|
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
I have hoped this country would settle her
internal disputes advantageously and without bloodshed. As yet none
has been spilt, though the British newspapers give the idea of a
general civil war. Hitherto, I had supposed both the King and
parliament would lose authority, and the nation gain it, through the
medium of its States General and provincial Assemblies, but the
arrest of the deputies of Bretagne two days ago, may kindle a civil
war. Its issue will depend on two questions. 1. Will other provinces
rise? 2. How will the army conduct itself? A stranger cannot
predetermine these questions. Happy for us that abuses have not yet
become patrimonies, and that every description of interest is in
favor of national and moderate government. That we are yet able to
send our wise and good men together to talk over our form of
government, discuss its weaknesses and establish its remedies with
the same sang-froid as they would a subject of agriculture.
The example we have given to the world is single, that of changing
our form of government under the authority of reason only, without
bloodshed. |
Mr.
Izard
17 Jul 1788 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
The Noblesse, and especially the Noblesse of
Auvergne, will always prefer men who will do their dirty work for
them. You are not made for that. They will, therefore, soon drop
you, and the people, in that case, will perhaps not take you up.
Suppose a scission should take place. The Priests and Nobles will
secede, the nation will remain in place, and, with the King, will do
its own business. If violence should be attempted, where will you
be? You cannot then take side with the people in opposition to your
own vote, that very vote which will have helped to produce the
scission. Still less can you array yourself against the people. That
is impossible. Your instructions are, indeed, a difficulty. But to
state this at its worst it is only a single difficulty, which a
single effort surmounts. Your instructions can never embarrass you a
second time, whereas an acquiescence under them will reproduce
greater difficulties every day, and without end. Besides, a thousand
circumstances offer as many justifications of your departure from
Your instructions. Will it be impossible to persuade all parties
that (as for good legislation two Houses are necessary) the placing
the privileged classes together in one House, and the unprivileged
in another, would be better for both than a scission? I own, I think
it would. People can never agree without some sacrifices; and it
appears but a moderate sacrifice in each party, to meet on this
middle ground. The attempt to bring this about might satisfy your
instructions, and a failure in it would justify your siding with the
people, even to those who think instructions are laws of conduct.
|
Marquis
de Lafayette
6 May 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
...We have had, in this city, a very
considerable riot, in which about one hundred people have been
probably killed. It was the most unprovoked, and is, therefore,
justly, the most unpitied catastrophe of that kind I ever knew. Nor
did the wretches know what they wanted, except to do mischief. It
seems to have had no particular connection with the great national
question now in agitation. The want of bread is very seriously
dreaded through the whole kingdom. Between twenty and thirty ship
loads of wheat and flour has already arrived from the United States,
and there will be about the same quantity of rice sent from
Charleston to this country directly, of which about half has
arrived. I presume that between wheat and rice, one hundred ship
loads may be counted on in the whole from us. Paris consumes about a
ship load a day (say two hundred and fifty tons). The total supply
of the West Indies for this year, rests with us, and there is almost
a famine in Canada and Nova Scotia. The States General were opened
the day before yesterday. Viewing it as an opera, it was imposing;
as a scene of business, the King's speech was exactly what it should
have been, and very well delivered; not a word of the Chancellor's
was heard by anybody, so that, as yet, I have never heard a single
guess at what it was about.
The Noblesse, on coming together, show that they are not as much
reformed in their principles as we had hoped they would be. In fact,
there is real danger of their totally refusing to vote by persons.
Some found hopes on the lower clergy, which constitute four-fifths
of the deputies of that order. If they do not turn the balance in
favor of the Tiers Ltat, there is real danger of a scission. But I
shall not consider even that event as rendering things desperate. If
the King will do business with the Tiers Etat, which constitutes the
nation, it may be well done without Priests or Nobles. |
William
Carmichael
8 May 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
The revolution of France has gone on with the
most unexampled success, hitherto. There have been some mobs,
occasioned by the want of bread, in different parts of the kingdom,
in which there may have been some lives lost; perhaps a dozen or
twenty. These had no professed connection, generally, with
the constitutional revolution. A more serious riot happened lately
in Paris, in which about one hundred of the mob were killed. This
execution has been universally approved, as they seemed to have no
view but mischief and plunder. But the meeting of the States General
presents serious difficulties, which it had been hoped the progress
of reason would have enabled them to get over. The nobility of and
about Paris, have come over, as was expected, to the side of the
people, in the great question of voting by persons or orders. This
had induced a presumption that those of the country were making the
same progress, and these form the great mass of the deputies of that
order. But they arc found to be where they were centuries ago, as to
their disposition to keep distinct from the people, and even to
tyrannize over them. They agree, indeed, to abandon their pecuniary
privileges. The clergy seem, at present, much divided. Five-sixths
of that representation consists of the lower clergy, who, being the
sons of the peasantry, are very well with the Tiers Etat. But the
Bishops are intriguing, and drawing them over daily. The Tiers Etat
is so firm to vote by persons or to go home, that it is impossible
to conjecture what will be the result. |
James
Madison
11 May 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
You know that the States General have met, and
probably have seen the speeches at the opening of them. The three
orders sit in distinct chambers. The great question, whether they
shall vote by orders or persons can never be surmounted amicably. It
has not yet been proposed in form; but the votes which have been
taken on the outworks of that question show that the Tiers Etat are
unanimous, a good majority of the clergy (consisting of the Cares)
disposed to side with the Tiers Etat, and in the chamber of the
Noblesse, there are only fifty-four in that sentiment, against one
hundred and ninety, who are for voting by orders. Committees to find
means of conciliation are appointed by each chamber; but
conciliation is impossible. Some think the Nobles could be induced
to unite themselves with the higher Clergy into one House,
the lower Clergy and Tiers Etat forming another. But the Tiers Etat
are immovable. They are not only firm, but a little disdainful. The
question is, what will ensue? One idea is to separate, in order to
consult again their constituents, and to take new instructions. This
would be doing nothing, for the same instructions would be repeated;
and what, in the meantime, is to become of a government, absolutely
without money, and which cannot be kept in motion with less than a
million of livres a day? The more probable expectation is as
follows. As soon as it shall become evident that no amicable
determination of the manner of voting can take place, the Tiers Etat
