to cut off the head of a 
 chief fo inert, who had expended treafures 
 through avarice, and confidered the diadem as a 
 farm which might be purchafed with money. 
 
 On Sunday, the twelfth day of July, the cour¬ 
 tiers walked with their heads ereft in the gallery 
 of Verfailles, they fmiled with joy at the idea 
 alone of the approaching deftruftion of the capi¬ 
 tal ; the Sunday following they were humbled, 
 and whifpered to each other. The king had 
 taken the national cockade, had come to Paris, 
 
 had pafled under the fpear of fteel, that is to fay, 
 ♦ 
 
 .under thirty thoufand pikes or fwords held acrofs 
 for the length of eight hundred paces. The 
 courtiers were confounded at thefe rapid events, 
 and if w T e had kept the king at Paris, demoliflied 
 and razed the chateau of Verfailles, as I pro- 
 pofed, never w r ould criminal hope have entered 
 into fo many terrified hearts, who recovered from 
 the fliock by degrees, and who regarded the Re¬ 
 volution as a torrent which had already ceafed to 
 flow. 
 
 The chateau of Verfailles remaining Handing, 
 gave courage to all the flaves of the court, and 
 
 increafed 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 jncreafed their perfidy; and as the people are 
 greatly affected by external figns, if the habitation 
 of the kings had been deffroyed, as political 
 forefight enjoined, the monarch and his court 
 would have faid that the infurre&ion was ferious 
 and decifive; they would have a£ted accordingly, 
 and all the blood which has been fpilt would 
 have remained in the veins of the generous 
 French. 
 
 My propofition was rejected, becaufe it was 
 faid, that I had made this motion only to accom- 
 pliffi a kind of prophecy which I had made re- 
 fpe 61 ing the caffle of Verfailles, when I rep re- 
 fented in a dream, the fhade of Lewis the XIVth 
 watering, with the tears of repentance, the laff: 
 half-broken column of his proud and expenfive 
 monument. I will venture to fay, that this pa¬ 
 lace has conffantly fed the hopes of the coalefced 
 powers, hearing that it was carefully kept up 
 and preferved in all its former fplendour. The 
 princes had made the multitude believe, that the 
 king was only gone into the country on a hunt¬ 
 ing party. 
 
 We ought to have ftruck the minds of the 
 people by this mighty definition, have fcattered 
 at a diffance the materials of this fuperb palace, 
 and have built a city with them; and as a bird 
 of prey, which, after lofing its neft, finds nothing 
 to feize on with its dreadful claws, the court 
 would have faid. We are quite fubdued, Ver¬ 
 failles is no more! 
 
 Religion 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 93 
 
 Religion itfelf, when it has no temple, wanders 
 about vagrant and defolate; what would have 
 been the cafe with royalty, when torn from its 
 bafe, infulated, circumfcribed ? It would have 
 been forced to have taken reft on a pavement 
 which was no longer marble, and under roofs 
 which difplayed neither fhow nor magnificence. 
 
 The chateau of Verfailles was the inveftiture 
 of a great king, of a king proud and powerful; 
 there ought to be no more kings proud or pow¬ 
 erful ; it would have been wife therefore, in fuch 
 Angular circumftances, to have heard the voice 
 of meditation, penetrated with the ftrong con¬ 
 viction of the real danger of leaving a chateau 
 ft sliding, the centre of every political operation, 
 the name of which, both far and near, excited 
 ideas altogether difeordant with an order of things 
 fo new, and which became neceffarily invincibly 
 commanding* or of no importance. 
 
 It was the impetuous vehemence of the peo¬ 
 ple which produced all thefe mighty occurrences ; 
 amongft the wounded were many of feventy years 
 old, and children of twelve. In two days time 
 the city had affumed all the air of an immenfe 
 garrifoned town. We only touched the walls 
 and they fell down. Great pieces of artillery 
 were borne away from the Invalids as by en¬ 
 chantment ; and, without having been taught, 
 every one knew how to exercife and handle 
 arms. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
94* 
 
 NEW PICTURE CF PARIS' 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 NATIONAL GUARD. 
 
 This creation was a miracle, and is a proof 
 that men effeCt always more bv their will than by 
 their underftanding - 9 and that in great revo¬ 
 lutions, it is not reflection that predominates, but 
 energy. 
 
 Had all the kings of France, one after the 
 other, undertaken the a {ton idling creation of this 
 national guard, not only would they have failed 
 in their projects, but they would infallibly have 
 peridied in the attempt. It was the burft of a 
 great people, who w r ere refolved to be no longer 
 the fubjeCts of arbitrary power. The old regime 
 was abolidied from that very day; and it ap¬ 
 peared evident to every reflecting mind, that roy¬ 
 alty could no longer amalgate itfelf with a dozen 
 capitals, fuddenly inflamed with the fame fire of 
 liberty, and ready to fhed their blood to repel 
 and crufh for ever that infuppoftable oppreflion, 
 which had made them groan for fo many ages. 
 
 That courage w r as the prelude to the victories 
 
 / 
 
 which in Germany, and efpecially in Italy, have 
 decided that the French Nation'was made to go¬ 
 vern itfelf. Had we been governed by an Henry 
 
 the 
 
 / 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 93 
 
 the-Fourth, Lewis the Fourteenth, and Charle-* 
 magne, the explofion once having taken place, it 
 was in the power neither of the valour nor the 
 genius of thefe princes to have hopped its vio¬ 
 lence or degraded its majefty. 
 
 The royal authority was truly vilified by the 
 hi (lory of the necklace ; but here the monarch 
 was fubdued in the fame manner as if Charles 
 the Ninth had been arrefted when ready to fire 
 on his fubjecls. Every Parifian faw the blunder- 
 bufs cocked at Verfailles. The general cry, and 
 it mud have been heard to feel what it was, call¬ 
 ed for the overthrow of the throne; it was im- 
 poffible for the greatefi: poltroon not to join in 
 the terrible cry ; all enlifted, even the poet, and 
 the quefiion that day was the giving up the king, 
 as in religious revolutions a part of Europe had 
 given up the pope. 
 
 If it was with the efiablifhment of permanent 
 armies that fervitude began, the neceffity of re¬ 
 creating a citizen militia was readily felt, in order 
 to prevent the princes from hereafter coming to 
 triumph by force. But what is inconceivable is, 
 that the National Guard was the work of the 
 twinkling of an eye; there was neither plan, 
 projeT, nor determination. We cried out, 
 “ Every Parifian is a foldier,” and France re¬ 
 peated, £C Every Frenchman will take arms.” 
 
 The enemy of liberty foon corrupted this infii- 
 tution with uniforms, caps, and epaulets, and 
 
 efta- 
 
96 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 eftabliflied thofe diftin&ions for ever dear to 
 hirelings, who fly under the command of a 
 fingle individual to fight againft the country. 
 They wifhed to feparate the National Guard 
 from the nation itfelf, and the project of La 
 Fayette feemed to be that of putting it imme¬ 
 diately under the orders of a commander tacitly 
 devoted to the king. But every defpot is the eter¬ 
 nal enemy of the liberty of the people, and the 
 National Guard Was armed only for the defence 
 of the national fovereignty. 
 
 Thefe external ornaments infpired fome pride* 
 and gave a tone of arrogance to a few filly indi¬ 
 viduals ; but they bound the wealthy citizen to 
 the clafs of the poor, and the moft ludicrous va¬ 
 nity became the inftrument without knowing it 
 of the fpirit of a free people. 
 
 The lion is terrible and cowardly at the fame 
 time ; if he mifles the prey upon which he leaps, 
 he walks off afhamed, and never attacks in front; 
 he refembles the defpot; Lewis the XVIth was 
 like the lion. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 97 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 SECURITY. 
 
 While the Pruffians were in Champagne, 
 and when Dumourier had flattered himfelf that 
 he could penetrate as far as Paris, with the de- 
 flgn of depofing the Convention, one might have 
 concluded that thefe things would have excited 
 a general alarm. On the contrary, the theatres 
 were as brilliant as ever, and the coffee-houfes 
 filled as ufual with newfmongers. The haughty 
 menaces of the enemy never reached our ears, 
 nor did we form the leaft idea of their fanguinary 
 hopes. 
 
 The capital, whether from its mafs, or by a 
 confcioufnefs of its force, has always thought it- 
 felf inaflailable, flieltered from the fortune of war, 
 and fitted to ftrike terror into its enemies. They 
 laughed at the idea of a plan of defence, as a 
 thing abfolutely ufelefs, as no one would eyer 
 venture to attack the great city. 
 
 This ftoicifm was one of the greateft ramparts 
 of liberty. Was it the effeft of ignorance, or 
 from having loft in a calm of more than an hun¬ 
 dred and fifty years, all idea, of war ? 
 
 The people were never greatly intimidated, 
 neither by the report of the body-guards, in 
 
 vol. i. H which 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 which Antoinette was painted under the name of 
 the tygrefs of Germany, holding the Dauphin in 
 her arms, and mitigating to hoftilities; nor by the 
 flight of the king, which feemed a diffolution of 
 the government, nor by the taking of Verdun, 
 nor by the manifeitoes of all the kings of Europe. 
 It was impoilible to introduce the terror of an 
 enemy amongit them, and the people never 
 would have known what terror was, but for the 
 decemviral tyranny, which did more harm to li¬ 
 berty and the country than all the armies of Pitt 
 and Cobourg. 
 
 Thefe two names, from the habit of repeating 
 them, became terms of ridicule ; we mud have 
 been witneifes of this impoffibility to have be¬ 
 lieved it. Whilft through all Europe it was 
 faid, “ It is all over with Paris: were it the low- 
 “ eft of the Bourbons, they would put him on 
 <c the throne,” the people who had carried off 
 the cannon from the Invalids, and forty thoufand 
 mufquets in three hours’ time, neither conceived 
 nor imagined the poflibility of danger. They fet 
 themfelves to adore Marat, to exalt Robefpierre, 
 to believe in Chaumette ; and the Dumouriers, 
 the Cuftines, the Dampierres, the Bournonvilles, 
 the Kellermanns, whether they were traitors, or 
 faithful to the public caufe, infpired neither fear 
 nor inquietude ; they faw with fang froid the ex¬ 
 ecution of a revolutionary tribunal, and ftrong 
 in the call upon the people for three hundred 
 z thoufand 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 99 
 
 thou fa n d men necefiary to complete the armies 
 of the republic $ they continued to go quietly to 
 the opera, and the curtain rofe exaftly at the 
 fame hour, whether they cut off fixty heads, or 
 only thirty. 
 
 CHAP. XXV* 
 
 COMMUNE OF PARIS. 
 
 . * * 
 
 If is difficult to explain how that tremendous 
 
 authority of Commune of Paris came to be form" 
 ed, which was fo often denounced and attacked 
 by the Gironde ; a flock of women* forming a 
 private affociation, which they entitled Fraternal 
 Society, paraded throughout the flreets with a 
 banner at their head, inviting the people to go 
 with them to the Abbey-prifon, and releafe their 
 upright magi/irate. When Hebert was arrefled, 
 the Commune became a power which eredied 
 itfelf on a fudden. The Jacobins made a Na~ 
 tional Aflembly of it, and it was in vain to bring 
 any evidence of this a£t of treachery and treafon, 
 the Sicaires fitting at the Hotel de Ville, having 
 on their fide the coryphees of the party in oppo- 
 fition to the Gironde party, faid to the Pariflans, 
 “ Kill, 'my friends, kill, imprifon, for Collot 
 
 H 2 
 
 d’Her- 
 
 <c 
 
100 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 rc d’Herbois is refolved to fire the alarm guns, 
 ec and veil the ftatue of Liberty.” We favv the 
 Parifians fupporting this infernal aflembly, this 
 cavern of anarchifts and robbers become the de¬ 
 fenders of all fuch as were unwilling to render 
 an account of the riches which fell under their 
 gripe on the fecond of September, and it was 
 neceflary, in order to eflfeSt the total diflolution 
 of the national reprefentation, to annihilate the 
 Gironde. 
 
 The fpirit of Paris was at that time to render 
 the Commune independent of every other kind 
 of power, to make it the centre of dominion, 
 and the fovereign of the republic ; this idea 
 blinded the Parifians. The mafs of the popu¬ 
 lace took the afcendancy, and put itfelf in a date 
 of vigilance ; Chaumette became their king ; and 
 this little man, who had been a cabin boy, and 
 afterwards a man of letters , who wrote me three 
 epiftles to obtain the place of fchoolmafter, and 
 was rejeSfed as a hog of the monkifh ftye, now 
 rivalled Robefpierre, and would have overthrown 
 him, but for a violent meafure which he ventured 
 to take, and which overfet himfelf. The Spaniard 
 Gufman was his min filer, and he owned to me 
 in the prifon of the Force, and before witnefles, 
 that the infurre&ion of the 31ft of May, and the 
 following days had been directed by the commune 
 againft the whole of the national reprefentation, 
 and that it was their project to have fvvept away 
 
 at 
 
NEW PICTURE OP PARIS. 
 
 101 
 
 at the fame time the chiefs of the Jacobins, Robe™ 
 fpierre, Marat, and the Girondifts. The com¬ 
 mune had intended to ufurp all authority. 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 SECTIONS. 
 
 History will be embarraffed to defcribe the 
 infolent imprecations of a crowd of energumenes, 
 who, in the fe&ions, were loud in their cries for 
 diforder and extermination; they formed the 
 counfel of the commune, in which every thing 
 which extravagance or depravity could imagine 
 mod vile and mod atrocious, was uttered every 
 day againd fuch of the citizens of Paris as had 
 any degree of affluence. They fometimes threw 
 chairs at each others’ heads, but never came to a 
 pitched battle. Thefe wretches, after a fhort 
 difeufflon, united their forces to make the com¬ 
 mune triumph over the Convention ; all their 
 cabals tended to perpetuate their revolutionary 
 atrocities. Petitions were prefented from thefe 
 cabals, fo abfurd, and at the fame time fo fedi- 
 tious, that Ifnard, Prefident of the Convention, 
 wearied and harafled with the' clamours of thefe 
 Se&ions, declared in the name of France, <c that if 
 
 ever 
 
102 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 “ ever any attempt was made on the inviolability 
 
 t 
 
 <c of the Convention, amidft the citizens of Paris, 
 
 “ the traveller would come fome day to feek on the 
 “ borders of the Seine, the place where the city 
 “ had once flood.” The cry which the whole 
 band of the confpirators raifed at this energetic 
 expreiTion is not to be defcribed ; nothing was 
 heard in Paris but thefe words; “ The National 
 “ Convention is going to deftroy the capital.” 
 
 The Jacobins feemed to fliare the fury of the 
 feclionaries. Hebert became a fuper-excellent 
 patriot, an upright magiflrate, and Marat’s crown 
 of glory fhone with redoubled luflre. The Com- 
 miflion of Twelve w T as diffolved, and this diffolu- 
 tion became the fignal of complete anarchy. 
 The Minifter for home affairs, Garat, ranged him- 
 felf on the fide of thefe villains, affirmed that 
 every thing was in a ftate of tranquillity, and that 
 no confpiracy exifled, while all their poignards 
 were ffiarpened ! Hebert, one of the chiefs, had 
 been fet at liberty: this was a real triumph for 
 this feditious affembly, and the certain prefage of 
 the death or profcription of their enemies. On 
 his arrival, the populace covered him with crowns 
 and civic palms, which he modeffly placed on 
 the buffs of Jean Jacques Rouffeau and Brutus, 
 which flood in this temple of impure demagogy. 
 Thus, for having arreflcd three or four turbulent 
 confpirators, the Commiffion of Twelve was load¬ 
 ed with opprobrium, the greater part of its mem¬ 
 bers 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 103 
 
 bers were dragged to the fcaffold, and others 
 efcaped death only by hiding themfelves in ca¬ 
 verns and woods, or hying into foreign countries. 
 The Revolution of the 3] ft of May was made to 
 avenge a horde of aflaflins. 
 
 Amongft the audacious commiffaries of fe&ions, 
 we conftantly found three or four foreigners, and 
 as many fwindlers, always ready with motions to 
 declare Paris in a ftate of infurreftion againft. ty¬ 
 ranny. Thefe commiffaries, even till the 11th 
 Vendemiaire, declared that the people were wea¬ 
 ried with the fiavery under which they were held, 
 and that they were commiffioned to manifeft their 
 fovereign will. 
 
 Reprefent to yourfelves at thefe different epo- 
 chas the citizens affrighted, when they heard the 
 drum beat to arms, and the alarm bell ringing, 
 getting up, and running out to know what the 
 tumult meant, learning nothing, marching in 
 arms from different quarters, furrounding the 
 Convention with thirty or forty thoufand men, 
 ignorant for the moft part why they were affem- 
 bled together. 
 
 We have feen the whole city of Paris under 
 arms, without knowing for what reafon; men in 
 municipal fcarfs running through the fuburbs> 
 and inviting them to march in the name of the 
 fovereign people. A Henriot ordered the can¬ 
 non to be dragged from all points, and towards 
 all points, the cannons were dragged forwards, 
 
 then 
 
I01< NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 then backwards, then dragged out again the 
 next day, after which the Mountain-party, bel¬ 
 lowing and fhouting, decreed, that the Se£lions 
 of Paris had deferved well of the country. 
 
 The tranfactions of that day was a wretched 
 kind of force, but proved a fruitlefs fcene of mod 
 terrible calamities to the whole of France. 
 
 The inhabitants of a city fo immenfe as Paris 
 called to arms, furnifficd the commune with the 
 means of invading every authority. After hav¬ 
 ing made the attempt, it affumed, to the great 
 aftonifhment of all, a formidable power: the 
 Montagnards then became the adherents of the 
 council of the commune, as thev had become Ja- 
 cobins. They entered the Convention only to be¬ 
 tray and deffroy it, and what was ftill worfe, to 
 defame it: for thev had forced the Convention 
 
 ' j 
 
 itfelf to make the eulogium of the. day of the Slit 
 of May, fo that the departments, continually de¬ 
 ceived, were perfe&ly ignorant of what was paf- 
 fing at Paris. The Commune of Paris was the 
 authority which made and executed the laws. 
 
 I have feen the precindls of the Convention 
 fix times invefled by the military force. I have 
 feen the volunteers deftined for Vendee, who 
 were brought back exprefsly for this expedition, 
 turn their arms againft the reprefentatives of the 
 people ; and the citizens of Paris, who came to 
 defend them, placed in the rear, abfolutely igno¬ 
 rant of what was palling in the interior of the hall 
 
 or 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 105 
 
 or around it, and on the point of being maffacred 
 themfelves if they were not ready to commit a 
 mafTacre. 
 
 From the night of the 10th of March, 1793, 
 to the 13th of Vendemiaire, it was openly declar¬ 
 ed, that to reftore perfeft order, a certain number 
 of deputies’ heads muft be cut off, and carried 
 in triumph through the ftreets. As a preliminary 
 to thefe affaffmations, the feditious threw out the 
 moft atrocious calumnies againft the national re- 
 prefentation; the Fauxbourgs turned out armies, 
 and what was moft painful to the mind, was the 
 utter ignorance which prevailed concerning the 
 difpofitions and the fentiments of thefe hordes 
 fuddenly armed, and filently menacing. 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 DISTRICT OF THE CORDELIERS. 
 
 It was in the Diftrift of the Cordeliers, that 
 Danton, loaded with debt, and under fentence 
 of arreft, fowed, foftered, and raifed the abun¬ 
 dant harveft of revolutionary crimes. His worthy 
 colleague, Marat, had two or three fentences of 
 arreft againft him iffued by the Chatelet. The 
 firft a£I of demagogy, which opened the door to 
 every other was that which Danton directed, by 
 
 arming 
 
iO 6 
 
 SEW PICT URE OF PARIS. 
 
 arming the whole, diflrift to defend the perfon of 
 Marat. Without the prudence of La Fayette, 
 who was willing to hulli the matter, civil w r ar 
 would have been declared. From that day, the 
 anarchifts gained the afcendancy, and it was this 
 Danton who was Minifter of Juflice! He had 
 partifans, who were attached to him becaufe he 
 was, as they faid, lefs fanguinary than Robe- 
 fpierre: this was his whole eulogium. Nature 
 had formed him to be an haranguer of the mob, 
 to thunder from a bench in a crofs road. He 
 was endowed with the eloquence of a porter, and 
 pofieffed the logic of a robber. This hackney 
 attorney was deputy of Paris. The 31(1 of May 
 he prowled radiant with joy around the Conven¬ 
 tion. I met him, and faid to him, <c You are 
 “ ruining the republic and France/’ Fie called 
 me ironically the enrage. I anfwered him, “ I 
 “ am fufficiently acquainted with hiftory to know 7 
 “ that you are ignorant of what you are doing.” 
 I faid almoft as much to the Minifter Garat, 
 who w^as become, from weaknefs or fear, the ad¬ 
 herent of the diforganizing party, whilft he made 
 war on the Gironde, where exifted virtues, ta¬ 
 lents, eloquence, but not enough of that energy 
 neceflary to exert again# daring men ever ready 
 xor the commiffion or crimes. 
 
 When we refle£t that the furious Jacobins, not 
 thinking themfelves fufficiently perfeft, went to 
 form themfelves at the diftrict of the Cordeliers, 
 
 that 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 107 
 
 that Chaumette, Hebert, Chabot, Razire, Fabre 
 d’Eglantine, became the valets of Danton, as 
 Couthon and St. Juft, were thofe of Robefpierre, 
 we know not whether moft to wonder at, the in- 
 folence of fome, or the ftupidity of others. 
 
 During that long reign of crime and folly, Pa¬ 
 ris was aflcep, and fullered itfelf to fall into the 
 abyfs of the moft difgufting Jacobinifm. The di- 
 ftridt of the Cordeliers gained the afcendancy in 
 ferocious ftupidity. The Carriers, the Lebons, 
 the Collot d’Herbois furpaffed the demagogical 
 Jacobins in ignorance and cruelty. Herault de 
 Sechelles who was Prefident of the Convention 
 on the day when it was befieged by the commune 
 and its fatellites, feconded by heads revolution- 
 arily exaggerated, was in intelligence with Hen- 
 riot fo far as to parade his colleagues around 
 the garden of the Tuilleries, as if to prefent a 
 fairer mark to the deftroyers of the found part 
 of the Convention ; and when it was faved by 
 one of thofe miracles which have fince been re¬ 
 newed, he led them back to the place of their 
 fittings, in confecrating this cherilhed legend of 
 Montaigne, “ the force of reafon and the force 
 cc of the people are the fame thing.” The dif- 
 trift of the Cordeliers formed the decree of the 
 conftitution of 1793, that anarchical code fo dear 
 to all the accomplices of Danton. Thus all the 
 Cordeliers, ftill greater anarchifts than the Jaco¬ 
 bins, were averfe to fee any term to the revolu¬ 
 tionary 
 
108 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 tionarv commotion, but were defirous of coinmu- 
 nicating it to the following as well as to the pre¬ 
 fen t generation. 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 THE HAND OF BRONZE. 
 
 This hand extended like that of a Roman Em¬ 
 peror, and which figured in a public fquare, the 
 hand of the ftatue of Louis the XVth. Where 
 can it be found at prefent ? O ftrangenefs of def- 
 tiny, or rather decree of eternal juftice ! It is the 
 prifoner La Tude, detained thirty-five years in 
 fiate prifons, who is now in poffeflion of this hand 
 of bronze, the original of which had figned the 
 order of his long captivity. 
 
 There is nothing more afionifhing than the fa¬ 
 mous ladder which formed his efcape from his 
 prifons of the Bafiille. To make a ladder more 
 than three hundred feet in length, to defcend it 
 from a height of more than two hundred feet 
 acrofs walls of fifteen feet thick, to efcape, be re¬ 
 taken, and be again delivered by the miracle of 
 the 14th of July! If every man has not his def- 
 tiny, how explain the patience, the courage, the 
 good fortune of Henry Mafferes de la Tude? The 
 foot of this fame equeftriari fiatue is dcpofited in 
 
 the 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 109 
 
 the mufeum of French monuments—this is all 
 that remains of three dynafties ! 
 
 The day that thefe flatues of kings were thrown 
 down, I beheld the multitude in a lingular kind 
 of aftonilhment at finding that all thefe bronzes 
 were not maffive, and that the flanks of the horfe 
 were fcarcely thicker than a piece of three livres, 
 as they had promifed themfelves an almoft infinite 
 coinage of fix liard-pieces, they felt fome difplea- 
 fure at being difappointed. “ What,” faid they, 
 “ was it fo hollow?”—Yes, every thing was hol¬ 
 low, both pozver and ftatue ! 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 FUNERAL OF MICHAEL LEPELLETIER. 
 
 He had confcientioufly voted the death of the 
 king; and an ancient body-guard, who had been 
 looking for the Duke of Orleans, with the in¬ 
 tention of ftabbing him, and making him ferve 
 as a companion to the great vi£tim, not finding 
 him, entered an eating-houfe, and hearing that 
 there was a reprefentative prefent who had alfo 
 voted the death of the king, he fuffered for the 
 Duke of Orleans. The body-guard drew out 
 from beneath his cloak a large clafp knife, with 
 which he opened his fide, and after the blow 
 
 made 
 
110 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 made his efcape. It may perhaps be known at 
 fome future day what prepared and determined 
 this ftrange aflaflination. The man, as he was 
 expiring, was faid to have uttered certain words 
 which in fad he never pronounced. 
 
 A funeral pomp was ordered in honour of Mi¬ 
 chael Lepelletier. This ceremony wore a charac¬ 
 ter extremely remarkable. They placed the corpfe 
 on the ruined bafe of the equeflrian ftatue of 
 Louis XIVth in the Place Vendome. His fune- 
 ral oration was there pronounced by a voice 
 which was heard on every roof. It was very 
 cold weather. The body of Lepelletier, naked, 
 livid, and bloody, difclofing the large wound 
 which it had received, was borne on a kind oi 
 litter, and paraded (lowly by a very long circuit, 
 attended by the Convention as well as by the 
 Jacobin Society. Thefe laffc had their banner, 
 and by its fide another of their own invention, 
 which had for its flag the fliirt, the waiftcoat, and 
 above all, the breeches of Lepelletier dill drop¬ 
 ping with blood. Every one might fee the dead 
 man, who, having been the judge of Louis the 
 XVIth, preceded him to the tomb. 
 
 It was a fpe&acle fitted to produce flrong im- 
 preffions, and what was hideous in the ceremony 
 itfelf, difappeared before the terrible images which 
 it prefented to the imagination. The brother of 
 the perfon aflfaflinated led the march. Several 
 Montagnards, identifying themfelves with him 
 
 whom 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. Ill 
 
 whom they were conducing to the Pantheon, 
 exclaimed, <c This will be our lot: this is what 
 <c we fhali gain by founding a republic.” They 
 fpoke of an unhappy orphan, who was heirefs to 
 a fortune of four or five hundred thoufand livres 
 a year. Funeral eulogiums were profufely feat- 
 tered over Michael Lepelletier. All the women 
 had frightful dreams after this ceremony, and ne¬ 
 ver was a dead man faluted with fo many looks, 
 or attended with fo many reflections. 
 
 The daughter of Michael Lepelletier became 
 the adopted child of the nation, and it is on her 
 account that a law of the Roman republic forms 
 part of the code of the French republic. 
 
 Under pretence of fearching for the garde du 
 corps, Paris, the Palais-Royal was furrounded 
 fome days after by ten thoufand men. No per- 
 fon there could go out without palling in review 
 before the guard, and exhibiting a card of furety 
 to an officer of the police. This pcrfecution of 
 a kind hitherto unknown having fucceeded pretty 
 well, was repeated fo often, that the Parifians 
 confidered it afterwards only as a kind of amufe- 
 ment. 
 
 At prefent, we regard as a fable all that has 
 been faid with refpeft to the arreft and the pre¬ 
 tended death of the aflaffin of Lepelletier. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
112 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 DOME OF THE PANTHEON. 
 
 At the name alone of the pyramids of Egypt, 
 of the Temple of Minerva at Athens, of the Co- 
 lifeum of the Amphitheatre at Rome, of the 
 fquared houfe at Nifmes, of thefe magnificent 
 and ruined aquedudls, of thefe fuperb roads now 
 broken up, attention is awakened, imagination 
 tranfports us back to thofe times in which they 
 were conftrufted, and modern edifices fink into 
 nothing. Why are ancient monuments, whofe 
 broken columns are fcattered up and down, more 
 interefting to the eye of imagination than when 
 they fubfifted in all their frefhnefs? Why do the 
 ruins which furround them feem to imprefs us 
 with a more ftriking character of majefty? It is 
 thus, without doubt, and I afk pardon of architec¬ 
 ture and the (hade of Soufflot—it is in this man¬ 
 ner that the dome of the Pantheon will, when 
 crumbled into ruins, be far more piclurefque than 
 the Pantheon in its prefent ftate. The amateurs 
 will fhudder at my affertion, and will cry out 
 Vandalifm. The philofopher will underftand and 
 appreciate it. 
 
 But 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 113 
 
 But after all thefe pyramids, thefe antique tem¬ 
 ples, that St. Peter of Rome, that St. Paul of 
 London—What were they but monuments of hu¬ 
 man weaknefs? What are the loftieft domes, 
 the moft elevated vaults, to the eyes of the ob- 
 ferver who has paffed under the arched rocks of 
 the Alps, who has contemplated with refpeftfu! 
 aftonifhment thofe rocks, now piled majeftically 
 on each other, now placed irregularly by the 
 hand of nature ? And what is the interior of thofe 
 edifices fo vaunted, bv the fide of thofe tremen- 
 dous caverns which have been dug by rivers in 
 the fides of mountains, and whofe entrance, in 
 fpite of my ardent curiolity, is interdi&ed me by a 
 fentiment of terror. 
 
 Poor little Pantheon by the fide of Mount St. 
 Gothard! Since I have heard of its ftate of de¬ 
 cay, I wifhed to make it a vifit. I threw myfelf 
 into the ftair-cafe of the edifice acrofs the ladders, 
 the duff of plaifter, hammers, long faws, and 
 moving fcaffolds, fufpended by whitened ropes. 
 The voice of the workmen echoed along the roofs; 
 the lead found was reverberated, the leaf! motion 
 which I heard around me, feemed to thunder the 
 approaching fall of the edifice, and for once I 
 figured myfelf buried in the Pantheon without 
 trial or fentence. The prediftion of Patte would 
 then have been fulfilled, and the Greek, Egyp¬ 
 tian, and Roman, would laugh at the French ar- 
 chitefts. Refuming immediately the attitude and 
 voL. i. * l courage 
 
114 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 courage of an obferver, I mounted, defcended> 
 examined, and this enormous mafs retting on 
 flight fupporters which menaced ruin, brought to 
 my recollection the dome of St. Peter, and led me 
 to fmile at that hazardous daring art which ere£is 
 cupolas with fo much difficulty and expence, and 
 fo little fecurity. I compared thofe two monu¬ 
 ments, of which one already ancient is ftill folid, 
 and the other, which is not yet finiffied, is threat¬ 
 ened with approaching ruin. In fliort, when we 
 contemplate the Pantheon at which men have la¬ 
 boured during half a century, and which, after 
 having wafted the lives of fuch multitudes, is ftill 
 imperfect, and without a poffibility of lodging 
 any—we fee, methinks, a houfe of cards, which 
 grown-up children are conftructing, to be thrown 
 down by the firft blaft, and which will perhaps 
 be finer than ever on account of its fall. O 
 weaknefs of man ! He delights himfelf in mag¬ 
 nificent and ufelefs labours 1 he is the architefil 
 of ruins ! 
 
 A tribe of phyficians fitting by the bedfide of a 
 patient, affert, it is the kidney, the liver, the fto- 
 mach, the lungs, which are affefted ; fo the ar- 
 chitefts exclaim. The evil is here.—No; it is 
 there—the legs are good, but the vertebra? are de¬ 
 cayed. Every one protrudes his projeft as the 
 infallible remedy, without which the deftruflion 
 of the dome becomes general, the fall certain, 
 
 and 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 115 
 
 and confequcntly that of all the reft of the monu¬ 
 ment. 
 
 In'going out of the dome, I felt the fame plea- 
 fure as failors and warriors feel after ftorms and 
 battles, that of finding myfclf alive. And why 
 did I go to infpecf the edifice ? Why? Becaufe 
 I was told there was danger. Singular caprice 
 of the human imagination ! The life of a failor 
 is more tumultuous than ours, and is therefore 
 agreeable to a feaman. An uniform life is an un¬ 
 happy one. doffed up and down by revolution¬ 
 ary tempefts for a long time under the axe of the 
 executioner, my life was full and laborious; I felt 
 more the value of my exiftence. After thefe 
 fcenes of agitation, having landed from the veftel, 
 which, borne on the ftormy waves, threatened 
 every day to make fhipwreck againft furrounding 
 rocks, I am afraid of growing liftlefs, if I do not 
 go now and then in fearch of dangers under the 
 tottering dome of the Pantheon. 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 THE KING OF MACOCO. 
 
 The Paris of Robefpierre was no longer that 
 of Louis the XIVth, Louis the XVth, or even of 
 Louis the XVIth. 
 
 I 2 At 
 
 h 
 
116 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 At the palace of the negro King of Macoco, 
 they kill every day two hundred men for the 
 mouth of the fovereign. Among!! us, a civilized 
 people, men were killed only for an opinion. 
 
 The archbifhop had fallen from the top of his 
 cathedral, the noble from the top of his fortrefs, 
 the king from the pinnacle of his throne, the 
 academician from his two-armed chair. La Har- 
 pe, who was not much hurt, cried an hundred 
 times louder than the reft, but he made all this 
 noife only after the fall of the decern viral tyranny. 
 To hear his long and wailing lamentations, one 
 would think that he alone had been in prifon. 
 
 A prifoner, of as much importance as himfelf, 
 faid,“ 1 fhall not complain; I will live ; it is agree- 
 <c able to me to live, that I may leave my innocence 
 “ time to unveil itfelf; but I fliould have had the 
 “ courage to live, though branded with difgrace, 
 f< becaufe my honour did not depend on the vain 
 “ caprice of tyrants, becaufe I fliould have made 
 “ my misfortunes ufeful by fludying the hearts of 
 “ the men who had caufed them, and that tran- 
 “ quil in virtue, I fhould have oppofed my con- 
 “ fcience to the clamours of a deluded multitude. 1 ” 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 m 
 
 CHAP. XXXIL 
 
 THE INSURRECTION. 
 
 la marquise — (Ringing.) 
 
 Tingle! Tingle! 
 
 MARTON. 
 
 Madame calls ! 
 
 i 
 
 LA MARQUISE. 
 
 Allons, Marton! I am going to rife. 
 
 MARTON. 
 
 Yes, I am coming. 
 
 LA MARQUISE. 
 
 What is the news, my dear? 
 
 MARTON. 
 
 Madam, an infurreflion is announced for this 
 morning. 
 
 LA MARQUISE. 
 
 What a tale ! They faid that it was over. 
 
 MARTON. 
 
 They talk of carnage, of deftru&ion, and of rape, 
 which is ftill more. 
 
 LA MARQUISE. 
 
 Still worfe, Marton, that is as you think, for in 
 fhort if we mu ft— 
 
 MARTON. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 IIS 
 
 MARTON. 
 
 Alas! I hear every where that the wretches 
 will maflacre the women, and thofe, they tell 
 me, who (hall be to their tafte, unfortunate ob- 
 jefts of their infamous defires. 
 
 la marquise— [Very brijkly .) 
 
 I fhall die ! make hafte and drefs me then— 
 fince they infult us, and kill us. Allons, Marton! 
 my rouge.—O heavens! Yellow—out of fpirits 
 “I am frightful—they will kill me ! 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 UtfCLOISTERED NUNS. 
 
 A young and pretty nun coming out of her 
 convent, by virtue of the decree of the National 
 Affembly, and going into a hackney-coach, faid 
 to herfelf; <c If we are not enjoined to unite 
 “ ourfelves to other religious houfes, like the 
 “ monks our brethren, at leaft that is not forbid- 
 “ den us—“ Go on, coachman, to the Carmes of 
 a the Place-Maubert.” 
 
 No re-entrance for profeffed fillers who have 
 gone out, and whom repentance or necefiity 
 might bring back to the fheep-fold; fuch is the 
 fupreme and irrevocable decree figned by the 
 
 Semp- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 119 
 
 Sempiternelles, and underneath by the fears con - 
 verfes . 
 
 How many tears did this fentence cofi the 
 young mother St. Agatha, who unhappily had 
 been more in a hurry to enjoy her liberty than 
 her penfion ! Without fortune, without friends, 
 without any other relations than a very pious 
 aunt, who had promifed to receive her, and who 
 had difavowed her; what will become of her ? 
 What has happened to many others in fimilar 
 fituations ? No, fhe has been faved, and there 
 Hie is who, in full poffeflion of her virtue and ho¬ 
 nour, palled from the convent into one of our 
 corps-de-garde. Do not be alarmed, the only quef- 
 tion was about a diflrift where {lie could be cour* 
 teoufly received, and in which, in fpite of the 
 anathema of her mild fifterhood, fhe is refpeft- 
 fully lodged, fed, and clothed. It is pretended, 
 even that our grenadiers forbore fwearing in her 
 prefence. 
 
 When the decree which was to uncloifler the 
 monks began to be talked about, fix nuns of the 
 Ave-Maria were condemned to eat their rice 
 with an ear-picker, for having chatted a little 
 freely on the poffibility of the fuppreffion of the 
 monaftic orders, 
 
 CHAP, 
 
120 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 DAYS OF THE 21th OF JUNE AND 10th OF AU¬ 
 GUST 1792. 
 
 When the artful La Fayette favoured the 
 flight of Louis XXVIth, and expofed him on his 
 return to Paris to the hides of an indignant peo¬ 
 ple, it was becaufe he had founded on that bold 
 ftroke the proje£l of a republic. The events 
 which followed this fhameful flight confirm the 
 aflertion. From that period, indeed, the Orleans 
 faftion demanded with loud cries the dethrone¬ 
 ment of the king, and giving full wing to the li¬ 
 cence of the prefs, the king of the French was 
 fpoken of under no other title than that of a 
 ftupid hog. 
 
 The people, deluded by the feditious writings 
 and difcourfes which were paid for by the leaders 
 of this fame fa£tion, afliamed of doing obedience 
 to a degraded chief, plunged in the mire, confb- 
 dered him merely as a piece of mechanifm ufe- 
 lefs in carrying on the government, efpecially flnce 
 there exifted a National Aflembly. 
 
 It was under thefe circumflances that the firft 
 conflitution made its appearance. The king, 
 then a prifoner, and to whom it reftored a part 
 
 of 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 121 
 
 of his primitive authority, accepted it. But dill 
 midruding his drength under this powerful buck¬ 
 ler, he furrounded himfelf only with nobles who 
 were confpirators, and prieds who were fanatics, 
 who formed that obdinate party of oppodtion, 
 the end of which was to palfy the will of the 
 nation, and differ the new laws to expire on 
 paper. 
 
 This infolent refidance, this continued con¬ 
 tempt of the rights of a people enthudadic for 
 liberty, France, furrounded on all ddes by foreign 
 troops, the fcene of poignards, with vipers’ tongues 
 at the chateau oi die Tuilleries, the conditutiona! 
 oaths abjured by the prieds, the perddious fug- 
 gedions of the Bidiops to deter the king from 
 receiving the pafcal communion from the hands 
 of a conditutional pried, the indignation of his 
 fubjefts, witneffes of all thefe atrocities, fuch were 
 the principal caufes which precipitated the tem¬ 
 ped on his head, and on thofe of his fallacious 
 advifers. 
 
 The chiefs of the turbulent party, amongft 
 whom were Marat and Freron, took advantage 
 of thefe drd crimes and infractions of the law, to 
 encourage the confpirators in their projects. By 
 means of their periodical incendiary papers, they 
 forged quarrels between the citizens and the new 
 fatellitesof the king ; a dexterous mode, by w r hich 
 they provoked the difmidion of his guard, and 
 
122 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 gave him without defence to the infu.1 is of the po¬ 
 pulace. 
 
 The Tuilleries from that time became the chief 
 place of rendezvous of the murdering appren¬ 
 tices, where they went to ftudy under the direc¬ 
 tion of the Duke of Orleans, the parts of his great 
 tragedy. 
 
 On the other fide, the crow of the cock, a roy- 
 tilift placard of the deputy Andre, made every 
 bead giddy. The multitude faw juftice and rea¬ 
 son in the maxims only of Drawcarhir Marat. 
 
 Hence took place quarrels about opinions, di- 
 vifions among old friends, difcord hovered over 
 Paris and the provinces, every day there were 
 diforders to reprefs, crimes to punifh; every day 
 the pried was infulted at the altar; the tie of re¬ 
 ligion was broken, terror and miftrull infenfibly 
 gained podeflion of every mind. The creation 
 of paper-money increafed the alarm, fortified the 
 
 X ~~ 
 
 hope of the execrable authors of the treaty of fa¬ 
 mine, fince executed, and prolonged with equal 
 cunning and barbarity. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 123 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 PAY OF THE 21(1 OF JUNE 1792. 
 
 At length came the 21ff of June 1792. The 
 20th of June 1791, the Parifian was calm and 
 magnanimous ; how different from himfelf at this 
 fourth epocha of the Revolution ! 
 
 As terrible as on the day when they marched 
 under the command of La Fayette to feek the 
 king at Verfaiiles, they marched under the ban¬ 
 ners of the Fauxbourgs to the Chateau of the 
 Tuilleries. The threatening diverfity of their 
 arms marked the turn of each char after, and its 
 barbarous induftry. One might have imagined, 
 that there had been a king for each individual to 
 poignard, to {fab, to rip open, to cut in pieces. 
 
 In a moment, the parterre was invefted and 
 fcaled, pieces of cannon were placed againff the 
 doors of the veftibules. Thieves mounted on the 
 parapets, glided in at the windows, and whatever 
 retarded the impetuofity of the aflailants was bro¬ 
 ken into Olivers. The colleftion of the edifts 
 and decrees of the council, fcattered about by fa- 
 crilegious hands, were feen flying from the top of 
 the northern pavilion, and falling on the terrace. 
 
 The principal confpirators had got as far as 
 the chambers of the king. At the light of the 
 
 5 monarch. 
 
124 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 monarch, feated by the fide of his wife and his chil¬ 
 dren, they flood flupified. Indeed, it mull be ac¬ 
 knowledged that Louis difcovered great intrepi¬ 
 dity on this occafion, having only his heart, as a 
 fhield, againfl two hundred thoufand bayonets. 
 
 Their lfupefa£lion foon changed itfelf into iro¬ 
 nical infolence. One of them coiffed Capet with 
 the bonnet-rouge, and offered him a bottle of 
 .wine which belonged to the affailants. The king 
 drank and fliook hands with the Sans-culottes. 
 
 The popular battalions, in defpair at this laugh¬ 
 able denouement, and judging that the flroke had 
 failed, difibanded: they left the garden with the 
 coal-heavers, w 7 ho had no other arms than flicks, 
 and for a flag, a coal-fack tied to the end of a 
 pole. They made way for the regiment of Flan¬ 
 ders, and the grenadiers of the Parifian Guard, 
 who ranged themfelves in line of battle on the 
 whole length of the terrace. 
 
 Meanwhile, the king once more efcaped the 
 dagger, but trembling for his days, flint himfelf 
 up in his chateau, and ordered the entrance into 
 the Tuilleries to be clofed every morning againfl 
 the public. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
SEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 125 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 f 
 
 PLAN OF THE NOBLES AND EMIGRANTS TO 
 
 OVERTURN THE CONSTITUTION OF 1791. 
 
 During this captivity, the Ariftocrats labour¬ 
 ed with zeal in organizing in the South the coa- 
 lition of the faithful fubjects of dale’s, in order to 
 oppofe a formidable front to the exertions of the 
 Jacobins of Orleans Egalite, to annul the oath of 
 the clergy, to maintain in its integrity the catho¬ 
 lic worfhip, and exterminate without pity from 
 the foil of the country the founders of liberty. 
 
 What feconded mod effectually this bold pro- 
 je£l, was the plan propofed feveral months be¬ 
 fore, and immediately put into execution, of en¬ 
 gaging mercenary writers, opening correfpon- 
 dence in the provinces; intelligent men were plac¬ 
 ed in the offices of the affembly for the fecret 
 communication of pieces, and fpies at the clubs 
 of the Jacobins, in the fociety of the Corde¬ 
 liers, in each feflion of the orators and of the 
 applauders pofled near them, motion-mongers pa¬ 
 raded the Tuilleries and the Palais-Royal, and vi- 
 
 fited the coffee-houfes, the work-yards, the thea- 
 
 $ 4 
 
 tre, and the guinguettes. Two hundred thoufand 
 
 livres 
 
126 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 livres were confecrated to the payment of the 
 wages of thefe different aftors. 
 
 But it was precifely this plan which accelerated 
 the fall of the throne. The infidious manoeuvres 
 of the Royalifis were counteracted by the forefight 
 - of the friends of liberty. If Capet had his writers, 
 his obfervers, hisfpies, the patriots had alfo theirs, 
 who pofieffed far more addrefs. With the aid of 
 the faflion they drew on the great mafs of the 
 citizens, who wifhed for nothing but tranquillity 
 and the firict obfervance of the laws. 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 FIRST SYMPTOMS OF THE DAY OF THE 10th OF 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 The tempeft rolled at a difiance in hollow 
 murmurs. The inhabitants of the Fauxbourus 
 
 o 
 
 made up a formidable corporation under the 
 name of Sans-culottes, which had been given 
 them as a mark of derifion by Lacueil, and which 
 they afterwards preferved as a title of glory, even 
 the women became orators in the groupes which 
 were continually renewed. The name of tyrant 
 had taken place of that of king. The nobles 
 were called Ariftocrats, and the priefts Ca/lotins. 
 
 The 
 
 / 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 127 
 
 The terrace of the Tuilleries was the only paflfage 
 left for the public to go to the fittings.of the Af- 
 fembly. The people, to prevent fullying the feet 
 of freemen with the dull of the garden of an exe¬ 
 crable defpot, fixed themfelves with a three-co¬ 
 loured ribband the line of demarcation, which 
 was fcrupuloufly obferved. The other part, which 
 formed the royal walk, was called the Black Fo- 
 reft. Public indignation was at the higheft 
 pitch. 
 
 At length arrived the evening of that dav 
 which was to produce fo many crimes, fo many 
 perfidies. The Marfellais, from their entrance 
 into Paris, had begun the courfe of their affaf- 
 fmations. Nothing equalled the audacity of their 
 chiefs, and the patriots applauded themfelves in 
 feeing them in the foremoft ranks. 
 
 The 10th of Auguft, after four in the morn¬ 
 ing, they afifembled in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, x 
 to the number of two or three thoufand, in order 
 to go and befiege the chateau. This terrible 
 catch-word was immediately communicated to 
 
 j 
 
 all the afifembled Sections. The fame evening a 
 perfon ran along the terrace of the Tuilleries with 
 a flag, on which were written thefe words, 
 
 “ Friends! to-morrow the throne will be over- 
 “ turned, to-morrow we fhall be free.’ , The 
 expectation of fome fmifter event was vifible in 
 every countenance. This expectation was foon 
 confirmed. At eleven at night the alarm-bell 
 
 rung. 
 
128 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 rung, and the drum beat to arms. The attack 
 was to begin at two in the morning. A num¬ 
 ber of individuals, who in the evening befieged 
 the furriers’ fhops to have grenadiers’ caps, flock¬ 
 ed to the chateau to augment the elite of the 
 Royalifts, fome in uniform, fome in coloured 
 clothes, all were introduced by favour of a con- 
 figne, ordering a free entrance to all bearers of 
 a blue card with thefe words in black letters. 
 Entry to the apartments. The Etat-major had par¬ 
 ticularly defcribed one individual, who was to 
 prefent himfelf and gain admittance to aflaflinate 
 the king, but he never came. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 THE 10th OF AUGUST 1792. 
 
 The king did not retire to reft, and the nuriv 
 ber of his defenders fo increafed till near four in 
 the morning, that it was fcarcely poflible for him 
 to get to his cabinet. It was three when the 
 people began to make their appearance. De¬ 
 tachments of battalions, preceded by their can¬ 
 non, fpread themfelves about in the courts of 
 the garden and the chateau. At four, they con- 
 fifted of upwards of fix thoufand men. 
 
 Detach- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. \29 
 
 Detachments of the National Guard, and of 
 the Swifs, were polled at the right and left of the 
 Hair-cafe which led from the chapel to the king's 
 apartment. The danger then becoming more 
 and more menacing, it was already propofed, as 
 a means of conciliation, to conduct the royal fa¬ 
 mily to the Alfembly. There was fome queflion 
 of a petition tending to obtain the fending back 
 the Marfeiilais and Bretons who were in the ca¬ 
 pital. At thefe proportions were heard cries of 
 Five le Roi. 
 
 Soon after Capet, furrounded by a crowd of 
 general officers, courtiers, and grenadiers, defend¬ 
 ed, in order to review the different detachments, 
 who, as he paffed along, made the court refound 
 with the cries of Five la Nation ! while the roy- 
 alifts cried Five le Roi ! It was foon perceived, 
 however, that the troops were difcontented, for 
 he had fcarcelv returned to the chateau, before a 
 part of thefe very troops which he had paffed 
 in review, drew off; at fix o’clock, there did not 
 remain above two thoufand men. 
 
 Meanwhile the Parifians, and the people from 
 the Fauxbourgs, armed with pikes, crowded the 
 flreets, traverling the bridges in long columns, in 
 fpite of the cannon which barred them ; and ad¬ 
 vancing with giant fteps towards the Tuilleries, 
 the air refounded with the cries of fury, mingled 
 with the tinkling of the toefm. 
 
 Before feven, they were with the Marfeiilais in 
 battle array on the Place of the Carroufel before 
 
 K the 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
130 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 * 
 
 the chateau. In this interval, the Swifs officers 
 dealt out brandy themfelves to the foldiers of their 
 refpeflive corps. A general officer offered the li¬ 
 quor alfo to the volunteers of the National Guard. 
 Soon after, a voice having given the command 
 by flanks to the right> by columns to the left> a legion 
 of courtiers fuddenly difplayed their poignards, 
 fabres, and piftols, and marching through the 
 midft of the volunteers, went and ranged them¬ 
 felves in order of battle in the king’s cabinet. It 
 was in this hoffcile dtuation that he was fent 
 for by the National Affembly. A part of this 
 armed legion, and a detachment of the battalion 
 of St Thomas, who had nearly lhared the fate 
 of the Swifs, protected his paffage amidft crowds 
 of enraged people, whom the infinuating power 
 of fpeech alone calmed for a moment. 
 
 At the fight of the Swifs, the people were 
 indignant, and uttered vollies of execrations, it 
 was at that moment that a private citizen throw¬ 
 ing himfelf in the way of the king, and taking 
 hold of his hand, faid to him, “ It is not an affaf- 
 “ fin who is fpeaking to thee, it is an honed 
 “ man, who will conduft thee to the National 
 “ Affembly; but as for thy wife, die fhall not 
 “ enter, die is an f—g—, the caufe of all the 
 “ misfortunes of France.” The king, with an 
 impreffive look, preffed this man’s hand, and at 
 the fame moment the Deputy Roederer, who was 
 by the fide of Capet, left him to afcend the deps 
 
 .of 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 131 
 
 of the hall, and' then proclaimed the decree of 
 the Affembly, which called into the place of its 
 fittings the king and the royal family. 
 
 At the voice of Roederer, the people were 
 again hufhed, and Louis and his wife entered the 
 Affembly. Great God ! this calm was the inter¬ 
 val of the terrible filence between the lightning 
 and the thunder, leaving after its fall the dread¬ 
 ful marks of its fury ! 
 
 A difcharge of mufquetry was immediately 
 heard, which was anfwered by another. Tor- 
 rents of fmoke rolled in the air, and darkened 
 the day, the great ftaircafe was filled with the 
 dead and the dying. 
 
 It was in this fatal moment that the Swifs, 
 feigning a reconciliation, threw cartridges from 
 the windows, and made the air refound with 
 the cries of Five la Nation ! The Mar fell ais and 
 the volunteers of the National Guard, perfuaded 
 that the Swifs had furrendered to the wifh of 
 the people, prefented themfelves in crowds to the 
 great flair-cafe of the apartments, and fuddenly 
 the traitors fired a volley on them from the whole 
 line. Three fucceeding difcharges filled the fieps 
 of this fatal flair-cafe, where death feemed to wait 
 his vi61ims bathed in flreams of blood. 
 
 The engagement now became general: ele¬ 
 ven cannon fliot, ftill vifible, were, fired at the 
 front of the Tuilleries oppofite to the Carroufek 
 A ball (truck the edge of the king’s window. 
 
 K 2 The 
 
132 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 The people, amidft the tranfports of their in¬ 
 dignation, preferved an admirable prefence of 
 mind. They fought and defended themfelves he¬ 
 roically : they feemed defiroutf of reducing the 
 chateau to alhes, and the tyrants who were affaffi- 
 nating them. 
 
 The flames had already confumed the houfe 
 of the field-officers of the Swifs and thofe around 
 it. The affailants gain poffeflion of the avenue of 
 the chateau. The rafh Swifs turn pale at the fight 
 of an hundred thoufand pikes and bayonets,but (till 
 refill. What cries of pain, of rage, what hideous 
 fhrieks from men falling under their arms, and 
 yelling out the frightful groans of death ! Here 
 heads fly through the windows, there whole bo¬ 
 dies were hurled from the tops of the galleries. 
 They tear in pieces and feat ter through the air 
 all the mattrafles and camp-beds of the fatellites 
 of the king. The fcattered wool falls in fleeces 
 like a fliower of fnovv. 
 
 But now this fame people, forgetful of their 
 magnanimity, are about to di(honour their vic¬ 
 tory. Inebriated with blood and carnage, they 
 intoxicated themfelves in the cellars. Their 
 cruelty takes a favage afpect. All their hideous 
 vices are going to be difplayed. 
 
 The Swifs, every where routed, are purfued in 
 all directions. In vain thefe poor wretches give 
 up their arms, and alk on their knees for life, 
 i he drunken conqueror is deaf to their prayers. 
 
 ' They 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 133 
 
 They are mercilefsly maffacred, pierced with 
 pikes and bayonets. Their limbs fcattered in 
 different places, feem re-animated for new pu- 
 nifhments. What do I fay ? My trembling pen 
 fears to write it. Women, real furies, dared feaft 
 their eyes in feeing their dead bodies broiling in 
 the flames of burning houfes, and looked with 
 tearlefs cheeks on their fmoaking entrails. 
 
 Robbers alfo mingled themfelves with the con¬ 
 querors. Tormented by hunger, after having ap- 
 peafed their burning thirft, they penetrated into 
 the kitchens. O excefs of barbarity! an unfor¬ 
 tunate helper, who had not had time to make 
 his efcape, was thruft by thefe tygers into a caul¬ 
 dron, and in this fituation expofed to the burning 
 fire of the hove. Then throwing themfelves on 
 the eatables, every man feized what came to his 
 hands. One carries off a fpit with fowls, another 
 a turbot, a third, a carp from the Rhine, equal to 
 himfelf in length. 
 
 Loaded with thefe fpoils, the plunderers im¬ 
 prudently re-appear in the court, and march off 
 with the Marfellais and the volunteers, each of 
 whom carried as trophies the arms of the con¬ 
 quered Swifs, and the bloody fhreds of their uni 
 forms. 
 
 The battle gained, the chateau becomes com¬ 
 pletely the prey of all the robbers who had flock¬ 
 ed from the different departments. While the 
 patriots, the men of true courage, who came to 
 
 overturn 
 
134 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 overturn the throne, and eftablifli the foundations, 
 of liberty on its ruins, were returning to their 
 homes, finging the fongs of vi£tory, and attend- 
 ing religioufly the bodies of their companions 
 in arms, dead on the field of honour, monfters in 
 human fhape affembled in hundreds under the 
 veftibule of the fouthern flair-cafe, and danced 
 amidft floods of blood and wine. 'An executioner 
 played on the fiddle by the fide of the corpfes ; 
 and robbers, with their pockets full of gold, hung 
 up other robbers by the banifters. 
 
 Thoufands of individuals, men as well as wo¬ 
 men, more menacing, more hideous one than 
 the other, in their bloody rags, filled the apart¬ 
 ments. The glaffes fhivered under the ftrokes of 
 the bayonets, by which they were demolifhed. 
 They enter the bed-chamber of the Queen. 
 Shamelefs intoxication makes it the theatre of 
 the mofl infamous obfcenities. The boudoir of 
 the modern Meffalina becomes likewife the ren¬ 
 dezvous of the vileft proflitutes. Here lay wretches 
 inebriated in the bofom of their miftreffes; there 
 thieves, afleep amidft their heaped-up pillage. 
 
 The burning of the palace of Priam did not 
 prefent fo hideous a fpeftacle. The flair-cafes 
 refounded under the precipitated fleps of pick¬ 
 pockets and fharpers, running up and down, 
 croffmg, joflling each other, running along the 
 corridors, and gliding into every chamber. They 
 had already broken open the treafures of the 
 
 ir J * r ' y * i • ' . - / • 
 
 King, 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 135 
 
 King, of the Queen, of Madame Elizabeth, and 
 the ladies of the court. Affignats, gold, filver, 
 watches, jewels, diamonds, trinkets, all thefe ob¬ 
 jects of value formed part of the fpoils. 
 
 Day-workmen paraded impudently the galleries 
 with watches and chains of brilliants. Others, 
 thieves by profeflion, dripped off the lace from 
 the clothes of the attendants at the chateau, 
 took poffellion of the wardrobe, pillaged the filks, 
 the linen, the plate, the liqueurs, the bougies, 
 the books from the library. In a word, every 
 moveable which they could clandeftinely carry 
 off: they broke china vafes of the greated value, 
 in order to get the handles. 
 
 While they were perpetrating thefe a£Is of vio¬ 
 lence, the heroes in chief fent odentatioufly by 
 their helpers the great filver candledicks of the 
 chapel, with plates of filver, and a purfe of an 
 hundred louis, in order that no fufpicion might 
 be entertained that any robberies had gone for¬ 
 wards. 
 
 On the whole, this day prefented the finiihecf 
 pi£ture of the dedruftion of the throne of the laid 
 King of the French; and if we may compare 
 fmall things with great, a young chiinney-fweeper, 
 who flood on the top of the organ of the church, 
 blowing in a pipe the dies ir might have been 
 called the angel trumpet of the judgment. 
 
 After a temped, we go to look at the devaflation 
 it has made. When refleftion takes place of the 
 
 fird 
 
136 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 , firft impreflions of terror, how do we figh over 
 the afpe£t of defolatcd nature ! 
 
 Figure to yourfelves the crowd of peaceable 
 citizens whom curiofity had led to the Tuilleries, 
 to allure themfelves if the chateau was vet Hand¬ 
 ing; wandering flowly along, Hruck with melan¬ 
 choly fhipor, the terrace Are wed with wrecks of 
 the battle. They did not (lied tears, they feemed 
 petrified, annihilated, and drew back with horror 
 at each Hep, at the fight of thofe bloody corpfes, 
 mutilated, flafhed, embowelled, and in whofe face 
 indignation fat flrongly delineated. 
 
 Others, more Hoical, obferved the fwarms of 
 
 * " * 
 
 flies greedy of blood, whom the heat had drawn 
 into thefe gaping wounds, and their eyes Harting 
 from their orbs. 
 
 Meanwhile the populace, wearied with car¬ 
 nage, bending under the weight of their fpoils, 
 difappeared with the fun, and went to refl. If 
 the next day they had refumed their reafon, they 
 ought alfo to have felt their punilhment in the 
 rendings of remorfe. 
 
