310 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797. 
tion bow at the feet of the king it 
has fubdued. In affairs of ftate, 
extreme meafures can be eftimated 
by circumftances alone: you will 
form a judgment of thofe which 
have determined the Executive Di- 
rectory, and which have produced 
the happieft confequences. The 
18th Fructidor (September 4) will 
be a celebrated day in the annals of 
France ; it is the more memorable 
becaufe it enables you to fix for 
ever the deftinies of the Republic. 
Lay hold of this occafion, Citizens 
Reprefentatives; convert it into a 
great epoch, reanimate patriotifm, 
revive public fpirit, and haften to 
clofe up the abyfs in which the 
friends of kings had flattered them- 
felves they would bury even the re- 
membrance of our liberty. 
P.S. The Executive Directory 
will tranfmit to you without delay 
other papers, from which it refults 
that Imbert Colomes, one of the 
new third of the Council of Five 
Hundred, was the principal agent 
of the /oi-difant Louis XVIII, at 
Lyons. 
Another Meffage, dated Sept. 5, V797. 
Citizens Reprefentatives, 
THE 18th Fruétidor (Sept. 4) is 
deftined to be the falvation both of 
the Republic and of yourfelves. 
The people expect this. You wit- 
neffed yefterday their tranquillity 
and their joy. This day is the 
19th Fructidor (Sept. 5) and the 
people afk of you where the Re- 
public is, and what you have done 
for iis confolidation? The eye of 
the country, Citizen Reprefenta- 
tives, looks towards you. The 
moment is decifive; if you allow 
it to pafs by, if you hefitate on the 
meafures which are to be taken, if * 
you put off your degifion for a mo- 
ment, all will be loft, both you and 
the Republic. The confpirators 
have been upon the watch. Your 
filence has given them courage and 
audacity; they are intriguing afrefh, 
and are mifleading public opinion 
by infamous libels. The journa- 
lifts of Blackenbourg and London 
continue to diffeminate their poi- 
fon. The confpirators do not at- 
tempt to conceal the fact, that their 
plot extends to the legiflative body 
itfelf. They already {peak of pun- 
ifhing the republicans for the com- 
mencement of the triumph they 
think they have obtained. Is it 
poflible to hefitate ftill as to the 
meafure of purging the foil of the 
very few known and avowed chiefs - 
of thefe royalift confpirators, who 
wait for the convenient opportuni- 
to deftroy the Republic, and to de- 
vour you yourfelves! You are at 
the brink of the volcano ; it is about 
to {wallow you up; you may clofe 
it; and can you hefitate? To- 
morrow it will be too late. The’ 
leaft hefitation is the death of the 
Republic. You will be told of 
principles ; formalities will be re- 
forted to; excufes will be invented; 
delays will be called for; time will 
be gained ; and the conftitution will 
be aflaffinated, under pretext of 
keeping within its limits, This 
commiferation, implored in favour 
of certain men, to what will it lead 
you? to fee thefe very men take 
out of your hands the thread of 
their criminal confpiracies, and col- 
le& in your bofom the horrible fire- 
brands of civil war, to fet fire to 
the country. What a mifconceiv- 
ed pity! what a fatal fentiment ! 
what limited views would, in that 
cafe, draw the attention of the 
councils,, 
