YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

D E F E N C E

OF THE

FRENCH EMIGRANTS.

Extracts from the British Critic for Junp .1797.
t: We do not here propofe to. announce, or recommend io public notice, a work
which was known all over Europe as foon as it was publijhed, and of which
the numerous editions are dijpojed of with a rapidity equal to that with which
they fucceed each other 5 but we would willingly fay that tribute of homage
and good wifhes which is due from every man who commiferates the unfortunate,
or is fenfible of the claim of jujlice, and the interefts pf focial order.
'.' If ever a man could be fitted, by a train of circumjlauces, to undertake
the defence of a caufe fo great, and, at the fame time, fo difafirous and fo
difficult, it is undoubtedly the noble advocate who has taken it up.
" Undoubtedly, there is not among all the French Emigrants, a man more
proper to undertake. their defence, than he whom fortune had placed in fuch a
fituation; than he on whom Providence had impofed fuch duties, endowing him
with fmh fentimenti and faculties, and had forced, and inJlruBed from his
infancy, to purfue, to unmafk, to combat, to dif arm, and beat down fraud,
injuftice, and violenie.
" We cimfefs that under each of thefe points of view, the champion of the
Emigrants has fulfilled, perhaps furpaffed, what we had promifed ourfelves
from his undertaking* We fball not praife the eloquence," the force of reafaninp,
the touching fenfibility which charaEierife every page of the Defence of the
Emigrants. We fball only repeat what has been faid a thoujand times in France,
and out of France , ' .'* It was what every body expeSed from him."

DEFENCE OF THE
FRENCH EMIGRANTS.
ADDRESSED TO
I
THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE.

TROPHIME,tGERALD DE LALLY-TOLENDAL.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
By JOHN GIFFORD, Efq.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR T. H. LONGMAN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1797.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS
BT THE TRANSLATOR.

J. O fecure objects of perfecution from the
attacks of calumny, and to protect the victims
of oppreffion from the fhafts of injuftice, is a
tafk which every honeft and upright mind,
whatever may be the bias of. its political fenti-
ments, will be anxious to undertake and prompt
to execute. It is only by a fteady adherence to
the principles which influence this kind of con-
duel, that the ties of religion and morality can
be enforced, and the bonds'of focial order pre-
ferved from diffolution. Intereft combines with.
duty to fanction its adoption, and it carries with
it its own confolation and reward. The proud
veffel which now difplays its fwelling fails, borne
by a profperous breeze on the tranquil bofoin
of the ocean, and views with indifference the
damaged bark that finks within its fight, may
fall a vidlim to the next ftorm, and perifh itfelf
a from

( vi )
from the want of that relief which it had refufed
to extend to another.
The extreme perfecution experienced by the
profcribed clafies in France, which included a
very confiderable portion of the virtue, the
property, and the genius of the country, excited
the commiferation or refentment of foreigners
at an early period of the Revolution j but ftill
there were not wanting many who united with
their love of the new fyftem a hatred of its foes,
and who, regardlefs of the principles by which the
Emigrants were actuated, did not fcruple to attack
them with all the virulence of invedtive and the
r-ancour of malevolence. Impreffed with a con
viction of the purity of their motives, and the
integrity of their conduce, I flood forth as their
champion, and took up the gauntlet which had
been thrown down by the Earl of Lauderdale,
1 who had appeared as a volunteer in the ranks of
their enemies. My conviction having been
ftrengthened by fubfequent obfervations*, it was
with
* The numbers of Emigrant Priefts who have taken re
fuge in this hofpitable country have excited ferious appre
henfions in the minds of fome ftaunch friends and fupporters of

( vii )
with extreme pleafure that I learned the deter
mination of the Count de Lallv-Tolendal
to plead their caufe. The mind of this noble

man

of the Eftablifhed Church. The moft diftinguifhed of thefe,
who have made known their fentiments on the fubjeft, are
Dr. Rennell, and (I had nearly omitted the conjunc
tion copulative) the learned and ingenious Author of
" The Purfuits of Literature ;" a writer, whofe principles
and talents, as well from their nature as their application,
give him a refiftlefs claim to fuperior confideration on all who
place a juft value on the exifling institutions of their country.
But refpeftable as thefe authorities are, I cannot, in the
.prefent inftance, receive them as decifive. Their zeal, pure
and laudable as it indifputably is, appears to me to have
given a wrong bias to their judgment, by leading them to
defcry in the imputed progrefs of Popery thofe dangers
which only exift in the real growth of infidelity. That
among the many Minifters of the Romifh Church now in
England, fome folitary inftances of intemperance, difplayed
in a fpirit of converfion, may be adduced, I can eafily be
lieve ; but my own perfona! obfervation, and the inquiries
which I have made of thofe who have the beft means bf
information, convince me, that the general fpirit evinced by
the French Emigrant Clergy is as innocuous as their conduct
is exemplary. I admit, indeed, that the confcientious fa
crifice of their property, and of all their worldly comforts ;
the fteady piety which fupports them under accumulated
preffures; the unaffe&ed meeknefs, patience, and refigna
tion which they have invariably oppofed to afrliflion, , mif-
fortune, and perfecution ; the gratitude which they difplay
for benefits conferred; and the benevolence which they ex-
a 2 tend

man was particularly formed, by early habits,
influenced by a peculiarity of afflictive circum-
ftances, for the achievement of this important triumph

tend to all mankind ; are wdl calculated to give a favourable
idea of the faith which they profefs : — but the generality of
_peop'e are fatisfied with obferving effiSs, without feeking to
inveftigate caufes ; and it will not be contended, that the con
templation of fuch fafcinating objects as thefe can produce
any but the moft falutary confequences. Would to Heaven
they could excite univerfal imitation among the Minifters of
every church !
Let me not be miftaken— I mean not to impute this laudable
conduct to any peculiar excellence of the Romilh faith, but
merely to contend, that, from whatever fource it proceeds,
its effects on fociety cannot be otherwife than of a beneficial
nature. A firm friend to the Eftablifhed Church, from a
conviction of the fuperior purity of its tenets, I fhould cer
tainly regard with a jealous eye any attempt to diminifh the
number of its followers ; but fuch diminution is not, I con
ceive, to be dreaded from any efforts which the unfortunate
Emigrant Clergy, now in England, could make to procure
converts. Indeed, how men, very few of whom underftand
even fufficient of the language of the country to afk a plain
queftion, are to enter into the difcuffion of abftrufe points of
theology, which muft be neceffary for the purpofe pf converfion,
I am not, I confefs, able to comprehend. They alfo labour
under another material difad vantage, in the want of the adven
titious aid of all .thofe external decorations in general ufe in
the Church of Rome, which fpeak, with peculiar force, to the
.fenfes of the common people. So that, were they everfq
ftrongly

( « )
triumph of truth over falfehpod. With a fpirit of
jnveftigation that patiently fubmits to the moft
laborious refearch, and difcriminative powers which

ftrongly difpofed to diffeminate the principles of their reli
gious creed, they have not, in my apprehenfion, the means
of doing it. It may, perhaps, be urged, that they might
attain their object through the medium of the ^nglifh Ca
tholics ; but, in the firft place, I do not believe that the
Englifh Catholics, who (with fome few, very few exceptions
in the upper clafs of them) have expreffed the utmoft grati
tude for the indulgences they have already received from
the Legiflature, and who, perhaps, cherifh hopes of receiv
ing ftill farther indulgences, would become the inftruments
pf fuch a proceeding ; and in the next place, if they were
really inclined to favour a project for the extenfion of their
"faith, they would require no foreign ftimulus, but would
attempt to enforce their plan, without the inftigatjon or
interpofition of the Emigrant Clergy,
If the Members of the Eftablifhed Church have experi
enced any diminution of their numbers— an objeft undoubtedly
•of ferious concern— it is, I fear, to be attributed to different
eaufes — to the extreme vigilance and indefatigable exertions
of certain Englifh Sectaries, and to the culpable, not to fay
criminal, negligence oPfome part of their own clergy, The
Church of England can, I know, boaft of Minifters as en?
lightened, as pious, as moral, as thofe which any other
oburch or feet can produce— of Minifters, in fhort, who
make the pure principles of Chriftianity the rule of their
¦conduct in life. All the Prelates, and a very confiderable
proportion of the Proteftant Crergy, are, I firmly believe,
men of this defcription ; but, truth extorts the acknow.Iedg-
7 ment,

C * )
which imply clearnefs of conception and accuracy
of judgment, he combines a brilliant genius,
an enthufiaftic imagination, and a glowing and
impreffive

ment, that there are too many who pay more attention to
worldly purfuits than to profeffional duties, and who fubject
themfelves to the cenfures that were juftly bellowed on the Ro-
mifh Clergy of the middle ages. In order to remedy an evil
which, if not fpeedily checked, will infallibly produce the
moft pernicious confequences, the utmoft attention is requifite,
on the part of the fuperiors of the church, to the conduct
pf thofe who are fubordinate to them. With regard to the
candidates for holy orders ; though a certain degree of
claflical knowledge be indifpenfably requifite, yet it is furely
more neceffary to afcertain whether they can read with dif-
tinctnefs and propriety a chapter in the Bible, than whether
they can accurately conftrue a few paffages in the Greek
Teftament, or jn Grotius de Veritate Chriftianaj Religionis.
For, although the fuppofition that the man who can do the
one can do the other appears to be founded in reafon, it very
unfortunately Hands contradicted by that beft of monitors, and
fureft of guides, Experience. Not only the perufal, but the
compofition of religious difcourfes fhould form a material part
of the academical education of all young men who are def
tined for the profeffion. In the church (as in the Houfe of
Commons) no fi&itious titles fhould' be admitted ; by which
means the facred calling would in many inftances be prevented
from becoming a fubject of economical or profitable /pecula
tion. All tranfadtions that engender animofity between a
clergyman and his parifhioners fhould be ftudioufly avoided.
Every curate fhould receive fuch a falary as is adequate to the
liberal fupport of himfelf arid his family. No curacy fhouid
be worth lefs than a liberal construction of the new Aft Would make

( xi )
impreflive eloquence. Thus happily endowed,
it became the man who had been the fuccefsful

make it produce. Thefe regulations, which I fuggeft with
great deference to thofe who are more converfant with the
fubjeft than I profefs to be, appear to me highly falutary, and
likely to remove many of the evils which, I am forry to fay,
certainly exift at prefent.
I cannot conclude this note, without correcting an error
which generally prevails in refpedt of the numbers of EmL-
grants actually refident in England. It appears, from the
official return at the Secretary of State's office, of the lift
of March 1797, that the cities of London and Weftminfter,
the borough of Southwark, the populous fuburbs of the me
tropolis, and the adjacent villages, only contained feven
thoufand and forty-one Aliens, (of whom 1319 were women
and children,) including foreigners of all nations. Now, as
thofe who refide in London form a very confiderable majo
rity — I fhould think nine-tenths — of the Emigrants, it is
evident that their numbers, which were lately ftated as high
as at 85,000, muft have been grofsly exaggerated.
It is much to be lamented, that the relief which Parlia
ment has generoufly accorded to the French Ecclefiaftics is
not adminiftered with more expedition and regularity ; as I
have been credibly informed, that feveral of- thefe unfortu
nate men abfolutely perifhed through want in the courfe of
the laft winter. Money voted for fpecific purpofes fhould be
applied to no other; and where the alleviation of misfortune
is the objedt of a parliamentary grant, this rule fhould be re-
Kgioufly obferved, and the fum granted diftributed without
delay. In fuch cafes as this, the old maxim fhould never be
forgotten, Bis dat qui cito dot, advocate

( xii )
advocate of an injured parent, and who had ten
dered his fervices as council for 'his murdered
Sovereign, to appear as the defender of his per
fecuted brethren. *
The extenfive circulation which this eloquent
production has had upon the Continent, and
particularly in France — no lefs than forty thou*
Jand copies having been fold as rapidly as they
could iflue from the prefs~may afford fome
ground for eftimating the merits of the compo
fition, and will, I truft, prove ominous of the
ultimate triumph of the principles of the Author,
and of the fuccefs of his caufe. Confidered in
the only light in which, in my apprehenfion, it
ought to be confidered, as a Plaidqyer, or the
fpeech of an advocate in defence of his client,
it may, without an hyperbole, be denominated a
chef d'csuvre. As fuch, the frequent appeals to
the paffions of the different parties, the unde-
ferved eulogies occafionally beftowed on fome,
and the cautious forbearance not unfrequently
obferved towards others, are not only juftifiable
but laudable. But if the reader fhould be dif-
pofed to difmifs this confideration from his mind,
and to examine the work with a critical eye, he
will doubtlefs difcover fome panegyrics, to the
juftice

( xiii )
juftice of which he will be loth to fubfcribe.; and
fome pofi tions which he will conceive it to be
fcarcely practicable to maintain. Of the former
defcription are the commendations pronounced
on the la/2 new Conftitution, and on the virtuous
Republicans, of France; and of the latter, is
the limitation of political rights to proprietors of
land. I can never admit, that a people who could
paffively behold, and, in fome inftances, actively
promote, the horrid enormities of every defcrip
tion which have defolated France for the laft
feven years, and which are depicted by the Author
in glowing colours, can have any fair and folid
pretentions to virtue. Many there doubtlefs are
who deplored the calamities which they were
deftined to witnefs, and would have cheerfully
co-operated in any plan that could have been.de-
vifed for their prevention; — but admitting that
the great mafs of the people harboured fenti-
ments adverfe to the exifting order of things, ftill
if they had been truly virtuous, they never would
have tolerated the triumph of vice, but would, by
the unanimity and potency of their exertions,
have deftroyed her empire in its infancy, and
crufhed that defperate and unprincipled minority,
b which

( s*y )
which was fuffered fo long to tyrannise witH
injpunity oyer their unhappy country.
In refpect of the new Conftitudon, I confefe
I cannot view it in fo favourable a light, as to
admit that, it forms an apt bafis for the beft
practicable form of Government *; — unlefs,
indeed> we confider the divifion of the prefent
Government into three component parts, merely
in the abftract, without any reference to the
politive regulations to which each is fubject ;
and l<5ok forward to the period when they may
be perfectly aflimilated to the King, Lords, and
Commons of Great Britain, iff order to effect
fuch aflimilation, however, a radical change, in
Jtthfiiqnee and principle, muft previoufly take
place, and the. prefent fyftem could no otherwifq
i ¦ .• ¦ ¦ ¦
* "Monarchy,'* — faysLoRp Bolingbroke, — "is to
" be preferred to other Govern fner.ts, becaufe you can bet-
" ter ingraft any defcription of Republic on a Monarchy,
" than any thing of Monarchy upon the Republican forms."
Qubtod by Burke, iri his " Reflections on the Revolution,"
j^l'87; and well applied by Brand, in that part of his
a"ble " Defence of the Pamphlet afcribed ro John Reeves
'* £fq i" in which he undertakes to provf , by the triple aid
©f authority, abftradt reafon, and Viifto'n', that the beft ccn-
ftiruted mixed monarchies are thofe in vvhich the eftates have
Wrung out of the Monarchy, p. 32. be

( «r >
fee regarded as a bafis, than as an Executive
Power and two diftinct chambers would be re
tained ; for a fundamental difference would fub-
fift as well in the means of their formation, as
in the nature and extent of their joint and fepa-*
rate prerogatives. This, I know, is the form o(
government which the Author was ever anxious
to introduce in his native country, and which,
of courfe, I am authorlfed to fuppofe, he con
curs with me in confidering as that form which,
in a general view, prefents the moft practicable
advantages with the feweft practical errors. But
though hiftory and experience combine to con
vince me that the Britifh Conftitution is beft
adapted to the country which it has contributed
to raife to a glorious pre-eminence j I am by
no means fatisfied, that it is calculated to pro
mote the happinefs and profperity of the1 People
of France. Political Conftitutions, like plants,
may flourifh in the land that gave them birth,
but feldom profper when removed into a foreign
foil, unlefs there be a perfect uniformity of cli
mate and fituation ; natives thrive where exotics
perifh. It was one of the wifeft of Montes-
quieu*s wife obfervations, that — " Laws oughj
" to be fa perfectly adapted to the nation for
" which they are made, that it is a very great
b 2 " chance

( xvi )
«e chance whether the laws that are good for onq
" people would be good for another *."
The prefent Conftitution of France may cer
tainly derive fome advantage from a comparifon
with its immediate predeceffors, which exhi
bited a compound of folly and depravjty un
paralleled in hiftory. But that advantage can
by no means be deemed abfolute ; and when this,
Conftitutipn forms the fubject of diftinct con
fideration, I apprehend, it will be found to
pofiefs but very (lender claims to commendation,
either as a complete fuperftructure, or as a mere
bafis for fome more folid fabric. A regular
analyfis of the Conftitutional Code would fill 3
volume, andthe advantage to be reaped from the
work would but ill compenfate the labour of
compqfing it. My general ideas on the fubject
perfectly accord with thofe of a foreigner, of
whom I can never fpeak but in terms of refpect,
efteem, and admiration. Endowed with exten
five talents and a deep forefight, unwarped by
prejudice and undeformed by paffion, his mind
* " Les loix doivent etre tellement propres a la nation pour
" laquelle elles font faites, que c'eft un tr^s grand hazard fi
" celles d'un peuple peuvent convenir a un autre. "—E/ppt
dps Loix. prefents

( xvii )
prefents a happy combination of all the powers
requifite to form a great political writer^ and of
all the comprehenfive and enlightened faculties
which are indifpenfably neceffary in the com
pofition of an able ftatefman. With him I in
cline to think, that the change which took place
in the Government of France in the autumn of
1795 was rather an alteration in form than in
fubftance, and the elementary principles of ty
ranny and injuftice ftill fubfift, though the in
tereft of the Governors has united, with a chain of
concurring circumftances, to render their reduc
tion to practice lefs frequent and lefs flagrant.
ic It will not be urged, that a reprefentative
" democracy corrects the inconveniences which
ic it produces ; for, in the firft place, there is no
" fimilitude between a reprefentative Govern-
" ment and the revolutionary Government of
" five hundred citizens, who perpetuate their
<c own active power, in violation of a funda-
" mental law.' In the next place, it is not fuf-
" ficient for a nation to have reprefentatives, if the
" different interefts of which fociety is compofed
" are not defended, in a juft proportion, againft
t( the fophifms and the invafions of the general
" will. A GENERAL SUBVERSION TOOK PLACE,
b 3 «« WHEN

( xviii )
** WHEN THE RIGHT OF VOTING WAS TRANS-*
** FERRED FROM PROPERTY TO POPULATION ;
« this fubverfion ftill fubfifts> and will continue
« to fubfift as lohg as the Republic. It 13 equally
«* neceflary that the ConftitutiOn fhould provide
" a defence againft the private interefts and the
" power of the reprefentatives. All the fabric-
*' ators of French laws have been ftudioils to
" render them abfolute. To tranfmit thepaflions,
rt the vices* and the powers of the multitude to
" a majority of deputies whofe conduct is fub-
*c ject to no fefponfibility, and whofe authority
*' acknowledges no reftraint, was only to change
" one kind of flavery for another -, but the
«c diftance between this defpotifm, mifcalled re-
" prefentative, and the fovereignty of the people
*« is great. The tranfition from the latter to
St the former was fpeedily atchievedj and the
« people and their fovereignty are now only talked
,l of, in the governing councils at Paris, in the
" ftyle of thofe facrilegious culprits, who over-
--«' turn the altar while they are killing, ihe
" crucifix*."

• CorrefponctaBce Politique, pour fervir a, 1'Hiftoire A*
iRepublicanifmc Frances par M. Mallet p-u Pan,
p. 6fr.
The

( xix )
The fame writer has expreffed himfelf with
mil more energy and decifidni on this boafted
Conftitiition, in a fubfequent publication which
difplays all that combination of endowments,
which I have ftated him to pofiefs.
" Affuredly no monarch, and probably no
** minifter nor magiftrate out of France, has
" fubmitted to read, much lefs to ftudy, the
tt Conftitution of 1795. This prefumption is
" fuggefted by the opinion which has been
** generally formed of this new chef d'ceuvre of
" the political infancy Of France, and a chtf
" d'&uvre which niight be defcribed in a fingle
" line, by calling it a means of allying with the
cc forms of liberty the neceffity, the combination,
" and the force of defpotifm.
«« The national reprefentation, weakened in
*f its principle, by an extenfion of territory ; in
** its mode, by the nature> rapidity, and fcale
** of the elections j is only placed there to ferve
« as a mark for tyranny, a Directory, ifolated
«' from the nation, and almoft independent of the
S{ legiilaturei legiflative councils, chained to
w that Directory by a fimilarity of fituation,1
" of intereft, and of paffionsj deputies, ab»
. b 4 " folute

< ¦** )
« folute ftrangers to their Conftituents; tod
« poor to difpenfe with falaries, and too great
" novices not to be eternally fubjugated by the
" intrigues, the immorality, and the afcend-
" ancy of the capital; electors who muft be
" paid for their fcrutiny at the rate of three
<f livres per head per diem ; the whole admini-
«' ftration removeable at the will of the fupreme
«c regency ; a right of requisition unlimited ; all
" the attributes of power vague and indeter-
,c minate j the inefficient rights left to the
(t nation circumfcribed and fettered ; add to this
" a war which puts all the Citizens in the bar-
" racks, in the camps, or on the Government's
" regifters of recruits; which authorizes the
,*c moft arbitrary meafures, and which empties
ec every man's purfe .; fuch is the compofition of
tc that Republic, one and indivifible, which, add-
" ing a few hundreds more of fquare leagues
" to its indivifibility, runs, of its own accord,
*' into the embraces of defpotifm, without which
*' a fociety of thirty millions of equals would bs
«c nothing more than a lay-ftall *."
* Letter to a Minifter of State on the Connexion between
the Political Syftem of the French Republic, and the Syftem
of its Revolution. Tranflated from the French of Mallet-
du-p.an. Longman, 1797.
The

( xxi )
The badnefs of the fyftem is, indeed, amply
difplayed in the confequences which it has al
ready produced. No better evidence of its per
nicious effects need be defired than that which
is contained in the following work, where the-
Author has unfolded fuch a fcene of tyranny,
oppreffion, and iniquity, as would fatiate a
Sylla or delight a Nero. When, immediately
after the eftablifhment of a new Constitution,
frequent violations of its principles occur, it is.
natural to conclude that there is fome radical'
defect in the fabric ; for as every one muft be
acquainted with its maxims, its provifions, and
regulations, fuch breaches cannot be imputable
to ignorance or error, but muft proceed from
the want of a proper controlling power, and of
thofe efficient checks, reftrictions, and balances,
without a due diftribution of which there can be
no good government. It is a fact, probably but
little known, that by the French Conftitutional
Code the people are exprefsly deprived of that
right of petitioning which is juftly deemed to
be a neceffary fafeguard to liberty, no portion of
them collectively, except the conftituted autho
rities, (and thofe only on fubjedts connected with
their offices,) can petition the Legislative Bodies or

( xxii )
Or the Executive Directory.
individuals are alone lawful.

The petitions of

Sortie farther idea of the advantages which the
People bf France have derived from the eftablifh-
ment of a Democratic, or rather Defpotic Repub
lic on the ruins df their ancient Monarchy, may
be formed from the following comparative pic*
ture of that country in 1788 and in 1796, drawn
by a lively and accurate pencil.

In 1788;
A King !
A Queen !
A Royal Family !
A Court !
A Military Houfehold !
A Great Council !
A Privy Council I
Parliaments !

A Chancellor !
A Minifter for
Department !

the Home

In 1796,
Five Directors.
Five Dife&refles.
Five Families of Directors.
Five Courts.
Slue/on guarded by Pretoh«
Council of Five Hundred.
Council of Two Hundred anet
Fifty.
Tribunals which on fome oc-
cafions are United. Civil
Tribunals; Military Tri
bunals ; Court Of Cap
tion, &c.
A Minifter of fuflke.
Idtnti A Mi-

( Xxiii )

In 1788.
A Minifter of War !
A Minifter of Marine !
A Minifter for Affaires E-

trangeres

A Lieutenant of Police !
Comriiiffaries of the Police !
Spies and Informers !
A ftrift and well-regulated
Police, even during the
night !
One Baftille !
Lettres de Cachet, one or
two in a year 1
Thirty Provincial Intend-
ants !
Governors and Command
ants 1

Intendants of Commerce,
Mines, Sec. !
Academies !

An eftablifhed Religion !
Churches rich in Plate !
Plenty of Specie !
Twenty-fix Millions of* In
habitants I

In 1796.
Idem.Idem.
A Minifter for Affaires £-
t ranges.
A Minifter of Police.
Idem. Idem, increafed a hundredfold.
A Police that cannot reprefs
affaffinations even in the
day-time.
Upwards of forty four thou/and
Baftilles.
Mandates of Arreft, in num
bers that fet calculation at
defiance.
Eighty-eight Departmental
Adminiflrations.
Procon/uls, temporary Com
mandants, and Commif"
faries of the Executive
Power.
Intendants of Commerce,
Arts, Mines, Sec.
National Inftitutions, Lyce
ums, Mufeums, Gymna-
fiums, &c.
No Religion of any kind*
Churches totally ftripped.
Specie exported, buried,witb.
drawn from circulation.
Nineteen Millions of Inhabit
ants. Militia-

( xxiv )

In 1788.-
Militia men drawn by lot 1

The People never in want
of objefts of the firft ne
ceffity 1
Plenty of bread at all times I

Duties d' 'Entrees •, Gahelles>
and Tythes 1

A few neceffary Taxes !
Maitrifes » once paid !
Public Securities in credit !
Annuities fometimes rather
in arrears, but always paid
in objects of real value !

In 1796.
Requifitions, and Volunteer!
marching bound and hand
cuffed.
The People plunged in dif
trefs and mifery.
Under the National Conven
tion, two thirds of which
ftill make the laws, each.
individual reduced to two
ounces of bread per day.
Wine and Salt cent . per centi
dearer, and fubjecl: to an
additional duty, but no
barriers, in order to afford
a pretext for the exadtion
of indirect impofts.
Taxes without end, and with
out any apparent motive
but the promotion of uni
verfal ruin.
Licences to be renewed every
year.
Mandates and A flignats with
out value.
Annuities paid in Paper-
money, which, inftead of
confidence and fecurity,
prefents nothing but mif*
truft and nullity*

* A tajc paid for the privilege of exerciifing a trade or profejliori.

A De-

( XXV }

In 1788.
A Deficit of Fifty- fix Mil-
• lions !
Liberty undeci the name of
Slavery !
Refpedt for Perfons and Pro
perty !
AH men jn a ftate of legiti
mate obedience to the
laws !
Subordination sr<i good or
der !
Proprietors tranquil !
Rich become poor !
Places filled, in general, by
men of charadter, well-
informed and well-edu
cated !
Proteftion accorded to vir
tue and talents !
A fcaffold for crime !
The ancient Fleurs-de-lys,
fymbol of honour, engra
ven on the hearts of all
Frenchmen, even of thofe.
who held fubordinate of
fices !

In 1796.
A Deficit of more than Fifty
Thou/and Millions.
Slavery under the name pf
Liberty.
Perfons and property cpn-
ftantly plundered.
The laws inceffantly violated
by the Legifiators them
felves, and by their agents,
who follow their example.
Infubordination and anarchy.
Proprietors perfecuted.
Beggars made rich.
Places filled, in general, by
men of bad charadter, ig- •
norant and impudent.
Protection granted to thieves
and afiaflins.
An amnefty for crime, and a
fcaffold for virtue.
The ancient Fleurs-de-lys re
garded as a mark of fhame
and degradation, imprinted
on the fhoulders of thofe
citizens who diftinguifhed
themfelves the moft in the
eftablifhment of the Proyi-
fional Government *.

• Quatrieme Lettre \ un Rentier, par Le Comte de Bar-
rvel-Beauvert, Paris, 1796.

XJtritm

( xxvi )
XJtrum Horum ? If this queftion were now
to be put to the People of France, they would
not, I conceive, long hefitate in their decifion,
but wpuld fubfcribe to the former fehtiments of
pne of their firft idols, with ftill more enthufiafm
than they difplayed in their obedience to his fub
fequent tenets, when the Marquis was funk in the
Citizen, and the literary philofopher loft in the
republican demagogue. " Voltaire had good
*c grounds for preferring one mafter to feveral, a
" fovereign whofe prejudices are not to be
*' dreaded, to a troop of defpots whofe preju-
*c dices are truly dangerous, but whofe interefts
ft and little paffions are ftill greater objects of
'* apprehenfion : they are formidable to men of
" ordinary capacities, and particularly fo to thofe
" whofe knowledge alarms, and whofe glory ir-
" ritates them. On this fubject he faid, My
" loins are not very flexible; I fubmit to make
" one bow, but a hundred fuccefjive bows would
** fatigue me *."
Among the numerous interefting topics dif-
cuffed in the following pages, the reader will
* Vie de Voltaire par Condorcet, p. 132. find

( xxvji )
find fome new light thrown on the origin of the
war, and the arguments qf thofe who have fup-
ported the caufe of truth, in fixing the charge
of aggrefljon on the French, materially Strength

ened,,

A DB-

ADVERTISEMENT,

IT began this defence of the French Emi
grants at the time when a negociation for
a general peace had been juft opened ; when
France was every where victorious abroad,
and when the Jacobins were legally punifhed
at home.
While the work was in the prefs, Lord
Malmesbury was ordered to quit France;
the Archduke Charles faved Germany;
Paris had witneffed the death pf M. de
Cussy, and had heard a feftival announced
for the aift of January ! ! !
Several paflages in my introduction are,
unhappily, no longer applicable to exifting
B circum-

5 ADVERTISEMENT.
circumftances. The change of two or three
phrafes niight, perhaps, have re-eftablifhed
the refemblance, without deftroying, in the
fmalleft degree, the force of the argument :
but I rather chofe to preferve the parts which
demonftrate the original object of the pub
lication, and point out the epoch at which
it was begun; it is my wifh that the mo-*
tives which not only fanctioned the under
taking, in my opinton, but which abfolutely
pirefcribed it as a duty, fhould be known to
the world.
Some belligerent cenfor will, without
doubt, object, that as the hope of peace Was
the principle of the work, I ought to have
flopped as foon as that hope vanifhed, and
have waited in filence, until the chances of
a protracted -War fhould revive it. In an
fwer to fuch an objection, I beg leave to ob-
ferve, that, in my apprehenfion, the hope of
peace is only delayed, not deftroyed ; and I
glory in being one Of thofe who hail its ap
proach moft cordially and confcientioufly ;
that notwithftand|ng the abrupt termina tion

ADVERTISEMENT. j|
tion of the laft- negociation, it is demonftra-
ted that France will have peace, on the very-
day, and at the very hour at Which flie
choofes to have it, fince the extent of her
conquefts forms*the only fubject for difpute;
that no Frenchman, wherever he iriay refide,
can now have a- wifh relative to the fate of
his country, functioned by morality and hu
manity, which can be accomplished without
the reftoratioh of its internal tranquillity and
the perfection of its laws ; that the primary
affemblies are about to meet inJFrarace ; that
it is not only my duty to bring before them
the caufe Which it is their province to try,
but that at a time when the whole human
race are anxioufly waiting the event of the
new elections, whoever has a drop of French
blood in his veins, and a iingle fpark of virtue
in his heart, ought to examine himfelf, with
the view of afcerESining whether he has not
fome means of directing the choice of his
countrymen, of promoting the freedom of
fuffrage, of conciliating the minds and in-
ftructing the confciences of the people : in
a- 2$ | fliort,

4 ADVERTISEMENT.
fhort, of giving efficacy to the laft refource
not only of Frenchmen, but of the inhabit
ants of all other countries* . r
~ ' * >
There is evenj in my opinion, fo little
time to be loft in ferving all thofe great
interefts,; that although there is ftill an inter
val of two months to elapfe, before the meet
ing of the primary affemblies, yet the diftance
of the places, the inclemency of the feafon,
the difficulty of communication, and, laftly,
the neceffity of obtaining a few leifure mo
ments for the purpofe of meditation, deter
mine me; to publifh that part of my book
which is printed off, while the laft point of
difcuffion is ftill at prefs.
L I have been induced to undertake this
Work, becaufe J deemed it neceflary, and
becaufe nobody elfe had undertaken it.
The confidence with which I exprefs my-
felf is derived: exclufiyely from the ftrength
of the rights which I had to defend. I have
more than once regretted the vigour of my
paft

advertisement; 5
paft years, which would doubtlefs have
rendered me more capable of, pleading a
caufe which embraces fuch a vaft variety
of important interefts. It is certainly true,
however, that at no period of my life
fhould I have pleaded with more zeal, with
more religion, and, I muft fay, with lefs
attention to my own perfonal intereft:
perhaps this was all that was requifite, and
the caufe demanded no other fupport.
After this explanation, it becomes me to
fay, that I am always ready to become a
martyr to the rights of a juft an(J virtuous
man; but will never render myfelf an in-
ftrument to gratify the purpofes of the
fenfelefs and perverfe.
I hefitated a long time whether I fhould
prefix my name to an Addrefs to the People
of France, or whether, without abfolutely
difavowing it, I fhould publifh it without a
name. Neither the motives of my uncertainty
B 3 nor

6 ADVERTISEMENT.
nor thofe of my decifion will efcape the
upright mind and the feeling heart.
In fhort, it was my wifh to reconcile all
my duties, and I truft I have fucceeded in
the attempt. I fhall not, I hope, be deem
ed prefumptuous in ftating my conviction,
that no poffible harm can refult from this
Work, while it is not impoflible that it
may do fome good. That confideration is
fufficient, under the prefent circumftances,
not only to juftify but to impel its public
ation.

IALLY-TOLENDAL.

London,
Jan. 1797.

DEFENCE OF T,HE
FRENCH EMIGRANTS,

'THhe French Republic has proved victo-
¦*¦ rious. She fees the ambaffadors pf all the
powers who had confederated againft her arrive
in her capital. She negociates a peace with
fome; fhe has dictated peace to others; and
the time draws near, when fhe will have con
cluded peace with all. War is about to ceafe
between France and foreign powers;— fhall it
then be rendered eternal between Frenchmen and
Frenchmen ?
Amongft all the conciliatory envoys, who, in ba
lancing the rights and the facrifices of their auguft
conftituents, are about to fulfil the confolatory
million of re-eftablifhing Europe on her former
bafis, to dry up the tears, and to clofe the wounds
of humanity, will no one be feen to offer to trium
phant France, in the name of exiled France, the
s 4. moft

S DEFENCE OF THE
moft facred of all rights, the moft affecting of all
facrifices; alas! the bittereft of all tears, and, of
all wounds, thofe which will bleed the longeft ?
When foreign enemies go to folicitfrom mag
nanimity the conquefts which valour has made,
fliall not oppreffed citizens go to require from
juftice an end to tfiofe ufurpatioris which tyranny
has enforced ?
No : — And in that France, which in all times
has been diftinguifhed by too many civil diffen-
tions, but which, hitherto, at leaft, had been
equally diftinguifhed by her generous reconcilia
tions; in that France, which has feen Henry
the Fourth, the beft friend of Mayenne; and
Mayenne, the moft faithful fervant of Henry
the Fourths in that France, which, after
being cut off for feven years from all communi
cation with civilized beings, has, for the laft two
years, pretended to renew her intercourfe with
Civilization; which in fact, during that epoch,
has enafted many laws worthy of fubmiffion and
refpedt:— it is ftill true that any reprefentative of
innocence and misfortune, who fhould now pre
fent himfelf with the olive-branch in his hand,
refignation on his lips, and the love of his country
in his heart, would be configned to death the
very

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. §
veryinftant he fet his foot in the territory of the
victors, in the native land of the vanquifhed, in
the common foil in which that fame country
burns to fee her children throw down their arms,
and fwear an eternal peace |
What do I fay ? This is no longer the lan-»
guage which we muft now employ. Thefe de
nominations are no longer underftood. Ideas as
well- as expreffions have been interverted. The
oppreffor ftiles himfelf the offended, iniquity
affumes the appellation of law, plunder is deemed
fynonymous with property, the name of crime
has been attached to misfortune, to right, to
virtue. We have no longer to ftipulate for the
vanquifhed, but to plead for the accufed, to afk
favour for the condemned! And we cannot even
affail the ears of our judges with the cry of juftice
and mercy; we muft addrefs it to them from dif
tant countries; we muft leave it to Echo to bear
it to the hearts which we wifh to melt in our fa
vour !
I have juft re-animated thefe laft cries, thefe
fmothered lamentations, thefe forgotten rights ;
I have juft collected them all in a production of
which nothing can impede the courfe, nor dimi-
nifh the ftrength; in a production which no
i future

ro defence of the
future igra will reject, and which even the pre
fent generation will not brave with impunity. I
fubmit to my fate with the certainty of not hav
ing deferved it ; I argue from things as they
are, with the confcioufnefs of not having contri
buted to render them fuch ; I oppofe to neceffity
the only refiftance which ftrong minds can oppofe
to it — the courage to fupport it; I become the
advocate of thofe who are entitled to have an
ambaffador ; in a word, I adopt the language of
the day, and plead for perfons accufed, con
joined, profcribed ; for French Emigrants, in
fhort : — But let the judges be careful how they
decide ; for whatever means they may have em
ployed to acquire, there remains but one to pre
ferve — and that is, Justice.
I talk of Judges, but where can they be found?
in whom fhall I recognize that character ? whom
ought I to enlighten ? whom can I fupplicate in
France ? to whom addrefs my vows, my com
plaints, my remonftrances ? to the Tribunals ?
to the two Councils? to the Executive Di
rectory ?
To the Tribunals ?— They, I know, prefent a
pleafing and a glorious contraft with thofe whom
I dare not call their predeceffors j for what con
nection

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. H
nedtion can there be between the enemies and the
difpenfers of juftice; between the murderers and
the protectors of innocence; between the mini
fters let loofe by Robefpierre, and the magiftrates
eletted by the people ? The Tribunals are now
the foundeft part of the Republic, and France
has, at length, begun to reap the advantage of
that fublime inftitution, the Trial by Jury, the
eternal bulwark of the laws, and of public liberty,
wherever they have been once eftablifhed. But
thefe Tribunals are inftituted for the purpofe of
applying the law, and not of making it. As un
happy in the execution of injuftice as we are in
being the objects of it, they go on from day to
day in the track marked out for them, rejoicing
whenever any opportunity occurs for refcuing a
victim from the fatal effects of the exterminating
decree ; but have ft not in their power to Create
a general meafure, a decree of univerfal fafety
and fecurity.
To the two Councils?— I have traced their de
bates with attention; I have frequently admired
the talents they have difplayed, which would
have done honour to the Tribunes of Athens and
of Rome. I have, more than once, diftinguifhed
virtues which the Areopagus of the one, and
the Senate of the other, would not have blufhed to

-r|g defence of the
to own in their beft days. But, for a few vic
tories which thefe privileged characters have now
and then obtained, how many times have their
impotent efforts been thwarted by the remains of
the ancient fadrion, by thofe men, who, after
having cannonaded the people in order to repre-
, fent them, would not even fuffer the exercife of
their power to expiate the principle on which it
was founded, and rather chofe to verify the
dreadful obfervation of the hiftorian of Tiberius,
that the Empire acquired by crime, was never ex-
ercifedfor the happinefs of mankind*.
To the Executive DireSory?— They feem at
laft to have formed an union with virtuous men,
and to have confented to deftroy the power of the
wicked. It would be unjuft not to notice the firft
fteps which they have made in this tieyo career;
it would be fatal not to tell them, that if they
complete the work which they have begun, there
is no fpecies of oblivion which they may not hope
to obtain for the paft, no kind of merit which
they may not claim for the future. But there

* Imperium flagitio acquifitum nemo nnquam bonis arti-
bus exercuit. Tacit,

are

FRENCH EMIGRANTS, J.J-
are ftill recollections to be effaced and appre-.
henfions to be removed. . . . Moft certainly the:
five Directors of France have not yet deferved.
the confidence of the unfortunate; and they
muft, at leaft, have ceafed to prove themfelves
implacable enemies before we can be authorized-
to confider them as, impartial judges.
Whither then fhall I carry, before whom fhall
I plead, this caufe fo juft and fo interefting, but
ftill fo ftrongly marked by a cruel fatality; this
caufe, the defence of which admits of no delay,
and for which fo many minds are yet fo little
prepared ?
' People of France ! I lay it before you; not
before thofe who have added to all their other
ufurpations that of appropriating to themfelves
exclufively your name; — to all their other acts
of perfidy, that of calumniating it; to all their
other crimes, that of difgracing it; — but before
the true People of France, who, far from
having been the accomplices of our oppreffors,
have been aflbciates in our misfortunes, and
were perfecuted and attacked at the fame time
with us; — but before all thofe Frenchmen who,
even amidft the effervefcence of paflions, pre-
ferved the purity of their hearts, or expiated noble

f£ DEFENCE OF TH#
noble errors by a more noble repentance ; — buii
to the totality of good citizens ih whatever clafs
of fociety they exift.
You, virtuous electors ! who have already
kid the germ of public fafety in the councils and
in the magiftracy, and who will foon ftrengthen it
by a new election :
You, incorruptible judges and jurymen! who
have tired out perfecution by your courage, and
conquered injuftice by your confidence; who
have four times acquitted innocence which had
been four times brought to trial ; and who have
juft folemnly decided that the daughter who
gives the means of fubfiftence to her. father, the
mother who gives it to her fon, and the wife who
gives it to her hufband in exile, difcharge a duty
inftead of committing a crime :
You, good and honeft farmers ! who, in a great
number of provinces, have become the friends
of thofe of whom you were formerly called the
vaffals ; who have lhed over the tombs of fome
the tears of grief and gratitude ; who have wept
with joy on learning the fafety and deliverance
of others, have run in crouds, to meet them,
have brought them back in triumph to their an
cient

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. ij*
cient habitations, and haVe there furrbunded them
with your affecting attentions, your ufeful la
bours, your voluntary and. companionate re
fpedt :
You, gdod men of all ranks and cohditions 1
who, like us taken by force from your homes,
like us thrown into dungeons, like us loaded with
calumny, and like us have miraculoufly efcaped
the fword fo long fufpended over our heads,
Ought not only to companionate the calamities
which yourfelves have experienced, but to appre
ciate our innocence by your own, fince the fame
impoftors accufed us to you who afterwards ac-
cufed you to your executioners :
You, foldiers of the country ! who were heard
to exclaim, in the time of Robefpierre, " We
abhor internal tyranny, but we will repel ferocious
usurpation" who have probably contributed more
than any body to the revival of the laws, becaufe
you have rendered ic impoflible to fupport the
contraft of fo much heroifm abroad and fo much
depravity at home :
You, citizens of Calais ! who received, who
carried in your arms the unhappy , men whom the
inclemency of the ocean had caft on your fhores;
8 who.

i£ DEFENCE OF THE
who> by your coUrageous humanity, had the
glory and the confolation of refcuing them frdm
a more horrible gulph than that in which the
ocean had threatened to plunge them :
You, generous inhabitants oiAlfacel who have
juft offered, for the firft time, to your fellow-
countrymen, taken prifoners when fighting under;
ftandards not your own, that noble treatment
which unfortunate valour always receives from
the moft barbarous enemy, but which French-*
men had not blufhed to refufe to French
men s ,
You, all, in fhort, who, whatever might be
your original opinions, now agree in this, the
only true, the only juft fentiment; that all confe
derations ought henceforth to be funk in the
fafety of France, and that the lawful government
is, that by which the country fhall obtain the re
iteration of peace, morality, and law :
You, I acknowledge for my judges, you whom
it is ufeful to inftrudt, you whom it is noble to
implore, you whom it is happinefs to convince.
I tranfport myfelf, in idea, into the midft of you,
and feem to traverfe your towns, your villages,
your tents, to convene you all, in the name of
your

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 17
yonr country and of humanity ; in the name of
order and of liberty, which have fo potent an in
fluence over great minds and good hearts ; to lead
you all to the moft open and moft elevated fpot
in your Republic; and in that immenfe forum,
that new Mons facer, where I mean to raife a
temple to juftice and to clemency, I am going, '
fupported by your virtue, to fummon before
you the fanguinary relics of our perfecutors,
who have been your perfecutors alfo, to defy, td
interrogate, to confound them; fo that> when the
hour of judgment fhall arrive, in the divifion
which your fovereign fentence fhall allot, jujlici
fliall be our portion, and clemency theirs.
You will accompany me to that auguft Tri
bunal, you will there furround me with your pro->-
tedting train, you, whom I have not claffed
among my judges, becaufe I wifhed to have you
for my patrons; cenfors of public morals, hope
of oppreffed innocence, virtuous writers, who,
even under the rod of our tyrants and the dag*-
gers of our affaffins, dared entertain for Us other
fentiments than thofe of hatred; dared, in fpeak-
ing of us, to ufe other language than that of
malediction ; you remembered that nature had
united us by the tie of one common country,
and, after having defended or avenged the authors
of our days, dared publicly exprefs a hope that
c ape-

j8 DEFENCE OF THE
a period might at leaft be put to our feparation,
if we could not receive compenfation for our
loffes. Yes, you will fupport my voice, for it is to you
that I am indebted for the courage to exert if.,
My mind muft be unfolded in your prefence.—
You muft be told of the fhare that you bear in
the bold enterprize in which I invoke your aid.
I was overwhelmed, with grief, and funk in dif—
couragement; I neither deplored the loffes of
ambition, nor thofe of fortune; a man may live
without fplendour, and Providence has deigned
to fupply my wants; it has done more: if a mail
can have two countries, Heaven has furnifhed me
with a fecond. But that in the country which
gave me birth, and my love for which will glow-
in my heart fo long as it fhall continue to beat ;
that in the country where fare makes me forget
my own, whofe misfortunes 1 deplored, though
from it all my calamities proceeded; whofe vic
tories raifed my pride, though they rendered the
'victors more unjuft to me; that there no voice
fhould be raifed, that not a figh fhould be heaved
in my behalf; that, caft by violence far from the
fight of our fellow-citizens, we fhould never be
prefent to their minds nor to their confciences : —
this confideration gave birth to affliction which I had

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. ig
I had not ftrength to fupportj and it Was from
the enormous weight of that affliction that your
writings fuddenly relieved me. Your writings
proved to me that there were many juft and feel
ing hearts ftill left in France. Your writings
aroufed every generous and patriotic exile.
Your writings revived the ray of hope that gave
me frefh ftrengthj and I exclaimed,—" Yes>
" my voice fhall once more be heard, before it
" finks for ever. Yes, I will bear the words of
" peace and juftice between the oppreffors and
" the oppreffed. Separated, by fortuitous cif-
" cumftances, from the numerous victims of
" misfortune, I will again join them, that I may
<c feel like them and with them; that I may
"have no intereft diftinct from their intereft j
" that, in pleading their caufe, I may not plead
" a caufe foreign from my own; that I may
" fpeak of oar misfortunes, oar rights, our fa-
" crifices, our fellow-citizens, our country; that
" I may, in fhort, prove myfelf a Frenchman
" when the falvation of France forms the fubjedfc
" of difcuffion."
The falvation of France ! ... I well confidered
this expreffion before I committed it to paper.
Ah 1 may France fulfil the hope which you have
formed, virtuous writers! May fhe, as you have
c 2 advifed

5© DEFENCE Of THE
advifed her, contrive, hy fome means or other, to
rally under the Jane Jlandard all thofe to whom
Heaven has affigned the. fame country. May flie be
convinced that, without this, fhe will impofe on
herfelf a weight of ignominy.that will crufh her;
fhe will ultimately be convulfed by crime and by
remorfe; and will doom herfelf to fuffer a train
of calamities of which the rifing generation will
not live to fee the end.
But I am, in the prefence of my judges, and I
fhall perhaps be told, that I ought to begin by
fubmitting to their confideration more humble
.truths, and that, before I can deliberate as a
citizen, I ought to clear myfelf as an accufed
perfon. It is very difficult, however, of two
characters, one of which has never ceafed to
.belong to me, and the, other of which ought
never to have been imputed to me, to fink that
.of citizen. At leaft I may be allowed to remind
.my judges, that I have no intention of refilling
to fubmit to any of the proofs which adverfity
requires. I will remember, fliould it be necef
fary, that the greateft and moft virtuous perfon-
•ages of ancient Rome, fummoned before the
affembly of the people, confidered it as a ferious
misfortune to be even calumniated in the minds
of their fellow-citizens, and appeared on the
6 public

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 21
public fquare with difhevelled hair, a downcaft
countenance, a mourning drefs, and a melan
choly retinue. — How then could I, who am now
about to bear the weight of fo many falfe accu
fations, and of fo many real misfortunes, refufe to
pay to the dignity of the true People of
France, to the grief, and more efpecially, to the
dangers of my country, the homage of entering,
with the fame compunction, with the fame
mourning, on a caufe certainly the moft juft, but
at the fame time the moft agonizing in its prin
ciple, the moft alarming in its confluences,
that was ever difcufled. The more I feel all
the purity of my innocence, all the inviolability
of my rights, the lefs it cofts me to prefent myfelf
as a fuppliant before my country^ when I come
to conjure her, ftill more for her own fake than
for mine, to accord me an adt of juftice which
fhe cannot refufe without devoting herfelf to ca
lamities much more dreadful and much more du*
rable than mine.
People of France I a third conftitutjon has been
given you, and its duration has already exceeded
the term of a year, — a circumftance which had
not before occurred fince the beginning of your
troubles. « 3 Its

22 DEFENCE OF THE
- Its authors, judging by the affections which
they know, and by the prejudices which they
fuppofe, me to poffefs, probably imagine that I
am coming, armed cap-a-pied, to break in pieces
the tablets of your new law, and to throw down
the gauntlet to all who concurred in its forma
tion, and will now Hand forth in its defence,
Alas! they are miftaken. We ought to try
your recent conftitution by the ftandard of your
own neceffities, and not by the rule of our de-;
fires. Far from inftigating you to rife againft it,
1 will, on the contrary, congratulate you on hav
ing obtained it. I folemnly declare, that I know
not one fingle ftep, one fingle form of poffible
melioration, of which it may not co.nftitute the
bafis ; and the firft word I fhall utter about it,
fliall be uttered in its defence againft a fpecies of
attack, which, in my apprehenfion, is fovereignjiy
unjuft. If we once feparate a political inftitution from
the times which gave birth to it, we deprive our-
felves of that ftandard which can alone enable us
to form a found and equitable judgment of its
merits. Judicial duels, at the period of their
abolition, muft have appeared to be nothing better
than an abfurd and barbarous cuftom ; but yet
the firft legiflator who introduced them had made one

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 2J
one flep towards reafon and humanity; for it was
certainly doing a great deal to impofe a check on
revenge, to foothe the rage which it was not then
poffible to reftrain, and to diminifh the number
of victims at a time when it was impracticable to
enforce the preservation of them all.
In the fame manner the moment will come,
(and I pray to Heaven to haften its approach,)
in which you may examine the conftitution of
1795, in its connection with abfolute principles,
cut off whatever is offenfive, add whatever is
wanting, and perfect, whatever exifts. Whoever,
at this time, wifhes to be juft, ought to appreci
ate it relatively, paying particular attention to
the circumftances which attended "its birth;
comparing it with the inftitutions which it re
placed or deftroyed ; and never, for an inftant,
forgetting the obftacles it had to encounter, fome
of which it fubdued, while others it could only
elude. For my part, when I well confider the
point whence its. founders fet out, and that
which they have already attained, I doubt whe
ther fo rapid a progrefs was ever before made in
the career of truth and public welfare, in the
roads of virtue and repentance, of that repen
tance, which, to ufe the. beautiful expreffion of
c 4 RouffeaUj

2'4 DEFENCE OF THE
Rouffeau, is perhaps farther removed from crime
than -innocence itfelf.
In comparifon with the conftitution of 1795,
what was that of 1791 — that rnonftrous produc
tion, compofed of fuch heterogeneous parts,
which did not contain a fingle article that was
not contradicted by another; did not offer one
advantage the attainment of which it did not
render impoffible; did not eftablifh one autho
rity which it did not render impotent; fpread
univerfal diffention, inftead of diffufing general
harmony; organized anarchy, and founded dif-
folution ?
In comparifon with the conftitution of 1795,
what was that of 1793 — that code for which no
human language can fupply appropriate expref-
fions; that code which, in the name of fociety
and the laws, delivered up mankind a prey to all
thofe fcourges, for the exprefs purpofe of avoid
ing which, they enter into a ftate of fociety, and
fubmit to the reftriction of laws ?
Can any one be ftill blind to the immenfe ad
vantage attached to the mere divifion of your
legiflative body into two councils, after thofe three

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 2C
three legiflatures, confifting only of a fingle
chamber, which, improving on the fchemes of
each other in their difaftrous fucceffion, had op-
preffed, defolated, enfanguined, and difhonoured
France, during the fix preceding years ?
What force does your prefent Executive Power
poffefs when compared to that phantom of a
king, who appeared to have been left on the
throne in 1791, for no other purpofe than that
of affording an opportunity for the commiffion
of one other crime ?
Yet, what a reftridtion is already impofed on
that fame power, fo unlimited, fo unpunifhed,
when it was vefted in thofe committees of death,
which, by the moft inconceivable confufion of
ideas and contradiction of terms, were called,
Committees, of Safety !
What a diminution already appears to have
taken place in the number of governors, when
we now find only five directors, after having had
fometimes ten, fometimes twenty, fometimes
feven hundred, fometimes twelve hundred kings,
at once legiflators, pontiffs, generals, adminl-
ftrators, magiftrates, and judges ; alternately
creators, rivahj, inftruments of forty- four chou- fand

26 PEFENCE OF THE
fand fovereign municipalities, having themfelves,
for fupreme regulators, an equal number of Ja
cobin Societies!
How many incumbrances have been removed
from the political machine, how many hopes
given, how many means opened to all the friends
of peace, order, and juftice, by the abfolute in
terdiction* of thofe popular clubs, thofe aggre
gated affiliations, thofe correfponding focieties,
which, extending from one end of France to the
other, a conductor as rapid as terrible, held a
thunderbolt conftantly fufpended over the heads
of all innocent men J
Is not then that total fuppreffion of feditious
corporations, joined to the prohibition, fo for-?
mally expreffed, and fo frequently repeated,
which forbids either the Directory, the Legifla-
tive Body, or the Adminiftrators, to ufurp the
fundtions of judges f, to be confidered as a pri
mary and folid bafis for the independence of the
judicial power ?
Is it not then a firft and an effential homage
paid to property, to have declared, that on the
* Articles 360, 361, 362,
f Articles 189. 202. 264, maintenance

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 27
maintenance of -property all focial order depends* \
to have announced to every citizen, that it is his
duty to defend it-\; to have excluded from
the electoral affemblies all perfons who have not
a certain portion of landed property £?— From
the provifions of the conftitution of 1793 to all
thefe articles the diftance was immenfe; from
the qualifications of an elector to the qualifica
tions of a reprefentative trjere, is but orje ftep.
By the fide of thofe Rights of Man, which the
firft affembly had imprudently committed tp
chance, I now defcry the duties, which it fo
fcandaloufly refufed to notice.
By the fide of what conftitutes and enfures
L\iberty%, I find what regulates the exercife and
prevents the abufe of it ; I find the individual
protected fo long as he remains innocent ||;
warned whep about to become guilty ; oppofed
as foon as he does becomes fo; and puniflied
after he has been fo^f,
9 Art. 8. of the Duties of a Citizen,
f Art. 9.
I Art. 35.
§ Rights, Art. 2. Confiii. Tit. 1 4.
|| Duties, Art. 9.
f Con/tit. Tit. 14. Art. 363, 364, §65, 366, &c. If

28 DEFENCE OF THE
If the confequences drawn from the doctrine
of Equality are too abfolute to efcape conteftation,
at leaft the definition given of Equality itfelf
ought to difpel all fears, and may defy all cen
fures *.
The fafety of one of its members is prefcribed'
as. a duty to the whole community f.
Laftly, I fee, at the head of the conftitution of
1795, a confecration of the law to the Supreme
Being. I fee, at the head of the Duties ofManx
the whole fyftem of morality reduced to two
maxims proclaimed by the Gofpel of the Chrift-
iansj. I fee, in the general provifions which
terminate the conftitutional code, a formal pro
hibition to moleft any man, whatever he may be,
in the exercife of the worfhip which he renders to
God. I nowhere find a prohibition either to
the private citizen, to perfons in authority, to the
adminiftrative bodies, to the legiflative councils,
or to the directory, publicly to invoke the God
* Equality confifts in the famenefs of the laav to every indivi
dual, ivhether for the purpofe of protection or of punijlment.
Art. 3. Rights,
f Rights, Art. 9. Duties, Art. 2. 9, &c.
% Do not unto another that which you voould not have done
to your/el/. — Do confiantly lo others that good ivhich you ivould
nvijh to have done to your/elf. Art. 2, Duties. of

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 29
of their fathers, to call down his- bleffmg on their
works, to offer up thanks for his beneficence, to
implore his aid againft the unjuft enemies of the
republic, — in fhort, to confecrate the political,
and confolidate the moral fyftem, by religion.
People of France ! whofe equity conftitutes
my only hope; you deign, I truft, to remark
with whac candor I, proceed, and what ftrong
interdictions I have impofed on my reafon to
prevent it from becoming fubfervient to party
fpirit. On the other hand, it would as little
become me to feign enthufiafm ih order to con
ciliate your favour, as to repeat calumnies in
order to inflame your difcontent. Though I am
an impartial judge of your new confti.Cutionj I am
far from becoming its blind guarantee. I ftill
find in it the great and dreadful problem of the
firft- magiftracy of the ftate (and of an immenfe
ftate) rendered elective and temporary, and di
vided between the will of five individuals. Have
your legiflators made a difcovery, or have they
purfued a chimera? Will the inconveniences
attending their new fyftem (for every human
cftablifhment has its inconveniences) be more or
lefs ferious than thofe which they pretend to have
avoided? Thefe are oueftions to the folution of
¦which the knowledge that refults from experience will

3« DEFENCE OF THE
will be neceffary; but which are abfolutely fo
reign from the caufe which I have undertaken to
defend. There is one thing, however, which, even
now, is clear as light; which the experience of
ages, infallible reafon, and fovereign juftice, have
irrevocably decided; which, in fhort, forms my
whole caufe, — that is to fay, which concentrates
in a fingle point all the moral iniquities and all
the political herefies which I have juft denounc
ed; — I mean the article that relates to the Emi
grants; which became a difgrace to your con
ftitution the very day it was inferted, and which
' will foon produce its deftrudtion, if you do not
haften to expunge it.
This article was neither theproduceof the fame
minds, nor of the fame genius which propofed
the plan of your political eftablifhment. Could
I have praifed a work of which fuch a provifion
had formed an integral part? Inftead of harmo
nizing with the body of the work it forms a per-
fedt contraft with- it. It was by furprize, by-vio
lence, by availing themfelves of fome unfortunate
circumftances, which occurred during the dif-
cuffion, by invoking the phantom of that terrorifm
which was fcarcely fubdued, that its authors fuc
ceeded

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. $t
ceeded in procuring a claufe deftrudlive of all
conftitution to be declared conftitutional. Crimej
efcorted by infanity, trembled with rage at behold
ing the revival of wifdom and virtue. It exulted
in the idea of having, with a fingle phrafe, difho-
noured and perverted all their laws, fixed a ve
nomous plant among their falutary feeds, and
thrown, into the very center of the fabric which
they had juft raifed, that fatal firebrand which
was deftined to reduce it to afhes.
Virtuous Republicans ! permit me now to ad
drefs myfelf to others, and no longer to yott
who have doubtlefs anticipated in your hearts,
and probably expreffed with your tongues, all
the fentiments which I am going to utter. I
fhall henceforth confine my appeals to the cri
minal, the fenfelefs, authors of the claufe, which
is alike difaftrous and difhonorable. The lan
guage which they have deferved can be addreffed
to none but themfelves. You are their victims
as much as, and ftill more than, us; for you have
ftill every thing to lofe, and we have nothing left
to fave. It is in the name] of the French Re
public, then, ftill more than in that of the French
Emigrants, that I accufe and attack them. Let
them contradidt me if they dare, and confute me
if they can. In