 On this day, anarchy made the HrH eflay of 
 its hideous omnipotence, and preluded the maf- 
 facres of September. The Legiflative Aflembly 
 might have covered itfelf with immortal glory, 
 and have deferved the title of founder of repub- 
 lican liberty ; but it difplayed, on the contrary, 
 
 4 
 
 at this period of fo fplendid a triumph, neither 
 wifdom, dignity, nor courage. It could reHrain 
 
 neither 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 137 
 
 neither afladins, robbers, nor dedroyers; power- 
 lefs to imitate that Being, who in the temped, 
 ftretching out majedically his hand, commanded 
 the waves of the fea to be flayed, they fufFered 
 every abufe of the viftory to be committed by 
 wretches, who, in the phrenzy of intoxication, 
 imagined themfelves to be the head, the heart, 
 and the arm of all France. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 ^ * t * 1 
 
 t N 
 
 GREGOIRE. 
 
 The National Convention replaced the Legi- 
 flative Affembly the 21 ft of September 1792 . 
 Like the fovereign it reprefented, its fil'd deps 
 were thofe of a giant, and its fird words claps of 
 thunder. After having confecrated the fove- 
 reignty of the people, by a decree declaring, that 
 no conditution fliould take place till it was ac¬ 
 cepted by the people, and put the fecurity of 
 perfons and property under the fafeguard of the 
 nation, it was expedient to give the lad blow to 
 the hydra whofe renovated head continually 
 threatened liberty. The lad of the French kings 
 no longer exided, but royalty was dill alive. A 
 Member arofe, and faid, “ There is one difeuffion 
 3 “ which 
 
i38 JJEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 %£ which we ought not to defer an inftant without 
 “ being faithlefs to the nation ; it is the folemn 
 “ abolition of royalty.” The difcuffion of the 
 queftion was called for. <c What need have 
 “ we of difcuffion,” exclaimed Gregoire, “ when 
 “ all are agreed. Kings are, in the moral economy 
 “ of the world, what monfters are in the natural, 
 “ and courts are the repofitories of crimes, and 
 “ the dens of tyrants. The hiftory of kings is the 
 cc matyrology of nations ; when we are pene- 
 • c trated with thefe truths, what need have we of 
 cc difcuffion?” The qiiejlion! exclaimed the whole 
 Affembly, The quejlion! All the members rofe 
 as if fpontaneoufly. A folemn filence enfued, 
 and on the propofition of Gregoire, the National 
 Affembly decreed, that Royalty is aholijhed in 
 France . At thefe words, the fan6tuary of the laws 
 refounded with Five la Nation! Five la Liberie! 
 Amidft thefe acclamations the republic was pro¬ 
 claimed. The feal of the flate was henceforth 
 to be a fafces crowned with the cap of liberty, 
 with thefe words for the exergue, French Re - 
 ;public . All a£ts were to be dated from .the Firjl 
 Year of the French Republic . 
 
 Scarcely had royalty been aboliffied, when we 
 faw a di&atorfhip erected on its ruins. Among 
 the madmen who dared afpire to this fupreme 
 rank, we muft name. W hom ? Marat! He ap¬ 
 peared at the tribune, and taking a piflol from 
 his pocket, as formerly our Capuchins in the pul¬ 
 pit drew out a little bon dieu from their fleeve. 
 
 ex- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 139 
 
 €< 
 
 <( 
 
 &( 
 
 exclaimed in the ftyle of an Italian Ponchinelle, 
 “ I fear nothing under heaven!” (he, Marat! 
 who had hid hjmfelf in a cellar to withdraw him- 
 felf from the purfuit of La Fayette !) “ I fear 
 nothing under heaven! but if a decree is paffed 
 againft me by the Affembly, I will blow out 
 my brains before you.” Then putting up his 
 inftrument of death, which probably contained 
 nothing but powder, he added, “ But no, I will 
 “ remain in the midft of you to brave your fury.” 
 Some one faid to him, on the breaking up of the 
 fitting, “ Take care, Marat, that you do not 
 “ lofe, from too much day-light when you a£I 
 <c your part of deputy, that fort of fuccefs which 
 you owe perhaps only to the darknefs of your 
 cellar where you lay hidden on account of your 
 journal. Marat! mountebanks are no longer 
 in fafhion ! Throw by your cups and balls L 
 
 a 
 
 c. e 
 
 CHAP. XL. 
 
 BAIL L Y AND A FEW OTHER PORTRAITS. 
 
 From what ftrange mixture of vanity and phi- 
 lofophy, of wit and good-nature, of fimplicity 
 and knowledge, was the firft aftronomer of his 
 age, and one of its moft upright citizens, drawn 
 
 into 
 
 • « i 
 
J K) NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 into this whirlpool of a revolution which covered 
 him with glory, and fent him to the fcaffold? 
 His reputation, dill more than his talents, had 
 fncceiTively placed him in the electoral body, in 
 the States General, in the prefident’s chair, and 
 at the head of the fird commune of France; it 
 King Bailly, as the court called him, in imitation 
 of Louis the XVIth, had difcovered fo much 
 energy in the fitting at the Tennis Court, how 
 came he fo flexible as to be cited for the delicate 
 turn of his compliments? What fort of weak- 
 nefs led him to differ a few miferable intriguers 
 to form around him a kind of court? Could 
 this mofl humane of mankind have forefeen 
 that his mildnefs would accuflom the people 
 whom he flattered, to complain of his effemi¬ 
 nacy, to alk even himfelf fome day for his own 
 head, when the pomp of mayor fliould have left 
 the honed man at the difcretion of his vile cour¬ 
 tiers, when from his weaknefs he fliould have dif¬ 
 fered every thing to be diforganized by the fac¬ 
 tious ? Thus the probity and good-nature of too. 
 Scientific a man, too philofophical, and too feel¬ 
 ing, perhaps, to occupy the fird places amidft the 
 dorms of a revolution, were the firfl: caufes of fo 
 many atrocious crimes, the lead: noticed of which 
 has been his own ruin. 
 
 What a fcene of agony was his death! and 
 what courage, what greatnefs of foul in his lad 
 moments ! Was he an ordinary man, who, when 
 
 dragged 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 141 
 
 dragged from the tribunal to the Champ deMars, 
 his body covered with mud, and his face burnt 
 with the fhreds of the fatal red flag, looked with 
 calmnefs on the change which was made before 
 his eyes of the horrible theatre of his punifliment, 
 merely became it pleafed the mob to prolong 
 it? Was he a pufillanimous man, who, with that 
 calm which belongs only to dying virtue, anfwer- 
 cd mildly to one of thofe monffers in human 
 form, who faid to him ironically, “ you tremble, 
 “ Bailly,”—“ Is it with cold ?”—He died on that 
 fpot where formerly a decree had enjoined him 
 to publifli the martial law, by which the rep re- 
 fentatives of the nation had ordered him to re* 
 prefs/edition, and expired, covered with the exe¬ 
 crations of the populace, after having been its 
 mod refpedted idol. 
 
 Camille Desmoulins. —What can we think 
 of a man who entitled himfelf Attorney-General 
 of the Lanthern, when all the lantherns were gal- 
 lowfes, who permitted himfelf to make a jeft of 
 thofe who were hung by the populace, who 
 made his fanguinary declamations in a drain of 
 pleafantry, and fported wittily amidd the atro¬ 
 cities of Danton and Robefpierre ! He was go¬ 
 ing continually from one to the other, and pre¬ 
 tended to ferve them both; whild good men rer 
 pulfed and deteded them alike. 
 
 The Jacobins of that time made a legiflator 
 of this Attorney-General of the Lanthern, he 
 
 was 
 
142 NE\i f PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 was cowardly, and low, but not yet cool-blood- 
 edly cruel enough to pleafe Robefpierre. He fent 
 him to the fcaffold, becaufe he had only attempt¬ 
 ed with his pen to interrupt his reign of terror; 
 and Danton, who had facrificed BrifTot to Robe¬ 
 fpierre, was the dupe of this impolitic blunder. 
 No one had any faith in Dantonian clemency, 
 the Septembrifer was entrapped and cruflied like 
 a fool. He mud have carried to the fcaffold 
 the concentrated rage of his defeat, which was 
 foretold him by feveral perfons. Manes of Sep¬ 
 tember ! you dill call for more of your affaffins. 
 Wait, wait, all of them will be puniffied. It was 
 Paris who eleSed all thefe monders of folly and 
 cruelty, who murdered the Revolution by making 
 it abhorred, and who did not know, at lead for 
 their own fafety, how to be cruel only for once. 
 
 Pache. —He is a Swifs, and was more fatal 
 to France than an army of Andrians. He was 
 in the fecret of all the enemies of the country. 
 Attacked by the Gironde, and defended by the 
 Mountain, he placed himfelf at the head of a 
 mondrous adociation which had been formed of 
 the principal authors of the madacres of Septem¬ 
 ber. Thefe men, without any kind of fortune, 
 lived neverthelefs in a fort of luxury which was 
 not the lefs difguding than prodigal. Who paid 
 thefe ruffians? Pache. And where did they 
 carry on their deliberations? In the hall of the 
 Jacobins, during the abfence of the latter. They 
 
 were 
 

 143 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Were to the Jacobins what the Capuchins were to 
 the Jefuits, emiffaries, fpies. From this horde 
 illued the greater part of the cut-throats who 
 caufed fo many diforders in Paris and its envi¬ 
 rons. It produced alfo fome writers : but what 
 fort of writers ? We faw the ftreets of Paris co¬ 
 vered with addrefifes and petitions exceeding each 
 other in atrocity. Senfible men treated thefe 
 placards with contempt, but the populace read 
 them, and imagined they had obtained abfolution 
 tor all the blood they had (lied. Thefe fubaltern 
 ruffians had the impudence to petition for the re¬ 
 peal of a decree which enjoined the profcription 
 of the Septembrifers. Several deputies boldly 
 oppofed it. The ftruggle laffed upwards of two 
 hours. On that day the Mountain feemed as if it 
 would have rolled itfelf entire on thofe generous 
 deputies, who were defeated. The National 
 Convention decreed, that the execution of its firft 
 decree againfi: the Septembrifers fhould be fuff 
 pended. From that day, the gate was opened 
 to impunity, and all the prote6tors of affaihns 
 walked out with heads ere£l. 
 
 Joseph Le bon. —A ftrippling prieff rehearfmg 
 his catechifm was the image of this young Ver- 
 res, who afpired to the dignity of being named 
 the Little Robefpierre. This laft, thinking him 
 worthy of confidence, entrufted him with the 
 care of defolating the city of Arras, where they 
 were both born. He was proconful at an age 
 
 in 
 
144 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 in which a man is but a bad preceptor. Of all 
 the commiffaries of the Convention, he was the 
 moll ferocious and moft anthropophagical wild 
 beaft; and this was in the courfe of things, for 
 he was a pried:, and was perfecting his townf- 
 men who had been witneffes of his late abjeft 
 fituation. He had formed an etat major of 
 aftaffms, with red caps and whilkers. Every 
 day after his dinner he aflifted at the punifhment 
 of his victims, and fometimes fufpended the mor¬ 
 tal blow in order to read to them the newfpaper. 
 1 had never feen him at the Convention, becaufe 
 he had only taken his feat as fupplementary 
 three months after the 31ft of May. I do not 
 know why this monfter was fent into the prifon 
 where the feventy-three deputies were confined; 
 on feeing him enter, I faid to him only thefe 
 words: “ What, fo young and fo cruel!” He 
 was the feed of Robefpierre, whofe greateft guilt 
 was having infufed his doftrine into this novice 
 foul, and familiarifed him with new crimes. 
 
 Carrier. —It was in thinking of the frater¬ 
 nity of Lycurgus, that he aftociated in death 
 individuals of different parties, and ordained 
 thefe republican marriages, a term of fanguinary 
 derifion. It will fcarcely be believed, but he de¬ 
 clared to whoever would liften to him, cc We 
 will make a cemetery of France, rather than 
 not regenerate it after our fafhion, and fail 
 in the end we have propofed.” He was faith¬ 
 ful 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 145 
 
 ful to his word. He wifhed France to be re¬ 
 duced to the fourth of its population, the fove- 
 reignty of the remainder, and the divifion of 
 lands. He was in the fecret of that horrible 
 war of Vendee. This fecret was to accom- 
 plifli the treaty made with the coalition, and to 
 deliver up the wrecks of an exhaufted kingdom. 
 Such crimes are not conceivable ; but thofe who 
 could have ftoDt the war in Vendee, and 
 who did not do it, thofe who harrafled and per¬ 
 fected the experienced generals who laboured 
 in good earned; to deftrov it, thofe who fent an 
 executioner to men who were to be regained by 
 mildnefs, were the only depofitaries of that terrible 
 fecret. The Loire is ftill fwelled with the tears 
 and blood which Carrier made to flow. I fliall only 
 add of this monfler, that in afcending the fcaffold 
 on the Place de Greve, he liflened to the founds of 
 a clarionet, which was piping for his death, and 
 witneffed the Parifian joy as his head fell. As 
 this wretch was rather a monller than a man, 
 the Pariiians will not be cenfured for this mani- 
 feflation of joy. 
 
 Robert Lindet.— Amongft the atrocities 
 which the 10th March 1793 brings to our recol¬ 
 lection, that fuggefled by a Deputy, called Robert 
 Lindet, is beyond every thing which tyrants can 
 have imagined moll: cunningly barbarous; this is 
 what he propofed: 
 
 vol. i. L “ The 
 
146 $£W PICTURE OF PAR 15. 
 
 “ The Extraordinary Tribunal (hall be coni* 
 “ pOled of nine members , they fhall be fubjedted 
 u to no formas to the trial, they fhall get in- 
 “ formation in every manner poflible. The Tri- 
 <c bunal fhall divide itfelf into two fedtions, and 
 “ there lliall be always in the hall deftined 
 “ for this Tribunal a member commiilioned to 
 “ receive denunciations. 
 
 <c The Tribunal Pnall judge thofe who fliall be 
 “ fent before it by a decree of the Convention. 
 “ The Tribunal may purfue diredlly fuch, who, 
 “ through incivifm, may have abandoned or ne- 
 “ gledled the exercife of their fundtions ; thofe 
 who by their condudt, or the manifeflation of 
 <c their opinions, fliall have attempted to lead 
 u aftray the people 3 fucli whofe condudl or 
 “ writings, fuch, in fhort, who from the places 
 4C which they occupied under the old govern- 
 sc ment, bring to mind the prerogatives ufurped 
 “ by defpets.” 
 
 Who would believe that the party which had 
 declared itfelf republican, par excellence , the ex- 
 clufive protedtor of the molt extended, the moll 
 unbounded liberty, applauded with enthufiafm 
 this infernal conception, and moved that it fhould 
 immediately pafs into a law. Philipeaux, who 
 was crowned at his death with fo many cypreffes 
 and laurels, declared himfelf its defender ; Ver- 
 ginaud attacked it with indignation, and repelled 
 
 it 
 
KEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 14-7 
 
 It with horror; Cambon oppofed it; even Barrere 
 treated it as a monftruofity which the mod fhame- 
 lefs defpots would not have imagined in the 
 darkefl: fits of their rage. After a great deal of 
 difcuflion, Lindet’s proje£t was abandoned. 
 
 D uport Dutertre. —Intelligent, amiable, 
 and obliging ; poffefling only the milder paflions, 
 a modeft tone, and affable demeanour with every 
 one. His profeflion was that of the bar ; and 
 when the Revolution, in calling him to the func¬ 
 tions of the Vice Mayoralty, to the organization 
 of the commune of Paris, gave him an oppor¬ 
 tunity of difplaying his talents, he was the firft 
 minifter whom the king chofe from among the 
 clafs of the people. The opinion of the public, 
 which had hitherto profcribed every other choice, 
 applauded this ; and during the very long courfe 
 of his miniftry, compared to that which took 
 place before or after him, he was reproached 
 neither for pride, nor abufe of authority. His 
 funftions, however, had been as perplexing as 
 they were fplendid; for the flight of the king to 
 Varennes had made him the firfl perfon in the 
 date ; but his modefty was habitual; his ele¬ 
 vation did not dazzle him, and he was fond of 
 repairing fometimes to the Ample apartment 
 which he occupied before he took poffeflion of 
 the hotel of the keeper of the feals. It was a 
 fort of afvlum which he feemed afraid of not 
 
 L 2 find in? 
 
148 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 * / 
 
 finding again when the day of his greatneis 
 fhould be pad. 
 
 The events of the 10 th of Auguft, in which 
 he had taken no part, enveloped him, as it did 
 fo many others, in the decree of accufation which 
 fent him to the prifons of Orleans, to be judged 
 by the High National Court. Having almoft 
 miraculoufly efcaped the maflacre of the prifoners 
 of this city, whom the affaffins of September 
 went to murder during their tranflation, Duport, 
 thirteen months after, fell under the fentence of 
 Robefpierre’s tribunal. The unfortunate, illuf- 
 trious, and ill-fated Bamave was comprehended 
 with him in the fame indidlment. There was 
 nothing common in their caufe; they fcarcely 
 knew each other, and their principles probably 
 were not more alike ; but one viftim at a time 
 was not fufficient for thofe murderers, they cou¬ 
 pled them by accident, in order to accuftom the 
 people to fee their viftims accumulated by hun¬ 
 dreds, though they became acquainted with each 
 other only by the means of the fentence which 
 had convifted them of being accomplices- It 
 was in vain for Duport to prove his innocence ; 
 to produce evidences written by Marat himfelf, 
 which rendered teftimony of his patriotifm, and 
 his refpect for the liberty of the prefs ; his judges 
 were fo greedy of blood, that one of the jury, 
 forgetting that the queftions were individual, 
 3 pronounced 
 
new PICTURE OF PARIS. 149 
 
 pronounced in a rage the formule; “ Chi my ho - 
 <c nour and conference the prif oners are convicted." 
 
 The declaration of the jury ,was unanimous, 
 and when Duport heard his fentence, he faid, 
 Revolutions aflfafiinate men, it is pofterity that 
 judges them. ,, 
 
 Pethion. —He had an open countenance, a 
 fine form, an affable look, a mild fort of elo¬ 
 quence, talent and addrefs; but his manners 
 were affe61ed, and he had fomething in his fea¬ 
 tures which feemed to excite miftruft. From 
 the firfl days of the conftitution he figured in the 
 Affembly, becaufe he fpoke well, and was mem¬ 
 ber of the Tiers. The infeparable friend of 
 Robefpierre, their principles were then fo ac¬ 
 cordant, and their intimacy fo noted, that they 
 were called two fingers of the fame hand , and they 
 continued to be called fo till the end of 1792 . 
 It is true, that at this epoch a they already de- 
 tefted each other cordially. Robefpierre was no 
 longer any thing, he did not even with to be any 
 thing, becaufe he referved himfelf for anarchy; 
 for he was not made to (hare in a career purely 
 conftitutional. Fethion, on the contrary, had 
 quitted England, where he had gone with Ma¬ 
 dame, de Sillery, to fucceed Bailly in the func¬ 
 tions of Mayor of Paris, and he acquired in this 
 place fo much popularity, efpecially after his 
 deftitution on the events of the 20th June, that 
 Robefpierre could no longer extend to him his 
 
 forgiveneft 
 
150 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 forgivenefs for the idolatry with which he was 
 worfhipped. He regarded him no longer but 
 with envy ; he was in his eyes only a rival, while 
 he heard the people cry, Five Pethion! Petition , 
 on la Mort! an exclamation which was read on 
 every hat, and infcribed on every wall. 
 
 Pethion neverthelefs was too much refpedled 
 to be openly attacked ; and he adied a confider- 
 able part on the 10th of Auguft. He had feveral 
 times vifited all the pods of the Chateau during 
 the night which preceded that celebrated day ; 
 and his cares were not loft, lince he enfured its 
 fuccefs. The life of Pethion was at that time fo 
 precious, that a decree enjoined him to expofe 
 it no longer; and for a long time we read on the 
 gates of the Chateau this infcription, “ The 
 
 Mayor of Paris would have been aflaffinated, 
 “ if a decree of the Legiflative Body had not 
 £C faved his life.” 
 
 He was Mayor of Paris during the butcheries 
 of September, but the confpirators had configned 
 him to the mayoralty houfe, fo that he was pure 
 with refpedl to their maffacres. When Manuel 
 made his propofitions at the Convention to give 
 the Prefident a guard of honour, and an apart¬ 
 ment at the Tuilieries, Pethion had been named 
 prefident. On the formation of the Affembly 
 fome people faid that he had the throne in view, 
 and many others wifhed him to afcend it; but 
 all at once he became the objedt of hatred ; he 
 
 was 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 151 
 
 was outlawed in confequence of the Sift May, 
 and no one knows what became of him. He 
 perifhed, without doubt, in a miferable manner, 
 fince he never re-appeared on the recall of thofe 
 who were profcribed. 
 
 Lacroix. —From a Ample country-attorney 
 he became a colonel, and field-officer, in two or 
 three months; poflefied of immenfe property, 
 and accomplice of Danton, he made a pretence 
 of denouncing and accufing Dumourier, with 
 whom he was in league ; and proteHed thofe 
 tribunes who were under the orders of the maf- 
 facreer in chief, the Bacchantes, the cut-throats, 
 as well as all the extravagant motion-makers in 
 the feftions , whilft his friend Fabre d’Eglantine, 
 a poor poet before the 2d of September, who 
 was acquainted with nothing but affignations for 
 debt, inftead of affignats, was now enabled to 
 fport an hotel, a carriage, fervants, and mif- 
 treftes. 
 
 He was one of the great oppreffors of the 
 Convention, which was pure as to the very great 
 majority. He impeded its motions, and ranged 
 bimfelf on the fide of thofe who vociferated, 
 bawled, and talked continually of fans-culotterie, 
 paying court to a guilty municipality in a ftate 
 of open revolt. In fhort, he was one of the moft 
 indefatigable promoters of anarchy, and always 
 ready to fiiield the afiaflins under his Stentorian 
 lungs. Even admitting that the adverfaries of 
 
 thefe 
 
152 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 thefe anarchifts had been guilty of fome errors, 
 there is not a fingle man of that party who has 
 enriched himfelf fmce the Revolution. They 
 fhunned every committee, in whofe hands power 
 was placed. 
 
 Lacroix had been decorated with the crofs of 
 St. Lewis, the 4 th of Auguft 1792, and that cir- 
 cumftance could not open the eyes of the ffupid 
 Parifians. It was impoffible from that time to 
 reprefs the vociferations of the tribunes, the me¬ 
 naces of the cut-throats, the crimes of the Ja¬ 
 cobins, and the ufurpations of the Municipality. 
 
 A military man ventured to fay in my hearing, 
 £C Do you with to know how to fave the coun- 
 try ? I will tell you. I have w 7 ell ftudied the 
 Convention ; it is compofed in part of fcoun- 
 <£ drels whom w r e muff put out of the way, and 
 to effeS this, we muft fire the alarm-guns and 
 ££ fhut the barriers.” 
 
 Bentabole, who was president, pretended not 
 to underftand this provocation to murder, and 
 complimented the affaiiin on his fpeech. He 
 was exclaimed againft for his forbearance, and 
 called a Modere y and a Feuillant. 
 
 It is becaufe the departments could not fee the 
 obftinate flruggles of the true republicans againft 
 this fociety of Jacobins, entirely forfaken by every 
 true patriot, by every well-informed man, by 
 every deputy who had any claim to efteem, or 
 any modefty, that they have formed fuch falfe 
 
 judgments 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 153 
 
 judgments refpe£ting the Convention, and called 
 it feeble. On the contrary it was drong, coura¬ 
 geous, and intrepid till the 31 ft of May. The 
 feventy-three fought hill on the breach, paified 
 every murderous project and decree, druck with 
 a kind of terror the Municipality of Paris, held 
 it at lead in refpeS, and it was only after their 
 retreat, and arreft, that the dyke was levelled, 
 and that France was inundated by crimes. The 
 people of Paris were punifhed for not having 
 known how to appreciate, or defend thofe de¬ 
 puties, for having been cowardly fpeFtators of 
 this laft attempt, which was the fignal of every 
 violence and every cruelty. 
 
 It is time to declare the whole truth : Robe- 
 ipierre and Marat were not the mod guilty. 
 Obferve Collot d’Herbois at Nice, and at Or¬ 
 leans, Tallien at Tours, Billaud Varennes at the 
 armies! The Prudian, Anacharfis Cloots, 
 fmoothed the road for Frederick William, and 
 we, friends of the country, held exaggeration of 
 words and ferocity of language in horror, becaufe 
 they are always in the ratio of cowardice, but 
 the Paridans were prevented by their fears from 
 ranging tnemfelves on our fide; and when there 
 exided a Condorcet, or a Bridot, it was a Chau- 
 mette, or a Marat, whofe dandards they follow¬ 
 ed ! When we denounced the confederation of 
 Pilnitz, we were the accomplices of the invadon 
 of-the enemy ; in diort, it was we who had deli¬ 
 vered 
 
154 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 vered up V alenciennes to the Duke of York j 
 Conde, Lequefnay, and Landrecies to the Em¬ 
 peror ; and when the King of Pruffia, who had 
 hired boxes at the opera, fhould enter Paris, it 
 was we who were to wait behind his majefty at 
 the reprefentation. 
 
 The Parifians believed all this, and it formed 
 the bails of that accufation, which fent the in¬ 
 corruptible friends of liberty and of national glory 
 to dungeons and the fcaffold. 
 
 The enemy who threatened Paris with ruin, 
 was delighted with this fatal enor; they well 
 knew who were the traitors. The Parilians ever 
 blind, have not yet learnt how to diftinguifh them 
 from thofe men who were honeft and coura¬ 
 geous, whilft all Europe perfectly makes the dif- 
 tin&ion. 
 
 Dumourier, —There is great reafon to be¬ 
 lieve he did not become a traitor, till he had met 
 with a confiderable defeat, and till the infults of 
 Marat had determined him to feparate himfelf 
 from a Convention which kept fuch a man in its 
 body. 
 
 The return of the Commiffioners of the Bel- 
 gic army, had fpread the greateft and moft 
 general alarm. Nothing lefs was talked of but 
 railing the whole nation in mafs. We were 
 afraid of feeing a renewal of the maffacres of 
 the 2d of September, for there were louder and 
 more vociferations againft the rich and the mo¬ 
 dems* 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 15$ 
 
 deres, than againft the Pruffians and the Aus¬ 
 trians, 
 
 Ail the theatres were Shut, and advantage was 
 taken of the firfi; moment of terror, to lay the 
 foundations of the Revolutionary Tribunal. The 
 organization of this famous tribunal made its ap¬ 
 pearance with the return of Lacroix and Danton. 
 Briflbt combated this propofition, as tending to 
 the moft mondrous defpotifm, but he was not 
 lidened to. Thus the defeat of Dumourier be¬ 
 came the triumph of the Mountain party, who 
 knew always how to take advantage of every 
 event. The addrefs of this party particularly 
 confided in appearing lefs audacious when fur- 
 rounded with danger; and their adverfaries, na¬ 
 turally humane and averfe to violence, were 
 fated to pay dear for their indulgence, and Se¬ 
 curity. 
 
 Dumourier loft his fenfes when he arreded the 
 four representatives of the people. It was a 
 crime So miferably ufelefs, that we can only attri¬ 
 bute it to that fort of madnefs which is excited 
 by fury; Paris befides cared little about this ar- 
 red. Many, however, believed that Dumourier 
 was a traitor both before and after he had given 
 himfelf up to the coalition. 
 
 Abbe Maury. —I knew him well; a mere 
 fprig of divinity; he, however, entertained an idea 
 of railing himfelf to the fed: rank of the eccledaf- 
 tical hierarchy, and talked to me of his future 
 
 elevation 
 
156 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 elevation when he had not enough to purchafe 
 himfelf a dinner. He told me, <c I fhall enter 
 “ the French academy long before you;” and at 
 that time, he had not written even a bad fermon. 
 His fir ft produ&ions were fpecimens of what is 
 moft wretched and obfcure in any language. 
 But he was born with the fpirit of an acade¬ 
 mician, a talent for preaching, and the impudence 
 of an antichamber. He had great confidence in 
 his oratory, becaufe he had exercifed it with fuc- 
 cefs on feveral men of common underftanding; 
 and aflumed fometimes the fupple, fometimes the 
 lofty, and fometimes the unftious tone of a 
 prieft; he was always fond of adting the prieft. 
 
 fie has done the greateft fervices to the Revo¬ 
 lution ; for it was he who rendered the clergy 
 obftinate and reftive, and who, by exhorting 
 them not to bend, caufed them to break. It is 
 be alfo who put into the head of all the nobles 
 that fyftem of emigration, the moil: extravagant, 
 moft impolitic, and moft cowardly which they 
 could have chofen. This charming fyftem after¬ 
 wards took pofteflion of the head of the mo¬ 
 narch ; and it was in confequence of Abbe 
 Maury's documents that he came to trick like a 
 fchoolboy, who wifhed to cheat his ufher. He 
 difguifed himfelf as a valet de chambre, and 
 when he was in the carriage with all his family, 
 they all laughed at the furprife, the aftonifh- 
 
 ment. 
 
KEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 157 
 
 ftient, the fuppofed grief of the Parifians, when 
 they came to be informed, that inftead of affifting 
 at the proceffion of the holy facrament, as they 
 expe&ed, the bird was flown, and gone in queft 
 of the boots of General Bender. 
 
 Tarquin driven from Rome was in a pofitioii 
 lefs humiliating, but the newTarquin muft dine on 
 
 4 
 
 the road; he was famifhed on cutlets, and ate 
 like a carman. In vain did the queen befeech 
 him to adjourn his appetite; he arrived too late 
 for the rendezvous of Bouille, and his regiment. 
 Six men ftopt the carriage, and he was the firft to 
 cry out, “ Stop !” He went into the fhop of M. 
 Sauffe, a tallow-chandler, who faw clear enough 
 without fnuffing. M. Sauffe did his duty, up¬ 
 right as a candle. Whether or not the Blondi- 
 net, (this was the name given by the court to 
 La Fayette), had in view the malicious fatisfac- 
 tion, the cruel pleafure of the cat, who fuffers 
 the moufe to efcape only to catch it at a leap ; it 
 is neverthelefs true, that the Abbe Maury had 
 infpired every governing head from that time 
 with the projefl; of efcaping, that he is the in¬ 
 ventor of the emigrating fyftem, and that it was 
 adopted even by the king, who could fo eafily 
 have feparated himfelf from a haughty and info- 
 lent nobility, which had never ceafed to mfult 
 and defpife him. 
 
 Of all the emigrants of much note, the Abbe 
 Maury, and Choifeul Gouffier, are the only men 
 
 who 
 
1 5& KEW PICTt/RE OF PARIS. 
 
 who have had underftanding, or good fortune. 
 The firft has become a cardinal, and the fecond 
 has made himfelf under the name of Paul the 
 Firft, Emperor of all the Rulfias. 
 
 There is one 3 however, who is wifer and hap¬ 
 pier than either, having become a woman's fhoe- 
 maker at Hamburgh. 
 
 Legendre (of Paris).—At the time of Lewis 
 the XVlth’s trial, he took it into his head to 
 fay, cc What a fight of forms and ceremonies; 
 “ put him to death, let him be cut into eighty- 
 “ three morfels, and fend one to each of the 
 sc eighty-three departments.” He imagined he 
 had reached the climax of Mountain eloquence, 
 and his motion was received with loud burfts of 
 laughter. I was by his fide when he uttered 
 thefe words; and I faid to myfelf, the obfer- 
 vation of this man will be received with horror, 
 and the folly of a fingle individual, whofe mouth 
 we cannot ftop, will be attributed to all the 
 members of the Convention. By what kind of 
 fatality do I find myfelf feated by the fide of a 
 Legendre, and of a Lawrence Leciontre ! They 
 
 V \ 
 
 prate about liberty, and they know not how to 
 read! 
 
 Legendre was brutal, not becaufe he was a 
 butcher, but bccaufe he imagined that brutality 
 entered into the compofition of a republican, and 
 that he was no republican, who did not roar like 
 a bull, and make geftures as if lie was going to 
 
 fell 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 159 
 
 fell an ox. He could not fpealc or gefticulate 
 otherwife ; and the violence of Legendre was 
 fuch, that he wanted feveral times to flrike 
 Lanjuinais, and throw him headlong from the 
 tribune. 
 
 After the return of the feventy-three, we de¬ 
 manded in a particular affembly, the recall of 
 the twenty-two who were outlawed. I made 
 the motion ; Legendre oppofed it, and faid, “ 1 
 
 “ would fooner die at this tribune.*' “ Very 
 
 * 
 
 well,” I replied, “ die then !”—He was filent, 
 as v/ell as his infernal fet, and the twenty-two 
 were recalled, that is to fay, thofe who were flill 
 living; and all thefe virtuous men have by de¬ 
 grees cruflied the monfler of anarchy. It was 
 Legendre who denounced Condorcet, accufing 
 him of having fought to raife the department of 
 the Aifne. 
 
 Cambon. —The law propofed by Buzoty 
 which fhould oblige every deputy to give an ac¬ 
 count of his fortune fince the Legiflative and 
 Conftituent Affemblies, and to juftify the caufes 
 of its augmentation, have always been mofr 
 flrongly oppofed by the Mountain party; Cambon 
 found it bad, he who affe&ed at the tribune to 
 flatter the multitude. Whoever touched this firing 
 was an ally of the foreign courts. We could 
 never put any law in execution that would force 
 them to empty their pockets, though we never re- 
 fufed ourfelves to give an account of our fortune. 
 
 Cambon 
 
260 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Gambon exercifed a fort of di&ature on the & 
 nances, and began fird: to fport with the emiflioii 
 of affignats. He was defirous of profcribing ftock- 
 iobbing; and why did not Gambon fhut up the 
 exchange fooner, as Claviere has never ceafed to 
 demand fince 1791 ? This was going ftraight to 
 the root of the evil. It was Cambon who pal- 
 fied, and perfecuted the genius and talents of 
 Claviere, becaufe he was acquainted with his 
 fuperiority over thofe miferable plagiaries who 
 ftrove to bewilder him with their narrow con¬ 
 ceptions, by fuggefting to him ruinous or illufory 
 expedients. The difafter of our finances was 
 entirely the work of the Mountain party; and if 
 any amongft them affeHed to denounce fubaltern 
 dilapidators at the tribune, it was only to referve 
 to himfelf the right of favouring the dilapidator 
 in chief. Why did Cambon remain fo long 
 himfelf at the head of the finances ? becaufe he 
 was the accomplice of thofe anarchifts who were 
 alfo knaves, and with whom he afterwards form¬ 
 ed a coalition. 
 
 Mar at. —This wretch, born in the country of 
 Neufchatel, in Switzerland, at firft a beggar, then 
 a quack, who united meannefs of figure and of 
 flyle to that of charafter and of underftanding, 
 and whofe infolence at the tribune was even ludi¬ 
 crous, will neverthelefs claim more than one page 
 in hiftory from his inconceivable deification, and 
 his death, which fent a young heroine to the 
 
 tomb. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. iGl 
 
 tombi Hiftory will cite this vile demagogue, 
 who has difhonoured the Pantheon, and all thofe 
 who lodged him there, and excited a blind mul¬ 
 titude to pillage and to crime; yet this wretch 
 would not have dared to have become a preacher 
 of atheifm ; there was, therefore, fomething more 
 abominable in the world than Marat, which was 
 the fpirit of Chaumette and of Hebert, that is, 
 the Jacobin-Cordelier Spirit. The hypocrite Robe- 
 fpierre was confcious that he fhould have the ge¬ 
 neral confent of mankind in his favour in over¬ 
 turning thefe wretches; but in re-acknowledging 
 the Supreme Being, the phyfiognomy of impiety 
 was not lefs vifible. Why? Becaufe on that day 
 he, in reality, put himfelf in the place of the Deity 
 whofe exiflence he commanded us to acknow¬ 
 ledge. 
 
 Foul on. —Foulon, who was hung in the Place 
 de Greve, decapitated, and then dragged through 
 the ftreets, had lived in fuch a manner, that 
 one could fcarcely pity his fate. I do not know 
 whether he had any prefentiment of his deftiny, 
 but he had not only caufed a report of his death 
 to be fpread, he even ordered the ceremony of 
 his own interment at his eftate of Houvein. The 
 corpfe of a fervant which paffed for his own was 
 carried thither, and buried with all the honours 
 due to a feigneur. He left feveral millions, and 
 an execrated memory. A porte-feuille of M. 
 Berthier Sauvignv was found, and contained his 
 
 M con- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
1 62 HEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 condemnation. He had gone into his generality 
 to put out of the way certain letters refpeCling 
 the wheat tranfaCiion, fo fatal and fo badly ex¬ 
 plained. It was his own peafants who arrefted 
 him, and who, joined by the foldiery, formed that 
 terrible efcort which led him to the Hotel de 
 Ville. La Fayette threw himfelf on his knees 
 to obtain time to give him a trial, but in vain; 
 the rage was fuch, that they fearcely took time to 
 hang him. 
 
 La Harpe, Bonnet-Rouge .—The fymbol of li¬ 
 berty, which was venerated at the beginning of 
 the Revolution, has been profaned fince I have 
 feen it on the head of Dumourier. 
 
 In one of the affemblies of the republican Ly¬ 
 ceum, La Harpe, haranguing with warmth, faid, 
 “ It is afferted that the bonnet-rouge confolidates 
 republican heads; I declare that it almoft melts 
 “ mine,” and he took it off. 
 
 The next day appeared the following advertife- 
 ment. “ To be fold, a bonnet-rouge, lined with 
 <c three-coloured taffeta, with a rich filk tuft. 
 
 Speak to the porter at Panekoukes, and afk for 
 “ the Little Lucan,, You will find him day and 
 65 night at his office. He will take in exchange 
 “ a wig with three tails in the academical ftyle. 
 <c Befides, if the purchafer of the bonnet-rouge 
 would fubferibe for the Harpiana , or collection of 
 5C bon-mots, by the author of Guftavus, he fhould 
 * have the bookfeller’s allowance. This work 
 
 “ is 
 
21 EW PICTURE OF PARIS. 163 
 
 6f is printed, and would already have appeared, 
 
 “ but the eulogiurti which the author is to make 
 <c in a few journals of which he is compiler, is 
 <£ not yet inferted.” 
 
 The Abbe de Boislainette. —He was a 
 curious man, chaplain of the Parifian National 
 Guard: he charafterized the vow of ecclefiaftical 
 chaftity as an infane, facrilegious, anti-focial vow, 
 &c. “ But,” exclaimed he eloquently, “ what 
 “ power can abfolve us from this vow ? Rome. 
 “ At that holy court nothing is finifhed. Bu» 
 
 finefs goes on fo flowly—fo flowly!—and our 
 “ marriage is a thing fo prefling—fo preffing ! and 
 “ I, one of the chaplains of the Parifian army, am 
 “ fo preffed—fo prefled to give it a good foldier! 
 <c —Sorbonne, take thy cap, and pronounce— 
 “ cenfure, if thou wilt, excommunicate, anathe- 
 “ matize, I do not fear thy thunder. Vel duo , vel 
 <£ nemo , this is the only thefis which I prefent to 
 “ thee. It is found—it is fublime. If thou dareft 
 “ tear it, the king of nature will condemn thee, 
 “ and approve me. With his approbation I will 
 “ pafs by thine. How can religion, the religion 
 “ of him who curfed the barren fig-tree, make a 
 <c crime, a pleafure, which angels blefs around 
 “ the nuptial bed, covering their faces with their 
 “ wings, for fear, without doubt, of envying 
 “ earth that happinefs which is not found in hea- 
 “ ven. Is it then fo eafy a thing to daffi out 
 « one's heart againft the ffeps of the fan&uary ? 
 
 M 2 “ The 
 
164 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 “ The Bernards, the Benedifts, the Dominicks, 
 “ tamed their bodies, but it was in frozen ponds, 
 “ iron hoops on thorns and nettles; and their 
 “ fkin, without doubt, from the difcipline, be- 
 “ came hard as a negro’s hide. They all declar- 
 cc ed, that it was a more difficult thing to preferve 
 their virginity than to raife the dead. St. Brid- 
 “ get affures us, that in her lifetime fhe faw fe- 
 cc veral ecclefiaftics in hell who had turned to the 
 cc prejudice of the fpecies the attradlion given to 
 cc multiply it.” Thefe words are a commentary 
 on thofe of St. Bafil. I have never known what 
 a woman is, and yet I am not a virgin. The 
 Prieur of the Chartreux permitted the novice Se- 
 quier to ring the bell every time he felt irregular 
 defires, in order that his brethren might meet to 
 pray for him. The community was wearied with 
 praying, and the child of Bruno felt that there would 
 be lefs evil in becoming Chancellor of France. <c If 
 “ the clergy, hill haughty and hypocritical, for ever 
 “ jealous of the ufelefs reputation of faints,” fays 
 M. Manuel, from whom I borrow this article, 
 cc pretended that thofe who held a god in their 
 cc hands, and fee queens at their feet, ought not to 
 <c defcend as low as the wants of the vulgar, I 
 c< will unveil the libertine works of thofe celeftial 
 “ miffionaries, who confign to hell the paffions of 
 ec tender and feeling hearts. I hold in my hand 
 “ the letter of the infpe£lor> the proces verbal of 
 cf the commijjary , the confefiion figned by the delin- 
 
 “ quenb 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS- 165 
 
 “ quent, and the receipt of his fuperior, to whom 
 ££ he was carried back, without doubt, when he 
 “ had not wherewith to purchafe his pardon, &c f 
 “ &c.” The author, whom I have juft cited af¬ 
 terwards gives the numerous curious and authen¬ 
 tic lift of all the tonfured taken in the fa£l by the 
 police in places where canonically they ought not 
 to be found, 
 
 Despremenil.* —When the court held a par¬ 
 liament prifoner in the fanctuary of juftice, and 
 broke down the door of that tribunal whofe mo¬ 
 deration would have fpared it the blow by which 
 it was overturned (for it was by this blow that 
 the throne was really ftruck), this counfellor at 
 the Parliament of Paris afted a confiderable part, 
 It was he, perhaps, who determined the firft 
 fhock of the Revolution. He had devoted him- 
 felf under the defpotifm of the court with a cou¬ 
 rage worthy a true Roman ; but he was noble, 
 deputy of the nobility; and, after having raifed 
 all the parliaments againft the roy^l authority, he 
 became its humble valet. 
 
 This change was not rare among fo many men 
 feemingly bom to be republicans. Mirabeau 
 was retrograding when he was ftopt by poifon. 
 It might have been faid, that he remembered 
 the committee of the thirty tyrants of Athens, 
 which weighed more heavily on the republic than 
 a'Angle Piiiftratus. 
 
 The 
 
166 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 The conversion of Defpremenil is attributed to 
 Madame de Polignac, who, at a dinner of cere¬ 
 mony, faid aloud, “ Put the fceaux before M. de 
 “ Defpremenil;” She fpoke of the water-glaffes, 
 but it was reported that he beheld in this pun the 
 meftage of his nomination to be Minifter of Juftice. 
 He was-a flight man, when he was not embroider¬ 
 ed by the magiftrature ; and the tribune, which 
 had deflroyed fo many men who had been re¬ 
 puted eloquent, difcovered but a barrifter inftead 
 of an orator. He met with a few cuffs on the 
 day called the day of poignards ; and on his re¬ 
 turn from Coblentz, having been met on the ter¬ 
 race of Feuillants, he had nearly become the vic¬ 
 tim of the people. Pethion came to his aflift- 
 ance: Pethion was then in all his glory. Def¬ 
 premenil, all over bloody, faid to the Mayor of 
 Paris, whom he did not love, cc And 1 alfo , Sir, 
 u have been carried about in triumph by the peopleA 
 
 Pitt and Cobourg. —Thefe two names have 
 been repeated to fatiety. It is not lefs true, how¬ 
 ever, that Pitt has been the mo ft determined fub- 
 fidizer that has ever been feen in the annals of 
 the world—-he will lofe his guineas. Pitt in his 
 way has a£ted a part as obftinate and as ignorant 
 as Robefpierre. His hatred had only one direc¬ 
 tion, it was neither ingenious nor inventive, it 
 blinded him, and all the evil he has done us will 
 fall on his own country. 
 
 As 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. J67 
 
 As for Saxe Cobourg, prince, and German 
 genera], who commanded the Auftrian troops 
 four years ago, after having been beaten feveral 
 times by our republicans, this great mailer of the 
 art has fpeedily placed his talents, his reputation, 
 and his glory, under Ihelter, owning that he un.- 
 derllood nothing of the taftic of our military 
 fcholars. 
 
 Monsieur. —Things wear out from frequent 
 ufe, words wear out when we ufe them no longer. 
 That of Monjieur is an inftance. The word citizen 
 has almolt generally taken its place, but not with¬ 
 out confiderable difficulty. 
 
 In a primary affembly, on a nominal appeal, 
 the prefident called each member, who fvas a lit¬ 
 tle rich, Monfieur, and the reft by their furname 
 only. He called over in this manner the name 
 of a young vine-dreffer. cc I was waiting you,’ ? 
 “ he exclaimed. “ Why do you make diftinc- 
 “ tions among the citizens ? Why do you not 
 “ call me Monfieur , as you have juft called my 
 (( neighbour ? Have you forgotten the new po- 
 “ litenefs of equality ? Don’t you remember that 
 “ every one of us here is Monfieur , or that nobody 
 “ is?” 
 
 In all the offices whatever of adminiftration, 
 in all tribunals, the word Monfieur is profcribed. 
 
 Loiserolles. —Hiftory will unfold the general 
 views of the decemvirate in the invention of that 
 fyftem, and its principal combination with the 
 
 V/a r 
 
168 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS.. 
 
 war of Vendee, as well as the infernal project 
 of its application to every part of the republic; 
 fuch a poifon could have been infufed only by the 
 hoftile cabinets. 
 
 How was it poffible to find fo many jai¬ 
 lors, fo many obfequious executioners, fo many 
 applauders who followed the funeral carts, who 
 counted the number of the viftims, calculating 
 with horrible infenfibility if the number increafed 
 or diminifhed. The theatre of the guillotine ne¬ 
 ver wanted a circle of fpedfators. They talked 
 of fixing a ffone trough under the fcaffold, and 
 making pipes to carry off the blood ; the archi- 
 teft had already traced the plan of this conftruc- 
 tion, and now let us calumniate the arts! A- 
 midft icrmany viftims, there is one name which 
 can never be forgotten, becaufe it recals all the 
 heroifm of paternal affection. 
 
 The unfortunate Loiferolles received at the 
 Conciergerie an aft of accufation which was in¬ 
 tended for his fon. Fie faid not a word, but 
 obeyed the intimation of the clerk, who ordered 
 him to go to the office. He hies away, conceal¬ 
 ing his joy that in facrificing his own life he fhould 
 preferve that of his fon. The miftake was not 
 dilcovered, becaufe he had done every thing to 
 render it complete. He trembled left his fon, who 
 was ignorant of this aft of devotednefs, fhould 
 come and claim his place. This venerable old 
 man, tied to the plank, exclaimed, “ I have fuc- 
 
 ceeded 
 
l^EW PICTURE OF PARIS, 269 
 
 wc tceded” and he received, no doubt, without re¬ 
 gret the droke of death. But as if heaven had 
 waited for this Jail and generous viftim to mani- 
 feft all its wrath, avenging judice at length difplay- 
 ed itfelf; that very day it thundered on guilt; 
 that very day the tyrants were hurled headlong, 
 and all thefe decemvirs, drunk with blood, mount¬ 
 ed the fcaffold the next day. 
 
 Never was there impreffed on any criminal a 
 more terrible feal of reprobation than that which 
 marked the agony of Robefpierre. Half killed 
 by his brother’s hand or his own (for the verfion 
 is dill doubtful), his face wrapped up with bloody 
 rags, purfued by the imprecations and cries of joy 
 of the people, reading on every brow the pleafure 
 of vengeance, and the fall of his hideous fydem, 
 afeending the fcaffold as I had foretold him in the 
 days of his omnipotence ; infulted by the execu¬ 
 tioner, who tore off with indignation the dreffings 
 of his wounds; if he did not at that moment be¬ 
 lieve in the retribution of divine juftice, he was 
 only an automaton, who had iffued from hell to 
 punifli mankind. But no—I think he mud have 
 been aftonifhed, and even complained that he did 
 not fee all his accomplices around him, many of 
 them dill live—but let us wait, and fee what will 
 be their end. 
 
 i 
 
 It has been faid, and repeated, that Robefpierre 
 wilhed to fave the feventy-three reprefentatives ot 
 the people, detained for their firm and generous 
 
 proted 
 
170 NEW PICTURE OF PARI% 
 
 proteft againft the 3111 of May; this is not true. 
 Robefpierre retained us as hollagesto keep the Cote 
 Droit under, and we were to have been murdered 
 the night preceding the 9th Thermidor. We 
 faw all the apparatus of our death, arm s, flambeaux, 
 every thing was ready; theholes were dug, and the 
 fignal was expefled. O holy Providence whom I 
 adore! thou deignedll to favour me on that night 
 with the fofteft deep and celellial dreams! It en¬ 
 tered into thy deligns that the feventy-three fhould 
 not perifli! they were innocent, and they would 
 have faved France from the terrible evils it differ¬ 
 ed. No, I have never feared death. I had a fe- 
 
 i 
 
 cret feeling that the Author of all good and of all 
 juffice would make us triumph. In thefe times 
 - of oppreffioia and calamity, my pillow was always 
 foft. Can you* Robert Lindet, fay as much ? 
 And thou, favage Amar, I remember thy croco¬ 
 dile tears, when thou camel! to vifit us at the 
 Madelonettes, after having affaflinated the twen¬ 
 ty-two. And how earned; thou to believe in the 
 duration of thy power ? Thou knoweft neither 
 thyfeh nor mankind ! Thou wert favage, and feel- 
 eft no remorfe 1 Thou mighteft as well live as 
 perifh under a guilty avenging hand. We pardon 
 thee from contempt, 
 
 Louvet.— He had a hard and brutal father, 
 with an ordinary mind, who could neither fee 
 nor feel the merit of his fon. From hence proba¬ 
 bly that hatred of tyrants was excited in his mind, 
 
 and 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* ' 171 
 
 and which was extinguifhed only with his life. 
 He attacked the throne, he denounced Robef- 
 pierre, he called for the aft of accufation of Capet’s 
 brothers; he became an obftinate and indignant 
 oppofer of the nobility, that ufurping caft, the 
 continual obftacle to every difplay of greatnefs 
 and energy in the nation. He was republican to 
 his lateft breath, while every kind of infult was 
 lavifhed on him. There are certain moments 
 when the virtuous man, eager to repel infolence 
 and injuftice, is tempted to treat with lightnefs 
 the efteem of mankind; but Louvet, although 
 above the clamours of calumny, anfwered them. 
 He was fighting continually and always Handing 
 in the breach. 
 
 •The univerfal blindnefs of the capital with re- 
 fpeft to Robefpierre, emboldened the confpirators* 
 the partizans of virtue were abandoned, but our 
 republicanifm will remain without fpot or blemifh. 
 I fiiared in all Louvet’s opinions ; as a reward of 
 his virtues and talents, why did he not live to fee 
 the 18th of Fruftidor ! 
 
 CHAR 
 
172 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS' 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 ANECDOTES. 
 
 M. Duhamel, a merchant of Paris, wifhing 
 to continue his journey from Rome to Naples, 
 went to our ambaffador to have a paffport. The 
 ambaffador afked him, if he had feen the revolt at 
 Paris. “ What revolt replied the citizen. 
 <c What revolt! the revolt of Paris, that of July. 5 ' 
 “ I do not underf and you” The fecretary of the 
 embaffy took up the converfation. “ Monfeigneux 
 “ a/ks if you have feen the Revolution ? “ Oh, yes ! I 
 “ have feen the French Revolution.”—What 
 “ difference. Sir,” replied the ambaffador, “ do 
 “ you find between a revolt and a revolution?”— 
 <c This difference,” retorted the citizen ; <c Slaves, 
 “ revolt againjl their majier : a. free people who re - 
 “fume their rights make a revolution . You fee now 
 “ why 1 could not comprehend you.” Thofe who have 
 been prefent at the fittings of the French Senate 
 know how noify they fometimes were. The de¬ 
 cree which ordered the fale of ecclefiaflical 
 eftates, excited, as might have been fuppofed, 
 very loud cries among the tonfures. Every mem¬ 
 ber of the clergy arofe, changed place every mo¬ 
 ment, in order to increafe the noife which his 
 
 brother 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 173 
 
 brother in aridocracy made. A lady, out of pa¬ 
 tience with all this brawling, cried out— cc Gen- 
 C£ tlemen, they meant to fhave you, but if you 
 <c make fo much dir you will be cut.” 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIIL 
 
 i 
 
 RED BOOK. 
 
 Who is there at prefent unacquainted with 
 the Red-Book ? This book has gained over a 
 crowd of honed men to the caufe of patriotifm. 
 It has drengthened the weak, convinced the un¬ 
 believing, enlightened the blind, infpired the up¬ 
 right with more courage, filled every civic mind 
 with generous energy and facred indignation ; 
 and, in this point of view, it is the mod eloquent 
 andufeful pamphlet that has ever appeared. Eter¬ 
 nal thanks to the courageous members of the 
 Committee of Penfions, who, after numerous ef¬ 
 forts, tore it at length from the hands of mini- 
 ders, whofe crimes it laid open to the day. 
 
 The id of December 1789 , M. le Camus de¬ 
 nounced to the National Aflembly the exidence 
 of the Red-Book. It was a thick, elegant regider* 
 bound in Turky leather, with gilt edges, and 
 
 which 
 
 i 
 
174 NEW PICtURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Which contained a lift of the penfions, of which 
 fome were as follows : 
 
 On the firft leaf was a German Prince, who 
 had four penfions: the firft for his fervices as co¬ 
 lonel, the fecond for his fervices as colonel, the 
 third for his fervices as colonel, the fourth for 
 his fervices as colonel. Total of the penfions of 
 this German Prince, forty thoufand, forty-eight 
 livres. 
 
 M. Claverie de Bamire, four penfions. The 
 firft and the fecond, becaufe he was at the fame 
 time fecretrary interpreter of two foreign regi¬ 
 ments, who wanted no interpreter, and who were 
 in garrifon, one in the Eaft, and the other in the 
 Weft; the third, becaufe he was clerk in the 
 War-Office ; the fourth, becaufe he was clerk in 
 the War-Office* Total, twenty-three thoufand 
 four hundred fixty-nine livres, of which four thou¬ 
 fand feven hundred and fifty were revertible to 
 his wife and children, &c. under the fine title of 
 refer*ve. 
 
 M. de Gallois de la Tour, firft Prefident and 
 Intendant in Provence, in honour of whom M. 
 Barentin caufed two medals to be engraved in 
 the newfpapers, twenty-two thoufand feven hun¬ 
 dred and twenty livres, in three penfions ; the 
 firft, as firft prefident and intendant; the fecond, 
 as intendant and firft prefident; the third, for 
 the fame confederations as thofe above-mentioned . I 
 copy faithfully the text. 
 
 Madame 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 175 
 
 Madame Ifam, twenty-four thoufand nine hun¬ 
 dred and eighty livres, to favour her marriage, and 
 in confideration of her fervices. 
 
 M. Claude Francois Moreau, whofe valiant 
 ppn was employed for half a century in giving 
 leffons of flavery to the nations of the earth, had 
 only a penfion of twenty-one thoufand livres. It 
 is but little : there are trades w T hich one cannot 
 pay too much. 
 
 Every one knows that in France the quality 
 of Grand-Mafter of the Barbers’ Company pro¬ 
 cured M. d’Amdouille, firft furgeon to the king, 
 fixty-two thoufand livres, to be taken on the pro¬ 
 duce of the ftrokes of razors given every year on 
 all the chins in the kingdom. Will it after this 
 be believed, that M. d’Amdouille had need of 
 a penfion of nine thoufand nine hundred livres on 
 the royal treafury ? 
 
 It has been faid in the National Affembly, 
 that there were dead perfons who regularly re¬ 
 ceived the penfions, which they obtained during 
 their lives. I like better the penfions conferred 
 on individuals who never exiiled, and who per¬ 
 haps never will exilb ; fuch as, four thoufand 
 livres to the perfon who fhall marry Madame de 
 Bafchi, miftrefs of Monfieur. 
 
 With refpe£t to Mademoifelle Hue de Miro- 
 menil, penfioned in confideration of her marriage, 
 fhe is really alive, fo her penfion is eight thou¬ 
 fand livres. 
 
 M. Blau- 
 
176 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 M. Blanchet, four thoufand feven hundred and 
 twenty-feven livres, in confideration of pail: fer* 
 vices, and four thoufand feven hundred and twenty- 
 feven livres in confideration of his future fervices. 
 Total, nine thoufand four hundred and fifty-four 
 livres. Madame la Marquife de Havacourt de 
 Mailly , fourteen thoufand fix hundred and fifty- 
 one livres, in three penfions; the firft, by continu¬ 
 ation ; the fecond, without motive ; the third, for 
 falaries retained . M. Hamelin , twenty-one thou¬ 
 fand livres, in confideration of the modicity of 
 his charge of receiver-general of the finances. 
 Of the modicity l Readers, never forget the arti¬ 
 cle of M. Hamelin, a time will come when we 
 fhall talk, by our fire-fide, of the wonders of 
 which we were witneffes, as old nudes relate the 
 voyages of Sindbad the Sailor, and the ftory of 
 the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood —hoc meminijfe 
 
 This modicity of M. Hamelin brings to my 
 mind an old officer named M. Segrave, who loft 
 an arm fifty-four years fince at the fiege of Fri¬ 
 bourg, and who never was able to obtain the four 
 fols a-day which the ordnance grants to every 
 mutilated officer. O JVL Hamelin! how many 
 four fols a-day on your genera] receipt of finances, 
 and you are not fatisfied, M. Hamelin! You 
 really want a penfion of twenty-one thoufand 
 livres 1 I make a motion that the four fols de¬ 
 manded by M. Segrave be given to M. Hamelin, 
 
 that 
 
 juvabit 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 177 
 
 that a thoufand crowns of M. Hamelin’s pen- 
 fion be given to M. Segrave, and that the re¬ 
 maining eighteen thoufand livres be reftored to 
 the nation. 
 
 In general, it was obferved that the Red-Book 
 was a record of pensions to a great number of wo¬ 
 men, comme ilfaut \ to clerks and fecretaries, comme 
 il nen faudroit pas ; and to a few military men, 
 comme il enfaudroit beau coup. In the lift of the wo¬ 
 men, we find a lady near Avranches, who had 
 twelve hundred livres penfion for having received 
 a colonel feveral times at her table. It was well 
 afcertained that it was at her table. 
 
 After having fpoken of the Red-Book, in one 
 of the fittings of the National Aflembly, M. le 
 Camus denounced another book, entitled, <c Book 
 of Salaries.” This was the younger brother of the 
 Red-Book, and contains, like the eldeft, a lift of 
 turpitudes and crimes of courtiers and minifters. 
 A member of the Cote Noir having alked, by way 
 of derifion, what the book was covered with ? 
 “ With the blood of the people,” anfwered Bar- 
 nave, vehemently. 
 
 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 N 
 
 CHAP. 
 
178 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XLIII. 
 
 IS THE GUILLOTINE A MILD PUNISHMENT? 
 