will send an invitation to the two other orders to come and take
their places in the common chamber. A majority of the Clergy will
go, and the minority of the Noblesse. The chamber thus composed will
declare that the States General are constituted, will notify it to
the King, and that they are ready to proceed to business. If the
King refuses to do business with them, and adheres to the Nobles,
the common chamber will declare all taxes at an end, will form a
declaration of rights, and do such other acts as circum stances will
permit, and go home. The tax-gatherers will then be resisted, and it
may well be doubted whether the soldiery and their officers will not
divide, as the Tiers Etat and Nobles. But it is more likely that the
King will agree to do business with the States General . |
Thomas
Paine
19 May 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
On the 19th, a Council was held at Marly, in
the afternoon. It was there proposed, that the King should interpose
by a declaration of his sentiments in a seance royale. The
declaration prepared by Mr. Neckar, while it censured in general the
proceedings both of the Nobles and Commons, announced the King's
views, such as substantially to coincide with the Commons. It was
agreed to in Council, as also that the seance royale should
be held on the 22d, and the meetings till then be suspended. While
the Council was engaged in this deliberation at Marly, the Chamber
of the Clergy was in debate, whether they should accept the
invitation of the Tiers to unite with them in the common chamber. On
the first question, to unite simply and unconditionally, it was
decided in the negative by a very small majority. As it was known,
however, that some members: who had voted in the negative, would be
for the affirmative with some modifications, the question was put
with these modifications, and it was determined by a majority of
eleven members, that their body should join the Tiers. These
proceedings of the Clergy were unknown to the Council at Many, and
those of the Council were kept secret from everybody. The next
morning (the 20th), the members repaired to the House as usual,
found the doors shut and guarded, and a proclamation posted up for
holding a seance royale on the 22d, and a suspension of
their meetings till then. They presumed, in the first moment, that
their dissolution was decided, and repaired to another place, where
they proceeded to business. They there bound themselves to each
other by an oath, never to separate of their own accord, till they
had settled a constitution for the nation on a solid basis, and if
separated by force, that they would re-assemble in some other place.
It was intimated to them, however, that day, privately, that the
proceedings of the seance royale would be favorable to them.
The next day they met in a church, and were joined by a majority of
the Clergy. The heads of the aristocracy saw that all was lost
without some violent exertion. The King was still at Marly. Nobody
was permitted to approach him but their friends. He was assailed by
lies in all shapes. He was made to believe that the Commons were
going to absolve the army from their oath of fidelity to him, and to
raise their pay. . . The nobility were in triumph, the people in
consternation. When the King passed the next day through the lane
they formed from the Chateau to the Hotel des Etats (about half a
mile), there was a dead silence. He was about an hour in the House,
delivering his speech and declaration, copies of which I enclose
you. On his coming out, a feeble cry of "vive le roy"
was raised by some children, but the people remained silent and
sullen. When the Duke d'Orleans followed, however, their applauses
were excessive. This must have been sensible to the King. He had
ordered, in the close of his speech, that the members should follow
him, and resume their deliberations the next day. The Noblesse
followed him, and so did the Clergy, except about thirty, who, with
the Tiers, remained in the room, and entered into deliberation. They
protested against what the King had done, adhered to all their
former proceedings, and resolved the inviolability of their own
persons. An officer came twice to order them out of the room, in the
King's name, but they refused to obey. In the afternoon, the people,
uneasy, began to assemble in great numbers in the courts and
vicinities of the palace. The Queen was alarmed.
June 25. Just returned from Versailles, I am enabled to continue my
narration. On the 24th, nothing remarkable passed, except an attack
by the mob of Versailles on the Archbishop of Paris, who had been
one of the instigators of the court, to the proceedings of the seance
royale. They threw mud and stones at his carriage, broke the
windows of it, and he in a fright promised to join the Tiers.
This day (the 25th) forty-eight of the Nobles have joined. the
Tiers. Among these, is the Duke d'Orleans. The Marquis de La Fayette
could not be of the number, being restrained by his instructions. He
is writing to his constituents, to change his instructions or to
accept his resignation. There are with the Tiers now, one hundred
and sixty-four members of the Clergy, 10 that the common chamber
consists of upwards of eight hundred members. The minority of the
Clergy, however, call themselves the chamber of the Clergy, and
pretend to go on with business. I found the streets of Versailles
much embarrassed with soldiers. There was a body of about one
hundred horse drawn up in front of the Hotel of the States, and all
the avenues and doors guarded by soldiers. Nobody was permitted to
enter but the members, and this was by order of the King; for till
now, the doors of the common room have been open, and at least two
thousand spectators attending their debates constantly. They have
named a deputation to wait on the King, and desire a removal of the
soldiery from their doors, and seem determined, if this is not
complied with, to remove themselves elsewhere.
Instead of being dismayed with what has passed, they seem to rise
in their demands, and some of them to consider the erasing every
vestige of a difference of order as indispensable to the
establishment and preservation of a good constitution. I apprehend
there is more courage than calculation in this project. |
John
Jay
24 Jun 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
My letter of the 25th gave you the transactions
of the States General to the afternoon of that day. On the next, the
Archbishop of Paris joined the Tiers, as did some others of the
Clergy and Noblesse. On the 27th, the question of the St. Domingo
deputation came on, and it was decided that it should be received. I
have before mentioned to you the ferment into which the proceedings
at the seance royale of the 23d, had thrown the people. The
soldiery also were affected by it. It began in the French guards,
extended to those of every other denomination, (except the Swiss)
and even to the body guards of the King. They began to quit their
barracks, to assemble in squads, to declare they would defend the
life of the King, but would not cut the throats of their
fellow-citizens. They were treated and caressed by the people,
carried in triumph through the streets, called themselves the
soldiers of the nation, and left no doubt on which side they would
be, in case of a rupture. Similar accounts came. in from the troops
in other parts of the kingdom, as well those which had not heard of
the seance royale, as those which had, and gave good reason
to apprehend that the soldiery, in general, would side with their
fathers and brothers, rather than with their officers. The operation
of this medicine, at Versailles, was as sudden as it was powerful.
The alarm there was so complete, that in the afternoon of the 27th,
the King wrote . . . to the President of the Clergy, the Cardinal de
La Rochefoucault, in these words:
"I pass my word that my faithful Clergy will, without delay,
unite themselves with the other two orders, to hasten the
accomplishment of my paternal views."