32 DEFENCE OF THE
In the firft place, let me quote the act which
conftitutes their crime ; let me repeat that article
which feems fcarcely credible even while we read
it; that fundamental law, fubverfive of the
French Republic, by means of which Robers-
pierre furvives himfelf in the conftitution which
they pretend to have eftablifhed on the ruins of
his tyranny :
" The French nation declares, that in no cafe will Ave fuffer the
" return of thofe Frenchmen, who, having abandoned their country fub-
" fequent to the 19th July 1789, are not included in the exceptions to
"the laws paffed againft th* Emigrants ; and Ihe forbids the Legislative
* Body to create new exceptions on this head,— The property of the
" Emigrants is irrevocably confifcated to the profit of the French Re-
« public." — Conftitution of the French Republic, Article 373, Title 14.
General Difpofltions. 1
A people have been feen, after a fuccefsful
oppofition to foreign attack, or the fortunate
fuppreffion of civil commotions, to evince a dif
pofition to repofe themfelves under the fhelter
and protection of a ftable and falutary code of
laws; they have been feen feeking in peace and
juftice the reward of their triumphs and the cbn-
fecration of their rights ; extorting, by their ge-
nerofity or their wifdom, the refpedt of foreigners,
and uniting, by a reciprocal facrifice of the moft
juft refentment, all the citizens of their own
ftate. Thus the Republic of Athens was torn by

FRENCH EMIGRANTS.' 33.
by three contending factions which threatened it
with nothing lefs than annihilation. The Athe
nians of the Mountain wifhed for a pure demo
cracy; thofe of the Plain, for a pure ariftocracy ;
and thofe of the Sea-coafl, for a mixture of both.
At the- very moment when their country was
about to expire beneath their blows, all their con-
fciences were fuddenly ftricken, with the fame fen-
timents of remorfe; all minds were involuntarily
attracted by one common movement. The
three parties threw down their arms, abjured
their hatred, joined, embraced, and fent to Solon
to afk him for a fyftem of laws, which they pro
mifed no longer to didtate, but thenceforth to
obey. Other nations have confidered themfelves
obliged to exercife acts of rigour againft indivi
duals, when employed in eftablifhing the general
felicity of the community. But the folemn char
ter, meant to form the bafis and the guarantee of
the happinefs of a whole people, was never dif-
graced by ideas of hatred and revenge. Ifolated
and fugitive laws announced thofe acts of rigour
which neceffity feemed to impofe. The national
pact which was deftined, from age to age, to pro
claim to future generations the inviolability of
their rights, the dignity of their exiftence, and
p the

34 DEFENCE OF THE
the bleffings of their government, contained no
thing that could tarnifh the luftre or deftroy the
mildnefs of their deftiny ; nothing that could
diminifh confidence, ajarm juftice, or afflict hu
manity. Thus, when England called the third
William to her throne, that, Bill of Rights which
became a new contract between the nation and
th,eir fovereign, held out to the Englifh nothing
but, the glary and the happinefs. of a free people.
The . forfeitures inflicted, upon thofe who had
fought for the ancient government remained
configned in adts that were deftined to be buried
with the men againft whom they were perfonally
directed. Every man had a- right to appeal againft'
them to the courts of law. The forfeitures were
declared in the year of the revolution, that is, in
1688; and in 1703 a door was ftill open to re-
monftrances and appeals. The garrifon of
Limerick, after they had defended themfelves to
the laft extremity, faw their courage honoured by'
the victor, and obtained the moft glorious capi
tulation from the prince in whofe power it. was to
exercife all- the moft cruel rights of conqueft.
In 1746/ amnefties were again paffed. Even
after the attempt in Scotland which had produced
fuch bloody difafters, nineteen, out of twenty of
thofe whom the law devoted to death received
pardons. But why talk of 1746? In every ge-*
neration,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS* $,$
neration, in our own time, recently, the crown
has again granted pardon, and more than pardon,
reftitution, indemnity to families who had been
victims to the fatal attainder.
But to make of hatred and of rage (to fay no
thing of iniquity) one of the conftitutional laws of
a ftate; to perpetuate difoord in inviting peace,
and punifhments in proclaiming beneficence; to
engrave on the fame table the laws of Numa and
the profcriptions of Sylla; to invoke the prefence
of the Supreme Being, in order that he may affift
at the impious carnage of his creatures ; thus to
take, in one and the fame act, Heaven for a wit-
nefs, and Hell for a model, is to engender a mon-
fter which may be fuffered' ftill to pollute for a
time the light of the day, but which muft foon
lofe that light itfelf; and which, confumed by
the fire of its own rage, muft ere long expire on
the bodies of its murdered victims.
Alas ! I wifh to proclaim Truth with energy,
and I weaken its effect! I wifh to degrade by com-
parifons the tyranny which I combat, and I do it
honour ! I commit an outrage on the memory
of Sylla! — Sylla, in the worft of his profcriptions,
would have rejected with indignation thofe which
the French Conftitution pretends to perpetuate.'
d 2 Sylla

j6 DEFENCE OF THE
Sylla maffacred the troops which fought againft
him, the magiftrates who had profcribed him,
the rivals of his power, the deftroyers of his
laws, the defpoilers of his property, the murder
ers of his friends ; but his leverity againft the,
children of the profcribed was limited to their
exclufion from the fenate and from the magiftracy.
Sylla, who would probably be called the greateft
of the Romans, if he had not, till our days, been
the moft cruel of men; — Sylla, all-cruel as he
was, would probably have fhuddered, but cer
tainly would have blufhed, at thofe profcriptions
which have been indifcriminately levelled at
priefts, old men, women, children in the cradle,
and generations yet unborn; — and this, "without
a defire of vengeance, for the victims have been
conftantly oppreffed, and the oppreffors con
fiantly triumphant; without any ftruggle for
power, for no one can now difpute it with thofe
into whofe hands fate has refigned it; without
rivalry of ambition or avarice, for none of us who
have efcaped the fword, or furvived the mifery of
our fituation, have any other objedt in view than
again to behold the relics of our families, and to
cultivate a portion of our own fields.
But let me reftrain, if I can, or rather moderate
my indignation. I muft enter into a methodical analyfis,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 37
analyfis, both in its relation to juftice and to po
licy, of that, O People of France ! which they
have had the audacity to impofe on you as a law,
and the abfurdity to reprefent as a falutary law.
That this adt of madnefs and iniquity begins
with an impofture, and with a national blafphemy;
that the French nation have given, an hundred
times, the lie direct to thofe men who dared to
proclaim this declaration as an emanation from
the French nation, is a truth which I fhall in
voke in proper time. People, I already hear the
murmurs of your confcience ! I promife you that
I will appeal to it; but 1 entreat you, for the
prefent, to reftrain its dictates. I am particu- '
larly anxious that you fhould try this declaration
by its own merits, abftradted from all confidera
tion of the number and defcription of its authors
or adherents. Thefe laft form but a fecondary
point; of difcuffipn; before I arrive at which, I
have to eftablifh an antecedent truth of much
greater importance, fince it is that which muft
lead me to my final deduction, viz. " That the
" French nation, united in a mafs, much lefs an
" individual, would have no right to enact fuch
" a decree againft that individual." People of
France! it would be but a vulgar hpmage to
tell you that you did not make this law ; it is a
b 3 rarer

38 DEFENCE OF THE
rarer homage to maintain in your prefence, that,
even if you had wifhed to make it, you could not
have made it; to refpedt you fufficiently, to ap
proach you in the midft of your triumphs, in
order to convince you that juftice has prefcribed
bounds to your omnipotence.
I here addrefs myfelf to every individual
whom the French Empire contains within
its Vaft circle. .Virtuous fupporters ; criminal
prophaners of the Republic; ye too, who, ftill
undecided, have determined to embrace no party,
until one fhall appear firmly refolved to be influ
enced exclufively by the principles of juftice and
of peace; I adjure, or rather fummon, you all to
follow me through the difcuffion on which I am
about to enter. May the firft of you find your
wifhes accomplifhed, the fecond your doubts
removed, and Heaven fend, that the third de-
fcription may yet difcover in the difcuffion, in
ducements to an efficacious repentance, rather
than incitements to the rage of revengeful fu
ries. Traitors who left their, country for the pur
pofe of returning to attack it in arms; — Cowards,
who aban4oned their country at a time when they
ought to have taken up arms in its defence:^ Thefe

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 39
Thefe are the two heads under which all the
French Emigrants have been claffed by thofe
who wifhed to legalize the fpoliation of their pro
perty and the profcription of their perfons :
denunciations, laws, fentences, all that created,
attacked, or tried our offences, defined them in
this way*. On the accuracy of this firft propo-
fition not a doubt can arife.
Before I divide the parties accufed into two
claffes, according to the two different kinds of
offence thus imputed to them, I ought certainly
firft to fix your attention on the vidtims who,
I don't fay have not committed, but whom I fay
could not commit, either one or the other.
And firft, will it be denied that all the Emi
grant Women are manifeftly innocent both of this
treqfon and of this cowardice? Shall I be told,
that the having or not having taken up arms
may be imputed as a crime to women ? Yet no
law has excepted the women from the general
profcription; on the contrary, the old law has
exprefsly included them, and the new confti-
* See the preamble of the general and definitive Decree
paffed againft the Emigrants, on the 28th March 1793; a3
well as the partial Decree's, and the debates to which they
gave rife. d 4 tutional

40 DEFENCE OF THE
tutional laW leaves them irrevocably in the fame
ftate. The law, therefore, in its principle, .^con
founds innocence with guilt; and this circum-
ftance alone would fuffice to render it unjufL
In this cafe, innocence is not only manifeft,
but its exiftence is a matter of neceffity. In
juftice cannot by poffibility have even a pretext
for an error. Tyranny itfelf cannot form a fuf
picion. Does not the law then, which punifhes,
not only without the proof of a crime, but even
without the poffibility of an accufation, already
bear within itfelf a degree of iniquity that excites
the moft general indignation?
Laftly, this iniquitous proceeding bears a
third diftindtive charadter, which I fhall now pro
ceed to defcribe. In this cafe, innocence is not
only manifeft, its exiftence is not only a matter
of neceffity, but it was entruftcd by nature to
the protedtion of thofe who have facrificed ir.
Women, Great God! Women guilty of cow
ardice or treaj "on! Alas! it belongs to them to
prefer thefe accufations, inftead of being the ob
jects of them ! The country is the offspring of
the family; nature preceded the city. Certainly
the citizen is not fo ftrongly bound to defend
the foil which he cultivates, as man is to defend the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 41
the womb which gave him birth, and the womb
which made him a, father. The whole body of
fociety is bound to protect the mothers of fami
lies, the wives, the fitters, the female friends,
who fupport, or cement, or embellifh the focial
bond. The coward is he Who abandons them;
the traitor he who gives them up; the monfter
he, who applying the knife to the throat of a
blooming virgin, or of a venerable matron,
equally defencelefs, takes away without pity as
without danger, that life which it is his duty to
protedt at the rifk of his own. Impious terrorifts!
thefe, be affured, are the moft difguftful enormi
ties; thefe are the proofs of a moft abject degra
dation which has at once devoted you to difgrace,
and rendered you objects of execration. Thefe
conftitute, if I may fo exprefs myfelf, the moft
complete annihilation of all the features of human
virtue. The favage in his cave, and the cannibal
in his orgies, refpedt the female fex. A tribunal
affaffinating, in a judicial manner, a croud of in
nocent fugitives, for attempting to efcape from
prifon, from death, from dishonour, had not yet
been met with in the annals of mankind. Lifts
of profcriptions filled with the names of women
had not yet been feen. The diforders ot a town
juft taken by affault prefents the only image that
I know of the acts of your Legiflature. Citi
zens

42 DEFENCE OF THE
zens' of France ! fcarcely releafed from the
deadly anguifh which fo many dear objects muft
have excited in your minds, afk thofe tyrants,
whofe treafon you have fubdued, becaufe you
were powerful; but who have ftill the cowardice
to perfecute us becaufe we are impotent; afk
them which of thefe fentiments, which of thefe
propofitions they will dare to combat in your
pre-fence? Afk them how it happens that a law
for the affaffination of women ftill forms an in
tegral part of your conftitution ?
After the women come the Children, whofe
weaknefs, whofe innocence has, if it be poffible,
fomething ftill more facred in it than that of their
mothers, for they can neither forefee, dread, nor
implore. What has heen, and what ftill is the
fate of thefe unfortunate creatures ? There-is an
exception in their favour, exclaim our tyrants.
Yes, Peopleof France! there is; and I will ex
plain to you the nature of this boafted exception;
for at the time when thefe laws were forged, far
from being able to attend to our calamities, the
whole ftrength of your minds was requifite to
enable you to bear the weight of your own.
Yes, your legiflators of that day allowed a certain
term for the return of all the children who had
left France. But, do you know what that terra
.was?

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 43
was ? Three Months, let the diftance be" what
it would. When the queftion was to render the
parents who had remained in the country, re-
fponfible for the emigration of their children,
no other bounds to paternal authority were ac
knowledged than thofe of the father's life*.
But when it was wifhed to render the children
perfonally refponfible, then they were declared to
be releafed from the authority of their parents,
to be abfolute m afters of their own conduct, to
be perfect men in fhort, at ten years of age !
At ten years of age, People of France! Ifpeak
with the laws before mef. By that of 1793 J,
the child of ten years three months and eight
days, who fhould have the misfortune to lofe his
father in exile, and whom a faithful friend or fer-
vant fhould bring back to his mother in France,
would be condemned to lofe his head. By that
of 1794 §, if the child had not accomplifhed his
fixteenth year, he would be tranfported; but if
he was one day older, he would be executed.
And as it has been decreed, that the capital part
* See the Decrees of the 8th April, 19th Auguft, 12th
September 1792 ; and the debates on thofe Decrees.
t Decree of 28th March 1793.
% Complementary Decree of the 28th March.
§ Decree qf Revifion, z8th December. Of

44 defence of thk
of the punifhment fhall be abolifhed on the refto-
ration of peace, except for the Emigrants, it fol
lows that the refult of the greateft effort of legif-
lative humanity that has been exerted in our fa
vour fince the 9th Thermidor, is, that the emi
grant 'child who fhall have returned to his
country to prolong the life, or to clofe the eyes of
an adored mother, will die on a fcaffold; while a
parricide fon, who has not emigrated, will be
fuffered to live! Such are your prefent Conflilu-
tional Laws !
But what law has been enacted for maintaining
the rights of a child under ten years of age, until
he arrives at years of difcretion ? — -rights which
have been recognzied by an exprefs decree.
What magiftrate in France is to take minors
under his. care? What guardian preferves and
regulates their property ? What defender fccures
it from deftrudtion, from ufurpation, from mal-
verfation, and from rapine ? The child, whom a
widow, a fifter, or a daughter, overwhelmed with
defpair, has carried away with her at her blood-
ftained bofom, and who has not yet heard of the
calamities of its country, nor of the maffacre of
its family ; the child conceived in forrow and in
exile, and who drinks more of the tears than the
milk of its wretched mother, is already attainted by

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 45
by this murderous law. It is enforced againft
them, even while they are unconfcious of its
exiftence. Their misfortune will remain with
out a remedy, their right will long have ceafed
to exift, when they hear it mentioned for the firft
time. The firft notion they will receive will be
this, — that on the day of their birth, they were
marked by the hand of extermination, and that
the crime of Herod has been politically renewed
againft them.
People of France! I wifh to exhauft this
affecting, this terrible fubject. Such of our chil
dren as had not emigrated, might at leaft have
expected to be excepted from the pains of emigra
tion; their rights, already open, might at leaft
have been refpected ; cloaths, food, and lodg
ing, they might at leaft have been allowed to
retain. But nothing, no nothing, has been left
them ! The lying decree which had promifed
them a fourth part of the fpoils of their fathers,
has never been enforced. Taken away, in the
firft plade, from our love and our power; con-
figned * to the care of the municipalities of the
ioth Auguft, and the 2d September; foon after
* Decree of the National Affembly, Auguft 15, 1792.
expelled

46 defence of The
expelled from their paternal habitations, without
a bed to repofe on, or a room to give them
fhelter ; even feparated from their faithful fer-
vants, who were their laft and their only prOtec-
tors; how many of thefe wretched children
have languifhed in indigence, have perifhed from
want, have been buried pell-mell in the recep
tacles of mifery and diffolution! And yet, I
talk of injuftice only! — Alas! People of
France! I ought to prefer a charge of impiety,
of facrilege, againft thofe degenerate men who
have accumulated the moft monftrous of all
crimes on the heads of the moft innocent of all
creatures. Thus far I may fet all anfwers, and all ob
jections, at defiance. I might now bring for
ward, after the women and children, the aged
and infirm, the priefts, and generally all thofe
whofe fufferings, whofe age, whofe charadter,
kept them neceffarily at a diftance from the field
of battle, fince the offence confifts folely in
having or in not having made war. But al
though I might eftabliih in their behalf, truths
as ftrong as thofe which I have already ftated,
yet I am aware that I fhould not be entitled to
throw out the fame defiance. At leaft, infin-
cerity and chicane would have more ground for
10 cavil

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 47
cavil and difpute. After all, it is not impoffible,
that a prieft fhould be armed with fanaticifm,
and an old man animated with rage. A purer
principle might, then, produce upon them, the
fame effedts ; there is, then, a pretext for de
manding an account of their activity or inac
tivity. But I wifh, in this firft head of my dif
cuffion, to avoid all pretence for debate. In this
firft Order of vidtims whom I defend, I mean
only to admit thofe who never could be criminal,
thofe who never could be accufed of the crimes,
real or imaginary, which your Legiflators have
pretended to punifh by an implacable profcrip
tion. The caufe of the women and children re
quires to' be confidered diftindtly and feparately
from all others; Alas! If I had; only the cer
tainty of refcuing from misfortune this one clafs,
fo numerous, fo cherifhed, fo worthy of every
kind of refpedt, of every fpecies of facrifice,—
were all the calamities which they now experi
ence, to fall upon ourfelves, how much fhould I
think I had gained! O you, who ftill hold in
your hands their fate and ours, if you wifh to
be unjuft and pitilefs, confine your perfections
to us. Refume your equity, refume your huma
nity, for our wives and our children, and we
may ftill pardon you for ourfelves, and blefs you
for them. I fhall

4S DEFENCE OF THE
I fhall however complete the examination
which I have begun ; for your remdrfe, your
intereft, the people, or Heaven, may perhaps
infpire you with the refolution of not being juft
by halves.
Thus an immenfe portion of Emigrants are
exempted from your profcriptions by your own
fuffrages, by the definition which you have your-
felves given of our crimes. I fhall now take a view
of the Emigrants whom this definition may really
affedt ; thofe who have been in a fituation either
to betray France by attacking it, or to abandon it
by. flying in the hour of combat.
I fhall begin with the fecond clafs, the quef-
tion whxh concerns them being the moft fimple ;
and I fhall referve that which is the moft dif
ficult and the moft painful to difcufs, for the
laft. J ;'
I fhall always endeavour to lay down fuch
truths as it fhall be impoifible for you to conteft.
Thus you will not certainly deny, that the adt of.
abandonment is a voluntary adt ; that the volun
tary abandonment of one's country, and being
forcibly expelled from it, are two different things;
— in other words,that to abandon and betray one's
country

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 49
country, is not the fame thing as being abandoned
and betrayed by it.
I fhall now examine what you call the old
Laws paffed againft the Emigrants. Among
the exceptions wb\ch.:\hty contain; I feek for one
in favour of the French who have been expelled
iy violence from their country; whom their
country has -betrayed by delivering them up,
without the means of defence, to the plots of
banditti, and to the poniards of affaffins; who,
in flying frqm her, who, in breaking their
chains, who, by forcing their way through
their burning roofs and their blood-ftained
walls, efcaped death by a fingle day, an hour,
and, in fome inftances,, by a fecond. I find no
o\c\ exception in favour of thefe unfortunate men;
andj by a claufe intercalated in your prefent con-
ftitutionj the Legijlative body is -prohibited to
create any new exception ; and we cannot ad
vance a fingle ftep in this ftrange fyftem of le-
giflation without being feized with frefh horror.
And remark, People of France ! how juft
this expreffion of intercalated is ; how innocent
the authors of your new conftitution evidently
are of the article which infects and ruins their
work ! Not only the whole body of this confti-
E tution

gO DEFENCE OF THE
tution repels* with its whole force, the peftilefr*
tial excrefcence which disfigures it j but the
fpecial title, under which the fatal claufe is in-
fbftedj mvefts it, prefles it with fix other claufes,
which do not permit it to remain in the midft of
them. Ah! let nobody tell me " what' is
*c Written is Written ; the conftitution is decreed,
" its abfervance fworn to; it is no longer in
" our power to alter any pare of it;" for I fhall
anfwer, " You muft alter fome part of the 14th
" title of ybur conftitution ; for the articles
" which it contains, are in direct contradiction
"with each other. They cannot remain to-
«' gether; they oppbfe, they deftroy each other.
" No accommodation can poffibly take place
" between them ; you- can1 only obferve one
" part of them by violating the other* you muft
«« make your choice; and the whole queftiot!)
" henceforth, refolves itfelf into this point,—
"whether, impelled by neceffity to make a
« choice, you will have the courage publicly to
exclaim,**^ wM 4ffa® from our cod* the
" refpeSt which it proclaims for religion and mo-
« mlity 5 the itfente Of property) the fafeguard
" of 'liberty*, and the ffotmkn of the lives of
" individuals i~>-dn4 <to6 will preferve Mafphemy
" and immmlity, rafim, tytmny^ and murder." lam

«c

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. gl
I am aware, that an affertion of this import
ance requires proof, and I hope to adduce fijch
proof as will leave no room for reply.
Perfecutors, homicides, it is under the title of
Central Difpofltions, that you contrived Jo in
troduce that article, which, in fact, generalizes
confifcation, banilhment, death, although there;
is not one of all the acts of public power that
requires to be detailed with more munate and
particular circumfpedtion. But among the fame
General Difpofltions, I find fhe following one :
*' The houfe of every citizen is an inviolable
c« afylunri; during the night no one has a right
»* to enter it. — During the day the orders of the
«' Conftituted Authorities may be executed
«f there. — No domiciliary vifit can take place,
" .except by virtue of a law* *nd with refpedt to
" the perfon or object exprefsly defignated in the
" act which prefcribes the vifit/' (Artifk $$$.
General Difpsfttms* Title *#• Qnftfrfiiion of
ike Wrweh Republic.)
Above this article I find another, which fays,—
*c The Conftitution guarantees the inviolability
** of all property/' (Art. 358. IM,)
e 2 Again3

tt DEFENCE OF THE
Again, I read,—" No man can be prevented
" from exercifing, in conformity to the laws,
« the kind of worfliip which he: has chofen-for
« himfelf," (Art. 353. Ibid.)
I could eafily multiply thefe quotations in an
infinite1 degree; but the three articles which I
have here felected will fuffice for my purpofe.

When you inferted thefe articles in your code,
you certainly did not pretend to giye them as
difcoveries of your own. The Conftitution of
1791 had proclaimed them before you, "and al
moft in the fame terms, and. that could not claim
.them as its own any more than yourfelves.
Who cannot defcry in them the law of which
Cicero fpeaks j that law which is innate, not
given ; that eternal and fovereign reafon, which
is the inftinct of nature and the effence of truth;
which infallibly diftinguifhes the juft from the
unjuft, the good which it prefcribes from the
evil which it forbids; which would not be lefs
law if you had forgotten or contradicted it; ndr
is more fo becaufe you have acknowledged and
proclaimed it ; which does not depend either on
the will of nations, the edicts of kings, or the
fentences of judges, but which commands them
all j which* in fhort, did not become the law at

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 53
at the time when it was written, but was the law
as foon as it exifted, and whofe exiftence was co
eval with the wifdom of God and the confcience
of man, and was deftined to be the firft bond of
fociety (between God and man*?
But though your homage can afford no addi
tional fandfionj-to thefe laws which were formed
by the Deity himfelf, it may be of great avail in
appreciating thofe which moft certainly belong to
you, and the invention of which no one will
eonteft with-you. Now attend to me.
What! with your confent, the houfe of a citizen
is an inviolable afylum . . . During the night no
one has a right to enter it . . . During the day
no domiciliary vifit can take place in it, except in
virtue of a law, and with refpeSl to the perfon or
objecl exprefsly defignated in the afii which pre
fcribes Jhe vifit .'¦. .This, adt can only be the
* Lex nata non lata . . . Sternum quiddam . . . Ratio
profsfta a rerum natura . . . Juftorum injuftoramque dif-
tinc\io C '"*. Qu se non turn d«nique incipit lex effe cum fcripta,
fed jum cumorta eft ; orta^autem fiiriul eft cum mente d>
7v,iiia ^ . ,,.Lex vera atque princeps, apta ad jubertdum et ad
vetandum . , . Ratio refla'. . . Prima horhini cum Deo So-
cietas . .'.'Quod fi populqrum juffis, fl principurn decretis, fi
fententiis judicum jura conftituerentur, jus effet latrocinari,
jusadulterare, &c. — Cicero de Legibus.
z 3 order

te\ DEFENCE OF fHE
trder of a Conflituted Authority :— *And yet thofe
citizens who, feeing Frahce a prey to diforder and
crime, had fhut themfelves up in their inviolable
afylum; thofe citizens who, in that afylum> in
the middle of the night, Witheut law and with
out orders, were indifcriminately maffacred in
their fleep; who, on opening their eyes. Taw
their beds furroUnded with the torches and the
pikes of Roberspierre; who, dragged from
their inviolable afylum, were caft into dungeons,
there to await the maffacres that were foon to be
committed; who, having efcaped by an incom-
prehenfiblte miracle, fome while the preparations
for murder wete making, others in the midft of
the naughtier, retired, to foreign countries, there
to deplore in folitude the misfortunes of their
country, without even thinking of revenging the
injuftice they, had experienced . . . ShaU thefe
citizens be now punifhed With death by your
Conftitution, if- they attempt to return to what
your Conftitution calk their inviolable afylum ?
What ! with your confent, all property is in
violable: — And thofe citizens whom crime has
expelled from your country, which was theirs,
and defpoiled of their property, which has become
yours ; thofe citizens whom you have never con
demned, whom you have not even accufed, what

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 55
what do I fay ? whofe misfortunes and whofe
innocence you have acknowledged and proclaim
ed j whom you have termed viclims; whom you
have been heard to deplore; whom you have
pretended to revenge:— fhall thofe citizens be
punifhed with death, if they come, in the name
of your Conftitution, to claim their family, their
country, the air which Heaven had permitted ,
them to breathe, and, after that property which
is the deareft to their hearts; fome part of that
which is neceffary for their fubfiftence, a field, a
co.ttage, a portion, however inconfiderable, of all
that property, the inviolability of which the Con
ftitution guarantees ?
What ! with your confent, no man can be
prevented from exercijing, in conformity to the law,
the worfhip which he has chofen : — And thofe
unfortunate priefts, thofe venerable remains
whicfi efcaped from the butchery at the Cannes,
at the Abbey, at St. Firmin, at the Tower of
Caen, from the drownings in the Rhone, thofe reli
gious paftors who had done much more than
conform, who had facrificed themfelves to the
Laws; who had renounced their temporal for
tune, who were deprived of their public offices,
who had preferved nothing but their faith and
their worfhip ; and who, tracked like wild beafts,
e 4 " feem

*6" DEFENCE OF THE
feem to have been refcued from the maffacre of
their brethren more by the fecret defigns of
Providence. than by the care which they took.to
fave their own lives : — fhall thofe paftors be put
td death, if they come to afk you to reftore at
leaft their patrimonial inheritance, at leaft their
native foil, and the liberty to exercife the worfhip
Of their choice, . in places where fo many martyrs
have fealed it with their blood ?
Their equals have been tranfported, you will
fay. But it is my intention to plead for thefe'
as well as for the others. They have been tran
fported ! then they are not guilty of having
abandoned their country. They have been tran
fported! But when ? by whom? how? by what
right ? by what Legiflators ? by what Judges ?
under what tyrant ? In our days a monarch has
been feen to expel in one night four thoufand
monks, who were his fubjedts, from their houfes,
from their families, from their country, faying,
that he kept in his royal heart the motives of
fuch a profcription ; and you did not fail to lay
this crime to the charge of the defpotifm of
kings. 'But the Spanifh monarch, at leaft, when
he condemned this troop of victims to wander on
the globe, by defpoiling them alike of their pro
perty and their country, had affigned to each
individual

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 57
individual a penfion for his fubfiftence, payable
in any place where he might choofe to fettle, and
deftined to increafe with his age and infirmities.
But you, falfe Republicans, who forget that
virtue is the foul of Republics *, banifh your
vidtims, ftrip them, perfecute them in their
exile and in their mifery; and if they come to
afk the family that gave them birth, the country
which faw them born, the community of which
they were fo often the confolers and the nurfes,
to confoie and to nurfe them in their turns,
when they afk for the means of living, you givq
them death ! And it is folely for having exerdfed
their worfhip in conformity to the laws, that they
are thus treated by your Conftitution! and yet
your Conftitution decrees, that no man can be
prevented from exercifing, in conformity to the
laws, the worfhip which he has chofen I
Let us not ftop in this torrent of your contra
dictions; others yet remain for confideration.
That horrid week of the fecond of September,
whence we date that deluge of crimes and that
fyftem of laws, which have united to cover
France with defolation and difgrace, you have
folemnly marked with the feal of reprobation.
you have declared, like the Romans, that thofe
* Montefquieq. days

£3 DEFENCE OF THE
days fhall ever be called deadly days-*-r>iES ne-
fasti. You have inftituted proceedings againft
the authors and inftruments of one of the moft
execrable confpiracies which ever difhonoured the
human race*.
It is of little confequence to me, that you have
fpared great criminals; if they repent, I fhall
forget them;— that you have facrificed none but
Obfcure criminals;— their, fentence is executed,
and I am content. When you fpared the firft,
you took care to proclaim that they were innocent
of the maffacres of the 2d of September $ when
you punifhed the laft, you declared them guilty
of the maffacres of the 2d of September; that
is enough. But, you punifh crime and yet
perpetuate it! you put the thief to death, and
yet appropriate to your own ufe the fruits of his
theft! you exterminate the affaffin, and yet com
plete the affaffination ! you devote to the fame
punifhment the man who has committed the
pillage, and he who demands reftitution! you
drag to the fame fcaffold the man who perpe
trated the maffacres of the ad of September, and
* Decree of the zzd June 17951 in twelve articles ; or
dering all the Criminal Tribunals of the Departments to
take immediate cognizance of the murders committed
throughout the whole extent of the Republic Jinci the \ft Septem*
her 1792. he

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 59
he who efcaped from thofe maffacres ! What a
delirium is this ! by what unheard-of prodigy,
by what monftrous affemblage does it happen,
that at the fame inftant, in the fame, adt, in re
fpedt of the fame individuals, the fame man
fliould at once be legiflator and banditti; judge
and accomplice; liberator and tyrant; avenger
and executioner? What have you to reply?
Have I uttered a word which you can poffibly
deny? Have I drawn a confequence that you
are not forced to acknowledge ? And yet you
call thefe laws ! falutary laws ! a remedy for
anarchy and public misfortune ! Tes, anfwers
the faviour of Rome and the conqueror of Ca
tiline, fuch laws as are made by highwaymen
among themfelves ; fuch remedies as ignorance or
madnefs kills with *.
Here then is one other queflion refolved.
Among the defenders of the murderous claufe of
your conftitution, I am very fure that I have
* Quid quod multa perniciofe, multa peftiferc fcifcuntur
in populis, quae non magis legis nomen attirigunt, quam fi
latrones aliqua confenfu fuo fanxerint. Nam neque medico-
rum praecepta dici vere poflent, fi qux infcii imperitique pro
falutartbus mortifera confcripferint ; neque in populo lex
• cui-cui mod fuerit ilia, etiam fi perniciofum aliquid populus
acceperit.— Ciciro de Legibus. already

<30 DEFENCE OF THE
already undeceived all thofe who were Only mif-
Jed ; as to the others, I cannot expect to attract
their attention, until, I come to treat of their in
tereft. I am very fure, I fay, that thofe who
were only mifled, have not a doubt remaining
of this truth, — " that not only the women, not
" only the children, but that all the French who
tc have been forced by violence to abandon their
" country, cannot remain on the lift of profcri-
« bed perfons, and that every adt which forbids
"to except '-them, whatever name may be affigned
«c to it, whatever authority gave it birth, were it
" even, to ufe an expreffion of Cicero's, were it
tl even fantlioned by the whole people, is effentially
'" null in the eyes of juftice. It may doubtlefs
" produce a dreadful effedt, it may be an inftru-
" ment of deftruclion, may become a public p eft,
" perniciose — pestifere . . . But there is
" neither power, nor fubmiffion, nor tyranny, nor
" fcrvitude, nor any 'thing, in fhort, which can
" make this aSt a Law .... neque in populq
" Lex, etiam si populus acceperit."
1 proceed to confider the cafe of thofe Emi
grants who may appear to have voluntarily aban
doned, their country; that is to fay, of thofe who
were not conftrained to quit it by immediate
violence : becaufe a man does not voluntarily forfake,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS* 6t
forfake the fun of his infancy, the cradle and the
tomb of his fathers, the fandtuary of his family
and. of his friends, the nourifhment of his life,
the pleafures of his heart, every thing, in fhort,
which conftitutes the pride or the charm of hi?
exiftence, to traverfe barbarous regions, and to
ftek, in a foreign foil, a fpot of hofpitable land,
where he is haunted by the recollection of the
paft, loft in folitude, threatened, at leaft,
by indigence"; and fometimes relieved, but
very rarely honoured, though the latter want is
not lefs imperious than the former. And when
the favour of Heaven has given him fuch a
country as France, when only the fmall number
Of juft and generous men know how to appre
ciate his forrows, and the fentiments which thefe
forrows are infufficient to extinguifh ; when, in
the gulph of misfortune, he meets the fame enmity
"which he had excited in the midft of his profpe
rity; when his inability to leave that country, all
cruel as her conduct has been, his inability to
defire her deftrudtion after fhe has effedted his
own, is imputed to him as a crime, to fuppofe
that he could voluntarily exchange a deftiny fo
pleafing and fo peaceful for an exile fo bitter,
and for ftruggles fo agonizing, is to admit a
fuppofuion repugnant to eyery known principle
of the human mind.
And

$2 'DEFENCE OF THE
And let us admit that the man, who fees his
neighbour's houfe in flames, voluntarily abandons
his own; — ought he not to endeavour to efcape
from the fire, until it has confumed his own
roof and buried him in the ruins ? Why fhould
I fpeak figuratively ? Did , not the flames of the
incendiary extend from one extremity of France
to the other ? Were not whole provinces re
peatedly covered with fire and fmoke ? Had not
the man, whofe houfe had been reduced to afhes,
a right to look for another, and was it not his
duty to look for one in a country where his fa
mily would live in fafety, and where incendiaries
were not honoured ? Had not the man, who faw
the flames at his own door, who had been appri
zed, who believed, or who even fufpected, that his
turn would foon come, a right to preferve his life,
when unable to defend his home? The mere pu-
nifhment of being a witnefs to the crime, without
being the objedt of it, would fuffice to make a
man abandon the country in which it was com
mitted with impunity; how then can any legifla-
ture pretend to forbid that man to emigrate who
is threatened by crimes of every denomination,
who is protected by no law, who is defended by
no authority, and who has been deprived of the
means of defending himfelf? A fingle murder
unpunifhed, a fingle affaffin triumphant, fuffices
6 to

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 63
to alarm a whole city; what then muft have been
the fenfation produced by heaps of murdered bo
dies lying unrevenged, and legions of murderers
roaming unreftrained ? Ah ! it was a man's duty
to fly from Paris on the>3d, and from Verf allies on
the I ith of September 1792; it was his duty to
fly from both places on the 5th and 6th of Octo
ber 1789; it was his duty to fly from Avignon on
the 17th October 1791 ; from Nifmes on the
17th June 1796; from Toulon on the 7th of
December 1789, &c. &c. &c. And in what
part of France could he remain with fafety ?
On what could he rely for protection ? At what
diftance could he think himfelf fecure ? Collot
d'Herbois and Freron fitting at Paris, were not
fo remote from Br eft and Dunkirk as from Lyons
and Toulon. The moment they were feen to fly,
with death in their hands, to one extremity,
there was reafon to tremble at the other. Yes ic
was & man's duty to fly from France itfelf when
France was under the dominion of Roberfpierre -,
now the reign of his name was eftablifhed on the
2d of September 1792, but the reign of his
crimes was much older. The day on which
Mirabeau, when aflaffinations were denounced
to the Conftituent Aflembly, called them "trifling
contrarieties unworthy the attention of the repre
sentatives of France, and ., occafioned a refolution to

$4 defence of The
to be paffed, declaring, that there was no ground
for difcuffion; the day on which that affembly,
thofe legiflators, thofe reprefentatives of the
country, thofe omnipotent and fole arbiters of
our fate, infpired by Roberspierre, Mirabeau,
Pethion, and Buzot, refufed to the preffing
folicitations of their juft and humane colleagues
a decree for reftoring vigour to the laws, and
activity to the tribunals for the punifhment of-
fedition and rebellion, of murderers and incen
diaries*;^ — from that moment the focial com-
padt was broken, the community was diffolved,
the country had difappeared : all the fentiments
which its memory ftill infpired, all the facrifices
ftill made to its fhade, were voluntary, were
generous; the phantom which had been fubfti-
tuted in its place, had not a right to command any
one of them.
Republicans! do not deceive yourfelves ; I do
but repeat your own words. Among fuch of
* See a motion made on the 23d of July 1789, by M. de
Lally-Tolendal, and fupported by Meffieurs Du Pont de Ne- '
mours, Malouet, Mounier, de Clermont Tonnere, de Crillon,
des Mouniers, de Virieu, de Toulongeon,- de Foucault, Mathieu
de Montmorency, the Biftiops of Langres, Chartres, and Dijon}
Meffieurs le Grandx Emmeri, du Riehier, feveral of the clergy,
and other members whole names I am- forry I cannot now
recollecl,
you

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 65
yOu as, ftill more juft in your hearts than you
dare appear in your : writings ; among fuch Of
yod as, ceding One part to injuftice to ffccure the
other to equity, confent to confider as profcribed
Emigrants thofe who left France before the 2d
of September 1792; but regard as fugitives
merely* who ought to be recalled, all who left it
after that epoch; there is one* who has fug-
gefted a dilemma to which you have made no
anfwer, and to which you never Will anfwer*
This is the fubffance of the dilemma to which
I allude :-— " Either the Government could have
" prevented thefe crimes, or it could not* In
rt the firft cafe it was guilty of homicide; in the
** fecond, it Was impotent : in either cafe, I have
*"a right either to defend myfelf againft the Go-
ic vernmenc that afTaflinates me, or to withdraw
*F myfelf from' the Government which fufters me
** to be affaffinatedi I may kill whoever feeks
* See pages 1 1 and 1 2 of " RefietTtons on' the French Fu'gi'-
iives.after the zd September 179B, by T. Marchen a," with
this motto, Mihi nee heneficio nee injuria cogniti ; printed at
Paris, by the iv'idoiu Gorfas, /» the 3d year of the Republic. —
See alfo a work publilhed by M. Roederer, on the zift
Auguft 1795, intitled, "'Q* 'be Fugitives and the Emigrants;"
a work in which the author's logic is as victorious when
ever he undertakes to defend, as it is feeble whenever he
thinks himfelf obliged; to attack. F " tO

66 DEFENCE OF THE
" to kill me, and abandon whoever abandons
ct me." Republicans ! endeavour to anfwer this
dilemma, to which I fhall again advert. En
deavour to prove, that it is not as applicable to
the tranfadtions which preceded the firft of Sep
tember as to thofe which followed it ; tO the maf-
facres at Avignon as to the butcheries at Paris j
to the modes of deftrudtion by mufquetry in
Languedoc, as to the means of annihilation by
grape-fhot in the Lyonnais*
But what! Has the country then no right,
the citizen no duty ? Cannot the common mo
ther, when preffed by danger, call all her children
to her affiftance, retain within her bofom thofe
who wifh to forfake her, make thofe return who
have already abandoned her, and reject, after the
victory, thofe who deferted her in the field of
battle? Was that law a crime, then, by which
Solon devoted to infamy and banifhment the citi
zen who fhould be guilty only of preferring his
own repofe to the fafety of his country ; who,
feeing the ftate divided between contending fac
tions, fhould take no part in the conteft?
Certaihly I, who ftill feel as a citizen for thofe
by whom I am confidered in no other light than
as an objedt of profcription, and who ftill attach
i ideas

FRENCH EMIGRANT'S. 6j
ideas of country to the foil, the air, the names,
the faces, to the aggregate body of men diftin
guifhed by the appellation of Frenchmen, living*
however, as far as regards myfelf, in a total anni
hilation and a complete abfence of all right, of
all law* of all good faith, of all charity, of every
thing, in fhort, that Conftitutes a focial and civil
ftate; — am far from denying the rights of the
country and the duties of the citizen;
But the Wants and the iilufions of the heart Can
be of no avail againft the decrees of juftice and
the axioms of truth. I muft repeat; that the
right to command iri the name of the Country
muft depend On the exiftence of a country; and
I have proved to you that; ftridtly fpeaking, the
country had ceafed to be any thing more than a
Vain name; that, ftridtly fpeaking; there no longer
exifted either a body politic, or a fociety in France,
at the time when fo many families were conftrain
ed tO abandon it, ahd to abandon it folely becaufe
they Were Conftrained to do fo* Interrogate one
of your apoftles, or, rather; ohe of your gods,
that Jean-Jacques, to whom you have decreed
an apotheofisj and you will find him more fevere
than me. Much lefs than I require for the
purpofe would have influenced him to decide that
f 2 the

6S DEFENCE OF THE
the country was not only a yqift tlffflfi tyt Q
ridiculous and,. odious word*. I fhall
..... .. c
* See his Di/cour/e on Political Economy. After having
eftabliftied 'as a fundamental principle, that between a country
and its citizens the firft duty is.irapofed on the country, and
that, bejng unable |o command love, it ought to infpire jt;
after having faid, that it would not be even worthy to be
loved where it did not grant to its citizens What' it could not
refufe to a ftranger; i Rousseau adds, " It would be much
" worfe.if they did not even enjoy civil /a/ety; and if their pro-
"- ptrtyrfyftr. #W» Pt #}&? liberty were, left a.t the difcretion of
*f powerful m.en, and themfelves deprived of the privilege qf
" appealing to the laws for protection. Then, fubje&edto
" tbe duties of 3 civil ftate, without even enjoying the rights
" attached to a ftate of natiixe, and without, being able to
" exert their ftreng^h for the purpofe of felf-defence4 they
" would, of courfe', be ih the worft poffible condition to which
" ffecmen could:bq reduced; and the \yord country vvouldceafe
(' to haye ^tJjijefpecT: to tjiem any thing more th^ zridkulflut
" or odious /enfe. . . . Perfonal fafety is fo far connected with
" the public confederation, that, but for^the attention which is
«.« due to human weaknefs, that convention would "be lawfully
«_' diffqlve4,. if a fingle citizen were fuffered to perifh. in t^je
*< ftate w^O might havebeen relieved; if a /ingle individual
" were to be wrongfully imprifoned ;' and if a fingle caufe
«' were loft through manifeft injuftice; for the fundamental
"conventions being infringed, it is, not poffible to. ffe, what
*.' law- o\ what yitereft could maintain the people in the focial
'* union, urilefs they were retained by fate}, which confiitutes
" the dijohtlon of the civil fiate," &c.
Inftead of a fingle murder having been tolerated, the maf
facres o?'Avign6'n*w.ere repeated ia twenty different pam $f
France ;

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. rjc)
I fhall now carry this principle to a much
greater extent, arid I earneftly folicit your utmoft
attention.— If France had not been the fcehe of
thofe difordefs^, arid the theatre of thofe crimes
which have fupplied me with fuch forrowful,
though fuch powerful arguments; had it been
pofiible to recognize the regular Organization
of a political body iri tne confufed and jarring
elements, iri the deftrudtive or inert maffes pro-
mifcuoufly heaped together by the constituents'
of i7$i ; at leaft a revolution had taken place;
at leaft, the old focial compact: had been changed
for a rtew brie. The abolition, then, Of the one,
grid the eftabiifhment of the other, by changing
all the coriditions of fociety', had fet all its mem
bers at liberty, Ail and1 every individual were
at liberty either to rernairi Oi" tb withdraw' them-
felVeV; at I'ibej'ty, whatever part they might
fake iri the1 fecond affociatiori, to difpofe of the
property which belonged to them at the terrhina-
tibn of tHe firft. It had been refolved, at all'
events, to bring us back to that cherifhed epoch
France ;--^-inftead' of a fingle qnjuft fentence, the revolu
tionary tribunals pillaged, maflacre'd, or threatened, all the
inhabitants of France :  And were not then the /undamental
conventions infringed? V/as not the civil fiate, the focial
union di/folved in France ?
f 3 of

fQ DEFENCE OF THE
qffhefofialcompacJ of that fame Jean-Jacques,
to the primitive acJ by whfch a people become a
people, to the choice which fuch a people make of
a government. Well! this fame Jean- Jacques,
from whom, however, we muft not extradt all the
poifon, and reject all his antidotes, this fame
Jean-Jacques declares, that if the people be not
unanimous in their choice of a government, the
minority cannot be obliged tp fubmit to the choice
of the majority. He declares that, a hundred
who prefer it have not a right to vote for ten who,,
rejeil it. He declares that the law of plu
rality offuffrages is itfelf a conventional eftablifh-
ment, which implies dn original unanimity of opi
nion*. Whence it refulfs, that every Frenchman
who rejected the conftitution of 1791, had in-
cbnteftibly a right nof. to declare war againft the
new body politic, for then he would have rendered
himfelf an enemy \ anc) have fubjected himfelf to
the laws of conqueft in cafe he had been van-
quijhed, but had 3 right not to enter into the aflb-
ciation, and then he rendered himfelf a foreigner,
might remain neutral in all the wars in which
France might be engaged, might fix his refi
dence wherever he chofe, and neverthelefs pre-
• Chapter 5 of" fbt Social Cempa8." ferve

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. Jt
ferve over all his poffeffions in France that
inviolable right of property, which juftice fecured
to him, and to which the new conftitution itfelf
exprefsly admitted foreigners of all countries*.
Moft certainly, People of France ! it is of
very little confequence to the truth of this prin
ciple, whether it has been denied or avowed by
our enemies. It derives its whole force from
itfelf, and it is placed by itfelf out of the reach
of attack. It may be violated, but not combated j
rendered ufelefs, but not doubtful. Still it is a
great point gained for us to exhibit our perfecu
tors in a ftate of conftant contradiction, not only
with juftice, but with themfelves. — Well ! do
you recolledt by whom this principle was una*
nimoufly recognized ? By the fecond National
Affembly, called Legislative. Do you recollect
by what organ it was folemnly proclaimed in that
Affembly? By the organ of Vergniaud. Do
• " Foreigners, eftablifhed or not eftablifhed in France,
" fucceed their relations whether foreigners or Frenchmen.
" —They may contract, acquire, and receive property fitu-
" ated in France, and difpofe of it, dig fame as every French
" citizen, by all the means authorized by law.— Their per-
" fon, their property, their induftry, their worftiip, are
" equally protected by the law."— French Conftitution of
1 79 1, Title 6.
f 4 y°u

74 DEFENCE PF THE '
you recollect after what events it was proclaimed ?
After that Affembly had paffed,- and Vergniaud;
hftd djdt.ar.ed, the firft decree of profcription
againft the Emigrants, that decree of general
fequeftration of which 1 fhall foon have occafion
to fpeak more at large. Laftly, do you recollect
at wh.at epoch it was proclaimed? Eight days'
after the ioth of Auguft 1792, when all restraints
were removed; when both the fentiments, and'
the affedtation of moderation had ceafed to exift;
when, neither power nor force acknowledgs^
aay other rule or limit than inclination or ca-
- price. It was in that fea of Hceatioufoefe, in tha?
inundation of power, in that firft exaltation of she
moft immenfe triumph perhaps which the pa-fl-'
fions ever obtained upon earth ; it was then that
the liberty of. emigration, then that the right- of
adopting, a new' country and retaining one's pro
perty in the old one, appeared to be principles
fo fjslf- evident, that it was deemed" impoffible tq-
conteft them ; that it was deemed impoffible to
maintain that the mere adt of emigration- was pu-
nifhable; that ic was deemed neceffary to ac
knowledge that it was not fo. It was then, that
in the bofom of the legiflative, vidtorious, fo*--
vereign, omnipotent affembly, purged of mode-
ratifm, intoxicated with, and ftill thirfting after,
excefs, its right was neverthelefs proclaimed to
fequeftratc

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. y<|
fequeflrate the property of Emigrants armctf
againft their country, but not that of thofe Emi
grants who had merely abandoned their country.
Do not take this upon my word, but attend to
Vergniaud :
" If you fequeftrated the property of the
tf Emigrants, it was not becaufe they had abdn-
ft doned theit country. If they had had no other/
fc intention- than to adopt a new country, you"
" would have allowed them to enjoy, like other
^foreigners who have eftates in France, the pro-
£* tedtion of your laws. But they emigrated in
fc order to form plots, to raife up enemies to the
««• country which they deferred when fhe was in
- fL danger. They took ap arms to attack hef.
f( From that moment che laws could' only be in-
f vaked in refpedt of them, for the purpofe of
f punifhment. ": — (Speech of Vergniaud in the
Ltgiflative* Affembly, Evening Sitting, Thurfday,
T&th Auguft 179?. — Moniteur of Saturday
%$th.) Did I fay too much? Whether it was miftakeor
malice orrthe part of Vergniaud, in admitting,
even at the epoch at which he fpoke, only one
clafs of Emigrants*; in having reprefented' them-
all. as forming: plots againft their coun fry, and'
armed

74 defence of the
armed to attack her, is of little confequence j
for Vergniaud was ftill lefs at liberty to change
the faS than to conteft the right. But what
is of confequence, is Vergniaud proclaiming
the fentiments of the Legiflative Affembly un
contradicted by a fingle voice; is Vergniaud
explaining the law of fequeftration, of which he
was the author; and laying it down as a principle,
that this fequeftration could only affect Emi
grants who were armed againft their country,
while thofe who had only abandoned their country,
even with the intention pf adopting another country,
muft b.e confidered as foreigners having eftates in
France, and muft enjoy the protection of the laws.
The right is acknowledged, and the Emigrants
of this laft clafs have nothing more to dosthan
to eftablifh the facli that they belong to it. Now
this proof may eafily be obtained by many of
thofe who had left France at the time when
Vergniaud fpoke, and is already obtained by
the whole body of Emigrants who were forced, by
the crimes of the Septembrizers, to leave it
fifteen days after Vercniaud's declaration.
Republicans ! you find all thefe arguments,
I believe, fufficiently conclufive : — Well ! do
you wifh me to give them up ? Do you wifh
me to proceed from hypothefis tp hypqthefis,; until

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. .7*
until I admit, with you, the fuppofition,— that
not one act of injuftice had been committed in
France after the 4th of May 1789; — that not one
act of violence had been exercifed,- not one
threat uttered;— that all the French who aban
doned their territory, abandoned it voluntarily
and gratuitoufly ; — that the country was not de-
ftroyed, and preferved all her rights over
them ;— that, with regard to the primitive acl
which gave exiftence to the new people, with
regard to the eleclion of the new government,
it was the duty of the minority to fubmit to the
choice pf the majority ; that a hundred who pre
ferred had a right to vote for ten who rejected ;
and that the plurality offuftrages was equivalent
to unanimity-, — that by this means the new
affbciation might regard as its fubjedts all the
fubjedts of the old one, might order them to re
turn to their country, and might even inflict,
on fuch as difobeyed, on fuch as had merely
abandoned their territory, the punifhment of con-
fifcation, exile, profcription, and death? — Will
this admilfion content you ?
Well! now anfwer the article of your new
conftitution, which I am about to quote.