 The National Aflembly of France, influ¬ 
 enced, without doubt, by principles of huma¬ 
 nity, confulted feveral perfons in 1791, to know 
 if in a cafe where the law pronounced the 
 fentence of death againd a criminal, it would 
 be poffible to find the means of rendering the 
 fufferer in fome fort infenfible to pain. The 
 indrument known under the name of the guil¬ 
 lotine was propofed ; the academy of furgery 
 was confulted ; many experiments were made 
 on corpfes, to verify if the divifion of the neck 
 was indantaneous, and it was unanimoufly 
 agreed, that this inflrument, by which the head 
 was feparated from the trunk in an indivifible 
 moment, extinguifhed life in the fliortefl time 
 poffible. Of the truth of this affertion no doubt 
 was entertained. No one imagined that after the 
 detruncation , there could exifl the lead pain, the 
 flighted degree of fenfibility, either in the head 
 or the trunk, when thofe parts were feparated 
 from each other. Never amongd any people 
 has it been conjettured, that life, and confe- 
 quently fenfibility, could furvive, even for a few 
 
 moments. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 179 
 
 moments, this mutilation. Neverthelefs, the con¬ 
 trary opinion feems to have gained credit for 
 fome -time pah. Some fears began to be enter¬ 
 tained that we have been deceived in this point, 
 and that we pronounced with too much precipi¬ 
 tation in 1791. Some perfons ferioufly enquire 
 if it be true, that he who has juft been beheaded 
 by the action of the machine in queftion, fuffers 
 no longer when the head is feparated from the 
 trunk. Others think they difcover in the con- 
 vulfive motion of the mufcles of the face imme¬ 
 diately after the execution, the ffgns of exquifite 
 pain, and an evidence of fenfibility not yet extin- 
 guifhed. They even go fo far as to dwell upon 
 the grief and regrets of thofe whofe friends or 
 relations have perifhed by this punifhment, in 
 reflecting that a head, feparated from the body, 
 has the confcioufnefs of pain ; that life remains 
 as long as there is heat. They are afraid left the 
 idea of pain fhould be in this head, as it is in the 
 ftump of a man who has undergone the amputa¬ 
 tion of a limb, and who fuffers from this member, 
 though it be no more. 
 
 All thefe reafonings fall of themfelves if the 
 perfon executed dies inftantly. It is therefore 
 only a fimple queftion of anatomy. Now it is 
 well known, that there exifts in man two organs 
 fo neceffary, fo efiential to life, that it ceafes as 
 foon as the aClion of either is difcontinued. One 
 of thefe organs is the brain, the other the heart. 
 
 N 2 It 
 
I £0 N E\V P IC f U R E O F PARIS. 
 
 t is on this account that they are called vital 
 organs; human life cannot fubfift without their 
 action. Thus a wound in the heart is neceffarily 
 mortal; and a hurt in the brain, great enough to 
 hinder this organ from afting, is alfo neceffarily 
 mortal. In both cafes, quicknefs of death is in 
 the ratio of the quicknefs with which the heart 
 or brain ceafe to aft. This is a truth affirmed 
 in every book of art, and there does not exrfh a 
 fingle treatife of regular phyfick, in which it is 
 not very particularly afferted, that every hurt ca¬ 
 pable of making the aftion either of the heart or 
 the brain ceafe, is neceflarily mortal; that is to 
 fay, that life and all fenfibility ceafe at the mo¬ 
 ment when the heart ceafes its functions, and re¬ 
 ciprocally, that life ceafes, and fentiment is ex- 
 tinguifhed, the moment the brain difcontinues to 
 aft. It is thus that we fee thofe die inftantly 
 who are attacked with a firong fit of apoplexy, 
 a difeafe which, when carried to a high degree, 
 leaves the brain without motion. In the fame 
 manner we die fuddenly, though the brain be 
 not aflefted, when, from any caufe, a rupture or 
 wound be made in the heart, which fuddenly 
 flops its motions. Now it is demonflrated to 
 whoever will in the leaft degree refleft, that not 
 only the heart, but alfo the brain, difcontinues 
 afting, as foon as the head of a man is feparated 
 from the reft of his body. In this cafe, death 
 itfelf is inftantaneous. Death would not be 
 
 long, 
 
 4 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 281 
 
 long, and the pain would not be prolonged, but 
 in as much as the ceffation of either of thefe 
 vital functions lhould operate flowly, which is 
 impoffible, iince at the very inftant in which the 
 detrnncation is compleat, the dreadful hemorrage 
 of the veffels, both of the head and the trunk, 
 puts an end both to the a£tion of the heai t and 
 the brain. If any one is curious to know if the 
 patient really fuflers, and for what time, it may 
 be anfwered, that his pain is in the ratio of the 
 time that the keen inftrument takes to operate 
 the detruncation. 
 
 We may conjecture that if it be done in a fe- 
 cond, the patient only fuffers a fecond ; but we 
 fhould deceive ourfelvcs flill in adopting this 
 calculation, probable as it may feem, Iince bodily 
 pain always fuppofes, in order to be felt diftin&Iy 
 by him who undergoes it, a reflection, a thought, 
 a fentiment, in a word, an intellectual funCtion. 
 Now how can this function of the mind take 
 place, when the organ by which it a£ts exifts no 
 longer ? It is clear, therefore, that the aCiion, 
 both of the heart and brain, ceafe inftantaneoufly, 
 and there can neither be pain nor fenfibility in a 
 body deprived of life. 
 
 One of the molt learned phyficians of the 3aH 
 age, has anfwered before-hand every enquirer on 
 this fubjeCt. Wippen, in his Treatife on the 
 Apoplexy, exprefles himfelf thus : u The punifli- 
 “ ment of decollation clearly proves what indif- 
 
 <c penfable 
 
182 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 / 
 
 “ penfable need the brain, during the whole 
 “ courfe of life, has of the continual action or 
 cc the heart. For as foon as the head is fepa- 
 “ rated from the body, all fentiment and motion 
 “ are extin£l, even in the head ; omnesfenfus et mo- 
 ce ins animalis , etiam in capite , mvriuntur” W hat may 
 deceive thofe who have not the fird notions of 
 anatomy, is the palpitation of the fled], the irrita¬ 
 bility of the mufcles, which fubfiit more or lefs 
 as the body is warm 3 but this irritability, or this 
 mufcular contraftion, in a body which has not 
 yet loft its heat, though deprived of life, cannot 
 excite the flighted fenfibility, with which it 
 ought never to be confounded. Never has any 
 one thought that when a worm or an eel is cut 
 into feveral pieces, the fenfibility of the animal 
 can be excited by irritating with the point of a 
 pin any one of the pieces detached from the red, 
 though all taken feparately are irritable during a 
 certain fpace of time. What we fay is fo truly 
 verified by every anatomift, that from the origin 
 of this fcience to the prefent day, there is not a 
 Tingle perfon who has adopted a propofition con¬ 
 trary to that which we have prefented *. 
 
 * I am indebted for thefe obfervations to Captain LafTus, 
 my friend and colleague at the National Inftitute, 
 
 Cl IAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 183 
 
 CHAP. XL[V. 
 
 NEW CRIES. 
 
 Early in the morning we hear the cry of the 
 newfpapers. Simple projects of decrees are 
 transformed into laws, and a whole neighbourhood 
 reafon upon, or are affrighted at, what is never 
 to take place. The people, who have been 
 a thoufand times deceived by thefe faithlefs 
 news-hawkers, do not pay the lefs attention to 
 the vociferator. Every mind is alert, and if 
 the Legiflative Body occafions any fenfations 
 of terror, it is in the brazen throats of thefe in¬ 
 defatigable hawkers. In the evening they run 
 through the flreets with other newfpapers, and 
 make the fame brawling; and there are fome 
 names, fuch as Ethienne Feuillant , the Pojlillon de 
 Calais , Poutlier, Rejirefentant du Penfile! which 
 have been repeated an hundred times more than 
 all thofe of kings, of emperors, and of great wri¬ 
 ters of any age pafl or prefent. Coffee-houfes 
 and fmoking-rooms are in motion at the voice of 
 the news-kawker. The fnop-boy feizes on the fly¬ 
 ing leaf, the brawler takes the piece of money, 
 and is gone in an inftant. It is he who can attain 
 with quickeft ftep the diftant Fauxbourg, where 
 
 the 
 
iS4* NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 the poor ftockholder, who goes to bed without 
 candle, hears that they have been very bufily 
 employed about him, but without giving him 
 any thing. 
 
 Viftories and confpiracies, battles and revolts, 
 the death of generals, the arrival of ambafiadors— 
 all is publifhed pele-mele. The news-writer, for 
 two fols, kills a perfon who is alive and in good 
 health ; he would announce the end of the 
 government, as Lalande announces the end of 
 the world, if he had been told to cry the great 
 treafon of the Direflory, and the murder of the 
 Legiflative Body. 
 
 Legiilation, policy, and diplomacy, are at the 
 mercy of thefe cryers, who disfigure names, dis¬ 
 tort expreffions, and in the crofs-ftreets make 
 fuch a fubverfion of geography, that the north 
 and the fouth are confounded together, and the 
 affairs of Rome are tranfafted at Ratifbon. 
 
 The people who Men to all this terrible non- 
 fenfe, make their commentaries on it as they go 
 to reft; and heaven knows how inftrudive the 
 narrations of hair-dreffers become the next day. 
 Sometimes thefe abfurd reports are raked toge¬ 
 ther, and entrufted to the poll, and all the follies 
 which the mod extravagant and mod anti-poli¬ 
 tical dreamer could invent, circulate in the little 
 towns of the departments, and have no other 
 foundation than the cries of the flreets of 
 Paris. 
 
 Vainly 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 185 
 
 Vainly has it been attempted to impofe filence 
 on thofe commentators. They pretend that they 
 are privileged heralds; a found might be impri- 
 foned fooner than their perfons. 
 
 A multitude of little retailers hawk in every 
 corner of the ftreets, objefts of fmall mercery* 
 and bawl fo as almoft to ftun each other, the 
 price of their merchandize • a few ends of can¬ 
 dles, which the wind melts, cover with tallow 
 their warehoufes three feet long; and though 
 the price be very low, you always purchafe too 
 dear, fince it is the refufe of all the manufac¬ 
 tures. 
 
 Formerly at the door of the playhoufes, when 
 a puppy went out between the two pieces, all 
 the link-boys were bellowing, “ Your carriage 
 “ M. le Marquis, M. le Chevalier, M. le Comte ?” 
 they fubftitute at prefent the names of Captain, 
 of General, of Commiflary. They are become 
 more familiar, prefent their hand to the fine la¬ 
 dies, calling them Citoyennes; and* offering a 
 cabriolet, obferving that two can fit very conve¬ 
 niently ; they affume an infolent tone of gaiety, 
 and indifferent to jail parties, they treat with as 
 little ceremony the dog-eared gentry, as the Ja¬ 
 cobin fcratch. 
 
 The eloquence of the tribune has perhaps 
 formed, or given boldnefs to all thofe orators at 
 the corners of ftreets, who talk with one ano¬ 
 ther of great motions, of fome famous confpiracy 
 
 difcovered, 
 
186 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 difcovered, and fometimes apoftrophize the paf- 
 fengers. The ftreet-porters call all thofe who 
 difpleafe them, ariftocrats. They pafs their time 
 in chattering about politics, and have contracted 
 an air ot affurance which becomes ftill more re¬ 
 markable, as they make you pay a triple falary 
 for the leak fervices. 
 
 As for the ballad-fingers, we may judge to 
 what point they have carried the abufe of their 
 privileges. One of them called Pitou, had ac¬ 
 quired fo numerous an auditory, that the guard 
 did not dare interrupt him in his warbling func¬ 
 tions. Every time he fpoke of the republick, he 
 clapt his hand on his backfide. He was arrefted 
 and carried to the Criminal Tribunal; he an- 
 fwered the Public Accufer, that in the gefture 
 with which he was reproached, he had no other 
 intention than looking for his fnuff-box. After 
 having been twenty-two times imprifoned for his 
 couplets, and his finging, he carried the matter 
 to luch a pitch, that he was at lafl condemned 
 to banifhmcnt. 
 
 This Pitou was a kind of Diogenes, but lie 
 did not live at Athens. 
 
 The proclamations of newfpaper-hawkers bad 
 nearly overturned the republican, government. 
 Every thing is compofed of infinitefimals. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF F ARTS. 
 
 1ST 
 
 CHAP. XLV. 
 
 NEW ROBBERS. 
 
 In the midft of this deluge of all the human 
 paffions, and when we had agitated and beat the 
 pond, it was impollible that the mud fhould not 
 rife to the furface, and trouble the purity of the 
 waters. 
 
 There are therefore bands of robbers, whofe 
 numbers increafe every day with their audacity. 
 Confiderable robberies are committed, nay, even 
 confpiracies are formed, and yet the police is 
 aftive ; but it has, like other inftitutions, its al¬ 
 ternatives of force and weaknefs; it was itfelf 
 corrupted. 
 
 The Revolutionary Committees had no. great 
 intereft to purfue thofe wretches, who, under dif¬ 
 ferent dreffes, glide into lioufes, make their re¬ 
 marks, and afterwards hie to their rendezvous, 
 where they difcufs the robberies they preme¬ 
 ditate. 
 
 The new robbers are much more daring than 
 the old ; they recommend to him who is to enter 
 firft, in cafe the door is forced, not to bufy 
 himfelf about the minuties, fuch as linen and 
 other effedts ; but to feize the jewels, plate, and 
 
 objedls 
 
188 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 objects of value; leaving the reft to the petits 
 jtaigres, which, in their cant, means a fecondary 
 order of thieves. They never forget to menace 
 ftoutly whomever they fufpeht of being cowardly 
 enough to manger le mor^eau, that is, to difcover 
 the theft. 
 
 They have under their orders active citizens, 
 (it is fo they call them by way of derifion), whofe 
 bufinefs. it is to carry off portcfeuilles, which they 
 rail lues ; and for this purpofe they go to the 
 doors of the theatres, where they form a crowd. 
 The moft adroit marches foremofl, followed 
 flowly by his aides-de-camp , he prefifes on, feel¬ 
 ing the pockets which he willies to lighten; and 
 when he finds a luc which is fufficiently bulky, 
 and which he thinks it eafy to filch, he feizes it 
 by an art which is peculiar to the profeffion, and 
 which I cannot deferibe ; he paffes it very dex- 
 teroufly to him who is behind him, fo that if by 
 chance he fhould be arrefted, he cannot be con¬ 
 victed of the crime 5 and in this cafe there have 
 been fome who have pufhed their impudence fo 
 far, as to caufe the untort unate plaintiff to be 
 arrefted, and carried to the Committee of the 
 Section, where, in the brilliant days of Rohef- 
 pierre, the robber found comrades, furety, and 
 protection. 
 
 They have places which they call tapis francs, 
 where they {hare the fruit of their labours. They 
 have alfo receivers, fuch as Jews, dealers in gold, 
 
 pawn- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PAR IS. 
 
 n9 
 
 pawnbrokers, who buy from them, at a very low 
 price, the objects which they have ftolen, and 
 change their form inftantly, 
 
 Thofe who have any doubt of the exigence 
 of thefe knaves, may go the public audience of the 
 Criminal Tribunal; they are eafily difeovered, mo- 
 tionlefs, filent, examining the attack and the de¬ 
 fence, moving their lips, and as it were fuggeft- 
 ing to the prifoner his anfwers. It is there that 
 they ftudy our criminal code, and take advantage 
 of every point which an ignorance of the deep 
 perverfity of the human heart may have di(Slated 
 to Iegiflators too philofophic. 
 
 When their comrade links under the terrible 
 day of convi&ion and of truth, his filence is re¬ 
 warded, and he is not abandoned. The plan of 
 death being abolifhed, he is placed on the ta¬ 
 bouret. But there, fuperior to affront, difdaining 
 public fhame, he receives tender falutations of 
 the eve from his companions and from the {trum¬ 
 pets, their obfequious miftreffes; when I fay oh- 
 fequious, it is becaufe they w ? ere not unacquainted 
 with the thefts of the band. 
 
 It is a received axiom that it is very eafy to 
 efcape the galleys, that they are quit for a fhort 
 journey; which is the reafon why the new 
 thieves are more perverted than the old ones, 
 that they have carried their effrontery and infb- 
 lence to fuch an excels that they give no figns oi 
 repentance, and brave death with impiety. 
 
 We 
 
190 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 We have feen women condemned to the ta¬ 
 bouret > the fuTt punifhment which the law inflifts, 
 and which precedes reclufion, or the punifhment 
 of the galleys, for men; we have feen thefe wo¬ 
 men take up their petticoats, and infult the paf- 
 fengers by their obfcene expreffions; but as this 
 aft of depravity was growing into an habit, the 
 executioner was ordered to fallen their petticoats, 
 and tye their hands. 
 
 Having exercifed three times the office of jury¬ 
 man at the Criminal Tribunal in the department of 
 Paris, I have never quitted the court without having 
 my mind fcnfibly affefted for the lofs of that moral 
 inllinft, of which, in feveral criminals, not the 
 flighted; veftige remains. No ! there is no more 
 hypocrify! Vice and crime have their apologies 
 and their apologills. The counfel for the pri- 
 foners, either from inattention, or from the vanity 
 of exhibiting their talents, have de-naturalized 
 every word that implied morality. Alas ! how 
 can any one, for a pecuniary recompence, deter¬ 
 mine to whet the poignard which may be turned 
 againft fociety, and againft himfelf! A greater 
 motive for grief and affiiftion is, that the gr a dins, 
 (the name of the benches of the Criminal Tri¬ 
 bunal in which the prifoners fit), are frequently 
 filled with women who are bold before the 
 judges, where they affume the audacioufnefs of the 
 men, and want only a dub in their hands. Let 
 us hope that thefe creatures are only the impure 
 
 remains 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 19 1 
 
 remains of thofe women who ufed to pafs the 
 morning in bawling at the tribunes, or puihing 
 on the Revolutionary Tribunal, who in the after¬ 
 noon infulted the misfortunes of the viftims 
 whom the decemvirs fent to the fcaffold, and 
 crowned their day’s work by going to the Jaco¬ 
 bins in the evening. 
 
 The people are fufceptible of every impulfe! 
 The frequency of puniftimeiits, the fight ot 
 blood, have induced men to defpife not only 
 death, but ftill more, infamy. In their dungeons 
 they jell on the guillotine, and make a fort ot 
 rehearfal of their execution, with fhouts of 
 laughter : and the fifty-feven days which I pafled 
 with thefe malefactors, when I was thruft 
 amongft them, becaufe there was no room elfe- 
 where ; thefe fifty-feven days, in which I thought 
 I inhabited a new world, will be loft neither for 
 hiftory, nor for the knowledge of the human 
 heart. Oh ! abominable Decemvirs, if you onlv 
 killed men! 
 
 CHAP. 
 
192 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. XLVL 
 
 NINTH OF MARCH 1793. 
 
 How were the deputies, who were friends to 
 order, continually infuited, while Marat and his 
 adherents were triumphant! Marat founded 
 the tocfin on the fhop-keepers; the pillage be¬ 
 gan at day-break; all the {hops were taken pof- 
 feffion of; fugar, candles, foap, and other com¬ 
 modities were taken off. A fentiment of remorfe 
 afterwards takes poffeffion of thefe pillagers; 
 they tax the merchandize themfelves, and then 
 feize it without any refiftance, whether the ffiop- 
 keeper will take the price or not. 
 
 No doubt the commune was in connivance 
 with the chiefs of the mob ; for it was intended 
 to have given much greater extent to this vifit. 
 When they faw that the diforder did not go far 
 enough, and that the mob did not hang up the 
 tradefmen at their {hop-doors, the municipal offi¬ 
 cers, who were informed of what was to take place 
 the next day, affefted an air of wiffiing to put a 
 flop to the pillage. 
 
 Marat was denounced to the Convention for 
 this provocation to anarchy, which affuredly was 
 not doubtful; he fatisfied himfelf with replying 
 
 to 
 
193 
 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 to bis accufers, that they were hogs, fools, and fit 
 only to be fent to the mad-houfe. This new 
 kind of eloquence was familiar to the club of the 
 Cordeliers, the Jacobins, the Commune, and in 
 the permanent affemblies of the fedtions ; it was 
 in this manner they anfwered us. The organi¬ 
 zation of the Revolutionary Tribunal was formed 
 amidft the terrible roarings of thefe armed alfaf- 
 fins, who had marched on the Convention to ex¬ 
 terminate all the Cote Droit ; but they made fo 
 much noife, uttered fuch ihocking exclamations, 
 and obferved fo little my fiery in their proceed- 
 ings, that we were informed of their defigns. A 
 confiderable fliower of rain which fell at that mo¬ 
 ment, did not a little contribute to difperfe the 
 confpirators. Not being able to maffacre the 
 deputies of the Cote Droit, the Montagnards or¬ 
 dered the printing offices of fuch journalifls to be 
 deflroyed, as were enemies to anarchy; and it 
 was at this epocha that Danton, who two days 
 before, and in order the better to attain his end, 
 had caufed the paffing of a law, which fet at 
 liberty all prifoners confined for debt, and abo- 
 lifhed arrefl, propofed anew to break entirely the 
 executive power, and to chufe its future minifters 
 from the Convention. 
 
 No perfon of common fenfe can believe that 
 this Danton was a republican. He never was 
 fo. Director of the fatal days of the 3 111 of May 
 and 2d of June, ordered and paid for by the fo- 
 
 vol. i. , O reign 
 
194 NEW PICTURE OF PAR 13. 
 
 reign powers, he had made proportions for tak¬ 
 ing the little Capet from the Temple, of parading 
 him in his arms through Paris, and of getting 
 himfelf named his tutor. On the other hand, 
 Robefpierre, in the delirium of his pride, and 
 blinded by a feries of fuccefs which had turned 
 his narrow head, aimed at nothing lefs than mar¬ 
 rying the daughter of Lewis the XVIth, and 
 caufmg himfelf to be proclaimed Protestor. 
 
 Among thefe wretches, it was he who fhould 
 concentre moil authority in his hands; railed 
 from the lowed Hate of mifery to a fort of opu¬ 
 lence, there was no chimera with which they did 
 not feed their devouring appetite. Leagued at 
 fird to reign under the fhadow of the tutelage of 
 the child, which they would have made away 
 with when their power fhould have been confo- 
 lidated ; and divided afterwards, becaufe each 
 was willing to have the glory of placing the 
 Dauphin on the throne ; but they could not com¬ 
 mit this anti-republican crime before they had 
 crufhed the Gironde, who had founded the re¬ 
 public, and willed it. 
 
 The party of Orleans was fallen, becaufe the 
 nullity of the man was clear; the mod fhamelefs 
 could have no reliance on him. Figure to your- 
 felves, if you can, a multitude of wretches, ful- 
 lied with crimes, intriguers greedy for fpoil, 
 covered with fliame, efcaping from the places of 
 their birth, enrolled on this great theatre where 
 
 they 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 195 
 
 they are not known, proud of a£ting, for the 
 firft time, a part, and opening a large road to 
 fortune; having neither home, nor relations, nor 
 friends ; fo much the more bold in their impu¬ 
 dence, as they reaped on another’s foil; fuch 
 was the pifture of the capital at this epocha. 
 
 Wretches from every country, adventurers of 
 every rank, motion-makers of every age, were 
 fallen into the Popular Societies, preferring the 
 moll extravagant fpeeches, and uttering the 
 molt fanguinary willies. They were liftened to, 
 furrounded, and the more ftrokes they aimed at 
 rational liberty, the more were they applauded ; 
 brawlers of morality, panegyrifts of demagogy, 
 and covered with the bonnet rouge , they were 
 themfelves afonilhed at the credit they acquired 
 for talents; and Albitte, the huiffier, could not 
 make out how he became a Demolthenes. 
 
 
 CHAP, XLVii 
 
 FRIENDS OF THE BLACKS. 
 
 W e {hall never perhaps know with certainty 
 what was the direft and entire tenor of that fa¬ 
 mous convention iigned at Pilnitz, in the courfe 
 
 O 2 of 
 
196 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 of the year 1790; but it appears evidently that 
 a certain cabinet fent in its plans, which gives 
 fufficient certainty that they were direfted to 
 bring about the greateft difaffers in France. Let 
 us judge from the queftion brought before the 
 Engliih Parliament refpetting the Have-trade. 
 This was a fnare laid by Pitt for the imbe¬ 
 cility of our levellers; they did not with it to be 
 laid, that England fhould appear fingle in re¬ 
 claiming the rights of man. They were the 
 dupes of this minifter. The fociety of the 
 Friends of the Negroes was inftituted, I per¬ 
 ceived the fnare, and would never fuffer my 
 name to be inferibed on thefe lifts, which pre- 
 fented the names of many humane, but fhort- 
 lighted men. Pitt and his adherents caufed the 
 queftion to be adjourned from year to year, fa- 
 tisfied in feeing us fall into their ambufhes, and 
 too certain that the civil torches lighted in our 
 colonies, would for ever diffuade England from 
 refuming this queftion. 
 
 In the fame manner the twenty thoufand pair 
 of fhoes, which the Englifti offered to the Na¬ 
 tional Convention, for our foldiers, who were 
 running bare-footed after viftory, was a ftrata- 
 gem of Pitt’s, conceived to humble the French 
 nation ; and what is mod ftrange is, no one per¬ 
 ceived it; fo remote were they from believing 
 that any one would fport thus with a great Af- 
 fembly. 
 
 One 
 
new PICTURE OF PARIS. 197 
 
 One of the heads of the fociety of the Friends 
 of the Negroes was Valadi, ci-devant officer of 
 the Guards, and fince a deputy ; who from fen- 
 timent, philofophy, and love of the people, had 
 abandoned the caufe of the killers. In the af¬ 
 fair of the Negroes, his heart and his want of 
 experience deceived him, but he difcovered the 
 fnare when it was too late. He expiated this 
 error in inlifting againft the Robefpierrian and 
 Decemviral faction, and he died under the blows 
 of thofe ferocious aftaffins. 
 
 And whilft they were pleading for the caufe 
 of the Blacks, the door was opened in the colo¬ 
 nies to burnings and murders ; and the Mulattoes 
 threw themfelves between the Blacks and the 
 Whites, and became at the fame time their 
 moft dangerous friends, and their molt implacable 
 enemies. 
 
 Every converfation turned on the flave-trade ; 
 it was difcufted nearly in the fame manner as the 
 quarrel for the nuffic of Gluck and Piccini, that 
 is to fay, the antagonifts were neither muficians 
 nor politicians. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
198 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 N 
 
 
 CHAP. XLVIII. 
 
 MAXIMUM. 
 
 The city was more and more tormented by 
 the penury of fubfiftence, in proportion as Boifiy 
 d'Anglas raifed his voice to allure the people that 
 they were going to be fupplied with abundance. 
 He was, after Barrere, the mod intrepid of liars. 
 Bread was the obje£t of violent contention at the 
 doors of the bakers, after having waited at leaft 
 five or fix hours to obtain the fmall portion def- 
 tined for each individual. But it was not only 
 bread they were afraid of wanting; the immenfe 
 confumption of the armies, which fell back on 
 France, made them apprehend that meat would 
 be foon wanting alfo. To prevent this, a pa¬ 
 triotic Lent was propofed, a miferable parody of 
 a London Faft, in order that the race of animals 
 might have time to renew itfelf. The Depart¬ 
 ment of Paris, which feemed to have fworn the 
 ruin of the city, increafed the public alarm by 
 its placards, doubled the price of grain in the 
 markets, and at length propofed the fixing a 
 maximum on the price of articles of confump¬ 
 tion throughout the republic, the fupprefiion of 
 the corn trade, the fupprefiion of every interme¬ 
 diary 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 199 
 
 diary between the farmer and the confumer; in 
 fhort, a general requifition of all the crops after 
 every harvefi:. 
 
 In fpite of the natural propenfity of the Con¬ 
 vention to fan£tion every meafure which would 
 ruin both France and itfelf, in obedience to the 
 vociferations of the tribunes, the dangerous peti¬ 
 tion of the Department of Paris w r as very ill re¬ 
 ceived. 
 
 Famine, like the w 7 ar of the Vendee, had been 
 prolonged even by thofe who appeared mo ft defi- 
 rous of finifhing it. There was no bread after 
 plentiful harveds, fuch was the will and the con¬ 
 tinually inereafing impudence of the demagogical 
 potentates. The Convention, tormented by them 
 within, befieged by a multitude which every in- 
 dant threatened its diflfolution, decreed a maxi¬ 
 mum diminifhing the price of grain, waiting till 
 it was forced to maximije every other kind of mer¬ 
 chandize. 
 
 The maximum flattered the multitude, but did 
 not dixninifh thofe lengthening affemblies, fince 
 called queues (tails) by the Parifians, for ever dif- 
 pofed to laugh at events the molt melancholy. 
 Thefe queues laded more than two years, and ex¬ 
 tended to almoft every object of daily confump- 
 tion. 
 
 The petitioners for fubfidance daily befieged 
 the bar of the Convention, where they vented 
 every kind of impertinence. It was the Moun¬ 
 tain 
 
 i 
 
<200 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 tain party who fent them to excite a commotion, 
 but they did not attain their end ; the people dif¬ 
 fered patiently under famine and the guillotine. 
 They did not pretend to rife till Praireal and 
 Vendemiaire, that is, they did not rife except 
 when excited, hired, and directed. 
 
 The maximum was in every mouth, and the 
 topic of converfation at the corner ot every lfreet; 
 and, after a number of interpretations, it was 
 laid to fignify brandy , which the multitude drank 
 without mercy. This liquor has made a fingular 
 change in the manners of the people, of which an 
 hoarfe voice became the firlt phyfical demonftra- 
 tion. 
 
 The words of Boiffy D’Anglas at this epocha 
 remind us of the phyfician, who, when confulted 
 on the cafe of a patient in danger, anfwered. It 
 is nothing; to-morrow it will not appear, and the 
 patient died the next day. 
 
 It was obferved, that when cloth was at three 
 thoufand livres an ell, this circumftance was 
 taken advantage of, to enaft more frequently the 
 part of the Avocat Patelin , and teach the art of 
 fwindling a fhopkeeper of a piece of cloth. Ne¬ 
 ver were the theatres better attended than in 
 thefe days of famine. The people eat nuts and 
 walnuts, and faicl, in going out, “ I have faved fire 
 ( and candle, it would have coft me more in wood 
 “ and tallow at home.” 
 
 The 
 
new PICTURE OF PARIS. 201 
 
 The fare of a hackney-coach coft fix hundred 
 Iivres, which was ten livres a minute. An indi¬ 
 vidual, who had been driven to his houfe in the 
 evening, alked the coachman what was his fare ? 
 Six thoufand livres. He took out his pocket-book, 
 and paid him. 
 
 Every body was rich in imagination, and poor 
 only when they came to be undeceived. 
 
 CHAP. XLIX. 
 
 STATUE OF HENRY THE FOURTH. 
 
 The fiatues of the kings had been overthrown, 
 while that of Henry the Fourth remained {land¬ 
 ing. The people were undecided whether it 
 fiiould fall or not. The poem of the Henriade 
 militated in its favour ; but he was the anceftor 
 of a perjured king. This ftatue, hitherto fo much 
 venerated, underwent the fame fate as the reft. 
 What aftonifhed me moft was, what I heard faid 
 around me ; “ If Ravillac killed Henry the Fourth , 
 “ it was hecaufe he had [educed his fifler , and left her 
 “ afterwards .” The people in the long run come 
 at the knowledge of every thing. This fact was 
 configned in a manufcript of the national library. 
 
 He would have palled for a facrilegious man¬ 
 lier, who heretofore fiiould have infulted this ef¬ 
 figy. It was, if I may ufe the exprefiion, a facred 
 image, and now it was fiiamelefsly mutilated and 
 
 trodden 
 
202 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 trodden under foot. But the kings of France 
 were no longer any thing but Sultans and Empe¬ 
 rors of Ferfia, and had llifled all that enthufiafm 
 which the French once felt for their monarchs. 
 
 We ought to ereft in that fquare a monument 
 worthy of our regeneration, and confecrate, by a 
 coloffal figure, the mod fplendid infurreftion that 
 has ever taken place amongft any people. The 
 Vandals, who deftroyed this great and beautiful 
 monument, had rather have built up wooden Pon- 
 chinelles, vile emblems of overthrown federa- 
 -lifm ; and the painter David lent his pencil to 
 thofe a£ts of infamy, doubly dishonourable for the 
 arts, and for truth. 
 
 In erecting thefe wooden columns, in doing de- 
 fpite at once both to humanity and truth, in dei¬ 
 fying the vileft of mortals, they were not lefs em- 
 phatical in repeating the arts , the fine arts , than if 
 the Venus of Medicis, or the Apollo of Belve¬ 
 dere, had been formed by their chifels. It has 
 been obferved, that players and painters have 
 a£led the molt abfurd and molf fanguinary parts 
 in the Revolution. 
 
 David exclaimed in the Aflembly of the Sec¬ 
 tion of the Louvre, that “ they might fire grape- 
 <c fnot on the whole body of artifts without fearing to 
 “ kill a fingle patriot He wifhed to drink the 
 hemlock with Robcfpierre, becaufe he had made 
 a bad pifture of the death of Socrates. His ex¬ 
 travagances were not lefs murderous, and I own 
 
 that 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. ‘203 
 
 that the name of David wedded to painting, 
 
 gives me the fame impreftion of horror when I 
 
 think of this art, as the art itfelf feems to have 
 
 confecrated in pictures which reprefent martyrs, 
 
 decollations, erodes, burning furnaces, in prefence 
 
 of thefe ancient decemvirs, whom David has fo 
 
 well imitated in thofe days of crimes ! O manes 
 
 ¥ 
 
 of Trudaines! 
 
 CHAP. L. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. 
 
 Could we ever have imagined that we ihould 
 have feen a tribunal ere£led at Paris, a thoufand 
 times more odious than the Inquifition, more in¬ 
 conceivable than all the tribunals of blood which 
 have covered the world in the darkeft ages ? 
 That contrail between our writings in favour of 
 humanity, in which we corrected the learned mafs 
 of jurifconfults, in which we traced a new and ra¬ 
 tional plan of criminal procedure, and thofe atro¬ 
 cious judges, of whom we had not even formed 
 an idea in the whole courfe of our lives: that 
 theory which was made to haften the progrefs of 
 reafon, and bring about the reform of our code, 
 put in oppofition with this revolutionary tribunal, 
 renders it ft ill more aftoniihing. It was the work 
 . . ' • of 
 
204 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 of the faftion of the Anarchills, who were deli- 
 rous of an unlimited authority, which iliould re¬ 
 vert on the head of fome of its founders. 
 
 A volume would be infufficient to defcribe fo 
 many bloody fcenes. We have manifefted our 
 horror more than once againft thofe wdio placed 
 the image of Liberty amidft piles of corpfes, and 
 of thofe bloody clubs and judge executioners, to 
 whom was committed the care of forming the re¬ 
 public. 
 
 Thefe ruffians, difconcerted by the look of an 
 honed man, would not have dared to aflaffinate 
 without this tribunal, which was as great an evi¬ 
 dence of the cowardice as of the ferocity of the 
 decemvirs. 
 
 Thefe barbarians were moreover the mod igno¬ 
 rant of men : they had no idea of the republic of 
 the United States ; and they marked, with the 
 feal of reprobation, a book entitled. The Federa - 
 lift, becaufe they did not know that the Federalid 
 is precifely a work written againd federalifm, in¬ 
 fo much as the book tended to reftore every part 
 of government to that unity, the object of Brif- 
 fot’s willies, as well as of all of us who figned 
 the proclamations to the departments, for the ex¬ 
 ternal fecurity of France and its domedic union. 
 
 It was after this equivoque, perhaps involun¬ 
 tary, that they excited the people againft the re¬ 
 publicans by calling them Federalilts, whilft by 
 careffing the populace, they wifhed to invelt the 
 municipality of Paris with the government of 
 
 France. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 2Qc> 
 
 France. It was by means of this infolent and 
 feditious unity that the revolutionary tribunal, 
 which multiplied itfelf on every fide, was to bend 
 all the departments under the fceptre of the guil¬ 
 lotine, and they would have fucceeded, for all the 
 fans-culottes were to be the informers, judges, 
 and executioners. 
 
 Thus Briffot was made the chief of a fadlion 
 which never exiffed, while a band of aflaffins, un¬ 
 der the name of Committees of Infpedtion, order¬ 
 ed pillage and murder. He oppofed the revolu¬ 
 tionary power of the Commune of Paris 5 from 
 that time he was no longer a good Jacobin ; they 
 wifhed to kill him, and they accompiifhed their 
 defign. 
 
 Roland efcaped this tribunal of blood. All his 
 writings bear the damp of a pure mind. He felt 
 a pallion of writing for the happinefs of his fel¬ 
 low-creatures, and was calumniated, like Briffot, 
 becaufe like him he had refilled the fadlion of the 
 Anarchifts, becaufe he could not lie, could not 
 tremble, and was far from affociating himfelf to 
 crime through weaknefs. His wife, endowed 
 with a great charadler, an extraordinary woman, 
 who fhared in the labours of her hufband, and 
 who fupported his virtues, was perhaps the mod 
 interefting vidtim which was facrificed by this tri¬ 
 bunal. She went to execution with irony and 
 difdain on her lips, amidft a multitude incapable 
 of appreciating her merit. Looking from the 
 
 fcaffold 
 
206 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 fcaffold at the Statue of Liberty, fhe exclaimed 
 “ O Liberty ! what crimes are committed in thy 
 name !” 
 
 CHAP. LI. 
 
 r • ' • * ' f ■ •** * \ *■>. ( \ \ ' i * ; * ■ 1 *7 1 : t 
 
 ! • A i 
 
 BRISSOTINS. 
 
 -r ■ - , *. • , ;• • ; : •*, I i ' i * * ■ • % , • «<•*.■ • 
 
 When the crafty, the dangerous, the knavifh 
 Barrere, talked of nothing but of pulverizing Eu¬ 
 rope, Briffot furnidled the plans which it was ne- 
 ceffary to execute, not to brave Europe, but to 
 humble our enemies alternately. 
 
 When Cambon, the ignorant Cambon, the firft 
 who bled France at the hollow vein, in order to 
 fatiate Pache, Bouchotte, and other anarchical 
 chiefs, would have no allies, and exclaimed, 
 we mud break with every cabinet. Briffot adopt¬ 
 ed meafures to keep England in refpefl, and re¬ 
 main on good terms with other powers. 
 
 This man, who had not gone beyond the limits 
 of a wife and well regulated energy of character, 
 was accufed at the tribune of the Commune of 
 Paris by Robefpierre, of having fold France to 
 the enemy. “ For,” faid he, 46 they never could 
 “ have entered on the French territory if they had 
 not made a bargain with the faftion of the Gi- 
 “ ronde, and of Briffot, to deliver up Paris.” 
 
 In 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 207 
 
 In proportion as light is thrown upon the odious 
 projects of the Anarchifts* we difcover* with much 
 greater probability* that it was Robefpierre him- 
 felf, and his accomplices, who were in connivance 
 with the Pruflians. 
 
 Marat* convidted of having preached royalty 
 and the maffacre of the Convention* was carried 
 before a tribunal compofed of his peers. What 
 did the Public Accufer do ? He thunders out a 
 panegyric on Marat* and a denunciation on Brif- 
 lot. When we refledt that Robefpierre was then 
 only the protege of Marat* that he concealed his 
 hideous head under his segis* that he was only 
 the inftrument of monfters more in evidence than 
 himfelf, we are no longer aflonifhed at this 
 triumph of Marat* which Danton called a proud 
 day, but which was the preamble of the maffacre 
 of the twenty-two deputies* and brought on alfo 
 that proud day in which Danton himfelf was 
 facrificed. 
 
 The tribunal fir ft began its funftions by com- 
 demning cook-maids and coachmen for improper 
 difcourfe * but foon after, the fatellites of the 
 Anarchifts and the municipality went to the bar 
 of the national reprefentation, and commanded 
 filence or crimes. 
 
 This Briffot tried to prevent at the rifk of his 
 head, and his laft writing denounces fully and 
 diredtly the laft and abominable exceffes which 
 it was (till time to prevent; but it was then that 
 
 the 
 
208 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 the faftion had created and fpread abroad thefe 
 words fince fo celebrated, Briffotins, Rolandins, 
 Girondins ; and as if a malignant vapour had fud- 
 denly poifoned the heart and head of all the in¬ 
 habitants of Paris, they defamed this mild, peace¬ 
 ful, and virtuous man. With fo many claims to 
 public efteem, the unfortunate Briffot perifhed 
 under the ftroke of the moil cowardly calumnia¬ 
 tors ; while anarchy, in the perfon of Marat and 
 his accomplices, were held every where in. ho¬ 
 nour ; for all the lucrative proconfulats, accompa¬ 
 nied by unlimited authority, were at their full and 
 perfeft difpofal. 
 
 The efteem of mankind becomes of very little 
 value: we might be tempted even to throw it by 
 as a thing of fmall worth, when we fee that a 
 man virtuous as Briftot did not enjoy it. He went 
 to execution with a ferene brow, and hiftory 
 will remember that it was he who denounced the 
 Auftrian Committee, and that he had the modefty 
 to avow publicly that he had been for fome time 
 deceived. La Fayette had the art of deceiving 
 a great many others. 
 
 The report of Briffot on the hoftilities of the 
 King of England, and of the Stadholder of the 
 United Provinces, and on the neceftity the French 
 Republic was under of declaring againft them, is 
 an hiftorical monument to be confulted. 
 
 CHAR 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 209 
 
 CHAP. LII. 
 
 LE PATRIOTE FRANCOIS. 
 
 That periodical work, in which we may fee 
 the public fpirit which animated the firft republi¬ 
 cans, was compofed by Briffot and Girey Du¬ 
 pre, whofe talents and virtues could not fave 
 them from Tallien, the Proconful of Bourdeaux, 
 already the affaffin of Biroteaux. He didinguifh- 
 ed and picked out this young and interefting vic¬ 
 tim. Republican fouls, read what Girey Dupre 
 wrote, and you will find without any alloy your 
 own noble and honefl fentiments. 
 
 When Briffot was in power, no perfon had to 
 complain of the flighted vexation. Calumny, fo 
 hot in purfuit, and ever on the watch to poifon 
 almoft every action of his life, has been fdent on 
 this head. But amidft revolutionary tempefls, 
 when all the impure elements of fociety were 
 ftirred up, and legiflators were in communication 
 with executioners, when murderers held a con- 
 fiderable rank, more than one man (I will venture 
 to fay) till then honed, till then feeling, has not 
 been able to preferve whole and entire that vir¬ 
 tue which confids in avoiding every excefs, and 
 vol, i. P in 
 
1210 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 in prcferving himfelf from every contagion of fa¬ 
 naticism. Let it be remembered, that the word 
 moderate was a term of reproach, and that it was 
 a crime to lliew any marks 6f pity for the vic¬ 
 tims. The Anarchies had, like the Cartouchians , 
 their jargon. 
 
 All Robefpierre’s enemies were not the ene¬ 
 mies of tyranny. It was a maxim among them, 
 that the Revolution could not be finifhed but by 
 blood, and the Revolution permitted them to en¬ 
 joy the exercife of abfolute power. The philofo- 
 pher defired a revolution in morals, they wifhed 
 only for one in the government, that is to fay, 
 till it was entirely in their own hands. One of 
 the faction faid to me, “ Tell us, Philofopher, 
 fC what could we have done ?”—“ Precifely, ,, I 
 anfwered, the contrary of what you have 
 “ done.” He did not comprehend me. 
 
 Virtue a£is only from the harmony of all the 
 faculties of the foul. The conduct of Briffot was 
 conftantly the fame ; the wife man, from his con¬ 
 templative height, fees what a low feat the curule 
 chair is. Happy if he had known at the fame 
 time that it requires much more time to refolve 
 a queftion than to propofe one. Briffot was too 
 precipitate in what concerned the colonies and 
 the Negroes; for the principal obllacle to trutl,i 
 is the facility we have of being too well fatisfied 
 with ourfelves. If the firfl Hep towards good 
 be the knowledge of evil, Briffot ought to have 
 
 known 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 211 
 
 known that his motion was premature. But fuch 
 was the dangerous inflammation of the public 
 mind, that you could not touch a political quef- 
 tion without puffiing it to its laft entrenchments, 
 and there was the abyfs. What is neceffary to 
 become an honeft man ? To will it. Briffot 
 willed it, and was really fo. If a word wrongly 
 interpreted, is fometimes fufficient to caufe the 
 mifery of a nation, as a falfe opinion has been 
 found fufficient to defolate the world, Briffot is 
 not refponfible for the cruelties which have been 
 the work of felfilh or bad paffions. J. J. Rouf- 
 feau has faid, that good laws were above human ca¬ 
 pacity , and that we Jhould be gods to give fuch to men. 
 
 This is an erroneous fentiment; it is, if I may 
 fo exprefs myfelf, the morality of defpair. When 
 the legiflature is deceived, with refpect either to 
 time or place, but has honeft intentions, we fliould 
 pity and not condemn it. 
 
 To have recourfe to fteel in the difeafes of 
 men or of dates, marks neither a great phyfician 
 nor a great politician, but difcovers, on the con¬ 
 trary, a great ignorance in both. Briffot was not 
 one of thofe phyficians. He never abufed the li¬ 
 berty of the prefs, becaufe he never wiffied for 
 any other than a rational liberty, and never over- 
 ffept its limits; but the fcoundrel and the mad¬ 
 man, who knew nothing about limits, were cla¬ 
 morous for liberty without any reflraint. 
 
 P 2 
 
 It 
 
212 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 It was from the Jacobins that the pages of 
 our philosophical writings were ftolen, but it 
 was after they had been totally perverted, totally 
 criminalized, that the Revolution, pure, intact 
 in its origin, became from thefe grofs plagiaries a 
 fury Surrounded with Serpents, armed with torches 
 and poignards, the terror of Surrounding nations, 
 and for a long time to come, the horror of 
 posterity. 
 
 BriiTot entered into this celebrated Society, yet 
 unRained with blood. He Spoke Several times, 
 but when he Saw that they translated the axioms 
 of wifdom into the idiom of folly, he withdrew, 
 deferted the cavern, and from that day crime was 
 reduced to a fvftem. 
 
 J 
 
 Ah ! it thofe immortal men, whofe names ho¬ 
 micides have dared to pronounce in their own fa- 
 vour, had tor a moment returned to life, they 
 would have rolled down on their heads the Stone 
 of their Sepulchre, exclaiming, What generation 
 is this in which we find a race of men whom 
 
 we do not know, and whom we could not have 
 
 % 
 
 torefeen 1—Gods, we are Suffocated in this atmof- 
 phere, give us back our tombs. 
 
 And I their difciple : I, who under the reign 
 ot kings, and in tace ot their thrones, built the 
 vefifel ot a republic, but which did not Sail in 
 a Sea ot blood, and had not Septembrifers for 
 pilots : I, who knew that it is to that cowardly 
 
 Swarm 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 213 
 
 fwarm of writers, apologifts of thofe horrors, 
 that we owe the univerfal ftupor of the nation 
 proftrate before a band of ruffians, a fight more 
 painful, more afflicting than the diffolution of 
 worlds; overwhelmed by all that I have feen or 
 heard, and dumb with horror, I have only been 
 able to confide to paper the fenfations which tortur¬ 
 ed me. But if indignation againft crimes hitherto 
 unknown in hiftory, if the contempt which we 
 feel for that defpotifm of the mob which it was 
 their intention to reftore, can infpire ability, I 
 will paint them. I will defcribe thofe days in 
 which anarchy paraded its vagabond ftandards, 
 thofe days in which the philofopher was forced 
 to repent what he had written ; in which his 
 filence was a fubject of condemnation, becaufe 
 he was then afraid to emit new truths ; thofe 
 days which will never perifh in the memory 
 of man, and which they would willingly efface, 
 as if hiftory was not here below the firft chaf- 
 
 J 
 
 tifement which eternal juftice inflifts on guilty 
 man. 
 
 I alfo abandoned this tribune, the rival of that 
 of the Legiflative Body, where nothing was feen 
 but elements the moft oppofite to the repub¬ 
 lic, and moft deftruftive of its virtues, and where 
 the daily trumpets of falfehood, of pride, of ex¬ 
 aggeration, finifiled by transforming into rebel 
 maxims the precepts of the wife. I was unwil¬ 
 ling to participate in the extravagance or perfidy 
 
 of 
 
214 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF TAR IS. 
 
 of thofe who encouraged ferocity and madncfs to 
 take their full fwing, I was unwilling to favour 
 the intoxication of thofe who were going to 
 drink this empoifoned cup. The firft fymptoins 
 made me fhudder: I faw in them the total fub- 
 verfion of civil ideas, and the inevitable deftruflion 
 of the republic. The Energumenes, who, under 
 the name of Theologians, had difhonoured human 
 reafon, were never capable of greater extrava¬ 
 gances. 
 
 “ There is in the laws,” fays Sophocles, “ a 
 “ powerful divinity which triumphs over the deep 
 <c malignity of man, and which never grows old.” 
 Alas i this divinity was afleep : the French people 
 were immoralized by twenty or thirty wretches; 
 every found opinion was tom into tatters, and 
 produced that corruption of morals. Fhiiofophi- 
 cal writings were neither read nor comprehended : 
 one ftep farther, the contagion had enveloped the 
 whole, and in a fhort time there would have re¬ 
 mained neither republicans nor men, and we 
 fhould have become like the inhabitants of the hell 
 of Milton, who roved alternately from icy waters 
 to flames, and from flames to waters of ice. 
 
 All writers who preceded us had confidered 
 the Agrarian law as highly unjufl, infufficient, 
 calamitous, impoffible to be executed, effentially 
 feditious, and abfurd under every point of view. 
 In fhort, as the furefl means of implanting mifery 
 on earth, of overturning the whole, and bringing 
 
 back 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 215 
 
 back confufion and chaos. This, however, did 
 not prevent Marat and his aflbeiates from efta- 
 blifhing this doctrine, from publishing it, and 
 finding numerous partizans for nearly two years. 
 
 The greatefl: misfortune in our Revolution is 
 having invited, without previous preparation, the 
 multitude to mingle themfelves in political mat¬ 
 ters, and Suffered Stage mountebanks to perfuade 
 them that they w r ere wife enough to comprehend 
 every thing. This is wfliat has rebuilt the Tower 
 of Babel amongft us, and wfliat has made poli¬ 
 ticks a war of w r ords, in which the vileft, moft 
 monftrous, or moft perfidious Scribbler has figured 
 with temporary advantage, and found hearers. 
 Political truths are lefs in the head of the man of 
 genius than in the heart of the virtuous man, but 
 thofe who have neither genius nor virtue, w r rite 
 like the Jacobins. Their proclamations, their 
 journals, like the Jocufts of Egypt, have put the 
 French nation in a (late of putrefaction. Nothing 
 could fave it from cadaverous peftilence, neither 
 the writings of BriiTot, nor thofe of Condorcet; 
 their opinions were repulfed, and thus the peo¬ 
 ple, deluded by bad writers, is, and always will 
 be, the firft ftep on which the ambitious have, 
 and ever will, place their foot to raife themfelves 
 to the fummit. 
 
 The art of writing is the fir ft of all arts; its 
 influence is great, vaft, and durable, and this is 
 the reafon w T hy it ought to impofe bounds on 
 
 itfelf. 
 
216 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 itfelf. The ancient emblem of the chariot, which, 
 badly driven, fet the world on fire, finds here its 
 juft application. 
 
 The Revolution for a long time prepared by the 
 writings of the wife, had made its explofion : 
 fools, ambitious men, and knaves, took poffeflion 
 of it. Immediately they had the impudence to 
 afiert, “ We have done the whole .” If we would 
 believe them, the pen of the Roufleaus and Ray- 
 nals, the arms of the conquerors of the Baftille— 
 all belonged to them. 
 
 CHAP. LIIL 
 
 PH1LOSOPHISM. 
 
 The amalgam a of the do&rines of Rouffeau, 
 Voltaire, Helvetius, Boulanger, Diderot, had 
 formed a kind of pafte (excufe me the expref- 
 fion) which rational minds could not digeft, and 
 which to others became hurtful. The old princi¬ 
 ples having become ridiculous, were denied and 
 abandoned. A fwarm of blockheads did more, 
 in order to outdo the efjirits forts , they fubftitut- 
 cd the fyftem of atheifm and licentioufnefs to phi- 
 lofophical ideas. Philofophifm was indebted 
 for its origin to books badly read, and worfe 
 comprehended, fo difficult is it to lower certain 
 
 2 truths 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 217 
 
 truths to the level of a generation which is not 
 fitted to receive them. Contagious emanations 
 iffued from thefe modern do&rines, Collot d’Her- 
 bois, Billaud de Varennes, Lequinio, Baboeuf, 
 Antonelle, thought themfelves philofophers. Ig¬ 
 norance is the mother of barbarifm, but a half 
 knowledge is flill worfe, it makes a thoufand 
 errors circulate in all the veins of the body poli¬ 
 tic, in the name of humanity it has done all forts 
 of evils to mankind. They overturned every thing, 
 they afted the theologian, and fancied their follies 
 were political principles. 
 
 Alas! it the fhades of thefe great men, we 
 again obferve, could rife from the tombs which 
 cover them, and fee fuch interpreters, they would 
 fay, Why have we written to have Babouviftes 
 for commentators ? 
 
 How have I been aftonifhed to hear Parifians 
 jultify every wandering of the imagination by pre¬ 
 tended pafiages horribly disfigured! This new 
 fanaticifm, and which the fucceffor of Babceuf 
 would willingly rekindle, dug the bed of that 
 ftrearn of blood which has run through the French 
 Revolution, and this is what has made me confi- 
 der Voltaire and Helvetius in quite a different 
 point of view than that in which I had before be¬ 
 held them. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
218 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARTS. 
 
 CHAP. LIV. 
 
 APATHY. 
 
 Amidst thefe great convulfions, amidft thefe 
 cries again!! all forts of governors, amidft that ge¬ 
 neral tone of raillery, I hear the found of the 
 tambourin and the fiddle, if we judge from the 
 fixty daily balls which put all Paris in meafured 
 motion, if we judge by the twenty-two theatres, 
 if we judge from that crowd of rejiaurateurs , a 
 great extent of confumption fuppofes a great 
 number of confumers. When every thing comes 
 and is fold, it is clear that every thing is bought 
 and paid for; and what is more remarkable is, 
 that it is the bayonet which has turned the fpit. 
 
 cc He will go far, for he believes what he 
 “ fays.” This obfervation is profound- The 
 
 Parifian has never had any faith in misfortune, in 
 
 / 
 
 fiavery, in fubjeftion, he has confidered thefe 
 bloody fpeftacles as real tempefts, has feen every 
 aft of violence pafs off like the fmoke of a heca¬ 
 tomb ; it muft have been to ftrangers, if fuch 
 there then were, a fight at the fame time fingular 
 and aftonifhing, that of feeing the contrail of our 
 
 great 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 219 
 
 great interefts and our little paffions, our thirft for 
 amufement and our perpetual murmurs. “ I do 
 “ not meddle with family affairs/’ faid a man, who 
 was told that his houfe was on fire. This was the 
 language of every fhopkeeper, when he was in¬ 
 formed of the executions of the day or the mor¬ 
 row. 
 
 CHAP. LV. 
 
 PRESENCE OF MIND IN A YOUNG MAN. 
 
 . I . - 
 
 I knew him. On the terrible night of the 2d 
 of September he expefted to be murdered. He 
 had already heard feveral plaintive cries. At 
 eleven o’clock in the evening the dogs barked 
 very much, the hoarfe voice of the turnkey echoed 
 through the prifon, filence took place, it was in 
 the prifon of the Chatelet. Vociferations were 
 heard in the ftreet of Vive la nation! This cry 
 excited the greatefl joy among the prifoners, who 
 took it into their heads that thev were going to 
 fend them to the frontiers, and they exclaimed 
 with all their might, Vive la nation ! Let us go to 
 the frontiers ! 
 
 A new filence took place; immediately the 
 barking of the dogs redoubled ; the affaffins open 
 
 the 
 
220 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 the wicket, and enter the court all bloody, with 
 their fabres in their hands ; the prifoners hear the 
 bolts undraw ; feven or eight phantoms make 
 their appearance, covered with blood, as well as 
 the fwords with which they were armed ; with a 
 hideous voice they order their viftims to go out. 
 A turnkey walks about with a penfive air, the 
 young: man throws himfelf at his feet, and alks 
 his life; the man, though naturally hard, could 
 not help fhedding tears. The prifoner was drag¬ 
 ged down between the two wickets, where on 
 one fide he faw the cannibals, armed with fabres 
 and pikes, all red, rage painted on their vifages, 
 and waiting only the fignal to ftrike ; on the other 
 fide, a counter with empty wine bottles and 
 bloody glaites. The commiflaries were handing, 
 and aiking the prifoners their names, after which 
 they made them pafs out through the wicket, 
 where they were affaiiinated, and their laft groans 
 were always followed by repeated cries of Five la 
 
 y 
 
 nation ! Their piercing (bricks overwhelmed the 
 miferable vienms who were waiting for their 
 turn. Sometimes they were not even fuffered to 
 explain themfelves, the horrible voice of the com- 
 miffary pronounced thefc words, Take him away. 
 My young man was about to be ftruck, when he 
 told the a fa hi ns that he was there for debt, and 
 if they took away his life, they would at the fame 
 time deprive him of the pleafure of paying his 
 
 ere- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 221 
 
 creditors ; all the murderers exclaimed. It is juft, 
 he muft not be killed , and he was put on one fide 
 with the fmall number of thofe who efcaped their 
 fury. 
 
 The young man told me, that they continued 
 their murders till four in the morning; that he 
 heard one of the chiefs of the aflaffins accofi; the 
 gaol-keeper, and fay to him, fhewing his labre, 
 ltill reeking, “ Look ye, this has laid low more 
 “ than an hundred, and if thou concealed; any 
 “ one, I am going to make away with thee r” 
 The gaol-keeper anfvvered him with calmnefs, “ I 
 “ know that my life is in thy hands, but I have 
 “ hid nobody.” My interefting young man went 
 out amidft the acclamations of a crowd of fpec- 
 tators, and he had fcarcely gone ten Heps before 
 he perceived on the bridge three hundred corpfes 
 more or lefs horribly mutilated. Of three hun¬ 
 dred and fifty prifoners, fcarcely thirty efcaped. 
 half of whom were robbers. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
222 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 CHAP. LVL 
 
 LIGHT TRESSES* 
 
 By what inconceivable combination of events 
 had a few men arrived to fuch a pitch of influ¬ 
 ence, fo as not only to palfy but decimate even 
 the National Convention, and attribute to them 
 fel\ *es the formidable power of arresting the 
 members who compofed it, before the eyes, and 
 with the confent of their colleagues! What is 
 more inconceivable is, that no order of debate 
 exifted in the Committee of Public Safety. It 
 was one, two, or three of its members who dropt 
 in, w T ho commanded, ordered without the parti¬ 
 cipation of the others, according as accident led 
 them, all, however, yielding their tacit affent, and 
 approving the decifons with a reciprocal confi¬ 
 dence. It was probably owing to this precifion in 
 willing, to that defect of fyftematic plans, to thefe 
 violent and hafty decifons, that the greateft ope¬ 
 rations were performed with fo much velocity. 
 The principle which put every thing in motion, 
 was a perpetual tendency to Itrong, vigorous, 
 and terrible meafures; every man was difpofed 
 to do every thing with paffion and violence; the 
 head of this new tyranny was perpetually veiled; 
 
 there 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 223 
 
 there were no amendments to thefe decrees of 
 defpotifm, which every one exercifed in his 
 turn. 
 
 Ideas of devaftation were the leading ideas of 
 thefe impetuous rulers ; and their elevation to 
 the pinnacle of fupreme power was, in our po¬ 
 litical {forms, what would be the extraordinarv 
 
 7 j 
 
 apparition of unknown monfters, whom the agi¬ 
 tated furges offer to our fight in a tempeffuous 
 fea. Many of thefe monfters, however, refem- 
 bled the little dog in one of La Fontaine’s tales, 
 from whofe ears and hair, when fhaken, fell gold 
 and all kinds of precious ftones. The affaflm of 
 the farmers general, the legiflator Dupin, com- 
 miflioned to infpeft the inventory, and the fale 
 of their rich moveable property, made free with 
 their jewels, diamonds, and plate. 
 
