* At preſent, in the monthly ſtatement, the number of divorces in France, is often nearly equal to that of the marriages.
I ſhould reproach myſelf if I could feel impartial when I contemplate the Engliſh character; yet I certainly endeavour to write as though I were ſo. If I have erred, it has been rather in allowing too much to received opinions on the ſubject of this country, than in ſuffering my affectionſ to make me unjuſt; for though I am far from affecting the faſhion of the day, which cenſures all prejudices as illiberal, except thoſe in diſfavour of our own country, yet I am warranted, I hope, in ſaying, that however partial I may appear to England, I have not been ſo at the expence of truth.—Yours, &c.
October 6, 1794.
The ſufferings of individuals have often been the means of deſtroying or reforming the moſt powerful tyrannies; reaſon has been convinced by argument, and paſſion appealed to by declamation in vain—when ſome unvarniſhed tale, or ſimple expoſure of facts, has at once rouzed the feelings, and conquered the ſupineneſs of an oppreſſed people.
The revolutionary government, in ſpite of the clamorous and weekly ſwearings of the Convention to perpetuate it, has received a check from an event of this nature, which I truſt it will never recover.—By an order of the Revolutionary Committee of Nantes, in November 1793, all priſoners accuſed of political crimes were to be tranſferred to Paris, where the tribunal being more immediately under the direction of government, there would be no chance of their acquittal. In conſequence of this order, an hundred and thirty-two inhabitants of Nantes, arreſted on the uſual pretexts of foederaliſm, or as ſuſpected, or being Muſcadins, were, ſome months after, conducted to Paris. Forty of the number died through the hardſhips and ill treatment they encountered on the way, the reſt remained in priſon until after the death of Robeſpierre.
The evidence produced on their trial, which lately took place, haſ revealed but too circumſtantially all the horrors of the revolutionary ſyſtem. Deſtruction in every form, moſt ſhocking to morals or humanity, has depopulated the countries of the Loire; and republican Pizarro's and Almagro's ſeem to have rivalled each other in the invention and perpetration of crimes.
When the priſons of Nantes overflowed, many hundreds of their miſerable inhabitants had been conducted by night, and chained together, to the river ſide; where, being firſt ſtripped of their clothes, they were crouded into veſſels with falſe bottoms, conſtructed for the purpoſe, and ſunk.*—
* Though the horror excited by ſuch atrocious details muſt be ſerviceable to humanity, I am conſtrained by decency to ſpare the reader a part of them. Let the imagination, however repugnant, pauſe for a moment over theſe ſceneſ—Five, eight hundred people of different ſexes, ages, and conditions, are taken from their priſons, in the dreary months of December and January, and conducted, during the ſilence of the night, to the banks of the Loire. The agents of the Republic there deſpoil them of their clothes, and force them, ſhivering and defenceleſs, to enter the machines prepared for their deſtruction—they are chained down, to prevent their eſcape by ſwimming, and then the bottom is detached for the upper part, and ſunk.—On ſome occaſions the miſerable victims contrived to looſe themſelves, and clinging to the boards near them, ſhrieked in the agonies of deſpair and death, "O ſave uſ! it is not even now too late: in mercy ſave uſ!" But they appealed to wretches to whom mercy was a ſtranger; and, being cut away from their hold by ſtrokeſ of the ſabre, periſhed with their companions. That nothing might be wanting to theſe outrages againſt nature, they were eſcribed aſ jeſts, and called "Noyades, water parties," and "civic baptiſmſ"! Carrier, a Deputy of the Convention, uſed to dine and make partieſ of pleaſure, accompanied by muſic and every ſpecies of groſs luxury, on board the barges appropriated to theſe execrable purpoſes.
—At one time, ſix hundred children appear to have been deſtroyed in thiſ manner;—young people of different ſexes were tied in pairs and thrown into the river;—thouſands were ſhot in the high roads and in the fields; and vaſt numbers were guillotined, without a trial!*