No

f6 .DEFENCE OF THE
No law, either criminal or civil, can have
a retroactive effeSt. — (Conftitution of the French
Republic, Article 14, of the Declaration bi ,
Rights.) The Conftitution of 17 91 had faid the fame
things in more words: — No one can be punifhed
except in virtue of a law eftablifhed and promul
gated antecedently to the crime, and legally ap
plied. — (French Conftitution, Article 8, of the;
Declaration of Rights,)
It, is needlefs for me to obferve to you, that
thefe two provifions which exprefs identically the
fame thing, though in different terms, are alfo- to
be claffed among thofe which were not created*
by a new law, but which did homage to a pre-
exifting and indeftrudtible law, emanated from
nature and eternal reafon. It is but even juftice
to the perfons who reduced- them both into form* *
to acknowledge that they wifhed ckarly to ma?
u-ifeft, by the expreffions they feledted,- that they
recognized the law and did not make it. — They
did not fay, — No law shall have a retroatlive
effeEt* . . .-No one shall' be,, extept in virtW of
an antecedent law.. — But they faid,- — No* /tiw
can have a retroaSlive effeff . . . No one can BE,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 77
pE, except in virtue of a law eftablifhed and pro
mulgated antecedently. They apprized all legif-
lators, prefent and to come, that' it was im
possible for them to pretend to eredt one of their
tranfient arid moveable laws in oppofition to an
eternal and immoveable law; that no moral
power can violate' it; and that if any phyflcal,
power fhould infringe it, the perfons who exer-
cifed fuch power would be nothing more than
the 'banditti mentioned by Rousseau, who de
mands a purfe at the corner of a wood, and whofe
fiftol is alfo a power *.
Now tell me if it was any thing elfe than the
pqwer pf the piftpl which ordained and which
perpetuated the profcription pf the, French Fugi*
lives. Tell me if it was not by retroactive lawsf
thatthey found themfelves, in a moment, banifhed,
their property fequeftrated, themfelves, their
wives, their child/en, and the children of their
nephews, defpoiled of their eftates for ever, and
doomed to die if ever they fet foot on their
native foil ? Shew me a Idw eftablifhed apd pro
mulgated antecedently, which announced to the
French Fugitives, that fuch was the, horrid com-
•'«« The Social Compact," Book i. Chap. 3. " Of th*
«? right qJi ~ tfy foongefi. plication

78 defence Of the
plication of punifhments that could be inflicted
on them, if they perfifted in not returning to
their country*
Without plunging into the gulph in which fd
many vidtims, and fo much property have been
fwallowed Up, and without attempting to draw
from thence, one by one, the bloody decrees
which you have diftinguifhed by the appellation^
of Laws relative to Emigration, I fhall content
myfelf with marking the three principal epochs
at which the different legiflatures pretended to
fix the fate of thofe whom they called the French
Emigrants. FOr the firft, we muft go fo far back as the
laft days of the Affembly called Conftituent.
It had reached the end of its labours. The firft
; title of the Conftitution guaranteed to every man
the liberty of going, of remaining, of departing.
This liberty was ranged under the clafs of natural
and civil rights; and after the enumeration of
thofe rights, it was declared by an exprefs article,
that the legiftative power cannot make any
laws which attack or interppfe an obftacle to the
exercife of the natural and civil rights included
under the prefent title, and guaranteed by the con'
ftitution. When the text was thus pofitive, it
was

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 79
was not poffible that any reft rict ions, antecedently
decreed with regard, to the Emigrants, fhould
remain any longer in force. The Affembly, pre
vious to its feparation, paffed, on the 14th of Sep
tember 1 7 9 1 , a decree conceived in thefe terms ;—
The National AJfembly\decrees, that no permiffion nor
paffport, the life of which had been eftablifhed for
a momentary purpofe, fhall in future be required.
The decree relative to the Emigrants is revoked; and,
in conformity to the Conftitution, no obftacle fhall
in future be interpofed to the right which every
French citizen enjoys of travelling, without in- ¦'
terruption, in the kingdom, and of leaving it at
his pleasure. You muft acknowledge, that who
ever left France after reading this law, and the
Constitution which it quotes, was authorized to
believe that he might fafely go to the end of the
world, and had certainly no right to expedt that
he would, one morning, find his property con
fifcated, his perfon profcribed, and himfelf after-
terwards condemned to die, for having exercifed
a natural and civil right, left to his di/cretion,
guaranteed by the Conftitution, and the exercife of
which the legiflative power could not by any
laws prevent nor interpofe an obftacle to.
The fecond epoch was the fifth month of the
Affembly called Legiflative; not that it waited fo
long

$6 DEFENCE OF THE
long before it opened its career of proftrrptio'ri j
but a degree of. freedom ftill left to the royal
prerogative, a degree of energy ftill preferved
by the public Opinion, had broken, in the hands
©f the new legifiarors, the murderous foobird;
-which, to ufe their own expreffion *, they had
drawn out of thefcabbard fo early as the eighth
day of their exiftence f . This affembly, whofe
leaders openly boafted of having had perjury iri
their hearts, at the very moment when the oath
was on their lips J, made the utmoft hafte to at
tempt the overthrow of that- conftitution which
they hidfworn to maintain) to make laws which
they could net make, and to annihilate Others
which they could not alter. The Conftituent Af
fembly had confirmed, by a folemn decree, the
freedom- of religious Worfhip || ; it had declared
that the penfions of the depofed' priefts, formed a
part of the national debt, ihefundrof which could
never, under any pretext, be either refufed or
fufpend'ed § ; it had ordained that the admini-
* An expreffion of Ifitard's.
-]- Decree paffed againft the Emigrants on the 9th Novem
ber 1791, rejected by the King on the I2th> and the dif
cuffion of which had been begun on the 14th of Oftobgr.
% The declarations of Chabot and Cambon, on the 9th
September and 10th November 1792, will be feen in the
fetfuel. || ( Conftitution of 1791, Tit. 1.
§ Ibid. Tit. Y. Art. 2. frators

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 8 I
ftrators could not interfere with the judicial
order * ; and that the citizens could not be taken
out of the jurifdiclion , of thofe fudges which the
law had afjigned to them^, &c.; yet the Legifla
tive Affembly violated and deftroyeq! the freedom
of religious worfhip ; outraged and wounded the
confidences of individuals ; fuppreffed the falaries
of the priefts ; placed them between the horrors
of famine and the remorfe of apoftacy j created
for them impious oaths, unknown offences, fpecial
perfecutions, marks of infamy, imprifonmenc,
and banifhment, to be inflicted by the arbitrary
fentence of the directors t. — The Conftituenc
Affembly had faid, no paffport fhall in future be
exacled\ ; yet the Legiflative Affembly exads
paffports from both fexes, from all ages, and for
all diftances ; it exacJs a kind of defcription of
the perfon, a ftamp of flavery and degradation,
which feems to mark the human being as a vile
head of cattle §. The Conftituent Affembly had
faid, no obftacle fball in future be interpofed to
the right which every French citizen enjoys of ,
• Conftitution of 1791, Tit. 3. Chap. iv. Se&. a. Art. 3.
f Ibid. Chap. v. Art. 4.
% Decree againft the Catholic priefts, terminated on the
29th November 1 79 1.
|1 Decree of the 14th September 1791.
§ Decree on the fubjeft of paffports, ill February 1792.
g travelling

82 DEFENCE OF THE
travelling without interruption in the kingdom * i
and yet the Legiflative Affembly eftablifhed, fat
every traveller in the kingdom as mariy prifons as
there were municipalities f ; and, on the rOads;
as , many inquifitors arid Sbirri, as there were
national gens d'ar mes, national guards, and troop's
of the line %.— Laftly, the Conftitueht A'fferfibly
had annexed to the right of travelling in the king'
dom, the right of leaving it at pleafure ; and it
had, on another Occafion, declared all petitions to
be unlawful, except the petitions of individuals p,
yet the Legiflative Affembly received at its bar,
and admitted to its fittings, deputies who came, *
in the name of Jacobin clubs, to demand cOl-
ledti veiy that the exercife of a natural right, guar-
rdnteed Try Hhe Conftitution, fhould be punifhed
with clCaih and confifcalion% ! — And it paffed a
decree conformable to the petition of the Jacobins
en corps! And when they faw their works de-
-' ? Decree of the 14th September 1791.
t Article 10, of the Decree on the paflports.
X Article 8, Ibid.
H Conftitution of 1,791, Tit- !•
§ " The country' is in danger; we muft declare it, con-
" demn the deferters to die* arid confifcate their property."
ExtracJ from the petition pre/ented to the Legiflative Afiembly,
on the zzd OcJober 1791, by a deputation from' the fraternal
Society of Friends to the Conftitution, to -whom the honours of the
fitting were grdnted. ftroyed

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 83
ftroyed by the interppfition of the royal veto,
they watched for a moment to create a new law,
which, though lefs cruel in appearance than th,e
firft, becaufe the word death was not literally ex-
prefled in it, is perhaps ftill more unjuft and not
lefs horrid, fince it impofes a general fequeftration
on ihfi property of every Frenchman who had left t lie
kingdom, under the double fafeguard of the
general and particular laws.
With a fmall portion Of that confcience remain
ing which teaches men to refpedt juftice, or of
that decency which prevents them from trampling
it under foot in the face of Heaven and Earth,
they would have made, or appeared to make, a law
for the future ; they would at leaft have created
the crime before they provided a punifhment j
they would have fignified an injunction, by an
nouncing in what manner a perfon would be
punifhed who fhould be guilty of difobedience j
and,0 in fact, in the difpofition of the public
mind, at that time, thofe men who were fo eager
after criminals to deftroy, and fortunes to feize,
might ftill have expected to find a tolerable
number of them. But they were refolved not to
fuffer a fingle opportunity for rapine to efcape.
They would have been ferry to appear to pre-
g 2 fervc

o*4 ' dEFENCE OE THE
ferve a fingle fentiment of morality, or to con*
defcend to fubjedt themfelves to a fingle form of
law. In one fitting*, they propofed, difcuffed,
and paffed a decree, that is always called a law,
a retroaclive law, which changed the paft ; tranf-
formed the moft legitimate act into a crime; in
vaded all the property of abfentees ; eftablifhed
at one time, in their houfes, at another, in the
midft of their families, ftrangers, enemies, defpoil-
ers, under the name of guardians; broke their
feals ; betrayed their fecrets ; ftole their title-
deeds ; and, in fhort, violated even the laft fanc-
tuary of their rights, their thoughts and their
affections. And in order that no characleriftic mark of
depravity or delirium fhould be wanting to this
total fubverfion of all morality and of all reafon;
the Committee of Legiflation, which was entrufted
with the execution of it, not only negledted to
demand the fufpenfion of the guarantee, provided
by the Conftitution for every natural and civil
right ; not only neglected to reprefent that decree
and that guarantee as being null and of no effedt;
but, on the contrary, recognized, folemnly and
indefinitely, the principle on which thefe two acts
* 9th of February 1792. were

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 85
were founded. The Committee declared,, by the
mouth of its Reporter, that man is free, — -that be.
is a citizen of the world, — that he may choofe his
vwn country, — that if his choice prove bad, hemay
changei-^-thut as his country may rejeil him, he may
reject her.——' Laftly, the Committee declared,
that " Emigration, properly so called,
" DID NOT EXIST WITH REGARD TO FRANCE *."
But if Emigration does not exift, how can Emi
grants exift ? If Emigration does not exift, how
can a crime exift in what has no exiftence ? How
is. that which is nor, fomething, and fomethjng
which deferves death, even without any previous '
law to inflict it ?
There is no. Emigration, — =purfiied the Reporter
of the Committee, — but there are Rebels who
are abfent \.
Rebels to whom ? To the law, which permitted
them to leave the country at their pleafure ? To
the conftitution, which declared that the legiflative
power itfelf could not invade that natural and
civil right which every Frenchman enjoyed ? To
* See the fpeech of the Reporter to the Committee,
February 9, 1792; — JournaloftheDelates, No. 133, page 116.
t Speech of the Reporter, Ibid.
C 3 70Ui

86 DEFENCE OF THE
you, who now fpeak to thefe abfentees, for the
firft time, who have never yet iffued any in-
jiiridtidri in the name of the law, nor promifed
them any fafety if they obey, nor any punifh
ment if they are refradtbry ? To you, who, on
fhe gfb of February, imputed their abfence to
them as a crime, when on the \jl of February
you told them all that they had a right to leave
the kingdom ; and enjoined all your magiftrates to
fuffer us to depart, and all your officers to give
us aid and afjiftance * ?
But the country is in danger^!— -Well, then,
apprize all the citizens of this circumftarice. In
form them, that, in the courfe of eight days, the
ftate of France has become fo much worfe, that,
in order to fave it, it is neceffary to fufpend, even
the empire of the laws, and the exercife of natural
rights. • See the fifth Article of the law on the paflpdrts, Fe
bruary i, 1792. Apparently treachery had referved for herfelf ,
the privilege of inferring an article among thofe which
violence had introduced. Apparently they had, even then,
combined to render a refidence in France odious, by their
vexations, to facilitate Emigration by their pafl'ports, and then
to convert that flight into a crime which they had rendered
neceflary by the one, and authorized by the other.
1 -f- Speech of the Reporter to the Committee, on the 9th
February 1792 ;— Journal if the Debates and Decrees, No.
*33> PaSe Il6< But

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 87
But property requires arms to pgintain it un
touched*. — Well, then, recall the Ment arms, and
above all, leave property untouched; for if you
violate it, if you ufurp it, it is no longer with
you,, but againft you, that it will be neceffary
to defend it.
But they only abfent themfelves for the purpofe
of returning to their country, to fight .againft its
inhabitants, to moiften its foil with ,the blood of
their fellow- citizens f. — Well, then, if a crime
be preparing, prepare the punifhment. But you
cannot punifh even fuch a crime as that before it
is committed. So long as it remains unper-
petrated, you ought to employ all the means in
your power to prevent it. ' You ought to inform
thofe who have it in contemplation what its con-
fequences will be. You ought, above all, not
to impute it to thofe who never harboured a
thought of it. The more enormous fuch a crime
appears to you, the more dangerous you .deem it,
the more hafte you ought to make to appeal to
all the French who are abfent, the more defirous
you ought to be of rallying defenders around you,
the more fearful of caluminating innocent men.
r* Reporter's fpeech.— Joitr,nql of the Rebates.
t .IWd, 04 " Citizens;"

88 DEFENCE OF THE
"Citizens," you ought to fay; " Citizens of
"'France, who are now abferit from your coun-
" try ; you have exercifed a liberty given by
" nature, and guaranteed by our laws. But your
" country has juft declared that this liberty ought
tc to be fufpended for fome time. Your coun-
" try is threatened; your property is threatened ;
" we wifh to preferve the one independent, and
" the other untouched ; for that purpofe we have
"occafion for vour affiftance. Return to us.
"•Be ready to take your ftation in our ranks.
" You are ordered to do this by a new law -, —
" a law which is to laft as long as the danger ; a
" law which will reward your zeal by enfuring
" the prefervation of all your rights,- or punifh
" your difobedience by declaring them to be forT
" feited. This law has fixed a time for your re
ctum ; and has varied that time according to
" the different diftances at which you may be at
" the period of its promulgation ; it has given
" you the means of proving from what place
" you fet out to return to us. Every thing has
" been forefeen; every thing is juft; you are
''apprized of every thing; it will henceforth re-
*' main with you to fix your own fate." Oh !
If fuch a proclamation had been publifhed, the
queftion would have borne a very differeht'com-
plexion, and perhaps you would have averted ftill

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 3<j
ftill more public difafters than private misfor
tunes. But this was not their objedt. They fecretly
enjoyed that Emigration againft which they pub
licly declaimed with fo much vehemence. It
fupplied them at once with a pretext for the de
claration of a foreign war on which they had re
folved, and a plea for the feizure of private for
tunes which they coveted. They wanted vidtims v
and not defenders ; they dreaded the prefence
and not the abfence of the proprietors ; they ob
jected to the return of thofe whofe Emigration
they punifhed. Lefs than a fingle morning fuf-
ficed to pafs the decree for the general fequeftr ac
tion; yet the means of enforcing its execution,
that is to fay, of rendering it more vexatious,
were difcuffed during two months. In vain did
feveral members of the affembly demand a dif-
tintlion between thofe abfentees who were open to
accufation, and thofe who were not * ; the Com
mittee, by the mouth of its reporter, had laid it
down as a principle, that it was not neceffary to
examine whether they were all guilty, but whether
they were all abfent^. In vain did Brissot,
* Sitting of February 9.— Meffieurs Blanchon and Goujon.
f Same fitting. — Mercure Politique.
Brissot

f)0 DEFENCE OF THE
Brissot himfelf, unwilling that fo mych odium
fhould attach to his favourite law, expatiate,
even on the firft day of the difcuffion, on the ne
ceffity of exempting from the operation of the
Decree all -women and children*. In vain did
M. de Vaublanc, more accuftomed to be juft,
attempt to obtain at leaft a declaration that the
crime of an individual fhould not affedt his whole
family ; that fathers fhould not be refponfible for
the Emigration of their children, nor children for
that of their fathers \. The galleries, filled with
the populace and the Jacobins, fwayed this dif
cuffion as they did fo many others. The repre-
fentativ'es of the French nation had become, like
ftage-players,fubjecl to the hiffes ofthefpeblators%.
The voice of M. Vaublanc was drowned in the
murmurs of the mob. The galferies exclaimed,
down with Briffot\ ; as foon as they faw Briffot
evince or feign a fymptom of humanity §. The
* Sitting of February 9th.— •Journal of the Debates. '
f Same fitting.
X Expreffions of M. de Vaublanc, in the fame fitting.
Journal 0/ the Debates, p. 119.
\\ See the Journal of the Debates, -February 1792, p. .11.9,
No. 133.
§ In the difcuffion on the palfports they had exclaimed to
the Legislators, who propofed fome modifications of this un
juft decree — Down with the Dogs, See the Mercure Politique
qf February 11, 1792, p. I26. impulfe

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 91
impUlfe once given daily acquired additional ra
pidity. The mOre the difcuffion Was prolonged,
the more extenfive the law was made, and the
more ftrongly it partook of the genius which in •
fpired the one, and the force which didtated the
other. Some few confcientious voices that were
ftill raifed, fome few patrons of juftice and mif-
forturie*, who had ftill courage to fhew them
felves, only ferved to irritate the hatred without
tempering the cupidity of the oppreffors. The mo-
ment arrived, at which even the cruel Committee
that prepared the law appeared too mild to the
ferocious galleries that decreed it. It was then,
that one of the moft fervile and moft inflamma
tory demagogues that the revolution has engen
dered, that Vergniaud, whom I juft now quoted,
produced fome new articles, which were preferred
ro thofe of she Committee, becaufe they fur-
pa'ffed them in barbarity j- . Finally, all the pro
perty was feized, and all the proprietors were
confounded together. The citizen who had
never left France was involved in the fame fate
With the abfentees. Fathers were punifhed for
their children, and children for their fathers. A
• Meffieurs Goujon, Bigot, Gentil, Pecquet, Brou/fonnet,
"Robecourt, xnd^Gerardin. — Sittings pf the 5th, 8th, and^ill
of March.
f Vergniaud.— Sitting of the zd of March. wife

J2 DEFENCE, OF THE
wife was ftimulated to become the accufer <
her hufband; and the means, of fubfiftence wa
only allowed for herfelf and her children,, o
the expre.fs condition that they fhould difcov^
and give up all the property of their exile
father *. To fum up the whole in one wore
which efcaped at the time from the eoerget
pen of one of your hiftorians — The new coup-dt
main is completed. It is not a law that the Legi
lative Affembly has enafted; it is a battery i
cannon that it has dif charged at its empties, f.
Yes, I repeat it: — rthat law of the 23d <
March 1792 is more unjuft; yes, it is mo
cruel.; yes, while it talks only of fequeftration
it bears in its intention and in its confequences
cohfifcation and a death more certain and mo:
univerfal than thofe which were proclaimed
the unfandtioned decree of the month of INIoveo
ber preceding.
At leaft^ by the text of that firft decre
every abfent Frenchman^ who had neither he
any public place at the time of his departui
* 13th Article of the Decree.
-(- This is an expreffion of M. Mallet ¦ du- Pan . It is i
of thofe traits worthy of Tacitus, which we fo frequer
meet with in all his works on the French Revolution.

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. QJ
nor been inferibed on the lift of any Emigrant
corps in a foreign country, was fpared, and left
at liberty to choofe the place of his refidence.
At leaft, women and children could not then in
cur the punifhment nor commit the crime. At
leaft, the parties accufed could only be tried by
a High National Court ; the Legiflative Body
could only act as accufers ; the accufations could
only be preferred againft individuals. At leaft,
confifcation was only incurred by perfons con
demned in their abfence, was only exercifed on
their revenues, during their lives, and without
prejudice to the rights of their wives and chil
dren *«
But here every thing is involved in the pro
fcription, without diftindtion of age, fex, or
quality ; of motives, refidence, or conduct.
Here the fame men, erecting themfelves at
once into legiflators, judges, witneffes, and exe
cutioners, prefume, in the fame minute, to
make the law, to create the offence, to pro
nounce judgment, to execute the punifhment on
innocent perfons, on abfentees, on thoufands of
men individually unknown, but collectively con
demned. Here fuch a rapid advance in the
• See the Decree of the 9th of November 1791, in
which all thefe provifions are to be found. career

£4 DEFENCE OF THE
Career of crime, iri the fpace of three months,
fo much audacity in the violation of thofe very
principles, to which every member of the legif-
ature had recently deemed himfelf obliged to do
homage*, left no man the certainty of remaining"
fafe for a fingle day. Here the law is atrocious
in its threats, and infulting in its promifes; re
troactive in its application, and eternal in its
punifbments. Certainly,^*and I have no inclination to con
ceal the fart,-— by a delufive condefcenfion, a di
minution of punifhment was promifed to fuch of
the Emigrants as fhould return in the fpace of a
month. But without noticing the infufficiency
of fuch a term for men who, on the faith of law^s,
and of the moft folemn oaths, had repaired tp the
very confines of Europe, and many of them to
the centre of the American continent; without
obferving that whoever fled from confiderations
of peifonal danger, and was thus reduced to
choofe between his property and his life, would
not fail to obey the firft impulfe of nature; let
<me afk what was the only favour accorded to
*hofe Emigrants who fhould return within the

* See the whole debate upon the decree of the 9th No
vember 1 791. term

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 95
term pfefcribed ?— This mighty favour confifted
in their admiffion to be the guardians of their
own eftates on the account of others, to remain
confervators of the national mortgage to which
their property was fubjedted for an indefinite
term; conftrained to pay from that moment the
expences of management, fuch as the provincial
diretlors fhould pleafe to fix ; immediately
charged with a double tax on 'land and moveables ;
afterwards obliged to furnifh fuch an indemnity
as the legiflative body fhould choofe to regulate,
and with which all their property, of every de
nomination, was to remain charged, not only
from the day on which the law was paffed, but
from the firft of February ; and thefe * articles
were decreed on the twenty -third of March;
and all the regulations which might have been
made during that interval, in virtue of exiftrng
laws, were fuddenly annulled, in virtue of a law
which did not exift ! — and fuch was the enjoyment
promifed to fuch of the abfentees as fhould re
turn before the expiration of the months in which
the decree was paffed !— -This is what was called
a preferva'tive Idw, and property untouched}
this was the temptation held out to abfent pro
prietors and Citizens, to come and lend the affift-:
* 19th, aoth, and 21ft articles. Sitting of Friday, 23'd
March i — Journal of the Debates, No. 178.
10 ance

96 DEFENCE OF THE
ance of their arms, to defend their poffeffions,
which were given up to pillage, and their country,
in whofe name they were plundered I
Nor was this all ;— that grateful country, that
beneficent law, announced to fuch as would
promife them fubmiffion and afford them affifi>
ance, the reward or the favour of being deprived
, for two years of the rights of a citizen, and ren
dered incapaj/le of holding any public office.
Nor is this all yet; — to render this invitation
more tempting, frefh troops of banditti' and af-
faffins were let loofe upon that _/«/.. which they
were called upon to defend. The red cap was
hoifted. Pikemen went to procure the confecra-
tion of thefe wretches by the Legiflative Affem-
' bly, where they took the oath (which was re
ceived with tranfporf!) to purge the earth of all
the friends pf the king*. They pillaged and
affaffmated at Montlery, they pillaged and
affaffinated at Etampes ; they pillaged and, maf-
facrqd at, Dunkirk; they pillaged, maffacred, and
laid wafte the country, by fire and fword, in
Poitou, Provence, Dauphine, , and Languedoc.
They perfuaded the legiflative body to honour
at leaft, if not to revenge, one victim out of a
* Sitting of the i ith of February 179Z. thoufand,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 97
thoufand, becaufe he happened to be a mayor.
But, in the face of the deputies from Avignon,
who came in tears to demand juftice and fecurity,
the Legislative Body folemnly acquitted Jour
dan and his accomplices ; — Jourdan, the
CUT-THROAT ; JOURDAN, THE MINISTER OF
the Ice-house !!!... Legiftatjors ! exclaimed
the deputies from that devoted city, we throw
ourfelves at your feet . . . Liften to Jourdan,
who fends forth his threats from his prifon, and who
never yet threatened in vain . . . Do you imagine
that the inhabitants of Avignon can enjoy any
fecurity, when they behold in the midft of them,
the affafjins of their fathers, their brothers, and
their children* ? . . . . The Legiflators replied to
this appeal, by reftoring JOurdan and his fa-
tellites, whom they called their friends, to
liberty f! by annulling all the proceedings begun
againft

o

* Sitting of the 1 9th of March 1792; Journal of the De-
hates and Decrees, No. 173, p. 250. It will be obferved,
that I quote this Journal, which was fucceffively compofed by
Biauizat, Louvet, and, Huguet, in preference to any other. —
At leaft I fliall not be accufed of drawing my fads from what
are caUed Jburces infeded ivfth arifiocracy.
f In the fitting of the t6th of October 1791 , ten days after
Jourdan, Tournal, Mainvielle, &c. had cut in pieces and
crouded together in that Ice-houfe, men, women, and chil
dren ; then throwing quicklime on this heap of viftims,
fome of whom ftill breathed, clofed up the mouth of the in-
h fernat

gS defence of the
againft them! by applying to the crimes of the
Ice-houfe, committed on the 1 6th and 17th of
Odtober, the amnefty pronounced on the 14th
of September preceding, by the Conftituent
Affembly*. Thus, on the one hand, a penal
law received a retroactive effecl againft innocent
perfons; and- on the other, an amnefty was efta
blifhed beforehand for all future criminals.
Thus, a law of the 19th of March offered
encouragement fo maffacre all the citizens of
Avignon who remained in the city, and a law of
the 23d fubjedted to a fequeftration, that is to
fay, to an univerfal confifcation, all the citizens
of Avignon who had quitted the city. Oh!
criminal indeed muft a man be, to fly from a
country fo wifely governed, to withhold his con
fidence from adminiftrators fo pure, his fubmif
fion from legiflators fo equitable, his allegiance
from mafters fo humane ! Oh ! how juft it is to
fernal cavern ; an ambaffador from thefe monfters, calling
himfelf a deputy /rom Avignon and the Comtat Venui/Jin, faid, at
the bar of the Legiflative Affembly, They have fought for li
berty, they have imitated the French; and their retuard
is calumny. The prefident replied, " Your constitu-
" ents are our friends," and then offered them the
honours of the fitting.
* Journal of the Debates, p. 251—255. punifh

, FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 99
punifh even women, who have calumniated, by
their pufillanimous fears, an authority fo tute
lary; who rather chofe to abandon their country,
than to leave their fate and that of their children
to the protectors, Jourdan and Tournal,
to the liberators of the eight- and-twenty cut
throats of Avignon, and the forty galley-ftaves of
Chateauvieux !
Well, even with this horrid profpedt before
their eyes, with this one miferable reftriction to
the monftrous law of fequeftration, a great num
ber of Emigrants returned to France within the
term prefcribed; fo natural is it for man to try
every thing, to brave every thing, before he
fubmits to the dreadful neceffity of renouncing
his country! So true is it, that, if equity, good
faith, and humanity had been difplayed, even at
this epoch, late as it would have been, France
might ftill, by the union of all Frenchmen, have
been preferved from the calamities which now
devour it !
We fliall foon fee what treatment thofe Emi
grants received who returned at that time. I
have faid enough on the fecond epoch, which
forms a prominent point in the fate of the Emi-
H 2 grants;

IOO DEFENCE OF THE
grants; and on the fecond retroaSlive law, which
began their profcription.
It was but right, that the third epoch fhould
belong to the third affembly, which, under the
name of National Convention, has acquired fo
dreadful a celebrity. The ioth of Auguft
had been followed by the 2d of September.
Crime had broken down all the feeble dykes
ftill oppofed to it by the law, and had inundated
France. A fingle fitting of the new Convention,
or rather a few minutes of that fitting, had fuf-
ficed to make the name of monarchy difappear,
and to proclaim that of republic: but in fact,
there was neither monarchy nor republic ; there
was a country without laws, a population with
out fociety, an affemblage of victims, flaves,
and affaffins, whom three tyrants, among a
thoufand others, were difputing the honour of
enflaving, corrupting, and tormenting. It was in
the midft of fuch a triumvirate, it was after the
maffacres of Paris, Verfailles, Rheims, Lyons,
Cambray, Angers, Sec. &c.; — it was at the time
when thole fcenes of carnage which, in every
part of France, induced all men to fly who could
efcape from the numerous fwords that were fuf-
pended over their heads; it was at that time, that,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. IOvI
that, on the 30th of September, was prepared, and,
on the 23d of Odtober, was decreed, a fecond
retroaclive law, which, in the career of plunder
and ferocity, left far behind it the decree of
the 23d of March, although, in fact, it only
completed the work which that had begun. All
French abfentees, at whatever time they had left
the country, thofe who efcaped on the 2d of Sep
tember 1792, as thofe who fled on the 14th of
July 1789; thofe who were martyrs to liberty,
as thofe who were called its enemies; the man
who planned the war, and he who invited it ;
all of them fuddenly learned that a colleclive
decree had juft profcribed them in a mafs; that,
thenceforth, they would neither have property,
family, nor country; that their eftates were irre
vocably confifcated; that by writing to their
friends or relations, they would fend them to the
fcaffold; and that they themfelves would be pu-
nifhed with death, if they fet foot on the foil
which gave them birth, on that which afforded
them the means of fubfiftence, on that which
belonged to them.
Republicans! let me again afk you, what law
antecedently eftablifhed and promulgated had ac
cumulated fo many punifhments on the heads of
h 3 thofe

102 DEFENCE Of THE
thofe who fhould be guilty of the mere act of
quitting France* ?
Another illegality. The punifhment of can-
jtfoation had been abolifhed by the Condiment
Affembly f. Thus the crime which the Con*
* Even the decree of the 23d of March had not
interdicted emigration ih future; it had only announced to
thofe who fliould not return within the month, that their ptci-
perty fliould remain in a ftate of fequeflration, which in fact,
legally fpeaking, is not confi/cation ; and that, during ten, years,
they Jhould be deprived of the rights of aclive citizens, which'is
very different from perpetual banijhment. But they were de
termined to have nene but retroactive laws ; to warn would
have been to defeat their purpofe ; their pbjeft was to fur-
prize and to puniflj.
f I have not faid, that the Conftituent Affembly did no
good ; 1 only faid," that they had done no good which they
had not, by their own meafures, rendered impracticable^ It
was doubtlefs a great gdod, among many others, to have abo
liflied tha,t abfurd puniftiment, which was exercifed on the
inheritance of a man after his death; that iniquitous and bar
barous punifhment, which chaftifed an innocent fon far the
aft of a guilty father ; that immoral ^nd pernicious punifti
ment, which makes more criminals.thanit punifhes; which, in
monarchies, pollutes "and corrupts authority; and, in republics,
enfanguines and exterminates liberty : My beautiful country
fiou/i at Alba constitutes my crime, faid a Roman, aftonifhed at
feeing his name on the tables of profcriptiorj. He would
¦ inuke d very amiable traitor, faid an Englifh monarch, who,
in going to take poffeflion of his crown, rode over the vaft
domains of one of his firft fubjedts, who received him with the
molt magnificent hofpitality.-— -Such is Confi/cation !
vention

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. IOJ
vention punifhed was a lawful adt, and the pu
nifhment which they inflidted was an act of bar
barity profcribed even in the cafe of a real
offence. I might here propofe another new queftian,
invoke another principle quite as facred as thofe
which I before fuggefted, and not lefs folemnly
recognized : I might again quote the uniform
text of the two Conftitutions of 17 91 and 1795 >
•»-No man can be tried until he has been heard
or legally fummoned. I might then afk you,
which of the French fugitives has been heard,
which of them has been legally fummoned, which
of them has even been tried t and I might re
queft you to tell me by what name that power
fhould be diftinguifhed which tries without hear*
ing, or which punifhes without deigning to try ?
But the injuftice, nay the impoffibility of com
prehending, in the lift of profcribed perfons, all
the French Fugitives who have not borne arms,
is fo fully demonftrated; — all acknowledged prin
ciples, laws, and virtues, combine fo completely
in fupport of this caufe, that an attempt to fay
all that might be faid on the fubject would rather
injure than ferve it. I fhall only urge one more
argument: and before I advance it, it will be
neceffary for me to complete my review of the
h 4 fadts

104 DEFENCE DF THE
fadts of this third epoch, the examination of
which I have by no means finifhed.
I have faid, that, on the 23d of Odtober.-tyo^
all the French who were abfent from their coun
try, were fuddenly informed, that a fentence of
perpetualbanifhmenthad been paffed upon them,
. — But I was miftaken. The fame rule was fol
lowed in completing ouj profcription, as had
been obferved in beginning it. For the fequeftra
tion or invafiOn of our property, we have feen
that, on the 9th of February, a firft law had, —
to ufe the language of the ^ay, — decreed the
principle; and that, on the 23d of March,
a more comprehenfive law had regulated all the
particulars of its execution. For the banifh-
ment and the affaffination of our perfons, they
began in the fame way, by decreeing the prin
ciple on the 23d of Odtober, aqd they deferred
to a future day the difcuffion of the means of
executing this prompt and laconic refolution of
a new and interminable Saint-Bartholomew.
Yet the principle, which confecrated the ba-
nifhment and the affaffination of the Emigrants,
had not even defined what an Emigrant was.
flitherto the word Emigration had been only un-
oerftood to fignify the adt; of a man who re
nounced

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 105
nounced his. own country, and went in fearch of
another ; there to eftablifh his refidence, and to
carry with him hit family, his induftry, and his
refourfcfcs. But the Frenchman whofe abfence
from his country was only meant to be tempo
rary, who inceffantly fighed to return, who had
left behind him all the objedts of his affedtions,
and all the means of fubfiftence ; the French
man, whom habitual occupations, unforefeen
circumftances, the lawful calls of intereft, or juft
and facred apprehenfions, had induced to travel,
or compelled to feek an afylum; the French
man who had left France, not only under the
fandtion of the law, but by the exprefs per-
miffion of the magiftrates ;— -no man of this de
fcription could poffibly fuppofe that the fatal
qualification applied to him. Accordingly, all
fuch perfons haftened back in crouds; they af-
fured the legiflature, that they had never thought
of emigrating; that they never had wifhed for,
and never would acknowledge, any other coun
try than France; that they only demanded a
regular government and protedting Jaws, and
they were ready to fwear allegiance to them be
forehand. Even, among the multitude of fugi
tives, who, under the invifible fhield of Provi
dence, had efcaped the maffacres of the 2d
pf September, there were fome, who, rather
choofing

IC6 DEFENCE OF THE
choofing to expofe themfelves to a fpeedy death
in their own country, than to fubmit to the flow
tortures of defpairing wretehidnefs in a foreign
foil, had no fooner left France, than ffSCy re
turned thither;, and, among the dangers which
they had to encounter, never harboured the ima
gination that the word Emigration would be ap
plied to a month's abfence.
But they found themfelves miftaken: the
Jacobins were on the frontiers waiting to receive
them. Thofe Jacobins, who, taken individually,
form the ftnalleft of all minorities, when com*
pared with the numerical population of France ;
but who, being the only organized federation
from one end of the empire to the other, always
ptefent, in a fingle limb, the alarming idea of
the whole mafs, and the threatening idea of the
moveable mafs ; thofe Jacobins, who, by that
very means, conftitute the immenfe majority of
the people, and force one half of their victims to
torment the other half; thofe Jacobins threw all
the Non-emigrant Frencli, who went to claim
their families and their country, into dungeons ;
threw them into fubterraneous caves, where, al
moft without food, frozen, deprived of the ufe
of their limbs, and infulted, they languifhed
live weeks, until it' pleafed Roberspierre to
3 difpofe

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 107
difpofe of them.— And how did Roberfpierre,
and thofe whom he deigned to affociate with him
in the Empire, difpofe of them ?
They had already proclaimed to the world
(on the 16th Odtober 179a) that one half of the
perfons who had returned to France, had come
from the difbanded army of the Princes, which
had been waging war againft the Republic. But
the women and the children had not waged war;
and, as to the men, there was a fore means of
diftinguifhing the traveller from the warrior, the
victim from the enemy, for the Convention were
in poffeflion of the orderly book of the Emigrant
army, and had juft caufed it to be printed*. Be-
fides, what was more eafy than to afcertain the
truth of the account which each individual de
livered of himfelf ?
But they took fpecial care not to diftinguifh
from the croud thofe perfons whom they accufed
of having borne arms ! In fpite of all their hy
pocritical declamations, in fpite of all their fears,
and all their affedted rage, thofe were not the
men whom they were moft eager to attack. Of
what confequence to Roberspierre and his
* Decree of 4th October 179*. clubs,

IOS \ DEFENCE -OF THE
clubs, were a few gardes- du corps, gendarmes t
lieutenants of infantry, and piquets of Irijhmen or
Germans? It was not five thoufand foldiers, but
A HUNDRED THOUSAND MEN OF PROPERTY,
whom they wifhed to deftroy; and in order to do
that, it became neceffary to confound both fex
and age. ' Roberspierre had not yet formed all '•
his revolutionary tribunals; he had juft been
charged anew with the carnage of the 2d of
September; and he did not yet think himfelf
powerful enough to command another maffacre',
which muft have been more general ; he there
fore impofed fome facrifices on himfelf, and fuh-
mitted to fome delay, though it was not very
long. A decree was paffed, (on the 26th No
vember 1792), which, without diftindtion of
epochs, places, or perfons, declared all the
French who had returned to. be Emigrants, or
dered fome of them to quit the Republic, the
others to be condudted to the frontiers between two
rows of fufileers, and announced to them all,
that in cafe they were found upon the French
territory after the expiration of a fortnight,
they would be put to death. The. Jacobins
caufed the decree which they had dictated, to be
executed with rigour in every place. A few
unhappy beings had the misfortune to efcape the
refearchesof the moment. Several towns exhibited the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 109
the extraordinary fpedtacle of a troop of profcrib
ed perfons, led to the frontiers between a double
row of bayonets, and followed by a croud of
people, who deplored their fate with tears, wifhed
them all comfort, and afforded them affiftarjce*,
while Roberspierre exclaimed, " It is the fb-
" vereign people that demand this profcription."
It was clear, that the appellation of Emigrants
would in future apply to every Frenchman, who
had quitted, or had even been dragged out of
his country ; but no law yet explained how the
words emigrant and criminal had become
fynonimous. At length, after five months had
been paffed in forming combinations of every
kind, after a feries of decrees, amounting to
twenty-nine in number, which it is impoffible to
read without blufhing at every line, at the idea
of bearing the name of man in common with
beings capable of fuch ftupid crimes, of fuch
ferocious imbecility, appeared (on the 28th
March 1792) the General and Complementary
Law, which regulated and defined every thing,
that is to fay, — which, by one article, organizes
murder, by a fecond theft, and by a third the
arm to be employed and the divifion to be
* Particularly at Calais and Boulogne fur-Mer.
made;

Iia DEFENCE OF THE
made*;— which makes us dead during our lives,'
in order to deprive us of our property f ; and
makes us live after our death, in order to take
the property of our relations J; which prepares
a new harveft of profcription, by inventing a new
fpecies of retroadtive emigration ;— which ftig-
matizes as Emigrants, not only all the French
who are abfent, not only all the French who
have returned, but all thofe who are aclually pre
fent, and who had left France for a fingle day
within the nine months preceding the day on
which the decree was paffed §; — which, laftly,
defignates affaffination as an adt of juftice, pil
lage as a right, and emigration as a crime;
and, eftablifhing the diftindtion which I have
noticed between the criminals, configns to the

* See the tenor of the whole law.-
f Article i. " The Emigrants are dead in law; their
"property is confifcated to the Republic."
X Article 3. " With regard to eftates which have /alien by
" fitccejfion to Emigrants in a direti or collateral line fince their
" emigration, as ivell as to thofe vihich may hereafter /all to
"¦ them; they fhall be enjoyed by the Republic for fifty years, and
" during that term, the co-heirs cannot avail themfelves of the
" natural death tf/uch Emigrants."
§ Article 6. " Every native of France, of either fix, who,
"although actually present, cannot prove that
«' he has refided in France, without interruption,
" since the 9TH of May 1792, /hall be deemed an Emi-
*' grant." fame

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. IH
fame punifhment thofe who have abandoned
their country, and thofe who have betrayed it
in the hour of danger* .
Having thus fairly ftated the fadts, I now
come to the new argument which I announced,
and which is the laft I have to advance. People
of France ! arm yourfelves with courage to
hear it; I myfelf have occafion for courage to
prefer it. I fhudder at my own juftification,
and at-the objects on which I muft fix your at
tention and my own, — We fhall fee what anfwer
©ur common tyrants will be able to make.
Thus, then, the crime of us, inoffenfive fugi
tives, in our neceffary and melancholy retreat,
according to the text of the law and the expla
nation of the legiflators, confifts in having bafely
abandoned the defence of a country, a great part of
which belonged to ourfelves, in the hour of danger,
when it was our duty to take up arms in its
defence; I omit no part of the accufation f.
* Preamble of the law.
f See, befides the text of the law, the fpeeches of Bazire,
Sidilles, La Croix, and others, whom I fhall hereafter have
occafion to name, in the Journal of the Debates, The Moniteur,
and other papers of the time. Let

I 12 DEFENCE OF THE
Let the origin*! authors and actual defenders
of this definition, anfwer the following queftions:
Is it true, that our enemies had taken poffeffion
of all the public repofitories for arms? Is it
true, that they would never fuffer us to approach
them ? Is it true, that they carefully excluded
us from all the new corps which they pretended
to levy for the defence of the country? Is it
true, that feditious tumults were excited, and
every act of violence and outrage employed to
compel us to quit the ancient corps ? Is it true,
that, in thofe domiciliary vifits, in thofe noblur-
nal invafions, of which the capital fet the firft
example, we were attacked, one by one, in our
fieep ? Is it true, that the men employed in this
fervice, rifled our houfes from top to bottom,
in order to take from us every kind of arms,
fufees, piftols, fwords, couteaux de chaffe, and
even fticksx which had either lead or iron about
them? Is all this true? — I defy any one of
them to anfwer, No. But to proceed. — After
we had been thus dijarmed, what did they, do
with us ? What did they do either with thofe
perfons of property who had never abandoned
France, or with thofe who, having abandoned it,
had returned, I do not fay clandeftinely, after the
decree of the 23d of Odtober, but legally after
the decree of the 23d of March 1792? Let
them

FRENCH EMIGRANTS". 1 13
£hem anfwer me: — Is it true, that men, women,
and children were conveyed to prifon and led to
the fcaffold in crowds;— that they were dragged
along the high roads, and their bodies mangled;
—that they were drowned, deftroyed by grape-
fhot, and cut in pieces? — Is all this true?
Some few perfons of this profcribed clafs ap
peared deftined for a happier fate. More re
mote from the centre of tyranny, and warned by
recent events, the brave inhabitants of Lyon had
contrived to keep their arms. All Europe faw
with admiration the noble ufe they made of
them, in defending their country, and their ma
nufactures; in defending the property and the
lives of their fellow-citizens; in defending even
the Republic itfelf, for they made no oppofition
to the new political fyftem^ they only afferted
the rights of nature and fociety, and they only
fought againft the Jacobins, who difgraced the
one and deftroyed the other. Three times they had
been victorious, and had proved themfelvesas ge
nerous in vidtory as brave in battle. — Is it true,
that the whole force of France was immediately di
rected againft the city of Lyon, under the orders of
the Jacobins ? Is it true, that Collot d'Her
bois was chofen by Roberspierre, and fent by
the Committee of Safely, to make the walls, the
1 inha-

U4 DEFENCE of the
inhabitants, and even the name of that devoted
city, disappear? Is it true, that eight hundred
workmen were employed to dig mines under
the houfes; that a jmilitary commiffion began,
by configning to death twenty vidtims a-day;
that Roberspierre's lieutenant found the ope-
tation of this mine and the atlion of this kind of
juftice too flow*; that after having ufed the can
non for the purpofe of demolition, he employed
it as the inftrument of affaffination ; that after
having fent thoufands of citizens to the fcaffold
without any other form than that of afking their
names, he finifhed by collecting fathers of fa
milies, by hundreds, in the ditches of the forti-
iications, among which number it frequently
happened that not ten had borne arms; that he
there caufed batteries of cannon, loaded with
grape-fhot, to be opened upon them ; that, after
a triple difcharge, thofe who were only wounded,
were difpatched with fpades and pick-axes?
— That, during this time, their wives, with
difhevelled hair, and diftracted looks, made the
air refound with their cries; and, purfued by
* For thefe and the following details fee all the papers of
the time ; but particularly, the Report of the Commiffion of
T-wenty-one upon Billaud- Varennes, Collot d'Herbois, Bar-
rere, and Vadier. the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. Hj
the affaffins, or ftimulated by defpair, plunged
into the Rhone, and there perifhed with their
infants in their arms ?— Is it true, that one of
Collot's Jacobin adjutants faid, in a letter to
one of his brethren*, dated the 13th Frimaire,
in the fecond year, " The guillotine and the fuftl-
" lade don't go on amifs. Sixty, eighty, two hun-
" dred, are fhot at a time, and every day care is
" taken, by the means of new an efts, to fupply the
<e vacancies which are thus made in the prifons ?
Is it true, that another adjutant wrote, on the
17th of the fame month, to this fame bro
ther f, in the following terms, — " More heads,
" and every day fome heads fall. What delight
" would you have experienced, if you had been
"prefent the day before yefterday, when two
" hundred and nine were ftricken off by an
" ail of national juftice . . . What majefty! What
" an impofing lone! The whole fcene was edify
ing . . . What a cement for the Republic!"
— Is it true, that Collot d'Herbois went fo
far as to fign inftructions for the neighbouring
departments, which exprefsly prefcribed theft
and murder, and in which he faid to his manda-

* Pilot to Gravies.. See the Report of the Commiffion
of Twenty -one. Pieces Jufiificatives, No. 48.
f Richard to Gravier. Ibid. No. 49.
1 2 tories, '

a

Il6 DEFENCE OF THE
tories,— " Every thing is allowable in men who
" atl up to the Revolution . . . It often happens
" that thofe who think they have exceeded their
" objecl have not yet attained it . . . Every man
" who does not feel his blood boil at the very
« name of opulence, gives the lie to nature . . .
<c AcJ on a grand fcale, take from every citizen
" whatever is ufelefs to him . . . Affift us in
(f ftr iking a great blow . . . We ought to be re-
" ftrained by no confideration of age, fex, or rela-
" tionfhip, — let none but the Sans-culottes be re-
"fpefted* ?" Is it true, that, to complete the
meafure of his crimes, Collot d'Herbois at
laft propofed to Roberspierre and to Couthon,
to difmifs the population of Lyon, which ftill
amounted to fix ty thoufand men, that is to fay,
to fcatter them cautioufly over the furface of the
Republic, to make them difappear, and then to
fay with truth, Lyon is no more|? Is all
this true?
Is it true, that what Coll,ot d'Herbois
was to Lyon, Carrier was to Nantes, Lebon
to Arras, Fauvetti to Orange, Vadier to
Pamiers, Freron to Toulon and Marfeilles,
Fouquier-Tinville to Paris, and Rober-
• Report of the Commiffion, p. 162, &c.
-J- Ibid. p. 64. p. Z7. SPIERRE

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. IJ7
spierre and his Committee to all France ? Is
it true, that the accufer, the prefident, the
judges, and the juries of the Revolutionary Tri
bunal, eftablifhed at Paris, on the ioth of March
1793, were condemned and executed on the 7th
of May 1794, for the following fa els ?
For having put to death, under the difguifed
form of a trial, an innumerable crowd of French
of all ages, and of both fexes, by means of fabri
cated plans of confpiracies . . .
For having, in conjunction with certain members
of the government, drawn up plans of re
ports on thefe pretended confpiracies . . .
For having extorted from the Committees and.
from the National Convention, fanguinary refo-
lutions and decrees . . .
For having prepared lifts of profcription . . .
For having included in the fame indictment,
and in the fame fentence, perfons of all ages, of
bothfexesi of different countries, abfolutely unknown
to each other . . . 13 For

I I 8 DEFENCE OF THE
For having tried, in two, three, or four hours
at moft, thirty, forty, fifty, and even fixty indi
viduals at a time - . ,
For having crammed into the carts that were
deftined to carry the criminals to the place of
execution, men, women, youths, old men, the deaf,
the blind, the fick, and the infirm . . ,
For having ordered carts to be ready in the
morning long before the perfons accufed were
brought- to trial . . .
For having omitted tofpecify in the indiilments,
the age, profeffions, and quality of the parties
accufed, fo that the fon zqas executed inftead of the
father, and the father inftead of the fon . . .
For having delivered to the clerk blank fentences,
which were often filled up with the names of per
fons who had never been tried , . .
For having refufed to hear the prifoners in their
own defence, either by themfelves or their counfel,
and contenting themfelves with merely calling over
their names, their age, and their quality.

For

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 119
For having caufed perfons to be condemned and
executed before the witneffes could appear, or the
proofs that were abfolutely neceffary on the trial
could be produced.
For having paffed fentence on accufed perfons
in a mass .... For having propofed to bleed
thofe who were condemned, in order to weaken
the courage which they dif played in their laft
moments, csV. &c* ?"
Is it true, that the Decemviri, (fince that is the
number to which you have agreed to reduce the
tyrants of whom Roberspierre was the chief,)
finding, like Collot d'Herbois, the aclion of
this kind of juftice too flow, were engaged, at the
moment of their overthrow, in preparing a coup-
de-main for the purpofe of purifying the popula
tion of Paris, in the fame manner as Collot
wifhed to difmifs that of Lyon-, and in devifing
the means of purging all the prifons at the fame
inftant? Is it true, that thefe plans were found in
memorials figned by Herman and Barrere,
and approved by Roberspierre ? Is all this
true ?
* See the fentence of death paffed upon Fouojjier-
Tinville and his ajbciates on the 7th of May 1794.
1 4 I may

120 DEFENCE OF THE
I may certainly defy any man to deny any one
of thefe charges ; for, without having occafion to
invpke the rivers which are ftill ftained with
blood, the ruins which are ftill fmoking, the
mourning and the lamentations of alfFrance, —
they are the petitions of your own Adminiftrators,
the harangues of your own Tribunes, the reports
of your Committees, the decrees of your Legis
lators, the fentences of your Judges ; — in fhort,
it is what was faid and written by thofe monfters
during their reign, what has been faid and written
by all of you who dethroned and punifhed them,
that I have literally tranfcribed.
Well, then, good Heavens ! Will they ftill
dare to declare us guilty for having abandoned
the country in which fuch a fate was referved for
us ? A country in which we were placed between
Judges, who invented falfe confpiracies to pro
mote our death; Members of the Government,
who, in concert with the Judges, drew up the
reports of thefe falfe confpiracies ; and a Con
vention which armed them both mthfanguinary
decrees ! A country in which all our brethren,
who remained or returned, were thus refigned,
by the three powers, Legiflative, Executive,
and Judiciary, to the caprice of all the gaolers, and

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 1^1
and to the daggers of all the affaffins ! A country
in which not one of our relations, not one of
our friends, not one perfon of property, not one
virtuous man, would have been fpared, if the
tyrants themfelves had not been flopped in the
midft of their bloody career ! Will they ftill dare,
by adding derifion to ferocity, by infulting reafon
as well as human nature, to repeat that we bafely
refufed to take up arms in defence of our country,
and our property expofed to danger ; when, by the
bafeft of all perfidy, they came in the nighr,
during our fleep, to take from us all our arms,
and that for the exprefs purpofe of preventing
us from defending not only our country, not only
am property, but our lives, but the lives of our
mothers, our wives, and our daughters ! And
yet, how many of us, even when thus difarmed,
rafhly braved the danger to the laft ! How many
efcaped, by a miracle, from the gloom of the
dungeon, and from the hands of the executioner !
Republicans, again anfwer me; for 'tis in
vain that I endeavour to flop. I feel, fffat in
the difcuffion of fuch queftions as thefe, a man
muft not expect to remain mafter of himfelf. I
can fcarcely breathe. My heart is not vaft enough
to contain all the fentiments that prefs upon it ;
they muft have vent. Woe unto me, if, amidft the

122 DEFENCE OF THE
the burning agitation of my bofom, I fhould
beftow a fingle thought upon myfelf! But I fee,
I follow that fwarm of unhappy and innocent
perfons, defpoiled of all that nature and the
laws had given them; torn alike from the ob-
jedts of their affedtions and the poffeffion of
their property ; banifhed from a country which
none of them had offended, and to the fervice of
which moft of them had devoted their days,-
ftill purfued from one afylum to another ; given
up by perfidy ; abandoned by cowardice ; re
jedted by bafenefs ; lofing all hope of peace in
proportion as that hope is ftrengthened in the
minds of the reft of mankind, and deftined foon
to find no refuge, but at the extremity of the
world. Then all their fufferirigs, all their an
guifh, all the varied grief and indignation which
they experience, crowd upon my mind, and 1 fay
to myfelf, that, if the gulph of defpair is clofe
upon them for ever, if an eternal triumph is to
be granted to this prodigy of iniquity, it muft
be acknowledged that the world was made to
become a prey to crime, and that the fmall
number of virtuous men, who are fcattered over
this fea of enormities, have nothing left but to
fhut themfelves up like Timon in a folitary cave,
to break off all commerce with the human race, and

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 123
and never to think of men but to load them with
maledidtions. Republicans, anfwer me !
What ! that pontiff whofe knowledge was
only exceeded by his virtues * ; who, when the
Carmes was entered by a band of ruffians, hearing
himfelf called by the affaffins, hoped, by the
facrifice of his own life, to fpare the lives of his
brethren ; and calm, with his hands crofted upon
his bofom, advanced towards his executioners,
who flood petrified for fome minutes, and faid
to them, as his Matter had faid before,— I am he
whom ye feek ! . . .
What ! that multitude of priefts, who —
fome, bending beneath the weight of years,
others in the bloom and vigour of life,-— left the
foot of the altar to follow the bloody footfteps
of their firft paflors-(-, and to offer themfelves,
two by two, to the uplifted fwords which fent
them to rejoin thofe numerous martyrs ! . . .
What! thofe three generations of women,
whom all Paris faw afcend the fcaffold at the
fame time, — the grandmother, the mother, and
* The Archbifhop of Arles.
f Not only the Archbifliop of Arles, but the Bifhop of
Beauvais, the Bifhop of Xaintes, &c. the

124 DEFENCE OF THE
the daughter, — diftinguifhed, perhaps, from all
the other vidtims by their total difregard of all
worldly affairs, their concentration in the exer
cife of internal virtues, and their perfect refig
nation to all the decrees of Providence * ! . . .
What ! that old man of eighty, equally de
vout, and equally refigned, who, of all his loffes,
only regretted the means of affording relief to
indigence and misfortune, who ftill fhared with
them the little he had left, and who was fent to
the fame fcaffold with the partner of his life and
of his virtues, without the imputation of any
other crime than that of their beneficence f ! . . .
What ! that woman, the honour of her fex,
who was not only innocent and pure, but who
was innocence and purity perfonified ; who was
not only inacceffible to errors, but whom the
paffions of the human mind did not even venture
to approach; — that woman, on whom no man
had dared to caft a rafh look, even at a diftance,
and whom the arm of the affaffin yet dared to
feize % ! . . .
* The Lady of the Marefchal de Noailles; the
Puchefs of Ay en, and the Vifcountefs of Noailles..
f The Marefchal de Noailles-Mouchy and his Lady,
t The Duchefs of Biron. What !,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I2£
What! thofe two female friends, worthy of
heroic times, in whofe minds was concentered
all that was noble and good in human nature,
and who were fentenced to die folely for having
committed the crime of friendfhip * ! . . .
What ! that venerable, that aged father, who
was on the point of reftoring to nature a life,
full of merit, replete with adts of public and
private beneficence ; but who was, neverthelefs,
deprived of it fome few days fooner, becaufe he
had committed the crime of giving food to his
daughter f ! . . .
What ! that whole family, fo numerous, fo
united, who were not only pure, but who feem
to have been holy, when we confider who was
their chief; when we think of that chief, who
was facrificed with them, — of Monfieur de
Malesherbes, in fhort; for how can the me
mory of fuch a man be duly honoured but by
the mention of his name ! . . . What ! thofe
vidtims whom I have here mentioned among fo
many thoufands, who have fhared the fame fate ;
. . . what ! to repeat your own words, that
* The Ducheffes of Gramont and Chatelet.
¦f- M. Angrand d'Alleray, Lieutenant- Civil.- innu-

126 DEFENCE OF THE
innumerable crowd of all ages, of both f exes, of all
countries, who have been put to death under the
difguifed form of a trial for fabricated confpiracies;
what! thofe men; thofe women-, thofe youths;
thofe aged perfons ; thofe deaf; thofe blind;
thofe fick ; thofe infirm ; who were heaped to
gether in carts prepared to convey them to the
place of execution even before their trials had be
gun •, thofe parties accufed, of whom the fon was
executed inftead of the father, and the father in
ftead of the fon; thofe of whom the Judges only
afked their names, then refufed them the privilege
of fpeech ; and configned them to the fcaffold ; —
thofe who were tried in a mafs, and dragged to
execution in virtue of a fignature affixed before
hand on a Jheet of blank paper, or of a fentence
in which they were not named: — What ! if all
thefe unfortunate beings, had, like us, efcaped
the fate that threatened them, and were now with
us ; would you tell them, as you tell us, that
they had bafely abandoned their country in the
hour of danger ; that they had bafely abandoned
the defence of the foil of which a confiderable part
belonged to them; that they deferved to be
punifhed for fuch conduct by a general confifca-
tion, by perpetual banifnment, by the lofs of
life if they dared to return ? You call the death of

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 1 27
of thefe unfortunate perfons a crime; you have
pretended to revenge it ; and to punifh its authors
and its inftruments ! and yet, if they had not ex
perienced that death, you would now inflict
it yourfelves ! if they had efcaped the fword
of Roberspierre, they would be facrificed by
your own ! O my God ! What head would not
be diftradted, what heart would not be torn, by
the mere neceffity of urging fuch arguments as
thefe !
People of France ! they will give me an
anfwer. They will tell me that they have expiated
the crimes of terrorifm as far as they could ;
that they have haftened to relieve all fuch of its
victims as have furvived its rage ; that they
have themfelves been careful to mark the epoch
of the reign of terror ; that they have fixed it at
the 31ft of May 1793; that all thofe perfons
who had, fubfequent to that day, abandoned the
enflaved and defolated territory of France, were
recalled immediately after the 9th of Thermidor,
that day fo famous for the fall and punifhment of
the terrific tyrant and his principal chiefs.
Yes, doubtlefs, fince that 9th of Thermidor,
there have been as many crimes expiated, as many
misfortunes repaired as could be. I acknowledge it;

Ii8 DEFENCE OF THE
it ; I congratulate you on it ; whenever you are
juft, I fhall be anxious to proclaim your juftice
to the work!. I am pleafed to find you, at length,
admitting that the act of abandoning one's coun
try is not an abfolute crime ; that the criminality
of fuch an adt muft, in fome degree, depend
upon circumftances ; that where the empire of
the law has difappeared, where the empire of
terror has been eftablifhed; the citizen who is
threatened ; the citizen who is expofed, in a de-
fencelefs ftate, to all the exceffes of tyranny ; the
citizen who flies in defpair from his blood-
ftained home, carries with him a right to pre*
tedtion, inftead of committing an offence worthy
of punifhment. So far, then, we are of the
fame opinion, as to the effedts which the reign of
terror muft have produced in France fo long as
it continued. But tell me what means that date
of the 31ft of May 1793, at which you have
been pleafed to fix its commencement ? In
that mad rage for paffing retroadtive laws, did
it ever enter your heads, that, when the events
were once accomplifhed, you would have it
in your power to change their order by a de
cree, to fix at one day what had happened on
another, and to regulate epochs, according to
the didtates of caprice or the fuggeftions of
paffion? What, was it only on the 31ft of Ma/
7 that

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 1 29
that the influence of terror began to be percep
tible in France? Was every thing then quiet,
happy, and free, in France, on the 30th ?
Had nobody trembled in France, even fo far
back as the 2d of September 1792 ?
What, then, was that event, that unforefeen
convulfion, which occurred on the 31ft of May,
fo unfortunately, fo fuddenly, to interrupt the
happinefs, the fecurity, the fweet tranquillity,
in which, according to your account, France
was lulled ? After the abolition of monarchy,
two fadtions had contended for the empire,
though with very unequal arms: On one fide
was the Commune of Paris, which ferved as an
inftrument to Roberspierre, in the fame
manner as Danton, Marat, Collot, Couthon,
Le Bon, Carrier, Barrere, and all men of a fimi-
larftamp; — on the other, was the Fatlion of the
Gironde, led by Briffot, Rolland, Vergniaud,
Condorcet, and all their difciples. On the 31ft
of May the difpute was decided. Rober
spierre, who had long reigned without reftraint,
then began to reign without a rival. He fur-
rounded the Convention with his troops; he
caufed a decree to be paffed againft five-and-
thirty of the members who were chiefs of the
Girondin party, and againft the minifters who
k. were

IjO DEFENCE OF THE
were then devoted to that faction. Some of
thefe fled; moft of them were arretted and thrown
into prifon, whence they were taken five months
after to be given up to Roberspierre's tribu
nal, that is to fay, to fall under the axe of the
guillotine. You, perhaps, imagine, Republicans, that I
advert with pleafure to the fate of thefe party-
leaders ? This is by no means the cafe. I wifh
to be juft, even to Brissot. The condudt of
the Girondins, during the laft year of the mo
narchy, excited horror; but when the Republic
was once proclaimed, there were inftants in
which they almoft excited intereft. One is al
moft tempted to believe that, in deliberating
together on the means of acquiring power, and
on the ufe they fhould make of it, their leaders
had repeated the favourite faying of Caesar : —
Nam fi violandum eft jus, violandum eft regnandi
gratia; in cateris virtutem colas. But thefe
men, in order to reign, had a republic to found
inftead of one to deftroy ; and as they knew
that a republic could not be eftablifhed on im
morality, they laboured to caft a veil over paft
crimes, and to put an end to prefent crimes.
They boafted of the part they had taken in the
bufinefs of the ioth of Auguft, and denied with
horror

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I3I
horror the charge of participating in the maf
facres of the 2d of September. They had
brought the Marfeillois bands to Paris, and they
afterwards fent them to the frontiers, that Du-
mourier might convert their bodies into bridges
for his armies. They were, above all, defirous
that the rifing republic fhould not be polluted by
thofe horrid enormities, from which you muft
of neceffity feparate it if you wifh it to laft.
They had fubverted the throne of Louis XVI.
but they wifhed to fpare his perfon. Even when
they declared him guilty, they thought to ac
quire a right to mitigate his punifhment into
exile. Even when they durft not pronounce any
fentence fhort of death, they ftill flattered them
felves that that fentence would be annulled by an
appeal to the people. There were fome of them,
whofe natural fenfibility triumphed, at that
dreadful moment, over all the crimes of policy;
there were fome who, having witneffed the exe
cution of that fentence which they had fandtioned
with their voices, paffed whole nights in fhedding
torrents of tears, in the convulfions of defpair.
In a word, the exiftence of the Girondin chiefs
was divided between adts of wickednefs and
projedts of virtue, between emotions of rage and
ebullitions of fenfibility. They remained unpu-
nifhed while their condudt was criminal, and
»> k 2 they

I32 DEFENCE OF THE
they were facrificed at a time when they wifhed to
return to the paths of rectitude. Their mif-
fortunes were merited, but their condemnation
was unjuft. Their beginning was infamous,
their end heroic, and their death became
what their birth had been — a public cala
mity. I will go ftill farther. As, at the epoch of
their laft flruggle, the prefent abforbed the paft;
as they talked to their new difciples of nothing
but their new plans ; as the fole objedt of their
affociation was the diredtion of juftice and pru
dence, which they wifhed, but too late, to give
to power and to liberty ; as, then, it was the
throne of Roberspierre which they wanted to
overthrow, and as their plan was founded in
right, and marked by greatnefs of conception
and danger in execution, it refuked from this
Combination o*' circumftances, that none but their
raft precepts and their laft moments remained
engraven on the minds of their partizans-, and
that whoever, towards the end of their lives, or
after their deaths, became their advocate without
having been their accomplice, muft now be con
fidered as a truly valuable citizen by all thofe
who, whether they like or diflike the republi
can government, are anxious that the govern-
13 v ; ment,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I33
ment, whatever form it bears, may have for its
bafis order and laws.
But notwithftanding all this, it is ftill certain,
that France did not take the alarm until the
moment when fhe faw Brissot and Vergni
aud fent to prifon, and Rolland and Con
dorcet fly.
If the day on which five-and-thirty Girondins
were accufed, and two-and-twenty arretted, prov
ed the exiftence of the reign of terror, what had
fo many preceding days, fo many months, during
which the French had been maffacred, either
with or without accufation, not by twenties or
thirties, but by hundreds and by thoufands ;—
what did they prove ?
Republicans ! an idea has juft ftricken me.
It was the Girondins, who conquered Rober-
fpierre, after having been conquered by him,
that dated the reign of terror at the 31ft of
May, the day en which they were defeated.
Suppofe the Jacobins, — DU omen avertant !—
who have been kept under for two years, but who
are now too bufy, were again to triumph, they
would, in their turn, date the reign of terror
&t the ninth of Thermidor, the day on which
k 3 their

I34 DEFENCE OF THE
their leaders perifhed; and they would fay, —
Terror would never have entered France but for
the death of Roberfpierre ! ! ! — Can you bear this
comparifon; and yet can you deny its juftice ?
Let us have done with all thefe political lies,
which neither ferve to deceive ourfelves nor
others. Let us only acknowledge, that this is
the groffeft deception that has ever been em
ployed, and return, to truths Which muft be ad
mitted, and to fadts which cannot be denied
even when they are braved,
Yes, that was a day of terror, on which the
National Convention, inverted by the fatellites
of Roberspierre, were forced to pafs a decree
of accufation againft fuch of its members, as the
majority would rather have followed than im-
prifoned, and in concert with whom they had
freely preferred an ufelefs charge againft that
abfurd and ferocious maniac called Marat.
Yes, the 31ft of May witneffed a grand deve-
lopement of the tyranny of Roberspierre, and
will ever hold a remarkable place in the hiftory
of his crimes,
But the twenty-fourth of April preceding,
when Marat was declared, by the Revolutionary Tribunal,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 13^
Tribunal, innocent of the paft, and free for the
future; when he was carried in triumph by the
people of Roberspierre, from the tribunal
which had haftened to abfolve him in the midft
of the Convention which had dared to accufe
him . . .
But the eve of ifhat triumph, when the Ja
cobins of Paris, by whom it was prepared and
arranged, called in a reinforcement of fix thou-
fand Marfeillois, and when it was remembered
that they had only employed eight hundred for
the maffacres of September . . .
But the twenty -firft of April, when the prifon
ers at the Bouffay and at the Caftle, in the town
of Nantes, were releafed, as thofe at the Abbaye,
the Conciergerie, the Force, and the Carmes, at
Paris, had been, on the fecond of Septem
ber . . .
But the twenty eighth of March, when, after
the inftallation of thofe regular affaffins, called
The Revolutionary Tribunal; when, immediately
after that general law which had juft invented
a new clafs of Emigrants atlually prefent, all the
citizens were forced to denounce themfelves, the
heads of houfes and the fathers of families to de
ls. 4 : nounce

I36 DEFENCE OF THE
nounce their landlords and their children ; when
it was decreed, that on the walls of each houfe
fhould be inferibed, in large charadters, the
names of all its inhabitants, becaufe at that time
names conftituted crimes, and becaufe tyranny
chofe to exempt itfelf from the trouble of a
fearch, and to afcertain, at a glance, the places to
which fhe was to fend for her vidtims . . .
But the twenty -feventh of March, when the
affembly of Legijlators eftablifhed the tribunal of
affaffms, and when the lift of juries was com
pofed by Marat ! . . .
But the twenty -fecond of January, when the
new domiciliary vifits were decreed, which
alone produced upwards of fix thoufand com
mitments . . .
But the eve of that twenty-fecond of January,
,- 1 — but that twenty-fir ft of January 1793 !.. .
When, during fix hours, all the ftreets deferted,
all the houfes fhut, under pain of death, made
Paris refemble Herculaneum, which difentangled,
after a lapfe of ages, from the volcanic lava,
ftill exhibits entire walls, but not one living
being . . .When, in that vaft folitude of an im-
menfe city, a hundred thoufand armed men, of

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 137
of whom eighty thoufand were vidtims, advanced
to lead one defencelefs individual to the altar of
death, and feemed to feek the moft profound of
deferts to conceal the moft horrid of crimes . . .
When, neverthelefs, in the interior of thofe
houfes, apparently uninhabited, half a million
of human creatures, families affembled without
uttering a fingle word, individuals alarmed at
their folitary fituations, even authors of the
crime that was about to be committed, became
horrible in their own eyes, groaned as they
watched the filent progrefs of the murderous
battalions, and the lengthened rolling of the fatal
car; groaned ftill deeper when they ceafed to hear
them; trembling meafured the time and diftance;
fhuddered every minute at the thought that it
might perhaps be that in which the impious
blow would be ftricken, then burft into fobs,
threw themfelves on the ground, and loft the ufe
of their reafon or their fenfes, at the firft cry of
the cannibals who came to apprize them that
they might fhew themfelves, becaufe the crime
was accomplifhed, and the victim beyond the
reach of refcue . . . People of France, were
thefe days of terror ?
Alas ! I have not the power to extend my re-
fearehes any farther ; nor indeed is it neceffary. I will

I38 DEFENCE OF THE
I will not even go back to the fecond of September.
Every thing is included in the twenty-firft of
January 1793. That was the point in which
every thing centered, and from which every
thing departed. It was to accomplifh the dread
ful bufinefs of that day, that all the crimes which
preceded it were committed ; it was to fupport
that horrid deed, that ail the atrocities which
enfued were adopted. But let me afk, whe
ther all thefe crimes do not exhibit one uninter
rupted chain; whether the thirty-firft of May,
far from forming the firft link of that chain, is
not placed in the midft of, and confounded with,
all the other links; whether it does not become
almoft imperceptible, by being placed between
the twenty-firft of January and the fixteenth of
Oclober 1793*, between the nine days of Sep
tember 1792, and the three days of July 1794?
Let me afk, how they will contrive to make the
three days which produced two hundred viclimsf,
belong to the reign of terror, and the nine days,
which produced fix thoufand viclims, belong to
the reign of the law; to make the punifhment of
Brissot an adt of tyranny, and the martyrdom
6f Louis XVI. a work of juftice?
* The day on which the Queen was facrificed.
t The 23d, 24th, and 25th of July 1794, Even

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 139
Even among your moft enthufiaftic Repub
licans, none that pretend to efteem themfelves,
or to be efteemed by others, hold a different
language from mine, fee with different eyes
from mine, fix on different epochs, or pronounce
different decifions from thefe which you have juft
heard. People of France, and ye, in particular,
Colleagues of Boissy d'Anglas, remember the
report, the fine report which he made in the
name of your Committee of Eleven, at the time of
the eftablifhment of your new conftitution. He
there fpoke of the foundation of the Republic
with tranfport; but he took fpecial care not to
Utter a fingle fyllable that blafphemed the me
mory of the laft king, or that applauded his cruel
fate. He there fpoke of the reign of terror with
execration; but as a man, he took fpecial care
not to pollute the work that was to tranfmit his
name to pofterity, — as a ftatefman, he took fpe
cial care not to give to his political inftirutions
the ftamp of horror and contempt, by intro
ducing that abfurd and defpicable combination,
that vile and ferocious impofture, which affects
to fix the commencement of terror in France
at the 31ft of May 1793. No, no: Boissy
d'Angl,as clearly proved to you, that the
first"

140 DEFENCE OF THE
first moments of the Republic were polluted by
a band of profligate ufurpers. He proved to you,
that their ufurpation was, even then, founded on
two powerful bafes : the Commune, miftrefs of
the city in which the National Convention were to
affemble; and the Jacobin Club, the moft for
midable and the moft dangerous, of all poUtical
affociations. Boissy d'Anglas folemnly pro
claimed, and {lis axioms were confecrated by the
unanimity of your fuffrages, that, confpiring
together, thefe two monftrous corporations con
certed the maffacres of the fecond of September, in
order to eftabliftj at once the empire of death,
of terror, and of crime*.
Are thefe expreffions' fufficiently clear, are
thefe acknowledgments fufficiently ftrong ? But
I fhall not flop here. Boissy d'Anglas, or,
rather your Committee, fpeaking through him,
told you ftill more; you muft allow me to repeat
a whole page of that fame report, requesting you
to weigh not only every phrafe, but every
word.

