Our ſlumbers have for ſome time been patriotically diſturbed by the danger of Holland; and the taking of the Maeſtricht nearly cauſed me a jaundice: but the French have taught us philoſophy—and their conqueſtſ appear to afford them ſo little pleaſure, that we ourſelves hear of them with leſs pain. The Convention were indeed, at firſt, greatly elated by the diſpatches from Amſterdam, and imagined they were on the eve of dictating to all Europe: the churches were ordered to toll their only bell, and the gaſconades of the bulletin were uncommonly pompouſ—but the novelty of the event has now ſubſided, and the conqueſt of Holland excites leſs intereſt than the thaw. Public ſpirit is abſorbed by private neceſſities or afflictions; people who cannot procure bread or firing, even though they have money to purchaſe it, are little gratified by reading that a pair of their Deputies lodged in the Stadtholder'ſ palace; and the triumphs of the republic offer no conſolation to the families which it has pillaged or diſmembered.
The mind, narrowed and occupied by the little cares of hunting out the neceſſaries of life, and evading the reſtraints of a jealous government, is not ſuſceptible of that lively concern in diſtant and general eventſ which is the effect of eaſe and ſecurity; and all the recent victorieſ have not been able to ſooth the diſcontents of the Pariſians, who are obliged to ſhiver whole hours at the door of a baker, to buy, at an extravagant price, a trifling portion of bread.
* "Chacun ſe concentre aujourdhui dans ſa famille et calcule ſeſ reſources."—"The attention of every one now is confined to hiſ family, and to the calculation of his reſources." Diſcours de Lindet. "Accable du ſoin d'etre, et du travail de vivre."—"Overwhelmed with the care of exiſtence, and the labour of living." St. Lambert
—The impreſſion of theſe ſucceſſes is, I am perſuaded, alſo diminiſhed by conſiderations to which the philoſopher of the day would allow no influence; yet by their aſſimilation with the Deputies and Generals whoſe names are ſo obſcure as to eſcape the memory, they ceaſe to inſpire that mixed ſentiment which is the reſult of national pride and perſonal affection. The name of a General or an Admiral ſerves as the epitome of an hiſtorical relation, and ſuffices to recall all his glories, and all his ſervices; but this ſort of enthuſiaſm is entirely repelled by an account that the citizens Gillet and Jourbert, two repreſentatives heard of almoſt for the firſt time, have taken poſſeſſion of Amſterdam.
I enquired of a man who was ſawing wood for us this morning, what the bells clattered for laſt night. "L'on m'a dit (anſwered he) que c'eſt pour quelque ville que quelque general de la republique a priſe. Ah! ca nous avancera beaucoup; la paix et du pain, je crois, ſera mieux notre affaire que toutes ces conquetes." ["They ſay its for ſome town or other, that ſome general or other has taken.—Ah! we ſhall get a vaſt deal by that—a peace and bread, I think, would anſwer our purpoſe better than all theſe victories.">[ I told him he ought to ſpeak with more caution. "Mourir pour mourir, [One death's as good as another.] (ſayſ he, half gaily,) one may as well die by the Guillotine as be ſtarved. My family have had no bread theſe two days, and becauſe I went to a neighbouring village to buy a little corn, the peaſants, who are jealouſ that the town's people already get too much of the farmers, beat me ſo that I am ſcarce able to work."*—
* "L'interet et la criminelle avarice ont fomente et entretenu deſ germes de diviſion entre les citoyens des villes et ceux deſ campagnes, entre les cultivateurs, les artiſans et les commercans, entre les citoyens des departements et diſtricts, et meme deſ communes voiſines. On a voulu ſ'iſoler de toutes parts." Diſcours de Lindet. "Self-intereſt and a criminal avarice have fomented and kept alive the ſeeds of diviſion between the inhabitants of the towns and thoſe of the country, between the farmer, the mechanic, and the trader— the like has happened between adjoining towns and diſtrictſ—an univerſal ſelfiſhneſs, in ſhort, has prevailed." Lindet's Speech. This picture, drawn by a Jacobin Deputy, is not flattering to republican fraternization.
—It is true, the wants of the lower claſſes are afflicting. The whole town has, for ſome weeks, been reduced to a nominal half pound of bread a day for each perſon—I ſay nominal, for it has repeatedly happened, that none has been diſtributed for three days together, and the quantity diminiſhed to four ounces; whereas the poor, who are uſed to eat little elſe, conſume each, in ordinary times, two pounds daily, on the loweſt calculation.
We have had here a brutal vulgar-looking Deputy, one Florent-Guyot, who has harangued upon the virtues of patience, and the magnanimity of ſuffering hunger for the good of the republic. This doctrine has, however, made few converts; though we learn, from a letter of Florent-Guyot's to the Aſſembly, that the Amienois are excellent patriots, and that they ſtarve with the beſt grace poſſible.
You are to underſtand, that the Repreſentatives on miſſion, who deſcribe the inhabitants of all the towns they viſit as glowing with republicaniſm, have, beſides the ſervice of the common cauſe, views of their own, and are often enabled by theſe fictions to adminiſter both to their intereſt and their vanity. They ingratiate themſelves with the ariſtocrats, who are pleaſed at the imputation of principles which may ſecure them from perſecution—they ſee their names recorded on the journals; and, finally, by aſcribing theſe civic diſpoſitions to the power of their own eloquence, they obtain the renewal of an itinerant delegation—which, it may be preſumed, is very profitable.