794 FRA 
Committees of its own body were felefted for the purpofe 
of conducting every department of bufinefs. The chief 
of thefe committees was called the committee of public 
fafety. It fuperintended all the refl, and gave to the 
administration of France all the fecrecy and difpatch which 
have been accounted peculiar to a military government, 
together with a combination of Skill and energy hitherto 
unknown among mankind. A correspondence was kept 
up with all the Jacobin clubs throughout the kingdom. 
Commi(Turners from the convention were fent into all 
quarters, with unlimited authority over every order of 
perfons. Thus a government poflefled of infinite vigi¬ 
lance, and more absolute and tyrannical than that of any 
Single defpot, was established ; and the whole tranfaClions 
and refources of the Slate were known to the rulers. 
The laws of requisition, and rifing cn mafic , which had 
been at firfi very feebly executed, were urged with greater 
vehemence, and enforced by every means in the hands of 
government. All church-bells, Save one for each parish, 
were caft into cannon. All apothecaries, Surgeons, and 
phyficians, were put in requisition for the Service of the 
army ; and the commifiioners fent to the different troops, 
were inverted with unlimited powers. To prevent the 
disbanding of corps on the expiration of their term of 
Service, Danton obtained a decree denouncing punishment 
of death againft every Soldier who quitted his colours 
without permission. All other modes of recruiting being 
found ineffectual, the committee of public fafety were 
diligently occupied in giving effeCt to the project for a 
levy en mafic. Preparatory to the presentation of the re¬ 
port, Barrere compofed an addrefs to the people, which in 
energetic terms excited them to arms, and invoked the 
dertruCtion of the invaders. In a week afterwards he 
produced his report, which analyfed the principle of cal¬ 
ling the whole country into a State of requisition, by ob¬ 
viating objections, and Shewing the Superior advantages 
of that plan to every other. A decree was obtained 
amid loud applaufes, comprifed in a variety of articles, 
of which the following are the chief. 
1. From the prefent moment till that when till her 
enemies Shall have been driven from the territory of the 
republic, all Frenchmen Shall be in permanent readinefs 
for the Service of the armies. The young men Shall march 
to combat : the married men Shall forge arms, and trans¬ 
port prosifions: the women Shall make tents and clothes, 
and wait on the hofpitals : the children Shall make lint of 
old linen : the old men Shall caufe themfelves to be car¬ 
ried to tits public Squares to excite the courage of the 
warriors, to preach hatred againrt kings, and the unity of 
the republic. 
2. The national edifices Shall be converted into bar¬ 
racks, the public Squares into manufactories for arms, the 
ground of the cellars Shall be waShed with lye to extract 
ihe Saltpetre. 
3. The arms of calibre Shall be immediately delivered 
to thofe who are to march againrt the enemy : the internal 
Service of the republic Shall be performed with fowling- 
pieces and pikes. 
4. All faddle-horfes Shall be given up to complete the 
cavalry ; the draught-horfes and others, except thole em¬ 
ployed for purpoi'es of agriculture, Shall convey the artil¬ 
lery and provisions. 
5. The committee of public fafety is charged to take 
all neceSTary meafures to eftabliSh, without delay, an ex¬ 
traordinary manufacture of arms of all kinds, Suitable to 
the Slate and energy of the French nation. It is autho¬ 
rised, in confequence, to form all the eftablilhments, ma¬ 
nufactories, and working-places, which Shall be deemed 
neceffary for the execution of thofe works ; and to Sum¬ 
mon throughout the republic all artifans and workmen 
who can contribute to their fuccefs. The Sum of thirty 
millions of livres (1,312,5001.) Shall be at the difpolal of 
the minister at war. The central establishment of this 
extraordinary manufacture Shall be at Paris. 
6. The representatives of the people fent into the de- 
1 
N C E. 
partments to execute the prefent law, fhall have the fame 
authority in their refpeCtive circles, and fhall concert 
meafures with the committee of public Safety : they are 
inverted with the fame unlimited powers as are intrufted 
to the representatives of the people with the armies. 
