HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



149 



iernct it, and preserve fus- Credit with the People. He procures the PasS' 

 ing of three fopular Decrees; one for the speedy Payment (f Prize 

 Money to Seamen, — the Second, to prevent the Importation of forged 

 Assignats, — theThird, to encourage Miiitary Merit, — and the Fourth, 

 for the Relief of the Poor, and People in Distress. Progress of the Party 

 forming against Robespierre. His Conduct at this Crisis. Speech of the 

 Jacobin Club. Designs ofivhich he is suspected. Proscriptions intended by 

 him. Conduct of the Party fo-rmed against him. Obliged to temporiz-e. 

 Denunciation presented by the Jacobins to the Convention, at the Insti' 

 gation of Robespierre. He makes a Speech in the Convention against his 

 Enemies and Opposers. He is resolutely opposed bi/ the Majority of the 

 Convention. PUs Cause violently espoused by the Jacobins. Presumptuoui 

 Address of St. Just to the Convention. Speeches and Behaviour of Tallien, 

 of Billaud Varcunes, a7id of Barrere. 



DURING the campaign of 

 1793, and the first months of 

 that of 1794, the uncertainty of 

 the good or bad fortune ultimately 

 awaiting the arras of France, siis- 

 pended all sensations and fears but 

 those which related to the subjuga- 

 tion or independence of the French. 

 Resolved not to impede those plans 

 that had been formed, and were 

 DOW in a stage of execution for the 

 common defence, Frenchmen felt 

 only for the safety of the country; 

 convinced that any don^estic, how- 

 ever severe, was preferable to a fo- 

 reign tyranny. To this motive, aid- 

 ed by the ensuing prosperity of 

 their armies, may be attributed the 

 patience with which they submitted 

 to the load of hardships and incon- 

 veniences of all kinds oppressing 

 tliem at home, and particularly to 

 tiie extreme severity of their go- 

 vernment. But when the dangers 

 they apprehended from a foreign 

 enemy began to vanish, and they 

 were totally delivered from the 

 dread of becoming a comjuered na- 

 tion, they began also to turn their 

 attention to their domestic situa- 

 tion ; and though they continued 

 their obedience to the ruling pow- 

 pr? that had steered them through 

 the bjLorm, they likev/iic viewed 



their conduct at home with a more 

 observant and criticising eye. 

 Though this change iii tije dispo- 

 sition of the public did not imme- 

 diately manifest itself in a glaring 

 manner, yet it was very perceptible 

 to attentive observers, and accele- 

 rated those measures that had been 

 some time in preparation among 

 that party wdiich, though checked 

 and intimidated by the fall of seve- 

 ral on whose co-operation they had 

 depended, still continued in the de- 

 termination to put a stop to the 

 progress of the present .system, as 

 soon as an opportunity ottered of 

 attempting it without evident ha- 

 zard of ruin. 



This party consisted of the most 

 able and resolute men in the Con- 

 vention ; they read their own des- 

 tiny in that of Danton, Camille 

 Dcsmoulins, andFahred'Eglantine. 

 No members gf that body had ser- 

 ved him with more efficacy. To the 

 first he owed his primary elevation 

 to power ; and had long been sup- 

 ported by his great courage and 

 capacity. The wit and address of 

 the second, and the unwearied ac- 

 tivity of the third, were well known, 

 and had occasionally enabled him 

 to overcome great opposition, and 

 to overthrow very dangerous ene- 



L y mies. 