 A favourite maxim which they had continu¬ 
 ally in their mouths, was, that Paris was too 
 great; that it was with refpeft to the republic, 
 by its population, what a violent flow of blood 
 towards the heart was to a patient, and whom it 
 was right to bleed; at Verfa.illes they had held 
 the fame kind of language. 
 
 All the homicide fentences of antiquity w r ere 
 familiar to them; and they were continually fay¬ 
 ing, “ What, is the prefent generation before the 
 “ immenfity of ages to comer” 
 
 .... des loix et non du fang .... This hemi- 
 flich was a knawing worm inferted in the heart 
 
224' NEW P 1C'I URE OF PARIS. 
 
 of the tyrants, who found alfo this line in the 
 fame tragedy, extremely counter-revolutionary: 
 N'efl-on jamais tyran , qiiavec un diademe ? 
 
 We will not fjpeak of the expreffion of Bar- 
 rere; Stamp, money on the Place of the Revolution . 
 It was Amar who held the flyer. 
 
 A great deal of abfurdity was mingled with 
 thefe atrocities; the 26th of Floreal, Pay an. Se¬ 
 cretary General of the Commune, faid at the 
 Council, “ There is a new fe£t which has been 
 <c juft formed at Paris; anxious to unite itfelf to 
 “ counter-revolutionifts by all means poffible, 
 <c animated with a holy refpeft, with a tender 
 <f devotion for thofe who are guillotined ; its ini- 
 cc tiated make the fame vows, hold the fame fen- 
 “ timents, and wear the fame hair; toothlefs old 
 <c women purchafe, at any price, that of the 
 young fair-haired girls that are guillotined, 
 <c and wear on their heads thefe cherifhed treffes. 
 <c This is a branch of commerce, and a kind of 
 “ devotion quite novel. But let us not difturb 
 cc thofe foft enjoyments, let us leave, let us re- 
 <c fpeft even the light-haired wigs; our ariftocrats 
 £C will ferve at leaft for fomething ; their hair 
 “ will hide the bald-heads of a few old women, 
 “ and the fhort locks of feveral others who were 
 64 never Jacobins but in their hair.” 
 
 Who could believe that fuch a fpeech had 
 been made ? It was at this epoch a that began 
 the reign of light-haired wigs, as if the women 
 
 had 
 
 i 
 
NfcW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 225 
 
 had wiffied to brave by their reprifals this atro¬ 
 cious irony. To all thefe hideous abfurdities, 
 they had only thefe words to reply. We are in re¬ 
 volution. What was then the magic of this for¬ 
 midable word, Revolution f The revolutionary 
 government ought to have been only a fufpen- 
 fion, wifely combined, of certain rights of the 
 people, which they could not exercife in difficult 
 circumflances j it is public liberty in danger 
 which alone neceffitates fuch an inftitution for 
 the fafety of the country. But the government 
 then was nothing but the reflefled organization 
 of every vice, and every crime deftru&ive of fi> 
 cial happinefs. 
 
 ■at* 
 
 CHAP. LVII. 
 
 BATCHES. 
 
 Such was the name given to the prifoners 
 brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal from 
 all parts of the republic; furprifed to find 
 themfelves flowed into the fame cart, and for 
 the fame affair, from the Eaftern Pyrennees to 
 the banks of the Scheld, from the borders of the 
 Rhine to thofe of the Gironde, all fent to the 
 vol. i. Q fcaffold. 
 
226 
 
 KEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 «■* 
 
 fcaffold, all condemned without being tried, at 
 leaf! tried without being heard, feveral even with¬ 
 out being indi&ed. 
 
 Wh en the prifon-confpiracies were invented, 
 in order to put to death a greater number at a 
 time, the viQims were called the Cardinals , be- 
 caufe they had on a red fhirt in their way to ex¬ 
 ecution. The model! but voluptuous form of 
 Charlotte Corday was covered with this cloak, 
 and it is in memory of this heroine that feveral of 
 her fex wore, and hill wear, red (hawls. 
 
 -——“ 11 faut que la rigueur 
 “ Trop neceftaire appuy «iu trone d’un vainqueur, 
 u Frappe fans intervalle un coup fur et rapide; 
 
 <l C’eft un torrent qui pafte en fon co'urs homicide. 
 
 <c Le terns ramene l’ordre et la tranquillitc- , 
 
 44 Le peuple fe faqonne a la docilitc; 
 
 is De fes premiers malheurs l’image eft affoiblie, 
 
 if Bientot il les pardonne, et meme il les oublie. 
 
 44 Mais lorfque goutte a goutte on fait couler le fang, 
 
 44 Qu’on ferine avec lenteur, et qu’on r’ouvre le flanc, 
 il Que les jours renailfans ramenent le carnage, 
 
 44 Le defefpoir tient lieu de force et de courage, 
 
 44 Et fait d’un peuple foible un peuple d’ennemis, 
 
 44 D’autant plus dangereux qu’ils ctoient plus founds.” 
 
 Voltaire, Orphelin de la Chine. 
 
 Thefe lines of Voltaire are not founded; the 
 fcene was enfanguined at Arras, Marfeilles, Cam- 
 bray, Saumur, Lyon, Nantes, Orange, Bourdeaux, 
 not a victim in any place, as far as 1 have heard, 
 ever made any refinance, all underwent the 
 broke of death with the fame fort of calmnefs; 
 
 the 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 227 
 
 the infenfibility of the fpe£tators feemcd to have 
 paffed into their own fouls. 
 
 The executioners were not infultecL Never 
 was there feen fuch a kind of harmony as be¬ 
 tween the murdered and their murderers. The 
 one feemed to fay, You fhall not deprive me of 
 my courage; and the others feemed to anfwer. 
 Many more will pals after you. 
 
 As the poets reprefent the hideous head of the 
 
 Gorgon palfying the arm with its looks, fo thefe 
 
 dauntlefs human facrifices, thefe fwelling dreams 
 
 ol blood, the blood of citizens, ftruck only on 
 
 paflive minds. "One would have thought it only 
 
 a regular cut of wood in a foreft, fo great, or at 
 
 lead fo filent was the indifference which took 
 
 » 
 
 place j fo decidedly had the French nation con¬ 
 demned itfelf to pafs through the lift of decem- 
 viral horrors. Amar dined and fupped abroad in 
 joyous fociety, and the founders of the republic, 
 hurried to the fcaffold for their zeal towards li¬ 
 berty, were perhaps infulted by the mouth of 
 that monfter. 
 
 While the falling axe on the fquare of the 
 Revolution, excited neither the courage nor the 
 arm of a fingle man, commiffaries entered 
 boufes without ceremony, rumaged every corner 
 of the apartments, forcing locks of wardrobes, 
 breaking feals of letters, depofits, wills, throwing 
 themfelves on the leaft fcraps of paper, to find 
 proofs of confpiracy in idle phrafes, dealing af- 
 
 Q 2 ~ fignats. 
 
228 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 (ignats, gold* fllver, jewels ; and it was then that 
 vve faw that prodigious number of creditors im- 
 prifoned by their debtors, of favoured lovers by 
 their rejected rivals, of the injured hufband by 
 the unpunilhed adulterer, of the able artid by his 
 jealous brother, of mailers by their fervants, of 
 the impartial judge by the condemned pleader, 
 of the general officer by his envious fubalterns. 
 
 Dupin, the valet of Amar, had in readinefs a 
 new report on the adjoints of the Farmers Ge¬ 
 neral, and he burnt with impatience to exercife 
 the benefit of making the inventory of their ef- 
 fedts in the name of the republic. 
 
 In the infide of houfes, the proprietor trembled 
 at having engravings, pictures, ftatues, books, or 
 manufcripts, with arms or blazoning, and every 
 the flighted emblem of pad times; and it was 
 who fhould burn faded letters of friendlhip, love, 
 relationlhip, and gratitude. A multitude of 
 works more or lefs curious, have been facrificed 
 to this univerfal fear. The words of Omar, with 
 refpccl to the Alcoran, were not more terrible 
 than thofe of the Decemvirs, when they faid 
 with a formal defign, Yes, we will burn every li¬ 
 brary, for we fhall want only the hifiory of the Revo¬ 
 lution and the Laws . Who could now difeover 
 the Parifian, who had made the 14th July, and 
 the 10th of Augud? 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 229 
 
 CHAP. LVIII. 
 
 ORLEANISTS. 
 
 Synonimous with Montagnards; they always 
 affedted not to know each other. Marat loaded 
 Philip Equality with infults; and he was always 
 in accord w T ith him. It was always the fame 
 point of contact, in the railing of the populace, 
 and in fans-culottifm. Thefe two cruel factions, 
 by facrificing alternately a few chiefs, formed in 
 reality only one in their conftant oppofition to all 
 order, and all rule ; and even as far as the re¬ 
 public, of which they wiflied only for the word, 
 every thing has been in their hands a means of 
 trouble and difcord. 
 
 You have feen the automaton which plays at 
 drafts; a dexterous foot preffes the invifible 
 fprings underneath the floor. The foreign cabi¬ 
 nets diredted more than one motion; for thefe 
 motions could not be the work of chance. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
230 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. LIX. 
 
 FURIES OF THE GUILLOTINE. 
 
 The females of the men of the 2d and 3d of 
 September, (See the article of Septembrifers,) 
 were never out of the galleries in the time 
 of the two bloody committees, they furrounded 
 the fcaffolds; they brawled in the groups; 
 they tucked up their fieeves the 4th of Praireal 
 to affafiinate the conventionalifts. It was the fa- 
 cred battalion of Philip d’Orleans. 
 
 As the DireQors were palling in their car¬ 
 riages on the quay of the Louvre, to go to the 
 National Infiitute, the furies of the guillotine 
 poured out the rnoft infernal exclamations againll 
 them and the conftitution of ninety-five, regret¬ 
 ting openly Robefpierre and Dumas. A good 
 kind of man, frighted at thofe vociferations, ftopt 
 a patriot journalift, and forcing him to go back 
 with him, fo as that he might be convinced by 
 his own ears, faid to him afterwards, “ Well, 
 <c don’t you tremble now 7 ?” The journalifi an- 
 fwered, “ I am more afraid of a king than of this 
 £C canaille.” 
 
 CHAP, 
 
UEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 231 
 
 CHAP. LX. 
 
 THE FORTY SOUS. 
 
 I he cunning of wicked men is as fuperior to 
 the ordinary fenfe of mankind, as the cunning of 
 robbers with picklocks to the prudence of ava¬ 
 rice. The paffions exprefs themfelves particu¬ 
 larly by the found of the voice ; it is difficult to 
 command an inflexion of the throat. I have 
 made this refleQion on hearing the haranguers of 
 the people ; they had hoarfe, hard, and brawling 
 voices; before I looked at them, 1 divined their 
 phyfiognomy. It was a laughable light to fee 
 Iheriffs’ officers and bailiffs’ followers, transformed 
 into orators; but their fanguinary logic fo tho¬ 
 roughly effaced the abfurdity of their acting, that 
 every one fhuddered at their brutal eloquence, 
 for it was the harbinger ot imprifonment and 
 death. The wickednefs of man is not fo much 
 in the deviations of his reafon, as in the deficiency 
 of fentiment which ought to ferve him as a guide. 
 Where had thefe haranguers borrowed the confi¬ 
 dence of fpeaking in public, fellows, who knew 
 nothing, and who, from their phyiica! confti- 
 tution, were fufceptible of no fhame ? Their 
 countenance never reddened with apprehenfion, 
 
 they 
 
252 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 they had not the modeftv of the Roman orator. 
 Each time they mounted the tribune, they voci¬ 
 ferated like men who, having rejefted the ine¬ 
 quality of conditions, had admitted the equality 
 of talents. Every diftrift had then its haranguers, 
 who were paid forty fous as well as the auditors. 
 This was the mafter-ftroke of demagogy : Dan- 
 ton was the inventor of it ; and he was very fen- 
 fible, that in taking the workman from his work- 
 fhop or warehoufe, he immediately augmented 
 the price of labour, and expofed the cafy clafs 
 either to be filent, and pay, or have their throats 
 cut. This invention, treated as flrange and ridi¬ 
 culous, was the refult of reflection deeply malig¬ 
 nant and perverfe ; it would have deranged all 
 order and all police, but happily old habits kept 
 the afcendency. 
 
 CHAP. LXI. 
 
 i 
 
 FEDERALISM. 
 
 The word federalifm was invented by the 
 Decemvirs, in order to proferibe with greater 
 fuccefs, and affafiinate the reprefentatives of the 
 people, who had denounced to all France the 
 horrible day of the 31ft May, the epocha of pro- 
 
 con ful a r 
 
new PICTURE OF PARIS. 233 
 
 confular impudence and fury. The lefs we com¬ 
 prehended the word federalift, the greater ufe 
 the dictatorial tyrants made of it againft thofe 
 whom they wifhed to deftroy. They never could 
 difcover the remotefl veftige of this imaginary fe¬ 
 deralist), while their own numerous fanguinarv 
 crimes were unhappily too clear and manifeft. 
 
 CHAP. LXII. 
 
 FRATERNAL REPASTS. 
 
 Every perfon, under pain of being fufpecled, 
 under pain of being declared an enemy of equa¬ 
 lity, placed his table in the Street to eat in a fa¬ 
 mily-way by the fide perhaps of the perfon whom 
 he detefted or defpifed. The rich man diminifhed 
 the Splendor of his table as much as he could; 
 and the poor ruined himfelf, in order to conceal 
 his mifery ; and whilft he had confumed through 
 pride all the produce of his week’s labour, his 
 decent repaft made him bluih by the fide of his 
 neighbour, who, in his turn, thought he had be¬ 
 come Sufficient! yJ'ans-cidottifed. Envy on one fide, 
 orgies on the other, changed thefe pretended fra¬ 
 ternal Suppers into bacchanalia ; the difcontent 
 was general, and thofe who had commanded the 
 
 citizen* 
 
citizens to fraternize, denounced all the cowards 
 who had obeyed them as agents of Pitt and Cp~ 
 bourg. 
 
 CHAP. LXIIL 
 
 OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 London broke with Rome, and made its own 
 pope; and the king head of the Englifh church, 
 in fucceeding the fucceffors of St. Peter within 
 his own dominions, proved that the pontifical 
 chair, though it were not filled by Roman popes, 
 was not vacant. It was uniting in the fame 
 hand, the fceptre and the incenfe pot. 
 
 Frederic in Pruffia, invited, welcomed, and en¬ 
 tertained all fe£ts, and they all lived together in 
 perfeft uuderftanding. Roman Catholic miniilers, 
 Lutherans, Calvinifts, fupped together, and in¬ 
 vited even the Rabbin, if he was clean dreffed 
 and well informed. The temples of every kind 
 of worth ip were built on the fame plan, and they 
 never talked about controverfy but in their pulpits 
 and in fermons. 
 
 The Republic of the United States afforded 
 the double example of admitting all kinds of 
 worihip, and of exacting that every citizen 
 
 fhould 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 235 
 
 iliould follow one according to his choice. We 
 have imitated America but in part; letting every 
 one follow what he likes. We have rejefted all 
 civil eftablifhments of religion ; but in avoiding 
 one abyfs, we have fallen into another. I with 
 very much that I may be deceived on this head. 
 When in the Conftituent Affembly, the word 
 Civil Conjiitution of the Clergy was pronounced, de¬ 
 creeing at the fame time the liberty of worth ip, 
 the clergy fmiled, and faid nothing, they were 
 fenfible what they had gained; and without the 
 double miftake which was afterwards committed, 
 the firfl: exafting from them a perfonal and cle¬ 
 rical oath, the other their refufing it, we fhould 
 perhaps have had at this time a clergy very ci¬ 
 villy, very ineonftitutionally, and very impolitically 
 conftituted. 
 
 But the fear we had of Catholicifm, the recol¬ 
 lection of the evils it had done us, the idea of its 
 intolerance, the maddening fury of its priefts, fe- 
 cret malTes, where they caballed againll the re¬ 
 publican government, every motive determined 
 this government to decide that all kinds of wor¬ 
 ship fhould be free, which is to fay, in other 
 words, we will have no worth ip at all. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
22 6 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. JLXIV. 
 
 CONCILIABULES. 
 
 The Parifians have wiflied to imitate the En¬ 
 glish, who meet in taverns, and difcufs the mod 
 important affairs of the date ; but that did not 
 take, becaufe every one wiflied to prefide at thefe 
 meetings. There was an inconceivable incohe¬ 
 rence y no union, no fyftem charaQerifed their 
 operations. A fhort-bghted politician, iffuing 
 from his fhop, or from his contentious office, 
 dreamt one thing to-day, another to-morrow ; no 
 wonder therefore at the inconfiftencies and ab- 
 furdities which emanated from fucli affemblies. 
 
 Paris fcandalized at the depredations and de¬ 
 pravity of its kings, at the prodigalities and in- 
 ceftuous conduct of Lewis the XVth, imagined 
 that the pureft fydem of morals was to take place 
 without any obilacle. The bonnet-rouge was the 
 fignal of thofe new virtues. What a wide and 
 fatal midake ! this token belonged at firft exclu- 
 lively to the lowed claffes of the Parifians, and 
 from thence fpread itfelf into the cities of the 
 fecond and third order; and if the republican 
 bavonet had not effaced the fcandal of the bonnet - 
 rouge , France w T ould have paffed down to pode- 
 
 rity 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 237 
 
 rity as containing nothing but a pack of cowards. 
 But in thofe days of fhame and wickednefs, in 
 which-every one that poffefled any virtue was 
 fcnt to the fcaffold, or lay plunged in dungeons, 
 our great generals and brave foldiers redeemed 
 from flavery the foil of France, which was about 
 to become a defert. 
 
 But did not the Committee of Public Safetv 
 make Europe tremble ? could one have expected 
 fuch effefts from men who compofed it the greater 
 part of the time? No •> but it was not they 
 who acted, they did great things without know¬ 
 ing it, and, if I may ufe the expreffion, in fpite 
 of themfelves. It was anarchy which, happily 
 for France, formed a fyftem of reparation at the 
 fame time that it dealt on every fide its blows for 
 deftruction., All the deftroyers at this horrible 
 period imagined that they were working for 
 themfelves alone, while they were labouring tor 
 the falvation of France, puflied on by an irrefif- 
 tible force, they did wonders with meannefs of 
 talents, becaufe the mob, in all their tumultuous 
 movements, did not perceive they were but in- 
 ftruments. The two bloody Committees were in 
 abfolute need of a great number of faifeurs ; the 
 labour of thefe men was neceffarily proportioned 
 to the immenfity of the different objefls, and be- 
 ' tides, they had to earn their money. This affo- 
 ciation with the government, horrible as it was, 
 conflituted its great force, and by ferving it as 
 
 executioners. 
 
238 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 executioners, they were ufeful alio to the ma¬ 
 chine, for we beheld marching on the fame line, 
 an army of cowardly jail-keepers, and an army of 
 brave foldiers. 
 
 This is a kind of myftery which hiftory, at 
 forae future day, will fcarcely be able to unra¬ 
 vel : Paris prefented a multitude of loofe difor- 
 derlv fellows, a battalion of cut-throats; all that 
 was cruel, vile, and abominable, but it was force, 
 and it is force, which pufhes men on, and which 
 forms by degrees an irrefiftible vortex which en¬ 
 veloped and drew in every thing. Men, ellates, 
 property, all was fwept away by this terrible 
 hurricane, which fhook the whole foil of France, 
 but which, when placed in front of the enemy, 
 became a tornado which drowns or burns every 
 thing that it meets Happy he, who could (belter 
 himfelf from the dorm, and who was not driven 
 from rock to rock by this foaming hood ! The 
 Chaumettes and Heberts were to open lectures of 
 atheifm at Paris, and he who was not an atheift 
 would have been indifted for having calumniated 
 the people and the Revolution. 
 
 CHAP 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 239 
 
 CHAP. LXV. 
 
 LET HIM BE A WOLF. 
 
 This was the terrible cry of death to the Nor¬ 
 man and Salic Legiflators; Wargus efo, Let him 
 be a wolf, and that wherever he was feized, he 
 lliould be killed. This cry was renewed on the 
 formation of the Revolutionary Government, 
 Condorcet, Vergniaud, Gaudet, and feveral other 
 republicans, were hunted with the cry of Wolf l 
 Wolf! and the Parifians joined in the fhout, O 
 yes, they are wolves, and they all fell the victims 
 of this terror. Friends became ft rangers to each 
 other, and all who, like Briftbt and Gorfas, had 
 thrown their ideas periodically on paper, in order 
 to point out the means of introducing and efta- 
 blidling liberty and juftice amongft us, were in¬ 
 cluded under a general anathema, which had its 
 fource in a royalift fpirit at Paris, and which is a 
 conftant inmate in the dirty offices of notaries, 
 old procureurs, and whatever compofes the law 
 tribe, habitually cowards, and whofe fpirit was 
 nev^ any other than that of chicane. 
 
 The people were told, that they would never 
 
 be free till every thing was deftroyed j and the 
 
 burgher faw with pleafure the deftruction of the 
 
 2 noble. 
 
 
*240 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 noble, becaufe lie counted on putting himfelf in 
 his place. The poor Parifians, without knowing 
 it, leagued themfelves with the foreign enemy, 
 from not being able to difcover the plots of the 
 royalifts within. They miftook fedition for po¬ 
 licy, and death for juftice. 
 
 Famine and ufury had taken poffeflion of Pa¬ 
 ris, and the city was on the point of being over¬ 
 turned; the Conftitnent Affembly committed the 
 horrible miflake of authorizing frock-jobbing, and 
 annulling the laws againfl ufury. 
 
 Club was formed againft club, this monftrous 
 offspring of difeord and fury, known amongft the 
 antients under the name of fodalitia and fynods, 
 but fo feverely defended by the wifdom of the 
 Roman laws, and which Thucydides has wifely 
 obferved, were the focuffes of fedition. 
 
 The focial fyftem was fhaken to its very bafe y 
 and it is a miracle that Paris has not witneffed its 
 utter ruin ; nothing was read for a long time but 
 writers hired to corrupt the mind of the public, 
 to perplex and palfy all the fprings of the body 
 politic, to lead this light and ignorant people 
 affray, on whom the blows which faction aimed 
 at the ftate have always ultimately fallen. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
>'EW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 241 
 
 CHAP. LXVI. 
 
 1 CA IRA. 
 
 This fong, which is not a model of poetry, 
 but which has afforded a finking example of the 
 power of mufic, prefided over the labours of the 
 Champ de Mars, and excited general tranfport in 
 every theatre. 
 
 No blood had been fired at this period ; the 
 love of the Revolution was then unallayed, the 
 energy it had excited was pure, no idea of mur¬ 
 der had defiled it, and ira was the univerfal 
 chorus. Libertinifm had vainly attempted to 
 profane this expreffion, this pleafantry, though of 
 ordinary tafte, was too juftly appreciated, not to 
 remain fixed to its true fenfe; Ca ira , liberty will 
 
 be ejlablijhed 5 and in fpite of tyrants, all will go well . 
 
 \ ... 
 
 * The word ira was alfo refpe&able from its origin; we 
 borrowed it from the celebrated Franklin ; it was his favourite 
 txpreflion during the heat of the American revolution. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 R 
 
 CHAR 
 
I 
 
 242 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. LXVII. 
 
 THE FORTUNE-TELLER. 
 
 Of what ufe are books, academies, inftitutes, 
 the labours of philofophy, all thofe floods of light 
 which have embellifhed and which ftill embellifli 
 our own times? Thefe rays have not penetrated 
 the mafs of the people, they are always the fame, 
 the fame fuperflition befets them, nor have they 
 loft a Angle point of their old errors. 
 
 What was called good company were the 
 dupes of Caglioflro and Mefmer, two impudent 
 quacks, who infulted the flrft rudiments of found 
 phyfics; notwithftanding which, they did not the 
 lefs pocket the money of good company, while 
 the good company weredaughing at thofe who in 
 the ftreets purchafed for two fous the little pack¬ 
 ets of thofe who fold orvittan. The Canadian fa- 
 vages confult conjurors and witches, and believe 
 in the predictions of their junglers. The people 
 of Paris are fcarcely more advanced : like the fa- 
 vages, they have their junglers, whom they alfo 
 confult, and whofe oracles they revere, of which 
 I am convinced from my own knowledge. 
 
 In the Rue d’Anjou, near the ftreet formerly 
 called Dauphine, No. 1773, in the flrft floor, lives 
 
 one 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 243 
 
 one of our mod celebrated fortune-tellers. He 
 is called Martin, and affefrs the Italian accent. 
 There this new Trophonius delivers his oracles; 
 there, in fliort, he has fixed his fybillite cavern. 
 
 The entrance is by a little court, which, as well 
 as the flair-cafe, is filled with perfons of both 
 fexes and all ages, who have the air of fouls in 
 torment, and who form a queue to wait their turn 
 for the decifion of the fortune-teller. 
 
 There I have feen feathered ladies, well dref- 
 fed young men, with a ferious air. I have con- 
 fidered with atlonifhment their countenances 
 ftreaked with figns of fear and hope, and for a 
 moment thought myfelf on the threfhold of purga- 
 
 torv. 
 
 * 
 
 In my turn I reached, but not without fome 
 difficulty, the feat of the oracle. I had figured to 
 myfelf a man of lofty ftature and white beard, 
 eyes inflamed, a prophetic tone, fuch as Cagliof- 
 tro afifumed, and fuch as he had taken with me 
 at Strafbourg when I laughed in his face from the 
 grotefque appearance he made in his pompous 
 geilures*; but Martin, the oracle, is a man with- 
 ! out legs, with crutches by his fide, and who, on 
 the leaf! movement, feizes them with an incredi¬ 
 ble alacrity, and draws after him his two cafed- 
 up thighs into his narrow and dirty apartment. 
 
 * He was then in the fuite of Cardinal Necklace , whofe adven¬ 
 ture, by rendering the Court of France ridiculous, broke the fpell 
 of the French people. 
 
 R 2 He 
 
 _ ' 
 
 
244 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 He had a pack of cards in his hands, a great geo¬ 
 graphical chart covered his table. He has a gav, 
 firm, and ftedfaft air: he fuftains your look with 
 the mod complete aflurance. Two kinds of 
 clerks go out and in continually to announce the 
 company. No one fmiles in this fanctuary, and 
 even I had loft the defire in contemplating fo 
 many figures half thunderftruck, and who did not 
 fcem difpofed to jeft on the oracles which they 
 had juft received. They were feated in a large 
 and old elbow chair. He interrogates them in 
 whifpers, and mutters to every one his fentence. 
 He places his finger on the geographical chart, 
 and this appeared to me to be the inftant of the 
 molt folemn revelations. 
 
 Joy fparkles- in his eyes at feeing fo great a 
 crowd of votaries. He cuts and fhuffles his cards 
 continually, infomuch that they are become quite 
 greafy. He feems attentively fixed on his cards, 
 waits for your firft word, and then cafts his eyes 
 towards the floor. Meanwhile money fhowers 
 on his table. I am certain, from the informa¬ 
 tion I have received, that he does not make lefs 
 than fix'or feven louis a-day, for the pooreft 
 becomes prodigal when he withes to penetrate 
 the darknefs of deftiny. When Martin is offered 
 only twelve fous, he throws away the piece with 
 contempt, and exclaims, with an air of dignity, 
 Go, confult the fortune-tellers of the Pont-Neuf and 
 the Rajiftee. The enquirer bluflies, and prefents 
 
 a larger 
 
 i 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 245 
 
 a larger piece. No, never did any departed 
 French academician of Paris fet himfelf at a greater 
 diftance from a country academician. Though 
 he gains a great deal of money* his den has al¬ 
 ways the air of a garret. He knows that he 
 fhould be no longer confulted if he lived in a neat 
 and well furniilied apartment. He has very pro¬ 
 perly gueffed, that the people never give faith to 
 a prophetic fpirit, unlefs it be in a place which 
 has an air of fomething like diforder. He often 
 raifes his voice, and when his terrible decrees are 
 pronounced, he makes a lign, and the votary 
 withdraws. 
 
 There no one laughs at his neighbour; with 
 uncovered brow and timid air each one advances 
 towards the myfterious table. They come away 
 meditating on the words which have been pro¬ 
 nounced, and never affect an entire difbelief. 
 Whoever is inclined to laugh or fmile, endeavours 
 to conceal the propenfity. I was placed at length 
 in front of the leglefs prophet. I did not confult 
 the oracle on fortune or pail events, but he fpoke 
 to me, after I had faid a few words to him, of 
 his great celebrity, and of his numerous and daily 
 vifits which, for a long time, had been uninter¬ 
 rupted. He was obliged to work at fuck a dejliny 
 for two or three days, while two minutes were 
 fufficient for fuch another. He poffeffed this pro¬ 
 phetic fecret from his father, to whom it had 
 been bequeathed, and fuccelTively from time im- 
 
 memo- 
 
246 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 memorial. For what objeXs are you moft com¬ 
 monly confulted ? “ For robberies,” he anfwer- 
 
 ed, tc for marriages, for goods loft, for affairs of 
 “ gallantry; but there is only myfelf for robbe- 
 “ ries,” he rejoined, with a commanding kind of 
 voice. C£ The police itfelf confults me, and I am 
 cc always the firft to indicate the place where the 
 “ robber has fled.” 
 
 At thefe extraordinary words I remained dumb! 
 £C The police confults you?”—“ Yes,” replied he, 
 with an affirmative tone, u for there is only me for 
 “ robberies;” and Italianizing his accent, he enter¬ 
 ed into details which prolonged our converfation. 
 The affurance of his phyfiognomy did not vary, 
 and he had the tone and language of a foldier, 
 who recounts his prowefs. But what mo ft ftruck 
 my obferving eye was, that no one feerned afham- 
 ed of having come to this place to enquire his 
 fate. 
 
 A train of reflexions took poffeffion of my 
 mind. “ Is this anxiety,” 1 thought I, fC founded 
 cc on fome happy chances, on fome ambiguities 
 ££ adroitly prefented, and received with eagernefs 
 S£ by the v/ell-wiffiing auditor ? Or, is it not rather 
 £C due to the fearful imagination of man ?” 
 
 Martin did not explain himfelf on the primary 
 caufes which brought him fuch a concourfe of 
 people, for he could not fpeak to you on the 
 leaft queftion in metaphyfics or morals ; but he 
 feems to be in the firm perfuafion that material 
 
 •fign$ 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 247 
 
 figns announce and precede the events of our life, 
 and regards the forms which he employs as ma¬ 
 thematical truths. This prophet is an ignoramus 
 of the firft order, endowed with a mod tranquil 
 dock of impudence. You can found him on 
 nothing : nature has formed him with a confti- 
 tution for quackery in the highefl degree. It is 
 not an amufement with him, not even a profef- 
 fion ; quacking is innate with him, and we are 
 3efs adonifhed at his fuccefs when we have well 
 read on his face the real or affefled imperturbabi¬ 
 lity of his mind. 
 
 J 
 
 He has a fon very young, towards whom he 
 ufes great feverity; and the tone which he em¬ 
 ploys fhews, that from whatever country he 
 comes, he is a ftranger to every kind of educa¬ 
 tion. Neverlhelefs, he is not deficient in polite- 
 nefs: he makes diftinctions, and with fuch ad- 
 drefs, that he takes with each the language which 
 he ought to hold,—Is he not a true quack 1 
 
 His houfe is not empty a fingle day in the 
 week. On Sundays alone he never receives any 
 one. Sunday is his day of recreation : on Sunday 
 he gets into a good carriage, forbids any one 
 to follow him, and returns home very late. 
 One would fuppofe that he went to air his pro¬ 
 phetic fpirit in the country, fee his friends, and 
 perhaps laugh with them at Parifian credulity. 
 I am neverthelefs inclined to believe that he is 
 himfelf the dupe to a certain point of the forcery 
 
 he 
 
248 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 he deals in. It was thus that Boffuet really be¬ 
 lieved a part of certain dogmas and myfteries, 
 becaufe he had a good bifhoprick, but he allowed 
 himfelf not to believe the whole—the reafon is* 
 that one has always a little faith for fortune. 
 Martin is acquainted neither with the fates of 
 Dodona nor thofe of Prenefte, neither with the 
 fortes Virgiliana , nor thofe of Homer, nor the mo¬ 
 dern lots of the faints, when the firft words.that 
 are heard chanted on entering a church are taken 
 for a divine annunciation, a heavenly prophecy.. 
 He embarraffes himfelf verv little to know if 
 the Egyptian man, the Egyptian woman, the Bo¬ 
 hemian man, and the Bohemian woman, have 
 read or ftill reads fortunes in his mode. He 
 calls himfelf the unique, as a fprig of literature 
 thinks himfelf the firft man in the world the day 
 that his ranting tragedy is firft brought on the 
 fiage. 
 
 The difaftrous time we have pafted through, 
 and the ftorms of the revolutions may probably 
 have driven this crowd to Martin ; but it appears 
 that he is very fparing in fmifter predictions, 
 which is probably a matter of calculation with 
 him, becaufe people pay lefs willingly for bad 
 fortune than for good, or perhaps the difappoint- 
 ed enquirer might take it into his head to revenge 
 the feverity of the oracle on the perfon of the pro¬ 
 phet. 
 
 Who 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 249 
 
 Who would have told ten years fince to more 
 than fix thoufand men, that they fhould be be¬ 
 headed on the fcaffold ! They would have re¬ 
 plied, “ Oh! we are not noble enough for that.” 
 A grand Jeigneur alone would have fmiled from 
 vanity. 
 
 I fhould be curious to know if Guillotin, in his 
 youth, ever confulted a fortune-teller or any divi¬ 
 ner ; and, in fhort, if he has had any idea of his 
 new and terrible immortality. Suppofe a necro¬ 
 mancer had faid to him thofe words: <c Thou 
 “ Jhalt be a phyjician , and thy name feminized Jhall 
 “ cure of the evils of life a portion of mankind .” 
 What would Guillotin have thought of fuch am¬ 
 phibological words. 
 
 Martin never prefents fcafFolds in perfpe&ive. 
 Are they then for ever levelled? May Martin 
 not be deceived? and yet we know what would 
 make thefe fcafFolds fprout up again amongft 
 us. We only want a defcent fomewhat more 
 rapid to the vile ft, mod: wretched, and mo.ft 
 fhameful of human fuperftitions, defpotifm. You 
 underhand me, but Martin is acquainted neither 
 with the hiftory of England, nor the Revolutions 
 of Rome; but fhuffling and turning his jeu de 
 tarots in his hands, he enters into no political rea* 
 foiling. 
 
 Struck with all that I had feen, and fcarcely 
 able to recover from my furprize, i faid to myfelf, 
 
 How 
 
 
250 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 How is it poffible for mankind to be fo credu¬ 
 lous, becaufe he is prodigioufly feeling, and there¬ 
 fore naturally fuperftitious, becaufe the leaf!: part 
 
 / 
 
 of his exigence is the prefent. 
 
 But admitting, fmce to reafon well we muft 
 make the round of the circle; admitting that 
 there is fomething real in this kind of divination ; 
 
 i 
 
 if, in fhort, there exifts certain unknown rules to 
 perceive the future, as we have methods to fix 
 the paft 3 if we had near us a hidden thermo¬ 
 meter to difeover the moft fecret actions, ought 
 we not then to burn all our volumes, {hut up our 
 academies, and laugh at the crowd of writers ? 
 Martin’s cards would be the divinatory book, the 
 book par excellence ; for it is from want of fore¬ 
 knowledge that we commit fo many errors and fa 
 many miiiakes. 
 
 The quack fometimes performs a cure, and 
 to the great aftonifhment ot the phyfician. The 
 men of genius whom I have met with in the 
 courfe of my life were not thofe who have ap¬ 
 peared in print. The mechanician fhrugs up his 
 {boulders when you (peak to him of the geome¬ 
 trician. Vaucanfon faid, “ I will make you a 
 geometrician with the end of my walking-flick.” 
 
 i 
 
 The (hepherd reads in the (kv the different 
 changes of the feafons, without having rccourfe 
 to the leffons of Lalande. The fpiders, it is a 
 faff, led us to take Holland. Everv thing- is 
 my fiery and darknefs • and if, as I believe, there 
 
 is 
 
new PICTURE OF PARIS. 251 
 
 is nothing but quackery in fortune-reading, Mar¬ 
 tin at leaft knows, and even perceives more than 
 all the philofophers together, that folly is and 
 ever will be the attribute of the multitude, fince 
 the enquring crowd refort without ceafing to the 
 leglefs man, whilft no perfon confults either Mon- 
 tefquieu or Rouffeau. 
 
 As all the morality of the Parifians is contained 
 in Chaulieu and Bareme, they are profoundly 
 immerfed in nothing but their pleafure and hock- 
 jobbing, which they decorate with the name of 
 commerce. The JewiOi fpirit is called the fpirit 
 of bufinefs. Affe£ted by the flighted Ioffes, their 
 mercenary calculations are fixed on the lowed 
 mercantile operations; and as robbery and theft 
 are what is moft common among them, it is alfo 
 what they are moft in fear of. This is the rea- 
 fon why they repair continually to Martin, who, 
 on his fide, has very well judged that he ought 
 to hold himfelf out as the moft expert of conju¬ 
 rors in cafe of robbery. He will not change his 
 , habitation, fince it is at Paris that he ought to 
 ihuffie his cards, on account of the numberlefs 
 thefts that are committed, and for nearly the fame 
 reafon as an oculift gave me. “ I am going to 
 “ leave Paris/’ faid he, “ becaufe difeafes of the 
 u eyes are much more frequent in the cantons 
 “ bordering on the fea, on account of the wind 
 “ blafts. I am going, therefore, to fettle in one 
 i( of thofe quarters.” 
 
 If 
 
252 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 If we recollect that our Martin is without 
 legs, that he is in pofleilion of the buff; of Afmo- 
 deus, we fhall be lefs aftoniihed at the reputation 
 he enjoys. Conjurers, Sybils, and Pythonifts, have 
 been always reprefen ted under ftrange figures. 
 We love to unite an extraordinary thing to an ex¬ 
 traordinary being. A handfome conjurer would 
 never make a fortune. The lame devil will do 
 well in any country. I recoiled! that there were 
 at the doors of Natre-Darae two offerers of the 
 holy water : one was horribly hump-backed, and 
 the other without legs. The eye of the believer 
 hefitated on entering - y eighteen out of twenty 
 perfons extended their arms towards the brufh of 
 the little half-formed man, feated the whole of 
 him in his wooden porringer *3 he enjoyed a mark¬ 
 ed preference for thirty years. 
 
 * The women particularly, more tender, or mors curious* 
 and who have no idea of a man without legs, were the moft libe¬ 
 ral in the dUhifrution of their alms. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 253 
 
 CHAP., LXVIIL 
 
 CITIZEN. 
 
 o, ; *• - v! \i • * . J 
 
 The late king’s brother was called Monfieur, 
 and we were all of us therefore plagiaries, or 
 ufurpers. Great occafions to ilrike at terms in 
 daily ufe are rare. Every one called himfelf Mon¬ 
 fieur, and in this imaginary equality the poor and 
 indigent confoled themfelves, when they heard 
 that the rich was called by the fame name as 
 themfelves. 
 
 There was but a hep to make from Monfieur 
 to Monfeigneur, and its dependencies ; and be¬ 
 hold all at once what a reverfe ! what a frightful 
 chaos ! The word Monfieur is fled with all the 
 protocole of moft humbles , of efteem> perfect ejleem , 
 obedient fervants , moft obedients , profound reffieEls , 
 very profound , the moft profound , reaching the bot¬ 
 tom of the page ; and, O facrilege 1 the word ci¬ 
 tizen has taken their place. 
 
 Et il dans l’univers un mortel afTez vain, 
 
 Qu’il pretend egaler un Ciloven Romain ? 
 
 COR NEILLS. 
 
 But many people have avoided, and Hill avoid, 
 making ufe of this fhort and Ample expreflion. 
 
 Citizen. 
 
254 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Citizen. They alledge, that it has been given 
 us in a baptifm of blood. We may reply, that 
 at the fame time the wearied axe was called the 
 fword of juftice, the iron of the laws : fhall we, 
 therefore, erafe from our vocabulary the words 
 law and juftice ? 
 
 This is the word which is moft grating to the 
 ear of ariftocracy ; but in fpite of all its efforts, 
 its lamentations, and its farcafms, this is become 
 the furname of French liberty, and will only pe¬ 
 ri fh with it. Why ? Becaufe every thing has 
 been done to annul it. 
 
 Madame la Marqutfe , Madame VEchevine* Ma¬ 
 dame la Prevote des Marchands , Madame la Notai- 
 rejje , have an attack of the nerves when they are 
 addreffed by the name of Citoyenne inftead of 
 Lady; but we muft run that rifk, fince we may 
 predict that the ufe of the word Monfieur, fub- 
 ftituted at prefent for that of citoyen, would be 
 fufficient to overturn the republic; the force of a 
 little exertion is incalculable, when it is habitu¬ 
 ally and daily repeated. 
 
 The legiflator has found the means ofchafiifing 
 felf-love, and on this point I find that it has gain¬ 
 ed great advantages. In vain do the Englifh af¬ 
 fect, when they pronounce our names, to join the 
 title of Monfieur with them. We will have this 
 title no longer, we wall ufe our war-name, wdiich 
 proved that we had no longer a king. The title 
 of French Citizen will make all the potentates 
 turn pale, and this is what w r e require. 
 
 CHAP 
 
CHAP. LXIX. 
 
 4 / 
 
 TO COUNTER-REVOLUTI0NI2E. 
 
 At the time when the Monarchies fpread the 
 report that the Auftrian troops were threatening 
 our frontiers with an invafion, a wag faid, that the 
 courtizannes, or ladies of the court (which is the 
 fame thing), waited with impatience for the Tal- 
 paches and the German Pandours, in order to 
 throw themfelves into their arms, and counter- 
 revolutionize at their eafe. 
 
 We may well imagine, that this word has not 
 always the fenfe which the ladies of the court at¬ 
 tach to it, in the ardour of their ariflocraticfm* 
 It fignifies in the dictionary of the Anti-Patriots, 
 forming the project, and trying the means of anni- , 
 hilating the Revolution, which has annihilated 
 them. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
256 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 CHAP. LXX. 
 
 BELL. 
 
 It is the inftrument with which the Prefident 
 of rill aflembly calls the members to order, when 
 his geftures and his cries are not fufficient to 
 command filence. The bell does not always fuc- 
 ceed in reftoring that tranquillity which ought to 
 reign among!! men charged with the execution 
 of the moil important and moil auguil of all func¬ 
 tions, that of making laws for the glory and hap- 
 pinefs of a whole nation. 
 
 This epigram was made again!! the deputies 
 of a department fruitful in mules. 
 
 Quand Foucaut Chabron Rocliebrune, 
 
 Sont une fois a la tribune ; 
 
 Rien ne peut les en rappeller. 
 
 En vain la fonnette les prefle; 
 
 Le trio s’abftine a beugler. 
 
 Ces Meffieurs-la fontd’une efpece 
 
 Que la fonnette fait alien 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 257 
 
 CHAP. LXXL 
 
 \ 
 
 % 
 
 NATIONAL FLAG. 
 
 * 
 
 There is no one now in France, who does 
 not know what that is. I with for the good of 
 mankind that all nations may likewife become ac¬ 
 quainted with it, as we have been. 
 
 The greater part of our colours have fome 
 device. Here are fome of them: On that of the 
 diftri£t of the Capuchins of Paris are thefe words. 
 We will be Jhaved by no one. An infcription lefs 
 waggilh, but more civic, is that written on the 
 colours of another diftrict, No other nobility than that 
 of the heart. 
 
 CHAP. LXXIL 
 
 NATIONAL COCKADE. 
 
 Citizens ! its definition is in your hat. The 
 day that Antoinetta of Auftria faw the king: re- 
 
 J o 
 
 turn from Paris to Verfailles, with the national 
 cockade in his hat, fhe faid, / did not imagine I 
 had married a roturier . 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 S 
 
 “ Our 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 253 
 
 Cf Our anceflors,” fays one of our writers, 
 “ would never have gueffed that national cockade 
 would ever have become the title of a journal.” 
 But how many things are there that our ancef- 
 tors never would have gueffed at. 
 
 The national cockade wiH make the tour of the world . 
 Thefe words are become proverbial, and the 
 prophecy advances with large ftrides. 
 
 CHAP. LXXIIL 
 
 * 
 
 IMPARTIALISTS. 
 
 This was the name given at the beginning 
 of the Revolution to thofe men who, having no 
 ideas of their own, did not venture to adopt 
 thofe of others, for fear of committing themfelves, 
 and who finiflied by being the laughing-ftock of 
 every party. 
 
 Some perfons were embarraffed, or affefted to 
 be fo (in 1789) to know how much fix and fix 
 made. They addrelfed themfelves to a deputy 
 of the Cote Gauche , who anfwered, Six and 
 
 SIX MAKE TWELVE. 
 
 “ He who hears but one fide hears nothing,” 
 exclaimed a thinker. “ Let us hear a Deputy of 
 s< the Cote Droit." The queftion was propofed 
 
 to 
 
 o 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 259 
 
 to this honourable Member, who, after having 
 maturely reflefted, anfwered, “ Six and fix make 
 ^ fourteen y 
 
 New embarraffments. A Member of the mid¬ 
 dle of the AffembJy is confulted. 
 
 “ How manyf he afks, cc did the left fide tell 
 “you ?"—“ Twelve ."'—“ And how many the right?" 
 — <c Fourteen ."—“ In this cafe fix and fix make thh - 
 fC teen. You fee that I am, impartial .” 
 
 CHAP. LXXIVh 
 
 / 
 
 SENSIBLERIE, 
 
 Some time before the Revolution, the people 
 of bon ton had adopted a certain fentimental philofo- 
 phy , which was the art of excufing themfelves 
 from being virtuous. This philofophy had its 
 jargon, its fenfibility, its accent, its geftures even 
 aflimulated paffion, tender modulations, afFcTion- 
 ate expreilions, which compofed the exterior of 
 perfons of good company at the recital of an im¬ 
 moral aftion, or the misfortunes of virtue, have 
 affixed to this feigned and barren fenfibility the 
 name of fenfiblerie. 
 
 S 2 
 
 CHAP, 
 
260 
 
 .NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 CHAP. LXXV. 
 
 ENGRAVING. 
 
 If engineers had been ordered to take the Baff 
 tille, they would have traced lines, they would 
 have attacked according to the prefcribed rules, 
 and the royal cattle would yet be Handing. The 
 Parifians took it into their heads that the moment: 
 was come for taking poffeflion of the Eaftille, and 
 they took poffeflion; they made every countenance 
 at the court turn pale; a lantern became the 
 grave of defpotifm, and a pike the fignal of li¬ 
 berty. Not a word was faid at St. Denis, where 
 lay the camp prepared, to daughter us—not a 
 word at Mont Martre, from whence the cannon 
 was to have thundered. In fhort, not a fyllable 
 any where; and the noble, enamoured of his 
 rank, and who defignated the Deity only by the 
 title of the Nobleman on high , took flight, counting 
 neverthelefs on his return with all the nobility of 
 Europe. 
 
 An engraving was exhibited at the time, which 
 was diflinguiihed amidff the crowd of thofe which 
 covered the walls of Paris. It reprefented a bar- 
 
 i 
 
 ber’s fliop, in which were affembled cuftomers of 
 , ' - different 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 261 
 
 ' different ranks : underneath was-written, I /have 
 clergy, I comb the heads of the nobility , and drefs to per¬ 
 fection the Tiers Etat. 
 
 A ci-devant Seigneur faid to one of his ci-de- 
 vant vaffals, “ Allons, mon pauvre Mathurin, 
 “ we are equal, we may eat out of the fame plat- 
 <e ter.”—“ Ah, Monfieur,” anfwered the peafant, 
 w we fhall never fmoke at the fame pipe!” 
 
 Drink ratifiat of Orleans, and riquique *, and re¬ 
 member that the oldeft is the beft. This diftum 
 
 / 
 
 was in every one's mouth. 
 
 j 
 
 CHAP. LXXVI. 
 
 DECREE. 
 
 This word was formerly never found but in 
 monkifh works, or fuch as were compofed by 
 churchmen. 
 
 It is only the reprefentatives of the people who 
 are permitted to make decrees ; the other confti- 
 tuted authorities make arretes ; the communes 
 make addrejjes ; the citizens make petitions. 
 
 The Convention make decrees, the Legiflative 
 Body makes only laws. 
 
 * For Riqnetti, the family name of Mirabeau. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
262 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 CHAP, LXXVII. 
 
 MON AR CHI AN. 
 
 This is the name given by tho people to the 
 members of a faftion who cre£led themfelves into 
 a fociety, with a bifhop for a prefident, to labour 
 in common, to gather up the wrecks of the mo¬ 
 narchy. A Member of this Monarchian Club 
 wrote to one of his corrcfpondents : “ My friend, 
 “ I fliall not die contented till I have drank the 
 ec blood of a patriot.” Such was the kind of plea- 
 fure of thefe Monarchians, who called themfelves 
 by the name of Mcderes , 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 263 
 
 CHAP. LXXVIIL 
 
 RIBBANDS. 
 
 A kind of halter of all forts cf colours, vvitn 
 which thofe who call themfelves fovereigns tie their 
 (laves, in order to be fure of their obedience. 
 
 We have feen at Paris a little German fove- 
 reign, who had made^a (hop of a prifon where 
 he was confined' for debt, and fold poppy rib¬ 
 bands, brc*ad and narrow, at reafonable prices, to 
 adventurers or fools. It was called the order of 
 Limburg. How diftant from the three-coloured 
 ribband which the free Frenchman wears with an 
 honeft pride. 
 
 In order to feparate the garden of the chateau 
 of the Tuilleries, which Louis occupied, from the 
 terrace of the Feuillants, where the public affem- 
 bled, the people had extended along the terrace 
 a fimple ribband, which barrier was reflected, 
 and which effect a cannon would not have pro¬ 
 duced. The reafon was, that the people obeyed 
 a law which they had impofed on themfelves. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
264 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 CHAP. LXXIX. 
 
 EMISSARIES. 
 
 Adroit fcoundrels, whom foreign courts 
 threw amongft us, and whom they keep in pay. 
 They furprize our fecrets, carefs our paffions. If 
 you are weak, they praife your prudence ; if you 
 are prudent, they accufe you of weaknefs. They 
 call your courage rafhnefs, your juftice cruelty. 
 If you are mild towards them they complain 
 openly 3 if you threaten them, they confpire fe- 
 cretly. Yefterday they affaffin-ated the defenders 
 of the country, to-day they mix in their funeral 
 pomp, and aik divine honours for them, watch¬ 
 ing the moment when they may poignard thofe 
 who moft referable them. 
 
 CHAP. LXXX. 
 
 KNIGHTS OF THE POIGNARD. 
 
 Phis was the name given to a band of ruffians 
 wearing the crofs of St. Louis , who, on the 23d of 
 February 1791, repaired to the chateau of the 
 
 Tuilleries 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 265 
 
 Tuilleries to carry off Capet, and who were dri¬ 
 ven away ignominioufly by the National Guard. 
 
 Colonel D. was caned by a National Guard, 
 formerly his valet-de-chambre. “ Why did you 
 give the gentleman a blow?” faid his captain. 
 “ Give!” replied the foldier: “ I did not give, I 
 “ only returned what he had lent me.” 
 
 Another ol thefe gentlemen, who had been 
 rudely treated the fame day, being fome days 
 aftei*'at the opera, his friends made him their 
 compliments of condolence. “ Mordieu!" ex¬ 
 claimed he, cc the kicks I received on my breech will 
 never go out of my head , and the National Guard 
 ^ fhall never die but by my hand." 
 
 CHAP. LXXXL 
 
 TRIBUNE. 
 
 That of our National Affembly will be as ce¬ 
 lebrated by pofterity as the tribunes occupied by 
 Demofthenes and Cicero at Athens and at Rome. 
 If I was not afraid of being accufed of national 
 vanity, I would affirm that it will be, and that it 
 will deferve to be much more fo, from the real 
 eftabliihment of man in his rights, which all na¬ 
 tions are going to acknowledge. 
 
 This 
 
266 SEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 This benefit towards humanity will obtain 
 homage in all times and all places. 
 
 , Before the Revolution, the crimes of high trea- 
 fon tr m known, were of two forts, divine and 
 human. He who with an iron glove gave a blow 
 to the Pope, was guilty of divine high-treafon. 
 The unfortunate La Tude , becaufe he had dif- 
 pleafed Pompadour , was guilty of human high- 
 treafon. We now confider as a crime of national 
 high-treafon, all attempts againft the glory or 
 happinefs of the French Republic. 
 
 I will not fpealc of thofe flrokes of eloquence 
 which have fo often fparkled in this tribune. 
 Europe has read, and reads every day, what is 
 laid there, and we may compare it to a volcano 
 which throws out fiames, hones, and fmoke; but 
 this volcano is, if I may ufe the expreffion, in per¬ 
 petual explofion, and its fides are inexhauflible. 
 As it has undergone a prodigious change in the 
 prefent circumftances, our eloquence has taken a 
 new charadler. It has not, indeed, the acade¬ 
 mical tone, nor tafte, nor purity of ftyle, but there 
 has been an overflow of ideas of every kind, of 
 knowledge, and of new views, a fort of impetuo- 
 fity which is found amongft no other people; in 
 ihort, a multitude of talents which had fomething 
 hard and ruftic, but which were fuitable to poli¬ 
 tical order, and while morality had its eclipfes* 
 eloquence, properly fpeaking, had its eclipfe 
 alfo. 
 
 The 
 
KEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 267 
 
 The ftate of the Convention became almoft a 
 ftate of nature, fo much had men changed their 
 logic, their language, and their former ideas. 
 No orator admitted of other fetters but fuch as 
 he thought fit to impofe on himfelf. 
 
 There is more of mind in a free government, 
 the people are better inftrudled, or at lead they 
 are more bold in the developement of their 
 ideas : befides, a Tingle citizen uniting different 
 profeflions, his genius is fed by them, it has more 
 fecundity and refource. We ftill behold, with 
 aftonifhment, enterprizes and monuments of little 
 republics comparable to thofe of the greateft 
 kingdoms. If any one has been aftonifhed at it, 
 he has never felt the fentiment of liberty: he does 
 not divine what he can effedl with the feeble ft 
 means. And what then will be the deftiny of 
 the French Republic, which has begun by mak¬ 
 ing the rcra of the reprefentative governments, 
 which cultivates the nurfery garden of all future 
 republics, and which, confirming and (lengthen¬ 
 ing the dignity of man, will reconcile the human 
 race to the regards of angels. 
 
 Wh at remains to the omnipotence of the Crea¬ 
 tor to do, in order to render man as perfeft as he 
 ought ? Nothing, unlefs it be to leave him the 
 merit of the choice of liberty, after having infpir- 
 ed him with the fentiment of it. 
 
 The Swifs return always to the borders of their 
 lakes, becaufe they there enjoy a fort of liberty, 
 
 which. 
 
268 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 which, though imperfeft, is fuperior to that of 
 many other people, very different in that from 
 the Gafcons, who quit their country very willing¬ 
 ly with the intention of never going back again. 
 Henceforth the French will only make vifits to 
 other countries, but will find none more admira¬ 
 ble than their own country, as well as its govern¬ 
 ment. 
 
 Let us judge by the profound fighs, the groans, 
 and regrets of our emigrants. They fhall never 
 afcend that tribune where the voice of Him 
 whom they treated with contempt will be heard, 
 where it will immortalize his name, and where 
 (what is more foothing to conceive) it may. in- 
 creafc the fplendor and happinefs of a country. 
 
 Who is not an orator ? Who does not dream 
 of being an orator, after this great and happy per- 
 fpedtive ? Thus it is who fhall exercife himfelf 
 in the art of fpeaking in clubs, in patriotic fo- 
 cieties, and even in literary circles, where they 
 imitate the function of the Legiflative Body with 
 a prefident, a bell, and fecretaries, and where 
 they afk leave to fpeak, make motions, amend¬ 
 ments, and confult the majority; and where, as in 
 great affemblies, the minority, always more active, 
 more obftinate, and more nearly conne£ted, gain 
 the queflion the next day. But alas ! in the fame 
 tribune, the eagle, armed with his thunders, and 
 the owl ftupidly flittering with his wings, have 
 appeared on the fame day, and fometimes by the 
 
 fide 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 269 
 
 fide of each other. Mirabeau and Laurent Le- 
 cointre have alike made their voice heard. Re- 
 publicanifm has fpoken by the organs of Ver- 
 ginaud and Gaudet, royalifm by thofe of Vau- 
 blanc and Dumolard. Royalifm, under every 
 maSk, has dishonoured the tribune of the French 
 Senate, it has refounded with the vociferations of 
 thofe perverfe men who have lighted there the 
 torches which they have thrown far among towns 
 and into the country. There they have given the 
 Signal of fanaticifm: there they have dared to le¬ 
 gitimate the afifaffmations of the South; there, in 
 ihort, they have meditated on beginning the great 
 trial of the revolution and of liberty. 
 
 It was fuliied in Praireal by the impure remains 
 of Marat; and but for the epocha of the 13th 
 Vendemiaire, the anti-republicans would have ba¬ 
 nished the figns of liberty. 
 
 The tribune was the rallying-place of thofe 
 who attacked and defended liberty. Impudence 
 and folly here triumphed for a day, but the next 
 they were overthrown. Perfidy and cunning have 
 been unmafked at the moment when they count¬ 
 ed with molt certainty on putting us under fub* 
 jeftion. 
 
 The Struggle on that fpot was constant, terri¬ 
 ble, and great; the intrepidity of crime gave 
 force to the energy of virtue. Neither falfeho.od, 
 nor falfe attacks, nor threats, nor the violence of 
 the confpirators, ever intimidated the courageous 
 
 enemies 
 
270 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS'. 
 
 enemies of the monarchy. In vain did the fprings 
 of republican government relax themfelves: the 
 government refumed its force and its majefty, and 
 triumphed over the orators of royalifm, who were 
 crufhed as much by the weight of talent as of vir- 
 ture, and when there remained but a few leg!-* 
 flators faithful to the caufe of the people, fud- 
 denly the republican genius oppofed a refinance 
 of which the hiftory of no nation furnifhes an 
 example. It commanded the 18th Fruftidor, 
 which became one of the mod glorious as well as 
 one of the moll aftonifhing epochas of our liberty. 
 It is from this tribune proceeded that voice which 
 in the fpace of fix years lias created foldiers and 
 generals, the conftant friends of vi£tory : it is this 
 powerful voice which has organized the Great 
 Nation, and which has given it a majefiic bafis, 
 by exalting every kind of courage. Such are 
 the prodigies emanated from the tribune, and 
 which have expiated the difeourfes of thofe fiaves 
 either firuck with contempt, or thrown far from 
 us by exile. If the hearts of the people fhould 
 become lukewarm, or (liould feel no more of that 
 facred fire which animated fo often thofe who 
 have faid. No, never ; we will never compofe 
 with tyranny; if the lead doubt refpe&ing out 
 glorious deftinies could for a moment lhakc the 
 courage of the French, it would be from this tri¬ 
 bune that again would iffue the cry which fhould 
 render to man his natural dignity. 
 
 O j 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 271 
 
 CHAP. LXXXIL 
 
 FORCED LOAN. 
 
 The definition of this word was written on 
 the frowning brow of every rich man. Under the 
 old regime, the opulent nobles never lay with 
 their wives but the firft night of their marri¬ 
 age, in order to have an heir. They confidered 
 it as a mania worthy of what they called the 
 Bourgeoisie, the defire of multiplying their fa¬ 
 mily. 
 
