Yet is it a conſolation, that the title by which I was made an object of mean vengeance is the one I moſt value.*
* An Engliſh gentleman, who was aſked by a republican Commiſſary, employed in examining the priſons, why he was there, replied, "Becauſe I have not the miſfortune to be a Frenchman!"
This is a large manufacturing town, and the capital of the department of l'Oiſe. Its manufactories now owe their chief activity to the requiſitions for ſupplying cloth to the armies. Such commerce is by no means courted; and if people were permitted, as they are in moſt countries, to trade or let it alone, it would ſoon decline.—The choir of the cathedral is extremely beautiful, and has luckily eſcaped republican devaſtation, though there ſeems to exiſt no hope that it will be again reſtored to the uſe of public worſhip. Your books will inform you, that Beauvais was beſieged in 1472 by the Duke of Burgundy, with eighty thouſand men, and that he failed in the attempt. Its modern hiſtory iſ not ſo fortunate. It was for ſome time haraſſed by a revolutionary army, whoſe exactions and diſorders being oppoſed by the inhabitants, a decree of the Convention declared the town in a ſtate of rebellion; and thiſ ban, which operates like the Papal excommunications three centuries ago, and authorizes tyranny of all kinds, was not removed until long after the death of Robeſpierre.—Such a ſpecimen of republican government has made the people cautious, and abundant in the exteriors of patriotiſm. Where they are ſure of their company, they expreſs themſelves without reſerve, both on the ſubject of their legiſlators and the miſeries of the country; but intercourſe is conſiderably more timid here than at Amiens.
Two gentlemen dined with us yeſterday, whom I know to be zealouſ royaliſts, and, as they are acquainted, I made no ſcruple of producing an engraving which commemorates myſteriouſly the death of the King, and which I had juſt received from Paris by a private conveyance. They looked alarmed, and affected not to underſtand it; and, perceiving I had done wrong, I replaced the print without farther explanation: but they both called this evening, and reproached me ſeparately for thus expoſing their ſentiments to each other.—This is a trifling incident, yet perhapſ it may partly explain the great aenigma why no effectual reſiſtance iſ made to a government which is ſecretly deteſted. It has been the policy of all the revolutioniſts, from the Lameths and La Fayette down to Briſſot and Robeſpierre, to deſtroy the confidence of ſociety; and the calamities of laſt year, now aiding the ſyſtem of ſpies and informers, occaſion an apprehenſion and diſtruſt which impede union, and check every enterprize that might tend to reſtore the freedom of the country.—Yours, &c.
Amiens, April 12, 1795.
Inſtead of commenting on the late diſorders at Paris, I ſubjoin the tranſlation of a letter juſt received by Mrs. D———— from a friend, whoſe information, we have reaſon to believe, is as exact as can poſſibly be obtained in the chaos of little intrigues which now compriſe the whole ſcience of French politics.
"Paris, April 9.
"Though I know, my good friend, you are ſufficiently verſed in the technicals of our revolution not to form an opinion of occurrences from the language in which they are officially deſcribed, yet I cannot reſiſt the favourable opportunity of Mad. ————'s return, to communicate ſuch explanations of the late events as their very ambiguous appearance may render neceſſary even to you.
"I muſt begin by informing you, that the propoſed decree of the Convention to diſſolve themſelves and call a new Aſſembly, was a mere coquettry. Haraſſed by the ſtruggles of the Jacobins, and alarmed at the ſymptoms of public wearineſs and diſguſt, which became every day more viſible, they hoped this feint might operate on the fears of the people of Paris, and animate them to a more decided ſupport againſt the effortſ of the common enemy, as well as tend to reconcile them to a farther endurance of a repreſentation from which they did not diſguiſe their wiſhes to be releaſed. An opportunity was therefore ſeized on, or created, when our allowance of bread had become unuſually ſhort, and the Jacobins unuſually turbulent, to bring forward this project of renovating the legiſlature. But in politics, as well as love, ſuch experiments are dangerous. Far from being received with regret, the propoſition excited univerſal tranſport; and it required all the diligence of the agents of government to inſinuate effectually, that if Paris were abandoned by the Convention at this juncture, it would not only become a prey to famine, but the Jacobins would avail themſelves of the momentary diſorder to regain their power, and renew their paſt atrocities.