* It is admitted by Briſſot, who is in this caſe competent authority, that about twenty factious adventurers had oppreſſed the Convention and the whole country. A more impartial calculator would have been leſs moderate in the number, but the fact is the ſame; and it would be difficult to fix the period when this oppreſſion ceaſed.
—The well-meaning of all claſſes in France are weak, becauſe they are divided; while the ſmall, but deſperate factions that oppreſs them, are ſtrong in their union, and in the poſſeſſion of all the reſources of the country.
Under theſe circumſtances, no ſucceſſful effort can be made; and I have collected from various ſources, that the general idea of the French at preſent is, to wait till the new conſtitution appears, and to accept it, though it ſhould be even more anarchical and tyrannic than the laſt. They then hope that the Convention will reſign their power without violence, that a new election of repreſentatives will take place, and that thoſe repreſentatives, who they intend ſhall be men of honeſty and property, will reſtore them to the bleſſings of a moderate and permanent government.
—Yours.
Havre, June 22, 1795.
We are now in hourly expectation of ſailing for England: we have agreed with the Captain of a neutral veſſel, and are only waiting for a propitious wind. This good ally of the French ſeems to be perfectly ſenſible of the value of a conveyance out of the republic, and accordingly we are to pay him about ten times more for our paſſage than he would have aſked formerly. We choſe this port in preference to Calaiſ or Boulogne, becauſe I wiſhed to ſee my friend Madame de ——— at Rouen, and leave Angelique with her relations, who live there.
I walked this morning to the harbour, and ſeeing ſome flat-bottomed boatſ conſtructing, aſked a French gentleman who accompanied me, perhaps a little triumphantly, if they were intended for a deſcent on the Engliſh coaſt. He replied, with great compoſure, that government might deem it expedient (though without any views of ſucceeding) to ſacrifice ten or twenty thouſand men in the attempt.—It is no wonder that governments, accountable for the lives and treaſure they riſk, are ſcarcely equal to a conflict ſuſtained by ſuch power, and conducted on ſuch principles.—But I am wearied and diſguſted with the contemplation of this deſpotiſm, and I return to my country deeply and gratefully impreſſed with a ſenſe of the bleſſings we enjoy in a free and happy conſtitution.
—I am, &c.