Amiens, May 26, 1795.
Our journey to Paris has been poſtponed by the inſurrection which occurred on the firſt and ſecond of Prairial, (20th and 21ſt of May,) and which was not like that of Germinal, fabricated—but a real and violent attempt of the Jacobins to regain their power. Of this event it is to be remarked, that the people of Paris were at firſt merely ſpectators, and that the Convention were at length defended by the very claſſes which they have ſo long oppreſſed under the denomination of ariſtocrats. For ſeveral hours the Aſſembly was ſurrounded, and in the power of itſ enemies; the head of Ferraud, a deputy, was borne in triumph to the hall;* and but for the impolitic precipitation of the Jacobins, the preſent government might have been deſtroyed.
* The head of Ferraud was placed on a pole, and, after being paraded about the Hall, ſtationed oppoſite the Preſident. It is impoſſible to execrate ſufficiently this ſavage triumph; but ſimilar ſcenes had been applauded on the fourteenth of July and the fifth and ſixth of October 1789; and the Pariſians had learned, from the example of the Convention themſelves, that to rejoice in the daily ſacrifice of fifty or ſixty people, was an act of patriotiſm. As to the epithetſ of Coquin, Scelerats, Voleurs, &c. which were now beſtowed on the Aſſembly, they were only what the members were in the conſtant habit of applying to each other. The aſſaſſin of Ferraud being afterwards taken and ſentenced to the Guillotine, was reſcued by the mob at the place of execution, and the inhabitants of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine were in revolt for two days on this occaſion, nor would they give him up until abandoned by the cannoneers of their party.—It is ſingular, and does no honour to the revolutionary ſchool, or the people of Paris, that Madame Elizabeth, Malſherbes, Cecile Renaud, and thouſands of others, ſhould periſh innocently, and that the only effort of this kind ſhould be exerted in favour of a murderer who deſerved even a worſe death.
The conteſt began, as uſual, by an aſſemblage of females, who forced themſelves into the national palace, and loudly clamoured for immediate ſupplies of bread. They then proceeded to reproach the Convention with having robbed them of their liberty, plundered the public treaſure, and finally reduced the country to a ſtate of famine.*
* People.—"Nous vous demandons ce que vous avez fait de noſ treſors et de notre liberte?"—"We want to know what you have done with our treaſure and our liberty?" Preſident.—"Citoyens, vous etes dans le ſein de la Convention Nationale."—"Citizens, I muſt remind you that you are in the preſence of the National Convention." People.—"Du pain, du pain, Coquin—Qu'as tu fait de notre argent? Pas tant de belles phraſes, mais du pain, du pain, il n'y a point ici de conſpirateurſ—nous demandons du pain parceque nous avonſ ſaim."—"Bread, bread, rogue!—what have you done with our money?— Fine ſpeeches won't do—'tis bread we want.—There are no conſpirators among uſ—we only aſk for bread, becauſe we are hungry." See Debates of the Convention.
—It was not eaſy either to produce bread, or refute theſe charges, and the Deputies of the moderate party remained ſilent and overpowered, while the Jacobins encouraged the mob, and began to head them openly. The Pariſians, however intereſted in the reſult of this ſtruggle, appeared to behold it with indifference, or at leaſt with inactivity. Ferraud had already been maſſacred in endeavouring to repel the croud, and the Convention was abandoned to outrage and inſult; yet no effectual attempt had been made in their defence, until the Deputies of the Mountain prematurely avowed their deſigns, and moved for a repeal of all the doctrines ſince the death of Robeſpierre—for the reincarceration of ſuſpected perſonſ—and, in fine, for an abſolute revival of the whole revolutionary ſyſtem.
The avowal of theſe projects created an immediate alarm among thoſe on whom the maſſacre of Ferraud, and the dangers to which the Aſſembly waſ expoſed, had made no impreſſion. The diſmay became general; and in a few hours the ariſtocrats themſelves collected together a force ſufficient to liberate the Aſſembly,* and wreſt the government from the hands of the Jacobins.—
* This is ſtated as a ground of reproach by the Jacobins, and iſ admitted by the Convention. Andre Dumont, who had taken ſo active a part in ſupporting Robeſpierre's government, was yet on thiſ occaſion defended and protected the whole day by a young man whoſe father had been guillotined.
—This defeat ended in the arreſt of all who had taken a part againſt the now triumphant majority; and there are, I believe, near fifty of them in cuſtody, beſides numbers who contrived to eſcape.*
* Among thoſe implicated in this attempt to revive the revolutionary government was Carnot, and the decree of arreſt would have been carried againſt him, had it not been ſuggeſted that his talents were neceſſary in the military department. All that remained of Robeſpierre's Committees, Jean Bon St. Andre, Robert Lindet, and Prieur, were arreſted. Carnot alone was excepted; and it was not diſguiſed that his utility, more than any ſuppoſed integrity, procured him the exemption.
