I am now, after a reſidence of more than three years, amidſt the chaos of a revolution, on the eve of my departure from France. Yet, while I joyfully prepare to reviſit my own country, my mind involuntarily traceſ the rapid ſucceſſion of calamities which have filled this period, and dwells with painful contemplation on thoſe changes in the morals and condition of the French people that ſeem hitherto to be the only fruitſ which they have produced. In this recurrence to the paſt, and eſtimation of the preſent, however we may regret the perſecution of wealth, the deſtruction of commerce, and the general oppreſſion, the moſt important and irretrievable miſchief of the revolution is, doubtleſs, the corruption of manners introduced among the middle and lower claſſes of the people.
The labouring poor of France have often been deſcribed as frugal, thoughtleſs, and happy, earning, indeed, but little, yet ſpending ſtill leſs, and in general able to procure ſuch a ſubſiſtence as their habitſ and climate rendered agreeable and ſufficient.*
* Mr. Young ſeems to have been perſuaded, that the common people of France worked harder, and were worſe fed, than thoſe of the ſame deſcription in England. Yet, as far as I have had opportunity of obſerving, and from the information I have been able to procure, I cannot help ſuppoſing that this gentleman has drawn his inference partially, and that he has often compared ſome particular caſe of diſtreſs, with the general ſituation of the peaſantry in the rich counties, which are the ſcene of his experiments. The peaſantry of many diſtant parts of England fare as coarſely, and labour harder, than was common in France; and taking their habits of frugality, their diſpoſition to be ſatiſfied, and their climate into the account, the ſituation of the French perhaps was preferable. Mr. Young's Tour has been quoted very triumphantly by a Noble Lord, particularly a paſſage which laments and aſcribes to political cauſes the appearance of premature old age, obſervable in French women of the lower claſſes. Yet, for the ſatiſfaction of hiſ Lordſhip's benevolence and gallantry, I can aſſure him, that the female peaſants in France have not more laborious occupations than thoſe of England, but they wear no ſtays, and expoſe themſelves to all weathers without hats; in conſequence, loſe their ſhape, tan their complexions, and harden their features ſo as to look much older than they really are.—Mr. Young's book is tranſlated into French, and I have too high an opinion both of his principles and his talents to doubt that he muſt regret the ill effects it may have had in France, and the uſe that has been made of it in England.
—They are now become idle, profuſe, and gloomy; their poverty iſ embittered by fanciful claims to riches and a taſte for expence. They work with deſpair and unwillingneſs, becauſe they can no longer live by their labour; and, alternately the victims of intemperance or want, they are often to be found in a ſtate of intoxication, when they have not been able to ſatiſfy their hunger—for, as bread cannot always be purchaſed with paper, they procure a temporary ſupport, at the expence of their health and morals, in the deſtructive ſubſtitute of ſtrong liquors.
Thoſe of the next claſs, ſuch as working tradeſmen, artizans, and domeſtic ſervants, though leſs wretched, are far more diſſolute; and it is not uncommon in great towns to ſee men of this deſcription unite the ferociouſneſs of ſavages with all the vices of ſyſtematic profligacy. The original principles of the revolution, of themſelves, naturally tended to produce ſuch a depravation; but the ſuſpenſion of religiouſ worſhip, the conduct of the Deputies on miſſion, and the univerſal immorality of the exiſting government, muſt have conſiderably haſtened it. When the people were forbidden the exerciſe of their religion, though they did not ceaſe to be attached to it, yet they loſt the good effects which even external forms alone are calculated to produce; and while deiſm and atheiſm failed in perverting their faith, they were but too ſucceſſful in corrupting their morals.
As in all countries the reſtraints which religion impoſes are more readily ſubmitted to by the inferior ranks of life, it is theſe which muſt be moſt affected by its abolition; and we cannot wonder, that when men have been once accuſtomed to neglect the duty they conſider as moſt eſſential, they ſhould in time become capable of violating every other: for, however it may be among the learned, qui ſ'aveuglent a force de lumiere, [Who blind themſelves by exceſs of light. Deſtouchet.] with the ignorant the tranſition from religious indifference to actual vice iſ rapid and certain.
