* "At the gate of St. Antoine an immenſe aqueduct had been conſtructed for the purpoſe of carrying off the blood that was ſhed at the executions, and every day four men were employed in taking it up in buckets, and conveying it to this horrid reſervoir of butchery." Louvet's Report, 2d May.
—Theſe barbarous propenſities have long been the theme of French ſatyriſts; and though I do not pretend to infer that they are national, yet certainly the revolution has produced inſtances of ferocity not to be paralleled in any country that ever had been civilized, and ſtill leſs in one that had not.*
* It would be too ſhocking, both to decency and humanity, to recite the more ſerious enormities alluded to; and I only add, to thoſe I have formerly mentioned, a few examples which particularly deſcribe the manners of the revolution.— At Metz, the heads of the guillotined were placed on the tops of their own houſes. The Guillotine was ſtationary, fronting the Town-houſe, for months; and whoever was obſerved to paſs it with looks of diſapprobation, was marked as an object of ſuſpicion. A popular Commiſſion, inſtituted for receiving the revolutionary tax at this place, held their meetings in a room hung with ſtripes of red and black, lighted only with ſepulchral lamps; and on the deſk was placed a ſmall Guillotine, ſurrounded by daggers and ſwords. In this vault, and amidſt this gloomy apparatus, the inhabitants of Metz brought their patriotic gifts, (that is, the arbitrary and exorbitant contributions to which they were condemned,) and laid them on the altar of the Guillotine, like the ſacrifice of fear to the infernal deities; and, that the keeping of the whole buſineſſ might be preſerved, the receipts were ſigned with red ink, avowedly intended as expreſſive of the reigning ſyſtem. At Cahors, the deputy, Taillefer, after making a triumphal entry with ſeveral waggons full of people whom he had arreſted, ordered a Guillotine to be erected in the ſquare, and ſome of the priſoners to be brought forth and decorated in a mock coſtume repreſenting Kings, Queens, and Nobility. He then obliged them ſucceſſively to pay homage to the Guillotine, as though it had been a throne, the executioner manoeuvring the inſtrument all the while, and exciting the people to call for the heads of thoſe who were forced to act in this horrid farce. The attempt, however, did not ſucceed, and the ſpectators retired in ſilent indignation. At Laval, the head of Laroche, a deputy of the Conſtituent Aſſembly, was exhibited (by order of Lavallee, a deputy there on miſſion) on the houſe inhabited by his wife.—At Auch, in the department of Gers, d'Artigoyte, another deputy, obliged ſome of the people under arreſt to eat out of a manger.—Borie uſed to amuſe himſelf, and the inhabitants of Niſmes, by dancing what he called a farandole round the Guillotine in his legiſlative coſtume.—The repreſentative Lejeune ſolaced his leiſure hours in beheading animals with a miniature Guillotine, the expence of which he had placed to the account of the nation; and ſo much was he delighted with it, that the poultry ſerved at his table were ſubmitted to its operation, aſ well as the fruits at his deſſert! (Debates, June 1.) But it would be tedious and diſguſting to deſcribe all the menuſ plaiſirſ of theſe founders of the French republic. Let it ſuffice to ſay, that they compriſed whatever is ludicrous, ſanguinary, and licentious, and that ſuch examples were but too ſucceſſful in procuring imitators. At Tours, even the women wore Guillotines in their ears, and it was not unuſual for people to ſeal their letterſ with a ſimilar repreſentation!
We have been once at the theatre ſince the King's death, and the ſtanza of the Reveil du Peuple, [The rouſing of the people.] which contains a compliment to the Convention, was hiſſed pretty generally, while thoſe expreſſing an abhorrence of Jacobiniſm were ſung with enthuſiaſm. But the ſincerity of theſe muſical politics is not always to be relied on: a popular air is caught and echoed with avidity; and whether the words be "Peuple Francais, peuple de Freres," ["Brethren.">[—or "Danſons la Guillotine," the expreſſion with which it is ſung is not very different. How often have the theatres reſounded with "Dieu de clemence et de juſtice." ["God of mercy and juſtice.">[ and "Liberte, Liberte, cherie!" ["Liberty, beloved Liberty!">[ while the inſtrument of death waſ in a ſtate of unceaſing activity—and when the auditors, who joined in theſe invocations to Liberty, returned to their homes trembling, leſt they ſhould be arreſted in the ſtreet, or find a mandate or guard at their own houſes.*
* An acquaintance of mine told me, that he was one evening in company at Dijon, where, after ſinging hymns to liberty in the moſt energetic ſtyle, all the party were arreſted, and betook themſelveſ as tranquilly to priſon, as though the name of liberty had been unknown to them. The municipality of Dijon commonly iſſued their writs of arreſt in this form—"Such and ſuch a perſon ſhall be arreſted, and his wife, if he has one!"
—At preſent, however, the Pariſians really ſing the Reveil from principle, and I doubt if even a new and more agreeable air in the Jacobin intereſt would be able to ſupplant it.
We have had our permiſſion to remain here extended to another Decade; but Mr. D———, who declares, ten times in an hour, that the French are the ſtrangeſt people on earth, beſides being the moſt barbarous and the moſt frivolous, is impatient to be gone; and as we now have our paſſports, I believe we ſhall depart the middle of next week.
—Yours.