 The forced loan has done a miracle. It has called 
 the opulent nobility; and even the rich Bourge- 
 oife, who were always aping the former, to the 
 fentiments of nature. It is now who fliall pro* 
 duce molt children, in order to contribute the leafl 
 poffible. And who doubts that the wives of thefc 
 gentlemen will not contribute by all poffible 
 means to fecond their views* ? 
 
 * This refers to the firft forced loan. 
 
 CHAP* 
 
272 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 CHAP. LXXXIIL 
 
 THE **** CABINET. 
 
 What we had announced is now come to 
 pafs. The * * * * Cabinet has fought to avenge 
 itfelf for the lofs of its ancient colonies, and has 
 appeared to efpoufe the caufe of Louis the XVIth 
 only the better to betray it. He who does not 
 feize the thread will lofe himfelf in the tortuous 
 labyrinth of fo many contradi&ory fafts ; this Ca¬ 
 binet took advantage of the credulous imbecility 
 of Orleans. Indifferent to all parties, *** fa¬ 
 voured every thing which could produce and pro¬ 
 pagate divilions among the Bourbons. 
 
 The monarchical government, too often over- 
 ftepping its limits, drew near its end ; and, both 
 from its audacity, and the vicioufnefs of a court 
 which imagined that public opinion could be 
 treated with contempt. Its imprudent haughti- 
 nefs, fed by an infolent difdain for the people, 
 relied itfelf on old prejudices, which hitherto had 
 caufed the follies and defpotifm of the throne 
 to be refpedied : but what opinion creates opi¬ 
 nion defiroys. The vices of the monarchical go¬ 
 vernment were at their height, and it was become 
 an object of a fort of derifion, from the indecent 
 
 immorality 
 
 e 
 
 I 
 

 I<fT\V PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 273 
 
 immorality of the princes, who were a kind of 
 fultans, andefpecially by the verfatility of its plans 
 and rneafures. 
 
 The chief nobility, who perceived an approach¬ 
 ing fubverfion, imagined that it would be the mo¬ 
 ment to revive the old feudal government in all 
 its fplendor, and to divide the provinces into par¬ 
 ticular governments** There was a queftion of 
 fhutting up Louis the XVIth in a monaftery, as 
 had been done with a few kings of the firft race, 
 and his own brothers would have been obliged to 
 have given their confent, from the immenfe divi- 
 fion which would have been bellowed on them. 
 
 
 Conftrained by this danger, of which he received 
 warning, Louis the XVIth made ufe of the only 
 counterpoife in his power, he convoked the States 
 General, and feemed to embrace the popular 
 party. 
 
 This unfortunate Prince, inflead of following 
 the direftion of the torrent in.which he would al¬ 
 ways have fwam, far from digging it a bed, de- 
 ilroyed every happy chance which fortune fo often 
 
 * They had taken for their model the plan of government 
 which the Protehants wilhed to eftablifh in France in 1621 ; and 
 we have the regulation made by the Adembly of Rochelle the 1 oth 
 of May of the fame year. The whole of the kingdom was divided 
 into eight circles, comprehending Bearn. The Duke of Bouil¬ 
 lon had the general command of the armies. Thus the Protef- 
 ants had formed the projeft of changing France into a repub¬ 
 lic. The Princes had projected the creating for themfelves pri¬ 
 vileged fovereignties. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 T 
 
 offered 
 
274 NEW PICTURE OF PAR I 3. 
 
 offered him, to lower at once this imperious no¬ 
 bility, which had threatened him, and reftiain the 
 popular party, whofe aid he had called in againft 
 his enemies. 
 
 He was three times perjured, while he had the 
 greateft interell to be loyal and fincere. He me¬ 
 ditated the molt fhameful, the moll diflionourable, 
 and rnolt dangerous flight of which hiftory makes 
 mention, throwing himfelf on a foreign land, to 
 be there defpifed, degraded, and made a prifoner, 
 rather than league himfelf with a great people. He 
 had only the ideas of a Marquis with red heels, and 
 had never after a Angle moment of courage, even 
 when he might have faved himfelf, or have done 
 honour to his name, by falling with that dignity 
 which his charafter claimed. Given up to fu- 
 perfliticus notions, and to thofe counfels more or 
 lefs foolifh which refult from them, grofsly diffem- 
 bling, and papiflically vindifitive, he had promifed 
 to religion to punifh all the infults with which the 
 throne was treated. 
 
 Three months franknefs and open policy would 
 have overturned all the plans of the * * * Mini- 
 fler, and prevented all the difaflers which have 
 weighed on France. This is what has rendered 
 the Revolution fo bloody and fatal; for in the 
 beginning it was calm and peaceable; and if the 
 king had known how to proceed with it, he 
 would have gained the homage and admiration of 
 the world. 
 
 It 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 It was the furious obdinate refinance to necef- 
 fary and legitimate changes, the menaces, impre¬ 
 cations, and hodile projefts of the clergy and the 
 nobility, which impreffed a character on the Re¬ 
 volution which it had not in the beginning. It 
 became terrible, becaufe the emigrants were as fo 
 many confpirators. They called for the fubver- 
 fion of the country, and nothing could calm or 
 appeafe their pride, or their vengeance. As the 
 priedly impoftor adhered to the flighted ceremo¬ 
 nial, and ftruck with the name of impious who¬ 
 ever fmiled at his fooleries, fo the nobles would 
 not give up a tittle of their blafonry, and would 
 as foon have burnt France for a ribband lefs large, 
 as for their whole expulfion. The new order of 
 things, the wifh and want of all the French, made 
 them furious with anger and adonifhment j to 
 yield nothing, and revenge themfelves inhumanly 
 on every demand, was the whole of their doc¬ 
 trine. 
 
 Meanwhile the foreign cabinets were anxious 
 for the fall of Louis the XVIth; he was there¬ 
 fore advifed to arm himfelf, to confpire againd 
 the new order of things, the lad aft of impru¬ 
 dence as drange, as it became guilty after the 
 flight to Varennes. 
 
 He placed himfelf between two rocks, which 
 were fo much the more formidable, as they both 
 helped to dafh him in pieces. Common good 
 fenfe .fliould have told him, that all his ftrength 
 
 T 2 lay 
 
276 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 - lay in doing nothing, and that he ought not parti¬ 
 cularly to have followed the plans of the common 
 enemy, who, in order to favour the moft barba¬ 
 rous of projects, were defirous of exterminating 
 the French in the name of their chief. 
 
 He alone, by his multiplied perfidies, and by 
 his monftrous errors, gave birth to the republican 
 government, which no one thought of. Thus it 
 is that a found and vigorous plant, yet concealed 
 in the earth, puflies back a difeafed plant which 
 falls into rottennefs, the new plant increafes its 
 forces by the wrecks of the old. 
 
 Governments wear out, but once decompofed, 
 it is impoffible to regenerate them under the form 
 which they have loft. The foreign powers wifhed 
 to ruin us, and they have become our faviours. It 
 is by the coalition of kings that we have been faved 
 from kings. It was the treaty of Pilnitz which 
 raifed the whole nation in arms : it was the King 
 of Pruflia in Champagne who engendered the re¬ 
 volutionary fpeCtre. 
 
 The Englifh people, at a certain period, tried 
 and condemned their monarch, and they take it 
 ill that we try and condemn ours alfo. They ex¬ 
 pected to have made it a fubjeft of perpetual dif- 
 cord amongft us, and to have crufhed us one by 
 the other. The monarchical government being 
 identified with a fingle man, this man ought ne- 
 ceffarily to difappear at the birth of the republi¬ 
 can government. Every other meafure would 
 
 have 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 277 
 
 have implied contradiftion, and led the way for 
 endlefs commotions. It was neceffiary for us to 
 
 J 
 
 repofe in a republic, a ftormy form of govern¬ 
 ment at firft, but which, after the firfh formation, 
 takes a footing difficult to break. 
 
 The Englifh bore (hamefully with the long 
 diftature of Oliver Cromwell; we have had a 
 nurfery of Cromwells, but politically and boldly 
 enlightened, we have broken them one after the 
 other ; and if the nation had liflened to the ap¬ 
 peal and generous proteft of the feventy-three 
 Deputies, of which I (hall always feel myfelf ho¬ 
 noured in being of the number, and puniffied 
 the authors of the 31(1 of May, France would 
 then have been faved from the blows of foreigners, 
 and the fca(Folds of E.obefpierre would never 
 have been erefted. What proves it is, that the 
 unfortunate Briffot, fo much calumniated, and 
 who always difdained any noted popularity, ani¬ 
 mated by the purefl patriotifm, never was de¬ 
 ceived in his averfion for England; and that far 
 from being the hireling of the Englifh minifter, 
 whom he openly attacked by his declaration of 
 war againfl; Great Britain, no man ever faw bet¬ 
 ter than he that there was but a moment to 
 ilrike, and he, accufed by this folemn aft which 
 will re found to the moft diftant pofterity in eter¬ 
 nal honour of his name and memory, he accufed 
 the Uownefs, the want of energy, of mobbiFa 
 brawlers, who, while they were prating about 
 
 2 
 
 over- 
 
278 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 overturning all thrones, remained dumb through 
 ignorance, and motionlefs through fear. 
 
 It was this a£t of patriotifm and courage which 
 difconcerted the foreign party, to which Robeft 
 pierre was attached; for when every veil fliall be 
 rent, we fhall fee that the moft cruel of men 
 were alfo the moft infamous, and that they were 
 in agreement with the eternal enemy of France 
 to procure themfelves a fupport or a retreat; fo 
 blind does guilt render guilty men ! The prin¬ 
 cipal mover of the offenfive war, or who at the 
 tribune propofed its declaration, deferves our 
 gratitude. It is a crime which the royalifts 
 impute at prefent to the Convention, from 
 which it would be eafy to abfolve it, and even 
 to turn to its glory; it faved on that day the 
 republic from an approaching invafion, medi¬ 
 tated on the part of the foreign powers ; for 
 the treaty of Pilnitz had prepared the difmem- 
 berment of France. And it was the chief of the 
 French, who in order to regain I know not what 
 fhadow, while he might have enjoyed a real au¬ 
 thority, had acceded to this fhameful treaty ! 
 Such fworn foes are defpots to their country, if 
 once their pride be ever fo little hurt. 
 
 The end of the Convention in provoking hoft 
 tilities, was to take advantage of the enthufiafm 
 of the French people, of thofe fublime and pa ft . 
 fionate efforts which fignalize the firft epochas of 
 the independence of a nation. Ought we to 
 
 have 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 27:9 
 
 have waited till the enemy, inundating our ter¬ 
 ritory, fhould give the fignal of combat 1 was it 
 not more advantageous, more worthy of us, to 
 be before-hand with him, fince a rupture had 
 been rendered inevitable by fo much treafon and 
 perfidy. Our emigrants, who had fled from the 
 firfl days of the Revolution when it was ftill in¬ 
 tact, pure, and folemn, thofe cowardly emigrants, 
 who are the true caufe of the horrible convul- 
 fions of the interior, in having taken a refolution 
 the moft impolitic, and the moll fatal to their 
 caufe, enjoyed the molt unbounded protection, 
 waiting however till they were facrified at Qui- 
 beron. Bands had already formed on all the 
 frontiers of the republic, and if the enemy ftill 
 delayed to attack us, it was only becaufe he 
 waited till we had been ruined by inteftine divi- 
 fions. In reality, had the ardour of our youth 
 been reftrained, it would have led us to have 
 wafted in inaCtion thofe decilive days in which, 
 full of the intoxication of our independence, 
 ftruck with new and extraordinary objects, 
 fcorched in feme meafure with an ele&ric Are, 
 we were capable of the greateft things. It is to 
 the offenftve war that we owe our conquefts, our 
 brilliant victories; it is by them that we have 
 forced Europe to tremble; three months later, 
 and the time was over. 
 
 Conquerors of Gemappe, of Fleurus, warriors 
 who have planted on the top of Mont Blanc the 
 
 three- 
 
280 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 three-coloured ftandard! it is to you I appeal; 
 your laurels, your fuccefles depofe in favour of 
 the decree, whofe fupreme wifdom and forefight 
 we atteft. The Brabanter freed, the Hollander 
 reftored to liberty, the Allobroge become French, 
 the road of Italy open to our intrepid foldiers ; 
 fuch are the fruits of the offenfive war; and the 
 fame men who have made it a crime in the Con¬ 
 vention, pretend that we ought to overturn every 
 throne, and cover Europe with republics, A 
 fine project without doubt, if it were pofiible to 
 realife it, and if thofe who had conceived it, or 
 rather who talked of it, had not made their 
 country groan under the moil difgraceful flavery. 
 And if the National Convention willed that 
 France fhould declare herfelf againfl England, it 
 was becaufe fiie felt that there was not, that there 
 never would be, any reconciliation between roy- 
 alifhs and republicans ; elements fo oppofite could 
 never unite. The coalition had hoifted the flower- 
 de-luce againfl the three-coloured cockade. The 
 Englifli nation was become anti-republican, not 
 certainly through conviftion, but to give us new 
 proofs of its jealous hatred ; for if England was 
 the conflant enemy of France a monarchy, it was 
 fiill much more fo of France a republic. Eng¬ 
 land faw that lhe could not much longer reap 
 the fruit of that fuperiority which the remains of 
 that uncertain liberty which her citizens fiill en¬ 
 joy, have given her, 
 
 h 
 
 V 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 28 * 
 
 Is not the ardent jealoufy of this nation im¬ 
 proved on every page of our hiftory ! Let us open 
 it, we (hall find that it is from this ifland that 
 have iffued for many ages paft the calamities by 
 which we have been affiidted. At all times her 
 fecret but adtive policy fomented divifions 
 amongft us, and fhe always lavifhed her fmiles 
 on that party which beft knew how to injure 
 France. Without going back to diftant epochas, 
 does not the prefent time offer us an incontefii- 
 ble chain of evidence ? 
 
 If we had fubmitted filently to the infults of fo¬ 
 reigners, if we had been obftinate in keeping pu- 
 fillanimous meafures with them, would they have 
 the lefs fomented the revolt of our colonies, fed our 
 difcords, furnifhed arms and ammunition to the 
 rebels of the interior, fubfidized the coalefced 
 powers, and even bands of obfcure royalifts en- 
 lifted at Paris ? They have not bluflied at coun¬ 
 terfeiting our paper money, without refiedling 
 that this example was the fignal of the ruin of 
 their own Banks. 
 
 The National Convention certainly never pre¬ 
 tended that we could attack or deflroy a powerful 
 marine in all its vigour ; but it was in our power to 
 hold the balance, and it is well known that the 
 reverfes which our fleets have met with, have 
 been owing to the blunders of thofe in the pay 
 of foreigners, 
 
 \ 
 
 Have 
 
282 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Have we not, it was faid at the time, as abun¬ 
 dant refources as thole of our enemies, to build 
 veffels and form failors ? Is it not aftonifhing 
 that a nation, which pofTelTes the fined ports , on 
 the ocean and the Mediterranean, which has co¬ 
 lonies, an extenfive commerce, intrepid marines, 
 as well as the greatefi part of materials for con- 
 ftruflion, Should have neglected this effential 
 branch of national greatnefs ? The a£tive genius 
 of republicanism required that our naval forces 
 fhould equal our land armies in ftrength and 
 fuccefs. It entered into its views and projects, 
 to fpread over the fea the fame patriotic enthu- 
 fiafm which had led the republican bayonet to 
 the Jias de charge . 
 
 We forefaw what every day confirms, that 
 foreigners could not behold, without a Sentiment 
 of rage, a powerful republic power erefting it- 
 felf by their fide, which from the extent of its 
 territory, the riches of its foil, the worth, the in¬ 
 dustry of its inhabitants, ought neceffarily to take 
 the lead of all other European nations. 
 
 A bad government palfied our expanfive ge¬ 
 nius, counteracted all the advantages with which 
 nature had favoured us. Defpotifm, like the 
 fun of the torrid zone, burnt and dried up the 
 mod fruitful foil; but the French republican was 
 going to compenfate thofe days of inaftion and 
 Servitude, by railing himfelf rapidly to the zenith 
 
 of 
 
 i 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 283 
 
 of profperity; the hoftile governments knew how 
 to appreciate this regenerating movement, and 
 made-ufe of every meafure in their power to im¬ 
 pede it. 
 
 It is evident, that it was by propagating ideas 
 refpe£iing the Blacks and Mulattoes, that they 
 kindled the torch which fet our colonies on 
 fire; that fame torch which they were care¬ 
 ful to keep at a diftance from their own. It 
 was by exaggerating, by corrupting philofophi- 
 cal opinions amongft us, that they placed to the 
 account of thofe feeling writers, who had died 
 tears over the fate of the Have, thofe furies to 
 which he gave himfelf up, when he had broken 
 his chains. 
 
 We know at prefent that royalifm, conftantly 
 protected by the enemies of France, had provided 
 a retreat for itfelf in thofe rich countries, and 
 that from the fhock of the three parties, have re- 
 fulted the mod horrible calamities. Hiffory will 
 publifh, that the plan had been formed to em¬ 
 bark Lewis the XVIth for St. Domingo *, and 
 from thence, like a new Pharamond, he was to 
 invite, rally, and concentrate his nobles and his 
 fanatics, and oppofe new France to the mother 
 
 * He was to have left Paris in a coal-barge, to have flopped 
 at Rouen at the houfe of Liancour, and from thence make 
 the belt of his way towards the new world. For want of am- 
 munition they had made a provifion of glafs bottles, to charge 
 the cannon that were to have protected his flight. 
 
 country: 
 
284 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 l 
 
 country : all the blood which had been fhed, was 
 the confequence only of thofe guilty and odious 
 preparations. 
 
 Our enemies knew alfo, that wrong and extra¬ 
 vagant ideas always gain on the lower orders of 
 the focial body, and fill it with ill-regulated paf- 
 fions 3 that there is no tyranny fo dangerous as 
 that of the people, that it is commonly the moft 
 fa&ious who feize on the reins of authority 3 that 
 then the vilefl inhabitants of a city acquire the 
 right and the power of injuring the mo ft vir¬ 
 tuous ; that narrow minds rufh always into ex¬ 
 tremes 3 that democracy, in fhort, changes itfelf 
 fo eafily into anarchy, that virtue and courage 
 never find themfelves on fo flippery a precipice 
 as in a political fermentation of this nature 3 and 
 the coalition organized the 31 ft of May, as the 
 means of bringing about a fanguinary di£tatorfhip. 
 Thus all thefe atrocious men who perfecuted the 
 republicans, were the agents or inftruments of fo¬ 
 reign powers, put in motion by the hoftile cabi¬ 
 nets. The thread of all thefe confpiracies ends 
 there, and without the bravery of our armies, and 
 the invincible union of our foldiers, it was over 
 with France. 
 
 Hiftory, in fhort, will develope what we have 
 only fketched. Every faction was carefted, bc- 
 caufe it could foment political troubles 3 under 
 every mafk, and every livery, the coalition have 
 breathed difcord, and perpetuated the empire of 
 
 anarchy 3 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 285 
 
 anarchy; Lewis, and Orleans, Robefpierre, Ba- 
 beuf, and Puifaye, parties the moft oppofite, 
 promoted alike their defigns, provided they raif- 
 ed cbftacles to hinder the French from rallying 
 round the republican government. 
 
 But we have at prefent a conftitution which 
 teaches us how to difcover and dete£t the ene¬ 
 mies of the republic, with whatever veil they 
 are covered, we fhall find out the friends of 
 kings ; hiftory, experience, general intereff, will 
 make us fufficiently comprehend that we can¬ 
 not combat beings fo ferocious with patience and 
 philofophy. 
 
 Whenever violations of the laws, of order, or 
 the principle of humanity, are in opieftion, their 
 infernal genius is readily of accord ; but we have 
 alfo the genius of the republic, and the intrepid 
 foldiers of our country, united with its virtuous 
 writers, will foon impofe filence on all thefe 
 hired libellifts, who having begun for a long 
 time pafi: in idea, the work of royal vengeance, 
 would wifii to finifh by crufhing the nation under 
 the horrible weight of European thrones. Such 
 blindnefs is fo monftrous, that we eafily trace in 
 thefe writings, cither abjcft minds, or venal 
 pens. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
286 
 
 N LW PICTURE Op PAR IP. 
 
 CHAP. LXXXV. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL PRIEST. 
 
 This is the name which was given at the be¬ 
 ginning: of the Revolution to the ecclefiaftic who 
 had taken the oath to obferve the civil conftitu- 
 tion of the clergy, decreed by the National Af- 
 fembly. At the time it exifted, Madame, (the 
 wife of the king’s brother), gave notice that (he 
 fhould have every day at dinner, two places for 
 two priefts who had not taken the civic oath. 
 Her cook being told of the invitation of his mif 
 trefs, faid, “ The bad priefls have only to come,. 
 £C I will give them a better regale than they 
 
 O O J 
 
 think of ; I will write the civic oath in little 
 fi< billets, which fhall be inclofed in the petits - 
 cc pates ; if they will not pronounce the civic 
 <c oath, they fhall at leaf! fwallow it.” 
 
 4 * 
 
 CHAP. 
 
3TEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 287 
 
 CHAP. LXXXVI, 
 
 TRIAL OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 A whole nation, too confiding, has been be¬ 
 trayed by its chief. Lewis the XVIth, difdain- 
 ing to be the king of a free people, has made ufe 
 of the deepeft diffimulation in order to get pof- 
 feliion again of the defpotic fceptre • in order to 
 crufh, by a Angle blow, one half of the nation, 
 and palfy the other. He is furrounded by con- 
 fpirators; he has liftened from preference, as 
 well as in ft in cl, to perverfe advifers, and has ma- 
 licioufly kept himfelf aloof from the good. 
 
 He did not blufli, in the field of the Federation, 
 at' making the whole French nation aflembled 
 witneffes of his perjury, nor feared at the fame 
 time to invite the foreign enemy into our terri¬ 
 tory, in order to ftifie our infant liberty. 
 
 Enraged at not having fucceeded in deftroying 
 Paris in 1789, rooted in his deep refentment, he 
 has fince meditated every plan, every fanguinary 
 project capable of fatisfying his vengeance; and 
 when his people, convinced of his perfidy, had 
 generoufly forgotten his abominable crime, the 
 crowned monfter calculated with the cold bloodi- 
 
 nefs 
 
28S NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 nefs of a cunningly concentrated mind, the mea- 
 fures the moft efficacious to ruin them. 
 
 Fallen into his own fnares, and feeing the 
 day of juftice arrive, he is anxious to interpret 
 in his favour certain words of a conftitution 
 which he has violated3 he willies to infinuate, 
 that, in the focial pa ft, we have permitted him 
 to affaffinate the nation, and that he had a right 
 to arm foreign fatellites, without rendering his 
 crowned head refponftble 1 This kind of defence 
 is a new crime, an infult committed againft hu¬ 
 man reafon. Although there ffiould be no law 
 againft parricidal children, becaufe the legiflator 
 had never conceived the poffibility of fuch a 
 crime, ought therefore the children, who had kill¬ 
 ed their father, to be acquitted ? Could we have 
 fuppofed in the text of the conftitution a con- 
 fpiring king, an incendiary, an aftaffin, a parri¬ 
 cide ! 
 
 It appears, therefore, very extraordinary, that 
 you lhould wifli to try Lewis, either by the con¬ 
 ftitution which no longer exifts, or by the penal 
 code. His crimes are notorious. The frontiers 
 have been inundated with blood 3 the blood of the 
 Parifians and the Marfeillais has bathed the walls 
 of the infernal chateau, from whence the demon 
 of defpotifm has vomited a thoufand deaths. 
 
 Political laws alone ought to punifti crimes of 
 an extraordinary nature, and in an extraordinary 
 
 < ■ ... crifis. 
 
KEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 289 
 
 crifis. All this is new, terrible, and neceffary* 
 It is a trial between an injured nation and a 
 guilty king. The political laws which belong 
 to great focieties, and which are continually 
 modifying them, are no longer thofe of natural, 
 or of civil right; they watch over the confti- 
 tution of the whole; and having no other end, 
 they are not fubje£ted to thofe equivocal words 
 by means of which the moft contradi&ory argu¬ 
 ments are equally maintained* 
 
 It is political law which orders war, which 
 caufes that houfe to be burnt which fhould con¬ 
 tain the germ of the plague, which protefts 
 the half-crown of the capitalifi, againft the hand 
 of the neceffitous man who covets it; which 
 after the death of one man, orders the death of 
 another. Thefe laws, political from their nature 
 and their utility, are formed in every great cir- 
 cumffance, and are peculiarly fuitable to a day 
 of temped. Thofe laws are political which 
 willed the inviolability of the king, in order that 
 he fhould be impaffable in the exercife of his 
 fublime funflions. The fame political laws 
 pronounced the forfeiture of royalty, becaufe 
 royalty was about to operate the diffolution of 
 the date; and there was no medium between 
 diforganization and the republic. Thus, it is 
 no longer jurifprudence which we fhould follow, 
 fince it is an infurreftion which has faid, Dejiroy 
 vol. i. U the 
 
290 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 the power. The Convention can therefore neither 
 delegate this authority, nor create a tribunal. 
 
 Let us then confult political laws, and lay 
 afide fuch as are liable to abufe and chicane. 
 The founders of liberty ought not to engage 
 themfelves in crooked queftions, and the per¬ 
 plexities of the bar. Too timorous a philofophy, 
 like the ferocious cry of Maratifm, would lead us 
 aflray at this moment. 
 
 What do the re-efiablifhment of the republic, 
 and national interefl: exafl ? On the one fide I 
 fee a nation, on the other an individual. This 
 individual deferves death, becaufe he has com¬ 
 mitted the public fafety, and been an enemy to 
 his country : but this individual, though fhorn of 
 his beams, is hill a demi-god to fanatical wor- 
 fhippers. Others fee in him the depofitary of 
 the immenfe riches which he diflributed to his 
 favourites; and they would with to reflore that 
 depofitary. 
 
 All thofe who love gold, regret the great dis¬ 
 tributor. Others put themfelves in idea in his 
 place, and interefl themfelves for the criminal on 
 account of the height of his fall. Policy fees 
 nothing but the national parracide, and does not 
 helitate to fay, “ The chief of fo many confpira- 
 “ cies, whom the people have too often pardon- 
 “ ed, ought to meet with no other laws but fuch 
 “ as are inexorable; the king, who called him- 
 
 felf 
 
 (C 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 291 
 
 * c felf the palladium ot the conflitution, • and 
 
 who a£led againft the conflitution in its 
 <c name, deferves death. The country, on the 
 cc border of the precipice, cries to every repre- 
 <c Tentative of the people. Avenge , avenge me /” 
 Under this point of view, and the only one which 
 political reafon can offer, the reprefentatives of 
 the people are no longer judges, lince the crimes 
 are proved, they are only avengers, and they 
 ought without delay to pronounce the punifh- 
 ment which thofe crimes deferve. Political laws 
 of a fuperior nature require that France fhould 
 no longer be given up to incertitude; we are in 
 civil war, two parties are flruggling for the alcen- 
 dency. The republic, or the defpotifm of an in¬ 
 dividual ! is it ufeful or neceffary that Lewis 
 fhould perifh ? 
 
 I maintain that the king is dead and buried; 
 he has no longer a political exigence. He ought 
 to be confidered, and we muff confider him, as 
 being for ever cut off from fociety; political laws 
 have deffroyed the political being ; they have 
 done what was neceffary. The king is no other 
 than a phantom. After the deflru£tion of royalty, 
 it was found policy to put afide, or adjourn, the 
 punifhment of the crowned head, for time is alfo 
 a legiflator which unravels the mo ft knotty quef- 
 tions; and the folution of the problem was in 
 this verfe of the fable, <c Before that time , either the 
 
 U 2 “ king, 
 
■ 2 §2 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 “ king , the aft, or /, Jhall die." But this wife re lb* 
 lution did not pieafe the diforganizing party; 
 that party invokes diforder, it loves difcord ; it 
 heats every thing in order to produce a confla-* 
 gration. One member goes fo far as to fay, “ I 
 u with to fee his head on the Caroufel and he 
 takes this language for that of a legiflator ; ano¬ 
 ther abufes the name of republic, without re* 
 flefling that the republic is not yet created. 
 
 True policy fays, “ Try Lewis the XYTth; 
 “ pronounce that he deferves death; but do not 
 u pronounce the punilhment of death.” 
 
 If Lewis the XVIth be no longer a political 
 being with refpeft to us, he is ftill fo for the po¬ 
 tentates of Europe. The anti-focial maxims 
 which make them confider flates as farms, and 
 the people as cattle, thefe maxims will dictate 
 to them new impoflures, they will calumniate 
 the French; they will abufe the ignorance of 
 their fubjebts ; they will not difcontinue pouring 
 in their gold to quicken their ferocious fatellites; 
 the brother of the traitor will be proclaimed re¬ 
 gent ; the fon, king; and his age and his inno* 
 cence will become virtues. We know how 
 much men are guided by words; every Bourbon 
 will call himfelf the proprietor of the throne $ 
 and will offer parts of France to whoever will 
 re-eftablifh him. The more extravagant thofe 
 pretenfkms are, the more they will prevail among 
 
 nations 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 29 % 
 
 nations accuftomed to regard kings as gods, 
 without whom nothing can exift, and who alone 
 can give life to the political body. 
 
 But Lewis is a prifoner; all the emigrant princes 
 dare aflert that he is no more ! Faithful to their 
 deteftable logic, they with only to tyrannife 
 under his name, or after him. The plains of 
 Chalons, violated by the enemy, prove that Lewis 
 is literally a prifoner of war; and it is not per¬ 
 mitted to put a prifoner to death. 
 
 If on the morning of the 10th of Auguft he 
 had fallen under the fword of the avengers of li¬ 
 berty, his death would not have been a crime; 
 but a great aft of juftice in the eyes of the world; 
 for every thing then was permitted. But Provi¬ 
 dence, which has difpofed of every event of this 
 great Revolution, did not permit this, and thus 
 feems to have indicated to the French the glory 
 of forming a republic, and fparing at the fame 
 time the blood of their moll cruel enemy. The 
 example will be the fame for every crowned 
 head; to make Lewis the XVIth fall, would be 
 to make it believed, that he was dill formidable. 
 He is no longer fo; the incomprehenfible talif- 
 man is broken. The murderer of the Baftille, of 
 Nancy, of Tournay, of the Tuilleries, will wear 
 
 on his front the eternal leal of reprobation ; and 
 
 ♦ 
 
 his foot will no longer tread the living foil of li¬ 
 berty ; he will no longer have the foothing fatif- 
 
 faftion 
 
294 NEW PICTURE OF PAR IS, 
 
 faflion of beholding it. From the depth of his 
 obfcure prifon, he will hear our fongs of vi&ory; 
 and who know's but remorfe will penetrate his 
 heart with the tears of true repentance; per¬ 
 haps, in the bitternefs of his grief, he will ex¬ 
 claim, cc I w r as a fool, a barbarian, but men had 
 “ made me a king.” 
 
 We mud take then into our account the mo¬ 
 ral re-a£tion, which for ever turns the mind to¬ 
 wards pity, when juftice fheds blood. If the 
 king perilhes on a fcaffold, this tragedy will di¬ 
 vide Europe; it will be the origin of endlefs de¬ 
 bates, which will ferve as a pretext againft the 
 French. 
 
 Captivity precludes thefe bloody commotions. 
 Thofe who might be tempted to call themfelves 
 kings, will not venture to do fo, we fliall have 
 no Pretenders, no further intereft will be taken 
 in a phantom which has vanithed ; and Europe 
 will fee, that impunity is no longer the privilege 
 of potentates. 
 
 Such is nearly the fumming up which I made 
 on this great queftion, and my opinion was deli¬ 
 vered in almoft the fame terms. 
 
 The Girondines were defirous of faving the 
 king, but they did not with at the fame time 
 to lofe their popularity ; and the defpotifm of 
 the mob being then omnipotent, it w x as who 
 ihould carefs *it mofn The Girondines fug- 
 
 gefted 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 295 
 
 gefted the appeal to the people, hoping that 
 by taking this courfe, the iffue of the trial 
 would have favourable chances; but they de¬ 
 ceived themfelves, and I made repeated efforts 
 to diffuade them, but in vain. I told them, 
 they would themfelves repent of the appeal to 
 the people, which I myfelf oppofed. They 
 might have divided on the queftion of capital 
 punifhment, but they united in the fame vote, 
 and thereby compofed the voice of the majo¬ 
 rity, though their fecret defign was to fpare 
 the nation the fight of a king dragged to the 
 
 fcaffold, - “ 
 
 ♦ 
 
 It is thus, that in great political affairs, refine¬ 
 ment and difiimulation bring about events di- 
 reXly contrary to thofe which were intended. 
 I was of opinion, that no cunning was neceffary, 
 and fuperior to fear, and firm in my principles, 
 I feparated myfelf on this occafion from the Gi- 
 rondines, whom I had always loved and efleemed. 
 I voted againft the appeal to the people, declar¬ 
 ing myfelf with the fame franknefs againft the 
 pain of death. 
 
 The examination of this queftion gave me a 
 fever for eight and forty hours, and made vo¬ 
 lumes of reflexions pafs through my head. I 
 fell fick j and having, I think, difcovered the 
 true point of view, I do not conceal my opinion, 
 that thofe who voted differently have committed 
 
 a 'political 
 
296 
 
 NEW PICTURE OT PARIS. 
 
 a political blunder. Probably they had not made 
 the fame exertions to come to the folution of 
 this great problem, which neverthelefs will be 
 finally decided for pofterity, by the pen of forne 
 future Tacitus. As for myfelf, I have done my 
 duty as a man, and a legiflator ; and I do it ftiU 
 as a free and independent writer. 
 
 CHAP. LXXXVir. 
 
 OF THE DETHRONED RACE. 
 
 Is it indeed the fame individual, crowned and 
 confecrated at Rheims, mounted on a raifed 
 flooring, furrounded by all the nobility kneeling 
 at his feet, hailed by a thoufand acclamations, 
 adored almoft as a god, whofe look, and voice, 
 and gefture, were as fo many orders; he who was 
 furrounded with honours and enjoyments; in 
 fhort, feparated as it were from the reft of man¬ 
 kind, is it really the fame man whom I fee hand¬ 
 led by four of the executioner’s helpers, and his 
 clothes ftript off with violence ; whofe voice is 
 drowned by . the noife of the drum, tied to a 
 plank, ftill ftruggling, and receiving, fo ill pre¬ 
 pared, the ftroke of the guillotine, that he has 
 
 not 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 297 
 
 < 
 
 not his neck, but the hinder part of his head, 
 and the jaw, horribly dilTevered? 
 
 H is blood hows : fliouts of joy from eighty 
 thoufand armed men affail my ears, and are re¬ 
 peated along the quays. I fee the ftudents of the 
 Quatre Nations lifting their hats in the air. His 
 blood flows: it is, who fhall dip the end of his 
 finger in it, a pen, a fcrap of paper. One per- 
 fon taftes it, and fays, “ It is dsvilijhly [alt ” An 
 executioner on the edge of the fcaffold fells and 
 diftributes little packets of his hair ; the rope that 
 bound him is purchafed; every one carries off 
 a little fragment of his clothes, or fome bloody 
 veftige of this tragical fcene. I faw.the people 
 filing off, holding by each other’s arms, laughing, 
 and talking familiarly, as if they were returning 
 home from a fete. 
 
 There was no alteration in their countenances, 
 and thofe have afferted a falfehood who have 
 ffated that a ftupor reigned through the city. It 
 was only fome days after that reflexion, and a fort 
 of miftruftful fear of the future, call a cloud over 
 fome particular focieties. The day of punilhment 
 made no impreflion : the theatres were open, the 
 drinking-houfes on the fide of the bloody fcene, 
 emptied their cans as ufual, and they cried cakes 
 and petits pates around the decapitated body. 
 He was placed like any other criminal in the wic- 
 ker-balket, carried to the Magdalen burying- 
 ground, where he received an ample dofe of 
 
 quick- 
 
29S NEW PICTURE OF FARIS. 
 
 quick-lime, which fo calcined him, that it would 
 be impoflible for all the gold of the potentates of 
 Europe to form the leaf! relick of his remains. 
 
 The Minifter of Juftice announced and read 
 to him the fentence of death. It appears that 
 Louis the XVIth had fome hope even to the laft 
 moment; for it is certain, that he flew into apaf- 
 flon, and ftruggled with five or fix of the execu¬ 
 tioners. He fpoke for fome little time, and pretty 
 loud. 
 
 It is pretended that it was the player Duga- 
 zon, who, without the intervention of Santerre, 
 ordered, as if it were the command of the gene¬ 
 ral, the beating of the drums. Religion feems 
 alfo to have afiifted the King in this horrible paf- 
 lage from the throne to the fcaffold, and the words 
 of his confeffor were fublime. “ Go, fon of St, 
 Louis, afcend to heaven /” 
 
 From a certain point of view, thrones are only 
 monticules, and the death of a king on a fcaffold 
 is not one of thofe events which difturb phyfical 
 order, or which can interrupt one of the leaft laws 
 of nature, or the progrefs of things here below. 
 Louis the XVIth might have died aftill more pain¬ 
 ful death ; but men, in overturning an idol, re¬ 
 main affrighted at the blows which they have 
 given it, and we are all more or lefs like the ffa- 
 tuary, who falls on his knees before his own 
 work. 
 
 I can 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. “299 
 
 I can attefl, that five or fix days after the pu- 
 nifhment, the greater part of the Legiflature who 
 had voted for death were affrighted at what they 
 had done. They looked at each other with afto- 
 niffiment, and felt a fort of inward fear, which 
 looked very much like repentance. Sometimes 
 they fought, fometimes they fhunned, thofe who 
 had been of a contrary opinion, and whom they 
 did not dare to interrogate. I remember very 
 well that they met in groups, whifpered to each 
 other, and were embarraffed at our approach. 
 
 It is certain, that at this epocha an aimoft 
 abfolute feparation took place between thofe who 
 had and thofe who had not voted the death of 
 the king. That enmities were inflamed, that ha¬ 
 treds increafed, that open or concealed reproaches 
 affumed a formidable afpe£t; and that, in fhort, 
 the punifhment of Louis the XVlth threatened 
 all thofe who had been willing to fave him from 
 it. 
 
 Thofe infolent and raffi menaces forced us 
 fometimes to fpeak thundering but tardy truths. 
 We kept no longer any terms with men, our 
 equals, who dared to call us pufillanimous beings. 
 To infult us, to devote us to the fury of the popu¬ 
 lace, there was no longer any thing common 
 between us, becaufe they could not forgive us our 
 opinion. Having made the head of Louis fall, 
 they were emboldened to caufe the heads of their 
 colleagues to fall on the fame place. It was a 
 
 delirium 
 
300 NEW PICTURE OF FAR IS, 
 
 delirium of fury, of vengeance, and of rage, and 
 I believe they did much more from terror than 
 from republicanism 
 
 I perceived that feveral of them felt deep re- 
 niorfe. Defacy, a mild, modeft, and honeft man, 
 deeply verfed in hiftory, died with grief. Alas! 
 inch are men! they are moved, drawn ignorantly 
 in, give way to the paffions of others, and dare 
 not have any opinion of their own. There are 
 few who know how to preferve any confiftency 
 of character, when every thing threatens and 
 (hakes around them. 
 
 The Girondins were afflifled at having made 
 ufe of a ufelefs finejje. They repented of the falfe 
 ftep they had taken by their appeal to thepeople y 
 and they faw that their adverfaries were meta- 
 morphofing themfelves into tygers to devour 
 them. They had not that courage which pre¬ 
 vents and defies dangers, and believed in the in¬ 
 formation, the wifdom of the nation, and in its 
 power to rife in their favour. The nation, unde¬ 
 cided, and divided likewife with refpe£t to this 
 great event, knew not whom to acquit or con¬ 
 demn, and abandoned alike to their own def- 
 tiny, the different parties of the National Con¬ 
 vention, waiting the refult with a fort of inconceiv¬ 
 able apathy which was fatal toitfelf. 
 
 The Queen affuredly enjoyed neither the 
 efteem nor aff’e£lion of the public. The recent 
 ffory of the necklace, her immoderate love for 
 
 the 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 301 
 
 the Emperor her brother, her fuppofed hatred for 
 France, did not conciliate the refpeft of the 
 people. They recollected her firft arrival in the 
 Court of Verfailles, which had been ftgnalized 
 by a tremendous burft of thunder, and three thou- 
 fand unhappy people cruthed to death, or ilifled in 
 the place Louis Quinze, amidft the rejoicings 
 for her marriage, on the fame place which fliewas 
 one day to ftain with her blood. She had ren¬ 
 dered herfelf ridiculous from playing too often 
 the adtrefs, exhibiting her fon to the people, 
 rftaking him her fhield, treating him as a king 
 with a fort of gefture and movement borrowed 
 from our tragedies, efpecially after the had fur- 
 nifhed calumny with arms from her manners, her 
 petulance, her noCturnal courfes, and that the 
 people were accuftomed to regard the little prince 
 as the fruit of her illicit amours. Nothing was 
 the fubjeft of converfation but her exceiles : they 
 were fuch, real or imaginary, that it was only at 
 this epocha that they talked of a vice almoft un¬ 
 known, which has no name in our language, and 
 whofe fcandal, or rather excefs of horror, her.ex¬ 
 ample feemed to wipe away. 
 
 Hiflory will tell what precipitated the punifh- 
 ment of the Queen. I do not know the details, 
 but I am perfuaded that the authors of the death 
 of Louis the XVIth, having their own exigence 
 threatened, braved the menaces of their enemies, 
 and were defirous of making them believe that 
 
 they 
 
S02 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 they were not afraid. Fear has played fo great 
 a part in our revolution; its altar was fo large, 
 that what was only done to fhun an adverfary, to 
 ftrike him with horror, was often attributed to 
 policy, ambition, and profound wiles. What 
 tends to prove this remark is, that the king’s lif¬ 
 ter, who had no other crime than that of her 
 birth, to fpeak the language of the times, was not 
 fpared, and that it is impoffible to guefs at pre- 
 fent what could have been the motives of fuch 
 an execution. 
 
 To brave crowned heads, to humble them, to 
 render all reconciliation impoffible, to attach the 
 whole nation to the Revolution, by attaching it 
 to its exceffes, was the end of thole who refolved 
 to govern it. What faved the king’s daughter, 
 idolized by her father, whom ffie faw go to the 
 fcaffold (while ffie was for a long time ignorant 
 that her mother had undergone the fame fate), 
 was lefs her youth than the confufed hope which 
 Robefpierre indulged of arriving, through her 
 means, to a rank which had then no name, but to 
 which he and his party would foon have known 
 how to have given one. The chimerical and the 
 improbable were at that time calculated on as 
 ordinary and poffible things. 
 
 The Dauphin of France, the title which for¬ 
 merly belonged to the prefumptive heir of the 
 crown, had received from the Conftituent National 
 Affiembly, which determined the lotof the throne, 
 
 the 
 
new PICTURE OF PARIS. 303 
 
 the title of Prince Royal. He was prifoner in 
 the Temple ; and there his mother, refuming the 
 old etiquette of the court, and rehearfing Sueto¬ 
 nius, affe&ed to treat this child with all the re- 
 fpe£l due to a monarch. He was confidered as 
 Louis the XVIIth in his family at the prifon 
 (poor human pride!) whilft the rebels in the 
 Vendee proclaimed him by this title, and all their 
 a£ls were made in his name. This child was fix 
 years and fome months old when the gates of the 
 Temple opened to receive him, and were fiiut on 
 him for ever. The commune had given him for a 
 governor, infiitutor, and preceptor, a cobler named 
 Simon . All his care was to unlearn him from be¬ 
 ing a king, or to enaft the king. He taught him 
 to fwear, to curfe his father, to call his mother a 
 
 -, to fing the Carmagnole, and cry Vive les 
 
 Sans-culottes! and what proved the progrefs of 
 that new education, was the part they made the 
 child a£l on his mother’s trial. Minutes were 
 made of his declarations (monfirous proces-ver- 
 bal—but what was there inconceivable at that 
 time !) from which it appeared to refult—I fiiud- 
 der while I trace thofe lines—that Marie Antoi¬ 
 nette had attempted to draw from her fon thofe 
 refources which libertinifm did not permit her to 
 find in her prifon. At this terrible imputation, 
 Marie Antoinette anfwered like an infulted mo¬ 
 ther in thefe words, full ol noble dignity : “ It is 
 not fo ; and I here invoke every mother prefent. 
 
 “ Let 
 
304 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 <s Let them fay if that be poflible and ilie was 
 klmoft fuffocated by grief. 
 
 The child became as it were liftlefs, and died 
 at the Temple in confequence of a fcrophulous 
 humour which ftifled him. He was not poifoned. 
 Connected intimately for five-and-thirty years pad 
 with the furgeon who opened the body, I atteft 
 that he is incapable of figning any other thing 
 than the truth. 
 
 The two brothers of Louis the XVIth would 
 have put their heads under the national razor 
 (to make ufe of a term which was given to the 
 horrible inftrument of punifliment), but for their 
 prudence and lucky efcape. Their neice was 
 preferved only to ferve as an exchange to the de¬ 
 puties whom the bafe treafon of the infamous 
 Dumourier had delivered to the enemy, and the 
 head of Drouet in danger caufed that of the 
 Auftrian Princefs to be refpefled: no other name 
 was given her. 
 
 The Queen loft neither the eve nor the day of 
 her punifliment, the paffion and inftindt of a wo¬ 
 man. She ironed her cap with care, drefled her- 
 felf with the fame tafte, and with a kind of fim- 
 plicity. She faid, in her flock bed, to the Gen- 
 d’armes, who were feparated from her only by a 
 fcreen, “ Do you think that the people will let 
 me go to the fcaffold without tearing me in pieces ?” 
 and the G end’arm e am wered, “You will go, Ma- 
 “ dam, to the fcaffold, without any harm happen- 
 
 4 “ ing 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. S05 
 
 u ing to you.’’ She had no carriage, but was 
 dragged in a cart like the wife of Roland, but 
 fhe had not her floicifm. The people faw her 
 pafs with an indifference which bordered on con¬ 
 tempt, and which her conduft had infpired. 
 When flie came oppofite the Palais Royal, fhe 
 could not fupprefs an emotion of indignation: it 
 was from this palace that had iffued her dreadful 
 reverfes. She fainted on the fcaffold; thefpe6fators 
 were as tranquil as if it had been an ordinary vic¬ 
 tim. There were neither infults, nor outrage, nor 
 tears, nor regrets. 
 
 It is faid that a Ruffian poet is making trage¬ 
 dies on all thofe dethroned perfonages; but three 
 thoufand years muff elapfe, or a greater diflance of 
 leagues, to render noble and pathetic that which 
 ■near, and under our eyes, infpired only flight and 
 tranfitory emotions. 
 
 But the fparkling Count d’Artois, hare-brained 
 young man, plunged in every fort of diffipation, 
 whofe whole courfe of literature was the Pucelle 
 of Voltaire, which he knew by heart. What does 
 he fay, or think, of all thefe reverfes ? Did he 
 fufpeft, when given up to every fort of pleafure, 
 and believing that royalty was inftituted only to 
 favour his taffes, and pay for them, what, to 
 ufe a trivial expreffion, was his flar ? Does he 
 remember the day when he made the tour of Pa¬ 
 ris on horfeback, to vifit the gates through which 
 the troops were to enter to lack the city? Has 
 
 voe. i. X he 
 
 . , 
 
 
Jp 
 
 SO* NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 he forgotten the moment when the French guards 
 feemed to wait only for the word of command to 
 fire on the people, in order to ground their arms ? 
 So much was he efteemed and beloved! 
 
 What has he done beyond the Rhine ? With 
 what glory has he covered himfelf? What has 
 he done for all this ariftocracy, of which he is 
 the w T orthy chief? What indemnity will he offer 
 to the Emigrants? Was it after his plan that 
 the greater part of a corps was fent to deftruflion, 
 and to be fliot at Quiberon? 
 
 The principal caufe of the ruin of the court was 
 undoubtedly that Count d’Artois, His haugh- 
 tinefs was difpleafmg to every one : he had intro- 
 duced into France thofe Englifh follies which me- 
 tamorphofed our princes into fo many jockeys; 
 his prodigalities encouraged thofe of the Queen; 
 their intimacies were the fubje£t of cenfure; and 
 their common dilapidations made it faid that the 
 public treafure was given up to pillage. In fa£l, 
 the revenues of the Count cl’Artois not being Eff¬ 
 icient for his expences, the king had often paid 
 his debts, which were continually renewing, and 
 he left many millions unpaid at his departure. 
 But it is to be obferved, that Monjieuir , who was 
 as oeconomical as his brother was prodigal, was 
 in the habit of taking, in order to add to his own 
 flock, the equivalent of what M. d’Artois receiv¬ 
 ed to feed his creditors. 
 
 The 
 
Hr EW PICTURE OF PARIS. 307 
 
 The old aunts of the king, as if infpired with 
 the fpirit of divination, infilled fo much on leav¬ 
 ing France, that at length they accomplifhed their 
 purpofe. Arrelted at fome leagues from Paris, 
 they found the means of getting forward. It is 
 very likely that the plan of decampment having 
 been arranged for the whole of the royal family, 
 they had only taken the firfl: Hep* They went to 
 Rome, to vifit the Pope and Abbe Maury, the 
 great inventor of emigration. But whillt I am 
 writing, fee the French troops entering Rome at 
 quick Heps, our foldiers planting the three-colour¬ 
 ed flag on the walls of the capitol, and faying to 
 the fliades of Cato, Brutus, and Pompey, Rejoice, 
 your republic is again reftored! 
 
 Sufficient attention was not paid at the time 
 to the death of Choifeul, when he was going to 
 be recalled to the minillry, or rather to be the foie 
 minifter. This event deprived the vampire call 
 of a jealous and (kilful prote6lor. Fie would 
 have fupported the ariftocracv, and if the nobles 
 have dared to threaten our frontiers, unite them- 
 
 4 
 
 felves with Leopold and Francis the Second 3 
 arm themfelves againll the country with facrilegi- 
 ous Heel; raife troops; treat with foreign powers; 
 give to one of their accomplices the title of Regent 
 of the kingdom ; what would they not have done, 
 having for king a Choifeul, who would have fub- 
 iefted the monarch to them? 
 
 X 2 
 
 We 
 
308 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 We muft allow that Verfailles, which wanted 
 to make the counterpoife, was become the fport of 
 Paris ; but imagination can fcarcely figure to itfclf 
 the ridiculous gaiety, the turbulence, the intoxi¬ 
 cated buffoonery of the Parifians going to court to 
 fetch the baker, the baker’s wife, and the baker’s 
 little boy, which was the name given to the royal 
 family. Two hundred thoufand men on the road, 
 laughing, brawling, dancing, hallooing, calling 
 out, They are bringing him . Every foldier holding 
 under his arms a girl of the town, the haranguers 
 feated on the cannon, others putting on theirheads 
 the grenadier’s caps, veffels of wine near pow T - 
 der barrels, green branches {tuck on the fire-locks, 
 (bouts, cries, clamours, the image of the ancient 
 Saturnalia; nothing can paint this proceffion 
 which accompanied the monarch. Never was 
 King Log fo tumbled about in the frog-pond, 
 the nobles, hidden in the crowd, animated this 
 tumult, and enjoyed the confufion of the chief 
 whom they hoped foon to replace. 
 
 It was the fame when he was brought back 
 from Varennes : it feemed the inftitution of an 
 annual feflival to make merry at the expence of 
 the court. The Parilian, according to his own 
 expreffion, made a farce of thofe tumultuous days, 
 in which extreme licence w r ore fuch a char after 
 of originality and folly, that it would be difficult 
 to give it a name. Any one would have fup- 
 pofed it a king of draw or wicker-work, which 
 
 the 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 309 
 
 the mob was parading, inftead of a defcendant of 
 Louis the XIVth. The fpell was entirely broken; 
 and as there was not the leaff (hadow of refpecf, 
 it was nothing more than a pleafant day of riot 
 amid ft the mod; folemn political events. Terrible 
 gaiety of the Parisians! more dangerous than their 
 fury. The mobbifh familiarity which embraced 
 the baker and the baker’s little boy, did more for 
 the Revolution than the pikes, the fcythes, and 
 bill-hooks (luck on the end of long dicks. Ari- 
 ftotle has defined man a laughing animal, but no 
 one can imagine to what point he is, or may be¬ 
 come fo, unlefs he has feen thofe facetious fcenes, 
 thofe burlefque conceptions, thofe fantafiic deli¬ 
 riums of extravagance, which announced a people 
 fuddenly let loofe, and willing to make up in a 
 day for the painful reftraint under which they 
 had languifhed for fo many ages; and I may 
 be credited in afierting, that all the fpeclators, 
 as if they were aftonifhed at fome extraordinary 
 novelty, partook of the tumultuous joy of the mul¬ 
 titude. Was Momus bufy then in (baking his 
 bells throughout this immenfe city? At the 
 theatre, the farce comes after the tragedy, but 
 here the tragical fcenes were preceded by the 
 farce. 
 
 In this manner the fall of the royal family was 
 brought about by a crowd of accefiary circum- 
 fiances at prefent forgotten, but which will teach 
 
 the 
 
S10 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 the hidorian that the greated cataltiDphes do not 
 take place from a Tingle blow. 
 
 What an epocha refults from hence for future 
 generations ! our viftorious arms have revived the 
 Roman republics. The King’s aunts, who had 
 taken refuge at the Vatican as a fure, a tranquil 
 afylum, are forced to fly; the coalition of kings 
 is punifhed in the papal idol; it lofes its throne, 
 which con trailed fo ludicroufly with that of the 
 Caefars; the old didributer of crowns has no lon¬ 
 ger one for himfelf. This reverend juggler, to 
 whom fuperllition and credulity offered incenfe, 
 the mover of the troubles of the world, who di¬ 
 vided at the fame time empires and families, au¬ 
 thor of fo many evils committed in the name of 
 religion, alternately perfidious, cruel, cunning; 
 the eternal enemy of increasing light, the impu¬ 
 dent vender of indulgences, the Pope, fees his 
 power diffolved by contempt. His cardinals are 
 the fird to chant the hymn which celebrates Rome 
 redored to its ancient liberty. Rife from your 
 tombs, ye great, who have formed the glory of 
 the capitol. They are Frenchmen whore-edablidi 
 your confuls, they regenerate the nations who 
 wilh to be their friends, and in every place where 
 humanity (hall require the dedru 61 ion of defpotic 
 power, of that mondrous power which is injuri¬ 
 ous to the dignity of man. Every where he will 
 find armies of French citizens, who, proud of this 
 title, will be anxious to aid him to found or re¬ 
 build 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 311 
 
 build the altars of liberty. The fate of the Court 
 of Rome will be that of all defpotic courts; and 
 the foldiers of other nations, when the moment 
 for abandoning the proud defpots who reign 
 by their crimes, fliaft arrive, will act the part of 
 the Pope’s foldiers. 
 
 CHAP. LXXXVIII. 
 
 BALLS A LA VICTIME. 
 
 Twenty-three theatres, eighteen hundred 
 balls opened every day : this is what compofes 
 the evening’s amufement. 
 
 Here lighted luftres refieft their fplendor on 
 beauties dreffed a la Cleoptre , a la Diane , a la 
 Pfycke j there, a fmoky lamp {beds its oily beams 
 on a troop of wafherwomen, who dance in wooden 
 ihoes, with their mufcadins, to th.e noife of fome 
 forry fcraper. I know not whether the firft of 
 thefe dancers have any great affection for the re¬ 
 publican forms of the Grecian governments, but 
 they have modelled the form of their drefs after 
 that of Afpafia j bare arms, naked breafts, feetfhod 
 with fandals, hair turned in treffes around their heads 
 
 ♦ by modifh hair-dreffers, who ftudy the antique 
 
 \ 
 
 bulls. Guefs where are the pockets of thefe dan¬ 
 cers ? 
 
 % 
 
312 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 cers ? They have none : they hick their fan in 
 their belt, and lodge in their bofom a flight purfe 
 of morocco leather, in which are a few fpare 
 guineas. As to the ignoble handkerchief, it is in 
 the pocket of fome courtier, to'whom they addrefs 
 themfelves in cafe of need. 
 
 The fliift has long fince been banifhed, as it 
 feemed only to fpoil the contours of nature ; and 
 befides, it was an inconvenient part of drefs, and 
 the flefh-coloured, knit-work, (ilk ftays, which 
 ftuck clofe to the body, did not leave the behol¬ 
 der to divine, but perceive every fecret charm. 
 This is what w T as called being dreffed a la fauvage> 
 and the women dreffed in this manner during a 
 rigorous winter, in fpite of froft and fnow. 
 
 And while an hundred tables offer trees bend¬ 
 ing under fruit of every feafon, fruits in ice, while 
 fountains pour in abundance orgeat, lemonade, 
 liqueors, the poor ftock-holder fells by piece-meal 
 firft his ornamental pieces of furniture, and after¬ 
 wards the piece mod; in ufe. 
 
 Who would fuppofe, in feeing thefe brilliant 
 rooms, and thefe women with naked feet, and 
 whofe toes are all adorned with diamonds, that 
 we have but juft efcaped from the reign of ter¬ 
 ror ? So many thoufands of men who have fallen 
 under it leave no traces; and even regrets for the 
 old regime, if they are ever heard, are become fo 
 hackneyed, and ariftocracifm is defcended fo low, ’ 
 that no one carries any longer thefe fans dexteroufly 
 n ftrewed 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 313 
 
 ftrewed with flowers-de-luce, nor thofe myfterious 
 fnufF and comfit boxes, which, by a fecret fpring, 
 difcovered the profcribed infignia of royalty. The 
 balls a la vittime, which I ought not to pafs by 
 without mentioning, are no longer talked of but 
 as a frolickfome amufement. 
 
 Will pofterity believe, that perfons, whofe rela¬ 
 tions had perifhed on the fcaffold, had inftituted 
 not days of folemn affii£tion, and common comme¬ 
 moration, in which, clothed in mourning, they 
 fhould have manifefted their grief for Ioffes lb re¬ 
 cent and fo cruel, but days of dancing, where 
 nothing was feen but the valfe, and joyous eating 
 and drinking? To be admitted to the feaft, it 
 was neceffary to exhibit a certificate, ftating that 
 the candidate had loft a father, a mother, a huf- 
 band, a wife, a brother, a fifter, by the guillotine. 
 The death of collateral relations did not give the 
 right of admiflion to this amufement. Was it 
 Holbein’s Dance of Death which infpired fuch an 
 idea? And why, amidft the noife of violins, did we 
 not fee a dance of headlefs fpeQtres ? 
 
 - Vain efforts of ariftocracy to form new cabals! 
 Every thing which bears the ftamp of fanaticifm, 
 or of extravagant inftitutions, vanifli as quickly 
 away. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 « 
 
CHAP. LXXXIX. 
 
 BAGATELLE. 
 
 This name reminds us of the country-feat of 
 
 J 
 
 the Count d’Artois, who has taken refuge at 
 Edinburgh, in an old and gothic palace; but fo 
 far convenient, as it is an afylum againft impri- 
 fonment for debts ; and the ci-devant prince con¬ 
 fines himfelf there, to avoid the puriuit of his 
 creditors. 
 
 It is a fort of fpeculation to rent a houfe which 
 recals royal ideas; there they make illumina¬ 
 tions, let off fky-rockets and other firew r orks, 
 while the explofion of bombs, the cruih of en¬ 
 chanted palaces, form the image of the fall of 
 the great, who, in the fame place, were furround- 
 ed with every pleafure, but with which they ne¬ 
 ver indulged the public. 
 
 The Elyfec Bourbon, is alfo the fcene of theie 
 illuminations and fireworks; and for three livres 
 you purchafe the privilege of treading, with the 
 multitude, thofe magnificent gardens, which 
 were never entered but when vifited by the 
 friends or the flatterers of the prince. 
 
