214 
fits of the social life urder the ad- 
ministration founded on the: prin- 
ciples of freedom and equality.— 
See here, citizens, the great end 
that a good man ought perpetually 
to have before his eyes; and he, 
who has other views, whether he 
be placed in the senate, whether he 
labour in anothersphere, or whether 
he be in a private situation (the 
most enviable, doubtless, of a!l siru- 
ations} plays, under the mask of pa- 
triotism, the part of an hypocrite, 
and a deceiver of the peopie. 
But how to attain this end! No 
method more likely than to shew 
on the one hand, grandeur and ge- 
nerosity with respect to the past; 
on the other, to be severe and in- 
exorable to all attempts against 
freedom and the supremacy of the 
people. Citizens, philosophers of 
ail nations and ages have invariably 
judged, that when civil dissentions 
are over, the conquering party has 
always been guilty of injastice, 
when it has thought worthy of 
punishment actions which the chiefs 
“of the conquered party have done 
to maintain their cause, ‘and has, 
in consequence of these principles, 
set on foot a general persecution,— 
Actors, wich are at all times cri- 
minal; ations, which are morally 
bad, ind pendently of all polit:. 
cal reiations, and consequently al- 
ways punishable, are then the ently 
ones that can, * according to the 
principles of justice, be taken into 
consideration. ‘These are also the 
only, actions which a- righteous 
judge, whose judgment ought not 
to be’ directed by any influence of 
political passions, will esteem cri- 
minal and worthy of punishment ; 
and not those aétions which we at 
pretent most justly consider as high 
Ty pemicious, but which haye been 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1795s 
committed under the eyes, and with 
the plenary approbation of the pre- 
ceding government. ? 
If we. reject these principles, 
thers is no longer security for any 
human a¢fion; and Jet it not be 
dissembled, that he who preaches 
a contrary doétrine, proclaims in 
eff-& the sight of the strongest; 
andconsequently the favouriteright 
of tyrants. 
Let none imagine, citizens, that 
the true interest of the nation can, 
either im this point of veiw, or in 
any other, differ [rom the rules of 
justice, Neverdothe truz interests 
of a nation exact the slightest de. 
viation from the rules of justice 
and good faith, under whatsoever 
retext. Our country will support 
itsclf or be crushed, as it shall” 
adopt or reject these truths. The 
system of terror, already quite ba- 
nished from the French republic, 
cannot be tolerated a single instant 
in that spot of the earth where we 
live; it would sink us- in ruin for 
ever, Our political constitution, 
our local situation, our commercial 
relations, are all circumstances toa 
delicate to support repeated scenes 
of violence and political shocks, 
Cast your eyes, citizens, upon 
the. state of the finaaces of your 
country, of yourcity. Willitnot 
require all the zcal, all the elasticity 
of 4 commefetal nation, to fill your 
exhausted coffers ? But are this zeal 
and this elasticity compatible with 
a system of terror? Doubtless not: 
in bringing to perfection this revo. 
lution, one sort of terror only ought 
to be tolerated: terror to those who 
have the hardiness and malice to 
undertake any thing against the re. 
volution. ‘The mast severe penal. 
ties against such men will be so 
much the more equitable, as our 
condict 
