* "Sectaries (ſays Walpole in his Anecdotes of Painting, ſpeaking of the republicans under Cromwell) have no oſtenſible enjoyments; their pleaſures are private, comfortable and groſs. The arts of civilized ſociety are not calculated for men who mean to riſe on the ruins of eſtabliſhed order." Judging by compariſon, I am perſuaded theſe obſervations are yet more applicable to the political, than the religious opinions of the Engliſh republicans of that period; for, in theſe reſpects, there is no difference between them and the French of the preſent day, though there is a wide one between an Anabaptiſt and the diſciples of Boulanger and Voltaire.
—Nor can it well be diſputed, that a groſs luxury is more perniciouſ than an elegant one; for the former conſumes the neceſſaries of life wantonly, while the latter maintains numerous hands in rendering thingſ valuable by the workmanſhip which are little ſo in themſelves.
Every one who has been a reflecting ſpectator of the revolution will acknowledge the juſtice of theſe obſervations. The agents and retainerſ of government are the general monopolizers of the markets, and theſe men, who are enriched by peculation, and are on all occaſions retailing the cant phraſes of the Convention, on the purete des moeurs republicains, et la luxe de la ci-devant Nobleſſe, [The purity of republican manners, and the luxury of the ci-devant Nobleſſe.] exhibit ſcandalous exceptionſ to the national habits of oeconomy, at a time too when others more deſerving are often compelled to ſacrifice even their eſſential accommodations to a more rigid compliance with them.*
* Lindet, in a report on the ſituation of the republic, declares, that ſince the revolution the conſumption of wines and every article of luxury has been ſuch, that very little has been left for exportation. I have ſelected the following ſpecimens of republican manners, from many others equally authentic, as they may be of ſome utility to thoſe who would wiſh to eſtimate what the French have gained in this reſpect by a change of government. "In the name of the French people the Repreſentatives ſent to Commune Affranchie (Lyons) to promote the felicity of itſ inhabitants, order the Committee of Sequeſtration to ſend them immediately two hundred bottles of the beſt wine that can be procured, alſo five hundred bottles of claret, of prime quality, for their own table. For this purpoſe the commiſſion are authorized to take of the ſequeſtration, wherever the above wine can be found. Done at Commune Affranchie, thirteenth Nivoſe, ſecond year. (Signed) "Albitte, "Fouche, "Deputies of the National Convention."
Extract of a denunciation of Citizen Boiſmartin againſt Citizen Laplanche, member of the National Convention: "The twenty-fourth of Brumaire, in the ſecond year of the republic, the Adminiſtrators of the diſtrict of St. Lo gave orders to the municipality over which I at that time preſided, to lodge the Repreſentative of the people, Laplanche, and General Siphert, in the houſe of Citizen Lemonnier, who was then under arreſt at Thorigni. In introducing one of the founders of the republic, and a French General, into this hoſpitable manſion, we thought to put the property of our fellow-citizen under the ſafeguard of all the virtues; but, alas, how were we miſtaken! They had no ſooner entered the houſe, than the proviſions of every ſort, the linen, clothes, furniture, trinkets, books, plate, carriages, and even title-deeds, all diſappeared; and, as if they purpoſely inſulted our wretchedneſs, while we were reduced to the ſad neceſſity of diſtributing with a parſimonious hand a few ounces of black bread to our fellow-citizens, the beſt bread, pillaged from Citizen Lemonnier, was laviſhed by buckets full to the horſes of General Siphert, and the Repreſentative Laplanche.—The Citizen Lemonnier, who is ſeventy years of age, having now recovered his liberty, which he never deſerved to loſe, finds himſelf ſo entirely deſpoiled, that he is at preſent obliged to live at an inn; and, of property to the amount of ſixty thouſand livres, he has nothing left but a ſingle ſpoon, which he took with him when carried to one of the Baſtilleſ in the department de la Manche." The chief defence of Laplanche conſiſted in allegations that the ſaid Citizen Lemonnier was rich, and a royaliſt, and that he had found emblems of royaliſm and fanaticiſm about the houſe.