 This is not a little regale for the enemy of the 
 old regime, for the ftern republican, and even 
 
 for 
 
new PICTURE OF PARIS. 315 
 
 for the philofopher, who remembers the infolent 
 pride of thefe princes, and their contempt for 
 merit and virtue. 
 
 Bagatelle recals a crowd of ideas, which are 
 not to the glory of its antient poffeffor j but as 
 he had the power at that time of difpofing of 
 benefices, he was fang by the Abbe Delille, the 
 paradifl of Virgil; who alfo made verfes to repay 
 the favours he had obtained, or thofe he folicited. 
 
 i 
 
 Poets, muficians, venders of found and fmoke ! 
 no, you do not bellow immortality ; you fome- 
 times only confecrate a fhameful celebrity. The 
 interefled mufe of the Abbe Delille has made 
 the Count d’Artois flill more dwarfifh than he 
 was, although the Abbe Delille calls him his 
 mailer, and aim oil a fecond Auguftus. 
 
 CHAP. XC. 
 
 ASSIGNATS. 
 
 Amidst fo many extraordinary things, paper- 
 money undoubtedly holds the firlt rank. It was 
 created by neceffity, as we throw a wooden 
 bridge over a foaming flood ; and as we muft 
 pafs over the trembling bridge, we pafs with our 
 eyes fhut. 
 
 There, 
 
316 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 There never was a more bold conception ; it 
 was followed by that law, not lefs aftoniffiing, 
 which fixed the price of commodities, and mer¬ 
 chandize. The maximum fuftained the affignats, 
 and gave them life and motion. The moft rapid 
 circulation was eftablifhed ; it was already cal¬ 
 culated, that there was twice too many affignats 
 in circulation, but the affignats flill kept up ; to 
 kill the paper money, it was neceffary, if I may 
 ufe the expreffion, to wiffi to kill it, and even to 
 kill it with heartfelt pleafure ; an emiffion, (till 
 more extravagant, was neceffary to give it a mor¬ 
 tal wound. But it preferved its vital, vivacious 
 character, even in the agony of death. 
 
 The affignat made as many traders as there 
 were men; no article of trade was flagnant; 
 every objeft had its value ; the ups and downs 
 performed the fame operation in the body politic, 
 as the motion of the fyftole, and the diaftole, in 
 the human body. 
 
 And to follow up my firft comparifon; in de¬ 
 fault of a bridge of ftone, the bridge of wood, 
 though menacing ruin, ferved as a paffage for us 
 over the abyfs opened to fwallow us up. 
 
 Singular and aftoniihing experiment ! We 
 make every thing of men, when we know* how 
 to command them ; let us recoiled, that this fign 
 was neceffary at the time, that it has confounded 
 all timid reafonings; that it has done wonders, 
 that it has created the means, multiplied the re- 
 
 fources. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 317 
 
 fources, {attained the armies, and led them a 
 thoufand times to viftory; it has made the Re¬ 
 volution ; gained liberty, founded the republick, 
 and would ttill have lived, if the moil deplorable 
 folly had not ftupidly modified this vigorous cre¬ 
 ation. The mandat was the operation of a 
 quack, who wanted to teach how to hide a ball; 
 the mandat deftroyed that magic which prefides 
 over every government, the thing in the world 
 into which the moft of what we call magic en¬ 
 ters, to diftinguifh a multitude of effefts whofe 
 caufe is fecret, and invifible: the caufe once 
 known, every thing crumbles away. 
 
 I confider the annihilation of the aflignat 
 as a moft difhonourable fault in the Convention, 
 and the moft contrary to that bold, and fome- 
 times daring fyftem, which prepared fo many 
 triumphs. An everlafting contempt ought to be 
 annexed to that Committee of Finances, which 
 broke the charm, and ftupidly fubftituted one 
 paper for another ; this was ordering irreparable 
 evils, and it is moft aftonifhing that the nation 
 refilled this terrible back-ftroke, and that the 
 fudden paftage from paper to money was not 
 marked by any other calamities than the ruin of 
 a few individuals. 
 
 The aflignat was a tax which would have 
 been refufed to government, and the moft ex- 
 tenfive tax imaginable, paid without conttraint, 
 without obftacle ; it ordered facrifices, which 
 
 are 
 
3IS NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 are become, if I may ufe the expreffion, volun-- 
 tary; fc much were we comforted, fo much do 
 we comfort ourfelves at the moment I write, for 
 thofe recent Ioffes. 
 
 We are come to a better order of things, 
 thofe who have gained laugh at thofe who have 
 loft ; and after the drawing of this great lottery, 
 I think I perceive that we fhould not be forry to 
 fee it drawn anew. But blows fo extraordinary 
 are not ftruck twice at the fame moment. We 
 muft take time for the mind to cool after thofe 
 days of folly, force, illufion, and greatnefs; and 
 to produce the fame effefls, we ftiould find again 
 the fecret of terror which reigned at that time. 
 In politics, each day has its phyiiognomy, we do 
 not proceed, we cannot proceed, but in keeping 
 pace with events, and as events never perfectly 
 refemble each other, the operations of govern¬ 
 ment ought alfo to be as different, as multiplied, 
 as the events themfelyes. This is what reduces 
 the fcene of politics to ftrokes more or lefs dar¬ 
 ing, when ftruck apropos. 
 
 1 am far-from thinking that forms of govern¬ 
 ment are indifferent. Without doubt there are 
 fome more analogous than others to the manners, 
 the habitudes of a nation ; there are fome more 
 favourable to the difplav of the human faculties; 
 there are fome more fitted to affix durability on 
 inftitutions, permanence on laws, action on the 
 executive power, folidity on the whole. But in 
 
 fine. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS.. 319 
 
 fine, a government is fufceptible of an infinity of 
 modifications, and ought to obey the irrefiftible 
 courfe of events : the afiignat has proved this; 
 and we fhall fee the afiignat hereafter in another 
 form when neceflity fhall require it. Paper mo¬ 
 ney has created in every ftage a fpirit of fpecu- 
 lation, which had its comic fide. Ex-nuns traf¬ 
 ficked in light-haired perriwigs ; fuch a one fold 
 men’s fhoes, a green-woman made twenty thou- 
 fand livres a day, with which fhe garnilhed her 
 porte-feuille , imagination was loft in regions of 
 imaginary riches, every man metamorphofed into 
 a trader, fpoke only of millions, and the moft 
 trivial pjurchafe had the air of an important tranf* 
 aftion. Jobbers of every kind paraded their 
 famples from houfe to houfe, with the dignified 
 ftrut of a capatilift, offering you candles and neck 
 handkerchiefs. But what was remarkable was, 
 that the man of underflanding kept his aflignats, 
 whilfl the fool difpofed of his ; the fool combined 
 better; lefs enthufiaftic at the fi£litious augmen¬ 
 tation of his riches, he laid them out in merchan¬ 
 dize, which he accumulated, knowing that it 
 would always have its price. 
 
 Thofe induftrious traders, thofe dexterous fe¬ 
 male fpeculators, tormented by the defire of 
 gaining, and gliding themfelves every where, 
 formed a wide contraft with thofe unfortunate 
 females, who heretofore enjoying all the fweets 
 which rank or fortune could procure, were re- 
 
 . duced 
 
520 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 duced to live by the labour of their hands. A 
 marchionefs became a milliner, a countefs boafted 
 of her talents for mantua-making, others reduced 
 to mendicity, difguifed their humiliating fituation, 
 by offering you the refource of their pencils, 
 their brufhes, their piano-forte; poor talents! 
 which they had acquired only as the finifhing of 
 a perfect education. But how remote were they 
 either from the drawing-room, or the brilliant 
 bondoir , where thofe talents received their due 
 offerings of incenfe ! flatterers were no longer 
 there; the enriched man, who paid, made them 
 feel feverely the imperfection of the portrait, or 
 piece of mufic; and after having fo long receiv¬ 
 ed the homage of flattery, they heard the rude 
 expreffions of truth. Some diffembled their 
 pain ; others waited till they returned back to 
 their parret, to moiften with their tears the cruft 
 which they had obtained. 
 
 A volume would fcarcely fuffice to detail the 
 contrafts which tire Revolution has produced, 
 but w r hat we faw during the reign of paper mo- 
 nev, was at the fame time the mod ftrange, and 
 inoft melancholy. The following is a well- 
 known fa 61 . An emigrant orders from an en¬ 
 graver of London a plate for falfe affignats! 
 Whilft it was engraving, the aftignats were fup- 
 preffed in France ; he refufes to pay for the 
 plate, the engraver brings an action againft him. 
 The judge admits, at fir ft, that the counterfeiting 
 
 ou* 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 321 
 
 our affignats was a thing of natural right, fince 
 Wolf had even decided, that a poifoned arrow 
 might be made ufe of to deilroy an enemy. In 
 fhort, the emigrant was condemned to pay the 
 engraver. 
 
 
 CHAP. XCI. 
 
 CI-DEVANT ACADEMICIANS. 
 
 I 
 
 They marched ahnoft all under the flandard of 
 Voltaire; they repeated his phrafes, as if they 
 were thofe of an oracle; it was who fhould de¬ 
 claim againft the Chriilian religion. All their 
 
 O O 
 
 letters concluded, like thofe of their unbelieving 
 mailer, by this catch-word ; ecrafez I'infdme> 
 D’Alembert was overjoyed, when in fome crook¬ 
 ed twilled phrafes he had thrown out a few far- 
 caftns againft prieils, and worihip, Marmontel 
 was almoil another Calvin for forne chapters of 
 his Belifarius. All the Academicians, in fhort, 
 attacked under covert both the clergy and the 
 altar, and even the court, all except the Grands 
 Seigneurs , who invited them to dinner. 
 
 There were no fulfome praifes which were not 
 lavished on the Duke of Nivernois, for his mifer* 
 able little fables, which he drew out with difcre- 
 vol- i. Y tion 
 
322 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS'. 
 
 tion one year after another; they called his forte - 
 feuille a vafe of precious incenfe, which was to 
 be burnt only on high days, and at diftant inter¬ 
 vals. Never was meannefs inherent in talent 
 more exemplified than in this company, compofed 
 of intrepid flatterers, and impudent detractors, 
 according to perfons, time, and place. They 
 were a hundred thoufand paces from genius, in¬ 
 vention, and eloquence; and with their verfcs 
 and their academical difcourfes, they would have 
 made us fall back into infancy, if fome vigorous 
 fatyrical ftrokes had not fcourged their fhamelefs 
 vanity, and refilled their abfurd pretenfions. 
 There was not amongfl: them a Angle name 
 which palTed the ftature of mediocrity, or the or¬ 
 dinary flature. They fell, (to ufe a proverbial 
 expreflion), like capuchins of cards, without any 
 perfon giving them the leal! attention, and I 
 yielded to the profound conviQion of their abfo- 
 lute nullity, and of the danger which they did to 
 true talents, by giving my voice in the Committee 
 of Public Inftru&tion, for their fpeedy dilTolution, 
 That hour marked the fetting of pedantry, and 
 the dawn of literarv lihcrtv. 
 
 J j 
 
 After the Revolution, thofe fame men, who 
 had been continually whetting timid epigrams 
 again!! the tiara, the mitre, the band, and fur- 
 plice, took it into their heads to talk to us of the 
 religion of our fathers, pupils of Voltaire, their lips, 
 familiarifed' with his blafohemies, (poke of holy 
 2 things, 
 
 O ^ 
 
/ 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 323- 
 
 things, and thought they could transform the tri¬ 
 bune into an evangelical pulpit. At this incre¬ 
 dible- diffonance every one laughed; and confi- 
 dered it not as hvpocrify, but impertinence, aca¬ 
 demical pride badly fubdued; an effect of that 
 abfurd arrogance, which had its fource at the 
 Louvre, fince it was imagined that what emanat¬ 
 ed from thence had more force, and greater 
 weight, than what was faid elfewhere. 
 
 The ci-devant academicians never ceafed re¬ 
 peating, that the ruin of the French academy 
 was the univerfal eclipfe 1 Their laughable folly 
 had not however fufficient character to give more 
 
 u 
 
 than one day’s amufement to a rational perfon. 
 
 What is then that miferable fpirit which ani¬ 
 mates three-fourths of men of letters, that lives' 
 on trifles, feeds on things entirely ufelefs, difputes 
 about nothings, weighs the legs of flies, is a 
 ft ranger to every thing lofty, great, cr new ? 
 There are men with whom l would with that no 
 one ever had difputed, and whom no one fhould 
 anfvver, fo modified are they for error and folly, 
 A ci-devant academician is affuredly cf this num¬ 
 ber, and I apply it both to the French Academy, 
 and the Academy of Belles Lettres. 
 
 The academicians of the Academy of Sciences 
 have remained the fame, always ufeful, always 
 dear to the country, always honoured in the 
 public opinion. When they faw they were fall¬ 
 ing, they made ufe of addrefs, they ftuck to the 
 
 Y 2 firm a- 
 
324 . 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 firmament, and under pretence of meafuring the 
 arch of the meridian, for the perfeftion of weights 
 and meafures, they preferved their penfions and 
 falaries ; and placed a great importance in the 
 confection of the Metre, Kilometre, &c. I be¬ 
 lieve, in my foul and confcience, that there is 
 fome quackery in all this; that the bafis is ne- 
 ceftarily faulty, that we ihould not go fo far in 
 fearch of what might be found fo near. I think 
 that the folly of this vaft and expenfive operation 
 will be difcovered, and avowed. I think that it 
 will be long, difficult, painful, perhaps danger¬ 
 ous, to caufe all thofe new meafures to be adopt¬ 
 ed. I am afraid that the mathematicians, who 
 have not yet troubled the world, will trouble it 
 at Jaft, and that their turn will come. But geo¬ 
 metry has rendered fuch great fervices, that we 
 may pardon geometricians that efpieglerie , which 
 was not without its value to them ; provided, 
 nevertheless, that they do not take it ill, that we 
 meafure an ell of ribband after our old mode, and 
 every one as he likes. 
 
 i 
 
 It appears to me, that the Citizen PanQon has 
 told them fome very juft and very reafonable 
 things ; and I think that the government, taking 
 a wife medium, ffiould not make a political dog¬ 
 ma, or a coercitive law of a geometrical hobby- 
 horfe, which would be acting, not reafoning, geo¬ 
 metrically. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 32 5 
 
 CHAP. XCIL 
 
 \ 
 
 THE DISASTROUS DAY. 
 
 Where (hall we find tears, grief, or repent¬ 
 ance enough to mark the mourning for the 31 ft 
 of May. Let it be deep, let it be univerfal, may 
 its authors be devoted to public execration ! 
 
 Till that day the Convention, which founded 
 the republic, the fpirit of the Convention was ex¬ 
 cellent, till that day the Anarchifts had been re¬ 
 filled, repreffed, enchained. Every thing went on 
 in the fenfe of the republic ; its genius prefided 
 over every great enterprize. Its laws were good, 
 the armies were good ; and was it not at the mo¬ 
 ment of the eftablifhment, and of the danger of 
 the republic, that the Convention, ftill preferving 
 in its affembly all the writers, all the perfonages, 
 who had diftinguithed themfelves by writings 
 ufeful to morality and to liberty, created fourteen 
 armies to defend France on every point, to attack, 
 to beat the enemy on every point. The Conven¬ 
 tion in that moment important for mankind, ex¬ 
 cited the enthufiafm of the nation, when it raifed 
 itfelf in mafs at the voice of thofe eloquent ora¬ 
 tors and patriotic writers. But it was on the 
 day after the 31 ft that it loft its courage, the wif- 
 dotn of its deliberations j and, oppreffed, de¬ 
 graded 
 
326 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 graded, and vanquifhed by a band of ruffians, 
 we faw it difmember itfeff, in order to deliver 
 over to proscription, to prifons, and the Scaffold, 
 its moil generous and pureft members, and who 
 were moff fitted to pionounce the word of li¬ 
 berty”. 
 
 From that time a bloody crape covered all its 
 operations: it was widowed by great men. It 
 refumed its force and energy only on the triumph 
 of Vendemiaire, when it was neeeffary to conquer 
 for the effablifhment of the conftitution. And 
 who made this wife conftitution ? Principally the 
 deputies who were imbued with the Spirit of the 
 Revolution from its origin, and of the Conven¬ 
 tion, when it was Seated on a conftitutional bafis; 
 thofe who fought in the breach on the 3 Iff of 
 May, and whom Providence has preferred ; who. 
 Shewing the marks of their fetters, have main¬ 
 tained the dignity, liberty, and glory of the nation 
 in giving to the Conftitution of the Third Year 
 that Simple and vigorous form which aftonifhes 
 the thought ot man, of civilized man, and makes 
 him thank the Supreme Being for the new exiff- 
 ence which he has received under its aufpices. 
 
 Martyrs of the 3iff of May ! Your names will 
 be revered by the moff diffant pofferity. Thofe 
 who were called your accomplices are the foun¬ 
 ders of the republic; they lift up to heaven 
 hands that are pure; and, after having conceived 
 and realized every great and ufeful idea which 
 
 ought 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 327 
 
 ought to change and ameliorate the lot of man, 
 and which humanity claimed. Strangers, during 
 their exile or their captivity, to all the extrava¬ 
 gances, all the cruelties, all the barbarous follies 
 committed when their voice was flifled, they com¬ 
 bine the day of their re-entry with that of their 
 departure, and they have the right to fay,—All 
 that interval is mire and blood,—all this fpace 
 of darknefs and crimes belongs not to us. And 
 ye, who dare call yourfelves republicans, and who 
 have feen fix thoufand heads lopped off without 
 fpeaking a fingle word, and without having loft 
 one quarter of an hour’s fieep ; fhew, fhew us the 
 print of the chains of the 31ft of May ! No, they 
 only who wore them can like to call themfelves 
 innocent. 
 
 • ✓ 
 
 This is the point of view which ye would wifii 
 to conceal, and which the impartial hiftorian 
 will feize, in order to paint that difaftrous day 
 to which we may apply that line of Racine : Com- 
 ment en un plomb vil , lor pur efl tl change f 
 
 When I fpeak of the 3lft of May, I join 
 • with it the following days. Undoubtedly the 
 Parifian people in infurreftion were not in a 
 fituation to judge what was paffmg; but this 
 'formidable mafs joined in the fame idea, which 
 was to make the Convention obedient to the 
 chiefs of the mob, who changed their names, but 
 who had their views either in hatred, or in the 
 
 miferable 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 323 
 
 miferable ambition of pofifelfing fome ftrlps ot 
 power, in order to give themfelves up with impu¬ 
 nity to robbery and plunder. 
 
 It is remarkable wdth what facility and wdiat 
 difpatch they armed this immenfe population. 
 It is in thofe hurricanes of a factious and unexpe¬ 
 rienced multitude that the fa&ious have fuccef- 
 fively founded their empire. The Henriots, the 
 Ronfins, &c. have had on certain days as many 
 and more foldiers than either Alexander or 
 Caefar. Whole battalions iffued from a fmgle 
 ftreet; and this people, fo long time peaceable, 
 became at once warlike, and fhew r ed themfelves 
 no longer but in arms. This leading difpofition, 
 in fliort, tended continually in forming themfelves 
 into militia. 
 
 The cannon of Vendemiaire has corre&ed this 
 inclination of the Parilians towards partial infur- 
 rections. They have reflected, that they w r ere the 
 dupes or the vidtims of certain leaders, who, after 
 having precipitated them into danger, abandoned 
 them with a cowardice truly academical. From 
 that day the Parifians are a little deaf to the cun¬ 
 ning or perfidious voice which would perfuade 
 them to rife in infurrection ; and there is every 
 appearance, that if the government be a little 
 firm, they will not expofe themfelves to carry the 
 firelock and pike into political difeuflions, and 
 that they wilbno longer mingle with the fedtion- 
 orators, and wifii to govern the governors. 
 
 The 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 329 
 
 The Anarchifts, the Antonelles, the Robert 
 Lindet’s, will call them poltroons, but they will 
 be wile enough to Men no longer to the enemies 
 of their repofe and their happinefs. 
 
 1 return always to my favourite expreffion, 
 Paris is the Guingette of Europe ; but if you fight at 
 the guinguette, no one will go to amufe himfelf, 
 and all the artifls and artizans of pleafure, of 
 ihows, and good cheer, will be ruined. 
 
 Alas! if the good Parifians had believed me 
 in Vendemiaire ! This is the placard which I 
 addreffed to them eleven days before the canno¬ 
 nade which royalifm braved, and by which it was 
 diffolved in thirty minutes, 
 
 MERCIER , 
 
530 
 
 N hyv PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 MERC IE R, 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PEOPLE* 
 
 TO THE PARISIANS. 
 
 “ O Parisians ! Permit a man, born within 
 your walls, and who loves you, to addrefs to you 
 a few fraternal counfels. 
 
 “ I have been reprefented as your enemy, while 
 I was afflifted at your conduQ, wept over your 
 errors, and lamenting the evils which you are 
 preparing for yourfelves. I have fpoken to you 
 ftern truths, for I have for a long time accuftomed 
 myfelf to difguife nothing. I combatted defpotifm 
 in the day of its triumph, in thofe days in which the 
 courageous man could expe£t, or received for his 
 devotednefs nothing but Baftilles, exile, or death. 
 I {hall not be accufed of having flattered the great, of 
 having neglected the interefts of the weak or op- 
 preffed. If calumny or petulance continue to di¬ 
 rect: againft me new perfections, they iliall not 
 at leaft take from me that tranquillity which is in- 
 fpired by a good confcience ; if my countrymen 
 milled, do injuftice to my intentions, if they fuf- 
 fer me to be infulted, and anew calumniated, I 
 iliall confole myfelf by the idea of the future, in 
 which the man who has performed his duties will 
 
 find 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 331 
 
 find a compenfation for his labours, and reap the 
 reward of his facrifices. I have endeavoured to 
 enlighten you with refpeft to your errors, with 
 refpeft to the projeft of thofe faftious men whom 
 you Men to with too much complacency, and 
 who lead you aftray. I have fpoken an auftere 
 language, to which you are not yet accuftomed. 
 The flatterers of kings make tyrants of them ; the 
 flatterers of the people draw them on to the brink 
 of the abyfs, into which they always pufli them 
 headlong. Robefpierre flattered you : and refleffc 
 at prefent into what degradation he plunged you. 
 The Jacobins flattered you, they talked to you 
 continually of your fupremacy, of your virtues, 
 while they endeavoured to afiociate you with 
 their crimes. Robefpierre is fallen, the Jacobins 
 exift no longer, but new men are rifing againft 
 you, and alike are confpiring your ruin. Who 
 are the men who are continually agitating them- 
 felves within your walls, who are fealing the 
 tribunes of your aflemblies ? Hirelings of foreign¬ 
 ers, old valets of kings, vile flock-jobbers, who 
 are endeavouring to prolong diforders, that they 
 might be enabled to continue their pillage with 
 impunity. A few ex-academicians, vain and fu¬ 
 tile men, for ever employed about their own pri¬ 
 vate intereft, abounding in captious phrafes, and 
 barren in open and loyal acts: after having been 
 deceived, fo often milled, will you fuller your- 
 fclves to be Hill deceived? Unfortunate Pari* 
 
 fians \ 
 
332 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 flans ! never can we wonder enough at your ftu- 
 pid credulity ! O unhappy Parifians ! Can we 
 help lamenting your fate ? Thofe who domi¬ 
 nated over you laft year appeared to wifh for the 
 deflru&ion of all thrones, in order to confolidate 
 their own tyranny. Thofe who millead you at 
 prefent are the friends, the defenders of kings ; 
 they are endeavouring to raife up that throne 
 which your hands have thrown down in thofe 
 days of glory which you now feem anxious to have 
 forgotten. 
 
 “ But have you reflected ferioufly on the horrible 
 lot which is prepared for you, if they fhould fuc- 
 ceed ? Refieft, that all tyrants have a common 
 caufe to maintain ; that they form in fome fort a 
 feparate family, hoftile to the great family of man¬ 
 kind. Louis the XVIIth or XVIIIth will never 
 pardon you for having inverted the palace of 
 Louis the XVIth, for having fuffered him to be 
 led to the fcaffold. You would foon fee your 
 walls inundated with foreign phalanxes, who 
 would divide your fpoils, and bathe themfelves 
 in your blood. If, as we hope, the projects of 
 your enemies and our own are not effe&uated, 
 would your dertiny be ameliorated, if by your 
 divifions, by your attempts againft the mandato¬ 
 ries of the people, you put at a diftance the re¬ 
 turn of that peace after which the whole of 
 France is afpiring? What! have you not to fear 
 the juft refentment of the departments ? Liften 
 
 to 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 333 
 
 to thofe energetic addreffes which the Convention 
 is every day receiving, they no longer treat von 
 as the brave Parifians, the defenders, the fupport- 
 ers of public liberty. There were certain days 
 when you have deferved thofe titles, but thofe 
 glorious days are pad. They confider you as no¬ 
 thing more than turbulent revolters, tumultuous 
 madmen, vile Haves who are looking for a maf- 
 ter. You Hatter yourfelves, perhaps, that your 
 anarchical excefies may remain unpunilhed. The 
 31(1 of May undoubtedly ought to have put the 
 whole of France in infurredlion, republican pha¬ 
 lanxes ought to have poured in from the north 
 and the fouth to defend thofe generous men whom 
 ye abandoned, or whom ye aided to opprefs. 
 They did not do it, but let not their pad inaction 
 be any fecurity to you for the future ; the times 
 are changed, misfortunes and forrowful IdTons 
 of experience enlighten men. The inhabitants 
 of the departments have perceived the error 
 w 7 hich they committed in fuffering their moft zea¬ 
 lous defenders to be facrificed ; that error they 
 have cruelly expiated. They will no longer ex- 
 pofe themfelves by a cowardly complaifance to 
 new misfortunes. Befides, in 1793, public opi¬ 
 nion was palfied, tyranny had dideminated through 
 every canton its numerous emiflaries, terror had 
 ftifled the voice of the virtuous man, crime alone 
 was liftened to. At prefent, the friends of li¬ 
 berty may lift up majeftically their heads. By en¬ 
 lightening 
 
334 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 lightening their fellow-citizens, they have no lon¬ 
 ger to fear either profcription or death. Liberty 
 of opinion exifts, it exifts even for impudent liars, 
 for wretches who are abuling you ; and if the 
 departments league againft you, or abandon you 
 to yourfelves, what will be your lituation ? Re¬ 
 flect, that it is not within your walls that thofe har- 
 vefts grow which feed you, that produce which 
 keeps alive your induftry. Refleft, that it is not 
 on the banks of the Seine that thofe veffels anchor 
 which waft to Europe the riches of the reft of the* 
 world. Refleft, that you have need of the aftiftance 
 of the inhabitants of the other cantons of France, 
 and that they have no need of you. 
 
 “You want tranquillity and peace, to recal 
 amidft you induftry, the arts, the fciences, which 
 our favage Vandals have banifhed. Can your 
 city recover its former fplendor ? What do I fay? 
 She may acquire a fplendor much more folid and 
 honourable. Formerly you were indebted for 
 the magnificence which ftione within your walls 
 to the vices of the great, the corruption of the 
 court, and the mifery of the provinces; all the 
 oppreffors of the people came to confume amidft 
 you the fruit of their rapine and their extortions. 
 Palaces were ere£ted at the expence of cottages. 
 Liberty, on the contrary, will create comforts at 
 which you will not have to blufli, and for which 
 you will meet with no reproaches. The depart¬ 
 ments will contribute to your profperity, and 
 
 you 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. S3 J 
 
 you will labour for theirs. That river which 
 traverfes your abode may,by labour, great indeed, 
 but poffible, and even eafy in a free hate, re¬ 
 ceive fome day thofe ftately veffels which plough 
 the ocean. You will fee, as by enchantment, 
 the colours of different nations unfurled before 
 your eyes. This fight will undoubtedly far out¬ 
 weigh that which heretofore was prefented to you 
 by the pompous cars of diffolute courtiers, which 
 threatened to crufli the multitude. Your citv 
 
 J 
 
 will become the centre of them oft ex ten five com¬ 
 merce, and the moil active induftry. But thefe 
 creations can only take place in the bofom of 
 peace. 
 
 “ Put an end, then, to your diffenfions ; con¬ 
 found the hope of guilty men, who are miflead- 
 ing you. Reflect on the misfortunes which you 
 are preparing for your children, for your wives, 
 for yourfelves. Diftinguifii your enemies, fpurn 
 them from you ; but difcern your friends, and 
 unite yourfelves to your brethren. Liften to the 
 counfels which a wife man of the eaft gave to his 
 fellow-citizens. Two parties were on the point 
 of coming to arms ; he turned his eyes towards 
 the milled crowd, whofe mod facred interefrs 
 and deareft affections were blinded, like vours, 
 by unhappy paflion. He fees on both fides fons, 
 brothers, relations, and friends, and he fees them 
 neverthelefs ready to tear each other in pieces. 
 He is feized with pity and compunCtion, and in 
 
 his 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 his grief expreffes himfelf in thefe terms. “ Oh, 
 “ Brama ! at the fight of thy children thus array** 
 “ ed, and waiting for the fight, my limbs have no 
 “ longer any force, my countenance grows pale, 
 “ my hair Hands erect on my body, and my whole 
 “ frame ihudders with horror. O my fellow-citi- 
 “ zens ! you who are under the fame fky, who 
 “ breathe the fame air, whobatheyourfelves every 
 “ day in the falutary waters of the Ganges, who 
 “ offer to Brama the fame prefents and the fame 
 “ facrifices, what demon leads you aftray; what 
 iC fruit do you expe£l to reap from horrible dif- 
 cc cord, from frightful civil war ? When you fhall 
 “ fee your brethren, your children facrificed, 
 <c where will you find happinefs? Is it on the 
 <£ tomb of thofe who are dearefi to you, that you 
 “ will tafte the pleafures, the enjoyments of life? 
 £€ Alas! you will experience how unhappy are 
 “ thofe who have loll:, and who have loft through 
 <c their own fault, thofe who could foften their mis- 
 “ fortunes, andembellifh their profperity—you will 
 <c experience what remorfe thofe have to feel who 
 <c are inftrumental in difmembering their coun- 
 <£ try.’' The wife Indian did not fpeak in vain: 
 his fellow-citizens perceived their error, their 
 arms fell from their hands; the two parties 
 mingled together, and they drove from amidft 
 them the perfidious men who had fowed the feeds 
 of difaffe&iom 
 
 “ How 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 337 
 
 “ How happy ffiould I efteem myfelf if my ex¬ 
 hortations could produce the fame effe£t, if I 
 could overturn the projefts of your enemies, and 
 render their exertions powerlefs, Have but one 
 mind with the brethren of the departments; have 
 confidence in thofe who are endeavouring to put 
 an end to your misfortunes; rally yourfelves 
 around your legiflators, proteft their delibera¬ 
 tions, caufe their decrees to be refpefted ; let 
 them, in fhort, find peace, confidence, and fecu- 
 rity amongft you. Drive from their remembrance 
 thofe difaftrous days, thofe days of fhame, in 
 which, under your eyes, they dragged a crowd 
 of victims to the fcaflfold. Sixty ruffians covered 
 France with blood and mourning ; five hundred 
 thoufand men within thofe walls were witnefifes 
 of their crimes, and had not the courage to refill: 
 them. Remember that brilliant epocha, in which 
 a folemn federation affembled within your walls, 
 Frenchmen from every part of the empire. In 
 approaching your gates, no cruel recolleftion rent 
 their hearts, they felt nothing but the enthufiafm 
 of liberty, and the joy of uniting themfelves to 
 thofe whom they confidered as its founders. To 
 day they have fathers, brothers, friends, to weep 
 over, and thofe objefts fo dear have periffied 
 under your eyes. Haften, then, to expiate your 
 faults and your errors; be to France what you 
 were in the firft days of the Revolution. 
 
 vol. i. Z “ Do 
 
33S SEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 cc Do not difdain the advice of a man who wifhes 
 only your happinefs, who would not wifh to have 
 reproaches to make you, but who, forced at pre- 
 fent to exprefs ftrong truths to you, comforts him- 
 felf with the hope of having foon the pleafure of 
 rejoicing at his efforts. I faw, without terror, the 
 dungeons into which the rage of your tyrants 
 plunged me; but I cannot fee without a fenti- 
 ment not lefs painful, without a fentiment of ter¬ 
 ror, the abyfs which is dug under your feet. 
 Let peace and concord re-eftablifh themfelves 
 amongft you. The Royalifl will tremble at their 
 approach, and will be forced to fly or hide him- 
 felf. On the contrary, if your divifions continue. 
 Republicans will remove from among you, and 
 your city will offer nothing but the fad fpec- 
 tacle of mifery, difcord, and anarchy. 
 
 “ Parifians ! the government approaches. This 
 the enemies of the country would wifh to pre^ 
 vent, as well as the happy days of peace. Clofe 
 your fedlions, put an end to the inexhauftible 
 chattering of your little ambitious leaders, who 
 are looking only for places ; delirium and frenzy 
 compofe the elements of their dangerous dif- 
 courfes. Submit to decrees matured* meditated, 
 and whofe wifdom will be admired by pofterity. 
 Obey the laws, abandon your mifleaders, and let Eu¬ 
 rope no longer fay of you, that you wifh for no kind 
 of government; that after having overturned the 
 monarchy, you wifh alfo to deftrov the Republic; 
 
 take 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 S39 
 
 take from all our enemies the joy they would 
 have in faying, with fome reafon, that you delight 
 only in the frantic agitations of demagogy,” 
 
 CHAP, XCIIL 
 
 THE HEAD-LOPPER, 
 
 I have feen this monfter: he was a long time 
 a Have at Morocco, whofe fovereign reckons in 
 the number of his amufements that of cutting off 
 five or fix heads every morning before breakfaft. 
 It was there that he accuftomed himfelf, from 
 compulfion, to the horrible trade which he pro- 
 fefifed afterwards from tafte at Paris. 
 
 It is faid, that at Verfailles this ferocious man, 
 to hinder the rain from wafhing off the blood 
 which difcoloured his beard (which he wore a 
 long time), kept it iheltered under his riding- 
 coat. He faid, returning to Paris after the night 
 of the 6th of Q£tober, 1789, “ It was worth 
 
 “ while to make me go down there for two heads /” 
 
 He boafted of having torn out the heart of 
 Foulon and Berthier ; and pretending to have done 
 an aft of patriotifm, he wanted to demand a civic 
 medal from the National Affembly. 
 
 Z2 
 
 How 
 
34$ KEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 How then is it that we have fubmitted to thofe 
 j^roconfuls who have thus mowed down the hu¬ 
 man race? What is this legion of executioners 
 which has inundated France with blood ? We 
 muft indeed love man well to love him ftill. Thefe 
 wretches proflrated themfelves before the bull of 
 Marat, and admired the gigantomacy of Collot; 
 they meet in every city, in every town, with an 
 animal bolt y that is to fay, with gaol-keepers, 
 fcaffold*carpenters, and fatellites, as many as they 
 could have wiflied. If the French nation had 
 not been plunged into a legarthic fleep (except¬ 
 ing our brave foldiers) how fhould we have found 
 fuch an excefs of cowardice and apathy y but our 
 foldiers were occupied in thundering on the Au- 
 ftrians, and clearing the territory of France,, 
 
 Thofe head-loppers iflued from the revolution¬ 
 ary committees, from the revolutionary tribunals, 
 from the revolutionary clubs, payed forty fous to 
 each individual, (thofe were the imaginations of 
 the horrible Danton) and from the revolutionary 
 armies; every thing was then revolutionary. 
 Revolutionary logic was printed. What an eclipfe 
 of the human mind ! Where are the principles 
 of a revolutionary logic ? But as this language 
 has had its reign, we ought to make fome men¬ 
 tion of it here. 
 
 The guillotine was firft called the head-chop¬ 
 per: it was an invention which, from difpenfing 
 with the fervice of the hand of the executioner, 
 
 has 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 341 
 
 has multiplied executions, and favoured perhaps, 
 more than all the reft, the fanguinary fway of 
 the two hideous committees. But the term head- 
 chopper did not prevail. 
 
 It is called the guillotine. We have talked of 
 the reign of the guillotine , the reafon of the guillotine. 
 If any one had told Montefquieu that this word 
 would one day be placed in the political diction¬ 
 ary of the French nation, what would he hav$ 
 thought ? 
 
 / 
 
 CHAP. XCIV. 
 
 ANACHARSIS CLOOTZo 
 
 He came to us from Pruffia, and had entitled 
 himfelf the orator of the human race. A facti¬ 
 tious cofmopolite, he fpoke of the univerfal re¬ 
 public, which he promifed the world. It was 
 faid on this fubjeCt, that Mount Athos fhould be 
 the tribune, and the Cordilliers the benches, on 
 which fhould be feated this reprefentative of the 
 univerfe. He made feveraj fpeeches more ex¬ 
 travagant one than the other, as if he meant to 
 render the Legiflative Body ridiculous. But it is 
 rather to be fuppofed that he followed the lef- 
 fons which had been given him, and which t^ndecl 
 
 to 
 
342 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 to bring republican ideas into contempt, by the 
 extravagant extenfion which he gave them. 
 
 The C. Gregoire, Bifhop of Blois, has 
 written to John Ramon Jofeph de Arce, Arch- 
 biihop of Burgos, Grand Inquifitor of Spain, that 
 he ought to convert himfelf to humanity, and I 
 am perfuaded that he has done this in the fin- 
 cerity of his foul. But I doubt whether at the 
 voice of Gregoire this hideous tribunal will be 
 annihilated, this throne of cruelty and intolerance, 
 whofe balls is at Madrid, and which extends its 
 terrible power to Lima and Mexico. Clootz’s 
 republic made us laugh when we had little difpo- 
 fition to fmile. Will Gregoire’s letter ftrike the 
 foul of the grand inquifitor? Will he be chriflian 
 enough to provoke himfelf the fuppreffion of the 
 tribunal, of which he is the chief, as he is in¬ 
 vited ? This is what the future will teach us. 
 
 Anacharfis Clootz was beheaded, though he 
 had for a long time followed the Jacobin ftandards, 
 and if the good Gregoire went to Madrid, I would 
 not anfwer that he would not be dragged into 
 the dungeons of the Holy Office , that would de¬ 
 pend on circumftances. The Auto-da-fe may 
 again be rekindled, and more than one torque- 
 rnada is living in that fine country in which igno¬ 
 rance and fanaticism will have their laft and invi- 
 fible-retreat. 
 
 Univerfal republic! What is the acceptation 
 of this word? If you underftand that the uni- 
 
 J < 
 
 verfe 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 343 
 
 verfe is to have the fame laws, it is evident, that 
 though the principles of nature and the declara¬ 
 tion of rights be of all places, as of all times, 
 their application is fubordinate to a crowd of 
 local circumftances which neceffitates modifica¬ 
 tions. 
 
 Shall we be told that nations having different 
 confutations, will found them all on the princi¬ 
 ples of liberty and equality, and love each other as 
 brethren ? We may here apply the advice of a 
 minifter to the Abbe St. Pierre: “Send mijjionarks 
 jirji to convert the globe” 
 
 Several countries of Europe and America will 
 foon aggrandize the domain of liberty, but fome 
 hundreds of nations will yet be a long time ftran- 
 gers to true principles, and it is doubtful if they 
 will be foon adopted by the Barbary corfairs, 
 the plunderers of Arabia, and the Anthropophagi 
 of the Southern Sea. 
 
 Shall we be told, in fhort, that the different 
 fiates of the globe will form alliances? This hy- 
 pothefis applies fcarcely to any other than thofe 
 who are united by commercial relations? In 
 this manner, a great deal of time muft run on 
 before the French fign a treaty with the Ifco- 
 rides and the Papys; and, under thefe different 
 afpedls, the univerfal republic is in politics what 
 the philofophical ftone is in phyfics. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
344 
 
 KEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 CHAP. XCV. 
 
 GREAT SCARCITY. 
 
 It was during the winter of 1794 that the 
 want of meat was felt at Paris. A crowd at 
 once, and at the fame time, filled the fhops of the 
 butchers; houfemaids, cooks, fervants, &c. A 
 pound of beef rofe at once from eighteen to twen¬ 
 ty-five fous. The citizens murmured, and none 
 reflected that the confumption of this article by 
 an army of twelve hundred thoufand men, joined 
 to the extreme fcarcity of forage, and the war of 
 the Vendee, occafioned this increafe of price. 
 From that time, the fending cattle to Paris di- 
 minifhed infenfibly. The penury was alfo aug¬ 
 mented by the manoeuvres of malevolence. The 
 fanguinary commune iffued their famous arrete, 
 which reduced every mouth to a pound of meat 
 each decade, and was affixed at the door of every 
 houfe; and the members of the revolutionary 
 committees were like fo many Dr. Sangrados, 
 who lowered every appetite without mercy. 
 How many mothers of families have I feen grow 
 pale, and wipe away their tears at the reading of 
 this finiffer paftoral letter on the univerfal fall! 
 NevertheJefs, droves of milch-cows arrived from 
 
 the 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 345 
 
 the provinces; the devourers of the people began 
 in this way the faft of famine, and laboured fe~ 
 duloufly to annihilate the reprodu&ion of the 
 fpecies. The forerunners of the revolutionary 
 army, like famifhed wolves, had already fwept 
 the country, darting their prying eyes into every 
 farm and every yard. Thither they precipitated 
 themfelves, armed with pitch-forks and bayonets, 
 feized the {beep, the fowls, burnt the barns, un¬ 
 tied the oxen in the ftables in the face of the 
 proprietor, and fold their prey to infamous fpe- 
 culators. Thefe atrocious robberies made eggs 
 and butter difappear. At nine in the morning 
 the Hall, till now the vaft and rich ftorehoufe of 
 all the produftions of nature, were ftript. The 
 women formed themfelves in long files, and from 
 midnight braving the inclemency of the feafon, 
 waited patiently each in their turn to procure at 
 the hazard of their lives three eggs and four ounces 
 of butter. The cavalry and military force of the 
 feftions, detached by the prowling beafts of the 
 revolutionary committees, augmented the tumult 
 and diforder. How many women with child 
 (they were afterwards treated with more refpeft, 
 and took their turn before the reft) were vi6lims 
 of this unhappy period ! How many precious 
 fruits of conjugal love have been ftified in their 
 embryo, and annihilated at the fource of life! 
 Oh ! what feeling man could have feen, without 
 weeping for grief, thoufands of individuals of 
 
 both 
 
346 NEW PICTURE OP PARIS. 
 
 both fexes running after the carcafe-porters hi 
 flreets leading to flefh-markets; who, bending 
 under the weight, ran therpfelves to avoid being 
 aflailed by the crowd which prefled upon them, 
 and feemed to devour with their eyes the raw 
 meat! A fullen difcontent darkened every vi- 
 fage : they curfed life, and the execrable authors 
 of the famine ; meanwhile the gen d’armes gallop¬ 
 ed their horfes amongft the flails of three feet in' 
 length, overthrew the venders, and increafed the 
 number of accidents, under pretence of prevent¬ 
 ing them, favouring by cunning ta£lic the mod 
 fhameful traffic. 
 
 Ruffians, in the pay of the commune, made the 
 women range themfelves in files, but while they 
 waited for their turn, fhivering with the cold, 
 broad-fhouldered carcafe-porters, forming an im¬ 
 penetrable rampart before the fhops, carried off 
 whole oxen, and when the lion's fliare was taken, 
 the women ranged after each other had not ad¬ 
 vanced a Angle flep, and withdrew by hundreds 
 with empty hands. 
 
 Fifh, which had been fpoilt from being too long 
 kept, was bought up with avidity, and from its 
 corrupted flate occafioned difeafes. On the Quay 
 of the Vallee, lamb was fold fifteen livres a pound, 
 and the fale continued a long time with fcanda- 
 lous profufion. The peafants went about the 
 flreets with bafkets of fowls in their arms. The 
 Parifians lived for fome time on hens and chick» 
 
 ens^ 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 347 
 
 ens, which it was impoffible to bring up in the 
 country, fince all the grain was put in requi¬ 
 sition. This fa&itious abundance of a commo¬ 
 dity, which was almoft exclufively the portion of 
 the rich, lafted but a little while, and gave place 
 to vegetables. What is called dry pulfe, fuch 
 as rice, lentils, beans, was heaped up in military 
 magazines, and the difcovery of half a peck of 
 this eatable, which more than one family was 
 forced to drefs in pure water, was looked upon 
 as an inftance of good fortune. 
 
 To this defolate penury of fubfiftence was 
 joined the more defolating difficulty of having 
 bread. From twp in the morning the women 
 ranged jthemfelves in a long line, which the peo¬ 
 ple defignated afterwards by the name of queue. 
 The young girls were not the laft to put them- 
 felves in the ranks. Their wanton chatter, their 
 immoderate laughter, was heard afar, and kept 
 awake more than one young man. The dark- 
 nefs of the night, the gates of alleys conveniently 
 half open, were favourable to a tete a tete> dex- 
 teroufly concerted. We faw men of fixty years 
 old, valets, ffiop-boys, Hopping to review thefe 
 ranks, and chufe their dulcineas. Others, more 
 fhamelefs, began with killing the women at the 
 head of the file, and continued on to the laft. 
 Thefe embraces were accompanied with other 
 liberties lefs difcreet; and thefe fort of amufe- 
 jnents contributed much towards the perverfion 
 
 of 
 
348 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 of morality, and the extin&ion of female modefty. 
 The fentiment of fraternity was annihilated in 
 every heart. Every one held it as a maxim to 
 prefer himfelf openly to his equal. Cunning be¬ 
 came a quality common to every mind. The laft 
 of the file found means of Aiding forwards to the 
 firft ranks. The women foon ftruggled forcibly 
 with the men. Their characters acquired a tone of 
 fharpnefs from refiftance. They all became im¬ 
 petuous, contraQed a habit of fwearing, and at 
 length their voices, grown hoarfe: from loud and 
 angry cries, were not diftinguifliable from thofe 
 of carmen. 
 
 In the intervals of filence which followed thefe 
 fcandalous difcuflions, were heard the cries of 
 infants, and of the aged afking for bread. How 
 fihould I pity the infenfible being who would not 
 have been moved by thefe cries! 
 
 Nearly at the fame time, other queues were 
 formed for oil, foap, and candles. The day- 
 labourer, with mournful and downcaft looks, 
 counts with fighs the hours that he lofes from his 
 work. 
 
 The fudden and exceflive increafe of wages 
 was the confequence of the homicidal law of the 
 maximum. The execrable commune had built 
 its plan of univerfal famine on this law, but in 
 order to conceal the projeCt from the eyes of the 
 credulous multitude, an advertifement was ftuck 
 up at the moment of its formation, by which 
 
 every 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. * 349 
 
 every tradefman, either butcher or grocer, who 
 gave up bufinefs, fliould be reputed fufpefted, 
 and arrefted as fuch. 
 
 This ferocious law aggravated the evil ; every 
 thing difappeared, and the tradefman, to indem¬ 
 nify himfelf for his Ioffes, and particularly for the 
 pillage of his butter, fugar, coffee, and for the 
 arbitrary confifcations of the commiffaries for mo¬ 
 nopolies, hawked about his goods in fecret from 
 houfe to houfe, where individuals bought them up 
 at any price. 
 
 Such, in 1794, was the fftuation of this popu¬ 
 lous city for fubfiftence, in which formerly reign¬ 
 ed that peace and abundance which makes our 
 country an objeft of affeftion to us. 
 
 The year 1795 was not more happy than the 
 preceding $ from the beginning of the autumn* 
 ffelh-chandlers began by .felling their meat at 
 twenty-five fols, who, in the month of Ventofe, 
 alked three livres ten fous, ftript alfo of its fat, in 
 order to make tallow. 
 
 The agents of the old com million had given 
 birth to this abominable traffick. By means of 
 the right of requifition and detention with which 
 they were inverted, they bought meat at the price 
 of the maximum, then fold it again to the retailers 
 at an exhorbitant price. 
 
 The fame pillage took place with refpeft to 
 other commodities, which joined to money-job¬ 
 bing. 
 
350 &EW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 bing, as well as that of watches and trinkets by 
 the brokers of the hall, contributed very much to 
 the depreciation of the affignats. 
 
 The cold at length came to aggravate thefe 
 evils ^ during two years the capital received its 
 firing from day to day. Coals were extremely 
 rare, and it was remarked that never but a fingle 
 boat entered at once into each wharf. People 
 fometimes pafled their nights in order to take 
 their turn. The wood was fold as fall as the 
 wood-porters could take it out of the water. 
 
 The river fuddenly frozen up caufed a total 
 failure of fupply, and no other refource was to 
 be had but cutting down the woods of Boulogne, 
 Vincennes, Verrierres, St. Cloud, Meudon, &c. 
 Bloodfuckers, ifluing from dens of robbers, took 
 advantage of the public misfortunes to fatiate 
 themfelves with gold and filver. They fold two 
 cart load of wood for four hundred livres; the 
 neceffitous fawed their wooden bedfteads to drefs 
 their food, and keep themfelves from dying with 
 the cold. Old men returned from the forefts 
 bending under their loads, and reminded us of 
 the fable of the poor wretch and death. The 
 public fountains were frozen; the water-carriers 
 in thofe quarters diftant from the river, forced to 
 go far in fearch of water, were paid fifteen and 
 even twenty fous the bucket 3 the citizens, en¬ 
 raged at this impofition, all became water-car¬ 
 riers 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 351 
 
 riers; and when the refervoirs of the public 
 fountains were unthawed, queues for water took 
 place, and each man had his turn. 
 
 CHAP. XCVI. 
 
 PALAIS EGALITE, CI-DEVANT PALAIS ROYAL. 
 
 As the confumption of the fineft fruit begins 
 by a flight rottennefs, fo the Palais Royal is the 
 fpot which has corrupted our modern manners, 
 and propagated the gangreen. I never traverfe 
 thefe long galleries, without feeing that fhade, 
 who from the fame place where his great-grand¬ 
 father had given, as Voltaire fays, the ligna.1 of 
 pleafures, gave the fignal for every ambitious in¬ 
 trigue, every atrocious crime, and whom we may 
 eonfider as the real founder of the fcaffolds of 
 Robefpierre, and the fanguinary regime which at 
 the fame time opprefled and degraded the na¬ 
 tion ; for its ftupor and its fllence, during eighteen 
 months of crimes, are, as I have elfewhere faid, 
 more alarming to the reflection of the philofo-' 
 pher, than the phyfical diifolution of the world. 
 
 Here I am, under thefe arcades, hotbeds of 
 every poifonous plant which has been carefully 
 3 tranf- 
 
S52 HEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 tranfplanted into every department. Here is the 
 focus of civil difcord and cabal ! here is the tem¬ 
 ple where ftockjobbing devours the public for¬ 
 tune, and condemns whole families to hunger, 
 reduced to mifery by an allowed and murderous 
 traffick 1 look at thofe daring fpoilers of our laft 
 refources! fee them walking by bands, their 
 heads ereft, their look infolent, a picktooth for 
 ever in their mouth, and their hand in their 
 breeches-pocket, chinking their louis. They have 
 all red faces, and round bellies, the fmile of irony 
 is always on their lips 5 they brave the look of 
 the honeft man, and though the patroles feparate 
 them, they join again in groupes like drops of 
 quickfilver; they go, come, return, accoft each 
 other, divide by platoons, and then meet again 
 in a body; he who is in the midft gives the or¬ 
 derly word : it is a fign, a gefture/ a half-word, 
 which changes every half-hour, and immediately 
 they have the courfe of exchange of the louis, ra¬ 
 pidly pencilled down on a fcrap of paper. 
 
 This is that hollile army, fubfidized and main¬ 
 tained by the foreign cabinets! Their guineas have 
 deftroyed our paper money, and attacked public 
 credit. 
 
 Under the heps of the Rue Vivienne are the 
 fubaltern thieves, who execute the orders of 
 their chiefs with a punfluality not lefs aftonifhing 
 than their addrefs, to feize the flighted: hints of 
 the word of command. 
 
 Their 
 
new Picture of Paris. 353 
 
 Their drefs is pretty uniform ; it is an hair-cap 
 with a fox’s tail. Hercules, the ftrongeft of men, 
 covered himfelf with the fkin of a lion, which is 
 the ftrongeft of all animals; thofe who are the 
 moft cunning, and moft knavifh, put on the fkin 
 of a fox, which is the moft crafty and moft vora¬ 
 cious of ail beafts. 
 
 They are in doublets, with dirty boots, and 
 greafy hair, a gallows look, livid mouth, fardonic 
 grin ; their eyes are in continual fearch of pocket- 
 books, are moveable and winking like thofe of 
 apes, who ftudy to fteal without being feen; 
 their language is raillery or obfcenity. They 
 keep near taverns, which ferve them as retreats; 
 they fpread their nets in obfcure corners ; then 
 fally out in hafte to give the alert to their accom¬ 
 plices. They are ftationed at the doors of the 
 theatres, but they never enter; they read the 
 play-bills that are ftuck up no more than the re- 
 folutions of the DireHory, and the Conftituted 
 Authorities; one might fuppofe that the laws 
 did not regard them, fo calm and colledled axe 
 they in their inobfervance, or violation of them* 
 They drink often, and but little at a time ; the 
 thirft of gold tempers the thirft of wine; their fo- 
 briety is not a virtue, but an attention not to. 
 lofe time. 
 
 Women mingle amongft them, and carry on 
 the fame trade ; they are even ftill more cunning, 
 they read the cypher much more quickly than 
 
 vol. 1* A a men; 
 
354 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 men • the moufe who carries off a crumb of 
 bread, and who fkips into his hole with the rapi¬ 
 dity of lightning, is their perfect image ; you have 
 no need to fpeak to them, they guefs what you 
 are going to fay. 
 
 Thcfe perfons do not (teal pocket-books; they 
 pump out, as by an attractive force, their con¬ 
 tents, and in a tone fo firnple, fo piteous, that 
 thefe knaves in robbing you, feem as if they had 
 rendered you a fervice. 
 
 Step back to the galleries which lead to the 
 theatre of the republic, you will perceive from 
 one end to the other fhops full of girls, who give 
 breakfafts and cold fuppers; you enter, you go 
 out without faying a word; you are helped by 
 fhewing your aflignat. Brokers, jobbers, falef- 
 men, fmoke, drink, ruminate in thofe filent ca¬ 
 verns; no perfon fpeaks, and the greateft orgies are, 
 if we mayufe the exprefiion, dumb. The avenues 
 are dark and cold, libertinifm affumes in thefe 
 places fomewhat of an icy form, which appears to 
 have its code, and its motives. 
 
 Not far, and as foon as day breaks, hair-drefTers 
 boys give a kind of public leffon, and teach their 
 miftreffes to drefs women’s wigs. By the fide of 
 a doll with a golden head-drefs, hang faufages 
 and hams. On the other fide, thoufands of bot¬ 
 tles of fine wines, liqueurs of Martinico are 
 placed on fhelves, and prefent to the eye of the 
 paflengers their precious labels. While I am 
 
 writing. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PAltlS. 
 
 s\ ** ** 
 
 003 
 
 Writing, two hundred bottles, ranged on a rotten, 
 plank, have fallen down on other bottles, and 
 Cape wine mingles its torrents with thofe of the 
 cream of Barbadoes. The foil deeply impregnat¬ 
 ed, has chafed away for an hundred yards around, 
 the filthy odour of the place. 
 
 He who heretofore modeftly drank his liquorifh 
 water, though only a fubaltern hock-jobber, now 
 fwallows and favours nothing but Champagne, 
 and other delicious wines, from the cellars of 
 emigrants, and which they will never drink 
 again. 
 
 Delicate morfels, partridge-pies, fmall bafkets of 
 cherries, winter green-peas, brawn, fuch are the 
 delicious rarities which thefe money-brokers re¬ 
 gale themfelves with, who, in a fpace of fix hun¬ 
 dred feet fquare, find their table, their walk, 
 their refidence, their enjoyments, their fortune, 
 and the eternal aliment of their monftrous la¬ 
 bours. 
 
 The current price of louis, of which they are 
 the mailers, is enregiflered from hour to hour on 
 the pye-crufl; you read 1000 livres, you go back, 
 it is changed to 1500. 
 
 The jewellers fliops are as numerous and bril¬ 
 liant as if there was neither mifery, nor miferable 
 beings. You fee nothing but watch-chains, half 
 pearl, half diamonds. Thofe who have only juft 
 wherewith to buy a loaf, look at thefe precious 
 jewels, which are only feparated from their hands 
 
 A a 2 by 
 
356 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 by a tranfparent glafs, and this frail rampart is 
 religioufly refpefled. 
 
 The woollen-drapers unfurl, from the top of 
 their fhops to the door, every kind of undulated 
 fluff, which form a perfect contrail with the ig¬ 
 noble and dirty clothing of the paffengers 3 one 
 would fuppofe that this merchandize was not in¬ 
 tended for Frenchmen, and that they were going 
 to embark it for Turkey. We contemplate it 
 with nearly the fame eye as the piftures of the 
 Mufeum. Thefe fluffs are under your hand, you 
 may touch them3 no one feems to be watching 
 them, and the maker is carelefs and faucy, when 
 you alls, him the price. 
 
 Shops lefs expofed, but not lefs rich, offer you 
 brilliant fuperfluities3 fuch as rings with two 
 faces 3 a heart’s-eafe, or a panfy, or a Cupid 
 holding by a thread a bird on the wing 3 firma¬ 
 ments of flarry jewels 3 prefentsof friendfhip 3 ear 
 pendants in flowers, in filigree, gold boxes, 
 etwees, or medallions, filver ice-cups with their 
 fpoons, cups of filver of antique forms, with ebo¬ 
 ny handles. And in admiring all this rich jew¬ 
 ellery, which thews that gold kill exiks, and has 
 not totally difappeared, although three quarters 
 and a half of the city may have lok the remem¬ 
 brance of it, the odour of exquifite ragouts af- 
 cends in light vapour from the air holes 3 the 
 fide tables are loaded with fruit, confeflionary, 
 and pakry, and there you may dine at every hour, 
 4 as 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 357 
 
 as in the courts of German princes, at the found 
 of mufical inftruments, and French-horns, filled 
 by girls who are not nymphs of Diana. 
 
 Petty gaming-houfes fupport the fhops of girls 
 who fell garters, thread, lavender-water, tooth- 
 bruflies, and fealing-wax ; by their fide are book- 
 fellers fhops, where the difcontented ariftocrat 
 eternally renews his daily lamentations. The moll 
 filly pamphlets are fold amidft books which have 
 prepared the Revolution, and works which fup¬ 
 port the caufe of liberty $ but the bookfeller, in 
 fpite of his avarice, fells thofe lad only with re- 
 gret. 
 
 The anti-republicans are continually declaim¬ 
 ing againft all that is done, or that fhall be done; 
 the republic takes no notice of them, and goes 
 on furrounded by triumphs *. How many allure¬ 
 ments held out continually to youth, and to the 
 libertine ! Pictures from curious collections, li¬ 
 centious engravings, libidinous novels, ferve as 
 figns to a crowd of proftitutes lodging in the 
 wooden fhops. Their nets are ten feet aidant 
 from the fauntering youth, idle, and already dried 
 up in the flower of his age. 
 
 •* The reprefentatives of the people are condemned to the 
 infults, to the calumnies of the jonrnalifts, as the Englifh are 
 condemned to their robbers on the highway ; and all to avoid 
 a greater danger; the licence of the pr.efs proves its liberty. 
 
 I can brave, fuch a one will fay, I defy their poignards 
 but this is not enough, we mult know how to brave calumnv 
 
 I fpeak 
 
358 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 I fpeak now only of the galleries. Above 
 thefe wooden fhops are gaming inftitutions, where 
 are affembled all the paflions and torments of 
 hell. 
 
