STAT Bo Pp a-P-E RS. 
the bafenefs: and infamy of’ thofe 
who, in their criminal correfpond- 
ence, and in their audacious ‘libels, 
have dared to paint Frenchmen as 
robbers and ruffians. The confti- 
tition is their fortune; they have 
fealed it with their blood; they 
will not fuffer it to be attacked ; 
Frenchmen have placed it between 
royalty and anarchy, and they know 
how to keep it in its place. 
- “ Oh-ye fathers, mothers, huf- 
bands, children ! whom the remem- 
brance of the misfortunes and the 
difafters of the revolution have ir- 
ritated, confider with affright what 
a horrible revolution they have pre- 
pared for you anew; and may this 
fentiment remove for ever from 
your hearts, thofe barbarous enmi- 
ties, thofe murderous oppofitions, 
which diffolve a nation, and involve 
it ina deluge of calamities! 
“ Citizens, the mifchief unmafk- 
ed will no doubt try to calumniate 
us, and to arm you one againft an- 
other.. Thefe calumnies we def- 
pife, but we cannot defpife your 
peril. We have told you the truth; 
do you examine the intereft of thofe 
who fhall fpeak to you in other lan- 
guage. The legiflative body con- 
jures you to this—repel far from 
you every perfidious infinuation ; 
Tet not England and Auftria tear 
from you the fruits of this laft vic- 
tory, which clofes at length the re- 
volution. Letus gather round the 
conftitution; let us think and feel 
that its fpirit and its letter ought 
never to be feparated. 
“Oh! if after twenty years of 
this civil war, that they wifhed to 
inflict upon us, and of ‘the frightful 
cataftrophes that would be its ne- 
eeflary confequences, a beneficent 
genius were to bring us this confti- 
tution of the third year, with what 
325 
tranfport fhould we not receive it! 
what tears of gratitude would it not 
make us fhed! what neweft hopes 
would it not revive in families re- 
duced to deéfolation!—Well, we 
have it, we poffefs it, let. us learn 
to. preferve it. As to you, French- 
men, it is to your union, it is to 
your confidence, that we are to 
look for encouragement. - Return- 
ing prefently to our ordinary la- 
bours, all our cares will be to clofe 
the wounds which our enemies are 
ftriving to enlarge. The reftora- 
tion of the finances, of commerce, 
of induftry, of agriculture; the fo- 
lace of the indigent claffes, of the 
hofpitals, of the national creditor ; 
the debt of our immortal defenders, 
will demand our firft regards. Peace 
alfo, that confoling peace which is 
acquired by victory, fhall {peedily 
come, and we have the folid hope 
of it; to confolidate all our tri- 
umphs, and to repair all our loffes. 
If, on the contrary, the enemy 
fhould be obftinate, to precipitate 
their own deftruction, may the u- 
nion of our good citizens, may their 
attachment to the conftitution and 
government of the third year, be 
at once their defpair, and the pledge 
of their approaching ruin! 
“  Magiftrates, adminiftrators, 
funétionaries, the voice of your 
country calls you back to your 
pofts. Everywhere in a republic, 
that man is in the field of honour 
who conduéts himfelf as a republi- 
can. Men of letters, you whom 
the defpotifm of calumny reduced 
to filence, re{ume your priftine en- 
ergy; commence your republican 
inftruction; make the coward apo- 
logifts of flavery to, blufh; aid alfo 
the legiflative body and the govern- 
ment; form the manners of the 
nation. 
X 3 s* Frenchmen, 
