Читать книгу A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete - Charlotte Biggs - Страница 44

Table of Contents

The partizans of the French in England alledge, that the revolution, by giving them a government founded on principles of moderation and rectitude, will be advantageous to all Europe, and more eſpecially to Great Britain, which has ſo often ſuffered by wars, the fruit of their intrigues.—This reaſoning would be unanſwerable could the character of the people be changed with the form of their government: but, I believe, whoever examines its adminiſtration, whether as it relates to foreign powers or internal policy, will find that the ſame ſpirit of intrigue, fraud, deception, and want of faith, which dictated in the cabinet of Mazarine or Louvois, has been tranſfuſed, with the addition of meanneſſ and ignorance,* into a Conſtitutional Miniſtry, or the Republican Executive Council.

* The Executive Council is compoſed of men who, if ever they were well-intentioned, muſt be totally unfit for the government of an extenſive republic. Monge, the Miniſter of the Marine, is a profeſſor of geometry; Garat, Miniſter of Juſtice, a gazette writer; Le Brun, Miniſter of Foreign Affairs, ditto; and Pache, Miniſter of the Interior, a private tutor.—Whoever reads the debates of the Convention will find few indications of real talents, and much pedantry and ignorance. For example, Anacharſis Cloots, who is a member of the Committee of Public Inſtruction, and who one ſhould, of courſe, expect not to be more ignorant than his colleagues, haſ lately adviſed them to diſtreſs the enemy by invading Scotland, which he calls the granary of England.

France had not yet determined on the articles of her future political creed, when agents were diſpatched to make proſelytes in England, and, in proportion as ſhe aſſumed a more popular form of government, all the qualities which have ever marked her as the diſturber of mankind ſeem to have acquired new force. Every where the ambaſſadors of the republic are accuſed of attempts to excite revolt and diſcontent, and England* is now forced into a war becauſe ſhe could not be perſuaded to an inſurrection.

* For ſome time previous to the war, all the French prints and even members of the Convention, in their debates, announced England to be on the point of an inſurrection. The intrigues of Chauvelin, their ambaſſador, to verify this prediction, are well known. Briſſot, Le Brun, &c. who have ſince been executed, were particularly charged by the adverſe party with provoking the war with England. Robeſpierre, and thoſe who ſucceeded, were not ſo deſirous of involving us in a foreign war, and their humane efforts were directed merely to excite a civil one.—The third article of accuſation againſt Rolland is, having ſent twelve millions of livres to England, to aſſiſt in procuring a declaration of war.

Perhaps it may be ſaid, that the French have taken this part only for their own ſecurity, and to procure adherents to the common cauſe; but this is all I contend for—that the politics of the old government actuate the new, and that they have not, in aboliſhing courts and royalty, aboliſhed the perfidious ſyſtem of endeavouring to benefit themſelves, by creating diſtreſs and diſſention among their neighbours.— Louvois ſupplied the Proteſtants in the Low Countries with money, while he perſecuted them in France. The agents of the republic, more oeconomical, yet directed by the ſame motives, eke out corruption by precepts of ſedition, and arm the leaders of revolt with the rights of man; but, forgetting the maxim that charity ſhould begin at home, in their zeal for the freedom of other countries, they leave no portion of it for their own!

Louis the Fourteenth over-ran Holland and the Palatinate to plant the white flag, and lay the inhabitants under contribution—the republic ſend an army to plant the tree of liberty, levy a don patriotique, [Patriotic gift.] and place garriſons in the towns, in order to preſerve their freedom.—Kings have violated treaties from the deſire of conqueſt—theſe virtuous republicans do it from the deſire of plunder; and, previous to opening the Scheldt, the invaſion of Holland, was propoſed aſ a means of paying the expences of the war. I have never heard that even the moſt ambitious Potentates ever pretended to extend their ſubjugation beyond the perſons and property of the conquered; but theſe militant dogmatiſts claim an empire even over opinions, and inſiſt that no people can be free or happy unleſs they regulate their ideas of freedom and happineſs by the variable ſtandard of the Jacobin club. Far from being of Hudibraſ's philoſophy,* they ſeem to think the mind as tangible as the body, and that, with the aſſiſtance of an army, they may as ſoon lay one "by the heelſ" as the other.

* "Quoth he, one half of man, his mind, "Is, ſui juris, unconfin'd, "And ne'er can be laid by the heels, "Whate'er the other moiety feels." Hudibras.

Now this I conceive to be the worſt of all tyrannies, nor have I ſeen it exceeded on the French theatre, though, within the laſt year, the imagination of their poets has been peculiarly ingenious and inventive on this ſubject.—It is abſurd to ſuppoſe this vain and overbearing diſpoſition will ceaſe when the French government is ſettled. The intrigues of the popular party began in England the very moment they attained power, and long before there was any reaſon to ſuſpect that the Engliſh would deviate from their plan of neutrality. If, then, the French cannot reſtrain this miſchievous ſpirit while their own affairſ are ſufficient to occupy their utmoſt attention, it is natural to conclude, that, ſhould they once become eſtabliſhed, leiſure and peace will make them dangerous to the tranquillity of all Europe. Other governments may be improved by time, but republics always degenerate; and if that which is in its original ſtate of perfection exhibit already the maturity of vice, one cannot, without being more credulous than reaſonable, hope any thing better for the future than what we have experienced from the paſt.—It is, indeed, unneceſſary to detain you longer on this ſubject. You muſt, ere now, be perfectly convinced how far the revolutionary ſyſtems of France are favourable to the peace and happineſs of other countries. I will only add a few details which may aſſiſt you in judging of what advantage they have been to the French themſelves, and whether, in changing the form of their government, they have amended its principles; or if, in "conquering liberty," (as they expreſs it,) they have really become free.