A like letter was written to the Duke de Luxemburgh, President of
the Noblesse. The two chambers entered into debate on the question,
whether they should obey the letter of the King. There was a
considerable opposition; when notes written by the Count d'Artois to
sundry members, and handed about among the rest, decided the matter,
and they went in a body and took their seats with the Tiers, and
thus rendered the union of the orders in one chamber complete. As
soon as this was known to the people of Versailles, they assembled
about the palace, demanded the King and Queen, who came and showed
themselves in a balcony. They rent the skies with cries of "vive
le roy," "vive la reine." They called for
the Dauphin, who was also produced, and was the subject of new
acclamations. After feasting themselves and the royal family with
this tumultuary reconciliation, they went to the house of Mr. Neckar
and M. de Montmorin, with shouts of thankfulness and affection.
Similar emotions of joy took place in Paris, and at this moment, the
triumph of the Tiers is considered as complete. Tomorrow they will
recommence business, voting by persons on all questions; and
whatever difficulties may be opposed in debate by the malcontents of
the Clergy and Nobility, everything must be finally settled at the
will of the Tiers. It remains to see whether they will leave to the
Nobility anything but their titulary appellations. |
John
Jay
29 Jun 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
The scarcity of bread begins to lessen in the
southern parts of France, where the harvest has commenced. Here it
is still threatening, because we have yet three weeks to the
beginning of harvest, and I think there has not been three days'
provision beforehand in Paris, for two or three weeks past. Monsieur
de Mirabeau, who is very hostile to Mr. Neckar, wished to find a
ground for censuring him,' in a proposition to have a great quantity
of flour furnished from the United States, which he supposed me to
have made to Mr. Neckar, and to have been, refused by him; and he
asked time of the States General to furnish proofs. The Marquis de
La Fayette immediately gave me notice of this matter, and I wrote
him a letter to disavow having ever made any such proposition to Mr.
Neckar, which I desired him to communicate to the States.
My letter of the 29th of June, brought down the proceedings of the
States and government to the re-union of the orders, which took
place on the 27th. Within the Assembly, matters went on well. But it
was soon observed, that troops, and particularly the foreign troops,
were on their march towards Paris from various quarters, and that
this was against the opinion of Mr. Neckar. The King was probably
advised to this, under pretext of preserving peace in Paris and
Versailles, and saw nothing else in the measure. That his advisers
are supposed to have had in view, when he should be secured and
inspirited by the presence of the troops, to take advantage of some
favorable moment, and surprise him into an act of authority for
establishing the declaration of the 23d of June, and perhaps
dispersing the States General, is probable. The Marshal de Brogho
was appointed to command all the troops within the isle of France, a
high flying aristocrat, cool and capable of everything. Some of the
French guards were soon arrested under other pretexts, but in
reality, on account of their dispositions in favor of the national
cause. The people of Paris forced the prison, released them, and
sent a deputation to the States General, to solicit a pardon. The
States, by a most moderate and prudent Arrete, recommended these
prisoners to the King, and peace to the people of Paris. Addresses
came in to them from several of the great cities, expressing sincere
allegiance to the King, but a determined resolution to support the
States General. On the 8th of July, they voted an address to the
King to remove the troops. This piece of masculine eloquence,
written by Monsieur de Mirabeau, is worth attention on account of
the bold matter it expresses and discovers through the whole. The
King refused to remove the troops, and said they might remove
themselves, if they pleased, to Noyons or Soissons. They proceeded
to fix the order in which they will take up the several branches of
their future constitution, from which it appears, they mean to build
it from the bottom, confining themselves to nothing in their ancient
form, but a King. A declaration of rights, which forms the first
chapter of their work, was then proposed by the Marquis de La
Fayette. This was on the 11th.
In the meantime, troops, to the number of about twenty-five or
thirty thousand, had arrived, and were posted in and between Paris
and Versailles The bridges and passes were guarded. At three o'clock
in the afternoon, the Count de La Luzerne was sent to notify Mr.
Neckar of his dismission, and to enjoin hitn to retire instantly,
without saying a word of it to anybody.
This change, however sudden it may have been in the mind of the
King, was, in that of his advisers, only one chapter of a great
plan, of which the bringing together the foreign troops had been the
first. He was now completely in the hands of men, the principal
among whom, had been noted through their lives, for the Turkish
despotism of their characters, and who were associated about the
King, as proper instruments for what was to be executed.
The news of this change began to be known in Paris about one or two
o'clock. In the afternoon, a body of about one hundred German
cavalry were advanced and drawn up in the Place Louis XV. and about
two hundred Swiss posted at a little distance in their rear. This
drew the people to that spot, who naturally formed themselves in
front of the troops, at first merely to look at them. But as their
numbers increased their indignation arose; they retired a few steps,
posted themselves on and behind large piles of loose stone,
collected in that place for a bridge adjacent to it, and attacked
the horse with stones. The horse charged, but the advantageous
position of the people, and the showers of stones, obliged them to
retire, and even to quit the field altogether, leaving one of their
number on the ground. The Swiss in their rear were observed never to
stir. This was the signal for universal insurrection, and this body
of cavalry, to avoid being massacred, retired towards Versailles.
The people now armed themselves with such weapons as they could find
in armorers' shops and private houses, and with bludgeons, and were
roaming all night through all parts of the city, without any decided
practicable object.
The next day, the States pressed on the King to send away the
troops, to permit the Bourgeoise of Paris to arm for the
preservation of order in the city, and offered to send a deputation
from their body to tranquillize them. He refused all their
propositions. A committee of magistrates and electors of the city
were appointed by their bodies, to take upon them its government.
