182 The Abbé Sicard. 
people. Kings seem yet to have to learn, 
that their interests. and that of the peo- 
ple, are one and the same; and that the 
only separate interest is in the go-betweens, 
or in those who, for their own purposes, 
seek to maintain a constant jealousy be- 
tween the head and body of the state. 
Of the. domestic character of the de- 
parted minister, every account agrees in 
representing it as most amiable. He ap- 
pears to have been an affectionate hus- 
band anda kind master, and these qualities 
‘seem to prove, that the actions of his life 
were the result of his convictions, and not 
stimulated by mere servility or ambition. 
Over his honest convictions he could have 
no controul; at the same time it is to be 
lamented, that he and his colleagues, and 
all the members, agents, and friends of the 
holy alliance, have not the good sense to 
discover that, until their measures keep 
pace in liberality with the improved 
knowledge of mankind, resulting from the 
printing: press, they and mankind will live 
in a state either of perpetual discord, or 
open warfare, 
[Lately at Paris, 80, the Abbé Sicard, the 
humane director of the Deaf and Dumb 
Institution, at ‘Paris. He was born at 
Touseret, near Toulouse, in 1742, in 
which latter city he went through his stu- 
dies with considerable reputation; and, 
when of sufficient age, he became an ec- 
clesiastic, to the duties of which profession 
he at first entirely devoted his attention, 
and became vicar-general of Condour, 
canon of Bordeaux, and member of the 
Academy Of Sciences in that city; but 
these he afterwards relinquished, to make 
himself more useful in another sphere. 
M. de Cicé, Archbishop of Bordeaux, 
having formed a design of establishing a 
school for the deaf and dumb in his dio- 
cese, determined to give the direction of it 
to the Abbé Sicard, and, for this purpose, 
sent him to Paris to learn the system of 
the celebrated Abbe de l’Epée. 
On his return to Bordeaux the school 
was formed, and one of-his first pupils was 
Massieu, then of age, whose astonishing 
progress afterwards contributed so much 
to increase the reputation of his master. 
On the death of the Abbé de l’Epeée, in 
1789, he was called to succeed him in the 
direction of the establishment at Paris. 
After being examined by a board com- 
posed of members selected from the three 
academies, he was appointed without op- 
position. ‘The institution had hitherto de- 
pended for support on the liberality of in- 
dividuals, and the private funds of the 
Abbé de l’Epeé, who had dedicated his en- 
tire fortune to its maintenance. But the 
government, convinced of its excellence, 
determined to perpetuate it for the benefit 
of posterity: ample funds were assigned 
for this purpose ; the couvent for Celestin 
monks, which had been suppressed seve- 
[Sept. 1, 
ral years before the revolution, was appro- 
priated by the king for its residence. 
In 1792, the Abbé Sicard was induced 
to take the oath of liberty and equality, 
which, however, did not protect him from 
the rigours which followed the 10th of 
Angust. He was arrested on the 26th of 
that month, in the midst of his pupils, 
while engaged in a task that would have 
excited the respect and admiration of any 
other persons than those who were impli- 
cated in the scenes which at this time dis- 
graced the national character of France ; 
he was conducted to the committee of his 
section at the arsenal, and afterwards to 
the mayoralty. The deaf and dumb pu- 
pils petitioned the assembly for the release 
of their humane and respected master ; 
upon which the minister of the interior was 
ordered to make a report of the motives 
of his arrest, which, however, was never 
made. The abbé was retained prisoner at 
the mayoralty until the 2nd Sept. whenhe 
was sent back to the Abbey with several 
other prisoners. These removals were 
known at that time to be but a signal fora 
massacre of the unhappy prisoners. . In 
fact, most of those who were removed with 
the abbe were murdered on their arrival 
at the Abbey; he himself would have suf- 
fered the same fate, had not Monnat, a 
watchmaker, covered him with his body ; 
he was detained prisoner at the Abbey, in 
constant apprehension of a violent death, 
surrounded by murderous executioners, 
and the victims of their rage. In conse- 
quence of many efforts made in his favour, 
he was, on the 4th Sept. conducted from 
the Abbey to the National Assembly, 
where he made a speech, which was pub- 
lished in the newspapers. He gave a de- 
tailed account of the dangers he encoun- 
tered on this occasion, in the first volume 
of his Religious Annals. 
After the abbé was liberated and re- 
stored to his pupils, he was as much at 
ease as could be expected during the 
reign of terror. In tic beginning of 
1796, he joined the Abbé Jauffret in com- 
piling the Religious, Political, and Literary 
Annals, but they published only the first 
eighteen numbers, and left the compilation 
of the remainder to the Abbé de Bologne. 
The Abbé Sicard alone continued to in- 
terest himself in this undertaking, and 
signed the numbers sometimes with his 
own name, and at others with the auagram 
Dracis, by which designation he was com- 
prised after the 18th Fructidore, in the ba- 
nishment of the Gazeteers, and condemned 
to transportation by the Directory. 
He did not, however, go to Guienne, 
having found means to conceal himself in 
the Faubourg St. Marceau; he endea- 
voured from his retreat to soften the re- 
sentment of the directors, by protestations 
of submission to the established govern- 
ment, It is said that he was even weak 
enough 