At the houſe of one of our common friends, I met ————, and ſo little did I imagine that he had eſcaped all the revolutionary perils to which he had been expoſed, that I could almoſt have ſuppoſed myſelf in the regions of the dead, or that he had been permitted to quit them, for hiſ being alive ſcarcely ſeemed leſs miraculous or incredible. As I had not ſeen him ſince 1792, he gave me a very intereſting detail of hiſ adventures, and his teſtimony corroborates the opinion generally entertained by thoſe who knew the late King, that he had much perſonal courage, and that he loſt his crown and his life by political indeciſion, and an humane, but ill-judged, unwillingneſs to reduce his enemies by force. He aſſured me, the Queen might have been conveyed out of France previous to the tenth of Auguſt, if ſhe would have agreed to leave the King and her children behind; that ſhe had twice conſulted him on the ſubject; but, perſiſting in her reſolution not to depart unaccompanied by her family, nothing practicable could be deviſed, and ſhe determined to ſhare their fate.*
* The gentleman here alluded to has great talents, and iſ particularly well acquainted with ſome of the moſt obſcure and diſaſtrous periods of the French revolution. I have reaſon to believe, whenever it is conſiſtent with his own ſafety, he will, by a genuine relation, expoſe many of the popular falſehoods by which the public have been miſled.
This, as well as many other inſtances of tenderneſs and heroiſm, which diſtinguiſhed the Queen under her miſfortunes, accord but ill with the vices imputed to her; and were not ſuch imputations encouraged to ſerve the cauſe of faction, rather than that of morality, theſe inconſiſtencieſ would have been interpreted in her favour, and candour have palliated or forgotten the levities of her youth, and remembered only the ſorrows and the virtues by which they were ſucceeded.
I had, in compliance with your requeſt on my firſt arrival in France, made a collection of prints of all the moſt conſpicuous actors in the revolution; but as they could not be ſecreted ſo eaſily as other papers, my fears overcame my deſire of obliging you, and I deſtroyed them ſucceſſively, as the originals became proſcribed or were ſacrificed. Deſirous of repairing my loſs, I perſuaded ſome friends to accompany me to a ſhop, kept by a man of whom they frequently purchaſed, and whom, aſ his principles were known to them, I might ſafely aſk for the articles I wanted. He ſhook his head, while he ran over my liſt, and then told me, that having preferred his ſafety to his property, he had diſpoſed of hiſ prints in the ſame way I had diſpoſed of mine. "At the acceſſion of a new party, (continued he,) I always prepare for a domiciliary viſit, clear my windows and ſhelves of the exploded heads, and replace them by thoſe of their rivals. Nay, I aſſure you, ſince the revolution, our trade is become as precarious as that of a gameſter. The Conſtitutionaliſts, indeed, held out pretty well, but then I was half ruined by the fall of the Briſſotins; and, before I could retrieve a little by the Hebertiſts and Dantoniſts, the too were out of faſhion."— "Well, but the Robeſpierrianſ—you muſt have gained by them?"—"Why, true; Robeſpierre and Marat, and Chalier, anſwered well enough, becauſe the royaliſts generally placed them in their houſes to give themſelves an air of patriotiſm, yet they are gone after the reſt.—Here, however, (ſays he, taking down an engraving of the Abbe Sieyes,) is a piece of merchandize that I have kept through all parties, religions, and conſtitutionſ—et le voila encore a la mode, ["And now you ſee him in faſhion again.">[ mounted on the wrecks, and ſupported by the remnants of both his friends and enemies. Ah! c'eſt un fin matois." ["Ah! He's a knowing one.">[
This converſation paſſed in a gay tone, though the man added, very ſeriouſly, that the inſtability of popular factions, and their intolerance towards each other, had obliged him to deſtroy to the amount of ſome thouſand livres, and that he intended, if affairs did not change, to quit buſineſs.