150) 
ful body of troops were. sent for, 
which brought them to submission, 
The legion was disbanded, and dis- 
persed into the communes to which 
the men belonged. 
This proved a measure of the most 
fortunate policy.. Incensed at the 
proceedings of government against 
them, the jacobins had formed one of 
the most daring and deeply-planned 
conspiracies that had yet taken place 
among the many which had marked 
this eventful revolution. It was 
conducted with the profoundest se- 
cresy. The conspirators never met 
twice in the same place ; and it was 
hardly possible to trace their mo- 
tions, though their leaders constant- 
ly assembled every day, and govern- 
ment was apprised of the existence 
of a plot. 
The minister of police, Merlin, of 
Douay, a name well known, being 
either ina¢tive or lukewarm in this 
affair, another man was placed in 
his office, of more activity and zeal. 
This was Cochon, who exerted him- 
self with so much care and dili- 
gence, that the haunts of the con- 
Spirators were at length discovered, 
and most of the principal ones ar- 
rested. 
The conspiracy was to have been 
carried into execution upon the ele- 
venth of May, and the discovery of 
this design was not made till the 
ninth. On the morning of the 
tenth, the directory informed the 
two councils of the particulars of 
this conspiracy, which was in every 
respect a most dreadful and danger- 
ous one. ‘Two men were at the 
head of it, equally noted for their 
boldness and resolution. The oie 
was Babeuf, from whom it took its 
name. . This man, conformably to 
the custom prevailing among the 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
rigid democrats at this time, had 
assumed the name of a famous re- 
publican of old, Gracchus, thereby ‘ 
to denote his inflexible adherence 
to the popular cause. He was a 
man of parts, in the exercise of 
which nothing was able to daunt 
him. The other chief actor in this 
conspiracy, was the celebrated 
Drouet, the post-master of Varen- 
nes, who stopped the unfortunate 
Lewis XVI. in his flight ; and, as a 
reward of his fidelity to the nation, 
was elected a member of the con- 
vention. Having fallen into the 
hands of the Austrians, and suffered 
a long and severe imprisonment in 
Germany, he had acquired a popu- 
larity which recommended him so 
strongly to the people of his own 
district, that they elected hima de- 
puty to the legislative body, when 
the new constitution was formed. 
The other principal authors of this 
conspiracy were general Rossignol, 
notorious for his cruelties in La 
Vendée ; Julian, a confidential agent 
of Roberspierre; Amar, a noted 
associate of that tyrant ; Laignelot, 
a man of abilities, and a member of 
the late convention. 
The plan of the conspirators, as 
laid by the directory before the two 
councils, was to massacre these 
three bodies, the field officers of the 
Parisian military, and the constitut- 
ed authorities of Paris, and togive up 
the citizens to plunderand slaughter. 
I'rom the papers that were seized, 
it appeared that they had formed 
a complete scheme of government. 
The legisiature was to have consist- 
ed of about seventy of those mem- 
bers of the late convention, who 
had not been re-elected ; of a deputy 
from each of the provincial depart- 
ments ; and of some of the deputies 
to 
