STATE PAPERS. 
coriducét with respeét to the past 
shall be noble and generous. 
It isa great mistake, citizens, to 
compare the circumstances of France 
in the course of her revolution, with 
our’s. It was not in France a spi- 
rit of revenge for the crimes com- 
mitted under the old government 
which occasioned these repeated 
scenes of terror; but the violent 
Opposition to the revolution itself 
which occasioned the necessity of a 
proportionable vigilance to crush all 
conspiracies. But whatopposition, 
citizens, have we to expect? if a 
Wise and just 2dministration com- 
pletes this revolution, is not the 
doétrine of freedom and equality 
so amiable in itself, so deeply graven 
in our nature, that it will soon pe- 
netrate all hearts with irresistible 
energy? Will not all who have 
been misled by court artifices re. 
turnfrom theirerror? Letus shew 
by fats, that a democratical go. 
vernment, well ordered, is not only 
possible, but that it is the sole form 
of government that accords with 
the dignity of man; and soon will 
this order of things be established 
by universal consent upon the surest 
foundations. Let us prove the 
falsehood of all the rumours that 
have been spread among the mul. 
titude, whether they proceed (O 
shame!) from the chair, or from 
the bosom of the councils, and soon 
will the multitude itself despise its 
seducers. Slander painted the doc- 
trine of freedom and equality, as 
the immediate source of confusion, 
_and the grave of religion. Bur, 
citizens, where will slander now 
hide her head, when every citizen 
is protected in his person, in his 
property ; and when the gates of 
the temples are open to every one,’ 
that he may adore our common 
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215 
father in the manner to which he 
is prompted by the feelings of his 
heart ? 
These are the lively effects of a 
wise and philosophic policy, which 
can and ought happily to accom. 
plish thé revolution. All the po- 
litical dissentions, all the revolu- 
tions that have taken place in this 
state since its origin, vanish before 
so interesting a revolution as the 
present. ‘I'hey were only disputes 
between party and party; trials of 
skill for the most part between 
knaves and knaves; in which the 
people had no part to play but the 
part of thedupe. To-day it is the 
cause of the people itself in whieh 
we labour, in which you all ought 
tolabour. ‘To-day it is not a fac. 
tion, but the nation herself, who 
is victorious. We must dire& our 
views, not to the welfare of a few 
despots, but to the happiness of the 
whole nation. 
Let us then always, citizens, con- 
sider our revolution under this im- 
portant regard. Let us endeavour 
to give it such a direction that it 
shall be in vain to seek to foment 
new political dissentions; let the 
example of our deposed despots be 
to us a lesson to avoid the base as 
well as fhe impotitic faults they 
havecommitted. Have theirsense- 
less persecutions made the prisons 
of this country cry for vengeance, 
and the complaints of the Dutch 
become fugitives in all parts of the 
world, call forth curses upon their 
administration? Let us make it our 
gory to convince Europe, that it 
is the Dutch nation, and not a fac- 
tion, that now triumphs; that it 
is the cause of freedom and equa. 
lity, not the spirit of revenge ana 
destruction; in short, that sound 
policy now reigns on one side to 
Jae make 
