—Adieu.
Paris, June 12, 1795.
The hopes and fears, plots and counterplots, of both royaliſts and republicans, are now ſuſpended by the death of the young King. Thiſ event was announced on Tueſday laſt, and ſince that time the minds and converſation of the public have been entirely occupied by it. Latent ſuſpicion, and regret unwillingly ſuppreſſed, are every where viſible; and, in the fond intereſt taken in this child's life, it ſeems to be forgotten that it is the lot of man "to paſs through nature to eternity," and that it was poſſible for him to die without being ſacrificed by human malice.
All that has been ſaid and written on original equality has not yet perſuaded the people that the fate of Kings is regulated only by the ordinary diſpenſations of Providence; and they ſeem to perſiſt in believing, that royalty, if it has not a more fortunate pre-eminence, iſ at leaſt diſtinguiſhed by an unuſual portion of calamities.
When we recollect the various and abſurd ſtories which have been propagated and believed at the death of Monarchs or their offſpring, without even a ſingle ground either political or phyſical to juſtify them, we cannot now wonder, when ſo many circumſtances of every kind tend to excite ſuſpicion, that the public opinion ſhould be influenced, and attribute the death of the King to poiſon. The child is allowed to have been of a lively diſpoſition, and, even long after his ſecluſion from hiſ family, to have frequently amuſed himſelf by ſinging at the window of hiſ priſon, until the intereſt he was obſerved to create in thoſe who liſtened under it, occaſioned an order to prevent him. It is therefore extraordinary, that he ſhould lately have appeared in a ſtate of ſtupefaction, which is by no means a ſymptom of the diſorder he iſ alledged to have died of, but a very common one of opiates improperly adminiſtered.*
* In order to account in ſome way for the ſtate in which the young King had lately appeared, it was reported that he had been in the habit of drinking ſtrong liquors to exceſs. Admitting this to be true, they muſt have been furniſhed for him, for he could have no means of procuring them.—It is not inappoſite to record, that on a petition being formerly preſented to the legiſlature from the Jacobin ſocieties, praying that the "ſon of the tyrant" might be put to death, an honourable mention in the national bulletin waſ unanimouſly decreed!!!
Though this preſumption, if ſupported by the evidence of external appearances, may ſeem but of little weight; when combined with others, of a moral and political nature, it becomes of conſiderable importance. The people, long amuſed by a ſuppoſed deſign of the Convention to place the Dauphin on the throne, were now become impatient to ſee their wiſheſ realized; or, they hoped that a renewal of the repreſentative body, which, if conducted with freedom, muſt infallibly lead to the accompliſhment of this object, would at leaſt deliver them from an Aſſembly which they conſidered as exhauſted in talents and degraded in reputation.—Theſe diſpoſitions were not attempted to be concealed; they were manifeſted on all occaſions: and a general and ſucceſſful effort in favour of the Royal Priſoner was expected to take place on the thirteenth.*
* That there were ſuch deſigns, and ſuch expectations on the part of the people, is indubitable. The following extract, written and ſigned by one of the editors of the Moniteur, is ſufficiently expreſſive of the temper of the public at this period; and I muſt obſerve here, that the Moniteur is to be conſidered as nearly equivalent to an official paper, and is always ſuppoſed to expreſſ the ſenſe of government, by whom it is ſupported and paid, whatever party or ſyſtem may happen to prevail: "Les eſperances les plus folles ſe manifeſtent de toutes parts.— C'eſt a qui jettera plus promptement le maſque—on dirait, a lire les ecrits qui paraiſſent, a entendre les converſations des gens qui ſe croient dans les confidences, que c'en eſt fait de la republique: la Convention, ſecondee, pouſſee meme par le zele et l'energie deſ bons citoyens a remporte une grande victoire ſur les Terroriſtes, ſur les ſucceſſeurs de Robeſpierre, il ſemble qu'elle n'ait pluſ qu'a proclamer la royaute. Ce qui donne lieu a toutes leſ conjectures plus ou moins abſurdes aux quelles chacun ſe livre, c'eſt l'approche du 25 Prairial." (13th June, the day on which the new conſtitution was to be preſented). "The moſt extravagant hopes, and a general impatience to throw off the maſk are manifeſted on all ſides.—To witneſs the publicationſ that appear, and to hear what is ſaid by thoſe who believe themſelves in the ſecret, one would ſuppoſe that it was all over with the republic.—The Convention ſeconded, impelled even, by the good citizens, has gained a victory over the Terroriſts and the ſucceſſors of Robeſpierre, and now it ſhould ſeem that nothing remained to be done by to proclaim royalty—what particularly giveſ riſe to theſe abſurdities, which exiſt more or leſs in the minds of all, is the approach of the 25th Prairial." Moniteur, June 6, 1795.
Perhaps the majority of the Convention, under the hope of ſecuring impunity for their paſt crimes, might have yielded to the popular impulſe; but the government is no longer in the hands of thoſe men who, having ſhared the power of Robeſpierre before they ſucceeded him, might, as Rabaut St. Etienne expreſſed himſelf, "be wearied of their portion of tyranny."*
* -"Je ſuis las de la portion de tyrannie que j'exerce."—-"I am weary of the portion of tyranny which I exerciſe." Rabaut de St. Etienne