ISO ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



King. This 'man also declared 

 that while he was at work, the 

 King brought him a bottle of wine ; 

 after drinking which he was seized 

 in a few hours with violent pains, 

 wich terminated in an illne-s that 

 lasted fourteen months, and ren- 

 dered him nnable, ever since, to 

 follow his business. In consequence 

 of his patriotism, in discovering the 

 papers thus concealed, and of bis 

 sufferings and inability to work at 

 his trade, he petitioned for a a sup- 

 port from the Convention. The 

 Convention readily admitted this 

 man's application, and decreed that 

 the depositions he had made, after 

 due examination, should be pre- 

 served in the archives of the Con- 

 vention, as lasting proofs of the 

 wickedness of the late King, and 

 should also be made public to the 

 world, in order to shew him in his 

 proper colours, 



I'his decree proved highly ofFen- 

 '^te to the discerning, as well as 

 hnmane, part of society. The 

 former reprobated it, as founded 

 solely on the testimony of an indi- 

 ■\'idnal interested in framing such a 

 ^declaration. But it accorded so 

 'little with the character of that un- 

 happy monarch, that it was even 

 ■ destitute of plausibility, and carried 

 '•allthemarksof a forgery, either pro- 

 ceeding from Gerniain himself, or 

 suggested to him by others who 

 sought, by his means, to vilify the 

 late King. .The compassionate and 

 ' 'humane 'thonght, (h?.t having expi- 

 ated al} his evi'ors on the scatTold, it 

 was ungeneroiT^'flud inhuman to 

 ■call them back toremembrrince. 

 .-■■^'-^But the filling' powers felt no re- 

 ''iuorsc in pursuing with the ut- 

 ,mo!it virulence, not only monarchy, 

 ■ but every offence committed under 

 that form of government. One of 



the chief abuses that had character- 

 ized the three last reigns, was the 

 oppression of the people by the far- 

 mers-general. The extortions, of 

 which some of them had been 

 guilty, were undeniable, and had 

 been duly proved by a strict exami- 

 nation of their proceedings. Still 

 however it appealed inequitable 

 to the moderate to call them to ac- 

 countformisdemeanours committed 

 under a system of government 

 that was no more ; and of which 

 the delinquencies ought, in good 

 policy, to be forgotten, as the too 

 mercilessprosecuiion of themmight 

 probably tend to make enemies of 

 many, who but for the severities 

 they dreaded, were their past con- 

 duct too strictly scrutinized, would 

 warmly support revolutionary mea- 

 sures. But the enmity of the peo- 

 ple to the very name of Farmers- 

 General, pointed out a road to po- 

 pularity, which was too inviting for 

 the ruling party not to follow, when 

 they felt so deeply the need of the 

 multitude. In compliance with 

 those clamours against the farmers- 

 general, which had been so loud and 

 so universal in Francefor a number 

 of years, and were become in a 

 manner traditional, the Convention, 

 on the 5th of May, passed a decree 

 by whiah they were consigned to the 

 revolutionary tribunal, where many 

 of them were condemned to die, and 

 executed accordingly. 



But these were only ordinary vic- 

 tims of that strict and necessary jus- 

 tice, as it Vv'as now called, which vi- 

 sited withunbiassed impartiality the 

 iniquities of the past as well as of 

 the present day. In order to exhi- 

 bit the most striking specimen of 

 that equality in the inflicting of pu- 

 nishments, to which it was deter- 

 mined to reduce all individuals 



without 