The Miſſionaries of the Convention, who for two years extended their deſtructive depredations over the departments, were every where guilty of the moſt odious exceſſes, and thoſe leaſt culpable offered examples of licentiouſneſs and intemperance with which, till then, the people had never been familiar.*
* "When the Convention was elected, (ſays Durand Maillane, ſee Report of the Committee of Legiſlation, 13th Prairial, 1ſt June,) the choice fell upon men who abuſed the name of patriot, and adopted it as a cloak for their vices.—Vainly do we inculcate juſtice, and expect the Tribunals will bring thieves and aſſaſſins to puniſhment, if we do not puniſh thoſe amongſt ourſelves.—Vainly ſhall we talk of republican manners and democratic government, while our repreſentatives carry into the departments examples of deſpotiſm and corruption." The conduct of theſe civilized banditti has been ſufficiently deſcribed. Allard, Lacoſte, Mallarme, Milhaud, Laplanche, Moneſtier, Guyardin, Sergent, and many others, were not only ferocious and extravagant, but known to have been guilty of the meaneſt thefts. Javoques is alledged to have ſacrificed two hundred people of Montibriſon, and to have ſtolen a vaſt quantity of their effects. It was common for him to ſay, that he acknowledged as true patriots thoſe only who, like himſelf, "etaient capables de boire une verre de ſang,"—("were capable of drinking a glaſs of blood.") D'Artigoyte diſtinguiſhed himſelf by ſuch ſcandalous violations of morals and decency, that they are not fit to be recited. He often obliged married women, by menaces, to bring their daughters to the Jacobin clubs, for the purpoſe of inſulting them with the groſſeſt obſcenities.—Having a project of getting up a play for hiſ amuſement, he cauſed it to be declared, that thoſe who had any talents for acting, and did not preſent themſelves, ſhould be impriſoned as ſuſpects. And it is notorious, that this ſame Deputy once inſulted all the women preſent at the theatre, and, after uſing the moſt obſcene language for ſome time, concluded by ſtripping himſelf entirely in preſence of the ſpectators. Report of the Committee of Legiſlation, 13th Prairial (1ſt of June). Lacoſte and Baudet, when they were on miſſion at Straſburgh, lived in daily riot and intoxication with the members of the Revolutionary Tribunal, who, after qualifying themſelves in theſe orgies, proceeded to condemn all the priſoners brought before them.—During the debate following the above quoted report, Dentzel accuſed Lacoſte, among other larcenies, of having purloined ſome ſhirtſ belonging to himſelf; and addreſſing Lacoſte, who was preſent in the Aſſembly, with true democratic frankneſs, adds, "Je ſuis ſur qu'il en a une ſur le corps."—("I am certain he has one of them on at this moment.") Debate, 1ſt of June. The following is a tranſlation of a letter from Piorry, Repreſentative of the People, to the popular ſociety of Poitiers:— "My honeſt and determined Sans Culottes, as you ſeemed to deſire a Deputy amongſt you who has never deviated from the right principles, that is to ſay, a true Mountaineeer, I fulfil your wiſhes in ſending you the Citizen Ingrand.—Remember, honeſt and determined Sanſ Culottes, that with the ſanction of the patriot Ingrand, you may do every thing, obtain every thing, deſtroy every thing—impriſon all, try all, tranſport all, or guillotine all. Don't ſpare him a moment; and thus, through his means, all may tremble, every thing be ſwept away, and, finally, be re-eſtabliſhed in laſting order. (Signed) "Piorry." The gentleman who tranſlated the above for me, ſubjoined, that he had omitted various oaths too bad for tranſlation.—This Piorry always attended the executions, and as faſt as a head fell, uſed to wave his hat in the air, and cry, "Vive la Republique!" Such are the founders of the French Republic, and ſuch the means by which it has been ſupported!
—It may be admitted, that the lives of the higher Nobleſſe were not always edifying; but if their diſſipation was public, their vices were leſs ſo, and the ſcenes of both were for the moſt part confined to Paris. What they did not practiſe themſelves, they at leaſt did not diſcourage in others; and though they might be too indolent to endeavour at preſerving the morals of their dependents, they knew their own intereſt too well to aſſiſt in depraving them.
But the Repreſentatives, and their agents, are not to be conſidered merely as individuals who have corrupted only by example;—they were armed with unlimited authority, and made proſelytes through fear, where they failed to produce them from inclination. A contempt for religion or decency has been conſidered as the teſt of an attachment to the government; and a groſs infraction of any moral or ſocial duty as a proof of civiſm, and a victory over prejudice. Whoever dreaded an arreſt, or courted an office, affected profaneneſs and profligacy—and, doubtleſs, many who at firſt aſſumed an appearance of vice from timidity, in the end contracted a preference for it. I myſelf know inſtances of ſeveral who began by deploring that they were no longer able to practiſe the dutieſ of their religion, and ended by ridiculing or fearing them. Induſtriouſ mechanics, who uſed to go regularly to maſs, and beſtow their weekly liard on the poor, after a month's revolutioniſing, in the ſuite of a Deputy, have danced round the flames which conſumed the ſacred writings, and become as licentious and diſhoneſt as their leader.