CHAP. VI. Arrestation of national Representatives.- Message from the Directory to the two Councils, on this Subject.-An Address on the same, to the People of France.-Forty Resolutions, adapted to the present Juncture, proposed by a Committee of public Safety-Adopted by the Council, and passed into Laws.-Transactions of the primary Communes and electoral Assemblies, in fifty Departments, declared illegal.-Upwards of sixty Persons, Members of the Directory and Councils, and others, sentenced to Transportation, -Address from the Council of Five Hundred to the Departments and the Armies.-Imputing the most iniquitous and atrocious Designs to the Royalists. Proclamation by the French Government, announcing a second Expedition against Ireland-Singular Expedition of a Body of French Troops into Wales.-These surrendered themselves, without Resistance, Prisoners of War to a Force, raised and headed, on the Emergency, by Lord Cawdor.-The Spanish Island of Trinidad taken by the English. FROM ROM the day whereon Thibaudeau made his report to the councils, it was obvious to the pubKc, that strong measures were in agitation on both sides. The legislature was convinced, that the directory and its adherents intended some deeds of violence. Buona parte, whose decisive character was well known, and who was closely connected with the directory, had provided them with a man to execute their designs, in whom both he and they could place confidence, on account of his principles and abilities. This was general Augereau, whom he dispatched to Paris, on plausible pretexts, but to the real intent of his being at hand for their purposes. Relying on the force they had taken previous care to hold in readiness, and on the popularity which Augereau was known to possess among the soldiery, as well as the people of Paris, dreading, at the same time, to be anticipated by the opposition, the directors came to a determination to execute, without delay, the plan they had adopted, On the eighteenth of Fructidor, September the fourth, at three o'clock in the morning, an order was signed by Barras, Reubel, and Lareveillere, empowering general Augereau to arrest a specified number of the national representatives, In the mean time, the alarm bells were rung in the different sections, the citizens informed, that a conspiracy was on the point of breaking out, and called upon to stand by the government, which was in immedi❤ ate danger from the royalists. Augereau made use of the same language in addressing himself to the military guard of the councils, and they immediately placed themselves under under his command, in spite of the remonstrances of Ramel, their principal officer, whom they ignominiously degraded. This proved a decisive blow, as the councils had not entertained any suspicion they would have been thus deserted. Augereau found no difficulty in executing the residue of his commission. He entered the assembly, at the head of his men, and arrested general Pichegru and Willot, with sixty other members, as guilty of treason. They were imprisoned in the Temple, the doors of the hall were shut, and the two councils directed to meet in other separate places. Carnot and Barthelemi had received timely notice of what was passing the former had the good fortune to make his escape; but the latter, whatever his motive was, remained, and shared the same treatment as the rest of his party. Having so far succeeded in their plan, the directory immediately dispatched a message to the two councils, informing them, that they had been constrained to act in the manner they had done, in order to save the country, and maintain the constitution. It transmitted to them, at the same time, all the documents relating to the present transaction: assuring them, that had they delayed it one day longer, the republic must have been overthrown. The halls, wherein the councils met, were, they asserted, the points of re-union for the conspirators. It was from thence, that these had, on the preceding day, issued cards and certificates, for the delivery of arms to their partisans, and had, in the course of the night, carried on a correspondence with their accomplices: and it was in the neighbour Lood of these, that their adherents were endeavouring clandestinely to assemble. The conduct of the directory, it was asserted, had been dictated by the instant necessity of being beforehand with the conspirators. In affairs of state, extreme measures could only be estimated by circumstances, and the councils would, from those that were laid before them, form a proper judge ment of the motives that had determined the directory to adopt such measures. The eighteenth Fructidor, they said, would be a celebrated day in the annals of France. It would enable the faithful representatives of the nation to fix, for ever, the destinies of the republic. After warmly exhorting the councils to improve the present occasion, by re-animating the spirit of patriotism, they concluded by informing them, that Imbert Colomes, one of the new third of the council of five hundred, was, by authentic documents, to be transmitted to them, the principal agent of Lewis, styling himself the XVIII. In the mean time, a proclamation had been issued by the directory, by which, whoever should propose the restoration of royalty, the re-establishment of the constitution of 1793, or to place any of the family of Orleans upon the throne, was instantly to be shot. Apprehensive also that the partisans of the opposition, who were numerous in the capital, might attempt to assemble in force, they provisionally suspended from