£92 
the dying, women in child-bed, were 
alike exposed to the most inhuman 
treatment ; dragged from their beds, 
Kicked, wounded, and frequently 
Killed, under pretence that they 
were the keepers of concealed trea- 
sure. The teams anddlocks, cattle 
of every kind, the marauders drove 
off, cut to pieces onthe spot, or 
left in a state of mutilation ; corn, 
hay, and straw, they wasted or 
burnt; they demolished the house- 
hold furniture, destroyed the uten- 
sils af the dairies, the barns, and 
the stables; tore down thie gates, 
fevelled the fences, In many places 
they stripped the cloaths from the 
backs of the people, set their liquor 
flowing in the cellar, burnt their 
provisions to ashes. The churches, 
whether Romish or Protestant, they 
rendered a. scene of indiscriminate 
robbery, of sacrilege, and blasphe- 
my, too shocking to describe. To- 
wards womenof all ages and al! con- 
ditions, they were guilty of bruta- 
lity never before heard of: neither 
extreme youth nor extreme age ; 
neither weakness nor deformity ; 
nor the most loathsome disease ; 
neither the pangs of labour, nor the 
agonies of death, could restrain 
them; shrieks, tears, supplications 
were of no ayail; and where fathers, 
husbands, or brothers. interfered, 
murder seldom failed to close the 
horrible scene. To spread naked- 
ness and hunger, to introduce mi- 
sery and disease amongst all ranks, 
seems to. have been their uniform 
desire ; but the lower orders of the 
people, the artisans and the labour- 
ers, were the objects of their direct 
malignity : against them was direct- 
ed. the sharpest bayonet; for their 
bodies the choicest torment; for 
their minds the keenest anguish was 
reserved; from one end of the coun. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
try to the other, we trace the mer- 
ciless ruffians through a scene of 
conflagration and blood; frequent~ 
ly we see them butchering whole 
families, and retiring by the light 
of their blazing habitations; but 
amongst the poor alone, do we 
find them deferring the murder of 
the parents for the purpose of com- 
pelling them to hear their children 
shriek amidst the flames ! 
Such are the’ barbarities which- 
have been inflicted on other nations. 
The recollection of them. will never 
be effaced ; the melancholy, story 
will be handed down from genera- 
tion to generation, to the everlast- 
ing infamy of the republicans of 
France ; and as an awful warning 
to all those nations whom they may 
hereafter attempt to invade. We 
are one of those nations; we are the 
peeple whom they are now prepar- 
ing to invade: awful, | indeed, is 
the warning, and, if we despise it, 
tremendous will be the judgment. 
The same generals, the same commis 
saries, the same oflicers, the same sol- 
diers, the very same rapacious and 
sanguinary host, that now hold 
Holland and Switzerland in chains, 
that desolated Egypt, Italy, and 
Germany, are, at this moment, 
preparing to make England, Ireland, 
and Scotland, the scenes of their 
atrocities. For some time past, 
they have had little opportunity to 
plunder: peace, for a while, sus. 
pended their devastations, and now, 
like gaunt and hungry wolves, they 
are looking towards the rich pas- 
tures of Britain: already we hear 
their threatening howl; and if, like 
sheep, we stand bleating for mercy, 
neither. our innocence nor our timi- 
dity will save us from being torn to 
pieces and devoured. The robbe- | 
. Bies, the barbarities, the brutalities © 
they 
