HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
Europe, would permit them to suc 
ceed in their treasonable proceed- 
ings? 
They had, indeed, advanced a 
- ©onsiderable way in the accomplish- 
ment of their designs. They were 
on the point of subverting the com- 
monwealth, and re-establishing mo- 
narchy. To this intent the consti- 
fution was reviled, and its assertors 
vilified throughout the interior, by 
those swarms of traitors, whose un- 
lawful return to their country was 
_basely and perfidiously connived at, 
ainder the pretence of lenity, by 
_those false representatives of the 
_ people, who had, through fraudulent 
_ practices, obtained seats in the le- 
gislature, in order the more securely 
to betray their constituents. 
_ Whilepeaceable citizens, at home, 
- were thus insulted and terrified, 
the armies abroad were consigned 
to neglect, and the want of all ne- 
| cessaries : it being a part of the sys- 
tem pursued, by those treacherous 
legislators, to letthem imperceptibly 
moulder away. Their pay was 
-avithheld, they were denied clothing, 
' and they were compelled; by hun- 
_ ger, to extort the means of existence 
from the inhabitants of the coune 
tries where they were quartered ; 
however disgraceful this might be 
to their character, as it was certainly 
highly regugnant to their feelings. 
_ Nor were the hospitals attended to. 
‘Their sick and wounded brethren 
- were snffered to die for want of due 
are. Was this the remuneration 
fortheir toils and hardships? Could 
. place any dependance, after. 
treatment, on the magnificent 
romises made to the armies, 
when the period of their labours 
' should arrive? Would the thousand 
millions, to be set apart for the de- 
mders of the republic, be forth« 
a 
y 
6 
[67 
coming at the restoration of peace, 
as the legislature had solemnly 
pledged itself they should, previously 
to all other considerations? But 
what inducement had thy to expect 
any such recompense from men who 
hated the republic, and employed 
all cheir thoughts in devising the 
means to destroy it? Objects, far 
different from the security of free- 
dom, took up the attention of the 
councils. That love of liberty, which 
characterized the former assem- 
blies of the republic, was totally 
extinguished. The constitution and 
the rights of the people had lost 
their importance, and were now cuc- 
ceeded by discussicns unworthy the 
notice of men, whose time ought to 
be dedicated to subjects of public 
utility. Instead of attending tothe 
exigencies and pressures of the state, 
to the exhausted condition of the 
finances, to the insurrections suc- 
cessively breaking out, to the ma- 
chinations of foreign agents, endeas 
vouring every where to mislead the 
public mind, they. were busied in 
matters of superstition. More than 
twentysittings of the council of five 
hundred had ‘been devoted to the 
hearing of reports on emigrarts, on 
priests, and on bells. Was such bi- 
gotry to beendured ? Was it in con 
templation to re-establish the mass, 
and cther religious absurdities, and 
to impose anew upon ignorance and 
credulity ? Those who inculcated a 
reverence for such things were 
known, at the same time, to be the 
most irreconcileable enemies to civil 
freedom ; yet they had been re- 
‘called, by an express decree, and pers 
mitted to preach their pernicious 
doctrines. 
They bitterly complained of the 
disrespect with which they had been 
occasionally treated, and of the ab- 
[F 2] herrence 
, 