The mob, now openly joined by the French guards, forced the prison
of St. Lazare, released all the prisoners, and took a great store of
corn, which they carried to the corn market. Here they got some
arms, and the French guards began to form and train them. The
committee determined to raise forty-eight thousand Bourgeoise, or
rather to restrain their numbers to forty-eight thousand. On the
14th, they sent one of their members (Monsieur de Corny, whom we
knew in America) to the Hotel des Invalides, to ask arms for their
Garde Bourgedise. He was followed by, or he found there, a great
mob. The Governor of the Invalides came out, and represented the
impossibility of his delivering arms, without the orders of those
from whom he received them. De Corny advised the people then to
retire, and retired himself; and the people took possession of the
arms. It was remarkable, that not only the Invalides themselves made
no opposition, but that a body of five thousand foreign troops,
encamped within four hundred yards, never stirred. Monsieur de Corny
and five others were then sent to ask arms of Monsieur de Launai,
Governor of the Bastile. They found a great collection of people
already before the place, and they immediately planted a flag of
truce, which was answered by a like flag hoisted on the parapet. The
deputation prevailed on the people to fall back a little, advanced
themselves to make their demand of the Governor, and in that instant
a discharge from the Bastile killed four people of those nearest to
the deputies. The deputies retired; the people rushed against the
place, and almost in an instant were in possession of a
fortification, defended by one hundred men, of infinite strength,
which in other times had stood several regular sieges, and had never
been taken. How they got in, has, as yet, been impossible to
discover. Those who pretend to have been of the party tell so many
different stories, as to destroy the credit of them all. They took
all the arms, discharged the prisoners, and such of the garrison as
were not killed in the first moment of fury, carried the Governor
and Lieutenant Governor to the Gr6ve, (the place of public
execution,) cut off their heads, and sent them through the city in
triumph to the Palais Royal. About the same instant, a treacherous
correspondence having been discovered in Monsieur de Flesselles,
Prevost des Marchands, they seized him in the Hotel de Vilie, where
he was in the exercise of his office, and cut off his head.
These events, carried imperfectly to Versailles, were the subject
of two successive deputations from the States to the King, to both
of which he gave dry and hard answers; for it has transpired, that
it had been proposed and agitated in Council, to seize on the
principal members of the States General, to march the whole army
down upon Paris, and to suppress its tumults by the sword. But at
night, the Duke de Liancourt forced his way into the King's bed
chamber, and obliged him to hear a full and animated detail of the
disasters of the day in Paris. He went to bed deeply impressed. The
decapitation of de Launai worked powerfully through the night on the
whole aristocratical party, insomuch, that in the morning, those of
the greatest influence on the Count d'Artois, represented to him the
absolute necessity that the King should give up everything to the
States. This according well enough with the dispositions of the
King, he went about eleven o'clock, accompanied only by his
brothers, to the States General, and there read to them a speech, in
which he asked their interposition to re-establish order. Though
this be couched in terms of some caution, yet the manner in which it
was delivered, made it evident that it was meant as a surrender at
discretion.
He returned to the chateau a foot, accompanied by the States. They
sent off a deputation, the Marquis de La Fayette at their head, to
quiet Paris. He had, the same morning, been named
Commandant-in-Chief of the Milice Bourgeoise, and Monsieur Bailly,
former President of the States General, was called for as Prevost
des Marchands. The demolition of the Bastile was now ordered, and
begun. A body of the Swiss guards of the regiment of Ventimille, and
the city horse guards, joined the people. The alarm at Versailles
increased instead of abating. They believed that the aristocrats of
Paris were under pillage and carnage, that one hundred and fifty
thousand men were in arms, coming to Versailles to massacre the
royal family, the court, the ministers, and all c6nnected with them.
The king came to Paris, leaving the Queen in consternation for his
return. Omitting the less important figures of the procession, I
will only observe, that the King's carriage was in the centre, on
each side of it the States General, in two ranks, a foot, and at
their head the Marquis de La Fayette, as Commander4n-Chief, on
horseback, and Bourgeoise guards before and behind. About sixty
thousand citizens of all forms and colors, armed with the muskets of
the Bastile and Invalides, as far as they would go, the rest with
pistols, swords; pikes, pruning hooks, scythes, etc., lined all the
streets through which the procession passed, and, with the crowds of
people in the streets, doors and windows, saluted them everywhere
with cries of "vive la nation;" but not a single "vive
le roy" was heard. The King stopped at the Hotel de Ville.
There Monsieur Bailly presented and put into his hat the popular
cockade, and addressed him. The King being unprepared and unable to
answer, Bailly went to him, gathered from him some scraps of
sentences, and made out an answer, which he delivered to the
audience as from the King. On their return, the popular cries were "vive
le roy et Ia nation." He was conducted by a Garde
Bourgeoise to his palace at Versailles, and thus concluded such an
amende honorable, as no sovereign ever made, and no people
ever received. Letters written with his own hand to the Marquis de
La Fayette, remove the scruples of his position.
Tranquillity is now restored to the capital: the shops are again
opened; the people resuming their labors, and if the want of bread
does not disturb our peace, we may hope a continuance of it. The
demolition of the Bastile is going on, and the Milice Bourgeoise
organizing and training. The ancient police of the city is abolished
by the authority df the people, the introduction of the King's
troops will probably be proscribed, and a watch or city guards
substituted, which shall depend on the city alone. But we cannot
suppose this paroxysm confined to Paris alone. The whole country
must pass successfully through it, and happy if they get through it
as soon and as well as Paris has done.
I went yesterday to Versailles, to satisfy myself what had passed
there; for nothing can be believed but what one sees, or has from an
eye witness. They believe there still, that three thousand people
have fallen victims to the tumults of Paris. Mr. Short and myself
have been every day among them, in order to be sure what was
passing. We cannot find, with certainty, that anybody has been
killed but the three before mentioned, and those who fell in the
assault or defence of the Bastile. How many of the garrison were
killed, nobody pretends to have ever heard. Of the assailants,
accounts vary from six to six hundred. The most general belief is,
that there fell about thirty. There have been many reports of
instantaneous executions by the mob, on such of their body as they
caught in acts of theft or robbery. Some of these may perhaps be
true. There was a severity of honesty observed, of which no example
has been known. Bags of money offered on various occasions through
fear or guilt, have been uniformly refused by the mobs. The churches
are now occupied in singing "De profundis" and "Requiems"
"for the repose of the souls of the brave and valiant citizens
who have sealed with their blood the liberty of the nation."
|
John
Jay
19 Jul 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
My last to you was of the 18th of June. Within
a day or two after, yours of May the 9th came to hand. In the rest
of Europe nothing remarkable has happened; but in France such events
as will be forever memorable in history.
The tumults in the city had pretty well subsided, but to-day they
have been revived by a new incident. Foulon, one of the fugitive
ministers, was taken in the country, (it is said by his own
tenants,) and brought to Paris. Every possible effort of persuasion
was exerted in vain to save him. He was forced from the hands of the
Gardes Bourgeoises by the mob, was hung, and after severing his
head, the body was dragged by the enraged populace through the
principal streets of Paris. The Intendant of Paris (de Chauvigny),
accused of having been in the plots with the late ministry, and who
had fled, was taken at Compiegne, and a party of two hundred militia
horse are now gone for him. If they bring him to Paris it will be
impossible to save him. Monsieur de La Luzerne was reappointed
minister of marine yesterday. Your last letter says nothing of my
leave of absence. The season is so far advanced towards the Equinox,
that if it comes to hand I shall not leave Europe till that be over.