* Thefe are die very words of the report of Boi/fy d'Anglas,
in the name 0/ the Commiffion 0/ Eleven. Sitting of the pth
Meffidor, third year.
« The

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I4.I
" The National Convention," (faid your
Conftitutional Committee, fpeaking from the
tribune of that fame Convention,) " The Na-
" tional Convention, affembled under fuch dif-
" mal aufpices, in a city ftill fmokng with the
" blood of fo many viclims, and which was, at that
" time, under the yoke of affaffins and ufurpers,
" maintained a painful and unfuccefsful ftruggle
" againft that domineering Commune, ftrong
" in the terror which it infpired, in the fupport
<e of a mifguided multitude, and in thecombina-
" tions of determined villains, who, from the
" bofom of the National Reprefent ation, direcled
" its abominable fprings. The Convention were
" already divided, and their diffenfions, fomented
" by tyrants who wifhed to enflave them, were
" the firft caufe of the dreadful evils which de-
<c folated France . . . Men deftitute of principle,
" inflated with pride, thirfling for blood, knead-
" ed up with gall and perfidy, contrived to pro-
" fit by thefe divifions, in order to govern, to
" irritate, to exalt, to inflame, to exafperate the
" public mind. The moft exaggerated patriot-
" ifm was the veil with which they covered their
" defigns; the error of the nation fupplied their
" want of ftrength; the Revolutionary Inftitu-
" tions were their means, and heaps of ruins. and
u ofhumau bodies became thejteps which were to
" lead

I42 DEFENCE OF THE
" lead them to the throne on the ruins of the Re-
" public. The people, flattered, agitated, in-
" flamed by them, then began to miftake mode-
" ration for cowardice, prudence for artifice,
" policy for intrigue, humanity for weaknefs,
"delirium for patriotifm, crime for juftice, and
" licentioufnefs for liberty. In vain did the ma*
" jor ity of the Convention wifh to prevent that
" affembly from plunging into the exceffes pecu-
" liar to a government of demagogues . . . The
" reprefentatives of the people, after an impotent
" ftruggle, overpowered by the efforts of an infolent
" commune, which had the difpofal of the armed
" force, and by the influence of the popular clubs,
" all of them affiliated with the Jacobins of Paris,
" the true centre of confpiracies, were obliged,
" in order to preferve the hope and the right of
" one day faving their country, to yield for a
" time to the ftorm, and to abandon the vefifel
" of the ftate to the winds of anarchy!"
Well! now talk to me of the 31ft of May
1793, as the birth-day of terror. Now tell me,
that all the victims, who, in 1792, were marked
by thofe monftrous corporations; that the fugitives
who efcaped from the midft of the maffacres
which they had confpired together; that the Pari-
fians who abandoned a city fmoaking with blood
under

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I43
under the yoke of ufurping affaffms ; that all the
French who fled far from a country in which was
eftablifhed at the fame time the empire of death,
of terror, and of crime ; ... far from a throne,
the fteps of which were formed if heaps of ruins
and of human bodies ... far from a people who
miftook humanity for weaknefs and crime for
juftice ... far from a national reprefentation,
from the bofom of which a fmall number of de
termined villains dire tied the abominable fprings
of tyranny, while the impotent majority abandoned
the veffel of the ftate to the winds of anarchy . . .
Now tell me, that all thofe who abandoned fuch
a country, and even had the generofity not to
think of revenge, ought to be profcribed, baT
nifhed, maffacred, now that juftice and humanity
have refumed their fway ; that is to fay, that
juftice and humanity ought again to difappear,
as foon as the innocent and the unhappy come to
implore their protedtion. Now tell me, that that
report which was the beginn ng of your new
Conftitution, and our profcription which marked
the end of ir, do not form the moft monftrous
combination that ever made human reafon
fhudder. Endeavour to prove to me, that the
authors of the one are not neceffarily the deftroy-
ers of the other. Explain to the People of
France, how they are to find it poffible that the
fame

144 Defence of the
fame vren, all eleven of them, falling into the
fame delirium at the fame hour, could, all at
once, have drawn this conftitutional picture
of the ftate of France, on the fecond of Sep
tember 1792, and haveconftitutionaily profcribed
all thofe perfons whom that fecond of September
1792 drove out of the country.
But I fhall not flop even here. Boissy
d'Anglas and his committee could not fay all;
but I have no inducement to conceal any part of
the truth. 1 will agree with them in fixing at
the firft moments of the Republic, the establish
ment of the empire of death, of terror, and of
crime : — but I have proved to you, that the
commencement of that empire, its progrefs and
its conquefts, originated in the unpunifhed affaf-
finations of Launay, of Flesselles, of Foulon,
of Berthier, of Belsunce, of the Mayor of
Saint-Denis, of the Gardes- du-Corps, &c. &c.
I have proved to you beforehand, that in the
fame manner in which I have already traced
the bufinefs of the 21ft of January 1793,
from the tranfadtions of the 31ft of May, I
might now trace the occurrences of this laft
epoch from the devaftations, the conflagrations,
the private murders, the general and unpunifhed
maffacres, which defolated the ifle of France,
Provence,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I4£
Provence, Flanders, Dauphine, Poitou, the
Comtat, Languedoc, Normandy, Artois, QuerT
ci, Brittany, and' all our colonies. I have faid,
and it is more than ever neceffary to repeat the
affertion, that from the firft moment at which the
French Revolution became fanguinary and cri
minal, when it might have been fo mild and fo
virtuous, there chafed to be any fuch thing as a
political and civil affociation in France. Wher
ever the property of citizens, wherever the lives
and liberties of men were protected, their protec
tion did not proqeed from the law, not from the
old law which was deftroyed, not from the new
law which was not eftablifhed, not by the execu
tive power which was enchained, nor yet by the
judicial power which was annihilated; but folely
from fortuitous and local circumft^nces, from
public manners which were more ot lefs mild,
more or lefs exempt from corruption in different
cantons; but particularly from the difpofition qf
perfons in power, who, being the janreftrained
directors of an unlimited force, acknowledged no
other rule in the exercife thereof, than their own
virtues or their own vices. Thus both La Fay
ette and Bailli, of whofe political conduct
.different opinions may be formed, were entitled
to univerfal homage, as protedtors of civil order:
for itwas to them, and to them alpnf , that the in-
l habitants

I46 DEFENCE OF THE
habitants of Paris, from the 21ft of October 1789,
to the month of Odtober 1791, amidft the effer-
vefcence of a lawlefs Revolution, and furrounded
by provinces in a ftate of combuftion, was in
debted for the enjoyment of that perfect fecurity
which marks the moft tranquil and moft peace
able times. But what was the confequence
when La Fayette was fucceeded by Santerre
and Bailli by Pethion?
If there ever were a moment which feemed to
predict the annihilation of terror, and the revival
of law, it was doubtlefs in September 1791,
in the firft weeks after the eftablifhment of the
new Conftitution, when the king's acceptance,
received with tranfport, appeared to have re
newed thofe fentimenis of affection between the
prince and the people, which had never been ba-
nifhed for an inftant from the heart of the former;
when, previous to its diffolution, the Confticuent
Affembly had, in concert with the king, pro
claimed a general amnefty; when, throughout
the kingdom, the demonftrations of joy which
bordered on intoxication, ought to have reftored
"univerfal harmony and affection. People of
France, if I were not afraid of fubjedt ing my
felf to the imputation of wifhing to catch your
favour for myfelf, at the very time when all ideas of

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I47.
of myfelf are out of the queftion, I would explain
to you with what vivacity I then exhorted the
fugitive French to return to their country; to
pay a neceffary fubmiffion to a Conftitution that
was completed, of which 1 had been theconftant
adverfary during the whole period of its form
ation ; and of adopting a fincere refolution of
candidly trying to^devife fome means of render
ing it compatible with public order and tranquilr
lity. How fpeedily was the imprudence of my
advice demonftrated ! With how many reproaches
might any perfon who had followed it have load
ed me ! At kaft I fhould have fhared the danger
which I fhould have led them to incur. But the
laws, with the protection of which I flattered
them, no longer exifted but by the new Confti
tution ; and the ruling legiflators in the fecond
National Affembly boafted (as I fhall prefenrly
prove to you) of having, on the very day of their
arrival, laboured to ruin that Conftitution. Laws,
whatever they may be, onn only be rendered effi
cacious by the continued vigilance and adtion
of the executive power; and thefe legiflators
boafted of having laboured, on the very firft day
of their meeting, to enchain the prince in whom
that power was veiled; of having deprived him,
one after the other, not only of all his means of
action, but of all his me,ans of fafety. They
l 2 boafted

148- DEFENCE OF THE
boafted bf having fucceffively affailed him With
revolts, deprived him of his guard, confined him
in his palace, infulted him in his afylum, forced
him from his home, and thrown him into a dun
geon. In fhort, the amnefty was the only pledge
of fecurity to the expatriated French who might
return to their country ; we have feen what ufe
the fecond legiflature made of that amnefty ; and
the third faid, Amnefty is a crime which cannot
fc'reen other crimes!
People of France, attend to this. It was
on the 1 6th of 0 Bob er 1791, that Louis XVI.
recalled the French Emigrants, by a proclamation
which promifed every thing thathis own heart con
tained—order, juftice, peace, and the Oblivion Of
ailpaft injuries; and it was on that fame chy, that
Jourdan converted the ice-houfe at Avignon into
a cittern of blood. The fugitive Avignonefe re
ceived, at the fame time, the invitation to return
tovtheir country, and the news of the death that
awaited them there !
There was a moment in which they had ground
for hope. One month after this horrid enormity,
JouRDAN^nd his accomplices were difarmed arid
arretted, by the energy of the inhabitants of Avtg-
yion. Admirable effort of refpedt for the laws!
• 9 The

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. f4g
The Avignonefe believed them to exift, and
looked to them alone for vengeance. They did
not affaffinate the affaffin of their families. They
confined him, with his accomplices, in the
fame prifon which had been the theatre of his
crimes, and they afked for juftice. During 3
period of four months they afked in vain. Al
ready had impunity given birth to new criminals
in that unfortunate city, which fent deputies to
Carry the Amplications and the terrors of fas
inhabitants to the feet of the Legiflative Body , . T
People of France, I juft now tranfoprtedvou
to this fcene, perhaps as dreadful as that of the
Ice-houfe; I fhewed you thefe deputies pro-
ftr.ated ; I made you hear their cries; you faw
the Legiflative Body, inftead of giving them an
anfwer, let loofe Jourdan and his troop on th^
country which they had deluged with, blood, and
which had called for vengeance 00 their heads.
Do you fuppofe that, from that day, more na?
tives of Avignon would return to that city than
would leave it ? Do you think that the empire
of death, of terror, and of '.crime, had then ceafed
in France? Do you think that it actually began
on the 317? of M,ay 1793 ?
You will foon be compelled to acknowledge,
that that unfortunate province was far from being
l 3 the

150 defence of the
the only one which, at that time, experienced a
fimiiar fate : but thefe particulars belong to
anbther'part of my difcuffion.
• Let me conclude. Republicans, I muft again
quote one of your own authorities, one of the
reporters of your Committees. But this man
did not ftop fhort, like Boissy D'Anglas. He
fihifhed ther pidture, and revealed the whole
truth. Advert to the report of Bourdon de
l'Qise upon Barrere, Collot d'Herbois,
Billaud-Varennes, Choudieu, and ail the
ter'rorifts. fi For fix years," faid Bourdon de
l'Qise, " for six years, crime has been con-
« ftantl'y increafing; every epoch of the Revolu-
'«' Hon, every neyo event, has augmented the fero-
" cloufnefs 0} thefe villains. Whoever, has once
" dipped his hands in blood, whoever has pillaged
,c and maffacred, has always, a ivijh iq maffacre
" and pillage* ."
People of France, here you have the dura
tion oiterrorijm, and the charadter of the terror-
ift. Our tyrants admit, that we had a right to
fly from it during the laft fourteen months ; let
•Report' of Bourdon de l'Ois?, on the 24th ofMav
»795- them

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. l$l
them fhew us then, that it was our duty to fuffer,
ourfelves to be devoured by it during the firft
four years.
But take care, ye who are now inverted with
power; ye who, now again placed at the helm of
the Republic, were feated there at the' fame time
with Roberspierre ; I fhall now addrefs my
felf to you. You have told us, that all the crimes
committed after the 31ft of May ought to be
folely imputed to that monfter ; but you have not
yet informed us, whether others ought to fhare
with him the refponfibility attached to the crimes
which he had committed before that epoch ; but
you have not apprized us by what means he obr
tained thofe decrees, by which you enabled him
to inflict the blows which he meditated. There
is but this alternative : either he extorted thofe;
decrees from you by terror, — and, in that cafe,
how is it that the terror which operates as an ex
cufe for the adtions of an accomplice, is not to be
received as an excufe for the flight of a victim?—.
or elfe he received them from your own free will :
and then, what right had you to punifh Rober
spierre; with what face could you curfe his
memory ? Take care, I fay, if you advance
but ever fo little, you will place ypurfelves
irrevocably in the laft predicament; for now
l 4 that

$$2 DEFENCE OF THE
that RdBERsr-iERRE is no more, he can nd
longer infpire you with terror, and thofe perfons
who fhall perpetuate the execution of his will
after his death, will be deemed guilty of having
atford'ed him affiftance during his life.
Yes, I fay, the execution of his will; and it
is nOw time to give the laft blow to this mon
ftrous fyfterri of profcription. You how. enforce
that profcription without even thinking by whom
it was originally prepared ; you ihflidt punifh-
meift, without recolledting by whom it was or
dained. You have even forgotten who was the
nominal author of a decree,. which has defpoiled^
banifhedi deftroyed fo many thoufands of men,
women* and children. But I will recall him to
your "minds; you fhall fee what tyrant it was
that conceived that act of legiflation which, to
ufe the" expreffion of one- of your moft zealous
Republicans-; W.ould mtike the hair of a cannibal
ftdnd on end*. ¦: nan n;;1o -:-.-. ; ale
It was propofed on the tenth day after (.the
opening of the National Convention, and the
twenty-eighth after the maffacres of the 2d of
September. Roberspierre, in the firft moments
of his reign, did not much honour the Convention

* MarChena.

with

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 153
with his prefence or his fpeeches ; he oftener fre
quented that Parifian Commune which formed his
State-Council, and that club of Jacobins who
were the inftruments of his ambition, while they
only thought themfelves the auxiliaries of his
cruelty. Thence he fent his lieutenants to order
decrees of thofe reprefentatives of the' French
people, whom one of them has reprefented as
having their necks confiantly bent under the fword
of the tyrant, and only thinking of prolonging
their exiftence to fuch time as he fhould deem it
expedient to throw off the mafk *. And who was
the man whom Roberspierre feledted from the
whole number of his lieutenants to go and
order the decree againft all the Emigrants with
out diftindtion ? You know that at Rome the
laws were called by the name of the perfon who
propofed them ; that it was ufual to fay the Va-^
lerian law, the Appian law, the Pompeian law ;
as they now fay- in England, Pitt's Bill, Fox's
Bill. Well, then, let the decree againft the
Emigrants be called the law of Collot d'Her
bois ! ! ! Yes, it was Collot d'Herbois who,
in the career of crime, equalled Roberspierre-
in imagination, and furpaffed him in execution ;
it was Collot d'Herbois who, in the career
of affaffination, outftripped Jourdan of Avig-
* irRERO-N"s fpeech. non-,

l£4 DEFENCE OF THE
non; it was Collot d'Herbois, the banditti,
the plunderer, the butcher of Lyon; it was he who
found the fight of 219 heads ftruck off at one time
delicious; he who affembled fathers of families
by hundreds in order to deftroy them with grape-
fbot, and to fee them finifhed with fpades and
pick- axes; he who had not yet enough, and who
propofed to his mafter to difmifs a population of
60,000 men ; it was Collot d'Herbois whom
you yourfelves accufed and convidted of all thefe
crimes, whom -you loaded with imprecations",
whom you fentenced to tranfportation to Guiana;
infpired, perhaps, by an avenging providence,
who deemed death too light a punifhment for
fuch a criminal : he was the man, he was the
Legiflator, who, on Sunday the 30th of Sep
tember 1792, afcended the Tribune Of the Con
vention, and faid—
- There is a meafure' which has been long ne-
gletled, and which is neverthelefs of the utmoft
urgency. — A decree had been paffed by the Legif
lative Affembly, which configned all the Emi
grants to death. . . . This decree was palfied at
the time by what was called the Royal Veto. . . .
We muft revive it. — But it is not enough to pre
vent thofe Emigrants who fight againft their coun
try from efcaping the fword pf the law. . . .
They

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I55
They will certainly not- efcape, and we need trouble
Purfelves no farther about tbem.—But there is
another fpecies of Emigrants who are waiting for
an opportunity to return to France, and who are
perfuade d that the country will receive them into
her bofom ; becaufe they have not borne arms
againft her . . . No, the country will not receive
them, or will only receive in order to devour
them. . . . She difowns, Jhe rejecls, fhe profcribes
them. . . . I move that a decree be paffed to con-
fiign all Emigrants to death without dtftinclion *.
Thus, whenever crimes and murders became
the topic of difcuffion, Collot d'Herbois's
word, at Paris as at Lyon, for all France as for
• a fingle province, was confiantly, — it is not
enough I
And when his motion was made, who were
the men that rofe to fupport it ? — It was Cam-
bon, another Lieutenant of Roberspierbe's;
Cambon, againft whom, after the fall of his
mafter, you paffed a decree of accufation ; who
fled in confequence ; who, even while he lay
concealed, meditated frefh crimes ; and who was
• See all the Journals of the time, and particularly the
Journal of the Debates and Decrees. — Sitting of the 30th of
.September 1792. No. 11. p, 183. finally

1$& DEFENCE OF THE
finally declared by you to be dead in law in the
month of April 1795.
It was that Osselin, convicted, before the
Revolution, of having committed, in the office
of a Notary, the crime of forgery, with a view
to commit the crime of theft; Osselin, a re
volutionary judge, on the 2d of September,
who infolted all whom he maffacred ; Osselin,
the inftrument, the deferter, and the victim of
Roberspierre. Both thefe men repeated the obfervations of
Collot d'Herbois, in order to improve upon
them. They found that 'it was not enough to
attaint the Emigrants ; they infifted that all' the
Agents of Emigrants fhould be attainted. Cu
pidity formed a jundtion with ferocity, Or rather
revealed its principle and its objedt; it was
moved, that PinancierS, Bankers, Notaries, Com
panies, or Individuals, whoever had any property
or effecls belonging to Emigrants' in their' poffeffion,
fhould be obliged to 'make a declaration of the
fame within four-and-twenty hours, under pain
OF DEATH*.
And when all thefe propofitions united were
referred, for form's fake, to the Committee of
• Journal of the Debates, and Deems, pp.133, v^4-
Legiflation ;

FRENCH' EMIGRANTS. 157
Legiflatioft; when, on the day appointed for
the half-hour which they deigned to devote to
the purpofe of difcuffion, the Committee func
tioned, by its report, the law of Collot
d'HerSOis, and doomed all Emigrants to death
indifcriminately, what was the confequence ?
Why the confequence was, that Osselin himfelf
could hot but feel remorfe; that Osselin him
felf inveighed againft the word indifcriminately,
found it immoral and barbarous *, abfolutely in
filled that diftindtions fhould be made between
the Emigrants, and moved that another principle
fhould be eftablifhed on which the Committee fhould
prefent another plan.
And the law which appeared immoral and bar-
harous to an Osselin is now enforced under the
¦ name of a Conftitutional Law!
But as we every where meet with what Car
dinal Retz fo juftly defined — What is ridiculous
in what is abominable — Buzot ftarted up to
foften the law of Collot d'Herbois. Buzot
alfo indignantly exclaimed againft the punifhment
of death pronounced indifcriminately; Buzot
gave notice that he was going to reconcile juf
tice with humanity, and accordingly Buzot
• Journal of the Debates and Decrees, pp, 6Z4, 625. fpoke

J58 DEFENCE OF THE
fpoke literally as follows * : " I diftinguifh three
" forts of Emigrants; thofe who are taken with
*' arms in their hands, thofe who have fled to
"an enemy's territory, and thofe who have
" taken refuge in a neighbouring country. . . .
«« That would be a ftrange, law which con-
ft founded rhe treacherous, the cowardly, and
te the weak, — You muft make a diftindtion
" then. . . . On the other hand, if you do make
«c a diftindtion, your law will be rendered ufe-
" lefs, becaufe you will never be fufficiently
" informed to apply it without injuftice. . . .
" If true principles had been adhered to, would
" they all have been condemned to death or
" deportation ? No. . . . The means then of
" avoiding defpotifm is to pronounce a fentence
" of banifhment againft all, and a fentence of
*' death againft all who fhall return. . . . Then ¦
" you violate no principle. . . . You punifh the
« traitors who have raifed up enemies againft
" their country. ... The coward who has left
ct his country you do not deftroy ; you reject
" him. . . . You expel from the land of liberty
" men, ... who leave you, at their departure,
« all that they poffefs, their properly. . . . Let
<l them all therefore be banifhed, and let the

Journal of the Debates and Decrees, p. 626

" man

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. l$t)
" man who fhall dare to fet foot on our terri-
" tory be punifhed with death."
Thus fpoke, thus argued Buzot, and I ought
to add that I have given his expreffions literally.
The galleries, who had broken out into mur
murs *, when they heard him talk of juftice
and humanity, applauded him with tranfportf
as foon as they faw him proceed to banijhment
and death. Collot d'Herbois did not con
ceive that his law would lofe any thing by Bu-
zot's amendment, and took fpecial care not to
oppofe it. Danton, at that time the friend,
and almoft the colleague of Roberspierre;
Danton, that minifter of juftice, who, on the .
31ft of Auguft, had thrown into prifon, againft
the maffacres of the 2d of September, the un
happy Montmorin, who had been declared in
nocent by the revolutionary jury themfelves;
Danton, who had then faid to the jury and to
the counfel, who defended the prifoner that was
acquitted — " The queftion is not whether he be
" guilty or innocent ; it is whether he be an arif-
" tocrat or not." — This Danton fpoke after
Buzot. With that ferocious jargon, which
* Journal of the Debates and Decrees, p. 626.
t Ibid. formed

l6o DEFENCE OF THE
formed the diftindtive character of his eloquence,
he faid, When Liberty is in danger, fhe thirft s for
the blood of Tyranny ; but while fhe fpreads terror
among her enemies, fhe ought to make laws in a
calm ; and this law, if the propofition pf Buzot
be adopted, will become a law in a calm. Then
fo calm is he! fo much is his thirft for blood
quenched! that he identifies the country with
himfelf; and putting himfelf in the prefence of a
man who has emigrated from weaknefs, addreffes
him thus : — " Wretch, you left me in the day of
" peril. Well, now keep for ever at a diftance.
" Never appear again upon my territory. It has
" become a gulph to you. And if you dare to
<* brave the law, let the law caufe your head to
"fall*." At this word gulph, at this image of
falling heads, the galleries, tranfported with joy,
ordered Buzot to add his amendment to Col-
¦lot's law; Buzot obeyed, and the queftion was
called for amidft cries and fhouts.
A new prodigy then appeared. A voice4
overpowering all this noife, reprobated fuch pre
cipitation in pafftng a law a thoufand times mors
terrible than the revocation of the edicl of Nantes ;
exclaimed aloud, — That is impoffible; and in-
* Journal of the Debates and Decrees, p. 627. filled

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. l6l
lifted on a more deliberate difcuffion *. — This
voice was the voice of Camille Desmoulins!
Camille Desmoulins, the man who, in 1789,
had complaifantly ftyled himfelf — the Attorney-
general of the Lanterne, was ftricken with horror
at the profcriptions decreed in Odtober 1792, and
declared to be conftitutional in Auguft 1795.
Tallien excites lefs furprrze ; on that day he
was the Tallien of the yth of Thermidor ; but I
fhall take good care not to lofe a fingle word that
he uttered at this famous fitting, lf And I alfo,"
exclaimed TallienI, « think it impossible
" to clofe the difcuffion . . . In the word Emi-
" grants, you would include old men, women,
" and children who had been forced by their
"parents to quit prance . . . The word Emi-
" grants cannot be admitted into this law, for it
" is the fugitive and rebellious French that you
" wifh to punifh, and not mere Emigrants." Ro-
eerspierre's militia flew into a rage; the whole
houfe refounded with clamours, and the galleries
rofe and ordered the law of profcription to be
paffed. Tallien, raifing his voice above the
exclamations of rage, pronounced this prophecy,
* Journal of the Delates and Decrees, p. 627.
t Ibid,
M " You

jSl DEFENCE OF THE
" You: wile be one day forced to esta-
" blish this distinction*;" and he had the
courage again to move, that thefe words, " the
" fugitive and rebellious French," fhould be
fubftituted for the expreffion of cc Emigrants."
But Roberspierre had given his orders, and
the difcuffion already began to appear too long
to him. Pethion, who was prefident of that
memorable fitting; Pethion, the Mayor of the
ad of September; Pethion then hefitating be
tween the two parties, and making each of them
believe that he belonged to it; Pethion, bearing
in himfelf an equal analogy to the ferocity of
Collot and the flupidity of Buzot, favoured
the law which refulted from both. He clofed the
difcuffion, and in the midft of a noife refembling
that of ty'gers when they have feized their prey,
declared, " The National Convention decreet
u that all the French Emigrants are banifhed
"for ever from the territory of the Republic; and
(C that thofe who, in contempt of this law, fhall
*' return, fhall be punifhed with death." And the
report, the difcuffion, the fuffrages, and the pro
mulgation of this decree, had not altogether
occupied more than one third of a morning ; and
* Journal of the Debates and Decrees, p. 627. in

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 163
in France as out of it, over the whole extent of
Europe, or perhaps of the globe ; whole gene
rations, and perhaps whole ages were deftined to
feel the weight and to experience the punifhment
of this complication of calamities and of crimes
thus lightly decided ! ! ! ...
Divine Providence ! It was thy will that
the three principal criminals, Collot d'Her
bois the firft author, Buzot the fecond editor,
and Pethion the fupporter and promulgator of
that infernal profcription, fhould be punifhed in
a manner analogous to their crime. As to us,
in the unjuft and often glorious exile to which
they condemned us, there are at leaft fome
countries where we meet with a pious commife-
ration and a friendly hofpitality. < We are fure of
being^ well-received wherever there exifts a feel
ing heart, and refpected wherever there is to be
found a noble mind. Our confcience does not
forfake us ; it renders us fuperior to the difdaip
of infoknce, and gives us a right to' efteem our
gratitude as much as generoficy can efteem her*
benefadtions. In fhort, ic approves, confqles,
and fortifies us. But our three oppreffprs be
came Emigrants in their turn ! they fhared no
part of that property which they faid, with fo
much complacency, that we had left them. The
m 3 moment

164 DEFENCE OF THE
moment came in which they could no longer
find an afylum in that country which they had
converted into a gulph for us. Two of them
are no more*; obliged to fly, they retired to
thofe fame neighbouring countries, to that fame
Switzerland which was then generous and hof-
pitable to us ; and as if they thought that their
features revealed their crimes, they dreaded the
fight of a living being, they avoided the habit
ations of men, the towns, the villages, and
even the hamlets ; they became vagabonds, wan
dering from rock to rock, without a roof to
fhelter them, without clothing to cover them,
and without food to fupport their guilty lives.
Worn out at length by remorfe and inanition,
they expired with rage and hunger, and their
impure remains were found by chance, lying
half-devoured in a folitary cavern. The third
ftill lives ; but tranfported in virtue of a decree
which was much more applauded than that with
which he attainted us ; — but more criminal than
thofe who are moft criminal ; — but condemned
to bear the name of Collot, which is worfe
than the mark of Cain; he muft fooner or
later, fly from the inhabitants of Guiana as his
accomplices fled from the inhabitants of Switzer-
* Pethion and Buzot. land,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. l6$
land, and prepare for the tygers of America the
fame food which the others fupplied for the
bears of Europe.
People of France ! let us now repofe an in
ftant together. I have finifhed my difcuffion as
far as it affedts that defcription of Emigrants
who have not borne arms againft the Repub
lic. The ancients, at leaft fuch of them
as remained faithful to the voice of nature and
of reafon, required, for the conviction of a
criminal, proofs luce meridiand clariores. Well !
I have opened that day of innocence and of
juftice more fplendid than the noon- day' 's fun, not
merely on a fingle individual, not on a few
families, but on whole tribes of unfortunate
beings, who formerly conftituted a diftinguifhed
portion of one of the greateft people in the
world. Unfortunately, I could only bring this
about by expofing with the fame degree of force
that accumulation of crimes to which they be
came victims. Virtuous Republicans ! if I have
often imparted fatisfadtion to your hearts, I
have alfo often filled them with anguifh. More
than once I muft have thrown you into a painful
ftate of uncertainty ; and, in fadt, when the
phantom of a Republic is inceffantly involved
in the developement of fuch horrid fcenes, it re-
u 3 quires

166 defence of the
quires great ftrength of mind not to extend our
horror to the very name which has been ufed to le
gitimate fo many enormities. But let us not lofe
fight of juftice, for on juftice alone are our hopes
placed as well as your own. Let us acknowledge,
that as it was atrocious and abfurd to appreciate
the monarchy of the laft race by the butcheries
of the firft, fo would it now be unjuft and odious
to confound the Republic of 1795 with the Re
publics of the three preceding years ; the tri
bunals which punifh the Jacobins, with thofe
which adminiftered to their crimes; the two
councils which make laws, with the Convention
which ordained murders. But let us alfo ac
knowledge that this laft miftake would not be fo
difguftful as the firft; for fo long as the pro
fcription of all the Emigrants fhall be allowed to
fubfift, fomething of the old Republic will remain
in the new one. The work which fprang from
crime and which engenders crime remains; the
work which, incapable of being purified by any
mixture, will, on the contrary, corrupt every
thing that approaches it, will fix madnefs in the
bofom of wifdom, and, reduce that heart to the
dreadful neceffity of becoming criminal, which,
but for it, would have the ftrongeft difpofition
to preferve or to recover its innocence.
c. And

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 1 67
And pay particular attention, People of
France ! to that new charadter of perverfenefs,
which this injuftice will henceforth acquire,
fhould they ftill dare to fupport it. I had cer<-
tainly nothing more to do than to collect fadts ;
but thefe fadts were fcattered about, forgotten
by fome, unknown to others, buried amidft the
confufion and multiplicity of events, decrees,
and revolutions which have fucceffively effaced
each other. For a long time the greateft part
of our oppreffors only recollected that there
were profcribed perfons, without remembering
all the charadteriftic marks of the profcription ;
the victims themfelves felt their wounds bleed,
without knowing what hand had inflicted them.
Among the laft, vague and enfeebled complaints
indicated the exhauftion of defpair and almoft a
forgetfulnefs of their rights: among the others,
there was a regular form of outrage and calumny,
which had eftablifhed a kind of poffeffion ; and
as it feldom happens, that founds which per
petually ftrike the ear do not finifh by inflilling
fome prejudice into the mind; as impoftors, by
the habit of repeating their falfhoods, at laft per
fuade themfelves that they are true, fo the cruel
man, by confiantly giving the name of juftice
to his cruelty, and the qualification of guilt to
his vidtims, may fometimes come to believe
m 4 that

i6"8 DEFENCE OF THE
that he is nothing more than fevere. But here the
whole heap is collected together ! Here all re
collections are awakened, all confciences warned,
all rights revivified. Here the whole fyftem of
that horrible profcription, difencumbered from
all that obfcured it, is difplayed in full light.
All its parts are connected together. It is feen,
it is followed, in its birth, in its means, in its
execution, in its confequences. Thofe who,
like you, worthy and wife Republicans ! feel the
want of juftice in their hearts, and feel it to be
neceffary for the fafety of the Republic, will re
joice to fee themfelves relieved from the difgrace
of being concerned in a crime fo. manifeft and
fo hideous. They will from this moment ex
claim, Let the Law of Collot d'Herbois be
anathematized ! they will no longer invoke
clemency, but juftice, for every Emigrant who
is accufed of nothing more than having merely
abandoned France. As to the men, if men they
can be called, to whom Collot d'Herbois and
Roberspierre have bequeathed their minds and
their inclinations, they will at leaft perceive
that in fpeaking of us in future, they muft re
nounce all thofe common place infuks, of Treafon,
of Cowardice, of Infamy ; becaufe it has been
clearly demonftrated, that to them alone do thofe
appellations apply, while I, on the contrary, am
pleading

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 169
pleading before you, People of France, for
the martyrs of fidelity, for them who have carried
the courage of virtue even to temerity, for beings,
in fhort, of both fexes and of all ages, who, at
the rifk of incurring greater calamities, refolved
to preferve a pure, heart, and pure hands. Yes,
whoever ye be, who fhall ftill dare to fupport the
Law of Collot d'Herbois, ye can no longer
be either criminal or audacious by halves. Hy-
pocrify is no longer practicable ; I have reduced
you to the neceffity of ufing one language; and
that language is this : —
" The Law of Collot d'Herbois was not
" more congenial to his mind than to our minds.
" Collot d'Herbois, Carrier, Le Bon,
<c Barrere, Couthon, Saint- Just, andRo-
" berspierre were our colleagues, our friends,
" our aflbciates, until they endeavoured to be-
" come our rivals and our mafters. All thofe
" whom they put to death previous to the 31ft
" of May 1793, were put to death juftly; be-
cc caufe at that time they executed their projedts
" of deftrudtion in concert with us. All who
" were put to death after the 31ft of May would
" have been put to death with equal juftice, if
" they had not wifhed to put us to death alfo.
" It

IJTO DEFENCE OE THE -
" It is our pleafure to date the reign of Terror,
" not from the day on which we extended it, in
te conjunction, over all France; but from the
" hour at which they extended it to ourfelves.
" Now that we have punifhed their treachery to
<c us, we will purfue the accomplifhmemt of their
tc defigns upon you. We will finifh the career
" which we began with them, and which they
" would ftill be purfuing with us, if they had
*c been as faithful to their accomplices as they
" were pitilefs to their vidtims. The Law of
*c Collot d'Herbois shall be executed."
How long can a Republic, in which fuch lan
guage is holden, and fuch a fyftem purfued, be
expected to laft ? This is a point which I fhall
examine prefently ; but hitherto I have only dif-
cuffed the queftion of what is juft, and not that
of what is ufeful.
People of France! it is demonftrated, then,
if ever any thing were demonftrated among
men ; it is a maxim of juftice, then, a mathe
matical truth, that all the French Emi
grants, WHO HAVE NOT BORNE ARMS, OUGHT
TO 3E ERASED FROM THE LIST OF PROSCRIBED
persons. — Let us now attend to thofe who are

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 171
are accufed of having betrayed their country,
becaufe they have borne arms.
I think I now hear one of thofe men whom I
addreffed juft now, one of thofe unfortunate
heirs of the mind and inclination of Collot
d'Herbois, groan at feeing me enter upon this
new difcuffion, and murmur, with a concentrated
rage, even in this clafs he is going to find them
all innocent.
All . . . Heaven fend it ! And I am very
certain that the more names I fhall fucceed in
erafing from the lift of profcribed perfons, the
more favour I fhall acquire with thofe before
whom both you and I are now on trial. Yes,
People of France! and you would be offended
were I to doubt it; yes, you will blefs my efforts
the more, you will deem me the more deferv-
ing, the more I fhall have relieved you from the
misfortune of misjudging, from the torment of
hating, and from the difgrace of fuffering to be
affaffinated, in your name, fo many innocent
objects, whom the prejudice of terror and the
activity of calumny, whom all your tyrants and
all your fufferings muft have accuftomed you to
confider as criminals. But

171 defence of the
But ye whom the idea of crime encourages,
and whom the name of innocence alarms, will
ye not ftill accede to this general propofition ? —
If it were true, that, in the clafs of armed Emi
grants, there were different defcriptions, — if it
were true, that, among thofe different defcriptions,
there were feveral in whom the ail of taking up
arms, was a Right, a Merit, a Necessity,
a Duty, would it not be unjuft to confound them
with thofe to whom fuch acl might be imputed as
a crime ?
Now, People of France! I have a feries of
queftions to propofe to them, which I dare pre
fent to you at the fame time as to them : Simple
queftions, to which I requeft an anfwer equally
fimple. In a country in which there is no law that
protects me, and in which there is a force that
attacks me, have I the right to employ a force
that defends me ?
If in fuch country, a barrier be raifed up be
tween me and my field, have I the right to leap
over it or to throw it down ?
If bands of banditti have violated my domeftic
afylum, and carried off my property, have I the
right

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I73
right to affemble a troop of friends, and attempt
to recover what belongs to me ?
If I have been expelled, by force of arms,
from my houfe, have I the right to make good
my entrance into it by force of arms ?
If, after having declared to me, by an adt
which was called an Imperifhable Law, that I
might leave my country at pleafure; if after
having forced me to leave it for my own fafety
and repofe, they had punifhed the mere act of
departure by perpetual banifhment, by general
confifcation, by death in the event of an attempt
to return to my native land, would juftice autho
rize me to return, holding in one hand the law
which was to guarantee my right, and in the
other the fword that was deftined -to defend my
life ?
If my family have, like myfelf, been expelled,
banifhed, defpoiled, profcribed, is it a duty in
me to go and reconquer their habitation, and
their means of fubfiftence ? If they have been
immolated, maffacred, have I the right to in
flict vengeance on their affaffins ? If I know that
they are buried in dungeons, confounded with
that innumerable crowd of French of both fexes and

174 defence of the
and pf all ages, who are daily heaped together iii
carts, to be executed in a mass, under the dif-
guifed form of a trial, does juftice give me the
right, does nature impofe it as a duty to call
Heaven and Earth to their affiftance, to cry out
to all governments, and to all men ;-—Arms !
Arms ! that I may go and fnatch my mother,
wy wife, my fifters, my daughters, from the
knives pf the affafjins who are going to mur
der them ?
If the affections of nature permit me to in
dulge my affections to my country ; if I am un
able to fupport the difgrace, the flavery, and
the defolation of my native land, will it be a
merit in me to devote myfelf to the removal of
its fhame, the deftrudtion of its tyrants, and the
Ee-eftablifhment of its tranquillity ? Have paft
ages made it a merit in Thrasybulus, in
Thrasybulus exiled, profcribed, a fugitive, to
have returned for the purpofe of revenging and
releafing his country from the yoke of the Thirty
Tyrants ? Will future ages make it a merit in
the Thermidorians to have taken up arms to de
ftroy the execrable Roberspierre, to bury
with him the companions of his tyranny, and to
clofe the infernal den of Jecobinifm? Laftly,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS? JJ$
Laftly, I will fuppofe that having been up-
juftly banifhed by the Thirty or by the Seven
Hundred tyrants of my country ; that plunged
with my whole family into the abyfs of mifery,
I had been folely indebted, during two years, for
their fubfiftence and for my own to the benefac
tions of a foreign power ; that that power had
one day faid to me, — " Here are arms, come
" and fight with thofe who have fed you, againft
*' thofe who have flarved you ; if you refufe to
" march, to morrow there will be no more
" bread to be had either for you or for your
" family." Would it then be a duty and a ne
ceffity in me to take up arms ? Is there a neceffity
for a man to be fed ? Is it a duty in a fon, a huf
band Or a father, to facrifice himfelf in order to
obtain bread for his aged parents, for his flarving
wife, or his wetched children ?
Republicans ! I have demanded a fimple anfwer
to thefe fimple queftions. No phrafes. A mere
Tes, or No.
Ah! I hear the People of France unani-
moufly exclaim Tes, and thofe who will not join
in the exclamation remain filent. The laft effort
of the moft obftinate tyrants would be not to do
homage to truth in this inftance, not to confefs it

J76 DEFENCE OF THE
it with their mouths ; but no man's lips will dare
to deny it, no man's mind will dare to reject it.
My principles are eftablifhed.
Well, then, let us lay down our firft in
ference : — that every French Emigrant who has
had the misfortune to bear arms, but who may
truly be claffed under one of the defcriptions
which I have juft mentioned, is erafed by the
finger of juftice from the book of profcription; for
he has only exercifed the moft imprefcriptible of
Rights, or difcharged the moft facred of Duties,
or acquired the firft of Merits, or been led away
by the moft refiftlefs of Necefftties.
They will all come undert he defcription ! again
exclaim our perfecutors. Take care ; for if you
fay true, if in fact they can all come under this
defcription, you cannot attaint any of them.
For my part, I dare not venture to hope that
every one of them will be able to affume the
charadter which I have flared. But in leaving
to all the natural and legal right of provoking
an inquiry, which, alas ! the fcythe of deftruc-
tion has rendered more eafy than you imagine,
I fhall, beginning from the firft period at which
there were any Emigrants, (fince that is the name
agreed upon,) point out thofe who, from that
7 moment

FRENCH EMIGRANT'S; 177
moment and for ever, it will be impoffible for
me to confider as criminals.
People of France ! I here ftand in need of
your generofity; and, perhaps, I have fome claim
to it. Perhaps, the defender who forgets his own
interefts may be entitled to call upon his judges
to forget their prejudices; for, in fhortj laying
afide that character of Foreigner to which the
Conftitution of 17 91 had reduced .me, and con-
fidering myfelf as a Frenchman, I am, myfelf,
one of the victims who made their efcape*
It was on the eve of the 2d of September that
Providence releafed me from the prifon of the
Abbaye, — and may it have preferved me to be,
at this inftant, one of the feeble inftruments of
its beneficence ! — I have taken no part in the
war, and I deprecated, in its principle, the fatal
aufpices under which it began. Thus you fee*
that a vulgar addrefs, an egotiftical fpirit for
which it is but too eafy a matter to find an ex
cufe in the prefent times, would lead me to trace
out, to ftrengthen. inceffantly, the line of demar
cation between the two claffes of Emigrants,
and confiantly to return to that 2d of September,
and if not to devote, which, indeedj would be
too difgufting, at leaft to forget, in my defence,
all that clafs of vidtims who emigrated before
n that

278 DEFENCE OF THE
that horrid epoch. But may the foil of France
open and fwallow me up, rather than purchafe
the permiffion to return to my home by rejecting
thofe who have the fame juft claims as myfelf to
that indulgence, at whatever epoch they emi
grated, or however different the conduct they
have purfued fince their emigration. Curfed be
any one of us, who, loft in the midft of fuch
obfcurity, who, bent beneath the weight of fo
many calamities, fhall dare lay claim toexclufive
purity for a fingle opinion, to exclufive intereft:
for a fingle misfortune, to exclufive reparation
for a fingle injuftice ! A nation of fufferers is a
nation of brothers ; and thofe whom fortune has
placed in a lefs defperate fituation ; thofe whom
the ftorm leaves ftill floating on fome fcattered
pieces of the wreck, become unworthy of being
faved, if they do not ftretch out their hand to
refcue their fellow-creatures who are finking
around them.
Frenchmen ! a war broke out between the
Romans and the Privernates, which feemed def
tined to laft until one of the two people fhould
be exterminated^ Rome ultimately triumphed.
Befieged in their laft town,, the vanquifhed fued
for peace. Their Ambaffadors having been in
troduced to the Senate, the Conful afked them
what

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. T79
Zvhat chaftifement they thought they deferved?
That chaftifement, — anfwered the Ambaffadors,—
which Free Men deferve, who, feeling that they
had not degenerated from their anceftors, exerted
eveiy effort to preferve the inheritance which they
had received from them. , The Senate expiated the
infolence of the Conful, and rewarded the courage
of the vanquifhed by the reftitution of their ter
ritory, and by making them Roman Citizens.
People ! it is by fuch means as thefe that the
exiftence of a Republic is fecured; thinking you
worthy of fuch examples, I am now going to
review the conduct of one portion of Emigrants
who have borne arms, and then to afk you
whether thefe men deferve the chaftifement which
is due to criminals ?
There are certain auguft misfortunes which
cannot be approached without trepidation, nor
difcuffed without fcruple j misfortunes which we
would willingly have averted at the expence of
our lives, and with regard to which filent refpedt
is due when effectual relief cannot be afforded :
But can I obferve a total filence on that glorious
race, which was compelled to fly from a country
of which it had fo frequently conftituted the pride
and the defence ? But could I, without incurring
jhe guilt of blafphemy, attach the name of
n 2 criminals

'l8e> DEFENCE OF THE
criminals to thofe three generations of Heroes,
who, purfued by fo much injuftice and ingrati
tude ; who, informed, in their exile, of the le
gal dilapidation of their patrimony, the impious
profanation of their trophies, the unpunifhed
murder of their fervants ; who, finding them
felves furrounded, on all fides, by the fnares of
crime, nobly appealed from the daggers of their
enemies to their own fwords ; efpecially when
they have waged a war, not merely loyal, but
fublime ; when they have taken pleafure in paying
ro republican valour the fame tribute of admi
ration which they have known how to infpire by
their own * ; when they have detefted the bare
idea of reprifals which you yourfelves could not
have deemed unjuft, but which they have never
thought themfelves authorized to ufe ; when they
have not had a fingle prifoner in their power,
without immediately recollecting that he was
born their fellow-citizen ; without immedi
ately bellowing on him that magnanimous treat
ment, which finally triumphed over all the bar
barity of the decrees, and reftored all the French
* " No, nothing can equal the valour efthe French Royalifis,
" except that of the French Republicans," faid the Duke
d'Enghien, after a battle in which he had been wounded,
and in which his father and grandfather had had their
clothes pierced through and through with bullets. warriors

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. iii
warriors to the native generofity of their cha
racters ? Do you think that thefe men would be
entitled to tell you, in the language of the Pri-
vernates, — " We had not degenerated from our
" anceftors?"
People of France ! Shall I beftow the ap
pellation of criminals upon men, for taking up
arms againft the Revolution, who were the
fons, the brothers, the relations, or the friends
of Launay, Flesselles, Foulon, Berthier,
Montesson, Mesmay, Barras, Batilly,
LlSTENAY, MONJUSTIN, AMBLY, St. Co-
LOMBE, REUILLY, VoiSINS, ALBERT, BONNE-
val, St. Julien, Villars, Castelet, La
Jaille, Mauduit, Escayrac, Pascalis,
Massey, Clarac, Chaponay, Guillin, Ro-
chegude, Du Hamel, La Rochefoucault ?
. . . But I muft flop;— for the mournful lift
would fill a volume.
Shall I ftigmatize as criminals the relations,
the comrades of the interefting Varicour, of
the refpectable Miomandre, of all thofe heroic
victims of the famous 6th of October (1789),
who, as faithful to the wifhes of, as united in their
devotion to, Louis XVI., rather chofe to receive
death, than to avert it from themfelves by in-
n 3 flitting

I$2 DEFENCE OT THE
fiidling it on others; and whofe truly celeftia>
virtue could neither obtain vengeance for their
memory, nor juftice and fecurity for the object*
of their affection and of their facrifice ?
Shall I call that man criminal for taking up
arms, who was placed under the fcaffold, that
the blood of his brother who was about to he
executed might fall upon his head ?i-Or him
whom I faw wandering about in Switzerland,
breathing fhort, his eyes fixed, confiantly feeing
the palpitating heart of his mangled brother,
conftantly hearing the cries of a mother whorn.
grief had deprived of her fenfes ?
I have hitherto only fpoken of individuals $.
let us now fpeak of whole provinces.
God forbid that I fhould lay before you, for
the third time, the agonizing picture of that
town erft fo fortunate, of that people which
were fuddenly removed from the protection of
the moft paternal government upon earth, to be
placed under the fangs of the moft ferocious
tyranny that the world ever knew ! Yet I have
hitherto only recalled to your minds the fcenes
exhibited at Avignon, for the purpofe of juftify-
ing the flight of its inhabitants; but attend
8 clofely

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. l8j
clofely to all which that city of forrow fuffered,
from the firft day * on which Three Hundred of
the principal families left it at the fame time, to
the laft epoch f when a flourifhing population of
Thirty Thoufand Souls was reduced to a miferable
herd of Five Thoufand flaves or inftruments of
Jacobinifm ; and tell me whether every inhabit
ant of Avignon, who had the power, had not
the right to raife up the whole world againft
the indefatigable executioners of his wretched
country ?
I have told you that many other provinces ex-.
perienced the fame fate at the fame periods and
in the fame way ; attend to thefe expreffions.
At the fame periods ; that is to fay, not only
during the two years that were employed in
forming that Conftitution, which could not, it
was faid, be purchafed too dearly; but during
a whole year after the eftablifhment, or, in other
words, during the whole exiftence of that Con
ftitution which was deftined, it was faid, to
eftablifh univerfal peace and happinefs :
* The firft maffacre in 1 790.
t After the abfolution of Jourdan in 1792.
N 4 In

184 DEFENCE OF THE
In the fame way ; that is to fay, that thefe de*
folated provinces were not only given up to thq
cupidity of banditti, and the rage of affaffins,
but to the treachery of thofe conftituted powers,
from which they were entitled to expect fhelter
and protedtioh.
Thefe are the two motives on which I muft
now dwell, n They conftitute the rule by which
the queftion relating to the Emigrants who have
taken up arms muft neceffarily be tried; be
caufe endlefs perfecution produces defpair; be
caufe murder, protected by the law, admits of no
other means of defence than arms. It is that
which reduces man to a ftate of nature; it is
that which gives him the right, that which im-
pofes on him the neceffity of feeking in force tha$
fafety which he can find no where elfe.
Thus, when I erafe from the lift of criminals,
all thofe Lyonnais who have taken up arms, it is
not merely becaufe they faw their manufac
tories deftroyed, their eftates laid wafte, the
fiofpitable manfions of their moft generous citi
zens levelled with the ground*; it is not merely
* See, among others, in the memoirs apd proces-verbaux
cf the times, the complete deftruftion of the manfion of M.
de Chaponay, a man, every day of whofe life had been
njarked by fome aft of beneficence. May 24, 1791. becaufe

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. |8r
becaufe the venerable Guillin * was cut in
pieces by the light of the flames which were
confuming his country-houfe; it is not merely
becaufe one group of his affaffins were appre
hended in a wood, as they were running after
his wife and children, and another were fur-
prifed in a public-houfe, devouring the limbs of
the victim whom they had facrificed ; but it is
becaufe the juftice of the Conftituent Affembly
fuffered thofe anthropophagi to live peaceably in
a temporary prifon; becaufe the clemency of the
legiflative affembly turned them loofe, in virtue
of an amnefty, on the territory of Lyon, as they
did Jourdan on that of Avignon, and becaufe
the liberation of the murderers of Guillin an
nounced, even then, the proconfulate of Collot
d'Herbois. Thus in Burgundy, when, as the firft bleffed
effect of the new Conftitution, rectors, old men,
and country gentlemen f, who went, with per
fect refignation, wherever the law called them J,
were fome of them affaffinated with knives,
Others murdered with bludgeons, others ftoned,
* 26th May 1791.
t MefEeurs de Saint-e-Colombe, de Damas, de
Sainte-Maure, the Reftor of Massigny, &c.
J At the Primary Affemblies. and

lS"6 DEFENCE OF THE
and their limbs carried about in triumph;
Thus in Normandy, when, after the promulgation
of the new national compact, in one day and in
one town, eighty-four of the principal proprie
tors were dragged out -of a church, hurried to
prifon, loaded with infults and with blows on
the way, feyeral of them wounded, others maf-
facredon the fteps of the altar or in the ftreets*,
every Burgundian, every Norman, who ran to
arms, was abfolved by neceffity and often jufli-
fied by duty.
If whirlwinds of fire, if I may be allowed to
ufe fuch an expreffion, had, at certain epochs,
devoured the inhabitants of Brittany and their
habitations f, juftice and compenfation might
have been obtained by law ; but when a decree,
treating thefe enormities as the effect of a mo-
* At Caen, November 1 79 1.
f See an authentic lift of fifty-five country feats or habita
tions of public officers, who, on the 13th of March 1793,
alone, and only in, one part of Brittany, were befieged,
pillaged, or burnt. The name of each place and that of
each proprietor are fpecified. M. Mallet du Pan with
this lift anfwered the impoftors or the fools, who then faid,
and who ftill daily repeat, that perhaps, in all France, thfre
might have been eight or ten country feats, of •which the ivindovos
•were broken. It is Roberfpierre lamenting that one innocent
fer/on fliould have perifhed in the mafi acres of the zd of September. mentary.

