144 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



and represent their strength and va- 

 lour as fit to contend with the 

 com'iined power of the universe. 

 It v.as by re p-^sentations of this 

 tind that Ru espierre had so fre- 

 quently confirmed his popularity, 

 and gained the applause of the 

 Parisians, who were peculiarly de- 

 lighted with those affected and 

 bombastic strains of oratory, that 

 filled them with lofty notions, and 

 soothed their national vanity. 



But the speech made by Barrere 

 on the 80th, tended much more 

 directly to inflame the French 

 pgainst the British government. He 

 explicitly attributed to it every 

 sinister attempt against the Conven- 

 tion ; and concluded by moving an 

 address to the French annies, con- 

 ceived in the most rancorous terms. 

 England, he said, was capable 

 of every outrage against humanity> 

 and of every crime towards the re- 

 public : it attacked the rights of 

 nations, and threatened to annihi- 

 late hberty. He exhaled his en- 

 mity to the British monarch in the 

 most unqualified language. He 

 laid a variety of charges to him, 

 which amounted to no more than 

 acts of hostility, committed since 

 France and Great Britain were at 

 war. But the inference he drew 

 was truly savage and inhuman. — 

 Addressing himself to the French 

 soldiers : " When the event of bat- 

 tle," he said, "shall have put in your 

 power either English or Hanove- 

 rians, bring to your remembrance 

 the vast tracks of country that Eng- 

 lish slaves have laid waste ; carry 

 your views to La Vendee, Toulon, 

 Lyons, Landrecy, Martinique, and 

 St. Domingo, places still recking 

 ■with the blood which the atrocious 

 policy of the English lias shed. Do 

 rpt trust to their artful language, 



which is an additional crime, truly 

 worthy of their perfidiouscharacter, 

 and their Machiavelian government. 

 You ought, therefore, republican 

 soldiers, when victory shall put into 

 your power either English or Ha- 

 noverians, to strike : — not one of 

 them ought to return to the trai- 

 torous territory of England, or to 

 be brought into France. Let tli'' 

 Enghsh slaves perish, and let Eu- 

 rope be free." 



Such were the preposterous and 

 contemptible effusions of Barrerc's 

 wrath against the Enghsh ! they 

 afford a genuine specimen of that 

 species of eloquence, and of th'.it 

 veracity of representation, which 

 filled the mouths of the* many 

 declaimers against the English who 

 occasionally started up in the Con- 

 vention. The avidity with whicli 

 those speeches were received by 

 the generality of the French, and 

 even by the Convention itself, doc 

 no honour either to the discrimin; 

 tion or probity of that people. 1 ; 

 betrays an unpardonable readiness 

 to admit as truth whatever may 

 tend to disparage an enemy, and to 

 render him odious. It is much 

 to be lamented, that men are so 

 prone to adopt such measures to , 

 vilify their foes, as are founded 

 upon falsehood and misrepresen- 

 tation. Natural enmity is strong 

 enough between nations, without 

 studying to increase it by means 

 equally base and unwarrantable ; 

 and which men of generous sen- 

 timents in all counti-ies have al- 

 ways condemned, and held in ab- 

 horrence. 



In default of that propriety of 

 behaviour and sentiment, so no- 

 toriously wanting in the Conven- 

 tion, that very class of men whom 

 they sought to pervert by the 



scandalous 



