142 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



An apology for the enormities 

 of the French at this time, com- 

 monly made by their friends and 

 abettors, for such they had in our 

 own as well as in other countries, 

 is so singular, and truly character- 

 istic of the insanity of party-rage, 

 that it is worthy of being recorded. 

 It was said that the excesses were 

 no more than proportionable to 

 their former oppressions ; and the 

 vicious habits and dispositions they 

 manifested, were only the natural 

 traits of an education under despo- 

 tism ; but that they or their des- 

 eendaiits would be better members 

 of society, when they 'should be 

 ameliorated by a republican go- 

 vernment : so that the very atro- 

 cities committed by the Jacobins, 

 were brought to bear against the 

 fabric of the ancient monarchy. 



The world at the same time ou^ht 

 to be reminded, that all these evils 

 were produced by tyranny j which, 

 whether in the hands of one or of 

 many, never fails completely to 

 subdue the noblest feelings and pro- 

 pensities of nature. Nations great 

 and illustrious, when crushed by 

 tyranny, have lost all those lofty 

 sentiments and splendid quahties 

 that dignify mankind, and induce 

 the most mortal enemies to regu/rd 

 each other with a degree of esteem 

 and respect. Long before the 

 French, the Romans had given the 

 most terrible examples of a murder- 

 ' ous disposition, contracted by men 

 exalted to despotic power through 

 civil commotions; and of the ser- 

 vility and abjectness to which they 

 had reduced mar.kind by their op- 

 pressions and cruelties. Were it not 

 that history had recorded them in 

 too circumstantial and authentic a 

 manner to be denied, they might 

 be justly reputed the fabrications 



of calumny and of rancour against 

 the victorious party. 



In the mean time, the situation of 

 the people, if credit may be given 

 to persons of veracity, and to ac- 

 counts not suspected of inclining 

 to falsehood, was wretched and mi- 

 serable in the extreme. Notwith- 

 standing the general poverty and 

 hard course of living to which the 

 French had been long habituated, 

 the vulgar now complained that 

 their condition was become intole- 

 rable. They laboured under the 

 want of the commonest necessaries. 

 Of bread, their chief and almost 

 only support, there was almost a 

 continu:il scarcity : meat was at an 

 exorbitant price ; and every other 

 article of sustenance and neces- 

 sity, fuel especially, of constant dif- 

 ficulty to procure. \\'Tien, urged 

 by hunger and the extremes of 

 domestic distress, they laid their 

 piteous case before their hard- 

 hearted rulers, they were bid to 

 think of the victories and gloiy of 

 the republic ; and manfully to en- 

 dure their sufferings, while they 

 conduced to such noble ends. — 

 True patriots, they were told, 

 ought cheerfully to submit to tem- 

 porary inconveniences for the ho- 

 nour and v/eliare of their coun- 

 try. 



If such was the language held 

 to their acknowledged adherents, 

 well might those who pleaded for 

 compassion to the suspected, meet 

 with the sharpest reception. A 

 great number of women whose 

 husbands, brothers, or sons had been 

 arrested or thrown into jail, ap- 

 plied with the utmost humility to 

 the Convention for their pity to 

 those unhappy individuals ; but 

 their entreaties and tears made no 

 impression on the callous breast of 

 Robespierre. * 



