Amiens, Dec. 10, 1794.
Your American friend paſſed through here yeſterday, and delivered me the two parcels. As marks of your attention, they were very acceptable; but on any other account, I aſſure you, I ſhould have preferred a preſent of a few pecks of wheat to all your fineries.
I have been uſed to conclude, when I ſaw ſuch ſtrange and unaccountable abſurdities given in the French papers as extracts from the debates in either of your Houſes of Parliament, that they were probably fabricated here to ſerve the deſigns of the reigning factions: yet I perceive, by ſome old papers which came with the muſlins, that there are really members ſo ill-informed or ſo unprincipled, as to uſe the language attributed to them, and who aſſert that the French are attached to their government, and call France "a land of republicans."
When it is ſaid that a people are republicans, we muſt ſuppoſe they are either partial to republicaniſm as a ſyſtem, or that they prefer it in practice. A little retroſpection, perhaps, will determine both theſe points better than the eloquence of your orators.
A few men, of philoſophic or reſtleſs minds, have, in various ages and countries, endeavoured to enlighten or diſturb the world by examinationſ and diſputes on forms of government; yet the beſt heads and the beſt hearts have remained divided on the ſubject, and I never heard that any writer was able to produce more than a partial conviction, even in the moſt limited circle. Whence, then, did it happen in France, where information was avowedly confined, and where ſuch diſcuſſions could not have been general, that the people became ſuddenly inſpired with thiſ political ſagacity, which made them in one day the judges and converts of a ſyſtem they could ſcarcely have known before, even by name?—At the depoſition of the King, the French, (ſpeaking at large,) had aſ perſpicuous a notion of republics, as they may be ſuppoſed to have of mathematics, and would have underſtood Euclid's Elements as well as the Social Contract. Yet an aſſemblage of the worſt and moſt daring men from every faction, elected amidſt maſſacres and proſcription, the moment they are collected together, declare, on the propoſal of Collot d'Herbois, a profligate ſtrolling player, that France ſhall be a republic.—Admitting that the French were deſirous of altering their form of government, I believe no one will venture to ſay ſuch an inclination was ever manifeſted, or that the Convention were elected in a manner to render them competent to ſuch a deciſion. They were not the choice of the people, but chiefly emiſſaries impoſed on the departments by the Jacobinſ and the municipality of Paris; and let thoſe who are not acquainted with the means by which the elections were obtained, examine the compoſition of the Aſſembly itſelf, and then decide whether any people being free could have ſelected ſuch men as Petion, Tallien, Robeſpierre, Briſſot, Carrier, Taillefer, &c. &c. from the whole nation to be their Repreſentatives.—There muſt, in all large aſſociations, be a mixture of good and bad; but when it is incontrovertible that the principal memberſ of the Convention are monſters, who, we hope, are not to be paralleled— that the reſt are inferior rather in talents than wickedneſs, or cowardſ and ideots, who have ſupported and applauded crimes they only wanted opportunity to commit—it is not poſſible to conceive, that any people in the world could make a ſimilar choice. Yet if the French were abſolutely unbiaſſed, and of their own free will made this collection, who would, after ſuch an example, be the advocates of general ſuffrage and popular repreſentation?—But, I repeat, the people were not free. They were not, indeed, influenced by bribeſ—they were intimidated by the horrors of the moment; and along with the regulations for the new elections, were every where circulated details of the aſſaſſinations of Auguſt and September.*
* The influence of the municipality of Paris on the new elections iſ well known. The following letter will ſhow what inſtruments were employed, and the deſcription of Repreſentatives likely to be choſen under ſuch auſpices. "Circular letter, written by the Committee of Inſpection of the municipality of Paris to all the departments of the republic, dated the third of September, the ſecond day of the maſſacres: "The municipality of Paris is impatient to inform their brethren of the departments, that a part of the ferocious conſpirators detained in the priſons have been put to death by the people: an act of juſtice which appeared to them indiſpenſable, to reſtrain by terror thoſe legions of traitors whom they muſt have left behind when they departed for the army. There is no doubt but the whole nation, after ſuch multiplied treaſons, will haſten to adopt the ſame ſalutary meaſure!"—Signed by the Commune of Paris and the Miniſter of Juſtice. Who, after this mandate, would venture to oppoſe a member recommended by the Commune of Paris?
—The French, then, neither choſe the republican form of government, nor the men who adopted it; and are, therefore, not republicans on principle.—Let us now conſider whether, not being republicans on principle, experience may have rendered them ſuch.
