XVIII. 1795. commencement; and thought it enough, in a strug- CHAP. gle with the desperate energy of a revolutionary state, to exert the moderate strength of an ordinary contest. Nothing is so ill judged, in such a situation, as the niggardly conduct which prolongs a war; by spending L. 50,000,000 more at its commencement, Great Britain might have saved L. 500,000,000; by sending an army worthy of herself to the Continent in 1795, she might have then achieved the triumph of 1815. the French. It was to this period of lassitude and financial em- From the barrassments, necessarily consequent upon a series of Lassitude of extraordinary revolutionary exertions, that Mr Pitt always looked for the successful termination of the war. Possibly even with the slight efforts which alone were then thought practicable by this country, his expectations might have been realized before many years had elapsed, if the ordinary course of human affairs had continued. But the hand of fate was on the curtain, a new era was about to open on human affairs, and a resistless impulse to be given for a period to French ambition, by the genius of that wonderful man who has since chained the history of Eu-Scott's rope to his own biography.! Napoleon, ii. ad fin. CHAPTER XIX. FRENCH REPUBLIC.-FROM THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIRECTORY. ARGUMENT. General reaction against the Reign of Terror-Universal Transports at the Fall of Robespierre-Gradual Fall of the Committee of Public Safety-And Rise of the Thermidorians-Contests between the two Parties-Rise of the Jeunesse Dorée-Their Contests with the Jacobins-They close their Hall and destroy their Power-Trial of the Prisoners from Nantes-Their Acquittal, and the Trial of Carrier-Dreadful Atrocities divulged during its ProgressHe is Condemned-Return to Humanity in the Convention-Public Manners during this Period-Bals des Victimes-Gradual abolition of the Revolutionary Measures-Of the Law of the Maximum, and an Amnesty to the Children of Persons condemned during the Revolution-Impeachment of Billaud Varennes and the Jacobin Leaders-Extreme Distress and Agitation in ParisRevolt of the Populace-Defeat of the Insurgents-Humanity of the Thermidorians after their Victory-Condemned Prisoners are transported to HamAnd thence to Cayenne- Fresh Efforts of the Jacobins-Excessive misery at Paris-Great Insurrection in May-Convention Besieged-Heroic conduct of Boissy d'Anglas-They obtain the mastery of the Convention-But are at length defeated by the Committees and the Jeunesse Doréc-Trial and Condemnation of Rome and the Jacobin Remnant-Condemnation of FeraudDisarming of the Faxbourg St Antoine-And final termination of the rule of the Multitude-Farther progress of humane Measures, and Abolition of the Revolutionary Tribunal-Formation of a new Constitution-General abandonment of Democratic Principles from the force of Experience-Violent reaction in the South of France-Generous conduct of the Duke of Orleans' Sons -Death and last days of Louis XVII. in Prison-Liberation of the Duchess d'Angouleme Continued Captivity of Lafayette-General interest in his behalf-Completion of the new Constitution―The Constitution of the Directory -Elective Franchise confined to the class of Proprietors-Vast Agitation in Paris and throughout France at these changes-Coalition of the Royalists, and sections of the National Guard-Vehement Royalist Declamations at the Sections-Extreme Agitation at Paris-Convention throw themselves on the Army-Sections openly resolve to revolt-Meeting of the Electors at the Theatre Français-They resolve to fight-Measures of the Convention-Failure of Menou against the Insurgents-Armed force of the Convention intrusted to Barras and Napoleon-His decisive Measures in seizing the ArtilleryCombat round the Tuileries-Defeat of the Sections-Establishment of Military despotism-Humanity of the Convention after their Victory-Election of the Council of Ancients, and Five Hundred-Reflections on the History of the Convention-Slow growth of all durable Human Institutions-General Reflections on the History of the Revolution, and the causes of its Disasters. CHAP. XIX. 1794. "IT is a sad calamity," says Jeremy Taylor, "to see a kingdom spoiled, and a church afflicted; the priests slain with the sword, and the blood of nobles mingled with cheaper sand; religion made a cause of trouble, and the best men most cruelly persecuted; government turned, and laws ashamed; judges decreeing in fear and covetousness, and the ministers of holy things setting themselves against all that is sacred. And what shall make recompense for this heap of sorrows when God shall send