 Almofl all the commotions which have troii- 
 
 * V t . . * ' 
 
 bled Paris, have had their origin in the recedes 
 of the Palais Royal. It is in this infernal place 
 that the greateft enemies of France have laboured 
 at their plots; and a focus of impurity fuch as 
 this, if it was to fubfift a long time, would be 
 fufficient to mine the moft robufl republic. The 
 republican genius will never be truly feated but 
 on its ruins ; that is to fay, when it fhall be 
 transformed into an edifice, new, and ufeful to 
 the ftate. 
 
 This palace has its phafes, not lefs changeable 
 than thofe of the moon. As foon as the day 
 clofes, all the arcades are fuddenly illuminated, 
 the fhops become refplendent, and the jewellers 
 fhew-boxes throw a long luftre, The crowd be¬ 
 comes more numerous. This is the moment in 
 
 . * 
 
 which the gaming-houfes open, notwithflanding 
 all the feverity of the laws of the police; whilft 
 the great fharpers are employed in the drawing¬ 
 rooms above, the lefler ones are at work in the 
 thronged patTages which communicate with the 
 adjacent llreets, and which ferve as gliding-holes 
 to fwarms of pickpockets and money-jobbers. 
 
 Formerly, it was the moment when ftrangers 
 and virtuofoes went to admire, in the private 
 
 apart- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 359 
 
 apartments of the Duke of Orleans, the obfcene 
 figures of Aretin done in wax, large as life; the 
 moment in which the youth, loll to himfelf, tried 
 to feaft his eyes with the fpectacle of the pre¬ 
 tended favage, who coupled publicly with a fe¬ 
 male of his fpecies, at twenty-four fous a head ; 
 and this infamous man was put into the fame 
 prifon in which were thirty-two reprefentatives 
 of the people ! I faw T him, he was releafed after 
 a few days imprifonment. Your fieps under the 
 arcades are arrefted by a fmoke which pricks 
 your legsyou look, it is the kitchen-flame of 
 the rejlaurateurs ; and clofe to them, the balls 
 are beginning in thefe fubterraneous grottoes. 
 Acrofs the air-holes, you fee circles of girls, leap¬ 
 ing, giggling, rufhing on their gallants like bac¬ 
 chantes, with diibeveiled hair. Yonder are 
 groups of difcounters of mandats infenfibly in- 
 creafing. Enters a fpruce fellow in a blue riding- 
 coat, round hat, waxed boots, tooth-pick in his 
 mouth, lie whifpers, Four and half ; they Hammer 
 out a few words ; the group opens, he goes 
 away; he has gained twenty thoufand livres ; all 
 the girls follow him, thee and thou him fami¬ 
 liarly, toy with him; he ltrikes them wantonly 
 with the palm of his hand on the backfide, or 
 pinches them lightly ; he fkips away, and is feen 
 no more. 
 
 f 
 
 Meanwhile in the auction rooms* the Stentor 
 gives the fignal. The brokers, dealers, retailers. 
 
 are 
 
360 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 are all feated. Women’s wigs, chimney pendu¬ 
 lums, fhawls, handkerchiefs, fhirts, beds a la du- 
 chejje , are fold to the higheft bidder. A barker 
 parades each of thefe objefts round the tables 
 before the bidders. He grows hoarfe, he drinks, 
 he has acquired a bellowing, \yhich holds the me¬ 
 dium between the human voice and the roaring 
 of a bull; the tricks of the fellers are fuch, that 
 they always deliver to you a worfe merchandize 
 than that you purchafed : the brokers make thofe 
 who are not of their trade pay much dearer. 
 
 Spies of the police prowl in the fecond-rate 
 
 coffee-houfes, but no one now talks politics 
 
 there 3 they drink their beer filently like Flander- 
 
 kins. The tafte for brandy with feveral has 
 
 * 
 
 V 
 
 taken place of that of wine; the fot who drinks 
 double, and fcmetimes muddles himfelf, enafls 
 fome of the pictures of Van Oflade ; the drink¬ 
 ing places are crowded, and thefe gninguettes , 
 without air, are places where I have felt mo ft 
 pain, in obferving men labouring to become 
 brutes. 
 
 Under the arcades are holes of tliops, into 
 which the girls attract paifengers by their glances ; 
 there you fee only a few rows of packets of pow¬ 
 der, intermingled with glades full of thread and 
 toothpickers; and in other fhops of the fame 
 kind, which are fcarcely more richly furniihed, 
 you find no other wares but thofe exhibited by 
 the fign, or perhaps the dreffes of thefe young 
 
 ladies 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 361 
 
 ladies hung up on the infide, in order to make a 
 (how: thofe places are to the feraglio, what the 
 cooks (hops are to the rejiaurateur Meot, where 
 you enter vaft faloons, the afliduous rendezvous 
 of every man fattened by rapine, army contrac¬ 
 tors, agents, adminiftrators of tontines or lotteries, 
 profeffors of nofturnal robberies, in fhort, ftock- 
 jobbers in chief. There you are ferved at a nod* 
 The difh is put upon the table the moment it is 
 called for ; and as all thofe who eat are lined 
 with gold, they eat, and are attended like kings, 
 princes, ambaffadors, and financiers. 
 
 Private rooms offer you at the fame time every 
 thing to fatiate gluttony and fenfuality. The 
 glaffes which decorate them, multiply to the libi¬ 
 dinous eye of an old fatyr the charms of his mif- 
 trefs, and all the feats are elaftic. In fhort. there 
 is a private faloon, where you drink the cooled: 
 liqueurs, and where burnt-incenfe efcapes from 
 boxes in little light cloudy ftreams. There you 
 dine a VOrientate; but there the covetous man 
 never enters. These pleafures are only for the 
 prodigal; he finds in thefe apartments on certain 
 days, all the pomp and Angularity of the repaid of 
 Trimalcion. On a fignal given, the ceiling 
 opens, and from heaven defcend cars, drawn by 
 doves and driven by Venuffes; fometimes it is 
 an Aurora, fometimes a Diana, who comes in 
 queft of her dear Endymion. All are clothed 
 like goddefTes. The amateurs chufe, and the di¬ 
 vinities. 
 
362 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 vinities, not of Olympus, but of the ceiling, join 
 themfelves to mortals. There was a time when 
 the kneading of the Egyptian was in vogue. 
 You were kneaded by female hands in a wine 
 bath ^ but this act falutary to health, and which 
 favoured a neceffary perfpiration, has been dif- 
 continued, though it equally belonged to cleanli- 
 nefs and pleafure. 
 
 You may well imagine that thefe who come 
 out from fuch places, are ftrangely fcandalized to 
 have their ears tormented with the founds of 
 Pojiillon de Calais , Le Mejjager du Soir y The Mir- 
 ror y they take no notice even of the Letter of 
 Polichinelle y of The Conjlitution in Catches and Glees , 
 of the petition of the Jockies of the two Counfels . 
 Satires againft the government are as indifferent 
 to them as all the eulogiums you can make. 
 Their delicate dinners are far beyond thofe of 
 directors. They are if rangers to every thing that 
 paffes out of the circle of their pleafures y poli¬ 
 tical debates excite no more of their attention, 
 than the difcoveries of Lavoifier excite that of 
 bad poets. If they enter a fliop, it is not that 
 of the bookfeller who lives on royal pamphlets, 
 they enter print-fliops, their boot-makers, the con¬ 
 fectioners, who are clofe to each other, or the 
 jewellers, whofe windows are thining with gold 
 and diamonds, fnuff-boxes, and enigmatical rings. 
 Their idle lacqueys lounge at the paftrycooks and 
 faufage fhops, where they make their vulgar fpe- 
 
 culations 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 363 
 
 dilations on the pretended wines of fifty-two 
 forts ; but thefe lacqueys ftrive in vain to imitate 
 their matters*; they can never do, even in retail, 
 what the money-jobbers do in wholefale, and with 
 magical monofyllables. 
 
 Such is the infe&ed lazar-houfe placed in the 
 midft of the great city, which would threaten the 
 whole of foeiety with degradation and corrup¬ 
 tion, if the fcandals which it offers were not con¬ 
 fined to a Angle point. 
 
 The fatal contagion of gaming, the excefles of 
 cupidity under all its forms, the licentioufnefs of 
 morals and of artitts, do not extend to the reft of 
 the city; and it is a thing worthy of remark, that 
 feveral quarters feem as it were epulated by all 
 the vices which boil at the centre. What I have 
 noticed as more diftreffing than libertinifm which 
 belongs to the warmth of youth, is, that blafphe- 
 my and infidelity are in every mouth and at every 
 moment, that it is becoming a fort of ftyle, and 
 that no care is taken to prevent it. 
 
 But it is a great fcandal in our age that this 
 brutal and depraved language has pervaded al- 
 moft every condition; and, fince the epocha of 
 the Revolution, has made a fport of the moft fa- 
 cred words, which were never heretofore pro¬ 
 nounced but with refpeft. The holy name of 
 God is ufed in every converfation, not through 
 impiety, but from want of decency and gravity. 
 
 It 
 
364 
 
 K EW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 It is, perhaps, from having profaned the lan¬ 
 guage, that we have loft a part of our virtues ; 
 but what is moft deplorable is, meeting almoft 
 every where troops of children without order or 
 modefty, who fwear, blafpheme, and fcandalize 
 chafte or pious ears. It is time to renew that 
 refpeft which is due to the Supreme Being. For¬ 
 merly the tongues of blafphemers were pierced 
 through. The brutal are not fo dangerous as the 
 polifhed vices, but the precindts of the Palais 
 Royal have the melancholy privilege of uniting 
 both. 
 
 At Sodom and Gomorrah they did not read the 
 books which are printed and publicly fold at the 
 Palais Royal. JuJiine , or the Misfortunes of Virtue* 
 is expofed on every ftaii. Put a pen into the claws 
 of Satan, or of the evil genius of mankind, he will 
 not be able to make a worfe. Twenty other pro¬ 
 ductions, lefs abominable it is true, for that of 
 which I fpeak has borne away the prize of tur¬ 
 pitude and of vice, are there to finifli the decom- 
 pofition of what inftinctive morality remains in 
 the heart of certain young people. And the fel¬ 
 lers and buyers are authorized by tliefe words, 
 which have fo often deceived us;— <c Liberty, un¬ 
 limited liberty of the prefs.” 
 
 in the corner of that ftiop do you hear what is 
 faid? They are literally making vows for the army 
 of the Empire. It is going to recrofs the Rhine, 
 
 and 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 365 
 
 and paffmg by Brabant and the Luxemburgh, and 
 leaving Lorraine, Alface, and Flanders on the 
 rear, to reduce France on the north, to the limits 
 exifting in the time of the Valois. The book- 
 feller’s wife, daughter, aunt, and coufm, do not 
 entertain a doubt of the victory of the three coa- 
 lefced kings, which is to give them coffee for their 
 breakfaft, fugar, and cinnamon, at a very low 
 price. The death of Charette was a fubjedf of 
 general lamentation, but they expect every thing 
 from the courage of Richer-Serizy, and the pen of 
 Baboeuf. 
 
 It is of little confequence to thofe idlers whe¬ 
 ther the coalition have wifhed to make a fecond 
 Poland of France. There is no longer any liberty 
 when thev can no longer affaffinate the national re- 
 prefentation ; and fince there has been a revolu¬ 
 tion, why ffiould there not be a counter-revolution, 
 till the entire re-eftablifhment of demagogy ? 
 
 In almoft every houfe, trades are carried on 
 which have not a name, chemical analyfis 
 never would fucceed in decompoiing the dif¬ 
 ferent elements of thefe new traffics. The 
 mind of man is aftonifiling, when pecuniary in- 
 terell becomes the bafis of his thoughts and his 
 adlions, we find truly wherewith to fmile at his 
 mercantile ingenuity. The head of the greedy 
 man calculates all at once, the time, the exchange, 
 the variations, and fubjugates chance, if I may 
 ufe the expreffion, in a bold and daffiing way. 
 
 Ah! 
 
366 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Ah ! how many talents are loft when employed on 
 private interefts! 
 
 Walking under thefe acades, I have been 
 ftruck with the refemblance of feveral phyfiogno- 
 mies which were known to me, and which I had 
 feen in my travels. I thought I beheld the refur- 
 reftion of perfons departed. 
 
 Does there exift amongft men an attractive 
 or fympathetic force, which reproduces thofe 
 phyfiognomies to which you have been molt at¬ 
 tached during the courfe of your life ? Or is it 
 the play of imagination, which cannot detach it- 
 felf from certain objects? It fecms at leaft that 
 there are almoft imperceptible family-features, 
 but which we may read on every face; and if we 
 were to clafs together the individuals who refem- 
 ble each other, if they fliould converfe together 
 they would perhaps difcover that they defcended 
 from the fame ftock. 
 
 We fliould then remark a concordance in the 
 'found of the voice, fome relative gefture, fome 
 refembling motions, either in the winking of the 
 eyes, the moving of the lips, or in the vibrations 
 of the tongue againft the palate, or in the con¬ 
 formation of the nofe, in holding the head in fuch 
 or fuch attitude, and the quicknefs or flownefs of 
 the ftep. If individuals, having their charade- 
 riftic figns of refemblance, were to be claffed, and 
 if a ferious converfation fliould take place be¬ 
 tween them, might not happy difcoveries be made, 
 
 and 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 567 
 
 and might not the looks be found to join families 
 that have been feparated ? 
 
 It is a great pleafure for me to fay, u There is 
 the perfeft refemblance of fucli a one, whom I 
 have feen in Switzerland. There is a head which 
 has been deferibed in Lavater ; that woman re¬ 
 minds me of her who danced in Germany, and 
 who kept me in aftonifhment for two hours; 
 there is the amiable homelinefs of my Rernois 
 lady ; that girl ought to have a great deal of wit, 
 for Hie refembles my prattler of Mortier-travers ; 
 thofe figures who juft pafs me are Genevois 3 and 
 here is a Bafque.” 
 
 What I have been fo long defirous of is now 
 under my eyes ; it is the phyfiona trace , that charm¬ 
 ing invention, which offers to the curious the moft 
 varied and numerous affemblage of the portraits 
 of both fexes. I fix myfelf before it in a reve¬ 
 rie, and during that time the crowd elbow me 
 and prefs on my back. I turn round, and clafs 
 all thofe individuals in families to which I have 
 given names, which are known only to myfelf. It: 
 is a nofe of a certain tournure, and I fay to my¬ 
 felf— cc His relation is at Spire.”—A young lady 
 paffes, and I repeat—“She does not know that her 
 filler is at Lucerne.” 
 
 I Hiould have made a pretty good moral fpy; 
 but this manner of obferving has a difagreeable 
 fide : it gives you antipathies, and antipathies too 
 quick, too rapid, and which would lead you to 
 
 form 
 
368 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 form wrong judgments. Happily thefe impref- 
 fions pafs off; but in however flight a degree 
 you are governed by paffions, they gain the af- 
 cendant. If the ftudy of phyfiognomies under the 
 long walks of the Palais Royal has its charm, it 
 difpofes you alfo at the fame time to a certain 
 mifanthropy ; for how many disfigured faces, on 
 which the heavenly original is almofl totally effac¬ 
 ed ! The true phyfiognomy of man has given 
 place to figures of Ogres and Ogreffes, who feem 
 ready to kill and devour each other. The majef-. 
 tic harmony which fat on the forehead of that 
 mother fuckling her children in the plains of the 
 Palatinate, is here replaced by a woman of noble 
 figure, it is true, but her hardened eye wanders 
 daringly, and her indecent nudity deftroys all the 
 beauty of the model. 
 
 It is not neceflary to be a decipherer of hiero- 
 glyphicks, to divine the end and employ of all 
 thofe grotefque effigies, whofe features, attitude, 
 and drefs, give us lefs the idea of man having fe- 
 rious occupations than of mountebanks. I never 
 pafs by thofe figures without thinking of Briareus 
 with his hundred hands, and I put mine in my 
 pocket. 
 
 In the middle of thefe arcades, in the centre of. 
 the garden, is the Lyceum of the Arts. It feems 
 to abfolve the edifice, for whatever elfe we may 
 have to reproach it. Decent affemblies, ufeful 
 leftures, the greateft zeal for the advancement of 
 
 the 
 
 i 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 369 
 
 the faiences and the arts, in profeffors truly animat' 
 ed with the love of public good, a crowd of ufeful 
 difcoveries have been promulgated, encouraged, 
 and rewarded in this place, and from hence we 
 may fay after Moliere, Where does virtue go to 
 nich herfelf! 
 
 Oh ! what a miferable part in hiftory will the 
 people of Paris aft! It was they who lent fo 
 immenfe a force to the party of Robefpierre, 
 Marat, and the rebel-commune > it is they who 
 furrounded the fcaffolds with demonftrations 
 of ferocious joy ; it is they who have come feve- 
 ral times to attack the national reprefentation , it 
 is they who rallied to aflaflinate the Convention 
 on the 13th Vendemiaire, and who exclaimed fo 
 much againft its want of complaifance in not fuf- 
 fering itfelf to be murdered ; it was they who 
 thought that this facred depofit was their pecu¬ 
 liar right, and who have covered it with infultand 
 humiliations; it is they who, dn their profound 
 ignorance, have always talked of what they did 
 not underhand, have always been ready to follow 
 the flandard of revolt, and ftupidly paflive before 
 their daily murderers, did not riot the lefsthe even¬ 
 ing in taverns, and places of proftitution. Indif¬ 
 ferent to the glory of our arms, hearing of our 
 triumphs without enthufiafm, as ftrangers to war 
 and to national calamities, they are continually 
 repeating the fame calumnies; they have loft 
 their ancient graces without gaining any vigour 
 vol. x. B b in 
 
370 new picture of Paris. 
 
 in return ; they are become meanly covetous, 
 without being more economical. The great fcenes 
 of the Revolution have not been able to enlarge 
 their underftandings, ever narrow, ever bounded. 
 They feed at home on the moft impertinent fa¬ 
 bles. They are become fo abfurd in their reafon- 
 ings, that in order to punifh them you have only 
 to let them talk, and they excite pity. Ungrate¬ 
 ful towards their benefaflors, they think that 
 the government is only for the point which they 
 inhabit, and that the republic will exift only when 
 it (hall pleafe them to adopt the name. The fport 
 of every wretch who wifhes to make them their 
 tool, there is only one voice to which they turn 
 a deaf ear, that of the honeft or fenfible man. 
 
 It is on this abominable mafs that the foreign 
 Cabinets founded their greatefi hopes. Our ene¬ 
 mies had faid. Let us ftir up this indocile, filly, 
 and ferocious people, and vre fhall obtain the 
 greatefi fuccefs. In reality, the poignard raifed 
 twenty times by this people againfl the national 
 reprefentation, has nearly accomplifhed the great- 
 eft of crimes; they murdered Ferand, and carried 
 his head in triumph through the hall of the repre- 
 fentatives of the people. The Convention owed 
 itsprefervation, not to thefmall number of its aftaf- 
 iins,but to their complete cowardice. The foreigners 
 loft their guineas, and perceived too late that amongft 
 European ruffians there are feveral clafles, and 
 that the inhabitants of Paris, the greater part it is 
 
 true. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 371 
 
 true, the dregs of the departments, were the ’worft 
 and mod daftardly of the whole. It is in Paris 
 alone that we have feen theclubbifts at forty fous, 
 and the feQionaries, who were eager to afiaffi- 
 nate the government for the fafety of the pub* 
 lie Apoftles of Marat, or partizans of Capet, 
 the one placed the reftoration of things in the 
 regime of Robefpierre, and the other in the coun¬ 
 ter-revolution. 
 
 It was, in fhort, at the Palais Royal, that the 
 chiefs of thefe two faftions held their fittings; 
 and if they could have agreed, it was all over with 
 the republic. The time paft corrupts the time 
 prefent. They talk at the Palais-Royal as the 
 Royalifts at London, and the partizans of anarchy 
 at Rome; they imagine defeats, they diiband our 
 armies, they call for the deftruction of the go¬ 
 vernment, and this is fport for men of bufinefs 
 and money-jobbers. The moft fcandaloufiy lying 
 newspapers, by inferting whatever can give pain 
 to good citizens, make it a trade to deceive the 
 credulous. 
 
 See how they already fiipulate for the foreign 
 powers, how they intrigue in their favour, how they 
 declaim more loudly than themfelves, in order that 
 our victories thould be interpreted into our lofs. 
 They have not the modefiy to conceal their luke- 
 warmnefs for their country $ and it is to our ri¬ 
 vals, eternally jealous of our power, that they lend 
 arguments, by not fearing to propofe to us to 
 
 B b 2 make 
 
4 * 
 
 372 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 make the moil cowardly facrifices. Peace muft 
 do us flill more harm than war : we muft aban¬ 
 don our conquefts, becaufe the blood ot foreign¬ 
 ers is too precious for us to dare to fpill it. What 
 is all this French blood that has been ihed? We 
 have pretence neither to indemnities nor com- 
 penfations. This terrible war ought to end in 
 meannefs and fupplications. For the conqueror, 
 he ought to forget that his independance was 
 to be torn from him^ and the enthufiafm of our 
 foldiers, the facred love of their country, ought 
 to bend before the interefts of the foreign nego- 
 ciator, who will grant us peace, on our obeying 
 the principles of humanity, which we fhould of¬ 
 fend by taking precautions againft the moft im¬ 
 placable enemy of our nation, him whofe refent- 
 rnent has lafted for ages. 
 
 All thefe news-writers become moralifts when 
 the government is to be harafted. They fpeak 
 of humanity, in order that all chances may remain 
 favourable to the coalition; they fpeak of refti- 
 tution, in order that all the advantages may turn 
 in favour of our enemies. The court of Vienna 
 is particularly dear to them : it is, who fnall 
 exaggerate its preponderance. Are they paid ? 
 Are they mad? They have a fecret want of wea¬ 
 rying out the government; they indulge the 
 hope of diffolving it, and none of them conde- 
 feend to perceive what would be the terrible con- 
 fequences of fuch a diftblution. If we were con- 
 
 quered. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 373 
 
 quered. then they would no longer wifh for peace, 
 becaufe in their blind hatred a^ainft the govern- 
 ment, the dignity of the French Republic was of 
 little import to them. We are conquerors, we 
 muff grant to our dangerous rivals what they would 
 not perhaps have exacled if they had gained pof- 
 fefhon of part of our territory. 
 
 The mind, divided between aflonifhment and 
 indignation, knows not what this new race of 
 writers is, who favour with their pens foreign 
 powers, and who call down fhame and ruin on 
 their country, and all for the triumph of their di¬ 
 plomacy. 
 
 CHAP. XCVil. 
 
 WINTER BALLS. 
 
 Winter balls have already fucceeded the nu¬ 
 merous balls of fpring and fummer. Thefe wear 
 another complexion, but thefe pleafures meet 
 with no interruption, ball rooms are to be found 
 every where, for alas ! what contributes to idle- 
 nefs among# us, idlenefs which preys on the 
 Parifian, (lounging by nature) and which will kill 
 him with his nineteen daily theatres ; the reign 
 of idlenefs, I fay, is as continuous in the great 
 
 ci tv 
 
374 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 city as the fundamental bafe of an opera orchei- 
 tra. 
 
 Next to money, dancing is adtually all that 
 the Parifian loves, cherifhes, or rather what he 
 idolizes. Every clafs has its dancing fociety, 
 both little and great, that is to fay, rich and poor, 
 all dance, it is a rage, an univerfal tafte. The 
 Pariiians dance, or rather whirl about, for nothing 
 is more difficult for them than to keep time, and 
 nothing more rare amongft them than a mufical 
 ear. 
 
 Under the reign of terror, the Parifians, fhy 
 and trembling, and not venturing at that time to 
 write a newfpaper, or ftop a cart, hied to the 
 play-houfes and to clubs, and danced only in pub¬ 
 lic fetes, and fometimes around the fcaffold ; im¬ 
 mediately all the walls were covered with nume¬ 
 rous advertifements in a ftyle almoft academical, 
 announcing balls of all colours, and fome fo 
 cheap, that the fervant-girl might become a fub- 
 fcriber. 
 
 Not a little girl who does not find a gallant 
 to conduct her to thefe fchools of turbulence 
 and feduftion. If her lover refufes to take her 
 to the ball, or does not dance affiduoufly enough 
 with her, fhe terns him off without delay, and 
 vows a woman’s hatred, that is, a difguifed hatred 
 towards him. 
 
 They dance at the Carmes, the fcene of the 
 murders of September; at the Noviciate of the 
 
 Tefuits ; 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 375 
 
 Jefuits ; at the Convent of the Carmelites, in the 
 Marais ; at the Seminary of St. Sulpice ; at the 
 Convent of the Filles de St. Marie; they dance 
 in three ruined churches of my feftion, and on 
 the pavement of all the tombs which have not 
 yet been taken away. The names of the dead 
 are under the feet of the dancers, who do not 
 perceive it, and who forget that they are treading 
 on graves. They dance alfo in every guinquette % 
 on the Boulevards, in the Champs Elyfees, along 
 the quays, dancing in all the cabarets, the haunt 
 of the infanterie, of money-jobbers, who, after 
 having all day long cheated whatever unfortunate 
 individuals fall into their hands, make at length 
 ducks and drakes with the public fortune. Danc¬ 
 ing, in fliort, at all the profefifors of rigadoons, who 
 are called artifts, the fame as players. 
 
 There is, however, this difference between 
 them and the modern profeifors of the human un- 
 derftanding , that they have never been anxious to 
 difcover whether, when a man dances, his foul 
 was then in his heel or his pineal gland. 
 
 They wake the fiddlers at night. They knock, 
 ring, bawl at the door, as they do at the accou¬ 
 cheur’s in preffing cafes. “ Hallo! quick! get 
 up! run ! they are waiting for you.” The fiddler 
 rubs his eyes, fwears, What a rafcally trade it is; 
 gets up, dreffes himfelf, and goes and gains his 
 fix livres piece, without reckoning three bottles 
 of wine, of which he does not leave a drop. 
 
 All 
 
376 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 All the players on the violin are engaged three 
 weeks beforehand : they gain money in propor¬ 
 tion as they go on a long time. Go on a long 
 time: this is the principal merit—they mull: go 
 all night, and the writ! mull be unwearied. Why 
 has the violin fo much credit ? I do not know 
 why, but every fiddler is in vogue, provided he 
 can hold the fiddle-flicks till four in the morning, 
 and that is the main part of the bufinefs, of the 
 art I fhould fay. In fhort, the fiddler ought to be 
 ftrong in his wrift, in his arm, to make the cords 
 twang. 
 
 It is fo ferious a bufinefs, that there is a pro- 
 mife, an engagement in writing, for there is no 
 jelling with the adminiflrator of a ball! The per¬ 
 jured fiddler who fhould break his word, who 
 fhould difappoint a dancing fociety, would be held 
 in greater horror than Marat, Drouet, or Ba- 
 bcEuf, and befiaes, he would be carried before the 
 juflice of peace. 
 
 The fovereign people dance every day ! They 
 are not then fo diiTatisfied, and in each of thofe 
 balls fo renowned, there are gaming-rooms, fide- 
 tables for refrefhments, illuminations on the one 
 fide, on the other fihaded corners, favourable twi¬ 
 light ; in fhort, darknefs vifible, but not like that 
 of Milton. 
 
 t 
 
 It is who fhall fludy to kill five or fix hours in 
 fhaking his heels 3 but in the flyle of the elegant 
 balls, the noble tone of the ancient paladins is re¬ 
 vived ; 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 vived: it is the cavalier and the dame , while in 
 the people’s balls they fay. Citizen, Citoyenne. 
 
 It may naturally be conceived, that the adver- 
 tifements for the balls of the elegants cannot be 
 framed otherwife than according to the ariftocra- 
 tical idioms; that is natural, and our inconceivables 
 and our wonderfuls would not enter a ball of citi¬ 
 zens. Fie! that w r ould look fo much like the 
 republic ; and it is a fettled point between the 
 notary’s and the grocer’s wife, that it is a word 
 which is not fupportable. Does a republic 
 dance ? We have feen a king dance : Louis the 
 XVIth, and the court balls, what will replace 
 them? What will make up for the court-minuet, 
 in which the dancing arch-princefs turned her 
 back to her dancing arch-prince, to prefent her 
 front to the King of France ? Oh ! how majeftic 
 that was! 
 
 But the two hundred balls, and the balls of 
 Fruggiers, of Lucquet, of Mauduit, of Wenzel, 
 of Montanfier, and all private balls^ even the 
 moft elegant, though crowded, hide their dimi- 
 nifhed heads at the fight of the ball of the hotel 
 Richlieu , which rakes together a world. It is the 
 ark of tranfparent robes, of hats loaded with lace, 
 gold, diamonds, gauzes, and embofomed chins ! 
 its entrance is forbidden, except to perfons of a 
 certain fortune. In this enchanted place, a hun¬ 
 dred goddefles, perfumed with eflences, crowned 
 with rofes, float in Athenian robes, exercife and 
 
 purfue 
 
378 MEW PICTURE OF f AR IS, 
 
 purfue alternately the looks of our incredible *, with 
 filvering hair, fiioes a la Turque , and refembling in 
 fo ftriking a manner that humorous and new en¬ 
 graving which bears their names, that I am almoft 
 led to think it no caricature. 
 
 The women there are nymphs, fultanas, fa- 
 vages fometimes Minerva or Venus; fometimes 
 Diana or Eucharis. All the women are drelfed 
 in white, and white fuits all women. Their breaft 
 is naked, their arms alfo. 
 
 The men, on the contrary, are too negligent. 
 They fometimes bring to my remembrance thofe 
 lacqueys who, in the old regime, danced in the 
 drawing-room once a year. Shrove Tuefday at 
 midnight, twenty minutes before their mailers 
 went to bed. They dance with a cold, morofe 
 air : one would imagine they were thinking about 
 politics—they are thinking of nothing, unlefs it be 
 feme plans of money-jobbing. 
 
 The women are more decidedly given up to 
 the pleafure of the dance, but ilill with mode¬ 
 ration. If a few words are heard, they are 
 rare, and ifiue only from the mouth of the riga - 
 dooner y a defpot armed with his fiddle-hick, who 
 affefts a foldierly tone and ill-humour, who cor- 
 refts every falfe hep amidh two hundred women, 
 whofe filent dance is certainly a Angular excep¬ 
 tion to the ufual tumult of French focieties. 
 They evidently are in meditation, in order to 
 
 adjuft 
 
HEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 379 
 
 adjuft their different motions with more preci- 
 fion *. 
 
 The fpeftators mingle with the dancers, and 
 form a fort of groups between the different fets 
 of cotillons, without interrupting any. It is fel- 
 dom, indeed, that a dancer receives the leaf! 
 fhock. Her little foot falls juft within an inch of 
 mine ; fhe bounds like a flafli of lightning, but the 
 mufic makes her return to the point fhe quitted. 
 Like a brilliant comet, fhe runs through her ellip- 
 fes in whirling on herfelf, as by a double effed of 
 attraction and gravitation. I might advance a 
 little before her without fearing to touch any 
 thing but her garment. I feel almoft her breath, 
 and without grazing her. 
 
 Every one is motionlefs under the ventilation 
 of the dancers ; and the women on whom you de¬ 
 cide aloud, pafs and repafs with velocity, as if in¬ 
 different to the praife ; but their ear has loft no¬ 
 thing of what has been faid about them. 
 
 Their eyes, which feem invariably fixed on 
 their partners, glance through the circle with 
 fuch rapidity, that you muft ftudy that motion 
 with attention in order to feize it; neverthelefs 
 they have feen every thing. 
 
 * The moft majeftic, the moft gravely folemn, the moft 
 magnificently ridiculous thing I have ever feen in my life, was 
 the French minuet danced before the King of Fiance, The fteps 
 of the dancers were fcarcely heard—a fiience—I cannot de- 
 fcribe that fort of refpedtful awe. I appeal to all fuch witnefies 
 as are not guillotined. Poor mortals 1 
 
 D 
 
 Farther 
 
380 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Farther on are courtezans in feparate groups. 
 There the motion is Hill more rapid : they are 
 covered with diamonds which refleCt a fparkling 
 luftre. Their dancing has an expreffion more 
 characterized. We cannot help obferving, that 
 they are afraid of appearing too lafcivious; but 
 the look, the look which never lies, reveals them. 
 They cannot and never will be able to imitate the 
 geftures, the voluptuous, but decent compofure 
 of other women. The converfation around them 
 alfo acquires a fort of licentioufnefs which does 
 not ex id at thirty paces diftant from their groupes. 
 Thefe have paid a larger tribute to the perfu¬ 
 mer. 
 
 In an inftant, at a certain fignal, all thofe 
 groupes are divided, the empty benches are in- 
 ftantly filed, but only by the women. What no¬ 
 velty is announced by this change ? A concert, 
 which is about to begin. The women, who had 
 been retrained in dancing by the defire of fuperio- 
 rity over their rivals, and whofe attention was 
 enchained by the varied and multiplied figures of 
 the cotillons, now begin to fpeak. The men, 
 who are Handing, are glancing over, and watching 
 them—they feem to be feated there in order to 
 
 j 
 
 receive the homage due to their frivolity. Such 
 are diftinguiflied who have put rings on their 
 toes, thofe who wear a light drefs, flefh colour, and 
 fo tight, that you may fafcly wager there is no 
 
 fhift next the fkin. 
 
 A con- 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 381 
 
 A confuted buzzing drowns the concert, the far- 
 cafm which has fucceeded the ingenious bon-mot, 
 runs through the crowd. They curfe the government 
 aloud, when it is mild and humane, whilft the fan- 
 guinary and tyrannical government was an object 
 of refpeft. Silence is never obferved but when 
 Rhodes tries to draw from his violin founds as 
 melting as thofe of Orpheus; but ftill it is not 
 Viotti. The palifadoes ranged round each bench 
 (I fpeak of the men, it is the fame thing), the pa- 
 liiadoes give themfelves up to a thoufand decla¬ 
 mations againft the governors, endeavouring to 
 excite againft them every fentiment of defpair, 
 of contempt, and of public hatred. The region 
 of the ball becomes the den of calumny; but 
 more infolent than mifchievous, it degenerates 
 into ftupidity, into a torrent of grofs inveftive, 
 and foon drives away even the inquifitive. One 
 man fays to his neighbour, “ Look at thefe wo¬ 
 men.”—" Well' cc They are all kept by depu- 
 “ ties.”—“ Do you think for” “ She with the 
 “ lively eye and (lender waift, Hie is the miftrefs of 
 “ Raffron. That young lady, with bare neck, and 
 “ covered with diamonds, is the lifter of Gnyomard; 
 u his laft motion was paid for with the jewels of 
 “ the crown. That beautiful forward fair girl, 
 “ flie is the youngeft daughter of Ifnard, who has 
 £C put ande an hundred thoufand crowns for her 
 “ portion—She is to be married to-morrrow. There 
 “ is not, as you fee, a member of the Legifla- 
 
 tive 
 
382 new picttjke of pafts. 
 
 « tive Body, who has not two or throe women 
 here, each of whole gowns colts the republic a 
 part of its domains .' 1 The concert is finillied. 
 and fur s, ' amen, who have 
 
 no longer the reftraint of frays and bodice, 
 which formerly locked them up, may eat to fa- 
 tie tv, and they acquit themfelves very well. 
 
 Fnev devour turkeys fluffed with truff.es, and an¬ 
 chovy paltry; they eat for the iamdhed ftoek- 
 helder, the loldier, every clerk and agent of the 
 republic ; and whiht they are feeding, they talk 
 c f the horrible evils of the republic. There is 
 nothin fo abominable as the prelent regime; if 
 thev dance, it is to enrage the two councils, who 
 thev have heard do not love dancing. They add, 
 that there is nothing but b a.. > which are impe- 
 riTable in France. Ah the fcrophulous gentry, 
 who have their chin in their cravats, exclaim, 
 « Fa-cU ; .ah -Ji eeSj *:e fat ?as dxrsr .''— cs L pon 
 « the wo—d of a victim, this cannot endu-eT 
 Meanwhile, the women who are curling this 
 dreadful republican regime, are the daughters, 
 fitters, wives of contractors for the republic; 
 thev keen on earing, and drink no longer wine, 
 on account of the weaknefs of their nerves, but 
 fwallow down Kv >/,zua hr, ’nxrj/ptxr, and i axmrs 
 from Martinico. 
 
 Formerly the women a: balls took rerfeth- 
 ments, confiding of a few bifeuits with a little 
 wine. It is mere gluttony that rages st prefect, 
 
 an d 
 
 4 
 
NSW PI'CTURE OF PARIS. 383 
 
 and I could not ceafe admiring their firm coun¬ 
 tenance at table, and with what free graces they 
 fatisfy their robud appetites. Cold partridges 
 make two mouthfuls,- diflies difappear, and great 
 glades of water cool in intervals their palate, 
 burnt by the fire of fpirits* 
 
 Noify vulgar pleafuresl and women are m 
 their element amidd your tumult! Content glows 
 on their faces in fpite of their eternal abufe of 
 the prefent moment; never amongft any people 
 was fuch licentioufnefs permitted ; even Jacobin 
 vulgarity finks beneath the rudenefs of the un- 
 cockaded females. They have danced, drunk, 
 ate ; they have deceived three or four adorers of 
 the oppofite party with fuch freedom and eafe, 
 as to make it believed that our age has no longer 
 need of the lead fhade of hvpocrify or diflimu- 
 lation, and that it is beneath us to palliate our 
 habits and our tades, whatever they may be. 
 
 I return immediately to the circle, having 
 feaded my looks with all thefe different attitudes 
 in every piquant and really new point of view, 
 for I am a datuary and painter in my brain, and 
 this is the reafon why there is not a fingle pic¬ 
 ture in the Mufeum, which I have not retouched 
 according to my own imagination. Ah ! poor 
 painters, how cold and monotonous you are in 
 general, without fpirit, and particularly without 
 invention ! how fit you are to paint Calvary’s ! 
 Unfortunate, hidorical painters! you have mur¬ 
 dered 
 
384 NEW PICTURE OP PARIS.' 
 
 dered hidory. And your Watteau ; no, he has 
 not feen balls, or our grandmothers were very 
 heavy and very aukward, in comparifon of their 
 daughters; no, Watteau had feen nothing. I 
 compare all thefe talking and a&ing dancing 
 figures, to thofe I have met with in different 
 countries; and I am perfuaded, that French wo¬ 
 men are of all women thofe who have mod 
 grace, even in thofe functions which lead admit 
 of it; fuch as eating voracioufly, looking boldly, 
 talking loudly, and declaiming anti-republicanly. 
 
 But likewife I know not if any one has ever 
 feen at any period, or in any country, a woman 
 in the midd of the ruded of winters, without 
 dockings, or any other fhoes than a flight foal in 
 the form of a fandal, and fimply tied by flight 
 ribbands, expofmg the toes of her feet, orna¬ 
 mented, or rather comprefied, by feveral rings, 
 and whofe odentation alone makes them bear 
 the pain which they feel in forming the dance. 
 
 Who could believe, amidd thofe balls, that war 
 is on our frontiers, on the banks of the Rhine, of 
 the Sambre, and the Meufe, beyond the moun¬ 
 tains, and over the ocean ? That Europe al¬ 
 lied, under the influence of frantic fanaticifm, 
 the dogma of tyrants, dill more abfurd than the 
 dogma of tranfubdantiation, is obflinately threat¬ 
 ening France, the republic, the conditution, Pa¬ 
 ris, the balls, and even the dancers; no perfon 
 thinks on thefe bloody hodilities, on thefe coa~ 
 
 lefced 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 385 
 
 lefced majefties, who are anxious to raife up 
 again the dignity of their throne on French 
 corpfes. 
 
 I fee even a fwarm of young men, of twenty- 
 three years, embryo-jiujifiyo-crates , who have ftuck 
 their cravats up to their mouths, and who dance 
 longer, as if enchanted at having faved them- 
 felves, (I know not how), from the requifition. 
 
 But what noife is that yonder ? Who is that 
 Roman, preceded by fo many applaufes ? let us 
 draw near, let us fee ! The crowd preffes around 
 her 1 Is fhe naked ? I doubt. Let us draw 
 nearer; oh, this is worth my pencil; her light 
 pantaloon, like the famous leather breeches of 
 Monfiegneur the Count D’Artois, w r hom four 
 great lackeys raifed in air to let him fall into the 
 garment, fo that it fliould form no plait, and who, 
 cafed up all day, was unbreeched at night, by 
 raifing him up in the fame manner, and with 
 more exertion ; the female pantaloon, extremely 
 tight, though of filk, perhaps furpaffes the fa¬ 
 mous breeches by its perfect adherence; it is 
 garniflied with a kind of bracelets; the bodice 
 is cut flanting in a knowing manner, and under 
 a gauze curioufly painted, the refervoir of mater¬ 
 nity are palpitating. A fhift of clear lawn ex- 
 pofes the legs and thighs, which are encircled 
 by hoops of diamonds fet in gold. A fwarm of 
 young men furround her with the language of 
 diffolute joy ; the impudent young woman feems 
 
 vol. i. C c to 
 
t 
 
 386 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 to pay no attention. One further bold ftroke of 
 the Merveilleufe , and vve may be able to contem¬ 
 plate among ft us the antient dances of the girls 
 of Laconia; there remains fo little to let fall, 
 that I know not if true modefty would not gain 
 by taking off the tranfparent veiL The flefh- 
 coloured pantaloon, clofely applied to the fkin, 
 irritates the imagination, and difcovers only the 
 fined: parts of the form, and thofe attra£lions 
 which are the mod concealed; fuch are the days 
 which have preceded thofe of Robefpierre! 
 
 It refults neverthelefs from hence, that all wo¬ 
 men appear abfolutely to have the fame fkin, as 
 they difcover to the fird glance the fame fair 
 treffes. Alas! unhappily for me, I idolize no 
 hair but which is black, or brown! I know, 
 
 however, that under this fair decoration-Oh ' 
 
 when will the fafhion come for a fkin brown, or 
 tawny, for I am for beauties more or lefs Afri¬ 
 can 1 
 
 But let us leave thefe great balls ; the pipe 
 and tabor beat only mechanically; the coloured 
 lamps fmoke and look pale. 
 
 Let us go home, and make a vifit to-morrow 
 to a bourgeois ball. 
 
 Well, I have here more to guefs at than elfe- 
 where, the refembling feature is more difficult 
 to feize, there are infinitely more of details and 
 of fhades, though on the fird view all appear 
 pretty uniform. The mod dexterous difiiinu- 
 
 lation 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 387 
 
 lation holds its empire here, becaufe the dance 
 goes on under the infpe&ion of mammas, aunts, 
 uncles and brothers. The girl has to deceive all 
 thefe ninnies ; and, with fome contrivance, the 
 fucceeds. To thefe balls mammas, it is true, 
 conduct their daughters, but nearly in the fame 
 manner as thofe duennas, who accompany young 
 a&reifes as far as behind the fcenes, and all for 
 the fake of form. Thefe young perfons appear 
 at firft timid in attempting pirouettes, rigadoons, 
 and entrechats ; but thefe fteps, which they have 
 meditated, which they have ftudied, which they 
 have repeated fo laborioufly in the prefence of 
 their mafter, are to be, as they imagine, the firft 
 ftep to fortune. They dance with matrimonial 
 intentions, for they all expe£l to marry the rich- 
 eft man of the neighbourhood ; and this is what 
 fanQdfies, in the eyes of the mammas, the fin of 
 the ball. The confeffor has loft his credit; but 
 regains it with ufury when he tolerates the ball, 
 and condemns and delivers over to perdition the 
 republic; more than one poor girl has found 
 means of marrying advantageoufy for having 
 made a trial of quick fteps, and lightnefs. In this 
 manner young girls, which till now never hap¬ 
 pened, go every where. There are no longer 
 what they call feducers , fince the great facility oi 
 marriages, fince divorce is introduced fo complai- 
 fantly in aid of ail our fancies. No one tears ei¬ 
 ther the contraft, or engagement, which can be 
 broken, made, and unmade again. No ‘one any 
 
 C c 2 longer 
 
388 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 longer fears tliofe accidents, which formerly 
 threw a (lain on a family for half a century. 
 
 Balls have therefore taken place of convents 
 for girls ; they ufed to be vifited at the grate, at 
 prefent the interview takes place at the dancing- 
 mafier’s, who is become quite as genteel and as 
 convenient as a portrait painter. Congratulate 
 yourfelves, good mammas, and ye auguft female 
 citizens, logically miflrefs iliopkeepers, mofl arif- 
 tocratical wdves of notaries, formerly the parifh 
 fermon w r as a tirefome fervice ; now r you have 
 the morality of the Vaudeville, the vefpers put 
 in Vaudeville, in the pieces of Santeuil and Do¬ 
 minique, the vefpers chanted by Harlequin. 
 This chanting delights all your little family, 
 and, confefs the truth, yourfelves. The ball after 
 that appears to you a decent place ; for every 
 thing is comparative, and you fee no inconve¬ 
 nience refulting from it. This is not the moment 
 to condemn balls, which facilitate marriages. 1 
 am certainly not a rigorifl; I w T ould not hinder 
 girls from being married; but thefe midnight 
 balls, I warn you; complaifant mammas, favour 
 a great many things, and only ferve to widen the 
 halls of the Foundling Hofpitals *. Military 
 balls are alfo dillinguifhed by a Hill greater effer- 
 vefcence. The tumult of camps, and the clank¬ 
 ing of arms form, if I may ufe the ex predion, the 
 mufic. The motions, the Heps of the dancers, 
 
 * The number of foundlings is increafed at Paris, nearly 
 double within eighteen months. 
 
 have 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 389 
 
 \ 
 
 have fomething manly, and you may perceive by 
 their martial air, that they would pafs with the 
 fame ardour from the arms of pleafure to the 
 field of vi&ory ; all the chins there are naked, 
 and the manly countenance is marked by honour¬ 
 able muftachios. 
 
 It is with regret that we have feen the brave 
 defenders of the country furrounded by thefe wo¬ 
 men without modeftv, more fitted to turn them 
 from their duties than to attach them, and who, 
 by their dangerous attractions, may render them 
 incapable of fuftaining the weight of arms, and 
 the fatigue of war. Modefl and virtuous wo¬ 
 men, be the bearers ol national gratitude ! give 
 your hand to thofe warriors, whofe character in 
 general is always more frank and generous than 
 that of other men. 
 
 There are balls for all conditions, water-car¬ 
 riers and coal-porters have theirs alfo, for I would 
 not forget any thing. In thefe cellars, even at 
 the bottom of alleys, in filthy cabarets, at the 
 found of the tunelefs fiddle, or fqueaking clari¬ 
 nets, every Sunday and decadi (for the people 
 keep the two holidays alike) often even in the in¬ 
 terval thefe Auvergnates dance fo as to (hake the 
 flooring, and make the proprietor tremble for lo¬ 
 cal reparations. The dancing-room is lighted by 
 a luftre compofed of two crols pieces of wood, or 
 by a few earthen lamps ranged along the v wall. 
 In the midft of a cloud of tobacco fmoke, and the 
 
 fmel! 
 
390 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 
 fmell of brandy, you fee inimaginable dancers 
 rife or fall back without flep or meafure; and 
 quite alongfide,on benches half worn, even groupes 
 of men and women fmother each other with 
 fmacks of killing fo hideous as made me turn 
 afide my head, and which at prefent make me 
 repent of having given the fccne a place in my 
 memory. Sometimes the wooden ihoe, in jump¬ 
 ing, flies off, breaks the lamp, and fprinkles the 
 aflembly witlf the oil; that is nothing, it does no 
 harm either to flioes or dockings, or to the cotil¬ 
 lon ; the burning tallow makes no impreflion on 
 the tanned fkins of thefe Veftris’s ; they fnatch up 
 their flouched hats, and move off, giving one ano¬ 
 ther, by way of joy, pretty flout blows with their 
 fids. 
 
 In fhort, I have feen balls where dancers by 
 profeffion, drefled like negroes, favages, Chinefe, 
 paladins, drew univerfal admiration, becaufe they 
 were not known, but I have often found out thefe 
 flub tie fwindlers of fame. What is it neverthelefs 
 that the love of glory will not undertake ? I have 
 furprized them in a ball of washerwomen, intoxi¬ 
 cating themfelves with the admiration of twenty 
 fempftreffes. Thus an adtor of the fecond and 
 third rank, hided and re-hided, takes a part at 
 Nicolet’s and Riboe’s, and is crowned with ap- 
 plaufes ; he then paffes a good night. 
 
 Celebrated dancers of the opera! Is it you 
 who have turned all the heads in the city? You 
 4 may 
 
 / 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 391 
 
 may count as many awkward imitators as there 
 are pretenders to corporal graces; but if Veftris 
 be an object of imitation, windpipe Garat is an 
 object of imitation alfo, and we hear nothing but 
 the quavering of his eternal cadences. Windpipe 
 Garat is an indrument faid to be unique, wffio 
 executes mufical .difficulties, and difficulties fo 
 great, that they feem almoft queer and oddiffi. I 
 am told that it is very fine, people are tranfport- 
 ed, and this is what I found moll curious. Ah ! 
 thefe balls and concerts! the tree of luxury and 
 opulence flouriffies amidft a city peopled with 
 objefts of mifery, as we fee a fuperb orange-tree 
 rifing out of a painted cafe filled with dung. 
 
 Parifians ! my dear Parisians! dance or go to 
 mafs—dance and go to mafs at the fame time, but 
 for heaven's fake never think of politics, for when 
 you would talk politics, you fall into the groffied 
 fnares that could be laid for you. You then are 
 making way on the credit of a few wretches for 
 all the horrors of anarchical dififolution. Dance, 
 I beg of you, dance ! for it is impoffible you 
 ffiould have any other employment that fuits you 
 fo well. Alas ! would it not have been better 
 
 t ' 
 
 for you to have been dancing the 3 id of May, the 
 2d of June, the 4th Praireal, and the 13th Yen- 
 demiaire ? 
 
 And who in the end, credulous Parifians, do 
 you liden to ? There is lefs ennui in feeing the 
 
 dance 
 
392 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 dance than in hearing a Royalift pot-pourri f at 
 the Lycees, iffuing from the mouth of a literary 
 declaimer, who hires himfelf as a finger or a fiddler, 
 and who fells in perfon his worn-out rhetoric. 
 Like the fiddler, he continually recommences the 
 fame humdrum that he gave us ten years fince, 
 and he does not even perceive the ennui that he 
 diftils. 
 
 Dance for ever, then, my dear Parifians! and 
 in preference to the fad and monotonous litera¬ 
 ture of our academical dances, in preference efpe- 
 cially to all thofe common-place phrafes of ftupid 
 ariftocracy and extravagant royalifm. Let our 
 Lyceums, inftead of detailing fuch hackneyed de¬ 
 clamations, open their fpacious halls for the 
 dance. Begone, ye blockheads, whofe flile is far 
 from the dancing mood ; you are not worth the 
 fiddle which enlivens our fpirits, for you throw a 
 fhade over the mod brilliant and numerous afl’em- 
 blies. Give way to the tambourin; and the bet¬ 
 ter to prove that ye ought to do fo, let us hear 
 what the grave Montefquieu has written on dan¬ 
 cing. tc Dancing pleafes us by its lightnefs, by a, 
 certain grace, by the beauty and variety of the at- 
 
 * Wretched declaimers, who are continually holding up to 
 us the bloody robe of Caefar (which Anthony difplayed only 
 once to the Roman people), know that in politics yefterday is a 
 corpfe, and to-morrow is fomething ; and that in the perfon of 
 Louis the XVIth it was not a man that was put to death, but a 
 government. 
 
 titudes. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 393 
 
 iitudes, by its connection with mufic; but it 
 pleafes efpecially by a difpofition of our brain, 
 which is fuch, that it fecretly brings the idea of 
 all the motions to certain motions, the greater 
 part of the attitudes to certain attitudes.” 
 
 CHAP. XCVIII. 
 
 PATRIOTIC OFFERINGS. 
 
 Gold and filver was laid with good will on the 
 altar of the country, to aid its wants. An hifto- 
 rical account of all the patriotic offerings made 
 fince the beginning of the Revolution might be¬ 
 come the fubjeft of a work fitted to honour the 
 nation. I fliall cite only one which deferves 
 the preference, becaufe it was one of the firft 
 that was made. 
 
 There are in Paris certain focieties of work¬ 
 men, who voluntarily united from the love of la- 
 hour and of piety, prefented the pure image of 
 that monkifh life which for a long time has been 
 fought for in vain in cloiflers. 
 
 Among thefe eftablifhments, that of the bro¬ 
 ther fhoe-makers of the flreet of the Grand 
 Truanderie is noted. Thefe honeft and laborious 
 mechanics, from the produce of their common la¬ 
 bours, had formed a capital of an hundred and 
 
 * ' fifty- 
 
 • > 
 
394 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 fifty-fix thoufand fix hundred and fifty livres, the 
 intereft of which kept up a certain degree^of cafe 
 amongft themfelves, and furnifiied a fund for cha¬ 
 rity. Thefe excellent patriots offered to the Na¬ 
 tional Afifembly the facrifice of their little trea- 
 fure, afking only a penfion for the aged and in¬ 
 firm . 
 
 
 chap. xeix. 
 
 *■ 
 
 CARICATURE S, FOLLIES. 
 
 I 
 
 r t 
 
 w 
 
 Caricatures have been exhaufted on every 
 candidate, on all governors pa ft, prefent, and to 
 come : the voice oi calumny is for ever indefati¬ 
 gable. Every thing that wit or folly can fay or 
 imagine has been imagined or faid. It may be faid, 
 that calumny is among the Parifians what the fin 
 againft nature was in Sodom and Gomorrha, it 
 has acquired the right of citizenfhip. But if inju¬ 
 ries and infults are not fpared to men in place, 
 tiiey pay tor all thefe farcafins by the molt calm 
 contempt; they are indifferent even to the writ¬ 
 ings which defend them, how then fhould they 
 not be io to thefe who attack them? One would 
 
 imagine 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 395 
 
 imagine that they had taken for their device a line 
 of my own—• 
 
 LaifTons les bavarder, et gardens Padtion. 
 
 ' \ 
 
 The hundred and thirty-three daily newfpapers 
 all change, each according to its fancy, and the 
 effe£t which refults is fuch as is produced by a 
 too numerous and difeordant orcheftra ; you can 
 no longer diftinguifh any thing; it is a noife, and 
 
 t 
 
 a noife which often makes you laugh. There is 
 fcarcely a ftreet where there is not a newfpaper 
 printed, and three newfpaper writers in the gar¬ 
 rets fcribbling, or rather cutting out columns of 
 newfpapers, and never mending their pen till they 
 are paid the month in advance. From having 
 been too anxious to raife the prefs above every 
 thing elfe, to make it the fupreme magiftrature, 
 to place it above the laws of decency, of civility, 
 the prefs is fallen back to Zero. Such is the firft 
 fruits of licentioufnefs. The srood which is found 
 in thofe fheets is loft, becaufe every periodical 
 paper is configned to contemptuous oblivion, 
 becaufe all of them have changed their charafter 
 according to events. 
 
 Caricatures feem to have taken their place, and 
 have formed an addition to the unlimited liberty of 
 the prefs. The paffengers flop in crowds before 
 the print fhops, to look at the incredibles , the won- 
 derfuls , the fijkwomen , the jiate creditor , the folly 
 of the day, the anarch ft ^ the danger of wigs. This 
 
 laft 
 
396 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 laft caricature reprefents a woman on horfeback, 
 whofe hat and hair have flown off at the fame 
 time. 
 
 Thefe humorous reprefentations of our abfur- 
 dities, our follies, our humours, and our vices, 
 excite only the tranfltory fmile of a light people, 
 who ftudy themfelves in their drefs, varied at 
 every inftant, and fully juftify the charge of abfur- 
 dity offered by this faithful mirror. The print ot 
 the incredibles has generalized the dog’s ears 5 as 
 (illy journals, from the abufe of the republic, have 
 made many republicans. 
 
 By the fide of thefe caricatures, figure in full 
 drefs the portraits of thofe generals whofe un¬ 
 known names are fuddenly covered with immortal 
 glory, and who, generous defenders of France, 
 have faved the whole of Europe from the horri¬ 
 ble fyftem of oppreflion and flavery which kings 
 had meditated againft if. Their republican har¬ 
 mony, Grangers to the meannefs of jealoufy, does 
 them no lets honour than their vidiories. Cha- 
 rette ranks among them, fince French generofity 
 dpesjuftice to his talents, while it defpifes his 
 contemptible fanaticifm. The portraits of Louis 
 and his daughter arc framed and expofed like the 
 reft: they are pielures, and nothing more in the 
 eyes of the fpectator who buys them if he pleafes, 
 or laughs according to his fancy. You are 
 plucked by the fleeve, and offered the death of 
 Louis the XVith and Maria Antoinette, trage- 
 
 dies 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PA^IS. 897 
 
 dies at only fifteen fous a-piece, but no one pur- 
 chafes. 
 
 But what is mod ftriking is the liftleflhefs 
 of the people. The lower claflfes work very 
 leifurelv. Their arms fcarcely deign to make 
 the leaffc effort. Their trades are become a kind 
 of amufement. Hard labour terrifies them ; the 
 hand-cart is (lightly loaded, the porter’s knot is 
 gently prefled. They hire their arms, as it were, 
 by condefcenfion, they want to gain in an hour the 
 value of a whole day’s labour ; they feem, in 
 fhort, by working with the moft marked careleff- 
 nefs, to oblige the matter, who pays them high 
 wages. Thev fill at an early hour the guinguettes 
 and theatres. Forgetting the pad, killing the pre¬ 
 terit, and thinking nothing of the future, they go 
 every day to the public walks; they are on the 
 Boulevards, on the Quays, with their arms croiT- 
 ed ; they are in coflfee-houfes, occupied in a party 
 of billiards, or hanging over a game of domino. 
 Thus they pafs their time, almoft afhamed of the 
 labour of the fliop. Thanks to the undiffembled 
 multiplicity of drinking (hops, billiards, cheap 
 play-houfes, cabarets, the Parifian is become the 
 idled man on the earth, and we are led to enquire 
 by what means this idle multitude are fed ? 
 
 A diort time fince, the cut of the gowns of 
 women of fafhion was fhaped like a heart; at 
 prefent, that of the bodice terminates in wings 
 of butterflies, of which the lex feem anxious to 
 
 be 
 
398 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 be the emblem, and which they ofteneft take for 
 a model. Yefterday they wore hats a la Pamela , 
 to day hats a TAnglaije\ yefterday they decked 
 themfelves with feathers, with flowers, with rib¬ 
 bands, or a handkerchief in form of a turban, af- 
 fimilated them to odalifks; to-day their caps take 
 the form of the wife of Philip de Comines 3 yef¬ 
 terday their thin flioes were loaded with rofes, 
 and fixed to the ancle with a ribband elegantly 
 knotted 3 to-day a great buckle cut in diamonds 
 covers almoft the whole of their foot, concealing 
 every part except the end of a flight bouquet, 
 the embroidery which finifhes at the extreme 
 point of the fhoe. And let no one imagine that 
 this is a caricature of our faihionables, fcarcely is 
 it a flight fketch of their follies, of their infinitely 
 varied changes. 
 
 As to the walking clafs, they ape the firft very 
 
 well with refpect to caps, hats, and finery 3 but 
 
 they are always deteftably fhod, not becaufe their 
 
 flioes are flat, but becaufe they are badly made, 
 
 and out of form 3 which {hews that they buy 
 
 them ready made, and that a young girl often 
 
 takes the flioes of her grandmother. The eye 
 
 can fcarcely accuftom itfelf to fee them walk 
 ✓ 
 
 without afiiftance 3 and though tucked up half 
 leg, they fplafh themfelves ftill more than the 
 men.' When I was a young man, the women 
 walked on their toes, and the fluff of their flioes 
 was untouched, the wet did not pafs the foie. 
 