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 187
tnentary error, had juft put a ftop to all the pro
ceedings begun, and reftored the prifoners to
liberty * ; when another had preferred accufa
tions againft the very magiftrates of the people,
who enforced the prefervation of order with a
feverity that was truly beneficent -j- ; when a fe
cond National Affembly had juft added to the de
ftrudtion of property the torment of confciences,
fo fenfibly felt in thofe religious countries!";
when a third fent proconfuls there, whofe cruelty
created war, by reducing even the timid inha
bitants, and fubmiftive individuals || to defpair ;
could it be fufpedted, that the fame Convention
which uttered thefe laft words, would dare apply
the name of criminal to any of the Bretons who
fought, no matter where, pro aris etfocis?
If all the towns in Languedoc § had been alter
nately expofed to the attacks of thofe ambula-,
* Decree of Auguft 9, 1790.
¦f Decree of February 14, 1791.
J See the Journal of that Affembly, beginning at the Sit
ting of Oftober 21, 1791, at which it was propofed, to con
fine the priefts in a fold, in order to tranfport fome of them,
and to maffacre, drown, znd fiarve the others.
|| Report of the Committee on the Civil War in the Weft.
§ Touloufe, Montauban, Montpellier, Nimes, Alais, Vzes,
Sommiers, St, Gilles, Lunel, &c. tory

l88 • DEFENCE OF THE
tory banditti, who, armed with flicks, and call-.
ing themfelves the Executive Power, infulted
the modefty of the women, mutilated and knock
ed down the men, fell upon the congregations
proftrated in the churches, and threw the ruins
of the altars at their heads ; if more deftrudlive
arms had, at twenty different times, deluged
thefe fame towns with the blood of their
citizens, their magiftrates, and their priefts * ;
they might ftill have been deterred from
drawing the fword of vengeance by fhewing
them that the fword of the law was prepared to
do them juftice. But when decrees of the legif
lature pardoned and encouraged maffacres; when,
making the addreffes of fix thoufand citizens
difappear before the libels of four hundred Jaco
bins, municipalities the moft fcrupuloufly con^
ftitutional were interdicted and broken ; when,
after a new free eledtion had been ordained, the
electors were exprefsly forbidden to vote, for
the magiftrate who enjoyed their confidence;
when, through fear of not being obeyed, the
right of fuffrage was taken away from that por-
* Montauban, 13 March, 10 May 1790 ; Toulou/e, iS, 19,
and 20 April 1790; Nimes, 29 March, 3 and 4 May, 13, 14,
15, 16, and 17 June 1790; Ux.es, February 1791 ; Beziers,
February 1791; All Vivarais, May 1791; Montpellier, Nimes,
lfx.es, Alais, November J791, &c. tion

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 189
tion of citizens who had a better claim to it than
any other * ; when equally protected by the
fecond legiflature, but vanquifhed in the primary
affemblies, the armed Jacobins violated the
fandtuary of eledtion, feized the lifts of voters,
which in fome places they threw into the fire,
and in others drowned in blood, pointing cannon
againft one houfe, fhooting old men and women
in another, fufpending at the door of a third the
head of its murdered mafter f ; when not only
noblemen and men of wealth, but whole towns
were difarmed and abandoned, without defence,
to the mercy of their executioners ; when in one
day fix hundred families emigrated from Mont-
pettier, what juft man could deem them criminal
for having taken refuge in a camp ? What
virtuous man would not have fupplied them with
arms in lieu of thofe which had been taken from
them by force ?
I fhall take ftill more particular notice of
Provence, becaufe, independently of her
* Decrees of the nth of May, 17th June, 26th July,
7th September, 23d November, 31ft December 1790;
26th February 1791, &c.
f See the letter written from Montpellier on the 17th
November 1791. inferted in the Mercure Politique of the 10th,
of December following. towns

fgd DEFENCE OF THE
towns * fmoaking like thofe of Languedoc with
fire and blood, protection was there granted to the
affaffins and incendiaries, probably with a more
open difregard of decency than any where elfe.
There, every proceeding begun againft the enor
mities that had been committed was defpotically
annulled. There, the indictments were forcibly
taken from the judges who were proceeding to
try them confcientioufly, in order to carry them
before other judges, who tried them in what was
called a revolutionary way\. There, the National
Affembly dared to fend a folemn decree, ex-
prefsly requiring, that after the parties accufed
had been examined, the proceedings fhould be fent
to the Committee of Refearch, and the judgment
Jufpended until that Committee had made known
its decifion on the caufe%. There, on reading
the evidence, which carried conviction in every
line, another decree was fent to finifh the whole
bufinefs, by fetting all the culprits at liberty |[.
There, in fhort, as throughout the South of
France, by a rapid fucceffion of unpunifhed
* Aix, Mar/eilles, Aries, Toulon, Graffe, &c. Auguft and
December 1789, February, March, April, May, Auguft,
September, December 1790, January 1791, Auguft 1792.
f Decrees of 8th December 1789, 30th January, 18th
March, 7th Auguft, 25th September 179®, &c.
J Decree of 25th January 1791.
|j Decree of 21ft May 1791. crimes,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 10*
crimes, the blood ftill flowed under the daggers
of the affaffins at the approach of the famous
Tenth of Auguft *. There, the Legiflative Af
fembly, inftead of endeavouring to reprefs the
Marfeillaifes bands, folicited them as a favour to
fend an auxiliary detachment, which, within
three hours after its entrance into Paris, had
affaffinated fome of the National guards of the
metropolis f.
I faid at the approach, but I ought to have
faid, on the eve, of the Tenth of Auguft. People
of France ! deign to fix your attention on that
epoch which will foon be proved to be of great
importance. I fhall not extend my lift of the provinces J;
which were a prey to that execrable anarchy. I
will not recall to your minds all the particulars
of thofe gibbets with which the fields and roads
were covered ; thofe papers which were affixed
to them, bearing the infcription of, receipt in
full for rent ; thofe illuminated manfions ; thofe
* 14th of Jury 179Z, at Alais, 21ft at Bordeaux, zzd at
Mar/eilles, 25th at Aries, 5th Auguft at Toulon, Sec.
\ At the Champs Eli/ees, and in the Rue St. Florentin, 30th
July 1792.
t Dauphine, Franche-Comte, Perigord, Angoumois, Pcitou,
SJuerci, the Limouftn, Touraine, &c. &c. tortures

tt)1! DEFENCE Oi THE
tortures of every kind by which the renunciation1
of their rights and the furrender of their title"-*
deeds were extorted from the proprietors ; the
National Affembly finifhing by preferring the
invitations of Roberspierre to thofe of Louis
XVI.*, and the Conftitution itfelf tearing open
all thefe wounds inftead of healing them, com
pleting all thefe loffes inftead of repairing them,
offering to all that clafs of peaceable proprietors,
of beneficent, ruined, threatened, fugitive pro
prietors, an infult inftead of a compenfation, an
amnefty inftead of an afylum; that is to fay, art
encouragement to the banditti to renew their
atrocious proceedings, and a means to the new
legiflature of feconding them. I will not add
to the lift of phyfical evils and dangers the long
feries of moral pains, affronts, calumnies, agi-
* Louis XVI. had invited the Conftituent Affembly to
imitate the generous conduft ( i) of the city of London, which",
at the time of Lord George Gordon's fedition, indemni
fied the proprietors for the houfes which had been burnt by the
mob. Roberspierre fimply faid, I invite the Affembly to
treat the people vjho burn the country-feats vsith mildne/s. — Do
not prophane the name 0/ people, — exclaimed M. d'Espreme-
nh,- fay, the banditti. — Roberspierre coolly replied —
/ ntiill /ay, if you cboo/e, the citizens vjho bum the country-
feats. (Sittings of February 1790.}
( 1 ) It is almoft needlefs to obferve to an Englifh reader, that the author
here miftakes the enforcement of a pofitive law for an aft of gene
rofity .— 7'ranjlator. tation,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. I93
tation and forrows, capable of rendering life far
more dreadful than death. I fear I have faid too
much, although it did not become me to fay
lefs. Alas! let not any body fuppofe that I
delight in recrimination, or take a pleafure in
contemplating fuch pictures as thefe ! I only
look forward to the day when it will he poffible
to banifh them from my mind, and to confign
them to eternal oblivion. But fo long as the
vidtims are treated as criminals, it is neceffary
to prove that they are victims, and innocent
vidtims.— So long as war is declared to be the
work of the Emigrants, it is neceffary to fhew
on which fide the aggreffiOn lies, and on which
fide the defence. It is neceffary to demonftrate
by evidence that there are, at" this: time, men
condemned to die, by judges who, fhudder at
the fentence they pronounce, for having defended
their lives againft triumphant affaffins.
People of France! we are at length arrived
at the Tenth of Auguft 1792.
You have feen that on the eve of that me
morable day, there was neither liberty, property,
public nor perfonal fecurity in France ; on the
contrary, tyranny, ufurpation, and conftant and
ferocious aggreffion were eftablifhed. Permit
o me

IQ4 BEFENCE OF THE
me to advert to this epoch. Qn the 2 2d of
July, a Woman * was torn into pieces, and her
head carried about in triumph on the end of a
.pike. On the 5th of Auguft, all the Members
of a Directory, to the number pf nine, were
affaffinated together, for an attempt to maintain
the laws f. On the 8 th of Auguft, not. the
Minority, but the Majority of the Represent
atives of the Nation were attacked with
ftones, knives, and fabres, for having repelled
an unjuft accufation £. On the ioth of Auguft,
the National Assembly was reduced, by the
influence of terror and of threats, from Seven
Hundred and Forty -fiveMembe^St to "I. wo Hundred*
and, Eighty -four ||.
But, during this time, where were the French
who had been driven away, or who had effected
their efcape from this wretched fcene of rapine and
cruelty; who, with the moft lawful vengeance
and rights to exercife, not merely abandoned,
but oppreffed, by the law, only expected fafety
and juftice from the power of arms ? And what
had thefe men done at the epoch of the Tenth of
Auguft 1792 ?
* Madame G a i l l ar d at Marfeillet. f At Toulon.
% See the Moniteur of the i ith of Auguft. 1792, No. 224.'
|| Pnces-Verbaux.—Hiftorical recital of th Revolution of
the loth of Auguft, p. 242.
8 People

FRENCH EMIGRANTS.' 1 95
People of France ! I claim your attention;
They had not yet taken the field; they
had hitherto done nothing.
Done nothing ! What ! Had they not
armed foreign powers ? What ! were they not
the caufe and the object of the war ? What !
was it not through them and for them that the
conflagration which now confumes both^ hemi-
fpheres was enkindled ?
No, People of France ! and it is time to
correct an error in which you have been ftudioufly
lcepr, in order that the name of Emigrant might
remain in your minds* attached to each facrifice,
to each grief, to each vexation, to each punifh
ment which the law might bring down upon you j
in order that your refentment, diverted far'from
the real authors of your calamities, might be
exclufively directed againft your predeceffors and
your companions in misfortune; in Order that
your fufferings might be rendered inftrumental
to the views of your tyrants in cherifhing your
hatred againft their enemies ; in order that your
own loffes might give you an intereft in the loffes
of Others, whofe fpoils were reprefented as the
only poffible indemnification you could expect.
0 2 It

I96 DEFENCE OF THE
It is time that you fhould know to whom this-
war is to be imputed, which, in four years, has
confumed more than twenty-five times the
amount of all your fpecie, and more than thirty-
three times the amount of the whole territorial. re
venue ; which has plunged you, not into rivers,
but into feas, of blood ; has devoured one eighth
of your population ; has produced, in fhort,
more crimes at home than vidtims abroad; and,
by the fide of every trophy confecrated to vic
tory, has erected a monument to misfortune.
Frenchmen ! if you wifh to believe the
truth, reft affured that the Jacobins alone
brought on this war, that they alone declared
it, and that they alone wifh to continue it.
Obferve, fo early as the 20th Odtober. 1791,
Brissot, at that time a Jacobin*, in the Tribune
the Legiflative Affembly, which fcarcely ex-
ifted. Already, in the midft of provocations,
outrages, and threats, he faid to his colleagues,
" Xou ought either to avenge your glory, or to
* The fchifm between the Jacobins -and the Girondins was
not formed 'till more than a year after. Hitherto an unity
of dogmas, practice, and object had prevailed between them.
The Girondins were at beft but a private congregation in the
Great Church. " condemn

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 197
te condemn yourfelves to eternal difhonour." He
faid to them, — " You muft not only defend your-
" felves, you muft begin the attack."
No doubt he reckoned, among the fubjedts
of his complaints againft Europe, the hofpitality
afforded, in certain places, to the French Emi
grants : but this was confounded with twenty
others which he reprefented as more important *.
Brissot himfelf fpoke with difdain of the Emi
grants and their leaders ; he himfelf faid that their
nullity would foon be rendered manifeft ; — that
the Emperor flood in need of peace, and only played
the warrior. The Members of the Diplomatic
Committee, the oracles of that Affembly, on
all matters of public law and foreign connections,
Koch, Rhull, and Briche, inceffantly af
firmed, " that there was no army of Emigrants
w either at Worms, at Coblentz, or in the
" Netherlands ; that the Cardinal de Rohan's
* A letter in which the King of Spain had ftill ventured
to call Louis XVI. a Sovereign. A penfion which the
Courts of Naples and Rujfia had granted to a nobleman, who
had formerly been a French Ambaffador. The protection
and afylum afforded by the Ki ng of Sweden to another per
fon in a fimilar capacity. A punifhment inflicted by the State
of Berne upon fome of its fubjedls for an offence committed
on its own territory. Some conduct of the "Que en of
Portugal and the King of Sardinia, which Bris
sot faid was too -well known, but of which lie entered into no
explanation, &c. &c.
03 " army

I98 DEFENCE OF THE
?c army only confifted of Six Hundred men, whq
^ performed their exercife with flicks, werelodged
fc in the open air, ill dreft, and ill paid, with
fc the younger Mirabeau at their head : that
" the army df Monsieur de Conde confifted
fc of Three Hundred gentlemen and as many
f grooms without arms, that all this, then,
<c amounted to nothing more than a Papal Army
*c and an Opera Fire*." With a more impofing
tone, the Minifter for Foreign Affairs had de
clared, on his refponfibility, ^ that in the Bel-
" gie Provinces the Emigrants were not permit-
?c ted to affemble ; that the government of
ec Bruxelles had even redoubled its precautions,
" within a fhort time, in order to avoid giving a
c* pretext for confidering the hofpitality afforded
? c them as a mark of hoftility ; and that, even
?c at Coblentz, the Emigrants were not allowed
?' arms +."
All this was true, proved, acknowledged : nc?
matter ; Brissot and his followers were ftill de
termined on war, upon this principle, *' that a.
" private individual might defpife thefe trivial
* See the fittings of the z$th Oaober and 27th Novem
ber 1 79 1.
t Report of M. deMontmorin, fitting of the 31ft
Odtober. <f affronts j

1 FRENCH EMIGRANTS. igg
tz affronts -, but that it was unworthy the majority
4C of a free people to fuffer a factitious volcano in
" its neighbourhood to incommode it with its
" fmoke." And this reafon was deemed deci-
five ! and every pains was thenceforth taken to
find out whatever could irritate, provoke, pre
vent a reconciliation between Frenchmen, and
force a rupture with foreign powers !
Some Members of the Affembly, who de
livered their fentiments with candour, thought
to extinguifh thefe firebrands by the coolnefs of
reafon and the calm of juftice. They repre
fented to their colleagues, that Emigration was
lawful*, and the Conftitution placed beyond the
reach pf attack f ; that millions of armed
men had nothing to fear, and that the fubject
would not even admit of difcuffion^. Brissot
did not attempt to deny the juftice of thefe re
marks; he did not contradict thefe conftitutionalifts
on principle, who had pofitively told him, that
* Emigration is lavful ; nue have no right to condemn inten
tions : flay till they attack us. Any other conduct will be unjuft
and violent. — M. Ramond, fitting of the 20th October
1791. ¦f The Conftitution is placed beyond the reach of attack ; the
means qf victory are to be found in obedience to the lavis.
M. Damas. Ibid.
t M. dh Bois du Bay. Ibid.
0 4 there

200 defence of the
there was not the fmalleft danger*. Inftead of
confuting this propofition, he confirmed it; and
reprefented the Emigrants at Coblentz as mere
knights errant, as blockheads duped by Leopold.
He repeated, that it was of the utmoft confe
quence to the Emperor to maintain his connexions
with France. He openly declared that the Coa
lition, that the concert of Powers was achhnera ;
.then, in order to make it real, he infulted them
with more fury than ever. He laftly reduced
his whole fyftem of policy into thefe two phrafes ;
In fhort, we muft have gold to pay the troops . . .
France muft have a war to re-eft ablifh her
finances and her credit j- /
But the matter did not reft here, One of his
mpft furious difciples rufhed into the Tribune,
and there, in a paroxyfm of convujfive elo
quence, uttered thefe remarkable words : " Al-
" though we have deftroyed the Nobility, that
" vain phantom ftill terrifies pufillanimous
" minds. — It was the impunity which great
" criminals had long been fuffered to enjoy that
" firft converted the people into executioners.
* M. pu Bois du Bay. The Conftitution is placed beyond
the reach of attack ; the means of victory are to be found iri
obedience to the lanus.
f Sitting of the 29th December $791.
V Yes,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 201
tc Yes, the anger op the people, like that
<c of God, is too often nothing more
" THAN A TERRIBLE SUPPLEMENT TO THE
<c silence of the laws* !" .'. . And yet they
were enraged with the Emigrants for not fuffer
ing thefe foft words to ftop them in their flight,
or to recall them from their exile ! And while
they vomited forth fuch imprecations againft
them, and fuch threats, threats which had al- '
moft daily been executed in fome place or
other, which, but a fortnight before, had been
executed in the Ice-houfe at Avignon, they
called thofe men criminals who wifhed to ftifle
that anger, the fupplement of the laws ; and they
called thofe aggreffors who did not go un
armed, to give themfelves up to that people of
executioners ! . . . Juft and confolatory people,
whom I now invoke, people, who then were
victims, I am not the man who joined thefe
two names together, the union of which excites
horror ; but do you think that they have fuffi
ciently profaned this title fo facred, when ap
plied to you ? Do you think that it is time to
avenge and to purify it ?
Let us purfue facts. Leopold, not without
reafon perhaps, thought himfelf fuperior to the
•Isnard, fitting of 31ft Odlober 179 1. inlults

202. r DEFENCE I OF THE
infujta of ;Brissot. The grand thought vvhich
occupied his mind, the imperious duty which
he -wifhed to fulfil, was. to do every thing in his
power tof preferve his people from the horrors
of a war, the new and dreadful confequences
of which his wifdom forefaw and his goodnefs
repealed.' He did not fuffer a violation of hof
pitality to be prefcribed to him ; but he difperf
ed every collection of Frenchmen in his domi
nions, forbade them to make any purchafes of
military-' ftores> or to affume any martial ap
pearance *, and compelled thOfe who wifhed to
remain in his territories to fell the fcanty fupply
which they had contrived to procure. He did
not forget that he was the head of the Germanic
Body; but while he declared his refolution to
defend all the Princes of the Empire who
fhould be attacked, he admonifhed thofe who
would not adopt his meafures with regard tb the
French Emigrants, that he would not affift them,
even againft an adt of aggreffion f ; and the
Princes of the Empire conformed to the Empe-
* Note from Prince Kaunitz to the Duke d'Uzes,
and to the Marquis de la Queuille, 2zd Odtober
1791. Declaration of the Emperor, December 1791, Janu
ary, and February 1,792^ &c.
•}¦ Official Note fiom the Emperjor to the Elector of
Treves, and to the other Princes; read in the National
Affembly of Erance on the 15th January 1792. ror's

FRENCH EMIGRANTS., 2D?
ror's defire*. All the difpatches of the German
Minifters, thofe of the French Ambaffador at
Vienna, and of the French Plenipotentiary at
Coblentz f , the reports of the Minifter for Fo-
eign Affairs at Paris ; all prove to a demonftra-.
tion that the Emperor, if he did not fland in,
need of peace, as Brissot faid, had at leaft a
conftant defire for peace, and that no man ever
thought lefs of playing the warrior than he
did. On the 2d of January 1792, the Prince
of CoNDp left Worms with his family and his
troop, which, according to the moft exaggerated
accounts, did not exceed eleven hundred men,
a curious fubject of alarm to a nation which
daily boafted of having two millions of national
guards underarms ! Scarcely had the eleven hun
dred men and their chief arrived at Ettenheim,
when they were obliged to leave the place, in
* Official Note delivered on the 31ft December 1791, on
the part of the Elector of Treves, to the French Mi
nifter Plenipotentiary, and read by M. de Lessart to the
National Affembly.
f See all the Notes from Prince Kaunitz, particularly
that of the 17th February 1792; the Correfpondence of the
Marquis de Noailles; the Difpatches of M. de
Sainte Croix, particularly thofe which were read to the
Affembly on the 6th, 16th, and 19th cf January 1792.
confequence

2.04 ,, defence of the
confequence of a requifition from the Emperor*
to the Cardinal de^Rohan. The papers of
the times, and in particular a celebrated journal,
feverely reproved the Cabinet of Vienna for
obeying the orders of the Jacobin Club, and the
King of Hungary for purfuing from one afylum to
another a Prince of the Houfe of Bourbon, who
had recently efcaped the daggers of the affafjins,
and who, thirty years before, had glorioufly fought
for Maria Therefa j-. You will tell me that
the Emigrants affembled in greater numbers
el'fewhere. Yes, the King's brothers might, at
that time, have about three times the number
of men which the Prince of Cond6 had, that
is to fay, three thoufand fix hundred men, a
part collected at Coblentz, and the reft difperfed
in Brabant. But attend to the fame writer
whom I quoted juft now, who continues in the
fame ftrain of reproof: " As to the news from
" Coblentz or Brabant, private reports accord
" with the letter from M. de Sainte Croix
" to M. de Lessart, which that Minifter read
<c yefterday in the Affembly. Not one French-
" man remains at Treves. They are daily leav-
* Read in the National Affembly of France on the 14th
and 15th of January 1792.
+ See the Mercure Politique of the zift January 1792,
p. 198.

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. "SCi^
" ing Coblentz. The Gardes du. Corps have
ec already evacuated that rown. . Moft of the
" armed companies marched away in the fnow
ft and by roads almoft impaffable. It is forbid-
" den to wear uniforms. All purchafe of arms
<c and ammunition has juft been ftridtly pro-
" hibited ; and that Electorate, which a fhort
" time fince was crouded with warriors, now
" only contains a fmall number of French-
" men dreffed like private individuals. This
<c inconceivable clearage has been performed
<• with the greateft precipitation, - Intimatioos
tc from the Cabinet of Vienna were added to thofe
" from the Legiflative Body of France, in order to
" force the Elector of Treves and the French
" princes to this humiliating condefcenfion *.
People of France ! you no doubt fuppofe
that the Legiflative Body, that is to fay, the
Jacobins who ruled them, muft at leaft at that
moment have been fatisfied ? By no means ; for
they did not wifh for peace. It might juftly have
been faid of them, they flood in need of war ;
they only affetled to be pacifically difpofed : and
they even laid afide that affeclation very foon.
While Leopold fubmitted to fuch great facri-
* See the Mercure Politique, p. 199. fices

20^ DEFENCE OF TH^
fices in order to preferve Europe from the cala
mities of war ; while, on his fide, Louis XVL
exerted every virtue he poffeffed, and every*
means which was ftill in his power to maintain
peace in France, what were the Jacobins, the
Briffotines, and the Robefpierreans about, who,
at that time, formed but one body ? 1 will tell
you What they were about.
Tsnard exclaimed in the Tribune of the Le
giflative Body : u Let all Frenchmen haften to
tc the Jacobin Club ; we dre this moment about
*' to declare war *."
Briffotfm a fecret committee f, which the Mi
nifter for Foreign Affairs had been fummoned to
attend, exacted from the Emperor, as the price
of peace; i. that he fhould outrage humanity, by
expelling every Emigrant, even thofe that were
<lifarmed, from his dominions ; 2. that he
fhould violate the liberties of the Germanic
Body, by forcing its members to renounce
all their poffeffions in Alface and Lorraine ; and,
3. that, in cafe of refufal on their part, he fhould
intur the forfeiture of his Imperial Crown, by
tearing the contract in virtue of which he held
* Sitting of January 4, 1792.
f January 16, 1792. it,

FRENCH t EMIGRANTS. '•"'2©?
it, and by entering into a rleague with /France
-againft the empire of-which he was chief !' . . .
Guadet, by a fbiemndecree-*, x^xtftc\< every
Frenchman to be declared infamous, a traitor to
Ms country, and guilty of lefe-nation, whofhould,
¦direSlly or indirectly, take, (a part. ...... ^People!
were I to afk you to finifh the phrafe, 'you would
furely fay — in a foreign or civil war, in the
introduction of a foreign force, or. in any counter
revolution whatever /—But no, you are -far
from the mark, — The man who was declared
infamous, a traitor to- the country, and guilty of
lefe-nation, was a Frenchman whofhould, dire-clly
or indirectly, take a part in any mediation
BETWEEN THE FRENCH NATIO.N AND THE
French Emigrants, who were fligmatized as
rebels. Thefe are the men who told you that
they held all civil war in horror, that they had
ftrained every nerve for the prefervation of
peace, and that the war had been occafioned by
the Emigrants!
Laftly, Herault de Sechelles completed
the general derangement of the fenfes of the
members, by propofing a declaration which was
* January 14, 1792. adopted

20? DEFENCE Ot THE
adopted with frantic acclamations*, and which,
if it had not been fuddenly flopped by the be
neficent prudence of Louis XVI. would have
begun the war that very day f.
I fhall abridge the paf ticulars. There can be
no doubt that thofe men who made a merit of
loading the foreign powers with infults and
threats, in order to provoke fome movement on
their part which might be confidered as an ag-
greffion, would fpare no pains to augment the
number and inflame the refentment of the Emi
grants. While they were expofed to violence
and injuftice abroad, at home citations were
iffued and accufations preferred againft abfentees.
One circumftance alone among all thefe acts is
worthy of notice, and although I have before
adverted to it, I think it neceffary to mention
it again : it is this ; that even, at that time, there
were certain principles which, notwithftanding
the efforts of the Jacobins, the Legiflative Af
fembly ftill held facred. Thus it ftill acknow-
* January 27, 1792.
•J- Humanity forbids to 'mingle any movement of enthufia/m
•with a decifion on the fubject' of -war. Such a decifion ought tit
be an act of the mofi mature reflection; for it declares, in the
name of the country, that her intereft requires of her the facrifice
of a great number of her children. — Letter from Louis XVI.
to the National Legiflative Affembly, January 28, 1792.
ledged

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. £00.
ledged the impoffibilty of accufations in a mafs *,
and fix individuals only were accufed f . Thus
the Legiflators ftill remembered that the Confti
tution did not permit them, any more than
reafon did, to erect themfelves into judges,
and they only appeared as profecutors before a
high national court convened at Orleans.
There was even a movement of generofity in
the Affembly ; I will not call it an individual
movement (for the Legiflative as well as the
Conftituent Affembly preferved, to the laft,
fome members with whom fuch movements
were habitual) ; but I mean to fay, that it was
a movement common to the majority. " Will
u you appear greater," exclaimed one of the Le
giflators J, " Will you appear more magnani~
" mous by framing lifts of profcription than by
" openly declaring war againft your enemies ?"
* A profecution is not the firfi ftep to be taken with the
chiefs of a rebel army. You mufi fight them, and •when you ha've
made them prifoners, then punifh them. You •would have thou
fands of decrees of accufation to pafs , for, EACH INDIVIDUAL
must be the subject of a separate prosecu
tion, IN order that no man may be deprived
OF the means of defence. / vote for the adjourn
ment. — Speech of M. Huat, January i, 1792.
f One of the principal motives which influenced this de
cree was, that the nation expected a decree of accufation a s a
new-year's gift. — See the fitting of January 1, 1792.
% M. Gen til, January 1, 1793.
p And

aio defence of the -
And this loyal cry was favourably received
by the greateft part of the Affembly : laft re
mains of expiring decency, which, compreffed by
terror, or deftroyed by corruption, , was foon
totally loft in the decree for a general fequeftra
tion !
Still Leopold endeavoured to extinguifh
every frefh brand with which injuftice fought to
kindle the fire of hatred. Whenever any new
band of Emigrants entered his. territory, he im
mediately ordered them to be conveyed into
the interior parts of Germany, that he might
afford no juft ground of refentment to the
French nation. With equal folicitude Louis
XVI. * was inceffantly employed in tempering
the ardour difplayed on the frontiers of France,
and in preventing that violation of territory to
which the defencelefs ftate of the Aujlrian Ne
therlands held out too ftrong an invitation ; and,
while, on both fides, a blind multitude were
hurried on towards the fame gulph by the moft
contrary impulfes, it was certainly a glorious
and a confolatory fpedtacle to fee two monarchs,
one of whom muft have been deeply wounded
"See his proclamation of the 4th January 1792, and
his communication to the Affembly on the 17th through the
medium of the Minifter for Foreign Affairs. by

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 211
by ingratitude, and the other irritated by in
fult, forget or fubdue their own feelings, in
order to preferve humanity from the effects of
her own foly, and of her own rage.
Well ! not only was the iffue of this ftruggle
between paffion and wifdom, between hatred and
beneficence, uncertain ; but vidtory evidently ap*
peared difpofed to declare in favour of thofe fen-
timents which were moft worthy of conqueft.
Not only had the vain felicitations of the Emi
grants or their leaders proved incapable of
arming a fingle power in their behalf, — and fub
fequent events placed this matter beyond the
teach of doubt ; — but even the coloffal power of
the Jacobins might have been reduced to con-
fume itfelf in defpifed offences, in unrhafked
confpiracies, in projects the pretexts for which
would have always failed. Attend, People of
France ! and fhudder while I point out what
cataftrophes were neceffary to fecure victory to
the Jacobins, and to render the world a prey to
crime. Four perfonages in particular were the ob*
jects of their hatred, from the obftacles which
they oppofed to the accomplifhment of their
defigns.
p i Leopold.

212 DEFENCE OE THE
Leopold. His tranquil wifdom had not
once failed in counteracting their incendiary
machinations ; and his enlightened philanthropy
was efficacioufly vigilant to preferve the human
race from the evils which threatened it.
The French Minister for Foreign Affairs.
He was one of thofe whom a noble illufion had
rendered blind, to the errors or dangers of the
new Conftitution. Bound, by good faith, to
the oath which he had taken ; ingenious, active,
prudent, refolute, conciliating, all his efforts were
exerted to fecond the wifhes of bis fovereign
for the prefervation of peace. He ferved as
a fupport to that good Prince, who, left to
himfelf, might brave, but could not repel, the
danger. He made no fcruple to declare that
he was certain that he fhould be able to prevent
a war*. Gustavus the Third. An ardent and en-
terprifing fpirit, a noble and popular eloquence,
a courage unfhaken amidft the waves of fedition,
the moft brilliant valour in the field of battle, his
rank as Member of the Empire, and the fentiments
* See his examination, the memorial which he com
pofed in prifon, and the letter which he wrote to a friend
a fhort time before his death. which

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 2IJ
which he had openly manifefted on the exceffes
of the French revolution, all combined to ren
der him formidable in the event of a declaration
of war.
Laftly, the Prince of Cond6. It was known,
fince the feven years war, that he was worthy of
his name. It was known that his fon and
grandfon were with him, nee imbellem feroces
progenerant Aquila Columbam.
People of France, attend. On the 23d of
October, the Legiflative Body had, in the Jour
nal of their Proceedings, confecrated Tyranni
cide. — On the 17th of December, a man was
arrefted at Worms *, who was the leader of
forty affaffins who had arrived there with the
intent of ftabbing, on the 18th, the Prince of
CoNDe and his fons.-=On the iii of March,
the Emperor died fuddenly in dreadful convul-
fions. — On the ioth, the unhappy Lessart
was thrown into a prifon at Orleans, which he
only quitted to be maffacred. — On the 15th,
the King of Sweden was murdered by an af-
* Beuzelot, who entered Worms wearing a crofs of
the order of Malta, was recognifed by a French traveller
whom he had robbed on the Frontiers, was examined by
the magiftrates of Worms, and confeffed all thefe circum-
ftances. T 3 faffin,

414 DEFENCE OF THE
faffin, whofe buft became an object of worfhip to
the National Convention of France. — That fame,
day, the Jacobins deprived the unfortunate
Louis XVI. of the only friend he had re^
maining in the Council*, and began to form
for him a Miniftry of their own.— Two days
after, the new Minifter for Foreign Affairs
went, decorated with the red cap, to thank the
Jacobins at their club, and to promife them
war. — On the 23d, the general fequeftration was
impofed on the property of all the Emigrants,
in order to defray the expences of the war.—
On the 26th, the new Miniftry was completed,
and only one friend to peace remained in the
Council — On rhe 19th of April, the fix Jacobin
Minifters furrounded the King and made him
fign the declaration of war. — On the 20th, they
dragged him to the hall of the Affembly, where
the Legiflators anfwered his accents of grief
and piety by cries of fury and rage. — On the
21ft, the order was given to invade the territory
of the fon of Leopold, who had declared f his
refolution to imitate the condudt of his father,
* M deBertrand, Minifter of the Marine, who, after
his retreat, continued to the laft to enjoy the confidence of
his Sovereign.
•J- Memorial of Prince Kaunitz, \t\ the name of the
new King of Hungary, March 18th, 1792. and

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 215
and who fo little expected war, that four months
elapfed before he was in a condition to begin it.
—In fhort, it was only on the 18th of Auguft,
that is eight days after the abolition of the French
monarchy and the imprifonment of the Monarch,
that the combined armies of Auftria and Pruffia
entered France, accompanied by a body of five
thoufand effective men, compofed of Emigrants
and commanded by the French Princes,
Well! People of France, are the merits
of this grand caufe fufficiently explained ? Do
you here fee, fufficiently clear, who were the
perfons that were really alone guilty of provoking
this war, in which, when once begun, it was
certainly natural to attempt to conquer, but
which neverthelefs will ever remain a mournful
epoch in your annals as in the annals of the
world; a war from which we muft hope that
Providence will deign to deliver us ; for, as to
human reafon, the more fhe thinks of it, the
more impoffible fhe finds it either to continue or
to conclude it.
If we had the very confeffion of the culprits
themfelves, could it give any additional force to
a demonftration thus complete ? Well, we have
that confeffion. Read all the debates, and all
p 4 the

2l6 DEFENCE OF THE
the publications after the ioth of Auguft 1792,
particularly in the four rnonths immediately fol
lowing; you will there find thefe words uttered
and repeated by Brissot, in fpeaking of
Louis XVI.; we made him declare war, to put
him to the teft. Amidft confeffions , equally
explicit of Pethion, Barbaroux, Rober
spierre, &c. you will find this phrafe of
Collot d'Herbois: — we were resolved to
have war, becaufe war would kill royalty. But
what do I fay ? The very fentence of death
paffed upon Brissot ranks among his crimes
the declaration of war, as another fentence had
ranked apoftacy and atheifm among the crimes
of the infamous Gobet ; and as another alfo, in
configning to punifhment the moft degraded
of men;, and the vileft of parricides,, flated that
it was for having voted for the death of Louis
XVI. ! . . . Impenetrable decrees of Providence,
who, by carrying trouble and infatuation into
the councils of the wicked, made them attack
each ocher, not only with their poniards, but
with fentences juft though illegal, with accufa
tions of real crimes although there were no law
ful judges, with proceedings in which the ac
complice, punifhing his accomplice for the
enormities which they had committed together,
left the court condemned by his own lips, and
5 ^

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 217
in which the judge defcending from the tribunal
was, in all refpedts, the equal of the mifcreants
whom he fent to the fcaffold.
Frenchmen, I have dwelt upon this queftion
of the principle of the war, becaufe fuch a
variety of important interefts are involved in it.
I know very well what anfwer 'I fhall receive.
I fhall be told — If they were not the caufe of the
war, they wifhed to be fo. If they were unable
to make the powers arm in their behalf, they
fpared no pains for that purpofe. In this cafe then
the intention conftitutes the crime. To wifh was
to perform, to undertake was to execute. This
had been formally declared by a law paffed an
terior to the fact. I fhall notice this argument
prefently ; but firft let me congratulate myfelf
on the grand truth which I have eftablifhed be
yond all controverfy. It is certainly a great
thing to have proved that the Emigrants are
innocent, in point of fact, of the misfortunes
which have befallen their country ; it is a great
thing to have rendered it impoffible for their
perfecutors henceforth to impute to them any
thing more than intentions ftill unexecuted,
paffions as vain as they are ardent^ errors as
inoffenfive as excufable, and refentment as
impotent as lawful. It is a great thing for
them,

2i8 DEFENCE OF THE
them, People of France, that their names
will be hereafter feparated, in your memory and
in your fentitnents, from the regret or the
fufferings which you experience; that their
misfortunes will not be aggravated by your
hatred, that they will at leaft obtain the whole
of your commiferation, if they do not obtain
all that juftice fliould lead you to grant them.
And even, forgetting themfelves, and con-'
fining their attention folely to their country,
which is ever prefent to their minds, 1 am very
certain that there is not one amongft them who,-
feeing what turn this war has taken, how it has
loft all that he wifhed to fave, and deftroyed
all that he wifhed to defend, does not confole
himfelf with this fatisfadtory idea. — fC At leaft,
" I am but its victim ; I was not the means
" of promoting it. At leaft, my folicitations,
*' my groans, -my rights were difdained as much
" by one fide as by the other. At leaft, thofe
" prophetic minds which gave to the declaration
" of Pilnitz and the remonflrance of Padua
" the appellation of Stage- trick*, have been
"juftified
* " Yielding, for the fake of form, to the fenfibility, to
*' the importunate folicitatipns of the brothers of Louis
" XVI., the Emperor and the King of Pruffia figned that
" infignificant

TRENCH EMIGRANT'S. 2I<J
K juftified by the event. At leaft, thofe powers
«« who kept us at a diftance from their battles,
« and excluded us from their cartels, have
" clearly demonftrated that we neither were,
" nor ever fhould have been the objects of the
t( war. My country is the caufe of my mif-
" fortunes ; but I am not the caufe of hercala-
'* mities. I even enjoy the fweet fatisfaction
« of extending forgivenefs to her, but fhe
" will never haye a right to extend her hatred
« to me."
I return to you, too potent and too pitilefs
accufers. Yes, I am obliged to admit, that the
jpenal Code of the 29th of September 1791,"
<' infignificant and /uperfluous Convention, the objeft of which
" was deftroyed by the laft proceedings of the King of
" France. Content with this demonfifation of intereft,
" which the refugees haffened to circulate as a decifive ma-
" nifefto, the two fovereigns immediately returned to their
" preceding neutrality. Not one of their foldiers jlirred. The
" Conftitution received by the King of France, under pain
" of depofnion^ palfied that Convention of Pilnitz, which
" politicians have claffed among the number of august co-
" medies." — Recapitulation of the Political Hiftory of the
Year 1791, publifhed in January and February 179.Z, by
M. Ma 1. let du Pan. It will one day be known what
gave rife to that comedy, and how far its repre/entation was
iifignificant to the perfons who played parts in it, no matter
pf what defcription. fecond

220 DEFENCE OF THE
fecond part, firft table,, firft fection, Of crimes
againft the external fafety of the State, inflicts the
punifhment of death on whoever Jhdll be convicted
of machinations or intelligence with foreign powers,
to engage them to commit hoftilities, or to point
out to them the means of waging war againft
France, whether fuch machinations or intelligence
have been followed by hoftilities or not. But
turn over the page and read with me.
Se&ion 2. Of crimes againf the internal fafety of the State.
" Art. 2. All plojs or attempts againft the perfon of the King,
" the Regent, or the prefumptive heir to the throne, fliall be punilhed
" with death."
The King, you fay, betrayed us ! I will allow
you for a moment to calumniate him. But
had the prefumptive heir betrayed you ? Read
again :
" Art. 2. All confpiracies and plots tending to difturb the State by
" a civil war, by arming the citizens againft each other, or againft the
*e exercife of lawful authority, fliall be punifhed with death."
Who armed, in 1792, the citizens ofMarfeilles
etgainfl the citizens of Paris ? Who caufed the
national guard of Paris to be affaffinated in
1792 ? Who armed the Marfeillais againft the
exercife of 'all the lawful authorities in 1792 ?
Who promoted the civil war in Morbihan, in
La Vendee, at Lyons, in Calvados, in 179 1,
1792,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 22i
1792, 1793, 1794) and 1795? Turn over the
page again :
Section 3. Crimes and attempts againjl tie Conjlitution.
" Art. 4. All confpiracies or attempts to prevent the meeting, or
" to effeB the dijfolution of the Legiflative Body, or to prevent by force and
" violence the freedom of its deliberations, lhallbe puniflied with death."
" Art. 6. Whoever fhall have been guilty of an attempt to invefi
" with armed men the place at which the Legiflative Body holds its fit.
" tings, or to introduce armed men into fuch place, without its authority
<* or requisition, fliall be puniflitd with death."
Who, on the 9th of Auguft 1792, attacked
and caufed to be attacked with ftones and knives
the members of the Legiflative Body ? Who, on
the morning of the 10th of Auguft, reduced the
Legiflative Body from 745 members to 284 ?
Who forced the remains of the Legiflative Body
to deliberate, amidft the noife of cannon, and
in fight of bayonets, pikes, and poniards ?
Read again the ift, 15th, and 19th articles of
the fame fection ;, read the 5th fection of the
fame title; read the law of the 16th of Sep
tember, and that of the 29th, upon fecurity,
juftice, and proceedings in criminal cafes.
Laws annihilated I fay you. Conftitution de
ftroyed !
Laws annihilated ? Granted. But do not
then oppofe thofe laws to the Emigrants ; for
you

22 DEFENCE OF THE*
you will fcarcely pretend that the fame, law is*
annulled with regard to you and exifts with regard
to us ; that the articles which affect you have loft
all their force, and that thofe which affect us
have preferved, all their vigour?
Conftitution deftroyed? — And bywhom?^-By
us. — And by what right ? — The right of arms.
And you are the men who accufe the armed
Emigrants ; you are the men who punifh them
for the intention, while you yourfelves are guilty
of t\\e fast! They took up arms! And fo did
you. They wifhed to overthrow the Conftitu
tion of 17 9 1 ! And fo did you. But they did
not fhake a fingle line of it, while you tore
it to pieces. They, too, had never acknowledged
it, whereas you had fworn to maintain it.
And what were the caufes, the means, and
the immediate effects of your war and your
perjury ? Againft whom did you wage war
when you took up arms before the ioth of
Auguft? Againft whom did the armed Emi
grants wage it when they entered the French
territory on the 18th of Auguft? In fhort, there
are two queftions to be folved here. By whom,
and by what means, was the Conftitution of
179 1 overthrown? By whom, and by what
means,

PRENCH EMIGRANTS. 22J
means, was another Conftitution eftablifhed in
its place ?
People of France, thefe two queftions fhall
be anfwered not by the defender of the Emi
grants, but by their oppreffors. I have re
peatedly told you that the perjured had boafted
of their perfidy, that the wicked had triumphed
in their enormities. Thefe details are either
forgotten now, or perhaps were never known to a
great number of you. Attend firft to Chabot,
Chabot member of the Committee of Super
intendence of the Legiflative Body at the firft
inftant of its creation ; hear him haranguing in
the tribune of the Jacobins, on the 9th of Septem
ber 1792, while the maffacres ftill continued.
" No man has had a better opportunity than
iC myfelf of knowing all the ariftocratic cor-
cc ruptions in the departments. In the Com-
" mittee of Superintendence, from the beginning
*' of our feffion, we have maintained a conftant
" correfpondence with all the departments and
" the popular clubs. It formed a pa.rt of
" THE .PLAN OF INSURRECTION OF WHICH WE
" HAD THE DIRECTION, TO SUFFER ALL THE
" DEPARTMENTS TO BE DISORGANISED, and
(< then the popular clubs (the Jacobins) could, " in

224 DEFENCE OF THE"
*< in a moment, have fucceeded to the depart-
" mental adminiftrations*."
People of France, now attend to Cambon,
one of the oracles of the Legiflative Affembly,
giving an account of the conduct of that
Affembly in the tribune of the Convention, on
the ioth of November 1792, feventeen days
after the Emigrants had been profcribed as guilty
of treafon. " That Affembly, revolutionary from its
" birth, adopted means for indirectly preparing
«c an infurredtion, which it confidered as ne-
«e ceffary, but which it could not bring about in
" a direct manner. In confequence, the as-
cc sembly itself disorganised the armed force
" of Paris; it broke the officers of the flaff; it
" difmiffed the troops that were flationed here j
" it fhut its eyes upon the impotence of the con-
« ftituted authorities ; it armed all the citi-
<c ZENS WITH PIKES ; IT OPENED TO THEM THE
" gates of the Thuilleries, where the Tyrant
tc had fhut himfelf up; — it attempted to bring
" twenty thoufand men to Paris . . . Deflpotifm
" beheld this meafure with alarm— -Unfortunately
• See the Journal of the Jacobins, fitting of the 9th of
September 1792. " the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. "22J
*' the twenty thoufand men did not arrive — the
" National volunteers were called in— <•
" thofe which niy department fupplied had
" marched two hundred leagues in eleven days
" —THEY WERE here by the tenth of
u august . . . The revolution was ac-
*' complished *."
People of France ! you are not a little fur-
prifed, I believej at feeing in this circumftantial
account that the tyrant was the man who had not
even authority enough to keep the doors of his
own houfe fhut, and that the oppreffed were
the men who diforganifed, difmiffed, called in,
broke, armed, and made revolutions. It is
needlefs to repeat to you the fpeeches of Ro
berspierre f, Collot d'Herbois J, Jer6m*
Pethion §, Barbaroux||, and many others f,
who made the fame confeffion. You know
now by whom and by what means the Conftitu
tion of 1791 was overthrown.
* See the Journal of France, of the iith November 1792,
No. 51, and the Moniteur of the fame date, No. 317.
f In the Convention, November 5th.
X At the Jacobin Club* November 5th.
$ Letters to the people, to the Convention, and to the
Jacobins, on the ioth and 21ft of November.
|| In the Convention, 30th October.
fl In the Convention, 29th October, &c
<i. By

226 defence of the
By whom and by what means was another
eftablifhed in its place ? Boissy d'Anglas has
told you that before me; he has told you, that
the firft moments of the Republic were polluted by
wicked ufurpers ; he has told you, that thefe vil
lains founded their ufurpation on the two monftrous
corporations of the Parifian Commune and the
Jacobin Club ; he has told you, that they concerted
together the maffacres of the zd of September, in
order to eftabli/h at once the empire of death, of ter
ror, and of crime ; — he has told you . . . but why
all thefe citations ? In this cafe none of you are
ignorant of any thing, none of you have for
gotten any thing. They are not even recollect
ions that follow you ; they are pictures that
inveft you ; they are fenfations that never quit
you ; they are your own hands ftill bearing the
marks of the chains which they bore; they are
the traces of blood with which your own was to
have been mixed ; they are the fhades, wander
ing around you, of the many cherifhed victims,
who inceffantly repeat to you, that on the ioth
of Auguft 1792 the reign of Louis XVI. ended,
and that on the ioth of Auguft 1792 the reign
of Roberspierre began ! . . .
Let any one ftand forward bold enough to
tell you that thofe men were criminal, who be
lieved that if one of the two, Louis XVI. or
4 Cambon,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS.' 227
Cambon, was perjured, it was not Louis XVI. ;
that if one of the two, Louis XVI. or Robers
pierre, was a tyrant, it was not Louis XVI.;
thofe men who faw in Louis XVI. the lawful
and beneficent prince whom it was their duty to
defend, and in Roberspierre the odious and
fanguinary ufurper whom it was their duty to
enchain ; thofe who thought that it was better
for Frenchmen to be the fubjedts and fellow-
citizens of Louis XVI. than the flaves and
victims of Roberspierre •, thofe who, if their
means had correfponded with their wifhes, and
their ftrength had been equal to their courage,
would have fpared you, People of France ! all
the difgrace and punifhment which the two
years reign of that execrable monfter heaped
upon your heads, and all the diforders and mis
fortunes which it left behind it. ' Ah ! if, on the
firft day of that infernal tyranny, the zeal of all
the friends of virtue and the laws had been
feconded and united ; if the natural leaders of
fuch an enterprife had had counfellors as prudent
as their rights were facred ; if, inftead of all
thofe manifeftoes, of which the leaft that can be
faid is that they were fenfelefs, a voice had
exclaimed, " To me every Frenchman who
lf wifhes tofave the liberty of his country, the life
" of his King, the exiftence of his family, the repofe
q_a " and

228 DEFENCE OF THE
" and the property of all his fellow -citizens /"
People ! I appeal to you, whether the French
emigration would not have increafed a hundred
fold ; whether the armed Emigrants would not
have had moft of thofe men for their companions
who are now their judges ; and whether, inftead
of being accufed as they now are for having
taken up arms, the accufations would not in
thajt cafe have been confined to fuch as had
taken no part ip that piou$ and patriotic crufade ?
Though thgfe chiefs were miffed by their guides,
betrayed- by their agents, deceived, by their
emiffaries ; though they were inceffantly made
to mifeonceive, their caufe, to repel their allies,
to offend their friends, tp deftroy their fupport,
it is ftill not lefs true that the foldier who, in
the fimplicky of his heart, went, the day after,
the ioth of Auguft, to offer them his affiftance
and his arms, was nothjng elfe than a foldier
armed againft Roberspierre ; that in entering
the French territory on the \%th of Auguft, he.
entered the territory of Roberspierre; that then
he was like Thrafybulus flattening from the place.
of his exile to the relief of his qppreffed fellow-
citizens ; that at that epoch, in fhort, he could
not devote himfelf for his Prince, without de^
voting himfelf, at the fame time, for his country,
without devoting himf?lf for you, People of
France!

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 22p
France ! and when you are not afked to reward,
but merely to abfolve that devotion, the moft im
menfe tribute is paid fo bad fortune that fhe ever
received. Let us erafe, Pegple of France !
let us erafe from the fetal lift the name of every
Emigrant who took up arms at the period of
the loth of Auguft 1792.
But I, hear our perfecutors exclaim — He has
blafphemed our folemnities! he curfes the 'very
days which we celebrate ! even while he feeks to
foften the Republic in his favour, be cannot refrain
from offending her. Even while he prefcribes to
himfelf the language of peace and fubmiffion,
movements efcape him which betray both his fecret
refentment and his perfevering revolt.
People of France ! I do not betray myfelf;
nothing efcapes me; what I fay, I mean to fay.
Above all I wifh to appear what I really am.
If I fpoke any other language to you, if I
were capable of contradicting or even of repreffing
the fentiments of my mind ; in fhort, if pre-
fenting myfelf before you as an entire new man, I
came to proftitute a blind fubmiffion to the mere
name of your Republic, without diftindtion of
times or chiefs, then you would have been right
to fufpect me. But I defire it to be well under-
•q. 3 flood,

230 DEFENCE OF THE
flood, on the contrary, that I make all thefe
diftindtions. The Republic which began on
the 9th of Thermidor by the fall and punifhment
of the tyrants of France, the Republic which
was eftablifhed on the $tb of Meffidor on the
bafis of the new conftitutional compact, is that
which I think may poffibly deferve my fub
miffion and extort my homage ; that with which
we may treat for the ruins of our wretched
families without a fcruple of confcience or a
violation of honour. But that Republic whofe
falfe and odious name was uttered from the
ioth of Auguft to the 9th of Thermidor; that
Republic, all-flained with the deareft and moft
facred blood, could never excite any other fen-
timent than the contempt of every rational
being, and the execration of every juft man.
And it is my intention, when I come to difcufs
the queftion of policy, to appreciate with you,
People of France ! thofe folemnities, thofe
hymns, thofe harangues, thofe oaths of hatred,
thofe anniverfaries of murder ; in a word, thofe
feftivals which they tell you are always dedicated
to happinefs, but which refemble faerifices made
to the Furies. It is my intention to prove to
you, that it is all over with your Republic, if
you perfift in placing its cradle with that of
Roberspierre's tyranny; if you do not dig aq
abyfs

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 231
abyfs between the reign of crimes and the reign
of the laws, fo vaft as to preclude the poffibility
of approximating its fides. But let us avoid
anticipation, and finifh the. queftion of the
Emigrants who have borne arms.
It would be a ftrange abufe of words to un
dertake the juftification of all the Emigrants
who waged war from the id of September 1791,
to the gth of Thermidor 1794. Frenchmen,
when your tyrants wifhed to convert you into
a nation of foldiers, when they wifhed to fend
you all to the field of battle, what cry did they.
caufe to refound in your ears ? By what fprings
did they make you march againft thofe foreign
cohorts, which, at that time, only feemed to
advance againft them? Did they not merely
fay— they are coming to maffacre your children and
your wives? What was the confequence of
that cry ? I appeal to yourfelves. With what
a dreadful accent did you repeat — To arms,
citizens ! France ftill refounds with the noife.
With what torrents did you deluge the plains
of your enemies ? Europe is ftill alarmed at it.
And yet it was nothing more than a vain threat.
But they were not vain terrors which your
wretched fellow-citizens, the unhappy Emigrants,
were made to experience, on account of their'
Q» 4 families,

432 DEFENCE OF THE
families, who remained in the power of theip
tyrants. They were not told,— 4hey are going to
maffacre ;-^-but they are in the act of maffacring;
and this during two years ! and yet, none of
them fhould have called to arms? And thou
fands of voices fhould not have repeated the
cry ? Were they not men alfo, then ? Were
they not Frenchmen alfo? What would you
have f&tj what would you have done in their
place ? Would the groans of a murdered mother
or wife, the body of a fon or a brother have
affected you with lefs violence than fantaftica|
fears and theatrical modulations ?'
But admire the connection of all thefe acts of
barbarity to which they, have proftituted the name
of Law ! The decree which, pronounced the
pain of death, on, every Emigrant who fhould be
taken in arms, ftands placed, by its date, between
the id of September and the 23d of October 1792;.
that is to fay, between the butcheries of Robers
pierre and tlje law pf Collot d'Herbois.
Thus, on the 24 of September they cut our
families into, pieces $ on the t)tb of October they
declare us guilty qf treafon if we take up arms $
and, qn the 23*/ of October they pafs the decree,
which, depriving us of country and property,
leaves to a part of us no. other refource than.armsf not

FRENCH EMIGRANTS, 233
not only to obtain juftice, not only to recover cur
property and our homes, but to procure a phy
flcal fubfiftence, to avoid dying with hunger on.
the fpot.
Someof us indeed mighthave received affiftance
from our relations who were not yet maffacred,
and, by that means have been at liberty to choofe
what exile we pleafed, and to follow what line
pf conduct we thought proper ; hut a decree *
was paffed, forbidding, under pain of death, all
fathers and fons remaining in France to fend
fupport to their children and parents in exile.
Others, who were fo fortunate as to have faved
their families, and with them the wreck of their
fortune, thought that they would, at leaft, be
allowed to vegetate in peace in fome obfcure
and melancholy folitude ; but another decree was
paffed, declaring all the money and moveables
belonging to Emigrants, who fhould be feized in
foreign countries, to he confifcated to the Republic \.
Laftly, the dread of expofing a family, who
ftill remained in the power of the tyrants; un-
* On the accomplices of the Emigrants.
t Decree of 4th December 1 792. eafinefs

234 DEFENCE OF THE
eafinefs as to the views of the allies and the prin^
ciples of the war; the phyfical poffibility of
finding fome other refource; a thoufand motives
founded on local or perfonal confiderations, per-
fuaded a great majority of the Emigrants, that it
was their fate and perhaps their duty to remain
paffive until their country fhould become juft
again; when another decree came to teach them,
that they would gain nothing by fuch conduct,
if they fhould happen to fall into the hands of
the French armies. A decree truly incompre-
henfible, a decree explanatory of the law paffed
againft the Emigrants who fhould be taken ih
arms, literally declares that every French Emi
grant, who is or fhall be taken, in the countries
occupied by the troops of the Republic, making
or having made a part of the Affemblies,
armed or not armed, fhall be deemed tq
have served against France.
And all thefe decrees were nominatively con
firmed by a law in 1794, and were confecrated
in a mafs by the Conftitution of 1795 *. Thus,
* It is my defire that thefe quotations fliould be verified,
particularly the laft ; for whatever degree of confidence you
may honour me with, it appears to me that you muft often
have fome difficulty in believing me. This decree was paffed on

Z%6 DEFENCE OF THE
To the Emigrants, let us put a ftop to our
diffentions, our tyrant and your' s has perifhed :¦*-
If, in the name of the regenerated country,
you had recalled to your bofom all fuch of
her children as that monfter. had banifhed : —
If, commiferating their juft, griefs, if offering
them all the reparation that was ftill poffible,
if, refpedting their lawful affedlions, and their
inconteftible rights, you had propofed to them to
come and deliberate with their fellow- citizens on
the form of Government which it might pleafe
the French to adopt, on the means which exifted
and which ftill exift of reconciling the intereft of
the old with that of the new proprietors, on the
quantum and proportion of the facrifices which
all muft make to repair calamities to which
the paffions of all had contributed. — Laftly,
if, after fo noble and affecting a return to the
paths of juftice, you had apprized them that in
future they would wage war not againft Robers
pierre but againft their Country, and that to
wage an offenfive war againft their Country is a
crime for which no punifhment is too great :— the
Emigrants, who, refitting fuch an invitation,
fhould have remained in arms, 'would now form
but one clafs, to which I fhould in vain en
deavour to apply any other appellation than thai
of Criminal, The expedition to ghiiberon, un
dertaken under fuch circumftances, would have been

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 23?
been a parricide plot. The army of Conde, in
ftead of offering to my fight a generous troop,
would appear only as a criminal affemblage.
What you had not done on the 9th of Ther
midor, you fhould naturally have been led to do
on the 5th of Meffidor in the following year
(June 21, 1795), that day which was the firftj
fince the 14th pf July 1789, in which France
had feen any thing arife which could be called a
focial cpmpadt. When it was acknowledged
by yourfelves, that, during fix years, crime
had been continually increqfing ;¦ it might be
hoped that, /in putting an end to its progrefs,
you would grant fatisfadtion to its vidtims.
But neither of thefe two epochs, nor any of
thpfe which followed, faw you accord to the
fohcitations of public confcience and of public
reafon, that grand act of morality and policy.
On the contrary, juftice, which, in her turn,
was confiantly increafing, was arrefted in her pro
grefs in the fixth week, whereas crime had been
fuffered tp advance to the fixth Tear. Scarcely,
People of France ! had you begun to breathe;
when, in all parts, you demanded the return at
leaft of thofe of your exiled feUaw-citizens,
wbpfe innocence had been proved to you. As to

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 235
Thus, by the conftitutional laws by which
France is now governed, it is a capital and un
pardonable crime in the Emigrants, to have
taken up arms againft the murderers of their
families, againft the theft that purfued them to
the very end of the world, againft the affaffina
tion that left them no means of efcape, againft
a legiflation that compelled them to be Emi
grants, that forbade them, under pain of death,
to become foldiers while it reduced them to the
neceffity of becoming fo, and that finifhed by
telling them — Be fo or be not fo, whenever we
take you, you will be deemed to have been fo.—
We are now come to the month of Thermidor.
Governors of France ! it was then in your
power to fix with juftice the feal of criminality on
all Frenchmen who fhould remain in arms
againft the Republic. If you had wifhed, in
ridding yourfelves of Roberspierre, to purify
yourfelves from all his crimes, and, in cutting
off his head, to obliterate all his tyranny: — If
you had faid to foreign powers, — Let usfufpend
onr combats, the enemy of fociety is no more.

on the 20th, and fealed on the 29th of March 1793. It
was fcrupuloufly tranfcribed in the decree of ' revifion of the zcth
Brumaire, in the $d year (November 18, 1794). It appears
under thefe two duties in the Code of the Emigrants publifhed
at the Prefs of the Depcfitory of the Law.
To

238 DEFENCE OF THE
to the others, whofe caufe had not yet been ifi-
veftigated, your Generals, at leaft, took care
that their victories fhould no longer be polluted by
affaffinations ; France had recovered Valenciennes
without a wound to her fenfibility, or a blot upon
her honour. But new orders arrived to enchain
the loyalty of the troops, and to repel the wifhes
of the citizens. The former were obliged to
renew the affaffinations at Bois le-Duc, at Nieu-
port, at Sluys, and at Ypres. Soon after, that
decree, called, nobody knows why, a decree of
revifion, collected together and perpetuated in
difcriminately all the Jaws of Collot d'Her
bois and Roberspierre *. This was followed by
* See the Decree of the 18th of November 1794 (25th
Brumaire, 3d year). It even goes fo far as to pronounce the
pain of death againft a daughter or a mother, who fhould
fend a father or a fon who had emigrated pecuniary affiftance.
(Art. 9. Seft. 3. Art. 5. Tit. 4.) It declares that in no cafe
can Emigrants be tried by a Jury. (Art. 12. Tit. 5.) That a
RevolutionaryTribunal fhall remain authorized to try
them in concurrence •with the Criminal Tribunals. (Art. 13th,
fame Title.) That any perfon who fhall denounce or feize
Emigrants, fliall have a reward of fo much per head after the
execution. (Art. 1. fame Title.) That every perfon accufed
of being a returned Emigrant, on the affirmation eftivo citizens
»f known civi/m, •who /hall certify the identity, fhall be con
demned to die and executed •within 24 hours, •without any delay,
appeal, or arreft of judgment. (Art. 3 and 4. fame title.) That
every Emigrant who Jhall betaken, having been oneofan a/femblage

NOT

FRENCH EMIGRANTS." 239
by ten others, which aggravated its enormity j
and, by a new adt of inconfiftency, all thefe' ini
quitous proceedings were going on during the
eftablifhment of a new Conftitution, every prin
ts ot armed, Jhall be confidered as having borne arms againft
France, and in confequence thereof tried by five Commiffaries,
given up to the executioner, and put to death •within 24 hours.
(Art. 7. and 8. fame Title.) That the fame conduit /hall le
ehferved vsith all Foreigners •who, /ub/equent to the 14th of July
1789, have quitted the fervice of the Republic, (which did not
exift till 1792,) and who, after having abandoned their poft,
(the foreign regiments were fuppreffed,) hanse joined the Emi
grants. (Art. 9. id.) That all the retroactive Emigrants,
created by the complementary law of Roberspierre on
the 28th of March 1793, that is to fay, fuch as have been
abfent from France a fingle fay fence the gth of May 1792,
ftill remain Emigrants. (Art. 1 and 2. Tit. 1.) That every
perfon is an Emigrant, tvho, during the invafion of France bf
foreign armies, quitted that part 0/ the territory of the Republic
•which <was not invaded, in order to refide upon the part occupied
by the enemy : — (that is to fay, that the mother of a family
who, dreading the bombardment of Lille, fled with her
children to Tournay, deferved confifcation and death for her
felf and her children. Art. 4. Tit. 1.) That every perfon is
an Emigrant who, having two places 0/ refidence, one in France
and the other in a /oreign country, fhall not prove that he has
reftded •without interruption in the former fince the gth of Map
1792. (Art. 3. Tit. 1.) Whence it follows, that if the
public power has a right to enacl fuch a law in France, it
has neceffarily the fame right in a foreign country; and that
if the two powers, within whofe jurifdiftion the two places of
refidence are fituated, fliould enaft the fame law, a man would
be punifhed vsith death, with his whole family,yir not having
been in two different places at thefame time; &c. &c, Sec. ciple

240 DEFENCE OF THE
ciple of which they violated; and during the ac*
cufarion of a hundred criminals, whofe examples
they confecrated. The club of the Jacobins
was deftroyed; and the projects which their
hatred had engendered were executed ; Fou
quier Tinville was condemned for having
made out lifts of profcription, and every depart
ment was ordered to furnifh a fimilar lift every
three months*. In the fame decade, Le Bort
was accufed of the maffacres at Arras ; and the
maffacres at Vannes, Atiray, and Quiberon were
prefcribed ; and Le Bon in vain exclaimed,
My Crimes are the Crimes of the Convention t
While we were expofed to every fpecies of in-
quifition which injuftice could devife or cruelty
enforce, we were excluded from the advantages
of every adt of equity and humanity. Was it
propofed to recall the vidtims who had been the
objects of tyrannical perfecution? The Emi
grants were excepted: To fupprefs confifcation ?
The Emigrants were excepted : To abolifh capital"
punifhments ? The Emigrants were excepted:
To make reftitution of the property of con
demned perfons ? The children of Emigrants
were excepted: To enfure to all. citizens the free
exercife of their civil and political rights ? The
* See the Decree af Revision, Tit. 3. of the lifts of
Emigrants. relations