That the efforts of this more ſanguinary faction have been checked, iſ doubtleſs a temporary advantage; yet thoſe who calculate beyond the moment ſee only the perpetuation of anarchy, in a habit of expelling one part of the legiſlature to ſecure the government of the other; nor can it be denied, that the freedom of the repreſentative body has been as much violated by the Moderates in the recent tranſactions, as by the Jacobinſ on the thirty-firſt of May 1793. The Deputies of the Mountain have been proſcribed and impriſoned, rather as partizans than criminals; and it iſ the opinion of many, that theſe meaſures, which deprive the Convention of ſuch a portion of its members, attach as much illegality to the proceedings of the reſt, as the former violences of Robeſpierre and hiſ faction.*
* The decrees paſſed by the Jacobin members during their few hourſ triumph cannot be defended; but the whole Convention had long acquieſced in them, and the preciſe time when they were to ceaſe waſ certainly a matter of opinion. The greater part of theſe memberſ were accuſed of no active violence, nor could they have been arreſted on any principles but that of being rivals to a faction ſtronger than themſelves.
—It is true, the reigning party may plead in their juſtification that they only inflict what they would themſelves have ſuffered, had the Jacobins prevailed; and this is an additional proof of the weakneſs and inſtability of a form of government which is incapable of reſiſting oppoſition, and which knows no medium between yielding to itſ adverſaries, and deſtroying them.
In a well organized conſtitution, it is ſuppoſed that a liberal ſpirit of party is ſalutary. Here they diſpute the alternatives of power and emolument, or priſons and guillotines; and the ſole reſult to the people is the certainty of being ſacrificed to the fears, and plundered by the rapacity of either faction which may chance to acquire the ſuperiority.— Had the government any permanent or inherent ſtrength, a party watching its errors, and eager to attack them, might, in time, by theſe perpetual colliſions, give birth to ſome principles of liberty and order. But, aſ I have often had occaſion to notice, this ſpecies of republicaniſm is in itſelf ſo weak, that it cannot exiſt except by a conſtant recurrence to the very deſpotiſm it profeſſes to exclude. Hence it is jealous and ſuſpicious, and all oppoſition to it is fatal; ſo that, to uſe an argument ſomewhat ſimilar to Hume's on the liberty of the preſs in republics, the French poſſeſs a ſort of freedom which does not admit of enjoyment; and, in order to boaſt that they have a popular conſtitution, are obliged to ſupport every kind of tyranny.*
* Hume obſerves, that abſolute monarchies and republics nearly approach; for the exceſs of liberty in the latter renders ſuch reſtraints neceſſary as to make them in practice reſemble the former.
The provinces take much leſs intereſt in this event, than in one of a more general and perſonal effect, though not apparently of equal importance. A very few weeks ago, the Convention aſſeverated, in the uſual acclamatory ſtyle, that they would never even liſten to a propoſal for diminiſhing the value, or ſtopping the currency, of any deſcription of aſſignats. Their oaths are not, indeed, in great repute, yet many people were ſo far deceived, as to imagine that at leaſt the credit of the paper would not be formally deſtroyed by thoſe who had forced itſ circulation. All of a ſudden, and without any previous notice, a decree was iſſued to ſuppreſs the corſets, (or aſſignats of five livres,) bearing the King's image;* and as theſe were very numerous, and chiefly in the hands of the lower order of people, the conſternation produced by this meaſure was ſerious and unuſual.—
* The opinion that prevailed at this time that a reſtoration of the monarchy was intended by the Convention, had rendered every one ſolicitous to amaſs aſſignats iſſued during the late King's reign. Royal aſſignats of five livres were exchanged for ſix, ſeven, and eight livres of the republican paper.
—There cannot be a ſtronger proof of the tyranny of the government, or of the national propenſity to ſubmiſſion, than the circumſtance of making it penal to refuſe one day, what, by the ſame authority, is rendered valueleſs the next—and that notwithſtanding this, the remaining aſſignats are ſtill received under all the probability of their experiencing a ſimilar fate.
Paris now offers an interval of tranquillity which we mean to avail ourſelves of, and ſhall, in a day or two, leave this place with the hope of procuring paſſports for England. The Convention affect great moderation and gratitude for their late reſcue; and the people, perſuaded in general that the victorious party are royaliſts, wait with impatience ſome important change, and expect, if not an immediate reſtoration of the monarchy, at leaſt a free election of new Repreſentatives, which muſt infallibly lead to it. With this hope, which is the firſt that has long preſented itſelf to this haraſſed country, I ſhall probably bid it adieu; but a viſit to the metropolis will be too intereſting for me to conclude theſe papers, without giving you the reſult of my obſervations.
—Yours. &c.