 At 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 399 
 
 At the moment I write, flraw hats are the 
 rage, and draw plumes, which have difcarded the 
 triumphal feather. • 
 
 Fatigued in rambling through Paris to change 
 my palate, if I enter a coffee-room, I hear every 
 one complaining of being ruined by the Revolu¬ 
 tion ; and thofe w T ho hold this language do no¬ 
 thing, and pafs their lives at the coffee-houfe; but 
 it is a ton; every one muff be ruined by the 
 Revolution, and he wdio had two hundred livres 
 revenue, would make you believe that he had 
 twenty thoufand. Every one loudly calls for 
 peace, and no one rejoices at our aflonifhing vic¬ 
 tories. The tradefman who has read Roman hif- 
 tory, is no more affected by the great actions of 
 our generals than by a romance. He will ffoop 
 down, and whifper myfleriouflv in your ear, Buon¬ 
 aparte is going to pafs the Rubicon , and imitate Cafar. 
 Where has he taken that great idea? In talking 
 with his neighbour at mafs, w r here he goes not 
 from faith, but only, as far as he imagines, to en¬ 
 rage the republic. He pities the priefts, fpeaks 
 of their miferies, of their inconveniencies, which 
 all refult from the Revolution every thing crofs 
 that happens in the w r orld has no other fource. 
 His wife and daughter are attacked by dreadful 
 pains in the ftomach, It is at the queues that 
 they have picked up this diforder it is in confe- 
 quence of the long faft, impofed tw r o years fince 
 by Roiffy d'Anglas, Do not imagine that they 
 
 are 
 
400 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 are angry with Boifly, they have forgiven him in 
 this hard Lent, they have given him all their con¬ 
 fidence, fince Boifty has promifed them at length 
 red eggs a la royale . 
 
 The eternal chorus is the unhappy fate of the 
 ftockholder. Beggars by profefiion are poor 
 ruined ftockholders ; the republic will never find 
 in its refources wherewith to pay, I do not fay 
 the principal, but even the intereft of all the pre¬ 
 tended ftock belonging to pretended ftockhol¬ 
 ders ; and this is the reafon why the intereft 
 which the man of feeling ought to take for the 
 real creditor of the ftate is fo diminiflied. In 
 fhort, every thing is become rentier. The old dif- 
 mantled coach, drawn by harridans tied with 
 cords, driven by a coachman and poftillion in tat¬ 
 ters, and whofe heels appeared through their 
 fhoes. This droll equipage is no longer the car¬ 
 riage of the pretender, it is that of the ftockhol- 
 der. The fhopkeeper, for ever avaricious, mur¬ 
 murs, but he is quiet; one would fuppofe that he 
 perceives that he waftes his breath in vain, and 
 that no attention is paid him. People in eafy 
 circumftances have taken a wife refolution : they 
 no longer bufy themfelves about politics ; they 
 turn a deaf ear to the fpeeches of the faftious, 
 laugh at the wars of the journalifts, ftudy nothing 
 at their toilettes but the cafes of their drefting 
 cabinet; look at themfelves in their boots, with 
 a perfect indifference for every thing befides. 
 
 The 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 401 
 
 The new millionaires , Hill more indifferent, but 
 not lefs favage againft the government, make it 
 an important bufinefs to be with the princeffes 
 of the day at Garat’s concerts, called at the Bou¬ 
 levard playhoufes, the modern Orpheus. Thefe 
 upftart men are perfedlly ignorant of mufic, but 
 they applaud moft outrageoufly the quiverings of 
 the finger, and they admire the women who em- 
 bellilh all the boxes. 
 
 If this world be a perpetual rotation, why 
 fhould not the former apple and tripe-women 
 figure in their turn, efpecially when they are 
 pretty? For true nobility among women is grace 
 and beauty. 
 
 Tea-drinking is in high vogue, and almoft the 
 only occafion which brings private fociety toge¬ 
 ther. There are no longer any dinners: every 
 one eats at the rejlanrateurs , of which the num¬ 
 ber is infinitely multiplied: you fee them at the 
 corner of every ftreet. You fee nothing but 
 daubers hoifled on a ladder, painting for figns, 
 hares, hams, lobfters, faufages, or writing in 
 Englifli letters, cold breakfafts, private rooms:— 
 This laft advertifement is but too public. 
 
 The pots and pans, it is prefumed, are over¬ 
 turned in almoft every houfe. Formerly you went 
 and took a dinner with a friend : it is now quite 
 different, every one remains at home, or goes to 
 take his dinner at his rejlanrateurs t 
 
 D d 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Is 
 
402 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 Is this ceconomy, or diverfion ? This fafhion 
 certainly indicates rupture and difunion in do- 
 meftic arrangements, as we may affert that the 
 rejlaurateurs evince an effential change in our man¬ 
 ner of living, and in our morals. 
 
 Tea parties at lead feem to bring us nearer to¬ 
 gether : they feem the firft ftep to mount up to¬ 
 wards French urbanity, fo long unknown. The 
 women go to thofe parties in full drefs: it is a bril¬ 
 liant affembly, a certain filence takes place, conver- 
 fation is carried on by whifpers ; each groupe in- 
 fulates itfelf in the midft of the fociety, and 
 the paflions, which every where elfe have their 
 
 i 
 
 phyfiognomy and their language, feem here to lay 
 afide whatever they have of violent and perfonal, 
 and hatred itfelf affumes an air of amity. Upon 
 the whole, it is poffible that tea-drinking may 
 bring us back to our old French politenefs. The 
 days in which there are no tea-parties you walk 
 in Coblentz, in the Champs Elyfees, eat ices at 
 Garchy’s, at Velloni’s, go to the fetes at Tivoli, 
 to Ruggieri’s fire-works, and the poor man af« 
 fe£fs to fhudder at the indecent difplay of that 
 luxury which neverthelefs nourifhes and feed? 
 him, for there muft be luxury at Paris. 
 
 The horfe-races at the Champ de Mars have 
 infpired the favourites of our Amazons with a 
 t^fte for riding; not thofe Amazons who burnt 
 off their hreaft in order to draw the bow the bet¬ 
 ter. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 403 
 
 ter. All are ambitious of the glory of riding by 
 their fide as knowingly as Franconi. They are 
 all anxious to ride in the EnRlifh mode, but not 
 knowing how to feize the motion of the horfe, 
 they fatigue themfelves, and make the fpecla- 
 tors laugh at their convulfive fprings: the Bois 
 de Bologne is their Olympic career. Some years 
 fince, foolifii jockeys ufed to fiiear off the ears of 
 their horfes, at prefent it is the mane which 
 they fiiave; they put fhining wax on their hoofs ; 
 they will foon powder them. 
 
 It is difficult to know whether the young men 
 are more anxious to make a parade of their nags 
 or their belles; but they feem moil pleafed with 
 their geldings, from the pleafure with which they 
 carefs them, and the attention which they pay 
 them. This reminds us of a petit maitre of the 
 old ftamp, who was very fond of horfe-racing and 
 aftrefles foujiers. He was aiked which he idolized 
 mod, girls or horfes? After a moment’s filence 
 he anfwered, “ I love women bell:, but I have 
 “ moftefteem for horfes.” 
 
 It is faid that the greater part of thefe cavaliers 
 ride on borrowed horfes, and that all thefe ele¬ 
 gant horfemen cut the air with the fwiftnefs of 
 an arrow, in order to ride away the debauch of 
 the evening, and to get an appetite for dinner. 
 The lacquey, who ofttimes belongs no more to the 
 cavalier than the horfe, follows with fad coun¬ 
 tenance his mafter in the morning, and waits im- 
 
 D d 2 patiently 
 
404 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS- 
 
 patiently for the end of the courfe. On the whole-, 
 there are few fiery courfers ; a fpecies of Englifh 
 ihort tail, and fliort ears, worn out with age and 
 famine, make up a part of the equipment of our 
 Anglomanes. They fancy themfelves good horfe- 
 men, take their ftiff pofitions for graces, and ad- 
 mire their own dexterity in the midft of their 
 courfes ; but whether they walk, trot, or canter, 
 thefe young men have always a grave and flupid 
 look. 
 
 But what is mod Angular is, that the women 
 and young men flop fuddenly in the midft of 
 their courfe, and when the fun has three hours 
 yet to rim, quit the pure air of the country for 
 heated faloons, where they go to hear mufic; not 
 with the intention of liftening, but anxious to find 
 fome one to whom they may talk of their trot¬ 
 ting, which is the greateft pleafure the rider re¬ 
 ceives from it* 
 
 7 
 
 The only books that are at prefent hawTed 
 about are books ofobfcenity, the titles and prints 
 of which are equally repulftve to modefty and good 
 tafte. They fell thefe horrors every wdiere on 
 flails, along the bridges, at the play-houfe doors* 
 and on the Boulevards. The poifon is not dear, 
 ten fous the volume. All the produ&ions of li- 
 bertinifm, and the moft licentious, bid one on the 
 other, and all attack public morals wdthout fear or 
 reftraint. One would fuppofe that thefe pam¬ 
 phlet-venders were privileged traders infilthinefs ; 
 
 every 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 405 
 
 every title which is not infamous feems to be ex¬ 
 cluded from their (hops or (tails. Youth find there, 
 without obdacle or fcruple, the elements of every 
 vice. This horrible manufacture of licentious 
 books, has for manufacturers all the counterfeit 
 traders, or kind of pirates, who will dedroy the 
 trade ot bookfelling, literature, and men of let¬ 
 ters ; it has for its balls that unlimited liberty of 
 the prefs which the moft falfe, the mod wicked, 
 or at lead the mod blind of men, are continually 
 preaching up. 
 
 The inditution of divorce, the Jacrament of adul¬ 
 tery > comes in aid of this diforder. It feconds, 
 in a powerful manner, the difpofition for liberti- 
 nifm kept up by the excefs of gluttony and 
 good cheer, by the daily frequenting of theatres, 
 balls, and thofe frivolous didipations of which 
 there are no fuch indances amongd any other 
 nation on the earth. 
 
 This multiplicity of theatres naturalizes idle- 
 nefs, dedroys the arts, and thofe trades which re¬ 
 quire attention, palfies the arm, renders the mind 
 effeminate, and ceafes to be an amufement from 
 its being fo continually repeated. There are no 
 longer any holidays, (ince the people are invited 
 every day to lofe half of it to maintain, and main¬ 
 tain badly, an army of (bowmen. The Parifians 
 are as lafeivious as the fparrows that people their 
 roofs; they are ft ill more volatile, and change 
 their female more frequently, and the greater part 
 
 have 
 
 1 V f 1 * 
 
406 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 have not the delicacy of thofe animals in their 
 pleafures. 
 
 It only belongs to fuch a people to jeft and 
 laugh at the diforder which is the confequence 
 of thefe debaucheries. There is not a corner of 
 a ftreet, not a wall, which is not triply covered 
 with advertifements of remedies for the radical 
 cure of the venereal difeafe. Thefe papers are 
 put into the hands of old men, women, and young 
 girls, and no one blufhes at giving or receiving 
 them. Each quarter has its houfe for cures, it is 
 tonic cakes, paftilles, chocolates, comfits, &c. &c. 
 Mountebanks of the fame kind, but lefs in vogue, 
 play the merry Andrew on horfeback or in cabri¬ 
 olets, and Pierrot diftributes to the fpeftators an- 
 tifiphilick remedies, at the found of cymbals, cla¬ 
 rinets, and French-horns. Such are the people 
 of Paris, who have undergone a thorough change 
 in eight years ; who fell their crowns of fix livres 
 for gros fous, and exclaim againft money-jobbers; 
 who drink, laugh, fing, dance, and murmur at a 
 peaceable and vigilant government, which they 
 accufe in the morning of being royalift, in the 
 evening of being terrorifl; for they never ceafe to 
 have thefe rhymes in iji in their mouths, whom 
 they calumniate, and whom they threaten, at leaft 
 in words, after having endured long and filently, 
 fometimes even with the appearance of approba¬ 
 tion, the government of Robefpierre. 
 
 I fhould ' 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 407 
 
 I fliould fpeak of the hotel of Bullion, the eter¬ 
 nal receptacle of the molt elegant furniture of the 
 emigrants, frequented by brokers and intriguers, 
 who were in the fecret of the fabrication of allig- 
 nats, that is to fay, that of the total of their pro- 
 grettive emillion; who monopolized the matter- 
 pieces of art of inettimable price, for heaps of pa¬ 
 per without value, and who fold them again for 
 great fums of money to contractors, who, hereto¬ 
 fore lacqueys of the anti-chamber, or ftall-boys, 
 now tteep on beds of down. Such are the fports 
 of fortune ! I have been aflured that Scipio's 
 buckler, fold for fifteen hundred livres, had be¬ 
 come the prey of a goldfmith : this, however, 
 was not the cafe, but was on the point of being 
 fo. 
 
 I fliall fpeak in another place of houfes of com¬ 
 merce, of thofe counting-houfes of publicans, 
 which are true fchools of roguery; of thofe per¬ 
 petual fales and refales, where fheriffs’ officers play 
 a double part, where the goods which feem to 
 pafs from hand to hand remain always in the fame, 
 and augment in value in proportion to the over¬ 
 throw of private fortunes. The money-jobbers 
 had no need of having their cupidity ttimulated 
 by all the accidents of the Revolution ; but they 
 have become fo impudent, have affumed a dic¬ 
 tion fo favage, a cartouchian morality fo decided, 
 that if it be curious to hear, it is painful to ob- 
 ferve them. 
 
 I can 
 
408 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 I can certify, that houfes are trafficked for as 
 fugar-loaves in the time of affignats ; they are 
 bought for fifteen days, and then refold always 
 with a premium. They never make any repairs, 
 but each new proprietor, by augmenting their 
 rent, vexes the tenants, and treats them cavalier¬ 
 ly. Never were conquerors more inexorable to¬ 
 wards a conquered people: They make them 
 underhand with fufficient oftentation and haugh- 
 tinefs who is proprietor, and it matters little to 
 them whether the wall is ready to tumble from 
 decay, or the roof be open to the day ; they pay 
 no attention except to their cellars, which they 
 fill with thirty forts of wine, on which they make 
 freffi fpeculations. 
 
 To thofe who have fuffered by the Revolu¬ 
 tion, nothing remains but the hope of making it 
 up at the peace; others wait for fome favourable 
 chance, and figh after banks; many regret the 
 affignats, which gave every mercantile object a 
 brifk circulation. A great number defired, and 
 the wifh is aim oft general, the re-eflablifhment of 
 a lottery, an eftablifhment absolutely neceffary, 
 and which would be adopted if the mod: cul¬ 
 pable folly did not hill blind us with refpedt to 
 the difafters of diredt taxes, the hardeft, mod dif- 
 aflrous, and moil anti-republican of any. The 
 Council of Elders, who pique themfelves on their 
 wifdom, have rejected every plan of a lottery. We 
 might fay— 
 
 Avant de tant juger, apprends a tout connoitre. 
 
 I (hall 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 409 
 
 I fhall always dwell on the indirect tax of a 
 national lottery, which fhall not however be that 
 known under the name of loto. 
 
 Is money then become a more privileged arti¬ 
 cle than the hie of men, their repofe, their trou¬ 
 bles, or their fatigues? A formal requifition con- 
 Hrains every man to the fervice of the ftate, and 
 oppoies a youthful population to the dangers of 
 the war, while the overplus of money mull not 
 be diredled towards the public treafury. Ava¬ 
 rice every day rids itfelf of the payment of taxes, 
 keeps its treafures hid, and accumulates to the 
 detriment of the ftate the riches which it with¬ 
 draws from circulation, or which it employs in 
 the deftruftion of credit; and may not the govern¬ 
 ment, by prefenting it with favourable chances, 
 by a productive fpeculation, draw out from the 
 earth, or the ftrong cheft, a part of that wealth 
 which is wanting for the vital motion? 
 
 Ought we, it may be anfwered, to take from 
 the poor, from the unfortunate, their lad farthing? 
 Alas! miftaken moralifts, why rob him of hope? 
 Befides, it is not the poor man who feeds the 
 wheels of fortune ; if he puts into the lottery, it 
 is but a very fmall fum, it is the farthing which 
 he would otherwife throw away in cabarets to 
 poifon himfelf with bad wine, which difturbs 
 his reafon, and leads him into excelfes; it is 
 the farthing which he would give to fortune¬ 
 tellers, to mountebanks, and impoftors. The rich 
 
 only 
 
410 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 only hazard confiderable fums. You lament over 
 the inhabitants of the country ! You are igno¬ 
 rant, then, what treafures they are heaping up, 
 that they have buried the coin which they amaffed 
 with fuch difgufting cupidity, and that they 
 would have fold a radifh for half-a-crown. It is 
 the remorfelefs farmer, the hard tradefman, and 
 griping ufurer, who endeavour to add to their im~ 
 menfe gain the benefit which chance or fortune 
 promife them .—Nemo dat quod non habet. 
 
 Aik the tax-gatherers; they will tell you, that 
 the mifer in tatters, fearing for his dear trea- 
 fure, or after having formed his calculation, who 
 brings by night his fack, and drags forth the cafh 
 which the earth or a wall would have buried to 
 the hour of his death. We have never yet been 
 folicitous to calculate what avarice, powerfully 
 excited, might give back to the general flock ; 
 and though it fliould be difappointed, would not 
 this difappointment be a juft punifhment for its 
 long infenfibility ? Thofe who ftarve us, who 
 harafs us, who commit a number of little crimes 
 to enrich themfelves, if there be a key to open 
 their dark coffers, would it not be wife to make 
 ufe of it? Let it not be faid alfo, that lotteries 
 render nothing of the fums they receive. 
 
 Money is the produce of labour, but he who 
 loves his money is forced to a fecond labour. 
 Now it is certain, that there are at prefent too 
 many idle hands. The overflow of daily fhows 
 
 are 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 411 
 
 are evidences of this obfervation. This money, 
 fo precious to the fubfidence of the poor, and 
 which would return to him by way of lottery, is 
 expended for comedians and fingers of every colour 
 and defcription, from Garat,who drinks gold as long 
 as he can draw his breath, to Madame Angot, who 
 on the Boulevards, would pump in all the copper 
 in Sweden. Muficians, mountebanks, rope-dan¬ 
 cers, all thefe idle profefiions, often dangerous, 
 are fupported by the people, and they mufi not 
 be fuffered to expend a few pence to enjoy at 
 lead fome agreeable dreams. Break then the 
 fpring which winds them up, and which, though 
 they be in pain, leads them to think they are at 
 eafe. 
 
 From what fingularity, what afifedlation of mo¬ 
 rality, do you make a vain difplay of erudition, 
 to prove the pretended immorality of an edablifh- 
 ment which at lead is but a fpecies of luxury, 
 like diamonds, theatres, dances, and balls? Of 
 what confequence to you is it how men fpeud 
 their money, which they will otherwife fpend 
 every day for founds, geftures, and jumping ? 
 
 CHAP. 
 
412 
 
 *NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 CHAP. C. 
 
 r ■ 
 
 FRATERNITY. 
 
 Indignant at the proftitution which was 
 made of the Toothing word of fraternity. Champ- 
 fort tranflated the infcription traced on all our 
 walls : <c Brotherhood or death in this manner ; 
 <c Be my brother, or I kill you He faid, “ the fra- 
 “ tentity of thcfe peojile is that of Cain and AbeL 
 1 he words or death , have fince been effaced. 
 
 CHAP. CL 
 
 MOTHERS WHO SUCKLE THEIR CHILDREN. 
 
 If W’e are daily employed in tracing the dif- 
 treffing fcenes of our Revolution, why ffiould we 
 not fpeak of a fight at lead confoling, and which 
 is continually before our eyes, that of the multi¬ 
 tudes of children fuckled by their mothers. 
 Wherever I turn my eyes, I meet children in the 
 arms of women, and men themfelves carry about 
 thefe innocent creatures. There is no fpot of 
 
 grafs. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 413 
 
 grafs, no walk, no public place, which does not 
 (warm with children of every age. Here you fee 
 youth drawing in a multitude of little carts, in¬ 
 fancy in peaceful (lumber ; your deps are eroded 
 by thefe little equipages, but you do not mur¬ 
 mur, you are not offended, becaufe you are am¬ 
 ply rewarded for the delay by the foft fmile of all 
 thefe lovely and innocent beings. They furround 
 you, they prefs your knees, you put them gently 
 by, in order to purfue your way. There, the lit¬ 
 tle girl of ten years old a£ls the gouvernante, re¬ 
 gulates the condufl of her fillers and coufms, and 
 nothing is more intereding than to contemplate the 
 fubordination which reigns amongll ages which 
 we confound with that which we have reached 
 ourfelves. Never in any city, at any time of my 
 life, did ever fo great a number of children meet 
 mv looks. Maternity has become a pleafure, 
 for our French women all fuckle, all pique them- 
 felves on being mothers, and all feel that the only 
 good nurfe is the true mother. 
 
 Maternity is fo much in efteem, that its func¬ 
 tions filence every idle remark which malice or 
 (lander can invent. The fex is juftified for all 
 its weaknefs, when it aefs the careful and atten¬ 
 tive nurfe. The younged are thofe who infpire 
 mod refpeft, fo much do the duties of nature, 
 when they are accornpliihed, impofe filence on 
 the babble of our empty moralids. Is not nature 
 already an enormous ufurer towards a weak fex? 
 
 3 and 
 
lit .NEW PICTURE 0-F PARIS. 
 
 and if the woman did not find in the charms and 
 carefles of a child, not a reward, but an indemnity 
 for her pains, the generation of beings would be 
 foon exhaufted. 
 
 It feems, that all the fouls who have flown to 
 the frontier for the defence of the country, are 
 re-entered to animate new bodies, and form a fo¬ 
 cus of republicans, who will enjoy the labours 
 and facrifices of their anceftors. 
 
 Infants more carefully attended, more free in 
 their motions, and no longer under the rod, dis¬ 
 play a chara&er of joy and independence which 
 charms the obferver. The rod has difappeared 
 together with the tribe of grofs and venal nurfes, 
 their little faults are corre&ed by a word, and it 
 is in this manner that we ought to accuftom infan¬ 
 cy to be governed only by words. 
 
 Look at thefe young pupils: at fome future 
 day our errors, our faults, and our misfortunes, 
 will furnifli them with fubje&s of converfation ; 
 they will be our judges, and the true hiflory of 
 our calamities and of our greatnefs will fill their 
 mouths. 
 
 The little imperious charaders already decide, 
 and aflume a tone of republican independence. 
 The (hades are perceptible from year to year; 
 and lefs tormented by pedagogues, they are un- 
 reftrained in their amufements ; their motions, 
 which are more free, are become alfo more grace¬ 
 ful ; 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 415 
 
 fill; they will be better than us, becaufe they 
 • have been happier in their cradles. 
 
 In fhort, the number of children is fo great, 
 that in certain walks it furpafles that of grown-up 
 perfons *. This delicious fight, which evinces 
 the wifdorn of regenerating nature, can never 
 weary. If fuch be the fruit of the Revolution (as 
 no one can doubt), it forms alfo a fcene fo affeft- 
 ing, that it may ferve to foften the dark colours 
 of the picture of our pail: difafters. But why mull 
 it be an eternal law of nature, that good muftarife 
 from the fource of evil, and that it fhould flow only 
 from thence? 1 dare not harbour fuch a thought, 
 it would corrupt that fentiment of joy which di¬ 
 lates my heart at feeing a new generation fpringing 
 up, which refemble the fwarm of bees iifuingfrom 
 the flanks of the bull of Ariftaeus ; and we, like 
 the inftrument of fome invifible and powerful arm, 
 mult only tranfiently glide over that path of peace 
 and glory which is the lot of man, as hiftory 
 proves, at the end of great movements and the 
 overthrow of empires. 
 
 * Of ten children, I reckoned eight who had light hair; the 
 children of the north are conftantly more numerous in our com¬ 
 mune. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
416 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 CHAP. CII. 
 
 SAMSON. 
 
 This man is the public executioner. Voltaire 
 has faid, that it was the executioner who ought 
 to write the hi (lory of the Englifli. We might 
 fay the fame of Samfon, it is he who fhould write 
 that of the reign of terror. 
 
 What a man this Samfon is. Perfectly impaf- 
 fible, he and the inftrument of punifliment were 
 one and the fame thing. He has cut off the head 
 of the mod powerful monarch in Europe, that of 
 his wife, that of Briftot, that of Couthon, of lead¬ 
 ers of every party, and all with the fame compo- 
 fure : he has made the mingled blood of princes* 
 legiflators, plebeians, pbilofophers, flow in one 
 ftream. We call a gaoler an animal bolt, we may 
 call Samfon the guillotine hatchet. He fells the 
 head that is brought him, no matter whofe. What 
 an inftrument! what a man! lie ought to be 
 afraid to remain a day in Paris. 
 
 What does he fay? What does he think? 
 Does he reflect on having put to death all the 
 chiefs of every oppofite party; Charlotte Corday, 
 and Fouquier Tinville, the wife of Roland, and 
 Henriot. 
 
 I fhould 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 417 
 
 I fiiould like to know what paffes in his mind, 
 and if he confiders his terrible functions only as a 
 trade. The more I think on this man, the pre- 
 fident of the great maffacre of the human race, 
 felling crowned heads, as well as that of the pur- 
 eft republican with the fame indifference, the 
 more my ideas are confounded. 
 
 I have feen the young girl at the eve of her 
 marriage brave death with more fang froid than 
 the famous D’Eftaing, who had filled Europe 
 with the glorious recitals of his courage and intre¬ 
 pidity. How does Samfon deep after having 
 received the laft words or the laft looks of thofe 
 detruncated heads? In truth, I fhould like to be 
 in the foul of this man for a few hours ; I fhould 
 perhaps furprize fome ideas which are unknown 
 to me. He has feen the favage Danton die in¬ 
 toxicated, whofe decrees all (melt of wine; he 
 has feen Robefpierre and his deteftable fatellites 
 in their laft moments tremble, grow pale^ and 
 fweat with that terror with which they had frozen 
 the French* He would have cut off the head of 
 Condorcet as well as Marat. What a fingular 
 man 1 and his exiftence is not a problem ! 
 
 He has heard thoufands of women furies ap~ 
 plaud with infernal fhouts this horrible deluge of 
 blood. He fleeps, they fay, and he may indeed, 
 for it is very poftible that his confcience is in per¬ 
 fect tranquillity. 
 
 vol. i. Ee The 
 
418 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 The guillotine has refpeSed his confcience, as 
 making an integral part with it. No one ever 
 thought of condemning to the flames the rolling 
 plank which placed the viftims under the fatal 
 knife. It is true that Samfon was not like the 
 executor of juftice of Nantes, at one and the 
 lame time executioner, prefident of the popular 
 fociety, and witnefs fuborned to give evidence 
 againft the prifoners. No one, as at Nantes, con¬ 
 tended for the honour of having him for a fon-in- 
 law. We did not fee, as at Nantes, perfons of 
 every rank and condition accofl him with a caref- 
 fing air, and prefs his bloody hands in a friendly 
 manner* and the Parifian women did not wear in 
 their ears, as a great many women of Nantes, 
 guillotines of gold. 
 
 He received, it is faid, excufes from the Queen, 
 
 when on the fcaffold: flie had undefignedly trod 
 
 on his toe. What did he think at that time ? He 
 
 was for a long time paid with the money of the 
 
 royal treafury. What a man is this Samfon! he 
 
 comes and goes like any other man, he is fome- 
 
 times at the theatre of the Vaudeville* he laughs, 
 
 he looks at me * my head has efcaped him * he 
 
 knows nothing about it* and as it is a thing quite 
 
 indifferent to him, I am never wearied of obferv- 
 
 ing that careleflfnefs with which he has fent to 
 
 the other world a crowd of men of the firfl as 
 
 well as lafl rank. He would begin again if r-- 
 
 and whv not ? Is it not his trade ? 
 
 * 
 
 When 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 419 
 
 When the carts with thefe numberlefs viftims 
 were dragged by three or four harridans, how 
 was it that in the fpace of fourteen months there 
 were not found forty determined men to pierce 
 their flanks, and give that great fignal of courage 
 fitted to awaken it in the fouls of their fellow- 
 citizens? But no; all the brave were dead, or at 
 the armies; and the terror was fuch, that if one 
 had faid to an individual, <c At fuch an hour 
 cc the cart will pafs before thy houfe, thou muft 
 cc defcend and place thyfelf in it;” the individual 
 would have waited for the cart, would have de~ 
 fcended his ftair-cafe, and taken his place. 
 
 ciiap. cm. 
 
 NATION. 
 
 It was formerly only a Ample term of geo¬ 
 graphy, or of the rhetorician who wifhed to fwell 
 his ftyle. You will never find the pen of the 
 writers of the age of Louis the XIVth ufing the 
 words, The intereji of the nation—The fervice of the 
 nation — The treafure of the nation, becaufe in fa& there 
 exifled no nation . France was only a vail park 
 of flieep, which he who made himfelf mailer might 
 fhear or fell > for fuch was his fleafure. 
 
 L e 2 
 
 CHAP. 
 
420 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. CIV. 
 
 SANS CULOTTES. 
 
 We are in general ignorant of the origin of this 
 
 o o © 
 
 word, it is this: The poet Gilbert, perhaps the 
 moft excellent verfifier after Boileau, was very poor. 
 He had trimmed fome philofophers in one of his 
 fa tires, an author, who was defirous of paying his 
 court, in order to be of the academy, wrote a lit¬ 
 tle fatirical piece, which he called the Sans Ca¬ 
 lotte. Gilbert was rallied on it, and the rich rea¬ 
 dily adopted this denomination againft all authors 
 who were not elegantly d refled. 
 
 At the time of the Revolution, they remem¬ 
 bered the term, adopted it, and employed it as 
 an invincible fpear againft all thofe whofe writ¬ 
 ings or difcourfes tended to a great or fpeedy re¬ 
 form. 
 
 They thought it an excellent joke, and that 
 they might laugh at it as they did twenty years 
 ago ; but politicians are more invulnerable than 
 poets, and they took with a good grace the title 
 which was given them. I was infcribed on the 
 firft lift of fans-culottes, at which I only laughed. 
 But thefe gratuitous infults, and the infolent tone 
 
 familiar 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 421 
 
 familiar to gilded drawing-rooms, irritated certain 
 minds, and led them to invent and detail, with¬ 
 out referve, the term of ariflocrate. 
 
 All this took place before the Revolution. 
 Who would have thought that republicans would 
 have adopted this term, and made it a point of 
 rallying ? 
 
 It was certainly in order to annex contempt, 
 hatred, and execration to the word, to the idea of 
 republic, to the quality of republican, to the only 
 government which can be avowed by reafon, juf- 
 tice, and focial reafon; it was to render the natural 
 rights of liberty and equality deteftable and ridi¬ 
 culous, that the Jacobins imagined and put in 
 vogue the ignoble fans-culottifme and the fans-cu - 
 lot tide fetes. 
 
 I make no doubt but fome dav, thofe vears in 
 which fuch fetes have been celebrated, will be 
 ftruck out of the number of republican years. I 
 truft that the republic will date from the confti- 
 tution of the third year, and that it will be im- 
 poflible for reafon, or a new race, to confider 
 them otherwife. Why fhould thofe years of de- 
 teftable anarchy ufurp a title, againft which the 
 avenging cry of humanity will rife in judgment 
 by the iron pen of hiftory. 
 
 What, the republic exifled under the yoke of 
 terrorifm, and when the abfurd rapacity of the 
 Agrarian law was preached to the people ! 
 What! were thofe proconfuls, who have carried 
 
 fire 
 
422 NEW PICTURE OP PARIS. 
 
 fire and flame, devaluation and death, throughout 
 France, republicans ! Were the laws of our de¬ 
 cemvirs republican laws !—the exercife of every 
 horrible crime a republican government! 
 
 Our pofterity, more juft and more wife, will 
 never date the aera of our regeneration from any* 
 other moment than that in which the conftitu- 
 tional laws exercifed their happy empire. 
 
 Amongft thofe ufurpers of the glorious title of 
 republican, there is not a Tingle one who would 
 not have afcended the throne of the mob, and 
 there they would have fat, though it had been 
 garnifhed with pointed nails. I have feen even 
 that mule of Auvergne, called Romme , wifli to try 
 it: Babaeuf wanted to replace Marat ; and if Ba- 
 boeuf and his aflociates have been and are repub¬ 
 licans, certainly I am not. 
 
 What profanation of that facred word ! which 
 foolifh and ferocious men have alfumed in order 
 to delude the multitude, and thereby rendered 
 credible the facerdotal cruelties of every age, and 
 every country, as well as the reafonings of the 
 moft abfurd theologians. They have made hu¬ 
 man reafon take a retrograde ftep ; they are 
 moreover guilty of a greater crime, of the alrnoft 
 entire demoralization of a great, but alas, too 
 credulous people. 
 
 Sans-culottifme has conflantly followed the 
 vagabond ftandard of anarchy; and if the confu¬ 
 tation fays that I muft fign in the year in which I 
 
 z write. 
 
423 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 write, the Jixthyear of the republic, I will fign it 
 as I ought; but I appeal to the juftice and con¬ 
 ference of pofterity, to reftify the inexcufable 
 error. 
 
 The greater part of thofe Sans-culottes do not 
 guefs even at what hiftory will fay of them $ 
 they, who think themfelves fo penetrating, and 
 do not know that they have been puppets, dur¬ 
 ing the greater part of the fittings of the National 
 Convention; that their difpofition for power and 
 rapine have ]peen greedily fnatched at, in order 
 to accomplilh the proje£ts which rolled above 
 their heads, as the heavenly fpheres roll above 
 the head of an ignorant favage. 
 
 If hiftory, armed with its mirror and avenging 
 pen, fhould fay to them, whilft alive, “ You 
 “ have been nothing but execrable puppets, 
 u moved by invilible wires !” crufhed under the 
 weight of irrefiftible evidence, where could they 
 find caverns deep or dark enough, to bury the 
 fliame of having committed fo many crimes, not 
 for themfelves, but for a kind of old Men of the 
 Mountain, who laughed at their harangues at the 
 tribune, at their anger, and their puerile palhons. 
 And thefe Sans-culotte puppets, thefe madmen 
 of a new kind, have multiplied amongft us; 
 they have laid, that there were none that knew 
 how to govern but themfelves ; but man is a vafe 
 full of good or corrupted liquor, whofe good or 
 
 bad 
 
424 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 bad odour is diffufed around ; nothing has been 
 diffufed from Sans-culottifm but a fe£tionary war 
 of words. 
 
 CHAP. C. 
 
 * . t 
 
 UNDEIFY. 
 
 O Parisians! .I have feen you fince 
 
 the Revolution parade through your ftreets, in 
 pomp, the bulls of many illuftrious perfonages, 
 on whom you have lavifhed your adorations j I 
 have feen you bear to a temple the afhes of fome 
 amongft them, whom you confidered as gods ! 
 a moment came, and you immediately undeified 
 them. O Parifians ! 
 
 CHAP. 
 
HEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 425 
 
 CHAP. CVL 
 
 FABRE D’EGLANTINE. 
 
 The monfters devoured one another ; they 
 ’took arms againft each other with the inftrument 
 with which they ftruck at innocence ; and they 
 have done themfelves juftice. Humanity and 
 liberty have no tears to filed over the annihi¬ 
 lation. 
 
 Fabre d’Eglantine is of that number, he was 
 the promoter of the infamous revolutionary re¬ 
 gime, and its panegyrifts; he was the friend, 
 companion, counfellor of thofe murderous pro- 
 confuls, who carried fire and fword, devaluation 
 and death, throughout France. Why affeft to 
 regret thefe fubaltern ruffians, who would only 
 have excited contempt, if tyranny in ftriking them 
 for its private views, had not awakened a kind of 
 interefi: in their favour ? 
 
 That Mountain, or rather as I called it from 
 the firft; day I fat within the walls, that crater , 
 which has vomited out all the burning lavas of 
 ignorance and crime, had two fummits, equally 
 odious to every friend of their country, and of 
 public liberty. 
 
 As 
 
42 6 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 As for myfelf, who have followed the ftandard 
 neither of Marius nor Sylla, alike in oppofition 
 to thofe chiefs who have conftantly laboured for 
 their own elevation, and never for the republic, 
 it is.as a republican that I detell their dema¬ 
 gogical principles. 
 
 I will not examine whether or not the hands of 
 Fabre d’Eglantine were fullied with dilapidations. 
 I know that he was a promoter of affaffinations, 
 and I accufe him as fuch before pofterity. 
 
 As a poet, he had talents. The Philinthe of 
 Moliere is an excellent comedy. It is to be re¬ 
 marked, that Ronfin was alfo a writer of plays, 
 but of bad ones; that Dubuiffon was a very ob- 
 fcure dramatic poet; that Grammont was a 
 player ; that Collot d’Herbois, a player, was alfo 
 a dramatic writer; that he had even made a piece 
 in honour of the portrait of Monjieur . It is re¬ 
 markable, that feveral players were accomplifhed 
 a£tors in that hideous anarchv, which has inun- 
 dated our country with blood, which has trans¬ 
 formed Frenchmen into inftruments of crimes, or 
 into cowardly fpeflators of the moft horrible atro¬ 
 cities. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 427 
 
 CHAP. CVIL 
 
 MODES. 
 
 Under the old regime, it was the reigning 
 mode in France which extended its empire over 
 all the nations of Europe. At prefent, when our 
 women wear cockades among their ornaments* 
 and that we read on pots of rouge. Vegetal Na¬ 
 tional y inftead of la mode , we fay le mode. A 
 mode of government, to fix a mode for the col¬ 
 lecting a tax. Mode y then, fignifies fyftemy method . 
 
 CHAP. CVIII. 
 
 DENUNCIATION. 
 
 It was a trade during the Revolution, autho¬ 
 rized by a law of the Jacobins, and was more 
 horrible perhaps than murder; it killed the na¬ 
 tional character, at leaft in cities j it engendered 
 hatred, perfidy, refentments, jealoufies, and the 
 ties of families were broken for a long time. 
 
 They 
 
128 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 They found a cro.wd of denunciators, becaufe 
 they taught villains a mod: terrible fecret 3 I mean 
 the art of gaining the money or property of ano¬ 
 ther, by telling a lie, or making a falfe report. 
 
 Were the denunciator even impartial, he fees 
 all men in a falfe light, when he expe£ls a re¬ 
 ward for beholding them criminals. Thus a fa¬ 
 miliar of the inquifition accufes him who lets his 
 rofary fall, as guilty of facrilege. The fpy of the 
 Jacobins was not lefs atrocious in his accu- 
 fations. 
 
 The aflembly of the jacobins was a hell upon 
 earth, it was compofed in part of women of the 
 mob ; who were fo many furies, refembling fer- 
 pents, hiding indead of fpeaking, and fpeaking 
 only to make wounds with their forked tongues. 
 
 What agent thus powerfully dimulated the 
 
 patriotifm of thefe denunciators ?-An affignat 
 
 of five livres. 
 
 How much evil has this execrable engine oc- 
 cafioned, to gain five livres a-day ! thofe hideous 
 Megaeras had renounced every fentiment of na¬ 
 ture. 
 
 It was they who, giving the fignal to all the 
 mobbifh tribe, and threatening others with the 
 anger of the mobbifh chiefs, eftablifhed the per¬ 
 manence of the fcaffold. It was they who ap¬ 
 plauded the daily maffacres, who received two 
 hundred livres for each denunciation; while 
 others, more fubtJe, difcovered your fecrets, and 
 
 repairing 
 
 / 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 429 
 
 repairing to Robefpierre, mingled the wormwood 
 of their own difpofitions with the gall of the mod; 
 atrocious of men. 
 
 It was at the A mars, the Fouquier Tinvilles, 
 the Robert Lindets, that they paid their deareft 
 vifits. 
 
 CHAP. CIX. 
 
 * • 
 
 GIRL. 
 
 To have a girl fignifie's, in the dictionaries of all. 
 nations, to be the father of a child of the femi¬ 
 nine fex ; to have a woman, ligniHes having mar¬ 
 ried an individual of the fame fex. 
 
 In France, thefe words ‘girl, and woman. , have 
 not the fame fignification in the dictionary of gal¬ 
 lantry. I could cite an hundred examples ; but 
 one will fuffice. 
 
 A young man was accufed of loving girls ex¬ 
 travagantly ; there were feveral married women 
 prefent, with whom fuch an accufation might 
 have injured him. One of his friends who was 
 there, anfwered, “ Exaggeration ! malignity 1 he 
 “ has women alfo.” 
 
 CHAP. 
 
430 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. CX. 
 
 TAPPE-DURS. 
 
 This was the name given to a company of 
 cut-throats, armed with knotted fticks, to which 
 they gave, by way of derifion, the name of conjli- 
 tution . Their place of rendezvous was in a coffee- 
 houfe near the Italian theatre, kept by one Chre¬ 
 tien, juryman of the Revolutionary Tribunal. 
 They were continually parading in the Palais 
 Royal; infulting the paffengers, and arrefting 
 thofe who would not fubmit to their infults. 
 Janiffaries of the Committee of General Surety, 
 when that committee had need of any commo¬ 
 tion, of any diforder, to ferve as a pretext for 
 atrocious meafures, called bitter, it was the 
 tappe-durs who were commiffioned to excite 
 them. 
 
 They walked about, their heads ereft, with 
 menaces in their mouths, and the looks of affaf- 
 fins; they extolled only a few of the moft exag¬ 
 gerated of the Jacobins, and devoted all the 
 others to the fcaffold. It was truly painful for 
 an honeft man to fee thefe bands of wretches. 
 Every eye fhrunk from their favage look; they 
 fpoke only of arreft, and of putting to death the 
 fufftefted. 
 
 Their 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 431 
 
 Their infolence marked the climax of the ex¬ 
 travagance and barbarity of men. It was in fee¬ 
 ing and hearing them that we gave credit to the 
 fyftem of extermination, fo infernal were their 
 words; authors of fo many crimes, they called 
 themfelves patriots par excellence , the friends of 
 liberty and juftice, and the true founders of the 
 republic. What a republic! Good heaven ! 
 built on corpfes, tombs, and wrecks, with only 
 atheifts, robbers, and afiaflins for rulers and fub- 
 jefts. 
 
 Such a fyftem appeared incredible to thofe, 
 who, diftant from the events that were palling, 
 were difpofed to believe that the pi£ture was 
 overcharged ; but it is foothing at leaf! to reflect, 
 that thefe evils are paft, and that a legal govern¬ 
 ment, feated on its bafis, feems, by its force and 
 authority, to have reftored humanity and reafon 
 to their rights. 
 
 At the time of the re-aQion of Praireal, royal- 
 ifm, which difguifed itfeif in pantaloons and 
 wooden fhoes, took thefe tappe-durs into its pay: 
 they changed their language, but not their fero¬ 
 city. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
432 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. CXI. 
 
 0 
 
 SANGUINOCRATE. 
 
 There was a time in which neither the re- 
 
 \ 
 
 clamations of the rights of man, nor the plaintive 
 voice of nature, found any fympathifing heart; 
 they only ferved to provoke the hatred and 
 wrath of the Satmiinocrates , who had feized on 
 the government. 
 
 CHAP. CXIL 
 
 FALSE assignats. 
 
 Oi r enemies were dellrous of making the 
 counter-revolution by falfe allignats, on the fide 
 of Switzerland and Mount Blanc ; the Swifs lent 
 their a Alliance in a mod admirable manner, they 
 were introduced by millions ; they were thrown 
 even by packets into the inns, and in feveral 
 places the good were refufed in payment, from 
 tear of receiving bad; the greateft part came to 
 us from * * * * 
 
 It 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 433 
 
 It is fcarcely to be imagined how much intel¬ 
 ligence and talent were employed in thefe per¬ 
 fidious manoeuvres. Monjieur' s bookfeller, named 
 Guillot , was the firft maker of falfe affignats, who 
 was punifhed. I have great reafon to think that 
 he was in intelligence with perfonages of the 
 higheft rank. 
 
 Makers of falfe affignats, and robbers, met in 
 the fame prifon ; but I do not know whether 
 the former made a line of feparation, and kept 
 themfelves aloof. They were commonly young 
 fpendthrifts, who conneSed themfelves with en¬ 
 gravers. One is the bearer of the falfe affignats, 
 another has only a fingle one, fo that if he is 
 caught in paffing it, the law may have no hold 
 on him ; when he has fucceeded, his comrade 
 gives him another, and fo on. 
 
 The crime of forgery is become common, and 
 is multiplied in every way; public documents 
 have been altered, and even lottery tickets. The 
 civil and criminal tribunals are fully occupied 
 with this kind of crime. The imagination ex- 
 haufls itfelf in contriving the moft daring and 
 impudent plans of fwindlers ; intrigue, for feven 
 years pad, has played the firft part, and has 
 fpread its nets on every fide. 
 
 The profeffion of intriguer and fwindler is fo 
 general, that it forms a numerous clafs ; having 
 its connexions, cuftoms, and habits. If you are 
 not in the fecret, you will be deceived in every 
 
 vol. i. F f thin£. 
 
434 NEW PICTURE OF PARTS. 
 
 thing, and I pity the ft ranger who lands at the 
 Caffee de Valois , de Foy , de Chartres , or la Rotonde y 
 he fees nothing which is before his eyes, nor dif- 
 tinguifhes between the phyfiognomy of a capa- 
 talift, and that of a knave. 
 
 Danton, deputy to the Convention for Paris, 
 overwhelmed with debt, after having been ftruck 
 off the roll of attornies, became a broker, and 
 gave the fignal to every knave of this clafs to deal 
 in wholefale, and without timidity; he had al¬ 
 ready provided for the abolition of the arreft for 
 debt. It was a day of triumph for all the party; 
 reckoning from this day, Danton was confidered 
 as a man of vaft conceptions ; it was even laid, 
 that for eloquence he would make the fecond 
 volume of Mirabeau. Quaque ip/e miferrima vidi . 
 Knaves have always had a fwelljng flyle, and was 
 there not enough to laugh at and weep at the 
 fame time, when a blind multitude, deceived 
 with refpefl to their wickednefs, gave them cre¬ 
 dit for profound underftanding? 
 
 Falfe affignats did fcarcely any harm to the na¬ 
 tion, on account of their fmall number, com¬ 
 pared alfo with the immenfe quantity which the 
 Committee of Finances had fabricated, and the 
 inconceivable rapidity with which it preceded 
 every other fabrication. 
 
 CHAR 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 435 
 
 CHAP. CXIIL 
 
 THEOPHAGE. 
 
 t * 
 
 This is the name which is at prefent given to 
 thofe, who, with a napkin tucked under their 
 chin, and on their knees before a prieft, receive 
 from his fingers, into their mouth, a little wafer 
 of pafte with which you feal letters. 
 
 CHAP. CXIV. 
 
 ROMAN PRIEST. 
 
 I met yefterday, near the Tuilleries, a prieft, 
 one of my friends; he was in the national uni¬ 
 form : here is our converfation, word for word. 
 Prieft.—“ I mount guard to-day, (fhewing his 
 “ cartouch-box): but you will not guefs what I 
 <c have in this.” I.—“ Probably cartridges.” 
 Prieft.—“ Something better than that.” I.— 
 “ Faith, I conceive nothing better than cartridges 
 <c at this moment.” Prieft.—“ What I have 
 “ there is for every moment.” I,—“ Is it fome- 
 
 F f 2 “ thing 
 
436 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 “ thing that kills?” Prieft.— <c On the contrary, 
 “ it is fomething which makes alive; it is the 
 “ principle of all things.” I.— c< The principle 
 “ of all things in your cartridge-box ; that is a 
 “ little extraordinary.” Prieft.— a It is never- 
 
 “ thelefs true.” I .— <( Is it the truth of a prieft, 
 “ or a foldier?” Prieft.—“ I own that it is a lit- 
 “ tie the truth of a prieft.” I.—“ In that cafe, 
 sc explain yourfelf more clearly. Let us fee what 
 “ myftery your cartridge-box contains.” Prieft 
 — <e It is in reality a great myftery. It is the bon 
 “ Dieu .” I.—“ The bon Dieu /” Prieft.—“ Yes, 
 4C the bon Dieu . I am going to tell you about it. 
 “ I was at the Corps de garde, when I was fent 
 cc for to carry it to one of the faithful, who was 
 “ difpofed to take the great journey; and in or- 
 der to conform myfelf to a very wife arrete , I 
 “ performed my funftion of prieft, in the drefs of 
 <c a citizen, whilft for this particular million it was 
 “ not neceffary that I fhould wear any facerdotal 
 vc garment. I own, alfo, that it is more convenient 
 <c and more decent to be clothed as a citizen 
 ' foldier, than to go in a drefs of a funeral mafk, 
 “ to frighten a manat his laft moments, and make 
 €C little children kneel down in the ftreets.” I.— 
 “ My friend, thy language fmells already of thy 
 “ drefs. I forgive thee for being a prieft. Adieu!” 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 437 
 
 « 
 
 CHAP. CXV. 
 
 HUAILLE. 
 
 The howling mob. Hats-—no; I am mif- 
 
 taken——-red caps are thrown up in the air. 
 The words, carnage, blood, death, vengeance l this 
 a, b, c, of the Jacobin idiom, is repeated, cried, 
 hurled from neighbour to neighbour, by the 
 Huaille . 
 
 The Huaille reigned for near fifteen months, 
 and defpotized the city ; for to defpotife, that is 
 to fay, in little as well as great, in a family as in 
 a kingdom, is to be foie mailer when we can, 
 and when we cannot, to affociate with fubaltern 
 defpots, who in their turn exercife an arbitrary 
 power, to make thofe tremble by whom it has 
 been bellowed. 
 
 
 CHAP. 
 
438 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP, CXVL 
 
 SACRED ORDERS. 
 
 This was the name formerly given to certain 
 ecclefiaftical decrees, as the tonfure , the fubdeaconry , 
 the deaconry, the priejlhood , which were granted by 
 bifhops, furrounded with religious pomp, to all 
 thofe, who, in order to want nothing, renounced 
 every thing, by incorporating themfelves with the 
 church. 
 
 A prelate was afked, if, fince the Revolution, 
 he fhould continue to ordain ecclefiafticks ac¬ 
 cording to the new decrees ?—“ No, truly , my 
 
 “principles! ..».My duty!-My conlcience l” - 
 
 “ Eh b'ien ! Monjeigneur, they will fupprefs your pen - 
 e( jion.” 
 
 “ Supprefs my penfion ! that is a little too bold .” 
 An old domeftic was prefent at this dialogue. 
 Monfeigneur, as was cuftomary, owed him feveral 
 years’ wages. 
 
 “ What! is it fo. Sir ; will they fupprefs Mon- 
 “ Jei-gneur spenfion /.. a.and my wages /”... Your 
 
 “ wages ? they will go with the penfion /”- 
 
 “ D—n it ! he fall ordain — You fall ordain, Mon- 
 “ Jeigneur 5 you fall ordain !* 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 439 
 
 CHAP. CVII. 
 
 FARCE, 
 
 ENTITLED, THE LAST JUDGMENT OF KINGS. 
 
 A piece of an original kind, which was a£ted 
 with the greateft fuccefs on the theatre of the 
 city. You beheld all the monarchs of Europe 
 in their refpe£tive dreffes, amufing the fpeftators 
 with their feeptres and their crowns ; they dis¬ 
 puted, fought, when a republican comes, and 
 fets them all to rights. After having muzzled 
 them, he makes them dance like bears. One 
 might have fuppofed that the author had paro¬ 
 died that happy verfe in the Mechant . 
 
 “ Les rois font ici bas pour nos menus plaifirs.’* 
 
 The piece offered fome humorous points, and 
 was much followed; but fo fliort a fpace of time 
 had followed between the profound refpefl, and 
 the merry mirth of the populace, that we might 
 have exclaimed, “ If the exempt of the police 
 “ fhould come in, he will fend thofe people tq 
 " the Baftille.” 
 
 Many dramas of nearly the fame kind formed 
 amufement for the Parifian. Bu events became 
 
 i ■ 
 
 at 
 
440 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 at the fame time fo fmgular and fo terrible, that 
 theatrical fiftion was far from attaining hiftorical 
 fa£h 
 
 CHAP. GXVIIL 
 
 . j * j *• ' ■ ' ' ' . 
 
 ACTIVE CITIZEN* 
 
 After a decree of the National Affembly, it 
 was neceffary to be an aRive citizen\ that is to fay, 
 to polfefs property, to have a right of voting in 
 the Primary Affemblies ; fo that Socrates , Corneille-, 
 Jean Jacques Roujfeau , if they had lived amongft 
 us, would have been excluded. 
 
 We fee, therefore, that the adje&ive killed the 
 fubftantive j alas ! the true a Rive citizens are 
 thofe, who, by taking the Baftille and the Tuille- 
 jies, put an end to the indignities of a defpotical 
 regime. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS, 
 
 441 
 
 CHAP. CXIX, 
 
 THE LITTLE CATO. 
 
 On the appearance of the new calendar, and 
 even before, it was who fhould change their 
 chriftian names for Roman furnames. As for 
 Couthon, he derogated, and took a Greek name ; 
 he called himfelf Ariftides-Couthon . All at the 
 top Or bottom of the Mountain decorated them- 
 felves with the names of the great men of anti¬ 
 quity; and that fo thoroughly put me out of all 
 patience one day, that on feme difplay of new 
 follies of their own growth, I exclaimed, with all 
 my force. No, you are not Romans ! The furious 
 bell of Collot d’Herbois was rung over my head, 
 and drowned fome other truths, which made 
 them fkip about like fo many wild goats. I own 
 that I amufed myfelf infinitely on that day, when 
 I had the pleafure of faying to Robefpierre, 
 foaming with rage, and pale, “ Hold thy peace, 
 “ and hear me for once, for thou art ignorance 
 <c perfonified ; have you made a pa£l with vic- 
 “ tory ? — No ! — but we have made it with 
 cc death !—It is clear to all what you are ftriving 
 “ for,” 
 
 The 
 
442 KEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 The great reputation of thefe Catos and 
 Brutufies, having finiftied nearly like that of 
 Gracchus-Baboeuf, we fhall dwell on that extra¬ 
 vagant mania no longer than juft to recite the 
 following little ftory. 
 
 A child, baptized Cato, with whofe name his 
 father had made him acquainted in reading fome 
 pages to him of the Roman hiftory, had ftolen 
 into his mother’s cabinet, where, in the joy of 
 his heart, he haftened to pillage a box of fweet- 
 meats. His father enters, takes him in the fadi, 
 and fays to him coolly, “ Cato would not have done 
 that.” The child afhamed, empties his pockets, 
 and after having reftored it, threw himfelf at the 
 knees of his father, who fays to him, “ Cato, 
 tc after having committed a theft , would not have re- 
 sc duced himfelf to the fituation of repairing it by an 
 sc humiliating pofure ; rife” 
 
 This leffon was good, and l doubt not but the 
 child, if he has any talents above the common, 
 will think himfelf always furrounded by the 
 fhade of Cato. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 443 
 
 CHAP. CXX. 
 
 PATRIOT OF 89 . 
 
 It is he who at this epocha embraced the 
 Revolution, without prefent ambition, from love 
 for his country, and from hatred to defpotifm 
 and oppreflion; who has made the energy of his 
 patriotifm corifift in things and not in words ; 
 who, in the crifis of the Revolution, has never . 
 cea(V to love liberty and equality founded on 
 jo :e, which is its rule; who, pufhed on with 
 the whole of France by the revolutionary-torrent, 
 has neither provoked, nor ordered, nor protedled 
 its devaluating crimes ; who, if he has fallen into 
 errors, unhappily infeparable from humanity, has 
 laboured earneftly to repair tliofe which he has 
 difcovered; who has always adled in entire fub- 
 miihon to the laws, and whofe mouth and hands 
 have been preferved at all times pure from falfe 
 denunciations, vengeance, rapine, and blood. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
444 
 
 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 CHAP. CXXI. 
 
 LETTER OF ROUSSEAU. 
 
 This letter is lingular and prophetic. I with 
 it to be read to all the inhabitants of Paris, who 
 wear the ruft of the old regime Hill in their 
 hearts > for is it not lingular that the fame man 
 calls me Monjieur in a letter, and Citizen in fo- 
 ciety? If this practice continue, we fhall have 
 two forts of language, one for the ftreet, another 
 for the houfe. It was with fome difficulty that 
 the name of citizen eftabliffied itfelf; and why 
 is not this honourable name preferable to the 
 word Monjieur f 
 
 Rouffeau, when he was in Switzerland, wrote 
 to his friend Dupeyron, “ I have a furname, 
 “ which I think I deferve better than ever : at 
 “ Paris I was called Citizen; give me this title 
 “ which is fo dear to me ; endeavour to propa- 
 “ gate it, and let thofe who love me never call 
 “ me Monjieur; but in fpeaking of me, the Citizen , 
 and in writing, My dear Citizen.” 
 
 CHAP. 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 
 
 445 
 
 CHAP. CXXIL 
 
 COUNTER-REVOLUTION. 
 
 A new word, which appeared immediately 
 after that of Revolution . It fignifies that coup de 
 main , which, if it were poffible, would revive the 
 afhes of the laft of our tyrants ; a phoenix who 
 would be called king —now a phoenix—reader, 
 you comprehend me ! 
 
 CHAP. CXXIIL 
 
 J. J. ROUSSEAU AT THE TUILLERIES, 
 
 Every feeling heart muft recolleft with plea- 
 fure that autumnal evening, when the inha¬ 
 bitants of Ermenonville brought to Paris the 
 coffin of the author of Emilius, under an arbour 
 of fhrubs and flowers. 
 
 The air was calm, the fky ferene ; a long cur** 
 tain of purple veiled the fetting fun at the hori¬ 
 zon; a light breeze agitated gently the laft 
 leaves. 
 
 The 
 
 / 
 
44 6 NEW PICTURE OF PARIS* 
 
 The founds of fimple and plaintive mufic were 
 heard at a diftance. A crowd of citizens joined 
 the proceffion. Every heart palpitated with 
 
 j°7* 
 
 The funeral car entered with majeftic fo- 
 lemnity. A numerous band of youth followed 
 it in refpe£tful filence. The fymphonifl left a 
 ihort interval between each air, in order that 
 every one might recolleft, and join in the 
 chorus. 
 
 The favourite airs of The Alan of Nature , were 
 fung; thofe which the lover repeats every day to 
 his miflrefs, the tender wife to the happy huf- 
 band* 
 
 It might have been faid, that angels defend¬ 
 ing to earth were come to tranfport him to hea¬ 
 ven amidft their celeflial concerts. 
 
 The proceffion ftopt at the bafon which repre- 
 fented the Ifle of Poplars. It received the tears 
 of the fpeftators ranged around, and above all 
 thofe of the women ; who thought of Julia, So¬ 
 phia, and Warens, fo tenderly, fo conftantly be¬ 
 loved by her adopted fon. Every eye was fixed 
 on the coffin, laid on a platform, and covered 
 with a blue cloth fown with ftars. 
 
 The glory of the great man pierced through 
 the darknefs of death, he feemed ftill to exift. 
 
 A thoufand flambeaux lighted this affe&ing 
 ceremony. Every face was embelliffied with 
 tears, they offered the image, not of inconfolable 
 
 3 grief 
 
NEW PICTURE OF PARIS. 447 
 
 grief for the lofs of a friend, blit of the tranquil 
 hope of one day feeing him return. 
 
 -The obfequies were terminated by the air, 
 Dans ma cabane obfcure ; and every one withdrew, 
 (inging it in a plaintive tone. 
 
 END OF VOL. U 
 
 c. WHITT INGHAM, Primer, 
 Dean Street, Fetter Lane, London, 
 
./ 
 
 
 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 
 1 
 
 ■ f' : 
 
 " *> • ' 
 
 •4 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
r fVV>y 
 
 v? 3 " 5 i - -X 
 * / 
 
RARE BOOK ROOM 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 LIBRARY 
 
 tioiji 
 
 18 ? 
 
 Vo 1