their functions the adininistra tions of the department of the Seine, and of the twelve circles into which Paris had been divided, suspecting many of them to be connected with the opposition. They ordered, at the same time, the editors and printers of thirty-two journals, the titles of of which were specified, to be committed to prison, as accused of being accomplices in a conspiracy against the republic, in favour of royalty; and they carefully transmitted their thanks to the guards of the two councils, for the fidelity they had displayed to the interests of the republic, in preference to all others. But the measure which principally occupied their attention, was to convince the citizens of Paris, and the people of France, that government had been compelled, by unavoidable necessity, to use severe means, for the preservation of the commonwealth, against the machination of its enemies. In their address to the citizens of Paris, the directory explicity asserted, that the royalists had, during the whole of the preceding year, been labouring to overturn the republic. When they thought themselves sufficiently able to accomplish its final destruction, their first attacks were intended against the supreme depositaries of the executive power. Arms had been distributed to the conspirators, and a large quantity of bonds seized, from which the delivery of a great number of firelocks was proved. Cards, stamped with the words, Legislative Body, and marked with an R, were circulated, in order to serve as reciprocal tokens to the conspirators. Those members of the directory and of the legislature, who adhered to the republic, were to have been massacred. Numerous bodies of emigrants, and of insurgents from la Vendée, had repaired to Paris, attracted by the countenance publicly shewn to them, and were preparing to attack the directory. But its vigilance, and that of the armed force surrounding them, had frustrated the designs of their enemies. The citizens of Paris, the directory said, would shudder with horror, when apprised, by the authentic proofs that would be laid before them, of the plots entered into against their persons, and their dearest rights and possessions. When France, crowned with victory, and surrounded with immortal glory, was beginning to reap the fruits of the successes obtained by its invincible defenders; when agriculture, commerce, public credit, confidence and security, began to revive, that was the moment pitched upon to rekindle domestic animosities, to reestablish superstition, and reorganize the power of fanaticism, to open avenues for the return of emigrants, to give the signal of civil war, and, by thus infusing fresh hopes into the foreign enemies of the commonwealth, to retard that peace, which it was on the point of securing. Such was the description given by the directory, of the designs in agitation against the state. They called, in consequence, upon the citizens of the metropolis, to exert themselves manfully in the defence of those liberties and valuable objects, for which they had been so long contending. They admonished them particularly to beware of being hurried, by the fury of resentment, into unjustifiable excesses, and to confine their obedience to the chiefs avowedly appointed over them by government. In the general address, issued to the people of France, the directory entered more at large into circumstances and details, for the verification of the conspiracy. The documents which they submitted to the inspection Inspection of the public, and which they asserted to be of incontestible authenticity, would unfold, they said, the whole process of the treasons in question. After reverting to the events of Vendemiaire, Oc tober, 1795, which they represented as connected with, and originating from royalism, they formally charged general Pichegru*with betraying at that very time, the republic, by acceding to the propo *Of the intention of general Pichegru, to restore the royal familyof France, there is not now any doubt. It has been clearly avowed, indeed, by subsequent occurrences. As we have had occasion to take notice in our volume for 1794, he was never at great pains to disguise his sentiments, wishes and designs, in favour of royalty. He possessed a fine understanding, as well as great knowledge and skill in military affairs: but the most prominent feature in his character was a manly boldness, simplicity and strength of mind, which scorning defiles, advanced, as directly as possible, to its object. The following remarks on the tactics, manners, and person of general Pichegru, are extracted and translated from a work entitled, Histoire Chronologique des operations de l'Armée du Nord, et de celle de Sambre et Meuse, par le citoyen David, Temoin, du plupart de leurs Exploits. The tactics of general Pichegru are of a nature altogether new and original. His system consists wholly in pursuing the enemy without intermission; in courting opportunities of engagements; in keeping his whole force together, without dividing it for the purpose of carrying on sicges; to reduce only such as are necessary, in order to secure proper positions, without seeming to be at all concerned about the reduction of such strong places as he had left behind him. This system of military tactics was the only one that was suitable to our situation; andfarther, it was the only system that suited the character of the French. It is not to be doubted that our troops were full of courage and bravery; but the greater part of them was newly levied, aud not sufficiently trained in sieges, for the purpose of undertaking