Читать книгу A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete - Charlotte Biggs - Страница 64

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I begin to be very uneaſy about Mr. and Mrs. D____. I have written ſeveral times, and ſtill receive no anſwer. I fear they are in a confinement more ſevere than my own, or that our letters miſcarry. A ſervant of Mad. de ____'s was here this morning, and no letters had come to Peronne, unleſs, as my friend endeavours to perſuade me, the man would not venture to give them in preſence of the guard, who par excellence happened to be a furious Jacobin.—We had the mortification of hearing that a very elegant carriage of Mad. de ____'s has been put in requiſition, and taken to convey a tinman and two farriers who were going to Paris on a miſſion—that two of her farmer's beſt horſes had been killed by hard work in taking proviſions to the army, and that they are now cutting down the young wood on her eſtate to make pikes.—The ſealſ are ſtill on our effects, and the guard remains in poſſeſſion, which haſ put us to the expence of buying a variety of articles we could not well diſpenſe with: for, on examining the baggage after our arrival, we found it very much diminſhed; and this has happened to almoſt all the people who have been arreſted. Our ſuſpicions naturally fall on the dragoons, and it is not very ſurprizing that they ſhould attempt to ſteal from thoſe whom they are certain would not dare to make any complaint.

Many of our fellow-priſoners are embarraſſed by their ſervants having quitted them.—One Collot d'Herbois, a member of the Commite de Salut Public, has propoſed to the Convention to collect all the gentry, prieſts, and ſuſpected people, into different buildings, which ſhould be previouſly mined for the purpoſe, and, on the leaſt appearance of inſurrection, to blow them up all together.—You may perhaps conclude, that ſuch a project was received with horror, and the adviſer of it treated as a monſter. Our humane legiſlature, however, very coolly ſent it to the committee to be diſcuſſed, without any regard to the terror and apprehenſion which the bare idea of a ſimilar propoſal muſt inſpire in thoſe who are the deſtined victims. I cannot myſelf believe that thiſ abominable ſcheme is intended for execution, but it has nevertheleſſ created much alarm in timid minds, and has occaſioned in part the defection of the ſervants I have juſt mentioned. Thoſe who were ſufficiently attached to their maſters and miſtreſſes to endure the confinement and privations of a Maiſon d'Arret, tremble at the thoughtſ of being involved in the common ruin of a gunpowder exploſion; and the men ſeem to have leſs courage than the women, at leaſt more of the latter have conſented to remain here.—It was atrocious to publiſh ſuch a conception, though nothing perhaps was intended by it, as it may deprive many people of faithful attendants at a time when they are moſt neceſſary.

We have a tribunal revolutionnaire here, with its uſual attendant the Guillotine, and executions are now become very frequent. I know not who are the ſufferers, and avoid enquiring through fear of hearing the name of ſome acquaintance. As far as I can learn, the trials are but too ſummary, and little other evidence is required than the fortune, rank, and connections of the accuſed. The Deputy who is Commiſſioner for thiſ department is one Le Bon, formerly a prieſt—and, I underſtand, of an immoral and ſanguinary character, and that it is he who chiefly directſ the verdicts of the juries according to his perſonal hatred or hiſ perſonal intereſt.—We have lately had a very melancholy inſtance of the terror created by this tribunal, as well as of the notions that prevail of its juſtice. A gentleman of Calais, who had an employ under the government, was accuſed of ſome irregularity in his accounts, and, in conſequence, put under arreſt. The affair became ſerious, and he waſ ordered to priſon, as a preliminary to his trial. When the officerſ entered his apartment to take him, regarding the judicial procedure as a mere form, and concluding it was determined to ſacrifice him, he in a frenzy of deſpair ſeized the dogs in the chimney, threw them at the people, and, while they eſcaped to call for aſſiſtance, deſtroyed himſelf by cutting his arteries.—It has appeared, ſince the death of thiſ unfortunate man, that the charge againſt him was groundleſs, and that he only wanted time to arrange his papers, in order to exonerate himſelf entirely.