The firſt effects of the new ſyſtem were an univerſal conſternation, the diſappearance of all the ſpecie, an extravagant riſe in the price of proviſions, and many indications of ſcarcity. The ſcandalous quarrels of the legiſlature ſhocked the national vanity, by making France the ridicule of all Europe, until ridicule was ſuppreſſed by deteſtation at the ſubſequent murder of the King. This was followed by the efforts of one faction to ſtrengthen itſelf againſt another, by means of a general war—the leaders of the former preſuming, that they alone were capable of conducting it.
To the miſeries of war were added revolutionary tribunals, revolutionary armies and committees, forced loans, requiſitions, maximums, and every ſpecies of tyranny and iniquity man could deviſe or ſuffer; or, to uſe the expreſſion of Rewbell, [One of the Directory in 1796.] "France was in mourning and deſolation; all her families plunged in deſpair; her whole ſurface covered with Baſtilles, and the republican government become ſo odious, that the moſt wretched ſlave, bending beneath the weight of hiſ chains, would have refuſed to live under it!"
Such were the means by which France was converted into a land of republicans, and ſuch the government to which your patriots aſſert the French people were attached: yet ſo little was this attachment appreciated here, that the mere inſtitutions for watching and ſuppreſſing diſaffection amount, by the confeſſion of Cambon, the financier, to twenty-four millions ſix hundred and thirty-one thouſand pounds ſterling a year!
To ſuppoſe, then, that the French are devoted to a ſyſtem which haſ ſerved as a pretext for ſo many crimes, and has been the cauſe of ſo many calamities, is to conclude them a nation of philoſophers, who are able to endure, yet incapable of reaſoning; and who ſuffer evils of every kind in defence of a principle with which they can be little acquainted, and which, in practice, they have known only by the deſtruction it haſ occaſioned.
You may, perhaps, have been perſuaded, that the people ſubmit patiently now, for the ſake of an advantage in perſpective; but it is not in the diſpoſition of unenlightened men (and the maſs of a people muſt neceſſarily be ſo) to give up the preſent for the future. The individual may ſometimes atchieve this painful conqueſt over himſelf, and ſubmit to evil, on a calculation of future retribution, but the multitude will ever prefer the good moſt immediately attainable, if not under the influence of that terror which ſuperſedes every other conſideration. Recollect, then, the counſel of the firſt hiſtorian of our age, and "ſuſpend your belief of whatever deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man;" and when you are told the French are attached to a government which oppreſſes them, or to principles of which they are ignorant, ſuppoſe their adoption of the one, and their ſubmiſſion to the other, are the reſult of fear, and that thoſe who make theſe aſſertions to the contrary, are either intereſted or miſinformed.
Excuſe me if I have devoted a few pages to a ſubject which with you iſ obſolete. I am indignant at the peruſal of ſuch falſehoods; and though I feel for the humiliation of great talents, I feel ſtill more for the diſgrace ſuch an abuſe of them brings on our country.
It is not inappoſite to mention a circumſtance which happened to a friend of Mr. D____'s, ſome little time ſince, at Paris. He was paſſing through France, in his way from Italy, at the time of the general arreſt, and waſ detained there till the other day. As ſoon as he was releaſed from priſon, he applied in perſon to a member of the Convention, to learn when he might hope to return to England. The Deputy replied, "Ma ſoi je n'en ſais rien [Faith I can't tell you.]—If your Meſſieurs (naming ſome members in the oppoſition) had ſucceeded in promoting a revolution, you would not have been in your cage ſo long—mais pour le coup il faut attendre." [But now you muſt have patience.] It is not probable the members he named could have ſuch deſigns, but Dumont once held the ſame language to me; and it is mortifying to hear theſe miſcreants ſuppoſe, that factious or ambitious men, becauſe they chance to poſſeſs talents, can make revolutions in England as they have done in France.
In the papers which gave riſe to theſe reflections, I obſerve that ſome of your manufacturing towns are diſcontented, and attribute the ſtagnation of their commerce to the war; but it is not unlikely, that the ſtagnation and failures complained of might have taken place, though the war had not happened.—When I came here in 1792, every ſhop and warehouſe were over-ſtocked with Engliſh goods. I could purchaſe any article of our manufacture at nearly the retail price of London; and ſome I ſent for from Paris, in the beginning of 1793, notwithſtanding the reports of war, were very little advanced. Soon after the concluſion of the commercial treaty, every thing Engliſh became faſhionable; and ſo many people had ſpeculated in conſequence, that ſimilar ſpeculations took place in England. But France was glutted before the war; and all ſpeculationſ entered into on a preſumption of a demand equal to that of the firſt years of the treaty, muſt have failed in a certain degree, though the two countries had remained at peace.—Even after a two years ceſſation of direct intercourſe, Britiſh manufactures are every where to be procured, which is a ſufficient proof that either the country was previouſly over ſupplied, or that they are ſtill imported through neutral or indirect channels. Both theſe ſuppoſitions preclude the likelihood that the war has ſo great a ſhare in relaxing the activity of your commerce, as iſ pretended.