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 241
relations of Emigrants were excepted. In fhort,
People of France, after having fported with
our misfortunes as with your rights ; after hav
ing made our profcription a part of the confti
tutional code, as they enchained your fovereignty
in the mode of accepting it ; after having erafed
our names from the lift of your fellow citizens
as they forcibly retained their own on the lift of
your reprefentatives, by the fuffrage of cannon j
they completed their criminal audacity by that
famous- law of the 3d of Brumaire, which renders
your legiflation the feandal, and your liberty the
fable of the univerfe;— by a sanguinary Am
nesty, in which all the ajfaffins are included,
and from which all the fugitives of the fecond of
September are excluded !
Well ! At leaft perfecution flops here ? At
leaft we and our perfecutors can have nothing
more to do with each other? — No, — they have
not yet done with us. Their decrees having ex
pelled us from France ; their treaties now expel
us from foreign countries. Formerly a noble
conqueror, giving peace to a barbarous Republic,
forbade her, as the firft condition, to facrifice
human victims in future ; but thefe men, on the
contrary, prefcribe fuch facrifices, not only to
the nations they conquer, but to their allies.
r Even

242 DEFENCE of the
Even the people that have been fuffered to remain
neuter in their wars, have not been allowed to
remain neuter in their hatred *. The j- fovereign
againft whom they affected to hoift the ftandard
of liberty, has been forced, by the fword, ta
become a defpot, to violate the laws of hofpi
tality J, and to order arbitrary banifhments which
are equal to a fentence of death ! Thus, in the
moft diftant place of exile, we are not fheltered
from their attacks ! Thus could we forget them,
we could never be forgotten by them ! Thus,
either that country, which is ftill our own, will
recall us to her bofom; or, until death fhall
have releafed us from our fufferings, they will
not permit us to enjoy even the anticipated tran
quillity of the grave !
And can Justice confider that man as a
Criminal who is ftill armed againft oppreffion
fo fanguinary, againft fury fo infatiate ? Ah!
theirs is the crime, who, having it in their
power to reconcile all the French, perfift in the
* See the injunctions delivered to Switzerland.
t See the laft Treaties.
J Mais je fuis malheureux innocent, etran£er:
Si le ciel t'a fait Roi, c'eft pour me proteger.
One of the Athenian Laws inflicted a double fine upon, the
perfon who did any injury to a foreigner. determination

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 243
determination to arm them againft each other,
in order to render their divifion the bafis of their
own fcandalous fortune and their own deteftable
domination; The crime is theks who punifh
thoufands of unfortunate beings for the very
neceffity to which they themfelves have reduced
them. The crime is theirs who declare war,
and yet Will not fuffer themfelves, to be oppofed;.
who have recourfe to every means of attack^ and
yet will admit of no means of defence ; who
break capitulations, promife men their lives
if they will lay down their arms, and then put
them to death. The crime is theirs who ca
lumniate the memory of the vidtims whofe heads
they have cut off; who . . . but I will not pro
ceed ; for it is my wifh to point out the inno
cent and not the criminal ; fuch is the fatality of
my fituation, to which I muft and will fubmit,
that I muft, at the fame time, denounce affaffina
tion, and caft a veil over the affaffins.
1 People of France! it feems.that I ought
not to finifh here the article relating to the Emi
grants who have borne arms. Hatred expects
her part ;— but a fentiment ftill more invincible
has juft taken poffeffion of my foul; Iju&now
pronounced the name of Quibercn, and all the
fcenes which it recalls to my mind at once for?
R 2 rounded

244 defence of the
rounded and affailed me. I faw the young Som-
Breuil, who, himfelf alone excepted from the
capitulation which he made on the field of battle,
returned to tell his comrades,— you are faved;-—
but he did not fay, — I am devoted! — I fee the
brave de Grey, who, faithful to the capitu
lation, fwam to his frigates to ftop their fire,
and, not lefs faithful to his word, fwam back
again to take his place among the prifoners !
I fee thofe heroes of humanity, who, after their
firft vidtory, forced their prifoners from the mur
derous hands of the Chouans -, and thofe honour
able heroes, who, when led to death, would not
effedt their efcape from a feeble efcort, deeming
themfelves bound by a facred promife; and
thofe patriotic heroes, who made the Temple *,
converted into a prifon for them, refound with
their vows and their prayers for the happinefs of
France! I fee a Bifhop, fifteen Priefts, and a
hundred and seventy-five Officers who did
not fell their lives dearly, becaufe their enemies
fwore to refpedt in cafe they would eeafe to
* The Church belonging to the Seminary at Vannes. An
exact account of tliefe particulars may be found in the Re
lation of M. de Chaumereix, an Officer of the Navy, vsho
tfcaped from the maffacres at Auray and Vannes ; an affecting
and admirable compofition, on which I fliould here expatiate
more at large, if I had not occafion to notice it again here
after , -"• defend

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 245
defend them; I fee them protected, in vain, by
officers who would not condemn them, by fol*
diers who would not fhoot them, and by a whole
victorious army which attefted their efforts to
fpare Republican blood*. I fee them all con*
demned and executed by Belgians and Liegeois in
the name of the French Republic ! I fee the laft
orders arrive for exterminating even children
under fixteen f , even the wounded, even the
fervants ; one hundred and eight unfortu
nate beings whom even the Commiffioners had
not courage to condemn. I fee wounded men,
not in a condition to be removed, foot on their
mattraffes J ! — Seeing thefe things, I feel remorfe
in my heart, I fhudder at the thought of fuffer
ing it to be underftood, that in this clafs of men,
which contains fo many victims to deplore, fo
many heroes to honour, and fo many innocent
perfons to defend, I could find criminals to de
nounce. . . .
I will not, however, incur the deeper re
morfe that would arife from the feparation of
thefe criminals from the propitious crowd which
conceals them from my fight, and covers their
errors with all their own rights. But yes, if it
* See the preceding Note, f Ibid. % Ibid.
r 3 be

246 DEFENCE OF THE
be true that fome individuals, after having been
the firft to promote the Revolution, wifhed to
take exclufive poffeffion of it on their own ac
count;— if it be true, that, without having been
wounded in their affections, or injured in their
rights, without having felt a fingle fpark of that
noble enthufiafm which makes a man fly to the
relief of loyalty and innocence; (for at a time
when fraternal focieties were formed for violating
the-rights of humanity, others might perhaps be
formed for the pupofe of affording them pro
tection) ;r— if it be true, I fay, that from vanity,
from intrigue, from corruption, fome men fpe-r
culated upon public diffenfions, and impofed on
the inexperience of ardent and loyal youths;
that, by the urfurpation of a facred name,
by falfe promifes, by threats preferred in
Honour's name, they caufed even thofe country-
places which had experienced no interruption of
tranquillity to be deferted, and dragged out pf
France all that venerable clafs of men, fimple as
their refidence, pure as their origin, who, brought
up in the obfervance of one only law, facrificed
themfelves to that law ;— if it be true, that fome
were even fo far exafperated and led aftray, as to
favour the crimes of their enemies in order tp
ruin them, and to encourage licentioufnefs in
prder to difcredit liberty $— -if, on one fide as on
the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 247
the Pther, peace and reconciliation met with in
vincible enemies ; if, when fo many voices made
! the echoes of the Seine repeat the cry of— no
mediation ! there were fome that made thofe of
the Rhine reply— no accommodation ! — Yes,
doubtlefs, thofe men are criminal. . . . But
how many of them now remain ? But where are
thofe who do remain to be found ? How are
they to be convidted ? And, befides, who has a
right to try them ? towards whom have they
been criminal ? Alas ! towards their wretched
families, moft probably, who have too feverely
expiated their paffions, and who, from the grave,
grant them their forgivenefs, and afk for them
the forgivenefs of others ; — towards that un
happy Louis XVI., who pardonned both im
prudent zeal and ungrateful perfidy, both the
errors and the crimes of the Revolution * !—
towards the mafs of Emigrants, who, when
they hope for a general reconciliation, will not
nourifh private hatred, and have already abjured
refentments more difficult to confign to ob
livion : — towards that eternal and unwritten
law, which you muft ceafe to outrage before you
affedt to avenge, But affuredlv they are not
criminal towards you, Republicans ; for it is
* See his adorable Will.
r 4 prpbably

248 DEFENCE OF THE
prpbably to their fyftem that you are indebted
for the eftablifhment of your Republic. They
are not criminal with, refpedt to your written
laws ; for againft them, as againft us, againft all
the Emigrants of every defcription, not a fingle
decree has been paffed which did not emanate
From accufations without a crime ;
From condemnations without a trial ;
From retroactive punifhments ;
From the infraction of exifting and known
laws; From ufurping villany, which polluted the firft
moments of the Republic ;
From thofe two monftrous corporations, the
Jacobins and the Commune of the ioth of Auguft;
From thofe maffacres of the 2d of September,
which they confpired together ;
From the empire of terror, of crime, and of
death ;
From that Throne the fteps of which were
compofed of heaps of ruins and dead bodies * j
From the reign of Roberspierre ;
From the Legiflation of Collot d'Herbois;
* You certainly have not forgotten the report of the
Commiffion of Eleven, whence all thefe expreffions, fo precious
as confeffions, are extracted ;— as proofs, truth had no need of
them. (See pp. 127, 128, 129.)
In

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 249
; In fhort, from the crimes which have been
gradually increafing for fix years *. That is to
iky, that there is not one of thofe decrees which
Justice does not reject ; that there is not one of
thofe written Laws which can be called Law,
which can ever be regarded as a Law: Neque
IN POPULO LEX, ETIAM SI POPULUS ACCEPERIT.
It is true then, that we are come to the laft con
fequence which I announced ; " That the whole
" nation, much lefs a fingle individual, would
" have no right to pafs fuch decrees againft an
" individual."
It is true then, that if this great caufe was to
be ultimately tried by the laws of Justice, there
is not one object of profcription ftill exifting
whofe fentence would not be revoked, and who
would not be placed in fuch a pofition that his
future conduct would decide, whether he fhould
preferve the rights of innocence, or incur the
juft punifhment of real crime.
You, People of France, will not oppofe
this laft conclufion which your wifhes have
* Nor the report of another Commiffion by the organ of
$OURDON DE L'OlSE. (P. I37.)
7 long

2$o defence of the
long fince anticipated, and have frequently called
for. But when among you, colleagues of
Collot d'Herbois and of Roberspierre, I
wifh not to difcover any more criminals; when
I feek to eftablifh a principle, with refpedt to the
crimes committed before the 9th of Thermidor,
*' That Pivine Juftice has made this diftindtion ;
«' that thofe whom it ftruck during or fub-
" fequent to the commiffion of thofe crimes
" were, apparently, the only direct authors of
" them, while thofe whom it fpared were the firft
" vjdtims of the villains, being forced to become
*c their accomplices :" Even when obliged to re
member the laft attempts of your laft revolution
ary Committees, I would neither fee nor indicate
the men tp whom they were imputable; when
I thus exert, to the very laft, my whole ftrength
to fnatch them from the fangs of crime, and
when my fentiments, my projects, my difcourfe,
and my filence, all tend only to invite repent
ance, and tp enlarge the paths of innocence;
O ! when the oppreffed are capable of fuch
fupernatural efforts, when they can make fuch
facrifices to the defire of promoting the falvation
pf prance, endeavour, at leaft, to conceive how
you will be fligmatifed ih the eyes of the world,
if you remain implacable to innocence which
has no caufe for repentance, to victims who only wifh

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. i<l
wifh to forget, and to a country which is only
anxious to pardon !
They will at leaft, People of France, fuffer
themfelves to be perfuaded to be juft, when they
fhall be convinced that juftice has become equally
ufeful and neceffary to thern.
It now remains for me to examine the adts of
your legiflature which relate to the Emigrants,
under this laft point of view. Whenever our
perfecutors find themfelves forced in their laft
entrenchment, they fhelter themfelves behind
St ate -neceffity. Our profcription, forfooth, is
never to finifh merely becaufe it has begun.
They fee agitation and diforder returning with
us into that fociety, which, in our abfence, they
will probably tell you, exhibits every thing that
is calm and well-regulated. Laftly, they repeat
the ftale cry, that // is proper that one fhould die
to preferve the whole, and that thoufands pf men
fihpuld be. facrificed to the fafety of millions . . ,
O you ! whom an excefs of ardent fenfibility
too often carried away beyond the truth, but
whom the admonitions of confcience almoft
always brought back to it ; you who lived the
moft exalted Apoftle of popular power, and who
wpuld haye died with grief in the fecond month of

gJ2 DEFENCE OF THE
of the French Revolution ; from the fandtuary
of their Pantheon, which your afhes have re-efta-
blifhed, make them hear that oracle which you
formerly traced in fuch impreffive characters ;
<{ Let them tell us that it is proper that one
«' man fhould perifh for the whole community ;
" I will admire this fentence in the mouth of a
«c worthy and virtuous patriot who voluntarily,
« and from a fenfe of duty, devotes himfelf to
« death for the fafety of his country : but if it
" be meant that a Government is permitted to
" facrifice one innocent man for the fafety of
«' the multitude, I hold that maxim to be one of
<c the moft execrable that tyranny ever invented,
" the moft falfe that can be advanced, the moft
" dangerous that can be admitted, and the moft
" directly oppofite to the fundamental laws of
" fociety *."
People
* J, J. Rousseau in his Di/courfe upon Political Economy.
And how much more ftriking is the paffage that follows ;
" Far from its being the duty of an individual to perifh for the
" whole focial body, all the members of the ftate have
" pledged their property and their lives for the defence of
** each individual, in order that private weaknefs may
<< always be protected by the public ftrength, and each
" member by the whole ftate. After having, by fuppo-
" fition, cut off one individual after the other, prefs the
" partizans of this maxim to be more explicit as to what
'! tn«y

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 2£3
People of France, you hear what he fays;
it is not only one of the moft execrable maxims,
not only the moft falfe, but the moft dangerous,
but the moft directly oppofite to the fundamental
laws of fociety. . And this it is that opens my
new and laft head of difcuffion.
The queftion concerning the Emigrants is
decided as far as it relates to justice, and to
your duties ; let us now fee how it flands in its
relation to policy and to your intereft.
People of France, I am aware that there is
a connection that, at the very outfet of this new
difcuffion, may excite your furprife.
You form an aggregate of twenty- three
millions of men ; you cover Europe with your
troops; the limits of your empire have been
extended in the fouth, even beyond the Alps j
in the eaft to the Rhine, and in the north to a
new fea: your victorious arms have made the
" they mean by the body of the fiate, and you will find that
" they ultimately reduce it to a fmall number of men, who are
" not the people, but the officers cf the people ; and who,
*' being bound by a particular oath to perifh themfelves ia
" order to promote the fafety of the people, pretend by
" that means to prove that the people ought to perifh for
" their fafety/'
Danube

2^4 DEFENCE OF THE
Danube tremble, and ftill ftrike the Tiber with
alarm;. . . and yet you are told that you may
have an intereft in the fate of a few thoufand
profcribed objedts, fome of whom are difperfed
about the Continent, where they wander from
ftate to ftate; while others are fecluded in an
ifland, where for four years generofity has co
vered with her benefactions our private misfor
tunes, although Policy has not, for an inftant,
confidered herfelf called upon to repair our
public misfortunes.
But our enemies themfelves give us fuch a
degree of importance, as to maintain that the
fafety of the ftate is connected with the per
petuity of our oppreffion. It is not prefomptuous
in us, and, at leaft, it is more moral to make the
fafety of the ftate depend on an act of juftice, of
which we fhall find ourfelves the objects.
Hitherto the founders of empires and of laws,
the oracles of governments and of the people,
preached to them virtue, difintereftednefs, and
humanity ; they told them over and over again,
in all poffible ways, that cruelty, avarice, and
corruption proved the deftrudtion of ftates.
Now, • for the firft time, a people are told :—
" Be miftruftful of Juftice, for (he will lead you
" aftray.

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 255
,c aftray. Stifle every fentiment of humanity,
«' for they will occafion your ruin. You can
" only be great by rapine, and happy by fe-
« rocioufnefs. You can only exift in fociety
<c by the violation of all focial rights. The
" impulfe is given. Pillage and proscrip-
" tion are your fate. One fingle virtue, one
" fingle mark of repentance, one fingle emotion
" of humanity, and it is all over with the
" Republic." Between thefe two doctrines it be will eafily con
ceived, that I adhere to that which is as ancient
as the exiftence of man, and as infallible as his
confcience. No, moft certainly, it is not the
individual misfortunes of the Emigrants that can
ruin France ; but all the combination of crimes,
of acts of injuftice and barbarity, that will be
requifite to perpetuate thofe misfortunes ; to do
this, juft and neceffary laws muft be repealed,
immoral and abfurd laws be enacted, feandal
-incurred, miftruft excited, wretchednefs created,
in fhort, a thoufand acts committed which are
abfolutely incompatible with the exiftence of a
truly civil and focial ftate.
People of France, time preffes, and I fee
with regret the impracticability of giving to every Paft

256 DEFENCE OF THE
part of this immenfe queftion that degree of
attention which I could wifh to beftow on it.
I will, however, lay down the principal points,
and in leaving them to the fagacity of your
minds, and the rectitude of your intentions, I
fhall not conceive that the caufe will fuffer
by it.
Is it not true, that the only republic which you
meant to accept, was a republic in which the
people were free, the laws juft, the manners pure,
and the government ftable ? Thefe four grand
characteriftics, which have a mutual adtion and
readtion on each other*, include the whole
fyftem of government.
* Thus the people cannot be free without juft laws : they
cannot remain free without a ftable government : they neither
can nor ought to live free without pure manners.
Thus laws are not jufi, unlefs they enfure the liberty of
the people, and defend that liberty by the liability of the
government. Laws are not juft unlefs they have pure man
ners for their principle, their fecurity, and their object.
Thus pure manners neither will nor can exift, where the
people are flaves, the law unjuft, and the government the fport
of every feditious tumult.1
Laftly, a ftable government cannot be expected where the
people are in a ftate of fervitude. A ftable government
cannot be expected where thofe who compofe it violate juft
laws, or execute unjuft laws. A government cannot be liable,
unlefs it exhibits at once the offspring, the fupport, and the
model of pure manners.
Have

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 257
. . Have you obtained thefe four en^s of every
good political eftablifhment ? Does that part
of your legiflative proyifions which relates
to the Emigrants permit you to obtain them ?
This is the queftion which I fhall now examine.,
Before I enter upon a- feparate inveftigation of
each of thefe four ends, there is a firft means,
common and neceffary to the whole, which
demands our previous attention, and of which
the preponderance is fuch, that it might of itfelf
fee fufficient to decide the queftion.
The liberty of the people depends effentially
on the conditions required in the exercife of
political rights.
The juftice of the laws has for its elementary
principle the quality of the Legiflators.
Purity of manners neceffarily depends on
the kind of men who regulate them by their
authority, and form them by their example.
Laftly, the ft 'ability of the 'government depends,
in a great meafure, on the private characters
and difpofition of the perfons who hold its places,
and on the general eftablifhment of the public
s wealth,

258 DEFENCE OF THE
wealth; of which fuch perfons have the manage
ment; From thefe inconteftable truths refults a firft
principle, which is not lefs inconteftable than
the truths themfelves— That the exercife of
political rights is the exclufive privilege of the
proprietors of land.
And why this difference between the citizens
wno own and the citizens who inhabit the foil ?
Why, if civil rights be common to both claffes,
fhould political rights be the exclufive property
of the firft ?— For thefe reafons *:
Becaufe, in order to be a member of the po
litical body, a man muft be neceffarily attached
to the phyfical body of the ftate.
Becaufe a man can only be neceffarily attached
to the phyfical body of the ftate, by means of
that which cannot be conveyed out of the ftate—
that is, the foil.
* It would be certainly unneceffary for any perfon who
has reflefled on this queftiori, to go back to thefe elementary
principles ; but I deem it proper to point them out to others,
and it is my wifh to refume them with all. There are fome
things which Jhould be repeated until they are obtained, — faid
Voltaire, when difcuffing one of the fubjects on which, he
was right, the old criminal jurifprudince of France. Becaufe

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 259
Becaufe the confideration, that man. in order
to-live ftands in need of the foil, and that the
foil in order to become productive ftands in need
of man, is the bafis of all political focieties as
laid by Nature herfelf.
Becaufe the fovereignty, the law, and the
jurifdidtion are entirely territorial, and neither
bind nor affect the individual beyond the terri
tory. Becaufe on the bafis of landed property, both
the real wealth of every fpecies of production,
and the fictitious wealth of every fpecies of credit,
effentially repofe.
r. Becaufe it being, impoffible to verify the
pofitive motives of action in beings who are
heaped together by millions, we are reduced to
the neceffity of eftablifhing prefumed motives of
action. Becaufe, from the weaknefs of our nature,
amidft the whirlwinds of our paffions, the pre
fumed motives of adtion in men muft be regu
lated by their intereft.
Becaufe the evident, neceffary, and fole intereft?
of the landed proprietor is liberty, juftice, order,
s 2 and

260 DEFENCE OF THE
and peace, without which his harveft, his land,
and his houfe will be pillaged, laid wafte, and
demplifhed. Becaufe, in another refpedt, the landed pro
prietor, Handing in need of workmen to fertilize
his land, of confumers to purchafe its produce,
of guardians of every kind to watch and defend
his property, alfo finds it his intereft to be not
only juft, but liberal to thefe different claffes of
his fellow- citizens, in order to keep them in the
fociety in which they are fo neceffary to him.
< Becaufe the very paffions of the landed pro
prietor render him the friend of order : for if
he be ambitious, and wifh to purchafe votes,
he muft receive his rents ; if he be avaricious,
and wifh to augment his fortune, he muft im
prove his land ; and public tranquillity is abfo
lutely neceffary for both thefe purpofes.
Becaufe, on the contrary, the mere inhabitant
who has no property is led to wifh for troubles,
which, without fubjedting him t4 any lofs, offer
Kim fome chances for gain ; and the Cofmopo-
lite, whofe riches are all moveable, has no ob
jection to dig the gulph of public poverty, in
order to increafe his own private treafure, which
he will carry "with him in triumph to a neigh-
7 " bouring

FRENCH ¦ EMIGRANTS. 26t
bouring nation, on the very day ori which his
nominal country will be involved in the fhame
and difafter of a bankruptcy.
Becaufe, when, in the abfence of perfonal
paffions, a man becomes an inftrument to the
paffions of others, he ftill finds that corruption
adheres to want, fedudtion to ignorance, incor
ruptibility to independence and knowledge,
and independence and knowledge to property.
Becaufe, as from the impoffibility of eftablifh
ing an inquifition of manners for twenty mil
lions of men, we muft admit prefomed motives
of action, fo, from the impoffibility of making
twenty millions of men fupport a thefis, we
muft admit a prefomed mode of reafoning.
Becaufe we muft neceffarily infer fuch mode
of reafoning from the combined propottion of
the means of information, of the intereft which
men have had to avail themfelves of thofe means,
and of the neceffity to which they have been
reduced of profiting by them ; and all thefe
bring us back to property.
Becaufe, laftly, though examples be fuperftu-
ous Where the principle is fo manifeft, this in-
s 3 vincible

262 DEFENCE OF THE
vincible theory has been confecrated by the pracv
tice of all free people ; becaufe, in the Roman
republic, even a Patrician was excluded from the •
fenate, when he ceafed to have the revenue
prefcribed by the law as the neceffary qualifica
tion for a feat ; becaufe in the Athenian demo
cracy the tribes were claffed according to their
property, and the political magiftracies devolved
exclufively on the proprietors; becaufe the wife
and opulent Carthage adopted the fame rule; and
becaufe no man can now be a member either of
the Britifh Parliament or of the ftates pf the em
pire without a landed property. Muft I affign
my lift reafon, and crPwn fo many leffons by the
moft ftriking and moft terrible of all ? Becaufe
the infraction of the facred right ofproperty opened
the door to all thofe evils which have fpread over
France ; becaufe a refpedt for that right would
have averted all her calamities ; and becaufe the
return of that refpedt can alone preferve her
from ruin. — Becaufe — attend tp this ! — Becaufe
even the villains who entered upon the revolution
in a ftate of indigence, and became rich for a
moment by dint of enormities, began to talk of
order, virtue, and humanity, as foon as they had
acquired a property by anarchy, crime, and af
faffination; fo that, after having been the moft
facrilegious violators of the refpedt due to th?
rights

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 263
rights of property, they became, in their own
perfons, the moft irrefiftible argument in their
favour : and obferve, yourfelves, whether at
this time the moft formidable of your internal
enemies are not thofe men who have, either
not acquired any property, thofe who have loft
all they poffeffed, or thofe who, infected with
a rage for ftock-jobbing, feek, in the laft rami
fications of the body politic, for fome fubftance
to devour, equally fkilful in rendering your
very victories fatal to yourfelves, and your very
poverty fruitful for them.
I am far from having faid all that might be
faid on this point ; but I have certainly faid
enough to make even thofe who reflect the leaft
be fenfible of all the importance, all the immu
tability of the principle which concentrates in
landed property * the entire poffeffion of politi
cal rights.
* I do not deny that it may, and perhaps it ought, — pro
vided it be not in fuch a proportion as may endanger its exiftence,
—to admit to the exercife of its rights, without any other
condition, either eminent virtues which have been tried and
approved, or great talents, which have been virtuoufly em
ployed ;' and thofe places of referve, confecrated to morality
and to genius, as a homage and as an encouragement, ought
evidently to be in the deputations from towns.— But this is
an exception to the rule.
s 4 Well,

204 BEFENC* OF THE
Well, People of France! the obferyartea
of this principle, that firft and neceffary condition;
of liberty, juftice, morality, and public tran
quillity, does hot, cannot, exift for you, in the
prefent ftate of things.
It is not becaufe your Conftitution went no
farther than to require that the Electors fhould
be proprietors without faying any thing of the
reprefentatives. This I repeat was a great
point gained, at the epoch at whkKyour Con
ftitution made its appearance. It cMfly points
ed out for the reprefentatives what it required
for the electors, leaving it to your fuffrageS to
fupply what it did not yet darg to advance, and
to anticipate what it will fooner or later ordain.
The common people of Rome, at liberty to
choofe their confuls in their pwn body, had
wifdom enough to perceive the neceffity of
choofing them for a long time in the order of
Patricians ; in the fame manner, your electors,
at liberty to choofe reprefentatives of the peo
ple in any clafs of the community, might now
confine their choice to the clafs of proprietors,
and the , omiffion in the Conftitutional Code
might be repaired without an infringement of
any of its provifions. A locaf

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 2&j|
A local and momentary violation of fuch
rights veiled in fuch proprietors, however dan
gerous it might be, would not be fufficient to
deprive you of the power of placing the legif
lation and government of your -Republic under
the general fafeguard of property.
An obflacfe more general, a caufe more ra
dically deftrudtive has taken from you even the
firft elements of this tutelary principle; and that
fo completely, that the moft ardent wifh on your
part tp ha c recourfe to it would be nothing
more than a fterile wifh, fo long as no change
(hall take place in your prefent fituation.
Before proprietors can govern, there muft be
proprietors. In order to have proprietors, pro
perty muft exift. Now property does not exift
in France ; what has been put in its place ufurps
its name and deftroys its effence. In the fame
manner as a falfe country was fubftituted for the
true country ; that is to fay, a parricide country
for a mother country ; has a falfe property been
fubftituted for true property, and this.fubftitute
carries with it dangers immediately oppofed to
the advantages' which the other enjoyed'; that is
to fay, that, inftead of a property which infpirits
?nd ennobles, you have a property which alarms and

266 DEFENCE OF THE
and degrades ; inftead of a property which pre-
ferves and fertilizes, a property which deftrpys
and dries up ; inftead of a property which fecures
at once morality "and independence, a property
which neceffarily implies either immorality or
fervitude; laftly, inftead of a property, which
is efficacioufly defirous of order, which cherifhes
and affifts the Government, a property which
difturbs order, even while it invokes it ; which,
though indebted for its exiftence to the injuftice
of the Government, or rather becaufe it is fo,
defpifes, dreads, defrauds, and deferts it.
Attend, People of France ! and, obliged
as we are to unite feveral queftions in one, ob-
ferve, at the fame time, what property is in it
felf; — what it has been rendered in France ; —
and how far that plunder of the Emigrants which
you were firft taught to confider as actual wealth,
and afterwards as a refource, has become more
and more , d faftrojs to the nation, to the
Government, to the revenue, in a word, to
you all as a people, and to each of you as in
dividuals. Do not, however, fuppofe, that, becaufe I
am going to lay down the principles in their ut
moft rigour, I am not aware of the neceffity of

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 267
of making them bend, in their application, under
the force of circumftances. All that I pretend
to enforce is, — that they fhould bend without
breaking; that, after having fleered a middle
courfe between principle and neceffity, we fhould
arrive at a conciliation of interefts and a com
penfation of Sacrifices.
People of France * ! — What is property in
a ftate ? Do the lands and houfes of themfelves
* The difcuffion which occupies feveral of the following
pages, I prefent with confidence to the world. On that
grand and difficult queftion I called in the aid of a friend, to
whom I not only fubmitted my ideas and my plan, but whofe
own reflections on the fubject I folicited. They appeared to
me to be fo luminous and fo clallical, that I tranfcribed, al
moft literally, fuch of thrtn as were compatible with the
nature of my work. Happy, in having, at once, procured
fo many additional arguments for my caufe, and affociated in
its defence a man fo worthy to partake of it ; a man, who,
by his inflexible integrity and his conciliating difpofition, by
his fertile mind and his confummate wifdom, by the noble
courage of his refolutions and the more difficult courage of
his patience, has procured for himfelf a diftinft and feparate
place in the hiftory of the French Revolution; a man, who, ia
the midft of a fanguinary war, has found the means of ferving
the caufe of humanity, fo as to merit the benevolence and to
obtain the reverence of all parties ; a man, in fhort, whom
I have feen, during a term of four years, employed in doing,
and efpecially in fupporting, for the fafety of the European
Colonies, that for which thofe Colonies and their ultimate
poffeffors, whoever they may be; can never fhew fufficient
gratitude. This laft phrafe points out M. M.alouet ; and
indeed the preceding defcription marked him in a manner
that precluded the poffibility of miftake. conftitute

268 DEFENCE OF THE
cpnftitute property ? Certainly not, tbey form
the matter and not the effence of property. A
field and a heap of ftones are not neceffarily pro
perty; they become fo, and it is only by be
coming fo that they acquire any value ; but
they can only become property in virtue of cer
tain moral and immutable conditions, which the
general intereft has determined in concurrence
with juftice, which every law, worthy of the
name of law, refpects and guarantees, and which
no decree can alter without making the lands
»nd houfes return to their original nullity.
Their function as property is to reprefent an
immenfe national capital, a proportionable re
venue for the poffeffors and the fovereign ; to in-
terpofe in exchange and in circulation as an ob
ject of pofitive value, to ferve in that capacity
as a fecurity for public and private loans, and to
invite, by their fixity, by the power of protection
which is given to them, the employment of the
capital and the induftry which are deftined to'
augment their produce.
Property thus conftituted is every thing that
it can be in fociety. But the moment that it
is removed from this ftate, it lo-fes a prodigious
part of its vital force, and all its advantages, all .
its

' FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 269
its means difappear in propor ion as its moral
charadter becomes weakened and degraded. If
a traveller, led by circumftances to vifit a foreign
land, there experiences well-founded apprehen
fions for the poffeffions which he has left behind
him in his own, country, property muft have
already received a deep wound : but if, living
on his own field or beneath his own roof, he is
under inceffant apprehenfions that he fhall not
be allowed to remain there a month ; if, while
he does remain, he has not the free and entire-
difpofal of his field, if he does not reap its pro
duce, if every year he is under the neceffity of
alienating a part of his capital for the payment
of arbitrary contributions with which he has
been burdened, property no longer exifts.
If then the value of land daily decreafes in a
country, if all public credit is gone, if the im-
pofts are collected with difficulty, if money
bears a monftrous intereft, all thefe diforders are
explained by the ftate of property.
But who could deem the inheritance of his
anceftors, or the fruits of his own induftry, fe-
cure, in a country where hot only individuals,
Jjut whole fections of the nation, were fubjected in

%-JO DEFENCE OF THE
in a mafs to the pains of confifcation for a differ
ence of political Opinions ?
Who could place any confidence in the public
morality, in the legiflation of a country, where
thofe men would be called Patriots, who
fhould fhew themfelves moft eager to feize upon
the fpoils of their fellow-citizens, and who, pro
ceeding from crime to crime, fhould ultimately
confecrate plunder by affaffination, and both by
acts diftinguifhed by the appellation of laws ?
Such a Government would foon be punifhed
by its own hands, for its own injuftice. In vain
wpuld it flimulate, in vain encourage new pur
chafers; the low price of the property pur-
chafed would exhibit at once a mark of their
uneafinefs, and a proof of the inftability of their
poffeffion. Become accomplices in the plunder,
it would be thought that they gave additional
weight to the unjuft power that prefcribed it ;
but the very reverfe of this is the fact : they
diminifh, they debafe it by their fhame, by their
infurmouritable terror, and by the inability under
which they labour in common with that power
to convert ufurpation into legitimate property.
Then, the more purchafers there are, the more
this odious impreffion, which at firft attached to
a fingle

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 27 1
a fingle adt of the Government, is extended
over every part of the territory. The people,
ftricken at firft with only one adt of injuftice,
become difgufted, when they behold a hundred
thoufand proofs of it. How could it be ex
pected that thofe new fortunes, the joint off-
fprings of great calamity and monftrous iniquity,
would ever occupy the place of patrimonial for-
' tunes, or of fortunes which have been acquired
by honourable labour ? How could thofe eftates
which were bought at five, three, two, or even
one year's purchafe fuddenly become family-
property ? By what rule could the lapfe of time
neceffary for effacing their original blot, and for
configning to oblivion their lawful poffeffors, be
meafured ? The Spartan exiles returned after an
abfence of twenty- feven years ; thofe of Sycione,
after an abfence of fifty. The Scotch, whofe
eftates were confifcated in 1745, had them re
ftored in 1788. The French Proteftants, who
were expelled by the revocation of the edidt of
Nantes, are about to recover their poffeffions at
the expiration of a century.
The Government, then, during an incalcu
lable number of years, muft thus march abreaft
with that efcort of proprietPrs, who are afhamed
of their origin, and uncertain of their poffeffion. It

272 DEFENCE OF THE
It muft afford them protection, in order to be
protected by them, without ever being able to
give or receive any real mark of confidence and
efteem. But things will not remain in that
ftate. Sooner or later miftruft will be followed
by difunion, hatred will fucceed contempt, and
war will break out among the accomplices. The
Government will tax thofe men with ingratitude,
whom it has enabled to acquire property at fo
cheap a rate, and who will refufe to come to its
relief; and it will defpoil the new poffeffors with
ftill lefs fcruple than the old. The purchafers
will curfe the perfidy of the Government, who
only tempted them to buy at a reduced price,
in order to take back the property bought without
reftoring the purchafe-money. Seized by force, or
defended by fedition, all thefe eftates will be
daily abandoned to the chance of fome new
flruggle. Falfe property becoming more and
more unproductive to the public treafury, re-
courfe will be had to frefh invafions of what ftill
remains of ancient and real property. Not only
forced loans, arbitrary contributions, and requi-
fitions' in kind, will be adopted ; the lifts of pro
fcription will be enlarged ; and there will not be
one individual in the ftate, who, when he lays
him down on his pillow at night, will be fure
that he fhall not find his eftate expofed to fale, and

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 273
and his perfon attainted, when he awakes in the
morning. Property will no longer exift ; but the
moft lawful poffeffors, as well as the moft frau
dulent invaders, will have a momentary occu
pation of fuch and fuch land and houfes, more
or lefs precarious, more or lefs threatened, more
or lefs loft to private wealth and to national
credit. But when the landed property fhall become a
fubject of alarm, inftead of a ground for con
fidence; when even the legitimacy of the pof
feffion fhall be an additional caufe of danger to
the poffeffor ; then men will feek to get rid of
their eftates with ftill greater eagernefs than they
formerly difplayed in acquiring them. Then
they will be fold at. a lofs, and the purchafe-
money will by fome be buried in the earth, while
others will fend it into foreign countries, or place
it out at a moft ufurious intereft, to fupply the
wants and cor/edt. the blunders of the govern
ors, fecured on the neceffities and mifery of the
governed. Every day property will become
more precarious and decreafe in value ; every
day will the rage for flock-jobbing and mo
nopoly become more contagious and deftrudlive ;
every day will the ftate become poorer and more
exhaufted.
t People

274 DEFENCE OF THE
People of France ! Attempts were made to
perfuade you that moral confiderations had no
fenfible effect in the mechanifm of a political
fociety ; that fuccefs in commercial undertak
ings, in the cultivation of land, and in matters
of government, in nowife depended on the
purity of their elements ; and, in fhort, that
political crimes, oh whatever pretexts committed,
might be productive of happy effedts.
Such is no doubt the opinion of corrupt men,
who only confider good or evil as means or
obftacles ; but, to perfons of this defcription, it
is not my intention to prefent any thing more
than phyfical impediments. The falfehood of
their calculations may be demonftrated by vul
gar arithmetic. — Afk them who they meant to
enrich by making fo many families miferable j
and they will anfwer, The Nation. Now, con
template the ftate of the nation, in its finances,
in its commerce, in its means of exchange and
of circulation.— What has the whole mafs of
confifcated property produced, in eftates that
have been fold, in revenue paid into the public
treafury, in taxes impofed on that revenue ?
All the eftates which have been fold have
not produced an effective fum equal to one year's
7 produce

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 275
produce of their former rents; and the nation
remains charged with all the debts with which
they were encumbered *.
The annual harvefts have fcarcely fufficed to
pay the expence of cultivation. — The impofts
upon yearly incomes have not been collected f .
And all this does not arife folely from the dif-
honefty and plunder of the various defcriptions
of perfons employed by the Government, in
their collection and management, though the
neceffary multiplication, in a hundred-fold de
gree, of a clafs of men, but too numerous be
fore, is a very ferious evil to the ftate : — but let
us for a moment forget this accumulation of
crimes, this deteftable means of deftroying the
morals of a whole nation, and fee what muft
be the effect of merely expofing too great a
quantity pf houfes and eftates to fafe, at one time.
* And thefe debts retain their primitive value, while the
value of the land daily diminishes. At the prefent rate the
whole territory flf France would not fuffice to difcharge one
half of the debts inferibed in the Great Book.
¦f The taxes actually collected, even including the forced
Loan, have not fufficed to pay the expence of collection.
There is not one of the affertions advanced on this topic
which is not fupported by irrefiftible proofs founded on fads
in the laft publication of Sir Francis d'Ivernois, on
th$ Adminiftration of, the Finances of the French Republic.
t 2 When

276 DEFENCE OF THE
When thefe multiplied fales pafs between' in
dividuals, they amount to nothing more than a
mere exchange of property; for he who purchafes
land fells fome other fpecies of fecurity, and he
who finds it more expedient to fink his money
in annuities, or to employ it in commercial con
cerns, fells his land ; and neverthelefs, as, in
fuch. a cafe, immovable property acquires the
mobility of merchandize, it neceffarily falls in
value from the mere circumftance of the market
being overftocked. Without any other caufe
for miftruft or alarm, the economical and poli
tical order of the ftate becomes deranged ; for
it is of confequence to the tranquillity and well-
being of fociety, that landed property fhould
maintain a fort of dignity that renders it fuperior
to every other kind of property, as reprefenting
the liability of the whole focial edifice.
But if thefe multiplied fales proceed from no
other caufe (as is at prefent the cafe in France)
than the banifhment of the moft confiderable
proprietors and the confifcation of their pro
perty ; if it be the Government, which has
plundered them, that requires fupport and in
vokes the aid of accomplices, by offering to in-
veft them with the confifcated eftates, the con-
fequences will then be fuch as I fhall ftate ; and
I call

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 277
I call upon fuch of you as are thoroughly ac
quainted with the prefent ftate of France to
compare facts with my reafoning.
In the firft place, only three defcriptions of
men will offer to purchafe eftates feized in
this manner ;
i. Thofe who, in the courfe of r.he Revo
lution, have diftinguifhed themfelves by the
commiffion of every fpecies of crime, and who
are therefore interefled in prolonging the ini
quitous proceedings of the Government, in
order to fecure impunity to their own.
2. Men of weak minds, who, incapable of
voluntarily committing a crime or even an act of
injuftice, are neverthelefs deftitute of that de
gree of elevation which rejects a fortune ill-
acquired, or of that degree of knowledge which
is neceffary to diftinguifh the boundaries af-
figned by juftice to public power, or of that de
gree of courage which runs any rifk rather
than have recourfe to a means of fafety which
may afterwards become a fubjedt for remorfe.
3. Men truly and courageoufly honeft, who,
bending beneath the yoke of unavoidable ne
ceffity, or actuated by the moft beneficent mo-
t 3 tives,

278 DEFENCE OF THE
tives, form a fecret refolution, on receiving o*
acquiring any portion of fuch eftates, to tranf?
fer them to, or account for them with, the law
ful proprietors, and only to retain fuch a part
as will indemnify them for the expences which
they have actually incurred.
It is impoffible to fee the firft of thefe claffes
inverted with the office of political or civil ma
giftrate, without fhuddering; or the fecond,
without alarm. Yet the prefent proprietors oc
cupy both ; and thus, inftead of the proprietors
being looked to for protection, there is a difpo
fition to take precautions againft them ;¦ — the
principle is pofitively inverted. As to the honeft
men of which the third clafs is compofed, they
are placed in a falfe, and in a cruel pofition.
Thofe who, in payment of the moft lawful
claims, have been compelled to receive or pur
chafe confifcated eftates, are not at liberty to
facrifice the patrimony of their families; and
have it ftill lefs in their power to ftifle the mur
murs of their confcience, at feeing themfelves
the ufurpers of the patrimony of others. Thofe
who refemble Pelisson accufing Fouquet in
order to defend him, that is to fay, who have
purchafed the property of others in order to pre
ferve it for the lawful proprietors, are foon dif
gufted with the performance of fo equivocal and

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 279
fo dangerous a part. Frank probity wears with
impatience the mark of injuftice. Frail pro>-
bity is ever afraid of being furrounded by the
fnares of temptation. Both become fufpieious
by the very delicacy which renders them un
happy. Their remorfe and their uneafinefs are
obferved, and men are not apt to forgive in others
the fentiments which they are incapable of en
tertaining themfelves. By this means, that falfe
property to which I adverted, that property
which, inftead of implying at the fame time
morality and independence, implies either im
morality or fervitude, is the firft refult of this
general fyftem of expropriation, and of this fale
of plunder.
The fecond refult is neceffarily a very great
reduction in the price of the objects expofed to
fale, not only from the circumftance of the
market being overftocked, but becaufe each of
the three claffes of purchafers calculate their
dangers, and becaufe three-fourths of them
have no money *.
The
* In a former part of this work, I mentioned the circum
ftance of eftates having been fold for five, three, two, and
even one year's purchafe. In one of the French Journals,
moft diftinguifhed for the abilities of the perfons who conduct
itj (Journal d 'Economic publique,) I find it mathematically
demonftrated, that for the fum of 385 livres tournois (from
} 5 to 16 1. fierling) a national eftate of 4000 livres a year
T 4 (about

28o DEFENCE OF THE
The third fenfible effect, and that which ul*
timatfely becomes the moft apparent, though it
frequently acts from caufes that are not perceived,
fpreads over all the branches of the political
economy of the ftate, and where it does not
produce death prevents an increafe of life.
It is at once the witnefs, the proof, and the
punifhment of this grand iniquity. It mars all
the efforts of the government, which it accufes
pf ignorance in its fyftem, infincerity in its pro-
mifes, and impotence in its means. Nothing is
more eafy to demonftrate.

(about 167 1. fterling) may be purchafed. Patrimonial eftates
only lofe three-fourths of their value.
This monftrous reduSion in the price of eftates, after
having been an effeil, becomes a caufe in its turn. It invites
rapacious purchafers from foreign countries. Univerfal pil
lage enfues. Some foreigners, 1 know, have made a point
to purchafe none but patrimonial eftates in France ; but few
inftances of this delicacy occur. From all parts of the
world, monopolizers and mifers have flocked to feize upon
the carcafe of French property, as fwarms of infects are
feen to fix upon the body of the lion that has juft expired.
The greateft part of the moveable wealth of the country
has become their prey, and is for ever, loft to France. The
portion of landed property which they have acquired, when
moft of them never intend to refide in the country, is fo
, much taken from the focial fecurity, and from that deep and
falutary fentiment which attaches man to his native foil, in
dependently of the value which he fets upon his own pro
perty. On whichever fide we turn, nothing but mourning and
deftruction are to be feen.
The

JFRENCH EMIGRANTS. 281'
The fales which take place between indivi
duals are effedted by an exchange of articles of
value, which not only are not taken out of cir
culation, but which multiply its powers; becaufe
the price of the thing fold is immediately applied
to the melioration or acquifition of fome other
objedt of commerce.
But when the Government fells, it confumes
the article which it receives in return, and has
not the ability to render it a means of repro
duction. It applies it to the payment of functions,
whereas the individual applies it to the payment
pf labour.
Government then takes from circulation not
only the price of the article fold, but its ne
ceffary employment in objects of melioration or
of reproduction.
By this means it impoverifhes, in the firft
place, the clafs of proprietors, and, in the next,
the induftrious part of the community, who, in
return for their labour, would have had a part
of this value thus rendered fterile.
This fpecies of impoverifhment is fubdivided
and multiplied, in a moft alarming manner, in a
proportion

232 DEFENCE OF THE
proportion relative to the particular fituation of
the purchafers, and to the ftate of the public
fortune. The particular fituation or condition of the
purchafers being, in refpedt of the two firft
claffes, abfolutely contrary to the fpirit which
prefides over family affairs and domeftic economy,
men of avaricious minds, irregular lives, and
reftlefs difpofltions, will haften to enjoy, by ex-
haufting, demolifhing, and laying wafte, thofe
precarious poffeffions which they have purchafed
at a very low price. All the arts of cultivation
will be neglected ; to plant, to manure, to repaid
farms, and to erect habitations, which in the coun
try are fo neceffary for the fecurity of perfons and
property, will form no part of their calculations ;
and here it is, that, inftead of a property which
preferves and which fertilizes, we fhall find one
that dries up and deftroys,
The ftate of the public fortune, after fo dif-
aftrous a revolution, being that of a continued
bankruptcy and of a general diftrefs, all that
will be taken by fales of this kind from the cof
fers of individuals, to be poured into the treafury
of the nation, will be fubtracted from the daily
falaries of labourers, artifans, and manufac turers j

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 28j
jturers ; from the payment of civil debts ; and
from the fpeculations of commerce : and thus
poverty will increafe by poverty. The taxes
then will become lefs and lefs productive. Pub
lic credit, extinguifhed by all the preceding
commotions and adts of plunder, can never be
revived amidft their prolongation ; and, under
fuch circumftances, to talk of refpedt for pro
perty, of banks, loans, notes of credit, arrange
ments of finance, or any other means applicable
to regular governments, would only be an addi
tional infult offered to reafon, decency, and truth.
Thus a conftitutional code will in vain enun
ciate pure and facred maxims : the fpirit and the
acts of the Government, and, which is ftill more
fatal, the national manners, will be at conftant
variance with the conftitutional code. Every
principle will be confecrated in theory and vio
lated in practice.
Thus corruption can only produce fuch fruits
as refemble itfelf. Thus, if thofe perfons who
have hitherto been entrufted with the manage
ment of the finances of the French Republic,
had even been the moft able and beft informed
pf mankind, they ftill would be, like public cre
dit and commerce, in the fame defperate ftate to
which

284 DEFENCE OF THE
which we now fee them reduced, from the mere
effect of the fpoliation of proprietors and the
extinction of property.
People of France! Our oppreffors will, no
doubt, endeavour to deftroy the fadts which I
have juft eftablifhed, by other facts in appear
ance contradictory. I will anticipate their ob
jections, and, far from diminifhing their force,
will exhibit them in all their vigour,
What ! they will exclaim, according to your
confeffions, the taxes fince the commencement
pf the revolution have fcarcely produced any
thing; and yet we have had five campaigns,
We have fupported the moft obftinate war, at
firft, againft almoft all Europe, and now againft
her moft formidable ppwers. The expence of
each campaign has amounted to a thoufand mil
lions of livres. We have, therefore, derived at
leaft five thoufand millions from our confif-
cations. Thus this fpoliation of the Emigrants
which you think fo difaftrous to the nation, and
this fale of their eftates which, under whatever
point of view you confider it, appears to you a
fubtradtion from, inftead of an addition to, the
riches of the nation, have enabled the nation to
defend its territory and its freedom ; but for thefe
refources,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 285
refources the one would have been invaded, and
the other oppreffed. — This, I believe, conftitutes
the objection in its utmoft force ; — the following
is my anfwer to it :
There can be no doubt but that the fpoliation
of the clergy afforded a bafis of credit for the
affignats, proportioned however to the quantity
iffued, and to the nature of the ecclefiaftical
property, which public opinion deemed more or
lefs neceffary to the fupport of public worfhip.
Thus the eftates belonging to the monafteries, the
abbies, and the chapters, were fold with greater faci
lity, and at a higher price, than the endowments
of the rectories or bifhopricks; and the value of
the affignats, before it was fixed by the fyftem of
terror, certainly decreafed, in regular progref-
fiph, in proportion to the quantity iffued, and to
the price for which the different kinds of eccle
fiaftical property were fold. We faw them lofe,
when they were firft iffued, five per cent, and
afterwards feven, ten, fifteen, twenty- five, and,
on the third emiffion, forty per cent.
The fale of the crown-lands did not at all
ftrengthen the fecurity for the affignats, becaufe
it exhibited, even more than the fale of the
eftates of the clergy, the fpoliation of an heredi tary

286 DEFENCE OF THE
tary proprietor, who held his domains by the"
fame title by which every family poffeffed its
field, its houfe, and its furniture.
Theconfifcation of the eftates of the Emigrants
annulled that fecurity, becaufe it announced an
univerfal pillage, and a complete diffolution of
the focial fyftem.
It was then that the affignats ceafed to have
any real value in the public opinion. Then,
while they were multiplied by dozens, by fcores
of milliards, their Circulation was enforced by the
law of the Maximum, by the terror of the fcaffold.
Thus, it was neither the affignats, nor the lands,
nor their confifcation, nor their fale, which defrayed
the expences of the war ; — but the executioners.
The guillotine coins money, faid Barrere ; and
he fpoke truth. As foon as the axe was fuffered
to reft, the moment that each individual ceafed
to trernble for his life, you faw what became of
the paper-money and its boafted fecurity.
Of the whole of this operation, and of all the
metamorphofes * which it underwent, nothing
now remains but the horrible bankruptcy which
* TJhe re/criptions, promi/es of mandats, territorial mandats,
&c. It is well known, that the firft day on which the re-
feriptions appeared,, they loft 50 per cent, and that the man
dats very foon loft 91, then 98 per cent, it

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 28?
it was calculated to produce, and the certainty-
that the prefent poffeffor s of thofe national eftates
which have been fold, paid for them in an illufive
property, which finifhed by leaving nofign of ex
change, no price for the articles expofed to fale,
either in the hands of the Government, or in thofe
of the individuals to whom the falfe money had
been tranfmitted.
Hence it refults, that this confiscation, that
this univerfal fpoliation, regarded as a means of
finance, was alike abfurd and difaffrous; and
that, confidered in a moral point of view, it was
both cruel and impious.
It refults, that, in order to derive that tempo
rary affiftance to which all the pretenfions of the
Government were ultimately reduced, it became
neceffary to. proceed from excefs to excefs, from
crime to crime, from diforder to diforder, from
injuftice to individuals to violence upon all, and
gradually to raife tyranny to its moft atrocious
maximum, to a height unknown to former agesi
for you are the only people in the world that
have been led to the fcaffold in a mafs.
It refults, that that fublime but terrible alle
gory of the favage cutting up his tree by the roots
t 8 in

288 DEFENCE OF THE
in order to gather the fruit with greater facility *>
was never more applicable than to yourfelves,
and that the ferocious vow of affignats or death
has been completely fulfilled ; for the affignats no
longer exifting, your governors have found death
wherever they have turned their eyes ; death to
fpecief ; death to credit; death to commerce, to
* Mo N T E s qj-' I E u , Spirit of Laws.
f A long time has elapfed fince M. du Pont d£ Ne
mours afferted, that all the fpecie in France was reduced
to three hundred millions ; — M. de Forbonnais formerly
estimated it at two thoufand millions, and M. de Ca
lonne at nearly three thoufand millions (of livres). It
muft neceffarily have experienced a very great reduction
fince the period at which this affertion was made. In a well-
regulated ftate of things, money muft confiantly experience a
kind of flux and reflux, moving from the extremities to the
center, and returning, in the fame proportion, from the cen
ter to the extremities. But now all that falls into the hand of
the Directory is loft to circulation, and leaves France never
more to return. The Republican armies moft certainly ruin
Europe ; but they begin by ruining France.
When, fpeaking of this deftructive war, Iobferved that it
had confumed more than twenty-five times the amount of all the
fpecie in France, it was evident that I fpoke of the fiditious
and nominal value of the paper-money. I even expect that
this objection will be oppofed to me ; but I fhall reply by
Rating, that it was my intention to prefs you between the
two parts of the alternative to which your fyftem has re
duced you. Either you really thought that it was in your
power to provide for the millions of paper which you poured
into the market in torrents, and, in that cafe, you were the
moft abfurd of men ; or you did not think fo, and then you
deli.