Indeed this scene is too interesting to be left at present But if
the permission does not come in time for my passage in the fall, the
necessity of my going is so imperious, that I shall be in a most
distressing dilemma. |
James
Madison
22 Jul 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
No act of violence has taken place in Paris
since my last, except on account of the difference between the
French and Swiss guards, whih gave rise to occasional single
combats, in which ~ or six were killed. The difference is made up.
Some misunderstandings had arisen between the committees of the
different districts of Paris, as to the form of the future municipal
government. These gave uneasiness for awhile, but have been also
reconciled. Still there is such a leaven of fermentation remaining
in the body of the people, that acts of violence are always
possible, and are quite '1npunishable; there being, as yet, no
judicature which can venture to act in any case, however small or
great. The country is becoming more calm. The embarrassments of the
government, for want of money, are extreme. The loan of thirty
millions proposed by Mr. Neckar, has not succeeded at all. No taxes
are paid. A total stoppage of all payment to the creditors of the
State is possible every moment These form a great mass in the city
as well as country, and among the lower class of people, too, who
have been used to carry their little savings of their service into
the public funds upon life rents of five, ten, twenty guineas a
year, and many of whom have no other dependence for daily
subsistence. A prodigious number of servants are now also thrown out
of employ by domestic reforms, rendered necessary by the late
events. Add to this, the want of bread, which is extreme. For
several days past, a considerable proportion of the people have been
without bread altogether; for though the new harvest is begun, there
is neither water nor wind to grind the grain. For some days past the
people have besieged the doors of the bakers, scrambled with one
another for bread, collected in squads all over the city, and need
only some slight incident to lead them to excesses which may end in,
nobody can tell what. The danger from the want of bread, however,
which is the most imminent, will certainty lessen in a few days.
What turn that may take which arises from the want of money, is
difficult to be foreseen. |
John
Jay
27 Aug 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
The sloth of the Assembly (unavoidable from
their number) has done the most sensible injury to the public cause.
The patience of a people who have less of that quality than any
other nation in the world, is worn thread-bare. Time has been given
to the, aristocrats to recover from their panic, to cabal, to sow
dissensions in the Assembly, and distrust out of it.
This being the face of things, troubled as you will perceive, civil
war is much talked of and expected; and this talk and expectation
has a tendency to beget it. What are the events which may produce
it? 1. The want of bread, were it to produce a commencement of
disorder, might ally itself to more permanent causes of discontent,
and thus continue the effect beyond its first cause. The scarcity of
bread, which continues very great amidst a plenty of corn, is an
enigma which can be solved only by observing, that the furnishing
the city is in the new municipality, not yet masters of their trade.
2. A public bankruptcy. Great numbers of the lower as well as higher
classes of the citizens, depend for subsistence on their property in
the public funds. 3. The absconding of the King from Versailles.
This has for some time been apprehended as possible. In consequence
of this apprehension, a person whose information would have weight,
wrote to the Count de Montmorin, adjuring him to prevent it by every
possible means, and assuring him that the flight of the King would
be the signal of a St. Bartholomew against the aristocrats in Paris,
and perhaps through the kingdom M. de Montmorin showed the letter to
the Queen, who assured him solemnly that no such thing was in
contemplation. His showing it to the Queen, proves he entertained
the same mistrust with the public. It may be asked, what is the
Queen disposed to do in the present situation of things? Whatever
rage, pride and fear can dictate in a breast which never knew the
presence of one moral restraint.
Upon the whole, I do not see it as yet probable that any actual
commotion will take place; and if it does take place, I have strong
confidence that the patriotic party will hold together, and their
party in the nation be what I have described it. In this case, there
would be against them the aristocracy and the faction of Orleans.
This consists, at this time, of only the Catilines of the Assembly,
and some of the lowest description of the mob. Its force, within
the kingdom, must depend on how much of this last kind of people
it can debauch with money from its present bias to the right cause.
This bias is as strong as any one can be, in a class which must
accept its bread from him who will give it. Its resources out of
the kingdom are not known. Without doubt, England will give
money to produce and to feed the fire which should consume this
country; but it is not probable she will engage in open war for
that. If foreign troops should be furnished, it would be most
probably by the King of Prussia, who seems to offer himself as the
bull-dog of tyranny to all his neighbors. |
John
Jay
19 Sep 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
Our last news from Paris is of the 8th of
January. So far it seemed that your revolution had got along with a
steady peace; meeting indeed occasional difficulties and dangers,
but we are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty
in a feather-bed. I have never feared for the ultimate result,
though I have feared for you personally. Indeed, I hope you will
never see such another 5th or 6th of October. |
Marquis
de Lafayette
2 Apr 1790 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
The revolution which has taken place in Geneva
is a remarkable and late event. With the loss of only two or three
lives, and in the course of one week, riots begun at first on
account of a rise in the price of bread were improved and pointed to
a reformation of their constitution, and their ancient constitution
has been almost completely re-established. Nor do I see any reason
to doubt of the permanence of the re-establishment.