The ſituation of France has altered much within the laſt two months: the ſeat of power is leſs fluctuating and the exerciſe of it more abſolute—arbitrary meaſures are no longer incidental, but ſyſtematic—and a regular connection of dependent tyranny is eſtabliſhed, beginning with the Jacobin clubs, and ending with the committees of the ſections. A ſimple decree for inſtance, has put all the men in the republic, (unmarried and without children,) from eighteen to forty-five at the requiſition of the Miniſter of War. A levy of three hundred thouſand iſ to take place immediately: each department is reſponſible for the whole of a certain number to the Convention, the diſtricts are anſwerable for their quota to the departments, the municipalities to the diſtrict, and the diligence of the whole is animated by itinerant members of the legiſlature, entruſted with the diſpoſal of an armed force. The latter circumſtance may ſeem to you incredible; yet is it nevertheleſs true, that moſt of the departments are under the juriſdiction of theſe ſovereigns, whoſe authority is nearly unlimited. We have, at thiſ moment, two Deputies in the town, who arreſt and impriſon at their pleaſure. One-and-twenty inhabitants of Amiens were ſeized a few nightſ ago, without any ſpecific charge having been exhibited againſt them, and are ſtill in confinement. The gates of the town are ſhut, and no one iſ permitted to paſs or repaſs without an order from the municipality; and the obſervance of this is exacted even of thoſe who reſide in the ſuburbs. Farmers and country people, who are on horſeback, are obliged to have the features and complexion of their horſes minuted on the paſſport with their own. Every perſon whom it is found convenient to call ſuſpicious, is deprived of his arms; and private houſes are diſturbed during the night, (in oppoſition to a poſitive law,) under pretext of ſearching for refractory prieſts.—Theſe regulations are not peculiar to this department, and you muſt underſtand them as conveying a general idea of what paſſes in every part of France.—I have yet to add, that letters are opened with impunity—that immenſe ſums of aſſignats are created at the will of the Convention—that no one is excuſed mounting guard in perſon—and that all houſekeepers, and even lodgers, are burthened with the quartering of troops, ſometimes as many as eight or ten, for weeks together.

You may now, I think, form a tolerable idea of the liberty that haſ accrued to the French from the revolution, the dethronement of the King, and the eſtabliſhment of a republic. But, though the French ſuffer thiſ deſpotiſm without daring to murmur openly, many a ſignificant ſhrug and doleful whiſper paſs in ſecret, and this political diſcontent has even its appropriate language, which, though not very explicit, is perfectly underſtood.—Thus when you hear one man ſay to another, "Ah, mon Dieu, on eſt bien malheureux dans ce moment ici;" or, "Nous ſommes dans une poſition tres critique—Je voudrois bien voir la fin de tout cela;" ["God knows, we are very miſerable at preſent—we are in a very critical ſituation—I ſhould like to ſee an end of all this."] you may be ſure he languiſhes for the reſtoration of the monarchy, and hopes with equal fervor, that he may live to ſee the Convention hanged. In theſe ſort of conferences, however, evaporates all their courage. They own their country is undone, that they are governed by a ſet of brigands, go home and hide any ſet of valuables they have not already ſecreted, and receive with obſequious complaiſance the next viſite domiciliaire.

The maſs of the people, with as little energy, have more obſtinacy, and are, of courſe, not quite ſo tractable. But, though they grumble and procraſtinate, they do not reſiſt; and their delays and demurs uſually terminate in implicit ſubmiſſion.

The Deputy-commiſſioners, whom I have mentioned above, have been at Amiens ſome time, in order to promote the levying of recruits. On Sundays and holidays they ſummoned the inhabitants to attend at the cathedral, where they harangued them on the ſubject, called for vengeance on the coaleſced deſpots, expatiated on the love of glory, and inſiſted on the pleaſure of dying for one's country: while the people liſtened with vacant attention, amuſed themſelves with the paintings, or adjourned in ſmall committees to diſcuſs the hardſhip of being obliged to fight without inclination.—Thus time elapſed, the military orations produced no effect, and no troops were raiſed: no one would enliſt voluntarily, and all refuſed to ſettle it by lot, becauſe, as they wiſely obſerved, the lot muſt fall on ſomebody. Yet, notwithſtanding the objection, the matter was at length decided by this laſt method. The deciſion had no ſooner taken place, than another difficulty enſued—thoſe who eſcaped acknowledged it was the beſt way that could be deviſed; but thoſe who were deſtined to the frontiers refuſed to go. Various altercations, and excuſes, and references, were the conſequence; yet, after all thiſ murmuring and evaſion, the preſence of the Commiſſioners and a few dragoons have arranged the buſineſs very pacifically; many are already gone, and the reſt will (if the dragoons continue here) ſoon follow.

This, I aſſure you, is a juſt ſtatement of the account between the Convention and the People: every thing is effected by fear—nothing by attachment; and the one is obeyed only becauſe the other want courage to reſiſt.—Yours, &c.