A republican, who paſſes for highly informed, once defended this mode of warfare by obſerving, that in the courſe of ſeveral campaigns more troopſ periſhed by ſickneſs than the ſword. If then an object could be attained by ſuch means, ſo much time was ſaved, and the loſs eventually the ſame: but the Generals of other countries dare not riſk ſuch philoſophical calculations, and would be accountable to the laws of humanity for their deſtructive conqueſts.
When you eſtimate the numbers that compoſe the French armies, you are not to conſider them as an undiſciplined multitude, whoſe ſole force is in their numbers. From the beginning of the revolution, many of them have been exerciſed in the National Guard; and though they might not make a figure on the parade at Potſdam, their inferiority is not ſo great as to render the German exactitude a counterbalance for the ſubſtantial inequality of numbers. Yet, powerfully as theſe conſiderations favour the military triumphs of France, there is a period when we may expect both cauſe and effect will terminate. That period may ſtill be far removed, but whenever the aſſignatſ* become totally diſcredited, and it ſhall be found requiſite to economize in the war department, adieu la gloire, a bas les armes, and perhaps bon ſoir la republique; for I do not reckon it poſſible, that armies ſo conſtituted can ever be perſuaded to ſubject themſelves to the reſtraints and privations which muſt be indiſpenſible, as ſoon as the government ceaſes to have the diſpoſal of an unlimited fund.
* The mandats were, in fact, but a continuation of the aſſignats, under another name. The laſt decree for the emiſſion of aſſignats, limited the quantity circulated to forty milliards, which taken at par, is only about ſixteen hundred millions of pounds ſterling!
What I have hitherto written you will underſtand as applicable only to the troops employed on the frontiers. There are ſome of another deſcription, more cheriſhed and not leſs ſerviceable, who act as a ſort of police militant and errant, and defend the republic againſt her internal enemieſ—the republicans. Almoſt every town of importance iſ occaſionally infeſted by theſe ſervile inſtruments of deſpotiſm, who are maintained in inſolent profuſion, to overawe thoſe whom miſery and famine might tempt to revolt. When a government, after impriſoning ſome hundred thouſands of the moſt diſtinguiſhed in every claſs of life, and diſarming all the reſt, is yet obliged to employ ſuch a force for its protection, we may juſtifiably conclude, it does not preſume on the attachment of the people. It is not impoſſible that the agents of different deſcriptions, deſtined to the ſervice of conciliating the interior to republicaniſm, might alone form an army equal to that of the Allies; but this is a taſk, where the numbers employed only ſerve to render it more difficult. They, however, procure ſubmiſſion, if they do not create affection; and the Convention is not delicate.
Amiens, Sept. 30, 1794.
The domeſtic politics of France are replete with novelties: the Convention is at war with the Jacobinſ—and the people, even to the moſt decided ariſtocrats, have become partizans of the Convention.—My laſt letters have explained the origin of theſe phaenomena, and I will now add a few words on their progreſs.
You have ſeen that, at the fall of Robeſpierre, the revolutionary government had reached the very ſummit of deſpotiſm, and that the Convention found themſelves under the neceſſity of appearing to be directed by a new impulſe, or of acknowledging their participation in the crimes they affected to deplore.—In conſequence, almoſt without the direct repeal of any law, (except ſome which affected their own ſecurity,) a more moderate ſyſtem has been gradually adopted, or, to ſpeak more correctly, the revolutionary one is ſuffered to relax. The Jacobins behold theſe popular meaſures with extreme jealouſy, as a meanſ which may in time render the legiſlature independent of them; and it iſ certainly not the leaſt of their diſcontents, that, after all their labours in the common cauſe, they find themſelves excluded both from power and emoluments. Accuſtomed to carry every thing by violence, and more ferocious than politic, they have, by inſiſting on the reincarceration of ſuſpected people, attached a numerous party to the Convention, which is thus warned that its own ſafety depends on repreſſing the influence of clubs, which not only loudly demand that the priſons may be again filled, but frequently debate on the project of tranſporting all the "enemies of the republic" together.
The liberty of the preſs, alſo, is a theme of diſcord not leſs important than the emancipation of ariſtocrats. The Jacobins are decidedly adverſe to it; and it is a ſort of revolutionary ſoleciſm, that thoſe who boaſt of having been the original deſtroyers of deſpotiſm, are now the advocates of arbitrary impriſonment, and reſtraints on the freedom of the preſs. The Convention itſelf is divided on the latter ſubject; and, after a revolution of five years, founded on the doctrine of the rightſ of man, it has become matter of diſpute—whether ſo principal an article of them ought really to exiſt or not. They ſeem, indeed, willing to allow it, provided reſtrictions can be deviſed which may prevent calumny from reaching their own perſons; but as that cannot eaſily be atchieved, they not only contend againſt the liberty of the preſs in practice, but have hitherto refuſed to ſanction it by decree, even as a principle.
It is perhaps reluctantly that the Convention oppoſes theſe powerful and extended combinations which have ſo long been its ſupport, and it may dread the conſequences of being left without the means of overawing or influencing the people; but the example of the Briſſotins, who, by attempting to profit by the ſervices of the Jacobins, without ſubmitting to their domination, fell a ſacrifice, has warned their ſurvivors of the danger of employing ſuch inſtruments. It is evident that the clubs will not act ſubordinately, and that they muſt either be ſubdued to inſignificance, or regain their authority entirely; and as neither the people nor Convention are diſpoſed to acquieſce in the latter, they are politicly joining their efforts to accelerate the former.