There has been a riot in Brittany begun on account of the price of
bread but converted into a quarrel between the noblesse and Tiers
Etat. Some few lives were lost in it All is quieted for the present
moment. In Burgundy and Franchecompte the opposition of the nobles
to the views of government is very warm. Everywhere else, however,
the revolution is going on quietly and steadily and the public mind
ripening so fast that there is great reason to hope a good result
from the States-General. Their numbers -- about twelve hundred --
give room to fear, indeed, that they may be turbulent. |
John
Jay
1 Mar 1789 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
I am looking ardently to the completion of the
glorious work in which your country is engaged [the French
Revolution]. I view the general condition of Europe as hanging on
the success or failure of France. Having set such an example of
philosophical arrangement within, I hope it will be extended without
your limits also, to your dependents and to your friends in every
part of the earth. |
Condorcet
30 Aug 1791 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
I am to make you my acknowledgments for your
favor of January 10th, and the information from France which it
contained. It confirmed what I had heard more loosely before, and
accounts still more recent are to the same effect. I look with great
anxiety for the firm establishment of the new government in France,
being perfectly convinced that if it takes place there, it will
spread sooner or later all over Europe. On the contrary, a check
there would retard the revival of liberty in other countries. I
consider the establishment and success of their government as
necessary to stay up our own, and to prevent it from falling back to
that kind of a half-way house, the English constitution. |
Colonel
Mason
4 Feb 1791 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
It delights me to find that there are persons
who still think that all is not lost in France: that their
retrogradation from a limited to an unlimited despotism, is but to
give themselves a new impulse. But I see not how or when. The press,
the only tocsin of a nation, is completely silenced there, and all
means of a general effort taken away. However, I am willing to hope,
and as long as anybody will hope with me; and I am entirely
persuaded that the agitations of the public mind advance its powers,
and that at every vibration between the points of liberty and
despotism, something will be gained for the former. As men become
better informed, their rulers must respect them the more. |
Thomas
Cooper, Esq.
29 Nov 1802 |
FRANCE
/ REVOLUTION
I found Paris … in high fermentation. . .
. Nor should we wonder at this pressure, when we consider the
monstrous abuses of power under which this people were ground to
powder; when we pass in review the weight of their taxes, and the
inequality of their distribution; the oppressions of the tithes, the
tailles, the corvees, the gabelles, the farms and the barriers; the
shackles on commerce by monopolies; on industry by guilds and
corporations; on the freedom of conscience, of thought, and of
speech; on the freedom of the press by the Censure; and of the
person by Lettres de Cachet; the cruelty of the Criminal code
generally; the atrocities. of the Rack; the venality of the Judges,
and their partialities to the rich; the monopoly of Military honors
by the Noblesse; the enormous expenses of the Queen, the Princes and
the Court; the prodigalities of pensions; and the riches, luxury,
indolence and immorality of the Clergy. Surely under such a mass of
misrule and oppression, a people might justly press for a thorough
reformation, and might even dismount their rough-shod riders, and
leave them to walk on their own legs.
For, while laboring under the want of money for even ordinary
purposes, in a government which required a million of livres a day,
and driven to the last ditch by the universal call for liberty,
there came on a winter of such severe cold, as was without example
in the memory of man, or in the written records of history. The
Mercury was at times 50 [degrees] below the freezing point of
Fahrenheit, and 22 [degrees] below that of Reaumur. All outdoor
labor was suspended, and the poor, without the wages of labor, were,
of course, without either bread or fuel. The government found its
necessities aggravated by that of procuring immense quantities of
fire-wood, and of keeping great fires at all the cross streets,
around which the people gathered in crowds, to avoid perishing with
cold. Bread, too, was to be bought, and distributed daily, gratis,
until a relaxation of the season should enable the people to work;
and the slender stock of bread stuff had for some time threatened
famine, and had raised that article to an enormous price. So great,
indeed, was the scarcity of bread, that, from the highest to the
lowest citizen, the bakers were permitted to deal but a scanty
allowance per head, even to those who paid for it; and, in cards of
invitation to dine in the richest houses, the guest was notified to
bring his own bread. To eke out the existence of the people, every
person who had the means, was called on for a weekly subscription,
which the Cure's collected, and employed in providing messes for the
nourishment of the poor, and vied with each other in devising such
economical compositions of food, as would subsist the greatest
number with the smallest means. This want of bread had been foreseen
for some time past, and M. de Montinorin had desired me to notify it
in America, and that, in addition to the market price, a premium
should be given on what should be brought from the United States.
Notice was accordingly given, and produced considerable supplies. …
Hitherto no acts of popular violence had been produced by the
struggle for political reformation. Little riots, on ordinary
incidents, had taken place as at other times, in different parts of
the kingdom, in which some lives, perhaps a dozen or twenty had been
lost; but in the month of April, a more serious one occurred in
Paris, unconnected, indeed, with the Revolutionary principle, but
making part of the history of the day. The Fauxbourg St. Antoine is
a quarter of the city inhabited entirely by the class of day
laborers and journeymen in every line. A rumor was spread among
them, that a great paper manufacturer, of the name of Reveillon, had
proposed, on some occasion, that their wages should be lowered to
fifteen sous a day. Inflamed at once into rage, and without
inquiring into its truth, they flew to his house in vast numbers,
destroyed everything in it, and in his magazines and work-shops,
without secreting, however, a pin's worth to themselves, and were
continuing this work of devastation, when the regular troops were
called in. Admonitions being disregarded, they were of necessity
fired on, and a regular action ensued, in which about one hundred of
them were killed, before the rest would disperse. There had rarely
passed a year without such a riot, in some part or other of the
Kingdom; and this is distinguished only as cotemporary with the
Revolution, although not produced by it.
The States General were opened on the 5th of May, '89...
The objects for which this body was convened being of the first
order of importance, I felt it very interesting to understand the
views of the parties of which it was composed, and especially the
ideas prevalent as to the organization contemplated for their
government. I went, therefore, daily from Paris to Versailles, and
attended their debates, generally till the hour of adjournment.
Those of the Noblesse were impassioned and tempestuous. They had
some able men on both sides, actuated by equal zeal. The debates of
the Commons were temperate, rational, and inflexibly firm. As
preliminary to all other business, the awful questions came on,
shall the State sit in one, or in distinct apartments? And shall
they vote by heads or houses? The opposition was soon found to
consist of the Episcopal order among the clergy, and two-thirds of
the Noblesse; while the Tiers Etat were, to a man, united and
determined. After various propositions of compromise had failed, the
Commons undertook to cut the Gordian knot... Concluding that their
dissolution was now to take place, they repaired to a building
called the "Jeu de paume" (or Tennis court) and there
bound themselves by oath to each other, never to separate, of their
own accord, till they had settled a constitution for the nation, on
a solid basis, arid, if separated by force, that they would
reassemble in some other place. The next day they met in the church
of St. Louis, and were joined by a majority of the clergy. The heads
of the Aristocracy saw that all was lost without some bold exertion.
