* "Soyez ſur que ces deſtructions ſe ſont pour la plupart a l'inſtigation de nos ennemiſ—quel triomphe pour l'Anglais ſi il eul pu ecraſer notre commerce par l'aneantiſſement des arts dont la culture enrichit le ſien."—"Reſt aſſured that theſe demolitionſ were, for the moſt part, effected at the inſtigation of our enemieſ —what a triumph would it have been for the Engliſh, if they had ſucceeded in cruſhing our commerce by the annihilation of the arts, the culture of which enriched their own."
—If the principal monuments of art be yet preſerved to gratify the national taſte or vanity, it is owing to the courage and devotion of individuals, who obeyed with a protecting dilatorineſs the deſtructive mandates of government.
At ſome places, orangeries were ſold by the foot for fire-wood, becauſe, as it was alledged, that republicans had more occaſion for apples and potatoes than oranges.—At Mouſſeaux, the ſeals were put on the hot-houſes, and all the plants nearly deſtroyed. Valuable remains of ſculpture were condemned for a creſt, a fleur de lys, or a coronet attached to them; and the deities of the Heathen mythology were made war upon by the ignorance of the republican executioners, who could not diſtinguiſh them from emblems of feodality.*
* At Anet, a bronze ſtag, placed as a fountain in a large piece of water, was on the point of being demoliſhed, becauſe ſtags are beaſts of chace, and hunting is a feodal privilege, and ſtags of courſe emblems of feodality.—It was with ſome difficulty preſerved by an amateur, who inſiſted, that ſtags of bronze were not included in the decree.—By a decree of the Convention, which I have formerly mentioned, all emblems of royalty or feodality were to be demoliſhed by a particular day; and as the law made no diſtinction, it could not be expected that municipalities, &c. often ignorant or timid, ſhould either venture or deſire to ſpare what in the eyes of the connoiſſeur might be precious. "At St. Dennis, (ſays the virtuoſo Gregoire,) where the National Club juſtly ſtruck at the tyrants even in their tombs, that of Turenne ought to have been ſpared; yet ſtrokes of the ſword are ſtill viſible on it."—He likewiſe complains, that at the Botanic Garden the buſt of Linnaeus had been deſtroyed, on a preſumption of its being that of Charles the Ninth; and if it had been that of Charles the Ninth, it is not eaſy to diſcern how the cauſe of liberty was ſerved by its mutilation.—The artiſt or moraliſt contemplates with equal profit or curioſity the features of Pliny or Commodus; and Hiſtory and Science will appreciate Linnaeus and Charles the Ninth, without regarding whether their reſemblanceſ occupy a palace, or are ſcattered in fragments by republican ignorance.—Long after the death of Robeſpierre, the people of Amiens humbly petitioned the Convention, that their cathedral, perhaps the moſt beautiful Gothic edifice in Europe, might be preſerved; and to avoid giving offence by the mention of churches or cathedrals, they called it a Baſilique.—But it is unneceſſary to adduce any farther proof, that the ſpirit of what is now called Vandaliſm originated in the Convention. Every one in France muſt recollect, that, when diſpatches from all corners announced theſe ravages, they were heard with as much applauſe, as though they had related ſo many victories gained over the enemy.
—Quantities of curious medals have been melted down for the trifling value of the metal; and at Abbeville, a ſilver St. George, of uncommon workmanſhip, and which Mr. Garrick is ſaid to have deſired to purchaſe at a very high price, was condemned to the crucible—
|
"——Sur tant de treſorſ "Antiques monumens reſpectes juſqu'alors, "Par la deſtruction ſignalant leur puiſſance, "Las barbares etendirent leur ſtupide vengeance." "La Religion," Racine. |
Yet the people in office who operated theſe miſchiefs were all appointed by the delegates of the Aſſembly; for the firſt towns of the republic were not truſted even with the choice of a conſtable. Inſtead, therefore, of feeling either ſurpriſe or regret at this devaſtation, we ought rather to rejoice that it has extended no farther; for ſuch agents, armed with ſuch decrees, might have reduced France to the primitive ſtate of ancient Gaul. Several valuable paintings are ſaid to have been conveyed to England, and it will be curious if the barbariſm of France in the eighteenth century ſhould reſtore to us what we, with a fanaticiſm and ignorance at leaſt more prudent than theirs, ſold them in the ſeventeenth. The zealots of the Bareboneſ' Parliament are, however, more reſpectable than the atheiſtical Vandals of the Convention; and, beſideſ the benefit of our example, the interval of a century and an half, with the boaſt of a philoſophy and a degree of illumination exceeding that of any other people, have rendered the errors of the French at once more unpardonable and more ridiculous; for, in aſſimilating their paſt preſentations to their preſent conduct and ſituation, we do not alwayſ find it poſſible to regret without a mixture of contempt.
Amiens, Nov. 29, 1794.
The ſelfiſh policy of the Convention in affecting to reſpect and preſerve the Jacobin ſocieties, while it deprived them of all power, and help up the individuals who compoſed them to abhorrence, could neither ſatiſfy nor deceive men verſed in revolutionary expedients, and more accuſtomed to dictate laws than to ſubmit to them.*