on merchandize and provisions, and which was considered as impeding the circulation of trade in these articles. But the transaction, which afforded particular satisfaction to the government and people, was an investigation of the state of the national finances; by which it appeared, that the domains which had been declared public property, and were yet unsold, at the commencement of 1795, amounted, on a reasonable calculation, to six hundred millions sterling, a sum exceeding, by two-thirds, the paper-money issued on their security.

The reciprocal hatred, subsisting between the various parties that divided the French nation, had never ceased to manifest itself on all occasions, ever since the commencement of the revolution. It actuated individuals of all classes; it invaded private life no less than it disturbed public transactions; it was chiefly, indeed, on occurrences of this nature, that it broke through all the rules of decency: inflamed by the warmth of party, and that heat of temper characteristic of the French, they gave an unbounded loose to their feelings, and in the vehemence of their unrestrained in vectives, aspersed each other's cha racter with all the malice and in. veteracy of men determined to go every length of word or deed, for the gratification of an enmity that was literally become too big for utterance. Hence the pictures they drew of their antagonists were such as could not fail to hold them out to the public as objects of execration. The most respectable members of every national meeting that had been held, from the constituent as. sembly, to the present convention, had thus been described in the most

odious colours. When engaged in debates, the personal abuse of which they were prodigal to each other, tarnished the splendour of the noblest specimens of eloquence, by the vulgarity of their reciprocal revilings. Such was their attachment to this method of treating each other, that they scrupled not to justify it by the rules of oratory, and by adducing precedents from the practice of the greatest orators of antiquity. The wisest, however, in the convention could not help perceiving, that by this behaviour they lessened the dignity of their station, and lost the respect of the commonalty, who, being continually wit. nesses of these mean altercations, could not retain much reverence for persons who made it their business to defame each other. This licen tiousness of speech was at this time carried so far, that some of the most discreet among them, thought it in. dispensably necessary that it should be forthwith restrained, lest from language, they should, in the intemperance of their unguarded effusions, proceed to such actions as might ex> pose them to absolute derision, and annihilate their authority, already weakened by these reiterated proofs of so much levity and indiscretion. It was therefore proposed and agreed, that if any member of the convention used abusive language to another, in the course of argument or discussion of any subject, he should be liable to imprisonment. So use ful a regulation, it was observed, ought to have passed long ago, and would probably have prevented much evil, by the restraint it would. have put on men's passions, and obviated those resentments which harsh expressions never fail to produce, and which are frequently pro

ductive

safety, under the administration of Roberspierre. A decree for this ex. amination was immediately made, and twenty-one members commis. sioned to proceed upon it without farther delay. The four members thus brought forward, were men of eminent abilities, especially Barrere, who had been the great spokesman to the convention, during the triumphant campaign of 1794, and had essentially contributed to that stupendous scheme of raising the people in a mass, for the protection of the country against the coalition, at the time when its successes had occasioned a general alarm for the safety of the republic. Whatever flaws were in his charac. ter, he had always been reputed a zealous republican, and his talents had been warmly exerted in the republican cause. But it was strongly insinuated, that the destruction of Roberspierre would never have been effected, if Barrere and his party in the committee, had been the sole agents. The convention, headed by Tallien and Bourdon de l'Oise, were the real actors in this great business, and Barrere, with his associates, were at best but coadjutors, prompted by motives of personal safety. Both he and Billaud Varennes had been the obsequious and base instruments of Roberspierre's tyranny, and Collot d'Herbois had behaved with such barbarity at Lyons, after its reduction, as to have incurred the general odium. As these imputations were not unfounded they made a strong impres.

sion upon the public; but its indignation was farther excited by the continuance of favour shewn to the principles of terrorism, and particularly by the respect paid to the memory of its first founder, the noted Marat. The remains of this san guinary man had, several months after the death of Roberspierre, been solemnl deposited in the pantheon, by a decree of the convention. This was considered as noequivocal proof, that the spirit of this bloody-minded enthusiast, in the cause of republi. canism, was not yet departed*. Two other circumstances concurred, at the same time, to increase this indignation; the one was a journal pablished by Freron, a man of resolution and abilities, and a determined enemy to the terrorists; the other was a song, called the awakening of the people. The honours paid the memory of Marat were severely noticed in both, as well as the partiality to his atrocious maxims. In a tumultuous insurrection, his ashes were removed, and his bust defaced or broken to pieces. The Parisians, who had been remarkable sufferers under the murderous system lately destroyed, displayed a marked readiness to oppose it; and those members of the convention who were of the same mind, gladly perceived, that they would be powerfully supported, whenever assistance might be needed.

After two months' examination into the conduct of the denounced

members, it was declared, that they

had been accessary to the tyranny that had been exercised over the people, and the convention. To the courage of this body the downfall of oppression was due. The accused members alleged, in their exculpation, that Roberspierre and St. Just were the authors of the atrocities committed by the orders issued under their direction; but why did not the members remonstrate against those orders? why did they not refuse to sign them? Roberspierre had absented himself forty days from the committee, and St. Just was gone to the armies, and yet these members issued those orders. Such was the substance of the reports presented to the convention, in the beginning of March, by the commissioners it had appointed for that purpose.

These were heavy and grievous charges, and not ill-founded, in the apprehension of those who reflected on the intimacy that had subsisted between Roberspierre and those members who were ostensibly the direct and immediate agents under him: but they asserted in their de fence, that the jacobin club, and the revolutionary tribunal, were, in conjunction with him, the real actors in whatever he directed. Dumas, president of the revolution. ary tribunal, and Coffinhall, a head of the jacobins, concerted with him all his measures; the committees were passive, and unable to oppose them; the convention alone was equal to such a task the tyran. nical laws, that gave almost absolute power to Roberspierre,, and empowered him to shed so much blood, had never been discussed in the committee, and were carried to the convention by him and Couthon,

as soon as they had framed them.. It were hard to impeach the committee for the crimes of the deputies to the different departments, for those committed by the two hun. dred and fifty thousand members of the revolutionary committees throughout France, or for the creation of six popular commissions, for which Roberspierre obtained a decree from the convention. The committee threw as many obstacles and delays as they were able in the formation of these commissions. Roberspierre compelled the framing of two, which fortunately came too late for his purposes.

The case of the denounced members was ably argued by Carnot and Lindet, who had been their colleagues in the committee of public safety, under Roberspierre. During his empire, said they, every man trembled for his safety, and all his commands were implicitly obeyed. None of those members of the convention, who so inexorably condemned the obnoxious members, would probably have dared to act otherwise than they did, driven by compulsion, and unable to resist. The generality of men allowed these reasonings to be valid. Notwithstanding that they looked on the accused members as implicated in the criminal conduct of Roberspierre, still they absolved them of his atrocious designs, and were willing to consider them as acquiescent in his orders, merely from the total inability to prevent their execution, and from the dread of becoining instantly the victims of their disobedi