~_ 
260 
duced to mix with his assassins by 
their desire to preserve his life ; 
and that motive may suffice to en- 
sure their pardon, But those mis- 
creants, whose sacrilegious tongues 
dared to pronounce the fatal sen- 
tence, all those who co-operated in 
and were the direct and irmmedi- 
ate instruments of his death; the 
members of that tribunal of blood, 
which, after having given the ca- 
pital the signal, and set it the ex- 
ample of judicial massacres, crown- 
ed their atrocious deeds by send- 
ing their queen to the scaffold; a 
queen still more exalted in her pri- 
son than upon her throne ; a prin- 
cess, whom heaven had formed to 
be the finished model of every vir- 
tne! all these monsters, whom pos- 
7 “, * . 
terity will never name without hore: 
ror, are devoted by the general 
wish of the French to the punish. 
ment which their crimes deserve, 
That sentiment which leads us 
to confine the vengeance of the 
law within such narrow bounds, 
ds acertain pledge to you that we 
avill never tolerate any atts of pri- 
vate revenge. Therefore, dismiss 
every apprehension which the idea 
of being exposed to such revenge 
anay have excited. 
‘The faithful princes of our house 
have the same principles, the same 
affetions, and the same views with 
ourself: you areas dear to them as 
tous: like us, they are only anxious 
to see the end of your sufferings. 
The only object of their labours, 
as well as of ours, is your deliver- 
ance; and if, in. these days of 
mourning and of <crimes,  Provi- 
-dence should have doomed us to 
perish successively by rebellious 
hands, you would see the sceptre 
pass from one to the other, with- 
out ‘perceiving the smallest altera- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 179s. 
tion in the exercise of the royal 
authority. 
Those Frenchmen who have re- 
mained among their countrymen 
to set them an example of unshaken 
fidelity, will only pity those who 
have not had the resolution to imi- 
tate their conduct; and that un- 
changeable virtue which they have 
opposed to the torrent ef corrup- 
tion, will not be debased by crimi- 
nalanimosity. “Those ministers of 
a God of peace who have only fled 
from the violence of persecution 
to preserve your religious faith, 
filled with the zeal that enlightens, 
with the charity that forgives, wilk 
teach, as well by their prattice as 
their precepts, oblivion of injuries 
and the love of their enemies,— 
Could you possibly fear that they 
would tarnish the immortal splens 
dour which their generous condutt, 
and the blood of so many martyrs, 
have reflected on. the Gallican 
church? Our magistrates, who have 
ever been distinguished for their in- 
tegrity in the administration of jus- 
tice, will set an example of obe- 
dience to the laws, whose ministers 
they are. Inaccessible to the pas- 
sions which it is their duty to re- 
press, they will, by a due exertion 
of impartial firmness, give effect to 
those sentiments with which cle. 
mency inspires us. The nobility, 
who have only left their country 
thé better to defend it; who have 
only drawn their swords in the firm 
persuasion that they were fighting 
for France, and not against it; who 
offer you assistance even at the time 
when duty compells them to fight 
you ; who oppose to the attacks of 
calumny their firmness in adversity, 
intrepidity in battle, humanity in 
the moment) of vittory, and their 
invincible attachment to the prin- 
ciples 
