STATE PAPERS. 



187 



vessel of the republic, beaten so oft 

 by the tempest, tonrhes at lenglh 

 upon the shoie. Beware how you 

 repulse it once more among the 

 breakers. Permit it to approach the 

 port, ]»res3ing willi a tranquil course 

 an obedient ocean, in the midst of 

 the transports of a people free, 

 happy^ and triumphant. 



Proclamation end decree of the na- 

 tional convention to all those ivlio 



did yon reject the liehts that were 

 held out to you, to embrace a mi-^- 

 chevious phantom ? Why would 

 you prefer masters to brothers, and 

 the torches of fanaticism to tlif; 

 flambeau of reason ? May your eyes 

 at length be opened, and an eiui 

 puttoso many calaniJtiesl Weaken- 

 ed by re])eated losses, disunited and 

 scattered, without any other re- 

 source than despair, you still may 

 have an asylum in the generosity of 



the nation.- Yes, your brothers, tiie 

 have takt-n part in the revolt in the French people, are still inclined to 

 dfpartinents uf thcwcst, the coasts think you niore misled than culpa- 



of Brest, and the coasts of Chcr- 

 lourg. 



FOR two years your country has 

 bcsn a prey to the horrors of 

 civil war. Those fertile plains, 

 which appeared designed by na- 

 ture to be the abode of happiness, 

 are become the residence of pro- 



ble ; their arms are stretched out to 

 you, and the national convention 

 pardons you in their name, if you 

 lay down your arms, and if repen- 

 tance and a sincere attachment urge 

 you to fraternize with them. Their 

 word is sacred ;. and, if unfaithful 

 delegates have abuseil their confi- 

 deuce and your's, justice shall be 

 ecription and carnage. The courage executed on them. Thus the re- 

 ef our countrvmen is turned against p;:blic, equally terrible towards its 



themselves. 'I'he flames devour 

 their habitations, and the earth, 

 covered with ruins and with em- 

 blems of mourning, refuses even a 

 subsistence to the survivors. Such 

 are. Frenchmen, the wounds wliich 

 have been inflicted on our cotuiiry 

 by pride and imposture. Wicked 

 men have abused your inexperic.ce: 

 it was in the name of a righteous 

 God that thev furnished you with 

 parricidal aims ; it w.:s in the nam" 

 of humanity that they devoted to 

 death thousands of victmis j it was 

 in the name of virtue that they 

 drew together a band of wretches 

 from every corner of France — that 

 they made it the receptacle of 

 monsters voiniled out of every 

 countrv. What blood has been sa- 

 trificed to the best of 



enemies wit inn, as \\ithout, is 

 highly gralihed by recalling its mis- 

 guided cliildren ! lake advantage of 

 its clemency, aad hasten to return 

 into the bosom of your country. 

 The authors of all your misfortunes 

 are those who have seduced you. 



It is time that the eneinies of 

 Fr-nce should cease to he gratified 

 by the spectacle of our iniern:il dis- 

 sentions; they alonesmileatyuur mis- 

 fortunes-, they alone proht of liiera: 

 it is necessary to defeat tlieir impi- 

 ous i lans. Turn against tliem those 

 arms they have supplied you vi'ilh 

 for our destruction. Are the ties of 

 nature dissolved ; and has the blood 

 of the Fnglibh pa^^scd into your 

 veins ? Would you massacre the 

 families of your brother-conquerors 

 of Europe, rather than unite your- 

 aijJ yon, whom they deluded, wliy selves to them, and partake of tiieir 



glory ? 



t.ominions 



