SIEGE OF NANTES. 221 



known by various productions on literature and on 

 economical politics, went and requested our colleague, 

 together with his wife, to take a passage on board a ship 

 that he had freighted for himself and his family. " We 

 will first go to England," said M. Casaux ; " we will 

 then, if you prefer it, pass our exile in America. Have 

 no anxiety, I have property ; I can, without inconven- 

 ience to myself, undertake all the expenses. Pythagoras 

 said : ' In solitude the wise man worships echo ; ' but this 

 no longer suffices in France ; the wise man must fly from 

 a land that threatens to devour its children.' 5 



These warm solicitations, and the prayers of his weep- 

 ing companion, could not shake the firm resolution of 

 Bailly. " From the day that I became a public charac- 

 ter," he said, " my fate has become irrevocably united 

 with that of France ; never will I quit my post in the 

 moment of danger. Under any circumstances my coun- 

 try may depend on my devotion. Whatever may happen, 

 I shall remain." 



By regulating his conduct on such fine generous max- 

 ims, a citizen does himself honour, but he exposes himself 

 to fall under the blows of faction. 



Bailly was still at Nantes on the 30th of June, 1793, 

 when eighty thousand Vendeans, commanded by Cathe- 

 lineau and Charette, went to besiege that city. 



Let us imagine to ourselves the position of the Presi- 

 dent of the sitting of the " Jeu de Paume," of the first 

 Mayor of Paris, in a city besieged by the Vendeans ! 

 We cannot presume that the unfavourable opinion of the 

 Convention under which he was labouring, and the rigor- 

 ous surveillance to which he was subjected, would have 

 saved him from harsh treatment if the town had been 

 taken. No one can therefore be surprised that after the 