The King was still at Marly. Nobody was permitted to approach him
but their friends. He was assailed by falsehoods in all shapes. He
was made to believe that the Commons were about to absolve the army
from their oath of fidelity to him, and to raise their pay. The
court party were now all rage and desperation. …
The soldiery had not yet indicated which side they should take, and
that which they should support would be sure to prevail. I
considered a successful reformation of government in France, as
insuring a general reformation through Europe, and the resurrection,
to a new life, of their people, now ground to dust by the abuses of
the governing powers. I was much acquainted with the leading
patriots of the Assembly. Being from a country which had
successfully passed through a similar reformation, they were
disposed to my acquaintance, and had some confidence in me. I urged,
most strenuously, an immediate compromise; to secure what the
government was now ready to yield, and trust to future occasions for
what might still be wanting.
Violent ferment . . . gained the soldiery, first of the French
guards, extended to those of every other denomination, except the
Swiss, and even to the body guards of the King. They began to quit
their barracks, to assemble in squads, to declare they would defend
the life of the King, but would not be the murderers of their
fellow-citizens. They called themselves the soldiers of the
nation, and left now no doubt on which side they would be, in
case of rupture. Similar accounts came in from the troops in other
parts of the kingdom, giving good reason to believe they would side
with their fathers and brothers, rather than with their officers.
The Assembly now entered on the business of their mission, and
first proceeded to arrange the order in which they would take up the
heads of their constitution, as follows:
First, and as Preliminary to the whole, a general Declaration of
the Rights of Man. Then, specifically, the Principles of the
Monarchy; Rights of the Nation; Rights of the King; Rights of the
Citizens; Organization and Rights of the National Assembly; Forms
necessary for the enactment of Laws; Organization and Functions of
the Provincial and Municipal Assemblies; Duties and Limits of the
Judiciary power; Functions and Duties of the Military power.
A Declaration of the Rights of Man, as the preliminary of their
work, was accordingly prepared and proposed by the Marquis de La
Fayette.
But the quiet of their march was soon disturbed by information that
troops, and particularly the foreign troops, were advancing on Paris
from various quarters. The King had probably been advised to this,
on the pretext of preserving peace in Paris. But his advisers were
believed to have other things in contemplation. The Marshal de
Broglio was appointed to their command, a high-flying aristocrat,
cool and capable of everything. Some of the French guards were soon
arrested, under other pretexts, but really, on account of their
dispositions in favor of the National cause. The people of Paris
forced their prison, liberated them, and sent a deputation to the
Assembly to solicit a pardon. The Assembly recommended peace and
order to the people of Paris, the prisoners to the King, and asked
from him the removal of the troops. His answer was negative and dry,
saying they might remove themselves, if they pleased, to Noyons or
Soissons. In the meantime, these troops, to the number of twenty or
thirty thousand, had arrived, and were p6sted in, and between Paris
and Versailles. The bridges and passes were guarded. …
The King was now completely in the hands of men, the principal
among whom had been noted, through their lives, for the Turkish
despotism of their characters, and who were associated around the
King, as proper instruments for what was to be executed. The news of
this change began to be known at Paris, about one or two o'clock. In
the afternoon, a body of about one hundred German cavalry were
advanced, and drawn up in the Place Louis XV., and about two hundred
Swiss posted at a little distance in their rear. This drew people to
the spot, who thus accidentally found themselves in front of the
troops, merely at first as spectators; but, as their numbers
increased, their indignation rose. They retired a few steps, and
posted themselves on and behind large piles of stones, large and
small, collected in that place for a bridge, which was to be built
adjacent to it. In this position, happening to be in my carriage on
a visit, I passed through the lane they had formed, without
interruption. But the moment after I had passed, the people attacked
the cavalry with stones. They charged, but the advantageous position
of the people, and the showers of stones, obliged the horse to
retire, and quit the field altogether, leaving one of their number
on the ground, and the Swiss in the rear not moving to their aid.
This was the signal for universal insurrection, and this body of
cavalry, to avoid being massacred, retired towards Versailles. The
people now armed themselves with such weapons as they could find in
armorers' shops, and private houses, and with bludgeons; and were
roaming all night, through all parts of the city, without any
decided object. The next day (the 13th,) the Assembly pressed on the
King to send away the troops, to permit the Bourgeoisie of Paris to
arm for the preservation of order in the city, and offered to send a
deputation from their body to tranquillize them; but their
propositions were refused. A committee of magistrates and electors
of the city were appointed by those bodies, to take upon them its
government. The people, now openly joined by the French guards,
forced the prison of St. Lazare, released all the prisoners, and
took a great store of corn, which they carried to the cornmarket.
Here they got some arms, and the French guards began to form and
train them. The city-committee determined to raise forty-eight
thousand Bourgeoise, or rather to restrain their numbers to
forty-eight thousand. On the 14th, they sent one of their members
(Monsieur de Corny) to the Hotel des Invalides, to ask arms for
their Garde Bourgeoise. He was followed by, and he found there, a
great collection of people. The Governor of the Invalides came out,
and represented the impossibility of his delivering arms, without
the orders of those from whom he received them. De Corny advised the
people then to retire, and retired himself; but the people took
possession of the arms. It was remarkable, that not only the
Invalides themselves made no opposition, but that a body of five
thousand foreign troops, within four hundred yards, never stirred.
M. de Corny, and five others, were then sent to ask arms of M. de
Launay, Governor of the Bastile. They found a great collection of
people already before the place, and they immediately planted a flag
of truce, which was answered by a like flag hoisted on the parapet.
The deputation prevailed on the people to fall back a little,
advanced themselves to make their demand of the Governor, and in
that instant, a discharge from the Bastile killed four persons of
those nearest to the deputies. The deputies retired. I happened to
be at the house of M. de Corny, when he returned to it, and received
from him a narrative of these transactions. On the retirement of the
deputies, the people rushed forward, and almost in an instant, were
in possession of a fortification of infinite strength, defended by
one hundred men, which in other times had stood several regular
sieges, and had never been taken. How they forced their entrance has
never been explained. They took all the arms, discharged the
prisoners, and such of the garrison as were not killed in the first
moment of fury carried the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, to the
Place de Greve, (the place of public execution,) cut off their
heads, and sent them through the city, in triumph, to the Palais
royal.