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 289
to manufactures, and to induftry ; death to the
whole fyftem of finance * ; in fhort, to return to
the point whence we fet out, death to real pro
perty, that is to fay, death to the firft necef
fary element of a good government ; death
tO LIBERTY, tO JUSTICE, tO MORALITY, and
deliberately committed the moft enormous, the moft infolent,
and the moft fraudulent act of bankruptcy that ever was
heard of.
• See the numerous meffages of the Directory, during the
laft year, up to that of the zdNivofe (or 2zdDec.}inclufively,
on the ftate of the finances and of the public refources ; that
is to fay, on the emptine/s 0/ the Irea/ury, and the alarming
increafe of the general diftrefs. See men the moft eminent
for financial and commercial knowledge, the moft diftin
guifhed for their characters and their talents, anfwer all the
queftions of the Directory on its own plans by the word im
poffible. See, between two reprefentatives of the people
and one minifter of the Directory, the revenue of the national
eftates remaining unfold, ftated, by the firft at five hun
dred, by the fecond at fifty, and by the third at eight
millions. See that report which fixes the arrears of contri
butions at fourteen thousand millions; which
promifes that they fhall be paid in fpecie, becaufe the debt
ors have fuffered the time to pafs when it would have been
advantageous to them to pay in paper. Then fee another,
who fays, that the contributions are paid for ten years, if what
is due from the Government for objects put in requifition be
taken in payment : then a third, who obferves, that there
•will be occafion for farther requifitions, and that if the arrears
are not paid, there will be nothing for future expences, &c. &c.
-&c— Who can look forward, without alarm, to the laft term
of public mifery, to the laft excefs of public diforder, and to
the laft explofion of public calamity ?
» to

2PO DEFENCE OF THE
to the stability of your political eftablifh
ment. Frenchmen, let us now divide thefe four
cgrand Gharadteriftics, and take a rapid review of
the principal circumftances which ought to form
the bafis of our judgment of your real fituation
in its relation to each of them.
And, firft, are you free? — No; for we are
profcribed. I like to quote Jean Jacques to your govern*
ors. They once decreed* that fome extract
from Rousseau or Mably fhould be inferted
in their daily bulletin ; I will felect the paffages
for them.
// muft not be fuppofed, faid Jean Jacques,!
that an arm can be wounded or cut off without
the' pain being felt in the head; and it is not more
credible that the general will fhould confent that
tne member of the State, whoever he may be, may
wound or deftroy another, than it is that the
fingers of a man, in poffeffion of his reafon, fljould
be employed to put out his eyes f.
* Decree of the ioth Meffidor, 3d year, on the propa*
fition of'GUYOMARD.
f Difcourfe on Political EctMtoffly. J
15 I pro-

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 2QI
I promifed to call upon your consciences to
atteft that folemn falfehood, which I termed a
national blafphemy ; the moment is now come.
The French Nation declares, that in no
cafe will it fuffer the return of thofe Frenchmen
who, having abandoned their country after the
i$th July 1789, are not comprehended in the
exceptions to the laws paffed againft the Emi
grants! ....
The French Nation interdicts the Legiflative
body to create new exceptions !
. . . * Here you all feem to interrupt .me,
and unanimoufly to exclaim — "No, the French
t( Nation never uttered a fingle word either of
•" that declaration or of that interdiction. At
" the very inftant at which, they were afcribed to
" it, the French Nation declared directly the
cc contrary; the French Ration Specifically de-
c< manded that the Legiflative Body fhould create
" new exceptions. Vidtim of the fecond of Sep-
" tember ! you have faid nothing to us npw in
" favour of that defcription pf exiles, which we
" did not fay ourfelves , to our delegates at the
" time. Defender of the Emigrants ! we have
* See the conftitutional article before quoted.
u 2 " loaded

292 DEFENCE OF THE
" loaded the horrible abufe of the victory at
" Quiberon with more imprecations than you
«f have beftowed on it. Advert to the laft
se months of that Convention, whofe relics ftill
" harafs us as well as you. Read once more
*' thofe unexpected declamations which fud-
" denly turned an affembly againft you, in the
" minds of whofe members, recollection only
" produced a renovation of terror. What did
ct thofe furious voices exclaim in the midft of
" all thofefortured confciences ? That the Con-
" vention could no longer be blind to its fitua-
" tion — that it was placed in a defile— that the
" Emigrants muft be prevented from returning —
" that the Emigrants were every where pitied—
" that in all quarters the Emigrants found pro-
" tectors — that they already ceafed to confine
tc themfelves to the fecond of September— that
" they already talked of a future epoch at which
" the events of the ioth of Auguft fhould be fub-
tc mitted to a court of juftice — that two-thirds
" of the Departments favoured, at leaft pri-
" vately, a revolt in behalf qf the Emigrants—
" that even the members of adminiftration con-
" netted themfelves with the protectors of the
" Emigrants — and, laftly, that if the Emi-
" grants were brought to trial in their
" respective departments, they would be
"ALI,

((

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 202.
all acquitted — all* — Thus, becaufe the
" terrorifts forefaw that you would all be in-
" duced to return after the eftablifhment of the
" new Conftitution, they refolved to repulfe
" you by means of the Conftitution itfelf. Be-
" caufe they were alarmed at our benevolence,
" they afcribed their rage to us. While they
" exclaimed — The nation recalls them, they
" wrote — The nation prefcribes them! "
Yes, People of France ! all thefe different
circumftances, all thefe contrary movements are
ftill frefh in my recollection. But, ftill, while
their rage excited your indignation, their man
dates infured your obedience. All polluted, all
perverted as the conftitutional act appeared to
you by the hidden introduction f of that odious
falfehood,
* I requeft that the accuracy of thefe quotations may be
verified by a reference to all the journals of the time ; par
ticularly to that of the debates and decrees ; fittings of the
Convention of the lft, 5th, nth, and 18th Fruclider; 8th
and nth Thermidor, third year, &c. &c.
•J- The Conftitution was prefented on the 5th Meffidor; it
was difcuffed until the 30th Thermidor, and it was only on
this laft day that the claufe for profcribing the Emigrants
was produced and carried, with the fame rapidity as all the
preceding claufes. Juftice Ihould be done to the Committee
of Legiflation. Lefs weak than the Committee of Eleven, they
had required the change of a fingle word, and that would
have been fufficient to extract from the murderous claufe al-
u 3 moil

294 defence' OF THE
falfehood, you ftamped it with the feal of your
acceptance. Yet none of us mifconceived the bufinefs. We
did not fay at the time, when fpeaking of
ypu, they are cruel ; we faid, they are not free.
We were aware of the diabolical artifice em
ployed to make your fafety fo far connected
with our deftrudtion, that you muft have de
ftroyed yourfelves in the attempt to fave us.
Scarcely efcaped from the maffacres of Rober
spierre, ftill trembling at the effects of his ty
ranny, you found in the whole of the Confti
tution fhelter and repofe : one only article ap
peared fo you unjuft; but it Was impofedon
you as a law to accept the whole, or to reject
moft all the poifon it contained. Inftead of faying, the French
•who are not included in the exceptions, they wifhed the article
to run thus, the French who shall not be included. It is
evident that, if this amendment had been adopted, juftice, in
a moment of greater calm, would have been fupplied with a
lawful means of reducing, almoft indefinitely, the number of
profcribed perfons. I fay, in a moment of greater calm; be
caufe it is impoffible not to acknowledge that the defcent at
^uiberon, carried into execution during the difcuflion of the
new Conftitution., was one of the principal caufes of the fatal
addition. I have juftified the right and the intentions Of the
combatants ; I have done honour to the memory and to the
heroifm of the victims ; but I know not who can become the
apologifi df the prudence of the plan, and the choice of the
moment, of the chief, and of the meafures. the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 295
the whole, in a mafs* You were obliged either
to reject the Conftitution or the Emigrants,
again to fubject yourfelves to the axe of ter-
rorifm, or to leave us in exile. Your choice was
fiich as it ought to be, for you ran the greateft
danger, and it was your duty to fave France be
fore you faved us; but certainly thofe men are
not free who are compelled" to be unjuft againft
the declared wifh of their hearts ; thofe men are
not free who are reduced to choofe between ini
quity and death ; thofe men are not free who
are made to fign that they will not fuffer our re*
turn ; when, before they figned, they loudly de
manded our return ; and when, after they had
figned, they not only fuffered, but encouraged,
and favoured the return of all who could fucceed
in throwing themfelves into their arms. And
this muft be the refuge of us all, if every other
fail. Your hearts will fave us in fpite of your
laws, if thofe laws fhould not be repealed : and I
apprize all our implacable perfecutors, that the
day will come when they will be unable to find
a fingle judge that will pafs a fentence of death
upon any Frenchman for returning to his native
country, if, after his return, he has reflected the
eftablifhed laws.
u 4 French-

2QO- DEFENCE OF THE
Frenchmen ! are thofe a free people, a re-
fpedted people, to whom their governors at
once fubmit a conftitution which acknowledges
their right of freely electing their own repre
fentatives, and a decree which robs them of that
right * ? are they not, on the contrary, an op-
preffed and infulted people ? Are thofe a free
people againft whom thefe pretended manda
tories difcharge batteries of cannon loaded with
grape-fhot, in order to obtain from their de
ftrudtion the poft which they ought to receive
from their confidence ? Memorable epoch of
Vendemiaire ! which the lies of tyranny have in
vain attempted to fligmatize, but which the
voice of truth has effectually fcreened from pol
lution. An epoch, the misfortunes of which
might poffibly be occafioned by fome acts of
imprudence ; but which will ever remain confe
crated by the defence of the pureft principles,
and of the moft facred rights, by the courage-.-
ous devotion of genius and virtue, and ftill more
by the happy impotence of the unjuft victors,
who, in the midft of their triumphs, found
themfelves unable to deftroy, by the hand of
their juftice, fuch of the vanquifhed as their can
non had fpared. Thanks and homage be paid
* Decrees of re-election, 5th and 13th Fructidor, An. 3.
-i-zoth and 23d Auguft 1795. to

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 297
to you, immortal juries! whofe declarations*,
repeated throughout Europe, announced to
Trance the firft dawn of that long-defired day
on which trials were regulated by the rules of
juftice. Thanks and homage be paid to you,
martyrs of ' Vendemiaire! who, dragged from tri
bunal to tribunal, from prifon to prifon, neither
betrayed your own innocence nor public li
berty. You rather chofe to combat the oppref-
fion you fuflained, than to bend beneath its
weight ; and your voices, long loft in the filence
of the dungeon, only re.founded with greater
force againft the tyrants, at the moment when
they were compelled to relinquifh their prey.
Every thing that could be faid either on the
law of the 3d Brumaire, or on the amnefty of the
4th, has beep faid, and with a degree of energy
that I fhould in vain attempt to equal, much
lefs to furpafs.
Yet it is impoffible not to mention at leaft the
title of fuch decrees as thofe, when I afk the
People of France whether they are free? Hav-
* Particularly the famous declaration, that if there had been
a plot, it had been formed by the Convention, and not againft the
Convention, ing

2q8 defence o-f the
ing once named the title, it is impoffible not to
remind you ; — *
That thefe decrees owe their origin to the
13th Vendemiaire, to that day on which the fame
Convention which had condemned Louis XVI.
to die for having caufed a fingle regiment to be
encamped in the Field of Mars, fwept the
ftreets of Paris with cannon loaded with grape-
fhot: That, emboldened by that dreadful victory, the
Jacobin faction, although mutilated by its own
hands*, thought it could fucceed in re-eftablifh-
ing the revolutionary Government, and the
reign of terror :
That after having fubjedted the Convention
to the ferocious yoke of the Tribunesf, and to
the bloody point of the bayonet %, it dared, fuc-
* Speech of the Reprefentative Thibaudeau.
f The Tribunes governed the Convention at that time in the
fame manner as in the fatal days when their influence was the
greateft. Speech of Thibaudeau.
% In the very hall in •which the Reprefentatives of the People
were affembled, armed men openly influenced the opinions of Mem
bers, and the decrees of the Convention. The Convention deli
berated in the middle of a camp. One man united in his own
perfon the terrible power of the Military and of the Tribune.
Speech of Thibaudeau. ceffively,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 299
ceffively, to propofe;— the eftablifhment of a
commiffion to frame efficacious meafures, that is to
fay, a new Committee of Public Welfare; — the
releafe and the reftoration to power of all perfons
confined, difmiffed, and accufed fince the yth Mef
fidor, with the exclufive privilege of bearing
arms, that is to fay, the renewal of the maf
facres of the ioth of Auguft and of the 2d of
September ; — the accufation and arreftation of
feveral members of the Convention for being the
accomplices of the Sections, that is to fay, a new
thirty-firft of May ; — nominal and public ap
peals; domiciliary vifit s; the banifhment of all
the enemies of liberty, to fet afide all the elec
tions, and to dffolve all the Electoral Affemblies
in France ; to divide the Convention into two
Councils, and to nominate the Directory without
waiting for the new Third; to fend new mif-
fionaries into all the Departments ; to revive the
law of the Maximum, &c. —That is, to effect the
complete fubverfion of the Conftitution which
they had juft fworn to maintain, to renew all the
crimes of the Revolution, and to revive the
pro-confuls of Nantes, Arras, and Lyon.
It is neceflary to repeat to you, that when a
part of thefe difaftrous meafures had been ex
torted by the influence of terror, the Commiffion "f

2ocy defence of the
of Five, flopped by the unforefeen courage of
certain legiflators, in the midft of its tyrannical
acts of violence, obliged at leaft to foften and
difguife them, devifed the law of the 3d Bru
maire, as the moft proper fubftitute for all thofe
horrible conceptions which ic was not fuffered to
realize. It is neceffary to remind you, that one of your
moft diftinguifhed reprefentatives, one of thofe
who now enjoy the greateft fhare of your con
fidence, when he voted, this year, for the repeal
©f the law of the 3d Brumaire, defined it to be,
& law contrary to the fpirit and to the letter of
the Conftitution, and one that the Convention had
not the power to make ; a law adopted as a fub
ftitute for the plan formed for diffolving all the
Electoral Affemblies, and -intended to annul, as
far as poffible, the choice of the people; a law
vomited forth by the volcano which a faction had
enkindled under the Conftitution ; and which was
not the refult of the free deliberations, nor of the
deliberate reflection of the National Convention ;
a law of profcription, which even extended to the
relations of its vidtims, and was placed by the
fide of an amnefty which abfolved all the affaf-
fins ; a law which, thus connected, proclaims to
the whole world, that in the Republic of France the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. gOt
the law fpares crime and attacks innocence; a
law after which nothing remains but to ftrew
flowers over the tombs of Carrier, Jean le
Bon, and Roberspierre * ! !
Frenchmen ! all this was faid, by one of
your reprefentatives, to the Legiflative Body, and
all this was repeated in the two Councils by twenty
.other reprefentatives, who, at that epoch, main
tained a ftruggle of morality, of courage, and of
eloquence ; and all fuch of you as attended to
thefe debates joined your voices to thofe of your
reprefentatives. And yet the quinquemviral law
has been enforced as well as the law of Collot
d'Herbois. And you are now told again that
you are enchained by chat law in the approach
ing elections ! And while they tell you that you
are enchained, . they add that you are free ! And
the fame men who fay, we have given you a
Conftitution, add, we forbid you to exercfe the
rights which it fecures to you !
You free! great God ! and, not only among
your exiled fellow-citizens, but among your
felves, on chat foil which you hear inceffantly
called the foil of liberty, you fee every minute a
" This is literally tranfcribed from M. Thibaudeau's
ipeech. fcene

202 DEFENCE OF THE
fcene of tyranny and degradation renewed, of
which the whole world affords no example.
Not the moft abfolute monarchies of the Weft,
the moft uncivilifed tribes of the North or of the
Eaft, Siberia, Thibet, nor any corner of the
globe, exhibit any thing that can be compared
with that mafs of twenty thoufand citizens in
carcerated without offence, and without accu
fation; with thofe twenty thoufand priefts im-
prifoned by your executioners, claimed by your
conferences, releafed by your Conftitution, de
tained by your Government ; by your Go
vernment which declares that it has neither
food nor clothing to give them, and which
neverthelefs refufes to give them their li-
' berty. And yet you have a declaration of
rights, which ftates, that no man can be ar
refted or detained, except in fuch cafes as are de
termined by the law*. You have a Confti
tution which lays it down as a principle, that no
man can be prevented from exercifing, in con
formity to the laws, the mode of worfhip which
he has chofen for himfelf \. You have a code
which provides a punifhment for the crime af ar
bitrary imprifonment, and which fubjedts the Di
rectory itfelf J to that punifhment. You have
* Art. 8. .+ Art. 354.
X See Xhepinal code and the 145 th article of the Confti
tution. two

FRENCH EMIGRANTS 3O3
-two 'legiflative councils, in which Juftice ex
claimed againft this attempt, and Humanity de
plored the fate of the unhappy beings againft
whom it was directed. You have, laftly, your
own concurring opinions and fentiments, which
our enemies have never yet been able to fup-
-prefs, and which do not ceafe to folicit the libe-
¦ration of thofe -religious victims of tyrannical
impiety. The voice of the People, the will of
rthe Legiflature, the accents of Pity, and the
-precepts of Juftice, have all been fet at defiance;
and while I am writing, thefe twenty thoufand
victims are living or dying, pierced with cold
and confumed by hunger.
You free ! when among yourfelves, seventy
thousand of your citizens, who never left
France, have been trying in vain, for three
years, to get their names erafed from the lifts of
Emigrants, on which they were inferibed by per
fidy or miftake, and in the meantime, are de
prived, fome of them of their patrimonial pro
perty, others of their political and civil rights,
and. all of their repofe and their fecurity *.
You
* *' Cad your eyes on that innumerable clafs of unfortu-
" nate men who have never left the country, who have
" been expelled from their homes by anarchy, pillage, mur-
" der ;

204 DEFENCE OF THE
You free! when the political^and civil incapa
city, pronounced by the law of the 3d Brumaire,
is applied to the relations of the perfons accufed
of emigration, in the fame manner as to thofe of
acknowledged Emigrants ; by which-means two
hundred thoufand families become fuddenly in
volved in the interdiction of feventy thoufand
perfons, whofe names are inferibed on the lifts *.
You free ! when, in contempt of ten articles
of your conftitutional act, the decifion, with re
gard to inferiptions and erafures, the rights, the
conditions, the fortune, the exiftence of thofe

" der ; and who have been inferibed on the lifts of Emigrants,
** as on a lift of profcription — fathers of families who have
" never left their houfes, old men who have never quitted
" their beds, reprefentatives of the people who have never
" forfaken their poft, are claffed among the perfons accufed
" of emigration." Report made to the Council of Elders by HA. Po r t a l i s,
on the 18th February 1796.
" The Department of Aveyron is that in which there are
" the feweft Emigrants. Yet the fupplementary lift bears
" the names of one thousand and four, or one
" thousand andfive; and while I can atteft to you, that,
" of this enormous lift of profcription, there are not more
" than six names which have been fairly inferibed as thofe
" of real Emigrants."
Speech ofDv Breuil in the Legiflative Body, on the
Z\th of Auguft 1796.
* Decree of the 1 8th February 1796. feventy

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 2GS
feventy thoufand individuals, of thefe two hun
dred thoufand families, — let us Jpeak out^ — the
rights, the condition, the fortune, the exiftence
of all Frenchmen have been abandoned by
Law to the difcretiort of five Directors and of
their Minifter * !
You free ! when there is not one of you who
may not, by means of that brief infcription, be
fuddenly removed frPm all offices, and deprived
of your elective franchife ; — what do I fay ?—
Not one of you, who, in virtue of the Emi
grant's Code, in virtue of the only LaWS that
are obferved, may not, in the fpace of three
hours, be inferibed on the fatal lift, dragged be
fore a commiffion, confronted with two mif-
creants of acknowledged civifm, and given ever
to the executioner without delay, remedy, or ap
peal -f!
* Decree of the 1 8th February 1796.
f See the text of the Laws brfore quoted. --r You a free
^people ! . . . Cadebatur virgis in medio foro civis Romanus
. . . Ob quam caufam ? Dii immortelles ! . . . Locutus
erdt libtrius de ifiius improbitate ac nequitia . . . O nomtn
dulce Liber tat is ! O jus eximium noftra: ciisilatis ! . . . Huccine
tandem omnia reciderunt, ut civis Romanus ab eo, qui beneficit
poputi Romani fafces et fecures haberet, deligatus virgis c<edere-
tur? . . . (Cicero in Verrem de Suppliciis.)

X

And

306" DEFENCE OF THE
And this, People of France ! leads to my
fecond queftion ; — Are your Laws juft ?
You muft certainly be aware that this queftion
has been already anfwered. I have not a word
to add on that juftice confidered as a duty ; but
I have much to fay on it, in its relation to your
intereft. The following was a beautiful thought of
Mably's, and I advife your Governors to en
rich their bulletin with the paffage : — " That
" man is guilty of blafphemy, who fays that
" God has made human reafon fo far to con-
" tradidt itfelf, as to advife in the name of
" policy what it forbids in the name of mo-
" rality*.
I am fenfible that, in the prefent times, the
pretenfion of uniting in the fame perfon the
ftatefman and the man of worth, appears ridicu
lous, if not fcandalous. Becaufe the name of
virtue has been prophaned by hypocrites, cynics
profefs the doctrine of vice. The moft that is
done, in cafes where the open difplay of im-
modefty would be attended with too much danger,
* Phocion, fourth difcourfe. and

French emigrants. 307
and the neceffity of deceiving is joined to, the
defire of injuring, is to place morality on the
lips, in forbidding it to approach the heart.
Were I to repeat, in a hundred different .ways,
that profperity founded on injuftice is but a tran
fient profperity, I fhould be taken for a dreamer.
Were I to fay that the fyftem of policy which
avarice and ambition eftablifhis always a ruin'
ous fyftem, nobody would underftand me. Were
I to oppofe the moft folid arguments to the falfe
and perverfe doctrine of Machiavel, I fhould
prove that, in the courfe of two centuries; • not
one ftate has derived the fmalleft advantage from
it ; — but what would be the fruit of my labour ?
Thus fpoke, twenty years ago, that fame
Mably *, of whom it is the boaft of your legif
lators that they are the difciples.
What would the man who was fo far dif-
couraged at the corruption of that day have
ventured to hope for from the phrenzy of the
prefent times ?
Yet every thing has an end. Some ray of
light will penetrate the eye that is the moft.ob-
* " Principles of Morality."
x 2 flinately

308 DEFENCE OF THE
ftinately bent on refuting its entrance ; there is a
point beyond which imprudence itfelf dares not
advance a fingle ftep ; and the moment comes at
laft when the moft hardened iniquity fhudders at
its own work, and at the dangers which it has
accumulated on its own head.
If it were only an equivocal adt of injuftice
that I had tp difcufs with you, which might ad
mit qf palliation or difguife ; a fecret adt of in
juftice which might efcape notice and not be
tray its author ; a partial or acceffary adt of in
juftice which injured but a few individuals, and
did not ferve as a bafis to the fyftem of the whole
political affociation ; an act of injuftice which
had been repaired and which allowed of a balance
of good againft evil ; or, laftly, a tranfient act
of injuftice, of which it was poffible to lofe the
memory or remedy the effects; you might fufpedt
that my own intereft didtated the judgment which
I pronounce on your's ; or, at leaft, fmiling at
the aufterity of my principles, and anfwering my
complaints of your Republic by a repetition of
the vows which Plato offered up for his, you
might tell me, that governments, like men, are
not made for perfection, that every one has its
defects, and that your's, exhibiting a mixture in
which

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 3O9
which good and evil prevails in a greater or lefs
degree, will go on like fo many others.
Butobferve, People of France ! that I now
denounce to you, not one adt of injuftice, but a
feries of fuch acts, a complete fyftem of iniquity,
the moft inconteftable, the moft fcandalous, the
moft univerfal, the moft abfolutely incapable of
fupporting any thing that is good, and the moft
neceffarily condemned to perpetuate every thing
that is bad.
Difcufs, inveftigate, as much as you pleafe,
all thofe laws of Roberspierre, of Collot
d'Herbois, and their fucceffors ; you will never
find them to contain any thing more than theft
and murder, murder and theft. Between Ro
berspierre, who fequefters all the property be
longing to the relations of Emigrants, and the
men who, after him, declare the fucceffion of
the living to be open, in order that they may
confifcate it as the property of the eventual heirs,
on whom they inflict a civil death while they re
fufe to admit their natural death, it is difficult to
fay which beft deferves the horrid palm of in
juftice.

*3

But

3IO' DEFENCE OF THE "
But all thefe adts of iniquity are laws; they
have been promulgated. They were not only
known after they were paffed, but were objects
of attention while they were paffing. The de
bates which gave birth to them had witneffes
firft, and afterwards hiftorians. It is known by
what arguments they were fupported and by
what oppofed. It is known, for inftance, that
when the decree was propofed which had for its
object to render the National Treafury heir to
citizens, and to living citizens too, one of your
reprefentatives * afked, Can we be blind to the
execration which we muft incur if we give our
fanSfion to a meafure fo unjuft? — It is known that
another t exclaimed, / muft fay, that, on read
ing thefe atrocious calculations, aftonifhed and dif
gufted, I thought myfelf tranfported by a miracle
into the council of Nero. It is known, that the
only anfwer given to thefe effufions of a noble in
dignation, in the Legiflative Body, was, that prin
ciples alone were not fufficient ; refaurces were
neceffary, and the beft refource was to take the
property of the Emigrants and of their relations.
It is known that the refolution of the five hundred
was once rejected by thofe elders who are per
haps deftined to fave France ; that, in order to
? M. CORREN-FUSTIER. f M. Du MOL A R D.
extort

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 3II
extort their fandtion, they were threatened with
the rigid obfervance of Roberspierre's fequef
tration, that is to fay, that the Republic fhould
take every thing by the right of force, in cafe
any attempt were made to oblige them to reftore
every thing in the name of juftice. Laftly, it
is known, and is ftill daily repeated, that the
men who perpetuate this legiflation of Rober
spierre's are the fame who proclaimed Rober
spierre to be a Monster, and who have affected
to unite in their own perfons the right of punifh-
ing with the right of imitating him. Now take
all times and places, governments and individuals,
and I defy you to produce a fingle inftance in
which iniquity appeared fo barefaced, in which
profligacy attained to fuch a height of enorrnity.
Which of you does not perceive, which of
you does not feel, that this iniquity is univerfal,
and circulates through all the organs of the body
politic ? It fills more than one half of your civil
code. It conftituces the fole bafis of your fifcal
fyftem. Your conftitutional adt was on the
point of being exempt from it, and it would
then have prefented a beautiful theory ; but force
was employed to inflict this flain upon it. Thofe
two dreadful words which I cited at the beginning
of this difcuffion, Pillage and Profcription, are
x 4 inceffantly

JI2 DEFENCE OF THE
inceffantly prefented to you, and prefented to
you as the end, the principle, and the fupport
of your Republic. Thefe words, too, pro
nounce your condemnation as well as ours.
Frenchmen! do you not then perceive the danger
that refults to all defcriptions of perfons, to each
individual, from the indefinite profcription of a
whole party, of the Emigrants in genera] ? Ah !
If it fell to my lot to make laws for you, I would
not even profcribe the Jacobins ! Crime, and
crime only, crime clearly proved, the crimes of
individuals, can alone be condemned by the
law, can alone be objects of punifhment. But
when profcription is once- admitted as a political
refource, it foon paffes from one party to another,
and knows neither end nor bounds. Opimius
begat Marius ; Marius begat Sylla ; Sylla,
Catiline; then Clodius, Anthony, Lepidus,
andOcTAVius. Your moft ardent revolutionifts,
as well thofe whom you honour with your regret^
as thofe whom you load with execracions, have
all, or nearly all, fallen vidtims to this firft prin
ciple of profcription ; and the bloody fey the will
remain fufpended over your heads fo long as you
fuffer the impulfe to fubfifh
And even while it fpares your lives, does it
not inceffantly mow down every thing that can
render

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 313
render them dear to you ? I appeal to your
felves : — Which of you, on confulcing his heart,
can fay that he is without apprehenfions, not only
for his life but for his liberty, his condition, bis
property, his fuflenance, and the fuftenance of
his family ? Thofe thoufands of purchafers of
whom the government made a fudden demand of
fifty times more than they owed, from whom it
took the eftates which they had bought without
returning that part of the purchafe- money which
they had already advanced ; thofe two hundred
thoufand families who have been defpoiletl or de
graded by having their names falfely inferibed on
the lifts of EmiiJrants ; thofe three hundred and
eighty-fix thoufand public credicors, among whom
fo many fathers of families are feen, without picy or
remorfe, to expire in thr torments of hunger, or
the horrors of filicide ; that million of men, who
were our creditors, whom we ihould have paid,
whom the Republic will never pay ; — are not all
thefe vidtims to the fame iniquity to which we
are facrificed, — of that iniquity the principle of
which may be deftroyed, but the effedts of which
never can be limited ?
It is impoffible to enter into particulars ; but
were it practicable, and I were allowed to inter
rogate you one after the other, what dreadful com-

314 DEFENCE OF THE
communications fhould I receive ! One would
tell me, — " / can prove that I have only received
" from my eftates the net fum of eight thoufand
" three hundred livres, while I have been made to
" pay thirty thoufand livres in contributions* ."
Another would fay, " There is not one farmer in
" our departments who has not had a demand of
" twelve thoufand livres made upon him, at the
"fame time that they took from him his oxen, his
" corn, his hay, and his horfes\" A third,
" Ihe requifitions have taken from us the whole
" produce of our lands, while we have not r<?-
" ceived a fingle penny, and now they exact from
" us the taxes which that produce' wcs to have
lc paid. How can we pay when we have re-
" ceived nothing^.?" A fourth, " / am one
" of that crowd of citizens againft whom they
" wifh to enforce all the rigours of the fife a I
ic code, even while they admit the impoffibility of
" their paying the imp oft s exacted \\." A fifth,
" I have efcaped from that affemblage of Men,
" or Women, active, neutral, or pas-
* Dubois de CnANCE,on the exactions pra&ifedin his
Canton. — Sitting of April 29.
f Confeffed by the Deputy Le Cointre in his fpeech on
the vveftern departments, on the 1 2th of July 1796.
X Speech of Johan not in the Council of Elders, Sep
tember 29, 1796.
|| Speech of Lacombe St. Michel, June 26, 1796.
" SIVE

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 315
" sive in the Revolution, Patriots or Rebels,
" who, for three years, have been wandering
<c among the tombs, and fupporting themfelves
" with bread, moiftened with their tears, and
" kneaded with the afhes of their houfes and
" the bones of their friends *." This man
would tell me, tc In return for the fervices
" which I have rendered, and the facrifices
" which I have made to the Republic, my for-
cc tune is fwallowed up and my head threatened."
That man would fay, tc While I was fhedding
" my blood for the Republican Government,
" it confifcated my property and maffacred my
" father, and I have not yet been able to re-
" cover the one or to revenge the other." All
would deplore fome fpecies or other of uneafi-
nefs and torment, their precarious poffeffions
or their difgraceful acquifltions, their hidden
grain or their buried fpecie, their invaded for
tunes or their difperfed families, pains without
confolation, loffes without indemnity, the fterile
hatred and devouring terror of oppreffion, in
foort, a life difturbed by fear, poifoned by grief,
and threatened by tyranny or defpair; — which-
* Speech of Chapelain, Deputy from La Vendee,
on the 6th of June 1796. ever

3l6 DEFENCE OF THE
ever way we turn misfortune meets our eye, for
every where injuftice prevails.
And how is it poffible that a fpecies of injuftice
the effence of which is. fo clearly demonftrated,
which is fo fcandaloufly public, and fo com
pletely univerfal, fhould not exclude every thing
that is good and every thing that is pure ? Nay
it does more than exclude goodnefs and purity,
it corrupts them. Thus you have feen the
homage which I paid to twenty articles of your
Conftitutional Code, and to the general intention
which feemed to me to have influenced its adop
tion ; that homage was fincere, it was deferved :
— but on examining the code, it appeared that
iniquity, with a fingle clafs, had annulled all
thefe articles, corrupted all this intention, and
belied all this homage.
Thus, in your two Councils, you refpedt and
cherifh men who are really worthy to be the reftorers
of public juftice and> felicity ; but they are left in a
minority ; and Injuftice, armed with the law of
the 3d Brumaire ; Injuftice, with the book of
profcriptions in her hand, and the infcriptions in
her power, can fo far command the fuffrages of
the Legiflative Body, as to reduce reafon and
virtue

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 317
virtue to maintain an impotent ftruggle againft
folly and crime.
Thus, when your tribunals, thofe fandtuaries
of civil liberty to which political liberty fo often
flies for refuge, began to infpire confidence
and veneration, which confiture at once their
ftrength and their reward ; iniquity produced a
written law which ordered them to affaffinate.
They wept while they obeyed the law, but ftill
they obeyed it. While I wa;s congratulating
France upon her new judicial order, France faw
the unhappy Cussy judicially maffacred in
her capital.
Laftly, let me afk, whether this fyftem of in
juftice, whatever be its- nature, is, at leaft, tran-
fitory ? Does it admit of repair ? Can its prin
ciple be preferved, and its adtion rectified ? No,
it muft be deftroyed ; it cannot be repaired. A
new road cannot be marked out before the
prefent precipice is filled up ; otherwife one abyfs
will always lead to another*. Review, your
felves, the horrid genealogy of all thefe crimes
which have fucceffively fprung from each other.
At firft feditious profcriptions appear, which
lead to legal profcriptions. Thefe laft .begin by
* Aby/fus abyffum invocat. attack-

318 DEFENCE OF THE
attacking individuals, then a number of indi
viduals, then whole defcriptions of men in a
mafs. From the triple inipoft we pafs to the
general fequeftration, from fequeftration to con-
fifcation, from confifcation to banifhment, from
banifhment to murder. At firft, thofe only who
have taken up arms are threatened, next thofe
who have fled, afterwards thofe who have been
banifhed, and laftly thofe who have remained in
the country. For fome time the difference of
age and fex is reflected; but the moment at
length arrives, in which che mother and the child,
the fifter and the brother, fall pell-mell and
mingle their blood together. One only dif
tindtion remains between the enemies of the
revolution and its partifans or docile. flaves ; even
that diftindtion is deftroyed, and, as your own
legiflators have themfelves afferted and proved,
Patriots or Rebels, men active, neutral, or paf-
five in the Revolution, are,, exiled, maffacrcd,
and defpoiled by the Revolution.
And can order ever proceed from fuch a
chaos as this? Can refpedt for property be re
vived by a perpetuation of plunder ? Can mild
and beneficent laws' be obferved, at the fame
time as laws which prefcribe the affaffination of
women and children? In fhort, can contempt beget

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. gl9
beget refpedt, terror produce confidence, hatred
and horror be converted into love and union ?
— No. When men will take a fyftem of injuftice
fuch as I havedefcribed, for the principle of their
government, they condemn themfelves to fol
low its whole progrefs, and to reap all its fruits.
It was but lately that one of your upright repre
fentatives exclaimed, on the fubject of a pro-
pofition which is now a law, / think myfelf in
the council of Nero. Well then, let the Neros
of France, wherever they be, reflect on the
fpeech of Burrhus to the Nero of Rome *,
and learn that in this comparifon the balance of
dangers, as well as the balance of crimes, is
againft them.
The tyrants of antiquity, either by obferving
a gradation in their cruelties, or by breaking off
all communication by the influence of terror,
* " You mud proceed from crime to crime, maintain your
" prefent afts of rigour by frefh cruelty, and wafti your
" blood-ftained arms in frelh blood. Britannicus expiring
" will itimulate the zeal of his friends, who are all ready to
" efpoufe his quarrel. Thefe avengers will find new de-
" fenders, who, when they die, will be fucceeded by others.
" You are enkindling a fire that will never be extinguifhed.
" Dreaded by the whole world, you will have the whole
" world to dread; you muft always be punifhing, always
" trembling in the midft of your projecls, and muft confider
" all your fubjedts as your enemies." Racine. could

32C* DEFENCE OF THE
could efcape for a long time that univerfal hatred
which they deferved, and fecure themfelves
from the danger of being denounced to the whole
empire at once. But our modern tyrants have
not only committed all crimes that were known,
but many that were unknown ; and all thefe
enormities have been revealed not only to France,
but to the univerfe. Not one of them can now
be effaced, — except by repentance. One hour's
labour is now fufficient to carry to the extremities
of the earth the cry of the oppreffed and hatred
of the oppreffors. It is the leaft we have a
right to expect from the art of printing, which
in thefe times has been rendered fo fubfervient
to the purpofes of guilt, that it fhould not al
ways be inftrumental to our calamities. By
means of it calumny excited a blind rage againft
us, and by its means truth will reftore us to the
protection of an enlightened benevolence. Even
the book which 1 now write, all-imperfect as it
is, will be allowed to have its grain of weight in
the fcale of human judgment. Our fellow-
citizens will there find the manifeftation of our
innocence, and our benefactors the juftification
of their generofity ; our enemies the monument
of their crimes, and our defpoilers the recep
tacle of our rights. This book will penetrate
all hearts, will remove all doubts, will keep
15 alive

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 32I
alive all recollections. It will make thofe
criminals turn pale from whom it will not extort
a tear. It will ha've prophefied the. deftrudtion
of the tyrants if it does not foften their hearts ;
it will have extended their difgrace and ac
celerated their fall, if it does not excite their
remorfe and produce a change in their conduct.
No, men are not to be governed, much lefs
is a government to be erected, under fuch a load
of ignominy and with fuch a mafs of iniquities.
With fuch a fyftem you may fet the world in
flames ; but you can never efcape from them
yourfelves. You may fend fifty thoufand At-
tiLas to lay wafte the beautiful plains of Italy,
but you will not pacify France, nor ever reduce
her to fobjedtion ; and without peace, without
fubmiffion, you will neither fave France nor
yourfelves. All the means of terror and wicked-
nefs which a fpirit of Machiavelifm could fuggeft,
have been tried and exhaufted : the only re-
fources that now remain are juftice and morality;
they muft fave France, or France is loft.
It is an egregious miftake to fuppofe that the
prefent ftate of France can be compared with
that of a territory which is divided between a
conquering and a conquered people. In the laft
y cafe.

J22 DEFENCE OF THE
cafe, one party know that they muft live refigned,
and the other that they muft remain united.
But here neither refignation nor union is any
where to be found. There are not two diftindt
parties who may, in time, combine and form
one whole, but one nation and a thoufand in-
teftine divifions ; the great family torn into
pieces, and the private families undergoing the
fame fate ; brothers either forcibly feparated or
armed againft each other ; fathers or children
with defpair or parricide in their hearts ; op-
preffors who have no more good faith towards
each other than they have towards the objedts of
their, oppreffion ; in fhort, anarchy, mifery, and
crime cover the whole furface of this victorious
land, and avenge the conquered world:
Scelus incubuit viBumque ulfcifcitur orbem.
The example of Romulus is not more appo-
fite. No doubt he founded his Republic with
a banditti, but not with plunder ; the difference
is enormous. He invited thofe who had been
criminal in other focieties to become innocent in
his own ; which is very different from the con
duct of perfons who lead men from innocence
to crime by the means of feduction or the in
fluence of terror. He made them acquire and
build in comrrion, which was very different from
making

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 323
making them pillage and deftroy each other. In
fhort, while he kept his new tribe * within
the limits of duty by the force of a military
Government, he began to prepare for them that
milder and more powerful check Which his
fucceffor completed, — the check of religion, of
laws, and of manners.
Manners, People of France! Aye, and
pure manners too. Do you poffefs that grand
bafis of every hope ? Has your Republic fecured
that firft condition of her exiftence ? — This is
the third queftion which we have to examine. It
is much lefs fimple than thofe which we have al
ready difcuffed ; for it would be poffible for
France to have pure manners, and the French
Republic to have impious manners.
In thofe beautiful and unfortunate countries of
India, fo favoured by nature and fo rent by
anarchy, there is a population of one hundred
millions of men who are called Gentoos, becaufe
they are the original inhabitants of the country.
This immenfe population is in a ftate of fub-
jedtion, but is neverthelefs ftained by none of
thofe crimes which for ages paft have agitated.
* And the newnefs and fmallnefs of this tribe too make
fome difference ; to fay nothing of times, places, &c—
y 1 and

324 DEFENCE OF THE
and convulfed the moveable fcene of its Govern
ment. While Tartars, Arabians, Perfians, high
waymen * turned conquerors, and mace- hear
ers f raifed co the throne, have imprifoned and
poifoned each other, and wallowed-, in the blood
of their enemies, of their fubjedts, and of their
own families, the hundred million. of Gentoos,
faithful to their ancient charadter and to their
primitive religion, offer to the Divinity hearts as
pure as ever, and breathe to all around them a
fpirit of charity as beneficent as ever. The ties
of nature, the faith of marriage, the bonds of
friendfhip, and the duties of hofpitality, are ftill
holden facred by them. Even their misfortunes
foften their minds by pity more than they irri
tate them by injuftice. Murder is lefs an object
of their fear than of their deteflation ; and their
compaffion for their perfecutors is ftill ftronger
than their hatred. Every character is diftin
guifhed by fome mark of courage ; the leading
feature in theirs is the determination to live and
die virtuous J
Frenchmen !
* Sha-Nadir, Abdala, Angria, Jaffir, &c.
+ Abdala was fervant to Nadir, before he became, like
his mafter, chief of a band of jobbers, and afterwards a
conqueror. J When that famous Nadir, removed from a den of ban
ditti to the palace of tlie Sophis, croifed a defolated country, 500

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 325
Frenchmen ! I am well aware that there are
millions of Gentoos in our unhappy country.
But does the region of the Government, then,
contain nothing but Tartars and Arabians ? God
forbid, I fhould be fo unjuft as a man, fo un
grateful as a Frenchman, as not to acknowledge
the efforts, often fublime, the fuperintendence,
always falutary, of the men whom your en
lightened fuffrages have placed either in your
councils or in the different branches of your
political eftablifhment, fince the appearance of
your new Conftitution. I commit violence on
my own feelings in forbearing to pay a perfonal
homage, that might expofe thofe on whom
you have placed your hopes td the attacks of
calumny. But let thofe pure and courageous
men know, that, every time they employed their
eloquence in the defence of facred rights, or in

500 leagues in extent, in order to rob the Mogul's Treafury,
a Gentoo, without troops or arms, prefented himfelf, fingly,
in the high road, before the ferocious conqueror, and feiz-
ing his horfe's bridle, faid, " If thou be a God take us for
" yourviclims, but if thou be a man, /pare thy fellow -creatures ."
" I am not a- God," replied Nadir ; " but I am fent, by God
" to chaftife nations," and, difdaining to attack an individual,
he made Deli experience the horrors of fire and fword for
eight whole days. The Gentoo regretted the life which had
been fpared, but did not think himfelf authorized to put an
end to his exiftence.

v 3 oppofition

326 DEFENCE OF THE
oppofition to perverfe laws, amidft the accla
mations that furrounded them on the very
theatre of their glory and their benefactions,
there were places of exile alfo to which their
fpeeches carried confolation, where, read with
emotion by their fellow-citizens, they were re
peated with pride to foreigners; where their
zeal is loaded with benedictions, even by thofe
who do not reap its fruics, but whom nothing
can prevent from feeling that they have one
common country.
Yes, doubtlefs, at the laft elections, in fpite
of the dyke thrown up by the faction of ter-
rorifts, there was a grand and a happy irruption
of morality on the foil which the Government
attempted to guard againft its entrance. Yes,
for the defire of what is right, for the revival
and propagation of the principles of order and
juftice, for the direction of common efforts to
wards one falutary end, there is henceforth, a
point of contadt eftablifhed between the probity of
an immenfe party of the governed, and that of
a portion of the Governors. Lefs wretched and
more powerful than the devoted people to whom
I juft now adverted, you feized the moment of
a combat between your tyrants to force the
aftonifhed victors to open to you the paths of
morality,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 327
morality, and even to enter them with you.
But they foon drew back, and returned, wich
phrenzy, from thofe new roads to their own
beaten paths ; but they had already united you,
and while they ranged themfelves anew in battle
againft you, they left you in poffeffion of arms
for your own defence. Although they have fince
obtained too many victories, they have all been
difputed ; and you have defeated them more
than once. In fhort the conteft ftill continues,
and you are on the eve of a decifive action. If,
with the Conftitution in your hand, and your
country's dangers before your eyes, if, tho
roughly acquainted with your rights, prudently
calculating your ftrength, and calmly attending
to the didtates of your confcience, you prepare,
at the next election, a reinforcement of good
reprefentatives for thofe which you returned at
the laft, the party of morality will triumph, and
France will be faved.
But in the prefent ftate of things, in the
dreadful difpofition which the Government now
exhibits between a virtuous minority and a ma
jority of terrorifts, the manners of the former
can only be confidered as private manners, they
are the manners of fuch an individual who is
member of a council, or of a tribunal, or of an
y 4 admini-

328 DEFENCE OF THE
adminiftration : The public manners are and
can only be the manners of the majority.
It is poffible, and I am willing to believe it is
fo, that numerically the firft are the manners of
France; ftill the fecond politically are not lefs
the manners of the French Republic.
The nature of the laws, the action of the
Government, and the confequences of both,
conftitute public manners. I have fhewn you
what is the nature of the laws, and every inftant
brings us back to this dreadful truth. Tyranny
and iniquity, rapine and murder, compofe or cor
rupt the whole of your political, 'civil, and fifcal
legiflation, and form your public manners.
The action of the Government does not re
quire rnany more words to explain, whether in
its moft extenfive fignification we apply this
denpmination to all the parts of the political
eftablifhment ; or whether in its more limited
fenfe we confine it to the executive part; in
the firft point of view, the Government main
tains and flrengthens thefe laws ; in the
fecond, it executes them, urges the adoption of
others of a fimilar tendency, and violates the
fmall number of thofe which the vigilance of
9 virtue

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 329
virtue has contrived to extort from the diftradtion
of immorality. By the following brief expofition,
we may be enabled to form a judgment of the
manners of the French RepubUc.
At home, we fee whole departments again
placed under the power of the old Commiffaries
of Roberspierre ; twenty thoufand men thrown
into prifon for religious opinions ; continual at
tacks made on French liberty, and on the laft
rampart * which protects its remains; a con
ftant contempt of the wifhes, the wants, and the
torments of the people ; a rooted averlion from
peace; the fentence of M. de Cussy, and the
feftival of the 21ft of January.
Abroad, we fee the moft brilliant laurels
tarnifhei' by the moft fcandalous abufe of victory ;
the conquerors of Mantua dragged before the
walls of Rome; the noble rivals of the Arch
duke Charles transformed into contemptible
oppreffors of Pius VI. ; war without pretext,
conqueft without glory, triumph which can only
be that of a fanguinary vanity, a cynical love of
plunder, or a facrilegious infanity ; and laftly,
the monftrous project of rendering univerfal the
* The liberty of the prefs, fyftem

330 DEFENCE OF THE
fyftem of focial diforganization *, and of dif-
figuring, if it be poffible, the whole human race.
Such is ftill the action of the French Govern
ment ; fuch are the manners of the French Re
public. What. have this defcription of laws and this
action of Government produced, and what will
they produce fo long as they are fuffered to fub-
fift ? The confideration of this queftion would
lead me into a boundlefs difcuffion ; but time
preffes, and I fhall confine myfelf to fome of the
principal effedts.
This is the firft of all ;— that it is the dif-
tindtive charadter of the manners of the French
Republic to be in direct contradiction with its
exiftence. Either the Republic muft deftroy its
manners, or its manners muft deftroy the Re
public ; — there is no medium.
If ever men agreed on any moral and political
truth, it was certainly when in the moft remote
* Republics in Italy, Projects upon Ireland, Malefaflors
landed on the Coafts of England, in the fame manner as the
Carthaginians threw pots filled with vipers into the Roman
gallies, &c periods,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 33I
periods, and in the moft diftant placesi they de
clared or acknowledged what ought indifpenfably
to be the character of the Supreme Governors
of a Republican State.
As in Republics every thing is pofitive ; as, in
order to infpire refpedt and confidence, that is
to fay, fubmiffion, temporary magistrates have
neither the impofing afpect of a power which
has flood the teft of ages ; nor that irrefiftible
charm which, when the fame blood has flowed
in the veins of thirty fovereigns, makes us fee
its fource above our heads ; nor that privileged
fituation which allays the intoxication of power
by the effedt of habit, and finifhes by making
it its intereft to be juft ; it is neceffary to find a
fubftitute for all thofe refources of which a Re
public choofes to deprive itfelf. That fubftitute
is every where the fame, — it is Probity, it is
Virtue. Mere prefumptive morality is not
fufficient here ; for it is not a multitude that
adt, but a very fmall number of individuals, and
if it be neceffary that a particular clafs of men
fhould be admitted to have votes in the adoption
of laws, it is never neceflary that any individual
fhould be chofen to guard or to execute them, on
the contrary it is neceffary that no individual
fhould ever become the object of fuch a choice.
Do

332 DEFENCE OF THE
Do not therefore take it for a platonic idea, but
for a pradtical truth, a rigid principle, that the
fupreme magiftrates in a Republic muft be men
of fpodefs Probity, of unequivocal Virtue, or
the very exiftence of che Republic is in danger.
See all the examinations, proofs, and pledges
which Solon exacted, not only from the magif
trates who fhould be called to govern the people,
but even from the orators who fhould be fuffered
to harangue them. See by what pains, by what
excommunication he punifhed both thofe who
had ufurped and thofe who had borne falfe tefti
mony. The miniftry of the altars — faid the re
ligious Solon — does not require greater purity
than the magiftracy in Republics.
People of France ! I make no perfonal re
flections; I even think it a duty to you to throw
a kind of inviolability over the perfons who are
actually placed at the head of your Government.
After the horrid fhock which has fo fluttered the
veffel of the ftate, I fee nothing but the manoeuvre
of the moment; I blefs the pilot who fleers it into
port ; and I only hate the man who abandons it
in the midft of the ftorm.
It is folely then in their public condudt, in
their collective action, that I here look for the
characters

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 233
characters of thofe who govern you ; and it is
in their prefent conduct and action; for I no
longer attend to the evil which a man committed
yefterday, when 1 fee him doing good to-day.
Alas ! it is too true that I began this work
under far more happy aufpices than thofe which
mark the epoch at which I conclude it. There
are inftances in which I may be thought to have
fhewn too much indulgence at one time, and
too great feverity at another; but I fhould be
ftill happy to quit thofe painful fentiments, for
fentiments of a more pfeafing nature, if a more
durable repentance, effacing the crimes which
have been multiplied while I have been writing,
would reftore me to thofe ideas of confolation and
hope which encouraged me to begin my labours.
But at the point at which we are now arrived,
in the crowd of circumftances which we have
paffed in review, do you not perceive the very con
trary of what ought to exift ? Do you not fee the
neceffary exclufion of Probity and Virtue where
their empire is indifpenfably neceffary ? What
honeft man can approach fuch laws for the pur
pofe of executing them ? What criminal can
undertake their execution without becoming ftill
more criminal ?
Probity !

334 DEFENCE OF THE
Probity ! Virtue ! And while I ventured
to hope that the voice of remorfe would imprefs
their dictates on their hearts, they went in pomp
to belie their confciences, to abjure humanity
once more, again to call him perfidious whom
they had boafted of having betrayed, again to
call him tyrant who rather chofe to perifh than
to fhed one drop of their blood ! they went to
rejoice in commemoration of a murder ! to
renew the affaffination, — of whom ? — of Louis
XVI. Where ? In one of the Icehoufes ? On
the horrid Place where Nature taught animals to
bear witnefs againft the ferocity of men * ? No.—
In a temple ! in a temple which formerly ranked
all that was moft folemn in religion with all that
was moft pure in virtue ; in a temple which
they ftole from God to give to crime. At
leaft Roberspierre only celebrated madnefs in
that temple under the name of Reafon ; but you
now dedicate it to Parricide! . . . Great
God 1 a popular feftival, when the people fly
* At one of the allegoric feftivals given by Rober
spierre, the oxen who drew the car of liberty, flopped
fhort at the entrance of the Place de la Revolution, difgufted
with the fmell of the blood with which it was filled. Nothing
could make them advance. The populace deeply ftricken
with the circumftance retired alfo, and abandoned the
Festival. from

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 335
from the place with horror ! Songs of joy, when
every echo founds with funereal groans ! Airs of
triumph on that day when every Frenchman
blufhes for his country ! Imprecations on the
memory of him who extorts tears from the
heart and adoration from the mind ! On thofe
afhes which the true patriot would willingly re
vive with the laft breath of his life ! . : . Shade
of our last Sovereign ! Victim of your
own good adtions, of our paffions, and of their
crimes ; you whofe death has rendered us all
guilty and all miferable; — at leaft let the many
millions of hearts that were agonized on that
execrable day, — let the numerous voices which
were courageoufly roufed to contradict thofe
lying tongues, thofe hired inftruments of triumph,
that deferted folemnity; — let thevifible terror of
the fmall number of wicked men who, with a
faultering tongue, uttered oaths of hatred, while
accents of love and grief were fo loudly pro
nounced in all parts ; let the very choice of the
place itfelf; — let all thefe be received as homage
to you, and as expiations for us. No, that
choice was never made without a fecret defign
of Providence. It was the will of God that
the prophanacion of his temple fhould become
the confecration of your memory. It was his will
to fhew, that thy celeftjal foul was worthy to be
affociated

$2& defence of the
affociated with the infult offered to Heaven ; and
that in future thy virtue fhould no where be
queftioned, but in the place where the Divinity
was bfafphemed 1
Well then, Frenchmen ! let them alfo cele
brate the 1 6th of October. Let them celebrate
with pride the daughter of the Cesars, the
widow of Louis XVI., plunged by them into
the tomb of her hufband ! Let them applaud
that execution, to which ferocity in her laft
moments fought to carry calamity to its laft
extreme, and at which excefs of brutality was
oppofed to excefs of mental greatnefs I
Let them alfo celebrate that day on which the
Demons of Hell dared to extend the poifon of
their calumny and the points of their poniards.
to an angel of Heaven *.
Let them likewife celebrate that lengthened
and dark aflaffmation which flowly fpread the
veil of death over the morning of life ; which
buried the age of innocence beneath a heap of
crimes ; which deformed the work of nature
before it deftroyed it; and which converted a
* Can it be neceffary to name Madame Elizabeth ?
delightful

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 337
delightful and beloved creature into an hideous
objedt of difguft and horror*.
And why not celebrate the %d September, the
month of Meffidor, the whole reign of terror ?
All thefe epochs are connected with each other.
Ic is but one fyftem, but one reign; why then
fhould it be mutilated ? What do I fay ? It is
no new idea that I fuggeft to them ; they enter
tained it themfelves, and I only recall it to their
recollection. I am certain that I have feen a
project cjifcuffed in the convention after the 9th
Thermidor, for uniting all thefe folemnities in
one which was to laft three days. I no longer
remember by what crime they were to begin
their rejoicings ; but I remarked that the fecond
day was intended for the celebration of the i\ft
of January, and the third for that of the yth of
Thermidor ; that is to fay, that they were fuc
ceffively to celebrate the triumph of Rober
spierre and his fall, his crimes and his punifh
ment, his life and his death ! I know not which
of the two feftivals they will choofe to retrench,
but certainly there is one too many.
* Oh ! what particulars have I received of the fate of
that unhappy child ! and they are all authentic. But I
fliould not have courage to commit them to paper, nor would
the reader have courage to perufe them.
z People

33$ DEFENCE OF THE
People of France ! I fhall not yet quit this
fubject. You weep, you fhudder, you confirm
the truth of what I juft now faid with regard to
the fentiments which you have manifefted with
fo much eclat. All this is true, all this is known ;
and it proves the exiftence of Morality and Vir
tue, it proves that you have ftill among you the
germs of fafety and motives for hope. If I had
not thought this to be the cafe, I fhould cer
tainly never have addreffed you. But ftill all
this is fcattered, difperfed, and confined to in
dividuals ; there is nothing collective, no adt of
the Government but the feftival of the 2 ift of
January: there your public manners, there the
manners of the French Republic are to be found.
Now I addrefs myfelf to the Republicans
themfelves, to that diftindt clafs of Republicans
who may one day conciliate my efteem and ex
tort my refpedt. For inflance, I appeal, at this
moment, to fuch of them as combine all the
purity of youth with all its ardour; fuch as,
juft entering upon the ftage of the world, free
from all oaths, equally unable to cherifh princes
whom they never knew, and to reproach them
felves with crimes in which they never partici
pated, with minds exalted by all the great per-
fonages of Greece and Rome in whofe com pany

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 339
pany they have paffed their infancy, take no
trouble to compare objects, and refign them
felves with confidence to an enthufiafm which
muft one day be fubmitted to the decifion of
their judgment. Well, I afk thefe, how they
can bear to be rendered, by the commemoration
of a paft crime, accomplices in its commiffion ;
how they can fuffer their innocence and their
fenfibility to be given up to the corruption and
to the horrors of a fyftem which curfes the dead
in order to profcribe the living ? Their hearts
thirft for liberty, but they are young and pure :
I will anfwer for their emotion, I will anfwer for
the tears that flow from their republican eyes,
when they read the will of Louis XVI., and
the life and death of the laft King of France.
How happens it, that not one amongft them, in
the noble effervefcence of a romantic mind, has
yet propofed to his fellow-citizens to imitate at
leaft the language of the Athenians, when having
refolved to abolifh monarchy, and wifhing to
give to their caprice a colour of fenfibility, they
faid — Codrus facrificed himfelf for his people ;
Cod r us has rendered it impoffible for any one to
occupy his place.
, Certainly the facrifice of Codrus was neither
more abfolute, nor more voluntary, nor more
z 2 ftrongly

340 DEFENCE OF THE
ftrongly marked by generofity, than that of
Louis the XVIth; and it was much fhorter!
I fhall perhaps be told, that, in founding a
Republic, fpecial care muft be taken not to ad
vert to Athens ; that when fhe had difmiffed the
fucceffors of Codrus, fhe had Cilon, Pisis-
tratus, Megacles, Hyppias, Pericles, and
in fhort the hired orators of Philip ; that
fhe had one tyrant, that fhe had thirty-, that
the thirty, which were fucceeded by the ten^ had
been preceded by the four hundred, and accom
panied by the three thoufdnd; that Athens, in
fhort, was the fport of perpetual revolutions;
that fhe could not fupport the laws of Soloi*
for ten years; and that although fhe was fuf
ficiently powerful to difperfe the armies of the
Great King, fhe found herfelf too Weak to fop-
prefs the factions of her own citizens.
I will reply with the utmoft poffible frank -
nefs : the iffue of this great crifis is uncertain j
at prefent nothing pofitive appears but your
foreign conquefts and your domeftic calamities.
If your Republic cannot laft, act fo as to be
able one day to fay that you had at leaft purified
and ennobled your chimera. If it be poffible
for it to exift, do not introduce a principle of
death

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 341
death where there are the germs of life, for I
defy any government to defend itfelf againft anni-
verfaries deftined inceffantly to repeat that itfprang
from, and is deftined to live by, ingratitude,
falfehood, theft, and the thirft of human blood.
Give a new era to your Republic. Solemnize
the 9th Thermidor, if you will, but have a day
of expiation inftead of a day of rejoicing for the
two preceding years. Celebrate the epoch of
your prefent Conftitution ; but celebrate ftill
more the day on which you fhall have purged it pf
all that pollutes, and freed it from all .that encum
bers, it; the day on which you ihall have per
fected its different elements, eftablifhed a clofer
connection between its various parts, given to
its centre a greater degree of intenfity towards
all the points of the circle which its ray& are
meant to. attain. Celebrate more than all,— as
foon as you fhall have pronounced it,— the fup
preffion of the laft veftige of that predatory and
murderous code, which, in fpite of yourfelves,
condemns you always to derive your public man
ners from immorality. Then adding fuch an
exercife of power to the triumph of ftrength,
there is not a fentiment which you may not fob-
due even in the hearts of your enemies, of
thofe who have hitherto been your victims.
z 3 People

342 DEFENCE OF THE
People of France ! I now come to another
capital truth to which I entreat your utmoft
poffible attention. It is a fundamental bafis
quite as neceffary to public morality, as that
morality itfelf is indifpenfable in tha magiftrates
of the people, and in a Republican Government.
The' energetic faying of Plutarch, That a
town might fooner be built in the air than a city
eftablifhed without religion, was quoted in the
National Affembly in 1789: and Plutarch
and thofe who quoted him appeared ridiculous
to the faction which then prevailed. Oh ! by
what mortal anguifh have thofe fenfelefs fneers
been fince expiated ! How many unfortunate
members of that faction, which contained as
many blind as criminal men, either in the agonies
of their terror at a time when the ftep of a man
or the ruftling of a leaf froze their very blood,
or when their heads were placed on the fcaffold
beneath the fatal axe, have fince curfed them
felves for having rendered their efforts impotent
who wifhed to fave them, even when they had
themfelves armed the hands and filenced the
confeiences of their own affaffins !
Take away religion from man, — faid Cicero,
< — and his life will become a conftant fcene of
trouble

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 343
trouble and confufion *. — Make piety to the Gods
difappear, — fays the fame orator, — and im
mediately good-faith, and human fociety, and the
moft excellent of all virtues, justice, will alfo
difappear f.
Would you rather confult your own favourite
oracles ? Liften then to Mably : he will tell
you, that he does not believe that the empire of
good manners can exift where none but mere
men act as magiftrates, where the magiftrates and
the citizens are not convinced of that important
truth of a Providence who governs the world,
who fees the moft fecret movements of our minds,
who willpunifh vice and reward virtue in another
life%. Confulr Jean Jacques : at the very
moment when he opens a boundlefs field to the
will and caprice of the multitude, Rousseau, a
fanatic in a double fenfe, and at a lofs how to
act in order to render the ftrength of the check
proportionable to the excefs of licentioufnefs,
not only infills on the neceffity of a civil religion
which keeps that important truth confiantly in
* Sanftitatem . . . religionem . , . quibus fublatis per-
turbaiio vitje fequitur et magna confufio. De Naturd Deo-
rum. \ Atque haudfcio an, pietate aJverfus Deos fublata, fides
etiam et focietas humani generic, et una excellentifuma vir
tus justitia tollatur. De Natur. Deor.
% Third difcourfe of Phocion. z 4 the

344 DEFENCE OF THE
the minds of men ; not only infifts on the ne
ceffity of giying to the fovereign the power of
impofing on each individual a profeffien of
faith, and affixing the articles thereof; but de
clares whoever does not believe them incapable of
being a good citizen or a faithful fubject ; he con
demns all fuch to banifhment as being unso
ciable ; and on thofe who, after having pub
licly acknowledged thefe fame dogmas, act as if
they did not believe them, he inflicts the punifh
ment of death *.
Perhaps you will be ftricken ftill more by re
ceiving this great leffon from a perfonage who
is now the man of the age, who has founded
thirteen Republics in one ; who has been the
firft governor of them, and who having fuccef
fively filled the offices of general, legiflator, and
fupreme magiftrate, has given a glorious con
tradiction to Machiavelifm, in not having ad
vanced, during his triple career, a fingle ftep
which virtue did not regulate, and in having ob
tained in each of them all the fuccefs which for
tune could beftow. French Republicans ! Iiften
to the Prefident of the United States of Ame
rica ; take up that will of Washington's which
the Americans, if they are worthy of it^ will
* Social Compaft, Book iv. Chap. viii. preferve

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 345
preferve in the fame manner as the Jews pre
ferved the tables of Moses ; and read that paf
fage which I tranfcribe with a refpedt that is di
vided between the holy truths which it contains
and the venerable hand that traced them.
" Of all the difpofltions and habits which lead
ct to political profperity, religion and morality
" are indifpenfable fupports. In vain would that
<c man claim the tribute of patriotifm, who
" fnould labour to fubvert thefe great- pillars of
" human happinefs, thefe firmeft props of men
" and citizens. The mere politician, equally
" with the pious man, ought to refpedt and to
" cherifh them. A volume could not trace all
" their connections with private and public feli-
" city. Let it be fimply afked, where is the
" fecurity for property, for reputation, for life,
" if the fenfe of religious obligation- defert the
,: oaths, which are the inftruments of invefliga-
" tion ? And let us with caution indulge the
" fuppofition, that morality can be maintained
" without religion. — Whatever may be con-
" ceded to the influence of refined education on
" minds of peculiar ftrudture, reafon and ex-
,c perience both forbid us to expect that national
(t morality can prevail in exclufion of religious
" principle. 10 " 'Tis

346 DEFENCE OF THE
" 'Tis fubftantially true, that virtue or mora-
" lity is a neceffary fpring of popular govern-
" ment. The rule indeed extends with more
" or lefs force to every fpecies of free govern-
" ment. Who, that is a fincere friend to it,
" can look with indifference upon attempts to
*' fhake the foundation of the fabric*?"
Frenchmen ! I dwell upon this truth becaufe
1 am thoroughly convinced of its extreme im
portance. I did not fuppofe that my teftimony
could have the fame weight as all thefe foreign
teftimonies, with thofe who oppofe it; but I have
not yec advanced the moft powerful argument.
Is not every truth of this kind weakened, when
ever we feek to fupport it by other proofs than
thofe which our own fituation affords ? When
Folly, armed with torches and with poniards,
bas hovered over our heads for five whole years,
threatening all thofe whom fhe could not de
ftroy -; when the groans of the victims ftill vibrate
on our ears, and on our hearts; when you,
virtuous Republicans, cannot advance a ftep on
the land which you inhabit, wichout the fear of
treading upon innocent afhes, which all your
* General Wafhington's addrefs to the people of the
United-States. forrows

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 347
forrows are inadequate to revive ; when this heap
of calamities is the produce of three legiflatures,
which firft fhook, and foon after diffolved all the
ties of morality and religion, all of which now
fhudder at the contemplation of their own work;
all of which have contained fome moral and
religious men ; which now lament their inatten
tion to the councils of fuch members ; which at
the time trampled them under foot, and made
the exterminating car, whence they fpread death
over a whole nation, pafs over their bodies ; —
What good effect can foreign examples produce
on men who are furrounded by fuch fcenes, and
haraffedby fuch reflections*?
Thofe who ftand in need of crimes for the
ufurpation of power feek for fome means of
filencing the confciences of men, and for this
purpofe they infcribe on the gates of death —
Eternal Sleep. But they are no fooner in pof
feffion of that power than they haflen to heat the
reveillez in the midft of the tombs, to reftore

* What are the le/fons of hiftory when compared to our ruins?
obferved, long ago, one of thofe men whom Providence
feems to have preferved in Prance in order to inveft them
with the moft holy of all facerdotal dignities, and to confide
to their genius as much as to their talents, the care of a facred
fpark of juftice and humanity, its