7. No Frenchman Summoned to ferve (hall be Suffered 
to fend a fubftitute. The public functionaries Shall re¬ 
main at their port. 
8. The rifing or movement Shall be general : the un¬ 
married or widowed citizens, from the age of eighteen 
to twenty-five, fhall march firfi; they fhall form with¬ 
out delay in the chief place of their diftriCt; they Shall 
be daily drilled. 
9. The battalion which Shall be organifed in every dif¬ 
triCt, Shall be ranged under a banner with this inscription 
—“ The French nation rifen againjl tyrants." 
The council-general of the commune alfo put it* re¬ 
quisition all workmen in iron, mafons, tilers, carpenters, 
Cartwrights, turners, and founders, and all lead and iron 
in the hands of dealers, fave only the quantity neceflary 
for the reparation of water-pipes. Every Shoemaker was 
compelled to furniSh every ten days, five pair of (hoes of a 
certain Shape which Soldiers alone were permitted to wear, 
and a proportionate number for every apprentice he em¬ 
ployed. All l'alt-petre, and materials for making it, were 
put in requisition ; and the pretence of Searching for Such 
materials formed the means of great plunder, vexation, 
and tyranny. The manufacture of cannon foon proceeded 
with aftonifhing rapidity and fuccefs ; in. little more than 
two months the establishments at Paris prontifed to pro¬ 
duce a thoufand mulkets a-day ; tlte cannon-foundery at 
the Luxembourg had iSTued a hundred and four pieces; 
that of the Square of Indivisibility a hundred and thirty- 
four ; and Carnot boarted that France,which had hitherto 
been dependent on her enemies for the firft articles of 
defence, would foon Supply the rert of the world from 
her Superfluity. 
Rigorous meafures were alfo adopted to prevent eva¬ 
sions of the requisition; thofe who fled from their places 
of abode were to be treated as emigrants, and their rela¬ 
tions punished for their fault. No plea of ill health was 
admitted except on the certificate of a medical profertor ; 
and a falfe certificate Subjected any of thefe to imprison¬ 
ment. The firft requisition was now Speedily railed, and 
employed on garrifon duty, thus permitting the veterans 
who had guarded fortrefles to engage in'more aCtive Ser¬ 
vice. Befides thefe, a new force was raifed for the pro¬ 
tection of government under the name of a revolutionary 
army ; it consisted of fix thoufand picked men, and twelve 
hundred cannoneers, and the appointment of officers was 
deemed no inconsiderable patronage. 
To infure prompt and vigorous exertion in the field,, 
great Severities were denounced againft the geherals who 
failed in enterprises, or incurred fufpicion of treafon ; and 
a great number of cruel examples were made. The adi 
herents of Dumouriez were Speedily Sacrificed ; Lanoue 
and Stengel were executed immediately after his flight- 
Miranda, though his opponent, was pnrfued with great 
rancour; and alter being once acquitted by the revolu¬ 
tionary tribunal, was again imprifoned, and kept in daily 
alarm for his fate. Miaczinlki, a Polish Soldier of: for¬ 
tune, much attached to Dumouriez, was Sentenced-by the 
revolutionary tribunal and executed, after a mean attempt 
to Save himfelf by pretending to difclofe important fecrets* 
Devaux was alfo put to death, though he pleaded that 
his difobedience to Dumouriez would have occasioned 
his being delivered up to the Austrians, from whofe Ser¬ 
vice he was a deferter. Lefcuyer Suffered deatlt for at¬ 
tempting to influence his detachment near Valenciennes 
to affift in arresting the commifiioners : before his death 
he left a denunciation againft Ferrand the governorof that 
fortrefs, which occafioned his imprifonment, and early in 
the enfuing year his execution. Cuftine, after every hu¬ 
man exertion to enforce discipline and vigour into the ar¬ 
my he commanded, was inhumanly Sacrificed } a number 