The decapitation of de Launay worked powerfully through the night
on the whole Aristocratic party; insomuch, that in the morning,
those of the greatest influence on the Count d'Artois, represented
to him the absolute necessity that the King should give up
everything to the Assembly. …
In the evening of August the 4th, and on the motion of the Viscount
de Noailles, brother in law of La Fayette, the Assembly abolished
all titles of rank, all the abusive privileges of feudalism, the
tithes and casuals of the Clergy, all Provincial privileges, and, in
fine, the Feudal regimen generally. …Many days were employed in
putting into the form of laws, the numerous demolitions of ancient
abuses; which done, they proceeded to the preliminary work of a
Declaration of Bights. There being much concord of sentiment on the
elements of this instrument, it was liberally framed, and passed
with a very general approbation. They then appointed a Committee for
the "reduction of a projet" of a constitution, at the head
of which was the Archbishop of Bordeaux. I received from him, as
chairman of the Committee, a letter of July 20th, requesting me to
attend and assist at their deliberations; but I excused myself, on
the obvious considerations, that my mission was to the King as Chief
Magistrate of the nation, that my duties were limited to the
concerns of my own country, and forbade me to intermeddle with the
internal transactions of that, in which I had been received under a
specific character only.
Their plan of a constitution was discussed in sections, and so
reported from time to time, as agreed to by the Committee. The first
respected the general frame of the government; and that this should
be formed into three departments, Executive, Legislative and
Judiciary, was generally agreed. But when they proceeded to
subordinate developments, many and various shades of opinion came
into conflict, and schism, strongly marked, broke the Patriots into
fragments of very discordant principles.
The Aristocracy was cemented by a common principle, of preserving
the ancient regime, or whatever should be nearest to it. Making this
their polar star, they moved in phalanx, gave preponderance on every
question to the minorities of the Patriots, and always to those who
advocated the least change. The features of the new constitution
were thus assuming a fearful aspect, and great alarm was produced
among the honest Patriots by these dissensions in their ranks.
In this uneasy state of things, I received one day a note from the
Marquis de La Fayette, informing me that he should bring a party of
six or eight friends to ask a dinner of me the next day. I assured
him of their welcome. When they arrived, they were La Fayette
himself, Duport, Barnave, Alexander la Meth, Blacon, Mounier,
Maubourg, and Dagout. These were leading Patriots, of honest but
differing opinions, sensible of the necessity of effecting a
coalition by mutual sacrifices, knowing each other, and not afraid,
therefore, to unbosom themselves mutually. This last was a material
principle in the selection. With this view, the Marquis had invited
the conference, and had fixed the time and place inadvertently, as
to the embarrassment under which it might place me. The cloth being
removed, and wine set on the table, after the American manner, the
Marquis introduced the objects of the conference, by summarily
reminding them of the state of things in the Assembly, the course
which the principles of the Constitution were taking, and the
inevitable result, unless checked by more concord among the Patriots
themselves. He observed, that although he also had his opinion, he
was ready to sacrifice it to that of his brethren of the same cause;
but that a common opinion must now be formed, or the Aristocracy
would carry everything, and that, whatever they should now agree on,
he, at the head of the National force, would maintain. The
discussions began at the hour of four, and were continued till ten
o'clock in the evening; during which time, I was a silent witness to
a coolness and candor of argument, unusual in the conflicts of
political opinion; to a logical reasoning, and chaste eloquence,
disfigured by no gaudy tinsel of rhetoric or declamation, and truly
worthy of being placed in parallel with the finest dialogues of
antiquity, as handed to us by Xenophon, by Plato and Cicero. The
result was, that the King should have a suspensive veto on the laws,
that the legislature should be composed of a single body only, and
that to be chosen by the people. This Concordat decided the fate of
the constitution. The Patriots all rallied to the principles thus
settled, carried every question agreeably to them, and reduced the
Aristocracy to insignificance and impotence. But duties of
exculpation were now incumbent on me. I waited on Count Montmorin
the next morning, and explained to him, with truth and candor, how
it had happened that my house had been trade the scene of
conferences of such a character. He told me, he already knew
everything which had passed, that so far from taking umbrage at the
use made of my house on that occasion, he earnestly wished I would
habitually assist at such conferences, being sure I should be useful
in moderating the warmer spirits, and promoting a wholesome and
practicable reformation only. I told him, I knew too well the duties
I owed to the King, to the nation, and to my own country, to take
any part in councils concerning their internal government, and that
I should persevere, with care, in the character of a neutral and
passive spectator, with wishes only, and very sincere ones, that
those measures might prevail which would be for the greatest good of
the nation.
|
Notes
for an Autobiography
6 Jan 1821 |
FRANCE,
REVOLUTION / HISTORY OF
I received, through Mr. Warden, the copy of
your valuable work on the French Revolution, for which I pray you to
accept my thanks. That its sale should have been suppressed is no
matter of wonder with me. The friend of liberty is too feelingly
manifested, not to give umbrage to its enemies. We read in it, and
weep over, the fatal errors which have lost to nations the present
hope of liberty, and to reason for fairest prospect of its final
triumph over all imposture, civil and religious. The testimony of
one who himself was an actor in the scenes he notes, and who knew
the true mean between rational liberty and the frenzies of demagogy,
are a tribute to truth of inestimable value. The perusal of this
work has given me new views of the causes of failure in a revolution
of which I was a witness in its early part, and then augured well of
it. I had no means, afterwards, of observing its progress but the
public papers, and their information came through channels too
hostile to claim confidence. An acquaintance with many of the
principal characters, and with their fate, furnished me grounds for
conjectures, some of which you have confirmed, and some corrected.
Shall we ever see as free and faithful a tableau of subsequent acts
of this deplorable tragedy? Is reason to be forever amused with the
bochets of physical sciences, in which she is indulged
merely to divert her from solid speculations on the rights of man,
and wrongs of his oppressors? It is impossible. The day of
deliverance will come, although I shall not live to see it. The art
of printing secures us against the retrogradation of reason and
information, the examples of its safe and wholesome guidance in
government, which will be exhibited through the wide-spread regions
of the American continent, will obliterate, in time, the impressions
left by the abortive experiment of France. |
Monsieur
Paganel
15 Apr 1811 |
FRANCE,
REVOLUTION / MONARCHY
We have just received here the news of the
decapitation of the King of France. Should the present foment in
Europe not produce republics everywhere, it will at least soften the
monarchical governments by rendering monarchs amenable to punishment
like other criminals, and doing away that rages of insolence and
oppression, the inviolability of the King's person. We I hope shall
adhere to our republican government, and keep it to its original
principles by narrowly watching it. |
Unknown
recipient
18 Mar 1793 |
|
