m2) . ANNUAL 
that so false and infamous an asser- 
tion had not been duly noticed, and 
the author brought to condign pu- 
nishment ? 
Those addresses, he said, were 
at present directed against the le- 
gislative body ; but others would 
soon be levelled at the directory it- 
self, ‘* Wretched, he exclaimed, 
was that authority, which” required 
the support of bayonets. Military 
violence always concluded by anni- 
hilating the power it had establish- 
ed,” These addresses, he noticed, 
bad been formally authenticated, 
and officially transmitted to several 
administrations, and divisions of the 
army, and yet this, it had been sur- 
mised, was not a deliberation. 
The constitution, he observed, 
had strictly prohibited addresses in 
the collective name of an armed 
body. The more services generals 
and soldiers rendered to their coun- 
try, the more vigilance ought to, be 
exerted in guarding against their at- 
tempts upon the constitution. Ina 
rising republic especially, troops 
should not be permitted to act as if 
they had conquered for themselves 
only. Were this to be suffered, sol- 
diers would soon obey their generals 
alone, and never their country. 
It had been attempted, he said, 
to persuade the conquerors of Italy, 
that a system. of proscription. had 
been adopted against them. But who 
could believe that such an absur- 
dity was either practicable or desi- 
rable ? Was therea Frenchman who 
did not exult in the heroic actions 
of men who so deseryedly com. 
manded, the gratitude of their coun. 
try, and had covered, with’a veil of 
glory, the dreadful events that had. 
tarnished the revolution? ; 
The spirit of faction, he asserted, 
had, in consequence of these ad- 
REGISTER, 
due subjection? 
1797. 
dresses, introduced the language of 
anarchy into the camps. It had in- 
sinuated itself into the retreats pro- 
vided" for disabled warsiors. The 
minds of men were heated, and 
disselution and destruction were the 
discourse of the day :: and» yet 
the government remained passive. 
«© Awaken, therefore, he exclaim: 
ed, ye legislators, watch for your- > 
selves and the public. Directors, 
generals, and. soldiers, bow your. 
selves before ihe will of the, peo- 
ple. The legislative body will ne- 
ver balance with its duty. -It is 
inaccessible, to fear, and will never 
submit to menace.” 
Addressing himself ‘to the coun- 
cil, “* Your committee will not, he 
said, humble itself in replying to 
the calumnies propagated by your 
enemies. A legislative body, that 
is not accusable, ought nat to jus- | 
tify itself. It must be judged by 
acts, We shall speak the truth to 
the directory, and we shall speak it 
to the people.” 
Complaints were made, he next 
observed, of the insolence of. priests 
and of emigrants :-to this he would 
answer, that liberty of conscience 
and of worship, while submission 
was paid to the laws, was.a principle 
maintained by all philosophers, and 
particularly consecrated by the con- 
stitution of .the French: republie, 
in opposition to the claims of a re- 
ligion, that pretended to-an ex- 
clusive establishment, and to exe 
tinguish the rights of all others. 
As to the emigrants, did”not the 
laws repecting them continue? 
Did not those Jaws place in» the 
hands of the directory, the most ac- 
tive, the most powertul, the most ar- 
bitrary, means of keeping them in — 
It had also been 
complained,, he said, that noted 
3 emigrants | 