a siege of any difficulty. Farther still, the French soldier is too ardent and impatient to go through with a chain of operations that require perseverance. In the field, he darts forth as an eagle, and fights like a lion. But a long and arduous siege repels, and ofttimes, even discourages him. In order to have a military body of men perfect and invincible, it would be necessary to carry on sieges with Swiss troops, and to have French armies of observation. But while a general has only Frenchmen under his command, he ought not to let them grow restive, by remaining long in one place; but to keep them always in breath, and always within view of the enemy. If Pichegru had obeyed the orders of the committee of public safety; if he had not known the character of the French and adopted an unusual system of tactics, he would have sacrificed fifty thousand men, at least, before our towns of Hainault. Perhaps he might have been beaten. And even, in case of success and victory, he most assuredly would not have been able to push his conquests even to the northern sea, and the confines of Westphalia. The king of Prussia was the only sovereign, among the coalesced powers, who set the plans of Pichegru at defiance, and the only one that did him justice. About the beginning of the campaign, that monarch wrote a letter (published in a Belgic newspaper), to the following effect: "It is impossible to save your territories from invasion. The French have armies always springing up, one after another. Be not deceived: their generals pursue a wise system of tactics, which disconcerts ours, and gets the better of them." Pichegru, formerly professor of mathematics at Brienne, is five feet five inches in height; of a large size, without being corpulent; and, in a word, formed in the very mould of a warrior. His appearance is, at first sight, severe and forbidding; but it softens in conversation, and inspires the greatest degree of trust and confidence. His politeness has no sort of resemblance to what is called etiquette, which is commonly nothing else than duplicity and roguery. His politeness is without affectation, and perfectly sincere. You may see, at once, that he is obliging, from a frankness of disposition, and naturally good. But he has nothing about him of what was, heretofore, considered as essential to a courtier. sals cals made to him by the prince of Condé, and engaging to support, the royal cause. If the plans he offered to undertake were not attempted, it was merely because Condé refused to join in their execution. But these plans, the directory added, would never have succeeded. Pichegru's army, like that of Dumourier's, would have refused to obey the orders of a traitor. In the mean while, continued the directory, Pichegru became the favourite of the royal party. On the late election, of a new third, he was chosen a member, and was the first who had the honour of being president of the council of five hundred, on the opening of its sessions. Royalism had already been making a silent progress in the councils, when, through the indiscreet warmth of one of its adherents, it was detected. This happened in the month of Fructidor, of the fourth year (September 1796). Lemerer, a noted orator, of that party, pointed out the overthrow of the constitution of 1791, as an object of deserved regret, and the 10th of August, 1792, as a day to be lamented. This man had since been discovered to be an agent of the royal faction. These manifestations of the designs of his party opened immediately the eyes of the faithful republicans, and they resolutely opposed it, until the first of last Prairial (twentieth of May, 1797), when the adjournment of the legislative body took place, on account of the election of a new third. Then it was that royalism exerted all its powers. It established agents and emissaries everywhere. It organized their connections, their subordination, and their correspondence. It laboured to introduce a counter-revolutionary spirit, in every department, thereby to influence the elections in favour of its adherents, and to prepare a strength for their support, Such was the confidence of the royalists, since last Pluviose (January 1797), that on the discovery of the conspiracy of Dunan, Villeharnois, and Brottier, its audacity bad encreased, in proportion as their de signs became more manifest. Never did any conspirators, so fully convicted by their own writings and confessions, find more apologists, supporters and protectors, who did not hesitate to evince the lively interest which they took in their cause. By the numbers, that constituted the opposition in the councils, it was clear, that in the plurality of the departments, the elections for the new third were the work of this party. The sentiments and conduct of these new deputies, fully shewed it; and the declarations of Dunan confirmed all that had been said of the intrigues and machinations of the royalists, throughout every part of the republic. The directory next enumerated the various complaints that had filled the addresses to them from the armies, and their own messages to the coun cils. They concluded by exhorting the nation to confide in its rulers, and rely upon their patriotism and their abilities, for the accomplishment of those objects for which it had toiled so long, and made se many sacrifices. Such were nearly the expressions, as well as the substance of the directorial addresses to the metropolis and the departments. As the majority was decidedly favourable to the republican party, the conduct of the directory met with general applause |