348 DEFENCE OF THE
its immortality to the foul, and to proclaim a
remunerating and avenging God, whofe exiftence
is as ftrongly attefted to themfelves by their own
remorfe, as they, ftimulated by the intereft of
ambition, perfuade thofe of it whom they wifh
to govern.
And, as to victims, look at the death of Louis
theXVIth, of his family, and his faithful friends.
Hear men as eloquent as Cicero exclaim with
him: " An agonized heart, a violent cataftrophe,
" the redoubled ftrokes of injuftice, and the
" overwhelming burden of calamity, brought
" me back to thefe truths. I have believed in
il them, becaufe I have obtained from them a
"degree of confolation which I had in vain
" fought elfewhere*!"
Let us confider then the neceffity of a religion
for the bafis and fummitof the focial edifice, as
an inconteftible truth;— -a neceffity the more
urgent for that fpecies of government of which
morality conftitutes the fole fecurity ; a neceffity
which, while it tolerates all kinds of worfhip,
* Hortata eft ut me ad hxc conferrem animi aegritudo
fortune magnse et gravi commota injuria; cujusf fi majorem
aliqnam levationem reperire potuuTem, non ad hanc potiflimum
confugiffem. De Nat. Deor. prefcribes

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 345
prefcribes a national worfhip. Frivate worfhip
may prefent nothing more than the weaknefs
of an individual who feeks for a fupport. But
it is of confequence that public manners fhould
have a known regulator; that public power fhould
difplay a fubmiffion to that Power which knows
neither bounds, nor injuftice, nor error. It
is of confequence, than the ftrength of man
fhould be proftrate before the juftice of God,
that he fhould believe in his fuperintendence,
hope for his rewards, and dread his chaftife-
ments. And all thefe grand objects can only be
fulfilled by a national worfhip.
Let us now inquire whether the French Re
public is on the point of poffeffing this indifpen-
f able fupport, this firmeft prop, this neceffary fpring
of a popular government !
Such had been that impious ftupidity which had
daily marked more and more ftrongly all your
political inftkutions, fince the commencement of
your troubles, that, on opening your laft Confti
tutional Adt, I praifed its non-exclufion of private
Worfhip, the fame protection indifcriminately
accorded to all, the fimple pronunciation of the
name of the Supreme Being, and the quotation
©f two maxims, perhaps rather fecretly ftolen than

35O DEFENCE OF THE
than openly borrowed from the Evangelical Law*
of the Chriftians.
Well, even thefe equivocal texts of my indul
gent commendations were effaced, difappeared,
when I looked for their pradtical application:
at leaft, the examination difclofed to me confe-
quences abfolutely contradictory to them, in
which the good almoft always belonged to the
private adtions of individuals, and the evil to the
actions of the Government.
Thus, fome churches have been opened again
by the religious zeal of individuals, while others
have been fhut or prophaned by the impious acts
of the Government.
Thus paflors have been claimed, reftored, and
defended by their flocks, while the Government
ftill repels the priefts who have fuffered depor
tation; and ftill keeps in irons the 20,00a pri
foners, to whofe fate I wifh to call your attention
every minute.
And who makes the cohorts of the French
Diredtory march, at this time, towards the
capital of the Chriftian world ? Who order
ed the young Conqueror to pollute his glory, -by

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 35I ,
by turning his arms againft a Pontiff of eighty,
whofe conduct has always been inoffenfive,
and paternal even to thofe who had become
his enemies *; guilty only bf having attempted
to defend the patrimony confided to his admi
niftration, and of having refigned himfelf to
martyrdom in fupport of the truths committed
to his care?
Whence came, in the pretended peace that
was offered him, that artifice, as unfkilful as it
was odious, of mixing cdnceffions which necef
fity extorted from the Sovereign, with difavowals
which religion interdicted to the Pontiff?
It has been faid, that, as the throne had been
drowned in the blood of Kings, the time was now
come for drowning the altar in the blood of the
* Some French Republicans, ihipwrecked on the coafts of
the Papal cerritory, were received with every mark of the
moft benevolent hofpitality. By the laft intercepted corre
fpondence it appeared that the Pope refufed to declare
war, although it was reprefented to him to be a religious
•war. Not a fingle bull has been iffued againft the French
Republic. Never was conduct more innocent, more mo
derate, more prudent, and yet more noble than that of
Pius VI. Never was aggreflion more unjuft, more cruel,
;more blind, and more vile than that of which he is the auguft
victim. Prince

352 DEFENCE OF THE
Prince of Priefts ! I reject this horrid idea,
although it terrified one of your Republicans,
as much diftinguifhed by his morals, as by his
talents*; but yet, whither are they going, and
what do they want ? When they have once entered
that facred city, which way can they advance a
ftep without meeting wich their own condemn
ation ?
Is it modern Rome that they pretend to infult
in the very fandtuary of her God ? She will fay to
them, " Religion, who has pitched her tent with-
" in my walls, formerly civilized your anceftors;
" fhe transformed them from barbarians into men :
tc you have deftroyed her; you have forfeited all
" pretenfions to humanity, and have fallen into
" a fpecies of barbarifm worfe than that from
" which fhe extricated your anceftors."
Will they go to the Capitol to invoke the
fhade of ancient Rome ? She will fhrink back
with horror at their approach; fhe will exclaim
with a voice of thunder, " When I was a Re-
" public, free and virtuous, I had fo great a
" refpedt for the ties which bind a man to his
" native foil, that I folemnly proclaimed the
* M. Quatremer. " impoffi-

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 253
ft impoffibility of breaking them by any power
" contrary to his own will. It was a maxim in
" my legiflatioin, that the whole people could not
" deprive a fingle Roman of his right of citizen-
"Jhip*. Sylla, all terrible and all defpotic as
" he was ; Sylla, who conquered in the name
" of the Republic, could put four legions of pri-
c* foners to the fword, but could not deprive the
" inhabitants of Volterra, who at that time bore
"arms againft himj-, of the character of Ro-
" man citizens. Cicero, profcribed during his
" abfence; Cicero, declared dead in law, de-
" fpoiled of his property by two Catilinarian
" Councils who had divided it between them,
'* returned, amidft the acclamations of the whole
" Republic, to tell his country that no one had
( ' the right to feparate him from Ijer ; that he
" had neither been fummoned, examined, nor
" tried J; that even if he had been convicted,
*' they would not have had the right to pronounce
* Civitatem nemo ullo unquam populi juffu amittet invitus.
Cicero pro Domo fua.
f Hanc vero Volaterranis, cum etiam tunc effent armis
L. Sylla victor republics, recuperata, comitiis, centuriatis,
civitatem eriperenon potuit. Cicero pro Domo/ud.
X Quis me unquam ulla lege interrogavit ? Quis poftulavit f
Quis diem dixit? Poteft igitur damnati poenam fuftinere
indemnatus ? Ibid. a a "a fen-

354 DEFENCE OF THE
" a fentence of banifhment upon him ; that
" where the rights of citizenfhip could be taken
" away, Liberty could not be preferved *; that,
" in fhort, neither fhe violence of the times, nor
" the power of the magiftrates, nor the importance
" of the fubject of trial, nor, laftly, the power
" of the whole Roman people, which in other
tc refpects is pre-eminent, could overturn that
"fundamental law, that no man can be de-
" prived of his country AGAINST HIS WILLf!
<c And Cicero was carried back in triumph to
" his confifcated houfe; and the Senate thanked,
" by a decree, the foreign towns which had
" given him refuge during the period of his
" profcription. This, Frenchmen, was what
rc Rome called Liberty. Generals of this new
" Republic ! your matters are miftaken. The
" reward of their exploits is to be found on the
" Tarpeian Rock, and not in the Capitol !"
I can think but of one anfwer which thefe
Generals could make, and it is fuch a one as
* Si femel eivitas adimi poteft, retineri libertas non poteft.
Idem pro A. Csecina.
¦J- Majores noftri de civitate et libertate ea jura fanxerunt,
quze nee vis temporum, nee potentia magiftratuum, nee res
turn judicata, nee denique univerfi Populi Romani poteftas,
qua; cateris rebus eft maximal labefaftare poffit. Id. pro
Domo.
makes

FRENCH EMIGRANTS.' ^SS
makes me fhudder; that of Brennus, when he
was weighing with falfe weights the gold which
he had exacted,- by way of contributions: — Woe
to the vanquifhed.
The terrible Attila made a very different
anfwer, when the great Leo made him experi
ence refpedt and know humanity. The Scourge
of God turned away from his city at the voice of
his Pontiff, and Rome remained untouched
amidft the ruins of Italy. Soon after, the fame
virtue which had fubdued Attila at the gates
of Rome, difarmed Genseric within its walls.
We fhall fee if the French Generals will fuffer
themfelves to be exceeded in generofity by thefe
Chiefs of the Huns and Vandals.
People 1 I have afked myfelf more than once
what fecret motive could have excited, and par
ticularly can now keep up, that fpirit of perfe-
cution, that deftrudlive rage againft the religion
of our forefathers.
They are not political motives. Who does
not know that, when a government is once
eftablifhed, religion either fubmits to it as to
the will of Heaven, or lends it its affiftance for
the happinefs of man ? Who does not know
a a 2 that,

356 DEFENCE OF THE
that, according to the doctrine of that religion,
he would be deemed impious who fhould main
tain that it had only defcended to the earth for
the fubjedts of one form of government? The
Gospel was brought to all men and to all
people, to the Romans and to the Jews; to the
Parthians and to the Elamites ; to the Cretes and
to the Arabians *. The Gospel has feen the
face of human focieties changed, their inftitu-
tions fucceffively fwallowed up in the abyfs of
time, and, after paffing through feventeen cen
turies, it has reached us in its primitive purity.
Switzerland impatiently bore with the tyrannical
minifters of a diftant monarchy ; fhe became a
Republic, but retained Chriftianity. Florence
became tired of a flormy and blood-ftained Re
public, and fought for fafety and repofe in the
government of an individual; but when fhe
changed her laws, fhe preferved her faith. I
confefs, a long time elapfed before I could com
prehend how thofe members of your councils
who fincerely wifhed for a Republic, and who
were firmly convinced that it would be efta
blifhed, could neglect to confolidate it by the
happy union, the indeftrudtible cement of laws,
morals, and religion intermixed.
* Romani et Judai ; Parthi et Elamitha ; Cretes et Arabes.
Aft. Apoft.. It

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 357
It is becaufe that fame religion which connects
with every true government, with every thing
that can be called a real law, with every thing
that is known by the name of good manners, is
in fadt incompatible with crime, with plunder
and affaffination, with perjury and calumny,
with oaths of hatred and rejoicings for murders.
Thus we every where meet with that corrupting
ferment, that peftilential germ which is inherent
in works of blood and rapine. Thus the French
Republic, until fhe fhall have deftroyed every
trace of it, will never be able to quit the vicious
circle which will fentence her to fubfift without
morals from the want of religion, then to fubfift
without religion from the want of morals; and
"'fuch is the ftate that will conftitute her public
ntdnners. What will be the laft point of the neceffary
progreffion of fuch a ftate of corruption ? People
of France ! fhudder, but attend.— The laft
point will be this — If your individual morality
does not triumph over the public immorality, this
wjll triumph over that.
It has already come to this point; — that the
beft of your governors think themfelves under
a a 3 the

35& DEFENCE OF THE
the neceffity of ftill paying a daily tribute to
tyranny, injuftice, and immorality, feeking to
mollify where they defpair of conquering. Now
if this neceffity do not fpeedily ceafe, one of two
things muft inevitably enfue.: — either the habit
of vice will become natural to them, and the
number of your oppreffors will increafe; or it
will become, impoffible for them to fupport func
tions, in the difcharge of which they muft in
ceffantly act in contradiction to their confcience,
and then you will have no more defenders.
Another confequence of this corruption is,
that the poifon which infects the public banners
will be univerfally infufed into domefiic manners;
that the ties of blood, the fentiments of virtue,
the obligation of oaths and of contracts, refpedt
for the property of others, truth, and modefty,
will ceafe to be cherifhed in the French Republic,
except in a few private circles, while the oppofite
vices will openly difplay over the whole furface of
her territory their infamous and infolent profti-
tution. Another confequence is, that a generation is,
in all probability, now rifing in France, (not
that of youth, which on leaving the cradle may
ftill have been furrounded by virtuous principles and

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 359
and examples; but that of infancy which has had
the misfortune to be born at the fame time as
the French Revolution, )-*-a generation, I fay,
the bare idea of which makes me fhudder, a
generation which, growing up in the midft of
diforders, deprived of Inftrudtion and deftitute
of guides, unable even to diftinguifh truth from
falfehood, and juftice from injuftice, will prove
a malevolent and degraded race, the fhame and
the chaftifement of that haughty reafon which
thought it could belie with impunity a tradition
as old as the world.
Another confequence is, that, even admitting
the fuppofition that falfe property may fucceed
in eftablifhing itfelf for a certain time in the
hands of the ufurpers, France will then exhibit
fuch a fcene as Italy erft exhibited when, after
they had reduced her by force, the Roman ge
nerals and magiftrates fucceffively appropriated to
their own ufe the confifcated efiates of the vctn-
quifhed. This fucceffion of rapine rendered large
fortunes odious to the people, who no longer confi
dered the Senate as any thing more than a confe
deration of banditti. To be born rich was a crime
in their eyes. The Government loft its main
fpring. The Republic became enfeebled by its
conquefts. It was foon found to be neceffary, in
A a 4 thi

360 DEFENCE, OF THE
the formation of the centuries, to confult numbers
more than property, "which was rather tolerated
than regarded as lawful. An indigent populace
was feen to difpofe Of places with fupreme power,
and moft frequently to fell them. The old autho
rities, fufpended by popular tyranny, retained no
power but to act in oppofition to each other, and
to produce fchifms in the ftate. The government,
transformed into a democnacy of favage s, obliged
to incorporate with the different people of Italy ,
became a confufed aggregate, without chief, with
out order, without harmony, and without princi
ples. Its fubfequent movements were convulfions* ,
This multitude thus hating the falfe propri
etors, either from motives of juftice or of envy,
would be joined by the fons and the grandfons,
the nephews and the grand-nephews of the true
proprietors, whofe eftates had been confifcated.
When Catiline was about to fet fire to Rome,
to maffacre the Senate, and to make himfelf
King, who were his foldiers? a mixture, that,
at firft fight, muft appear ftrange and Whimfical,
but which a little reflection enables us to account
for : — the accomplices and the victims of Sylla;
* Confederations fiir I'Origine et les Revolutions du Gouverne
ment des Remains. Chap. 26. Tom. 2. Imprime a Paris,
chez 1" freres de Bure, 1778. , Ql4

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 36%
old executors of the profcriptions, and young
children of the profcribed; Catiline made the
wickednefs of the one, and the defpair of the
other, equally fubfervient to his purpofes.
Another confequence, laftly, is to be appre
hended from the fate of Rome, where, out of
this dreadful anarchy, and out of the crowds of
that vaft population, of envious, malignant, vin
dictive, furious, criminal, and indigent men,
bands of gladiators and banditti were compofed,
which infefted all Italy. Some of thefe were
formed into regiments by the falfe proprietors,
who wifhed to defend their uforpations by this
motley militia, but who, not having money to
pay fuch a numerous banditti, permitted them to
ftop the pajfengers on the high road*: others fpon-
taneoufly affembled, faying to themfelves, that
it would be the height of folly in them to remain
paffive fpectators of the pillage in which they
might participate; that they had as much right
to the confifcated eftates as thofe who had taken
poffeffion of them; and that they ought, at leaft,
to have lefs fcruple in feizing. them, becaufe
they only took them from ufurpers, while the
pthers, had ftolen them from their lawful owners.
* See the book laft quoted.
Frenchmen!

.'
362 DEFENCE of the
Frenchmen ! if I may give credit to the debates
of your two Councils, the meffeges of your Di
rectory, and the accounts of your writers, you
already begin to feel this laft fcourge. In
every part of your territory I fee organized
thieves fpring out of the diforganization of the
focial fyftem. I fee their bands affembled under
different names, and employed in the different
kinds of plunder and affaffination : — I fee grand
trimars*, detourneurs-f, arcatiens\, fau-
cheurs%, chauffeurs^, &c. I fee whole colonies
cf banditti furrounding moft of the great com
munes, attacking the travellers, and flopping the
couriers % I fee regiments of thieves, encamped
and ftationed in the woods, fcarcely paffing a night
without laying fiege to fome country feat or opulent
farm**. I fee all the galley flaves at Br eft
breaking from their chains f .f, and infefting the
* Thieves, who frequent the theatres and public places.
¦ f Houfe-breakers.
X Coiners and forgers.
§ AfTdffins.
|| Incendiaries, who fometimes burn farms, and at others,
force the inhabitants to deliver up their effedts, by roafting
the foles of their feet.
«ff Extraft from the Redacleur, a Government paper.
** Report to the Council of Five Hundred.
-pf When the Police Minifter complained' to the Marine
Minifter of the efcape of thefe galley- flaves, the latter re
plied, that they had not money to pay their keepers, high

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 363
high roads after having incorporated themfelves
with the remains.of Babceufs army*. Laftly, I
fee thieves diftinguifhed' by the appellation of
Chauffeurs forming, in the midft of fociety, a fort
of armed confederacy, for the purpofe of deftroying
its firft elements ; fpreading defolation over the
towns and villages -, at one time forcing an en
trance into private houfes, feizing the inhabitants,
and committing on their perfons every kind of vio
lence which the moft refined ferocity can invent, in
order to extort a furrender of their moft valuable
effects ; at another, attacking the public carriages
and couriers on the high roads,, ftripping them,
and making the paffengers witnefs fuch fcenes of
horror, as render them fearful of undertaking the
fhorteft journey. This laft picture is drawn by
the hand of the Directory itfelf f.
Frenchmen ! I muft exert fufficient courage
to tell you one dreadful truth; if one of thefe
banditti, when brought tp trial, were to point
with one hand to the public accufer, who repre-
fents the Government, and with the other to the
Emigrants code ; adding to a geflure fo expreffive
thefe few words — I have followed the example of
* From the Hifiorien, by M. Du Pont de Nemours.
•J- See the meffages of the Directory in the Redacleur, and
the Journal de France et d'Angleterre, p. 23 and 34. my

364 DEFENCE OF THE
my accufer, — it would not be poffible to make
him a rational anfwer. The public accufer would,
doubtlefs, only be led to accelerate his con
demnation; but then it would be Fouquier
Tinville pronouncing a fentence of death
upon Danton and Brissot. I fhould have
had fome fcruple in fuggefting fuch a means of
j uftification, if it had not already been tried.
Remember the four affaffins, who went to the
place of execution with the utmoft gaiety, and
jumped upon the fcaffold as exempt from re-
morfe as from fear, while one of them exclaimed,
We die Good Patriots, Good Thieves * !
O I how anxious have I been to finifh thefe
dreadful details ! and how much has it coft me
to go through them ! But in that fame country
there are millions of Gentoos, whofe manners may
ftill become the public manners.. But for this
hope, what exile could even form a wifh to re
turn to that disfigured land ? never fhould we
think ourfelves too far removed from it.
People of France! I propofed a fourth
queftion to you ; I afked you whether you had
a ftable Government ?
9 Extraft from the Cenfeur : Journal de France et d'Angle
terre, p. 4a, But,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 36$
But, in fact, after all that we have feen, we
have rather a Confequence to draw than a dif
cuffion to undertake. We muft conclude, and
not argue.
A Society without Proprietors— ¦> A State with
out Finances — A Republic without Liberty — A
code of unjuft and barbarous laws — Immorality
and impiety the characteriftics of the public man
ners ; — What would you fay of me, if from fuch
premifes I fhould draw this conclufion, — There
fore you have a ftable Government ?
I will not add a fingle particular to this re
capitulation. It freezes my heart as it iffues
from my pen, and I fhall leave you to contem
plate ic with that falutary terror which it ought to
imprefs on your minds.
I do not fpare you ; but I ferve you. I only
excite your alarm at the excefs of your calamities,
for the purpofe of ftimulating you to accelerate
the remedy for the application of which, perhaps,
but an inftant remains. When truth is directed
to the attainment of an objedt fo important, it
becomes a duty. Silence would be treachery.
However dr'eadful my pidtures may appear to
you, they can fcarcely equal many of thofe
which

$66 DEFENCE OF THE
which have been exhibited to you by your prin
cipal Governors ; and did your Governors when
they pointed out vice put you on the road to
virtue ?
People of France ! the fecond general
queftion which I had to difcufs muft appear to
you as fully decided as the firft. You cannot
doubt, I believe, that policy unites with
justice, and interest with duty, in urging
you to profcribe the profcription of which all
Frenchmen, thofe who remain in France as well
as thofe who have left it, are equally the
victims. •
I might, if I chofe it, fay with propriety, that
my tafk is now finifhed. It is' doing a great
deal, in fhort it is doing all that the neceffity of
the moment, and all that circumftances require,
to prove, that the prefent fyftem cannot continue,
becaufe it bears within itfelf a principle offelf-
deftructi'on. Yet I fhall not ftop here. After
having fo long occupied your attention with the
dreadful confequences of our divifions, I do not
merely feel the defire, but abfolutely experience
the want of amufing you with a more happy
profpedt, which, by means of our union, might
immediately be realized.
,' But

erench emigrants. 36^
But the loud cry of France which fummons
you to the elections has founded in my ear, and
awakened all the powers of my mind. Amidft
thofe facred appeals, amidft thofe calls for relief
which the country addreffes to all her children,
at the fatal moment which muft decide her fate,
I can only wifh to haften your fteps towards the
poft at which fhe expects you, and to ftrew on
your road fome germs of public fafety which
your zeal will gather and your reflection fertilize.
The only tribute then that remains for me to
pay will confift of mere rapid fketches and, de
tached principles.
Your fafety depends entirely on three prin
cipal points. The Elections; Peace; and the
Revifion of your Laws.
1. The Elections. Until thofe fhall be
completed there can be no danger of repeating
to you too often, that that man plunges perhaps
a poniard in the hearts of his father, his wife,
and his children ; provokes the return of the
reign of terror, and feeks to place another Ro
berspierre on the throne of France, who does
not go to the affembly to which he belongs, to
contribute by his fuffrage to the election of a
worthy reprefentative of the people, of a worthy
7 magi-

368 DEFENCE of the
magiftrate of the people, of a worthy admini*
ftrator of the people's concerns. .„ . i
Citizens of France, if you keep away from the
elections, if the reprefentatives of the nation
are elected in the fame manner as the officers of
your national guards have been of late, con
tinue to fuffer, but ceafe tp complain ; for you
will have forfeited all right to do fo.
Why did the fedtions in Vendemiaire excite
fo lively an intereft throughout Europe ? Why
was their caufe efpoufed with paffion, and all
their motions followed with anxiety ? Why did
their failure become the fubject of public regret,
and their martyrs the objects of univerfal vene
ration ?
Becaufe Europe then faw men who felt their
dignity, who neither deferted nor facrificed their
rights, who ran in crowds to form a rampart
with their bodies for the defence of their country,
which was no fooner regenerated than threatened.
Becaufe thofe men, by the expofition of the
grandeft principles, and by the difplay of the
nobleft courage, avenged the character of the
French Nation. Then the nation was deemed
no longer unworthy to be free. Then they
ceafed

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 369
ceafed to charge her with the refponfibility for
her own calamities. The reign of Roberspierre
appeared to be what it really had been, the in
evitable refult of a complicated fatality which no
people have efcaped. The objects of oppreffion
were feen to unite for the common defence of the
. country, as foon as their union became poffible. '
They were feen refolved to refift by force only
when they were no longer able to refift by the
law, which was on the point of falling with them,
and even then braving danger without attempting
to attack. At length the day came on which
order was not equal to zeal, on which fortune
,did not follow juftice, and on which the .want of
means contributed to the defeat of the virtuous,
perhaps, more than the want of prudence. Well,
even on that day the fate of the vanquifhed
was deplored, and admiration was beftowed on
Frenchmen who knew how to die for the liberty
of their country. Surely, on that fpot, at leaft,
which was the theatre of fuch heroifm, the
fpirit that infpired it is not extinguifhed !
It has been preferved; it has inceffantly ap
peared fince that period, the whole -importance
of which is not yet underftood. It is more than
doubtful whether the defeat has not been more
ufeful to the vanquifhed party, than to the
triumphant faction. The Convention conquered
B b the

^70 defence 6f the
the Sections; but the Sections conquered Vic-.
tory. That day gave, birth to public opinion,
which has gradually acquired frefh ftrength
amidft all the partial attacks which it has had
to fuftain. It has been often fettered, becaufe
its province was only to fpeak and not to adt.
The moment of its adtion is now come. This
action muft take place* fully and entirely in the
primary affemblies., in the electoral affemblies,
in the choice that muft proceed from both : an
action henceforth peaceable, but on that account
the more awful, and which, if it be communi-.
cated over all France, will obtain the moft legal,.)
the moft conftitutional, and the moft irrevocable^
of all triumphs.

•

< Primary Affemblies ! Electoral Affemblies!
extraordinary times have given you extraordinary
means of knowing the moral characters of the
candidate? between whom you have to decide. It
is at leaft fome compenfation for your calamities
to be informed of the private characters, of the
only men who can put an end to them.
The honeft man, the man that is reafonable,
difinterefted, good, courageous, and~ the friend
of peace, is the man that is deferying of your.
fuffrages, in whatever divifion or fubdivifipn of
party

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 37*
party he may have been claffed/ either by habits
which he has now left off, by circumftances long
fince effaced, or by true or falfe imputations.
Fortify yourfelves againft the influence which
authority may feek to exercife over yGUr choice. >
. . . Your fafety "> requires that the executive
government fhould receive the impulfe from, and
not give it to, the new legiflative body. . . .
It will be the province of that body to do all.
that is requifite for your happinefs ; but it is your
province to fend proper members to it. If you
once fucceed in introducing another thirdof men,
whofe probity is above fufpicion, whofe prudence !:
is above doubt, your wifhes will not only be ful
filled, they will be anticipated.
.2. Peace! Peace! Peace! You muft have
it, and it is in your power to obtain it.
You muft have it; for without it the beft-
compofed legiflative body can do nothing, and-
with it, it can do any thing. Yes, certainly, Europe
is-in.want of peace, and all people demand it. Yes,
England is in want bf peace, and her inhabitants*'
call for it. But no country in the whole world
ftands fo much in need of it as France ; and I
bb 2 take

372 DEFENCE OF THE
take you all to witnefs, that there is -not one
Frenchman, unlefs it be a Jacobin, who would
not facrifice fome years of his life to obtain ic.
Conftitution, property, finances, liberty, juf
tice, morals^ ftability, all depend upon peace.
1 will not direct your attention to the fate of
thofe immoderate empires, the coloffal am
bition of celebrated conquerors, for you arc
not even fo advantageoufly fituated as they were.
All thofe extraordinary perfonages, all thofe
grand arbiters of the fate of their fellow-creatures,
refponfible to themfelves alone for the execution
of their will, mafters alike abroad and at home,
held with the fame hand the fceptre and the
fword, governed as they had conquered, and be^
queathed misfortune to their heirs. But here the
cataftrophe follows clofe upon the triumph ; and
foon, perhaps, not a victory will be announced
, to you which you ought not to regard as a difafter.
But in this place I muft addrefs myfelf to
yo'ur Governors, for they are the perfons who
continue the war. As for you, the object of all
your defires is peace ; and as that peace muft at
all events be glorious to you, the greater mode
ration you difplay, the greater fplendour will you
add to your triumphs. Governors

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 373
Governors of France ! you are feeking to in
flame your countrymen by ancient hatred, and
to ftimulate them by a new pride. You talk to
them of humbling, of depreffing their rival.
Believe me, it is not in your power to accomplifh
either the one or me other of thefe objedts. If
that rival made a vain attempt on your independ
ence at a time when your frontiers were open,
and the entrails of your Republic torn by a
hundred factions, how can you pretend to in
flict even the fmalleft wound upon hers, when
the ocean ferves her for a rampart, and when fhe
has but one mind and but one heart * to defend
herfelf againft the flighted of your attacks ? You
do not know what that public fpirit is in Eng
land, which, ftill more than her infolar fituation,
renders her people a truly diftindt people from
the reft of the globe. — You are not acquainted
with that fentiment of identity by which ah
Englifhman incorporates his own perfon in the
body of the ftate, and has no idea of any fortune
for himfelf feparate from the public fortune.
You cannot appreciate the religious attachment
which they all bear to their native foil, to the
names and the maxims of their anceftors, to
their approved Conftitution, their humane laws,
* Cpr vnum (t anima una. - >
b b 3 their

374 DEFENCE OF THE
their wife liberty, and their virtuous fovereign.
You will be, told. that Great Britain is divided Ut-
-and you will fee her rife in a mafs to refift you ;
you will fee the moft ardent rivals, and even the
,nioft inveterate enemies prefs each other's hands.
in the ranks which will march to meet yoii.
You will believe her to be depr,effed ! and fome
triumph bordering on a miracle will teach you,
.that fhe rules upon her. element as fully as you
do upon yours. She will be reprefented to you
fas in a ftate of diftrefs ! and the embarraffttieht
of a. moment will fupply her with the riches pf a
year. All her fubjedts will haften to affift the
^government, as well thofe who fupport as thofe
.who hate if. At the bare idea of their country
being threatened, and her, glory endangered, all
.Engfifhmen will go to offer what wijth you they
yvent to extort; and in theft: offerings of patriot
ism, anprder, an efficacioufnefs, a kind of fer
tilization and reproduction pevail, which can
fcarcely be conceived by men who have lived
five years amidft that diforder, defolation, and
fterility which, are attached to the extortions pf
terror. In fhort, you have read of the enthpfiaftic
love of the country which formerly prevailed at
Rome; you have witneffed the ehthufiaftic love of

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 375
of the prince which erft obtained in France; and
you may be affured that both thefe fentiments
are united in the heart of an Englifhman. Add
to this the national wealth, the riches of indivi
duals, and the ocean *.
People of France ! neither that nation, how
ever, nor all her allies, could fucceed in giving
laws to you on your own territory. You have
difperfed the coalition of Europe, which had fur
rounded and even paffed your limits. At home,
whatever government you may fix upon, you
are thoroughly fore that it will be the effect of
your own choice. Abroad, that part of your
vaft conquefts which it may appear important to
you to retain, either as a monument of glory
* Thofe who faw General Mar'ceau fo nobly' arid fo fo
lemnly honoured by the Archduke Charles wifjl doubtlefs
conceive that, without interfering in the difputes of cabinets,
I could have no fcruple in paying a tribute.of juftice to Eng
land, of which indeed fhe is not even the object, but of which
France will be found to reap the whole utility. 1 am placed
by the peculiarity of my fituation in a kind of equilibrium
between the two nations. I think that i juflly appreciate them
'both. I. certainly judge' them with that unlimited independ
ence of mind which I will carry with me to the grave ; and I
do not feel the fmalleft difficulty in declaring, from the bot
tom of my heart, that I form the moft ardent vows for the
peace arid profper ity of both countries. B B 4 or

376 DEFENCE OF THE
or as a fecurity for your frontiers, is notonger con?
tefted. Thefe, triumphs^are fufficiently brilliant.
Now let them fatisfy you. Now finifh your re
volution*, and mark with a double glory, and
fandtify, if it be poffible, this great epoch, by
reftoring peace to Europe and to yourfelves.
I havq faid that it depended upon yourfelves
Jo obtain peace from your governors. — You are
about to meet in primary affemblies. Choofe
your electors among the friends of peace. TeU
them — We wifh for peace. Let them tranfmit
this mandate, or thefe inftructions, to the repre
fentatives whom they fhall elect.
As foon as the new legiflative body fhall be
formed, addrefs petitions to it from all parts ; and
addrefs them to all the authorities which can
concur in atchieving the happy work of peace.
The general wifh of the People of France
being once known, cannot be known in vain.
3. The revision of your laws : fend ano
ther mandate to your electors, and other petitions
* I could heartily have wifhed that I had had time to
quote the beautiful pages of M. Montlozji er on this fub-
jeft, in his two laft numbers, particularly in his Summary
Views upon Peace. to

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 377
to your governors on this fubject. This is a
great work, and I am aware that it may appear-
to be furrounded with difficulties. I certainly
do not think it exempt from difficulties ; but
nothing is eafy of accomplifhment in the fitua
tion to which you have been reduced by fuccef-
five acts of tyranny, and it would be unqueftion-
ably more difficult to preferve your laws than tp
revife them.
People of France ! it is not the abolition pf
that homicidal exile, and of thofe fanguinary d'e-
cifions, which will experience the greateft ^ob-
ftacles. Your wifhes have already been pro
nounced too ftrongly on thofe points. Even
fome of our enemies have already begun to fay
— " Let them remain defppiled of their pro-
*' perty, but why deprive them of that which
" can enrich no one, the afylum of their family,
" and the hofpitality of their friends ? Why take
" from them that which offers refources to their
«f induftry, and the means tof fubfiftence; the
" country whofe language they fpeak, whofe in-
"habitants are their fellow- citizens, whofe cli-
" mate is neceffary to their health, and out of
*' which mpft pf : them are devoted to a wretch-
(t ed exiftence or a miferable death ?"
Ah!

\}J% DEFENCE OF THE
Ah! no doubt many of us would confide'r
even this change in our fate, even this liberty of
returning to Put country, as a bleffing, notwith-
^anding all the loffes which we fhould ftill have
fuftained. But your intereft as much as ours
requires that, on our return, we fhould recover
Tome part of our former poffeffions. Recollect
that we muft appear in the character of pro
prietors, in order that property may revive.
This certainly conftitutes the greateft, andj to
fpeak frankly, the only difficulty.
You cannot expedt that, at the prefent mo-
Tmeht, I am prepared to lay before you a com
plete plan of a new fyftem of laws upon this grand
object: and indeed what plan, traced but be-
-forehand, and publifhed without the ftamp of
public authority, ever became a law ?
AU that I have to do is, to lay down in theory
;a fimple. and juft principle, which no -upright
heart, no wife mind, no honeft man, and no gobd
citizen, can refufe to admit. To give to that
principle the form and force of a law, is the prP-
vince of your legiflatorsj to execute that law will
be the duty of your governors, and to call for its
adoption is your right. 8 Before

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 3J.Q
Before I lay down the principle, it is juft anb!
reafonable to remove all the partial difficulties
from which it is already difincumbered, and to
ftrip the queftion of every thing that is already
out of the queftion.
Thus, notwithftanding what you have been
recently told*, nohodynow talks of the old feudal
rights in any other way than as the .Abbe du
Bosc talked of the tributes impofed upon Gaul
by the Romans. They are no longer confider-
ed by either party as any thing more than mere
objects of hiftorical refearch; and "the force pf
circumftances' producing the Tame effedt as the
lapfe of time, thofe rights~and thofe tributes now
hold precifely the fame place in the imagination.
People, inhabitants of the country, farmers,
is not this already one great point out of the
queftion ?
Moveable articles have been confumed, lands
laid wafte, and country-feats demolifhed. You
may fuppofe that we lay no claim to indemnity
for thefe loffes. Reftore us our field, our fite,
bur ruins ; and this act of juftice, all-imperfect
¦ . i
• On the 2 1 ft of January. as

,380 DEFENCE OF THE .
as it-may -appear,,- we will receive as if it were full
,and entirei—rAnother main object: out pf the
ijueftjon. -..-. , ,
Whatever eftates belonging to corporate bo
dies, whatever public eftablifoments We may have
to r,egret in the paft or to defire. for the future, it
is impoffib(e not to acknowledge that private and
patrimonial eftates, that the property of indivi
duals and of families are entitled to a preference,
and even to an exclufive preference, if they can
be recovered on no, other condition, leaving the
Jreft to time. What an immenfe prey then is
here left to injuftice, . to cupidity, to neceffity !
What an immenfe capital put out of the quef
tion !
The paper-money which hao expired *, with
out having been applied to the purchafe of land,
the paper-money that is expiring-)-, and is equally
unapplied, and every mortgage or fecurity which
has been devoured by bankruptcy, are no
thing. The only difficulty then that remains, is that
which fubfifts between the old proprietors and
* Affignats. t Mandates. that

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 381
that part of the new proprietors who are in pof- ;
feffion of private or patrimonial eftates.— Before
I proceed any farther, I fhall propofe two quef
tions. Is there any one of the old proprietors who
will not fubmit with tran'port to the facrifice
of a part of his former poffeffions, in order to re
cover the reft ?
Is there any one of the new pofleffors who1
will not, with an almoft equal degree of fatif-
fadtion, facrifice a portion to preferve the re-
* mainder of his acquificion ?
I boldly anfwer, No. I every day hear the
fentiments of the firft, and I frequently read thofe
of the laft ; but even if they had never fpoken
nor written, I fhould ftill form the fame opinion,
becaufe their fentiments muft neceffarily be fuch
from the nature of exifting circumftances.
Well, between thofe two claffes of Frenchmen
I aver as a fact, (and prudence alone impels me
to fupprefs the proofs,) I aver as a fact, that more
than half of the remaining difficulties will be rer
moved without , an effort, without any particular law,

3§fc. DEFENCE OF THE
law, on the day when the emigrants fhall. ceafe to
be affaffinated or banifhed. I aver as a fadt, that
then, confcience on the one fide, misfortune on
the other, and the want of repofe and fecurity on
both, will every where give rife to voluntary,
amicable, and other generous tranfadtions, that
will end in the mutual content of the parties.
And who does not perceive that the example
of the good would, in this inftance, have almoft
a coercive power over the bad ? Who does not
perceive what an effect would be produced by
the opinion of thofe who, never having partici
pated in thefe fales, would be difinterefted wit
neffes of their denouement, and of the juftice of
the purchafers ? What a triumph for manners
would be that neceffity to which a man would be
reduced of doing what is juft, in order to fupport
the looks of his neighbours !
e Laftly, If, in order to complete thefe treaties,
whether fpbntaneous or enforced by public opi
nion, a national law fhould be found neceffary,
Which may indeed admit of a doubt, this is my
principle: -¦?
I know of no poffible reconciliation which can
take place except by means of a tranfaSlion between all

FRENCH EMIGRANTS,. 3§3„
all kinds of interefts and every fpecies of rights ;
by an exchange and mutual compenfation of objects
to be reftored and facriflces .to be made ; of facri-
fices and indemnifications. Let no man recover all
that he has loft ; let no one retain all that he has
acquired: but when this fhall have been reftored
to one, and that left to another, let all be flecure
of preferving what they have.
It is not my place to fix what proportion,
what bafes, what means ought to be eftablifhed
for this compenfation^r-that can only be fettled
among yourfelves. In lieu of that old decree by
which a man was declared infamous. .and a traitor
to his country, who. .fhould take even an indirect
part in promoting a reconciliation between the na
tion and the Emigrants., let your legiflators de
clare thofe to be benefactors pf their country, who
fhall employ themfelves efficacioufly in" reconcil
ing the French to the French ; and you will foon
fee twenty projects more luminous one than the .
other, and which for facility of execution will ex,-
cite your furprife as much as their effedt, would
promote your profperity.
Then, People of France ! property will re
vive, and true property with all; its old advan
tages, perhaps even with new advantages ; be
caufe

3&4 DEFENCE OF THE
caufe it will have triumphed in a terrible waf,
becaufe it will have proved victorious after ic
had been thpught to be deftroyed, and becaufe it
will be clearly proved that nothing can ever be
•done without it. Then works of reparation,
prefervation, and production will be every where
renewed ; and thefe are works which are as ad
vantageous to the morals as to the wealth of a
nation, then fpecie will re-appear ; becaufe
thofe Frenchmen who have never quitted France
will no longer think of hiding it or fending it
out of the country ; becaufe there are fome of
the French emigrants who ftill poffefs fpecie, and
becaufe there will be many to whom friends will
advance money from beneficence, tradefmen up
on fpeculation, and companies for the encou
ragement of commercial enterprife. Then the
taxes will be paid, the finances re- eftablifhed,
and credit reftored. Then the old and new pro
prietors, forming but one "body, and having the
fame intereft, will oppofe one immoveable mafs
to the fenfelefs attacks of the proletarian Jacobins.
Then, for the firft time, the government will
meet with fupport from the proprietors, who, for
the firft time^ will find protectors in them.
- Then you will have become free ; for you will
no longer have murderous declarations afcribed* to

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 38C
b you, but your own beneficent will carried into
iexecution. It will be your known opinion that
will triumph. It was known that if the Emigrants
were fried in their refpective departments, they
would be all acquitted* ; the legiflative body
has proclaimed the internal fentence of the de
partments. You may remain free; for there will be no
more lifts of profcription in which your names
may be inferibed with ours, nor tribunals which
may be compelled to fend you to the fcaffold as
they have fent us, on the mere reprefentation of
your name and perfon. The fixty thoufand ap
plicants for the erafure of their names from the
fatal lifts, and the two hundred thoufand families
which they involve in their difgrace, will be
reftored to all their civil and political rights.
The twenty thoufand priefts will be releafed,
clothed, and fed. The conftitution will fuffice
to fecure you in future againft the danger of
arbitrary imprifonment. The law of the 3d of
Brumaire will be effaced ; for while the country
becomes juft towards the Emigrants, it will not
remain unjuft towards their relations. That
* See my former quotation of this famous phrafe, uttered
in the Convention a year after the famous 5th of Thermidor.
c c country

386 DEFENCE OF THE
country orders the tranfadtions of Vendemiaire to
be configned to oblivion, and every body obeys
her mandate.
Therewill then be nothing to prevent your legif
lation from be'ingjuft; becaufe the code of iniquity
will be deftroyed. The neceffity of committing
twenty crimes in order to fupport one will no
longer exift. The judges and the juries, left to
purfue the didtates of their confcience, will no
longer be reduced to the alternative of difobeying
a law, which is always a great evil, or, which is a
much greater, of executing an unjuft and fanguin
ary law. All thofe fine maxims which decorate
feveral pages of your conftitutional code will then
be enforced, and will pay homage to the Govern
ment inftead of depofing againft it. Then in
deed will the law be the fame to all, whether
for the purpofe of protection or of punifhment .
Moralily will have triumphed ! the general
manners will have become the public manners.
As there will be no more crimes to fupport in
the region of the government, its members, either
¦urged by inclination or ftimulated by intereft,
will haften to invite or to practife virtue. The
aid of religion will appear precious, for its cen
fures will not longer be dreaded. Laftly,

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. ^87
Laftly, as the perpetual inftability of the Go
vernment refults from the union of contradictory
principles, fo will its (lability be the natural con
fequence of a coalition of all thefe good princi
ples. Should it be perceived that there will be
ftill fomething to defire in the fixity of the pub
lic powef, at leaft its morality, its juftice, and
its refpedt for liberty will no longer be queftion-
ed ; and nothing will remain to be done but to
complete and perfect its organization.
Frenchmen ! thefe are not chimeras that I
prefent to you. Yet 1 think I hear fome cor
rupt and frivolous charadter alternately parody
my doleful pictures and my flattering promifes,
ingenioufly repeating, after every defcription—.
The expulfion of the Emigrants ! — >Tbe return of
the Emigrants ! — and thinking that he has
thereby refuted me.
No ; let me once more obferve, that is not rny
propofition, and I believe I have fufficiently ex
plained myfelf on this point. Frenchmen ! I
repeat, the Emigrants are neither the principle
nor the end ; but merely the effedt and the
means. The fame caufe acts upon us that acts
upon you. The fame injuftice deftroys, the;
fame juftice prefer ves us both.
c c 2 Some

38$ DEFENCE OF THE
Some more ferious objections will perhaps be
urged ; I expect fhem, and will anticipate fome
few of therm They will apply boch to the form
and to thefubftance. With regard to the former
I fhall be told, <f What you propofe cannot he
". done. You excite the people at the meeting of
" the Primary Affemblies to give a mandate,
" which the electors are to tranfmit to the new
" reprefentatives : the pepple can give no man-
" date *. You then fuggeft an inftrudtion, the
" enunciation of a wifh : the people can give
" no inftruttion ; they cannot communicate a
" wifh to their reprefentatives f. You would
" at leaft determine them to prefent petitions:
" The people cannot prefent petitions to the
" Legiflative Body %. Laftly, you pretend that
" the
* " The Members of the Legiflative Body are not reprc
" fentatives of the Department by which they are elected*
*' but of the whole nation, and no mandate can be given
" them." — -53d. Article of the Conftitution.
f " 26. The Primary Affemblies meet, 1. To accept or
" reject any alterations in the Conftitutional Code, that may
" be propofed by the Affembly of Reviflon ; 2. To make
',' fuch elections as they have a right to make in virtue of
" the Conftitutional Code." — 29. " Whatever is done either
" in a Primary or Communial Aflembly, beyond the objdfk
'f for which it was convened, is null." — 37. " The Electoral
" Affemblies cannot difcufs any object foreign, from the elections-
" •with -which they are charged" — Conftitution.
J " All citizens are free to addrefs petitions to the
" public

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 3S9
-" the Legiflative Body fhould immediately re-
" vife laws which have been inferted in the
".Conftitutional Code: The Legislative Body
" cannot revife a fingle line of the Conftitution ;
" it can only convene an affembly of revifion,
ft and it is obliged to employ nine years in
*' convening it *\"
What can I fay, People of France ! of an
order of things fo truly inconceivable ? — That
the more difficult it is to conceive, the more
impoffible is it that it fhould laft f . — That the
more

" public authorities ; but they muft be the petitions of indi-
" viduals. No affociation can prefent collective petitions, ex-
" cept the conftituted authorities, and they only on fuch
" objects as relate to their /unctions ." — Conftitution, Art. 36/).
• " If experience fhould prove the inconvenience of fome
" articles of the Conftitution, the Council of Elders may
" propofe their revifion." — 337. " The propofition of
«' the Council of Elders muft, in that cafe, be fubmitted to
" the ratification of the Council of Five Hundred." — 338.
" When, in the /pace cf nine years, the propofition of the
" Council of Elders, ratified by the Council of Five Hundred,
" has been made at three different times, diftant from
" each other at leaft three years, an Affembly of Revifion
" fhall be convened." — Conftitution, Art. 13.
f This is another of thofe parts of the Conftitution which
ftand in need of being reconciled with themfelves. It is one
of thofe which bear the moft vifihie marks of that imperious
force of circumftances which muft have had fo great an
c c 3 influence

3$Q DEFENCE OF THE
more we examine the queftion, the more fully
is it demonftrated that the revifion of your laws-
is an objedt of as great importance to the Peo
ple of France as to the French Emigrants.
That every violent attempt to obtain it would
only remove it to a greater diftance. That it
is difficult to imagine how you could be pre
vented by any law from giving an inftrudtion to
your delegates, or how fuch inftrudtion could
become the principle of any adt of violence ;
but that if there is the fmalleft chance that the
exercife of this imprefcriptible right will be pro
ductive of any difturbance, you ought once
more to renounce it. That the triumph of the
general opinion will become certain in proportion
influence on the minds of the legiflators. On quitting the
reign of terror, which was founded entirely on clubs that
had affumed the appellation of popular focieties, they muft
certainly have been bufily employed in devifing means for
fecuring themfelves againft the effects of popular influence,
and it was perhaps impoffible to avoid miftakes. Now the
force of circumftances which no longer exift, ihould yield to
the force of reafon and juftice, which ought always to exift.
Germs of licentioufnefs flieuld no longer be feen in the firft
elements of liberty, nor the inftructions or demands of the
people legally a/fembled be confounded with the anarchical de
liberations or fanguinary edicts of a feditious troop, or a
conventicle of tyrants. as

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 391
as it is peaceable. That by making a good
choice at the approaching election you will have
a good Legiflative Body, which is the true re
medy, in my opinion the only remedy, and muft
certainly be an univerfal remedy.
That a good Legiflative Body, preffed be
tween fo many contradictory articles' of the
Conftitution *, and reduced to the neceffity of
making a choice, will not hefitate a moment as
to the object of its preference.
That your new legiflators will have for the
guides and fupporters of their condudt, thofe
two oracles f whofe names your Convention incef-
* What in fact can be more contradictory than a funda
mental article which declares that the people are the fove
reign, and articles of regulation which ultimately deprive
the fovereign e/en of the right of petitioning his repre
fentatives ?
f " The public deliberation, which can bind all the fub •
" jects to the fovereign (as the fovereign to the fubject.'),
" cannot bind the fovereign to himfelf; and confequently
" it is contrary to the nature of the body politic, for the
'¦' fovereign to impofe a law upon himfelf which he is inca~
" pable of violating." Rousseau, Cont. Soe. chap. vii.
Qf the Sovereign.
" It is an axiom admitted throughout the world, that the
" legiflative power can know no reftrictions, without being
?t deftroyed or having its action rendered ufelefs." Mably,

3g2 DEFENCE OF THE
inceffantly invoked, and whofe precepts it in
ceffantly violated.
That when your two Councils, commanded
by the fafety of the State, inverted with that
power which, nothing fhould confine, and which
cannot- tie up its own hands, fhall have decreed
the neceffity of the meafure, refolved upon the
alterations to be made in your Conftitution, and
fent them to be rejedted or accepted by you,
they will have no occafion to accompany their
decree, as on a former occafion, with an efeort
of artillery, and to conquer your acceptance.
That, in fhort, either to obtain peace or to
procure a revifion of your laws, you may ftill,
without violating the letter of your Conftitution
as it now ftands, affift yourfelves and affift your
reprefentatives, firft by confulting the known
difpofltions of the candidates who apply for your
fuffrages, afterwards by multiplying and pub-
lifhing the petitions of individuals to fuch a de
gree as to render it evident that they exprefs the
general will.
On the United States of America. You fhould read the whole
article, which applies precifely to the articles of the French
Conftitution, which are now the objeft of my confi.
deration.
Having

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. Tfijf
Having obviated the objection to the point of
form ; I now come to that which applies to the
fubftance. This objection is founded on our fituation and
conduct ; in the confideration of what we have
been, and of what we are; of the recollections
which our banifhment would leave in our minds,
and of the fienes which would furround us on
pur return ; in fhort, on the new troubl-s, either
premeditated or fortuitous, which inclination or
neceffity would, it is pretended, produce on our
return to France.
I have nothing to anfwer to thofe who calum
niate us from hatred, and who hate us for con
venience ; nothing particularly to thofe who,
without any right to affert or inrereft to rifle,
have hovered like difcord over the civil wars in
France, and have only mingled with the ranks
for the purpofe of fetting brother againft brother,
and father againft fon. Thefe mert wifh to fee
combats in order to ftrip the dead, and to fee
towns taken by affault in order to reap the ad
vantage of plunder. A great nation muft be
convulfed to fatisfy their little interefts of vanity
or peculation. What effect can the groans of
misfortune

3^4 DEFENCE OF THE
misfortune and the precepts of juftice have on
men of this defcription ?
But fome upright and feeling minds have
feemed, while they deplored our calamities, to
fear that they could have no end. The revolu-*
tion, faid they, repels us ftill more than cupidity.
The people are difgufted with revolutions for two
thoufand years. This I can eafily conceive.
Even thofe objects of profcription who ftill live are
fo haraffed with the mifery they have experienced,
that they wpuld not have thefcenes of the revolu
tion renewed even to recover their ancient privi~
leges. — Good God ! who can now talk of privi
leges ? We talk of our country, of peace, of
being reftored to the bofom of our families, of
repofing our old age under the fhelter of our in
fancy, of taking back our afhes to the tombs of
our fathers, and of leaving behind us a fubfiftence
for our children. Renew the revolution ! Alas !
all we afk is to finifh it. The ftrongeft ground
we have to fupport our claim is that our recall
will terminate the revolution, and that it cannot
be terminated without it.
We are told, that atfo great a diftance we are
incapable of making juft obfervations, and that we
are

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 39$
are miftaken with regard to the internal fituation
sf France. To this I anfwer that, at the fame
diftance, I believe much greater miftakes are
made as to the fentiments of the great mafs of
Emigrants. Is it the paffions that excite your apprehen
fions ? Is it Pride ? Ambition ? Hatred ?
Pride ! — Alas ! misfortune bows down the head
of pride much fooner than it breaks the benevo
lent and upright mind. That pride itfelf too
fighs to return, as the only means bf procuring
a fmall remains of independence. When he has
once recovered it he will not again rifk its lofs j
he has already felc too feverely the confequences
of fuch a lofs ; he has too often experienced the
importance of having a country, even in order
to be well received in a foreign land. And be-
fides, among fo many prodigies of ftrength,
among fo many monuments of victory, what
Other pride can we cherifh but that of a pure
and irreproachable confcience, and confequently
that pride which, far from tending to interrupt
public order, becomes, on the contrary, its beft
fecurity ? Ambition!

396 DEFENCE OF THE
Ambition ! —On what can it be fixed, if the
word bear the fame fignification that it formerly
did ? The old ambition is extinct ; a new one-
will doubtlefs arife, even in our minds; but what
will be the objects of its purfuit ? A few acres of
land, a houfe, a roof, the fupport of a family,
the benevolence of neighbours, the triumph of
extorting repentance from perfecutors, the plea
fure of rewarding by virtues thofe who fhall have
caufed the perfecution to ceafe. Oh! may there
be many ambitious men of this defcription, and
the country which they fhall inhabit, whatever it
may have fuffered, will be fpeedily repaired!
Hatred ! — It could only be directed againft
the authors of our calamities, and where are they
to be found ? Some of them are already punifhed,
and the others will be difperfed. The exifting
power will then be the power that will afford us
fafety. We fhall be indebted to it for our re
turn, and for the recovery of all that we fhall
poffefs. It will have repaired the crime which
others had committed ,- it will be entitled to
gratitude, and even to facrifices ; and we will
unite with it in pronouncing the fublime words
which were uttered in the midft of you, " Re-
,c spect to Repentance !" In fhort,, if fome few

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 397
few difpofltions were to prove fo untameable as
to fuffer their paffions to triumph over their
misfortunes and their duties, it would be rather
from abroad than at home that men of that
defcription would excite troubles and diforders.
At home they would be difconcerted by all that
furrounded them, watched by all who ran any
rifk of becoming their vidtims, reftrained by
laws whofe feverity even would be juft, becaufe
in that cafe they would commit an offence againft
a fociety of which they had become voluntary
members, after they had been acquainted with its
conftitution *.
* And do not fuppofe that thefe fentiments are all new to
us, or that they arife at the time when we need their affift
ance. We judge of your general opinion by fuch of your
writers as are worthy to communicate it. At leaft adopt the
fame rule with us, and fay where you ever met with a tolera
tion mote benevolent and yet more noble, more of that
loyalty that extorts refpect, more of that patriotifm which
moves the foul, than in that account — of whom ? Ofa victim
who efcaped from £>uiberon. What a recital, and whit facts !
What heart, however hard,, would not be affected at the
fight of thofe prifoners and thofe guards, of thofe French
Rqyalifts and thofe French Republicans, proftrated together
before the altar, and mingling their voices in imploring the mercy
tf Heaven upon the fate of France ? I lay this picture before
you becaufe it contains our defence, and our refources. I
quote this publication becaufe you have feen it, and becaufe
I know it affected all who read it. Well ! fuch are our
general feelings, and fuch is the manner in which they are
expreffed by almoft all our writers. Thofe who fpeak dif-
fere.itly are net read. The one have never forfaken reafon;
and reafon has fubdued the others. Illufion !

39% DEtENCE OF THE
Illufion !— We are again told, We fhall not bS
at home the fame as we are abroad. We miftake'
our own difpofltions. We think ourfelves capable1
of a generofity or a refignation which is above the
force of man. So many acts of injuftice are not to"
be forgotten, while living among the men who com
mitted them. A man cannot pafs thefpot which
has been deluged with the blood that was deareft
to bis heart without burning with the defire of
vengeance! Alas! will that impreffion be lefs
powerful which fprings from the defire of pre-
ferving what we ftill have left ; and from the
dread of expofing it to the fmalleft danger by
any one adt of imprudence ? That perpetual
admonition which we fhall receive from all ex
ternal objects — that new kind of fentiment which
will mingle with all our other fentiments — thofe
unknown ties by which we fhall feel ourfelves
dependent on a mother, a filter, or a friendy
whom we had been on the point of lofing, and
who will appear to have been but juft faved, and
that by a miracle! So many lives which have been
cut off by violence, which in the common order
of nature ought ftill to exift, and which we fhall
add to- the fmall number of thofe which have
been fpared. Do you think that thefe will be
wants lefs urgent, fecurities lefs folid, prepoffef-
fions lefs powerful than the blind thirft for"
vengeance, which even the facred mandates of
the

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 399
the dead have forbidden us to fatisfy ? We fhall
weep over therh. no doubt; but tears are not
feditious. We fhall weep over them, and it
will form one of the moft frequent employments
of our lives, one of the greateft confolations of
our forrows. But revenge them ? and upon
whom ? and with what arms ? and at the rifk of
what heads ? Alas 1 let them ceafe to quote the
very excefs of our calamities as a pretext for
prolonging their exiftence; and the horror of
the injuftice we have experienced, as an eternal
obftacle to its reparation. Let it not be urged,
a. O *
that we can never be reftored to that part of our
families which Heaven has preferved for us, be
caufe hell has been permitted to deftroy all the
reft. And do you fuppofe that that morality, that;
religion, which we lately found to be fo neceffary
to your tranquillity, afford neither precepts for
our condudt, nor ties for our confciences? Our
misfortunes, People of France ! are of that de
fcription which morality honours, and religion
rewards. Under the protection of thefe only
refources againft calamity, of thefe only fopports
of human weaknefs, we have been inceffantly
placed : every thing made us cherifh their ap
proach, which nothing rendered formidable to'
us.

4©0 DEFENCE OF THE
us. Many unhappy beings among yourfelve'is
have applied for the fame affiftance ; and they
know that fuch an intercourfe developes new
fentiments in the mind, and creates difpofltions
unknown before. You will fet us an example
of many new virtues, and do us the juftice to
believe that we alfo fhall introduce fome new
ones among you.
People of France ! Let an union of our
virtues be formed ! Let the triumph of public
manners be eftablifhed on the reparation of all
private calamities ! I fhall conclude by recalling
to your attention an engagement contracted in
your names : an engagement which you will
not difavow. It will fcarcely obtain credit at
this time, but it is neverthelefs true* that at the
period when your reprefentatives declared war
againft Europe and againft us, from the midft
of their unbridled paffions which had not all
thrown off the laft check of remorfe, a folemn
proclamation iffued, containing the following
words :
" The French Nation, when victorious, will
i< neither feek for indemnification nor ven-
" geance. It is the determination of all French-
*c men to forget every thing when they fhall no
15 " longer

FRENCH EMIGRANTS. 4OI
" longer have any thing to dread, and to con-
" fider their adverfaries, when vanquifhed, re-
" conciled, or difarmed, as brothers *."
BEING OF BEINGS ! Thou who art per
haps the fole Judge from whom man can expedt,
in thefe unhappy times, complete juftice—*
Thou who haft permitted me to invoke thee,
and who, in giving me a confcience, refervedft
to thyfelf the power of reading it every inftant;
fuffer me to bend my knee before thy Supreme
Majefty, and to prefent this Work to thee : and
when I fhall have interefted thy goodnefs in its
fuccefs, on which depends the face of fo great a
number of thy creatures, permit me to call upon
thee to witnefs the purity of my intentions ; the
candour with which I have fet forth what I be
lieve to be true, and advanced what I believe to
be juft; and laftly, the facrifice which I thought
myfelf called upon to make, when, in order bene
ficially to ferve the caufe of humanity, I gave
up queftions which events had decided. . . Thou
knoweft whether any of my principles have been
changed ; whether I have betrayed any one of
my %itiments ; and whether any of the objects
which deferve my veneration and regret have
* Proclamation Qf the Legiflative Affembly, on the 29th
December 1791. D d become

402 DEFENCE, &C.
become lefs facred to me ; but I do not give
laws to the world. Thy decrees have greater
force than my defires, and I muft pay obedience
to thy will, as well when it agonizes my heart, as
when it confoles iti' I thought I might be al
lowed to love my country although it be go
verned by different opinions from mine. I
thought it my duty to defend my fellow-citizens,
by invoking that authority which can alone ex
tricate them from the gulph of defpair. I thought,
above all, that thou hatedft falfehopd and perjury,
by whatever pretext they may be coloured ; that
oaths ought to rife fuperior to wifhes, and that
my confcience did not depend upon my forrows.
Deign to give relief to our misfortunes, and to
foccour our weaknefs. Confole the land which
gave us birth, and that which has afforded us
an afylum. Spare and move our fellow-citizens.
Difarm and reward our benefactors. Give peace
and juftice to .the world.. LALLY-TOLENDAL.

THE END. -*r

July i, 1797.
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who, with all his infirmities, performed, during his fhort reign of only file
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