Beauvais, March 13, 1795.
I have often, in the courſe of theſe letters, experienced how difficult it is to deſcribe the political ſituation of a country governed by no fixed principles, and ſubject to all the fluctuations which are produced by the intereſts and paſſions of individuals and of parties. In ſuch a ſtate concluſions are neceſſarily drawn from daily events, minute facts, and an attentive obſervation of the opinions and diſpoſitions of the people, which, though they leave a perfect impreſſion on the mind of the writer, are not eaſily conveyed to that of the reader. They are like colours, the various ſhades of which, though diſcriminated by the eye, cannot be deſcribed but in general terms.
Since I laſt wrote, the government has conſiderably improved in decency and moderation; and though the French enjoy as little freedom as their almoſt ſole Allies, the Algerines, yet their terror begins to wear off— and, temporizing with a deſpotiſm they want energy to deſtroy, they rejoice in the ſuſpenſion of oppreſſions which a day or an hour may renew. No one pretends to have any faith in the Convention; but we are tranquil, if not ſecure—and, though ſubject to a thouſand arbitrary details, incompatible with a good government, the political ſyſtem iſ doubtleſs meliorated. Juſtice and the voice of the people have been attended to in the arreſt of Collot, Barrere, and Billaud, though many are of opinion that their puniſhment will extend no farther; for a trial, particularly that of Barrere, who is in the ſecret of all factions, would expoſe ſo many revolutionary myſteries and patriotic reputations, that there are few members of the Convention who will not wiſh it evaded; they probably expect, that the ſecluſion, for ſome months, of the perſons of the delinquents will appeaſe the public vengeance, and that this affair may be forgotten in the buſtle of more recent events.—If there had been any doubt of the crimes of theſe men, the publication of Robeſpierre'ſ papers would have removed them; and, excluſive of their value when conſidered as a hiſtory of the times, theſe papers form one of the moſt curious and humiliating monuments of human debaſement, and human depravity, extant.*
* The Report of Courtois on Robeſpierre's papers, though very able, is an inſtance of the pedantry I have often remarked as ſo peculiar to the French, even when they are not deficient in talents. It ſeems to be an abſtract of all the learning, ancient and modern, that Courtois was poſſeſſed of. I have the book before me, and have ſelected the following liſt of perſons and alluſions; many of which are indeed of ſo little uſe or ornament to their ſtations in thiſ ſpeech, that one would have thought even a republican requiſition could not have brought them there: "Sampſon, Dalila, Philip, Athens, Sylla, the Greeks and Romans, Brutus, Lycurgus, Perſepolis, Sparta, Pulcheria, Cataline, Dagon, Anicius, Nero, Babel, Tiberius, Caligula, Auguſtus, Antony, Lepidus, the Manicheans, Bayle and Galileo, Anitus, Socrates, Demoſthenes, Eſchinus, Marius, Buſiris, Diogenes, Caeſar, Cromwell, Conſtantine, the Labarum, Domitius, Machiavel, Thraſeas, Cicero, Cato, Ariſtophanes, Riſcius, Sophocles, Euripides, Tacitus, Sydney, Wiſnou, Poſſidonius, Julian, Argus, Pompey, the Teutates, Gainas, Areadius, Sinon, Aſmodeus, Salamanders, Anicetus, Atreus, Thyeſtus, Ceſonius, Barca and Oreb, Omar and the Koran, Ptolomy Philadelphus, Arimanes, Gengis, Themuginus, Tigellinus, Adrean, Cacus, the Fates, Minos and Rhadamanthus," &c. &c. Rapport de Courtois ſu les Papiers de Robeſpierre.
After ſeveral ſkirmiſhes between the Jacobins and Muſcadins, the buſt of Marat has been expelled from the theatres and public places of Paris, and the Convention have ratified this popular judgment, by removing him alſo from their Hall and the Pantheon. But reflecting on the frailty of our nature, and the levity of their countrymen, in order to obviate the diſorders theſe premature beatifications give riſe to, they have decreed that no patriot ſhall in future by Pantheonized until ten years after hiſ death. This is no long period; yet revolutionary reputations have hitherto ſcarcely ſurvived as many months, and the puerile enthuſiaſm which is adopted, not felt, has been uſually ſucceeded by a violence and revenge equally irrational.
It has lately been diſcovered that Condorcet is dead, and that he periſhed in a manner ſingularly awful. Travelling under a mean appearance, he ſtopped at a public houſe to refreſh himſelf, and waſ arreſted in conſequence of having no paſſport. He told the people who examined him he was a ſervant, but a Horace, which they found about him, leading to a ſuſpicion that he was of a ſuperior rank, they determined to take him to the next town. Though already exhauſted, he was obliged to walk ſome miles farther, and, on his arrival, he was depoſited in a priſon, where he was forgotten, and ſtarved to death.
Thus, perhaps at the moment the French were apotheoſing an obſcure demagogue, the celebrated Condorcet expired, through the neglect of a gaoler; and now, the coarſe and ferocious Marat, and the more refined, yet more pernicious, philoſopher, are both involved in one common obloquy.
What a theme for the moraliſt!—Perhaps the gaoler, whoſe brutal careleſſneſs terminated the days of Condorcet, extinguiſhed his own humanity in the torrent of that revolution of which Condorcet himſelf waſ one of the authors; and perhaps the death of a ſovereign, whom Condorcet aſſiſted in bringing to the ſcaffold, might have been this man's firſt leſſon in cruelty, and have taught him to ſet little value on the liveſ of the reſt of mankind.—The French, though they do not analyſe ſeriouſly, ſpeak of this event as a juſt retribution, which will be followed by others of a ſimilar nature. "Quelle mort," ["What an end.">[ ſays one—"Elle eſt affreuſe, (ſays another,) mais il etoit cauſe que bien d'autres ont peri auſſi."—"Ils periront tous, et tant mieux," ["'Twas dreadful—but how many people have periſhed by his means."— "They'll all ſhare the ſame fate, and ſo much the better.">[ reply twenty voices; and this is the only epitaph on Condorcet.
The pretended revolution of the thirty-firſt of May, 1792, which haſ occaſioned ſo much bloodſhed, and which I remember it dangerous not to hallow, though you did not underſtand why, is now formally eraſed from among the feſtivals of the republic; but this is only the triumph of party, and a ſignal that the remains of the Briſſotines are gaining ground.
A more conſpicuous and a more popular victory has been obtained by the royaliſts, in the trial and acquittal of Delacroix. The jury had been changed after the affair of Carrier, and were now better compoſed; though the eſcape of Delacroix is more properly to be attributed to the intimidating favour of the people. The verdict was received with ſhoutſ of applauſe, repeated with tranſport, and Delacroix, who had ſo patriotically projected to purify the Convention, by ſending more than half its members to America, was borne home on the ſhoulders of an exulting populace.