such swords of fire? Even the mercies of God, which shall then be made public, when the people shall have suffered for their sins. For I have known a luxuriant vine swell into irregular twigs and bold excrescences, and spend itself in leaves and little rings, and afford but little clusters to the wine-press; but when the Lord of the vine had caused the dressers to cut the wilder plant, and make it bleed, it grew temperate in its vain expense of useless leaves, and knotted into fair and juicy bunches, and made account of that loss of blood by the return of fruit. It is thus of an afflicted kingdom cured of its surfeits and punished for its sins, it bleeds for its long riot, and is left ungoverned for its disobedience, and chastised for its wantonness; and when the sword hath let forth the corrupted blood, and the fire hath purged the rest, then it enters into the double joys of restitution, and gives God thanks for his rod, and confesses the mercies of the Lord in making the smoke to be changed into fire, and his anger Taylor, vi. into mercy." Never were these truths more strongly exemplified than in France during the progress of the Revolution. 1 Jeremy 182, He ber's Edit. XIX. Each successive convulsion had darkened the political atmosphere; anguish and suffering incessantly increas1794. ed; virtue and religion seemed banished from the earth; relentless cruelty reigned triumphant. The bright dawn of the morning, to which so many millions had turned in thankfulness, was soon overcast, and darkness deeper than midnight overspread the world. "But there is a point of depression in human affairs," says Hume," from which the change is necessarily for the better." This change is not owing to any oscillation between good and evil, in the transactions of the world, but to the reaction which is always produced by long continued suffering. Wherever the tendency of institutions is erroneous, an under current begins to flow, destined to correct their imperfections; when they become destructive, it overwhelms them. General reaction Reign of The result of the conspiracy of Robespierre and the against the Municipality proved that this point had been reached under the Reign of Terror. On all former occasions, since the meeting of the States-General, the party which revolted against the constituted authorities had been victorious; on that it was vanquished. The Committees of the Assembly, the subsisting government, crushed a conspiracy headed by the powerful despot who wielded the revolutionary energy of France, and was supported by the terrible force of the Fauxbourgs, which no former authority had been able to withstand. This single circumstance demonstrated that the revolutionary movement had reached its ascendant, and that the opposite principles of order and justice were beginning to resume their sway. From that moment the anarchy and passions of the people subsided, the storms of the moral world began to be stilled, through the receding darkness the an XIX. cient landmarks dimly appeared, and the sun of Hea- CHAP. ven at length broke through the clouds which enveloped him. "Defluit saxis agitatus humor; 1794. An interesting episode in the annals of the Revolution occurred in the prisons during the contest which preceded the fall of the tyrant. From the agitation and cries in the streets, the captives were aware that a popular movement was impending, and a renewal of the massacres of 2d September was anticipated from the frantic multitude. Henriot had been heard in the Place de Carrousel to pronounce the ominous words, "We must purge the prisons." The sound of the générale and of the tocsin made them imagine that their last hour had arrived, and they embraced each other with tears, exclaiming, "We are all now eighty years of age." After two hours of breathless anxiety, they heard the decree of the Convention cried through the streets, which declared Robespierre hors la loi, and by daybreak intelligence arrived that he was overthrown. The transports which ensued may be imagined; ten thousand prisoners were relieved from the prospect of instant death. In one chamber, a female prisoner, who was to have been brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal that very day, was made acquainted with the intelligence by means of signs from a woman in the street, before she ventur- de Joseed to give public demonstration of her joy; her name 327. phine, i. became afterwards memorable, it was JOSEPHINE BEAUHARNOIS, future Empress of France.1 The transports were the same through all France. The passengers precipitated themselves from the pub 1 Memoires Lac. xii. 124, 125. Mig. ii. 348-349. |