But whatever may be the effect of the war, there is no proſpect of peace, until the efforts of England, or the total ruin of the French finances,* ſhall open the way for it.
* By a report of Cambon's at this time, it appears the expences of France in 1792 were eighteen millions ſterling—in 1793, near ninety millionſ—and, in the ſpring of 1794, twelve and a half millions per month!—The church bells, we learn from the ſame authority, coſt in coinage, and the purchaſe of copper to mix with the metal, five or ſix millions of livres more than they produced as money. The church plate, which was brought to the bar of the Convention with ſuch eclat, and repreſented as an inexhauſtible reſource, amounted to ſcarcely a million ſterling: for as the offering was every where involuntary, and promoted by its agents for the purpoſes of pillage, part was ſecreted, a ſtill greater part ſtolen, and, as the conveyance to Paris was a ſort of job, the expences often exceeded the worth—a patine, a cenſor, and a ſmall chalice, were ſent to the Convention, perhaps an hundred leagues, by a couple of Jacobin Commiſſioners in a coach and four, with a military eſcort. Thus, the prejudices of the people were outraged, and their property waſted, without any benefit, even to thoſe who ſuggeſted the meaſure.
—The Convention, indeed, have partly relinquiſhed their project of deſtroying all the Kings of the earth, and forcing all the people to be free. But, though their ſchemes of reformation have failed, they ſtill adhere to thoſe of extirpation; and the moſt moderate members talk occaſionally of "vile iſlanders," and "ſailing up the Thames."*—
* The Jacobins and the Moderates, who could agree in nothing elſe, were here perfectly in uniſon; ſo that on the ſame day we ſee the uſual invectives of Barrere ſucceeded by menaces equally ridiculouſ from Pelet and Tallien— "La ſeule choſe dont nous devons nous occuper eſt d'ecraſer ce gouvernement infame."
Diſcours de Pelet, 14 Nov. "The deſtruction of that infamous government is the only thing that ought to engage our attention." Pelet's Speech, 14 Nov. 1794. "Aujourdhui que la France peut en ſe debarraſſant d'une partie de ſes ennemis reporter la gloire de ſes armes ſur les bordes de la Tamiſe, et ecraſer le gouvernement Anglais." Diſcours de Tallien. "France, having now the opportunity of leſſening the number of her enemies, may carry the glory of her arms to the banks of the Thames, and cruſh the Engliſh government." Tallien's Speech. "Que le gouvernement prenne des meſures ſages pour faire une paix honorable avec quelques uns de nos ennemis, et a l'aide deſ vaiſſeaux Hollandais et Eſpagnols, portons nous enſuite avec vigueur ſur les bordes de la Tamiſe, et detruiſons la nouvelle Carthage." Diſcours de Tallien, 14 Nov. "Let the government but adopt wiſe meaſures for making an honorable peace with a part of our enemies, and with the aid of the Dutch and Spaniſh navies, let us repair to the banks of the Thames, and deſtroy the modern Carthage." Tallien's Speech, 14 Nov. 1794.
No one is here ignorant of the ſource of Tallien's predilection for Spain, and we may ſuppoſe the intrigue at this time far advanced. Probably the charms of his wife (the daughter of Mons. Cabarrus, a French ſpeculator, formerly much encouraged by the Spaniſh government, afterwards diſgraced and impriſoned, but now liberated) might not be the only means employed to procure his converſion.
—Tallien, Clauzel, and thoſe who have newly aſſumed the character of rational and decent people, ſtill uſe the low and atrocious language of Briſſot, on the day he made his declaration of war; and perhaps hope, by exciting a national ſpirit of vengeance againſt Great Britain, to ſecure their lives and their pay, when they ſhall have been forced to make peace on the Continent: for, be certain, the motives of theſe men are never to be ſought for in any great political object, but merely in expedients to preſerve their perſons and their plunder.
Thoſe who judge of the Convention by their daily harangues, and the juſtice, virtue, or talents which they aſcribe to themſelves, muſt believe them to be greatly regenerated: yet ſuch is the dearth both of abilities and of worth of any kind, that Andre Dumont has been ſucceſſively Preſident of the Aſſembly, Member of the Committee of General Safety, and is now in that of Public Welfare.—Adieu.