FRANCE. 
Robsfpierre in Paris and the departments, were all dif- 
miffed from their prifons, and many,of them advanced to 
important offices under the new government. 
The general abdraft of the “ Afts of the Convention,” 
and the effects of its exiftence, is thus dimmed up by 
Prud’homme. Its fittings continued thirty-feven months 
and four days, during which time 11,210 laws were enact¬ 
ed, and 360 confpiracies and 140 infurreftions denounced : 
38,613 perfons were put to deatii by the guillotine. The 
civil war at Lyons cod 31,200 men; that at Murfeilles 
729. At Toulon 14,325 were dedroyed ; and in the re¬ 
actions in the fouth, after the fall of Robefpierre, 750 
individuals peri (lied. The war in La Vendee is computed 
to have caufed the deftrnftion of 900,000 men, and more 
than 20,000 dwellings- Impreffed with images of terror, 
4790 perfons committed fuicide ; and 3400 women died in 
confequence of premature deliveries: 20,000 are comput¬ 
ed to have died of famine, and 1550 were driven to in¬ 
fancy. In the colonies 124,000 white men, women, and 
children, and 60,000 people of colour, were mafiacred ; 
two towns, and 3200 habitations, were burnt. The lofs 
of men in the war is edimated, though probably much 
below the real truth, at 800,000; while 123,789, who 
had emigrated in the courfe of the revolution, were now 
for ever excluded from the country. 
As foon as the new legiflature had divided itfelf into 
two councils, it proceeded to the eleftion of an executive 
directory. Here the genius of intrigue indantly difplayed 
itfelf. The council of five hundred was bound to prefent 
to the council of two hundred and fifty a lid of ten times 
the number of candidates neceffiiry for the office. It ful- 
fi 1 led_this duty in the following manner: the majority of 
the council of five hundred made out a lid, confiding of 
the five following perfons, upon whom they wiffied the 
election ultimately to fall : Syeyes, Barras, Rewbell, La 
Reveillere Lepaux, and Letourneur de la Manche. To 
complete the lid, they added the names of forty-five ob- 
feure perfons, country judices, farmers, and even peafants. 
Thus there was nothing left to the council of elders but 
the mere form of an election ; and from the want of other 
qualified candidates, they were under the neceffity of 
nominating to the office of directors, the five perfons 
at the head of the lid prefented by the council of five 
hundred ! 
The crafty Syeyes, however, who had been the advifer 
of all parties, but the odenfible agent of none, did not 
yet think fit to venture upon the podeffion of power. 
He had difapproved of the conditution which was now 
put in force, and had framed one of his own in oppofi- 
tion to it, which, however, was rejected by the conven¬ 
tion. The mod remarkable circilmdance in his plan of 
government was a national jury, upon which he propofed 
to confer the power of difmiffing from their offices,without 
a caufe being affigned, any of the public functionaries 
whom they might account dangerous to the date. Syeyes 
having refufed to accept the office, Carnot was elcCted in 
his dead. Thefe five directors, who were now to reprefent 
the fovereign authority of France, all agreed in one parti¬ 
cular ; they had affiduoufly promoted, and given their fuf- 
frages for, tlie murder of the king ; but, in all other re- 
fpeCts, they were incapable of cordial union. Attached 
to all the different parties which had gained afcendancy 
and been dedroyed during the revolution, they hated each 
other ; and nothing but temporary neceffity could occafion 
an appearance of cordiality between Orleanids, Briffo- 
tines, and Jacobins, who had a thoufand topics of mutual 
reproach, and notone caufe for mutual confidence. They 
appointed a minidry compofed of the following perfons : 
Merlin of Douai, minider of iuftice ; Charles Delacroix, 
for exterior relations ; Gaudin, for finance; Albert Du- 
bayet, minider at war ; and Truguet, of the marine : but 
in a month they made Geniffieux minider of judice, and 
placed Merlin at the head of the police. 
The fird public aft of the new government iffued by 
flte directory was a proclamation addreffed to the people, 
815 
profeffing that the dediny of all republicans (hould ever 
remain attached to their own, and that their conduft 
(hould be guided by inflexible judice, and the drifted 
obfervance of the laws. They promifed to wage an ac¬ 
tive war againd rqyalifm, to revive patriotifm, reprefs 
with a vigorous hand all faftions, extingnifh all party 
fpirit, annihilate every defire of vengeance, make concord 
reign, regenerate morals, throw open the fources of ferti¬ 
lity, reanimate indudry and trade, difle pecuniary jobbing, 
give new life to the arts and fciences, re-edablifli plenty 
and public credit, redore focial order indead of the chaos 
infeparable from revolutions ; and, in fine, procure for 
the French republic the happinefs and glory to which it 
was entitled. 
The next objeft of the new government was to provide 
for the exigencies of the war. The afiignats had been 
totally depreciated ; a forced loan had failed ; and it now 
remained to try the effeft of a new paper currency. This 
projeft was offered as refulting from a committee of the 
council of five hundred, whole refolution, after many de¬ 
bates, was adopted. It allowed the emiffion of two mil¬ 
liards and 400 millions of livres (105,000,000!.) in paper 
to be called mandats territorial*x. This new currency was 
to be received as money, and to be conlidered as con¬ 
veying a mortgage with fpecial title to purchafe all na¬ 
tional domains, infomuch that the polfeUbr had only t» 
prefent himfelf to the adminiftratiou of the department 
where the domain he wifiied to buy was fituated, and the 
contraft of fale (hould be made out in ten days. To rein¬ 
force this new projeft, the direftory addrefl'ed to the peo¬ 
ple a proclamation detailing its advantages, and promifing 
the molt glorious eft'efts from its fuccefs ; but they foon 
found themfelves under the neceffity of applying to the 
legiflature for an a6t compelling the fellers of every com¬ 
modity to receive this paper as call). They ordained the 
fame punilhments againft forgers of mandats as had been 
formerly denounced againft thofe who counterfeited allig- 
nats ; and thofe who refufed to receive them in payment, 
or who bought and fold metallic coin, were to be fined for 
the firft offence, and for the i'econd to be imprifoned for 
four years. Yet, very foon after they were ilfued, their 
value fell fo much that a hundred livres could be pur- 
chafed for nine in fpecie, and after a fhort period they 
could no longer be circulated. Thofe who bought na¬ 
tional domains with this paper, foon found that their pur- 
cha(je was not fo cheap as they had expedited ; for, the 
neceflities of government ftill continuing, the idles were 
revifed, and the purchafers compelled to augment their 
payments, in order to efcape the penalties of confifcation. 
This meafure introduced a new inconvenience. The na¬ 
tional woods had been fold with the other domains; and 
the purchafers, haftily called upon to make good an unex- 
pefted payment, felled the timber for fuc-h prices as could 
on the fudden be obtained; a fimilar fate attended many 
valuable colleftions of books, piftures, and gems, which 
being forced into cafli, produced only a fmall price, and 
were difperfed in the hands of brokers and fpeculatills of 
every defeription. Recourfe was therefore had to taxa¬ 
tion ; which, though attended with much difficulty, was 
found to be the only legitimate mode of railing the fupplies. 
The fpirited contefts ftill maintained by tiie oppolition, 
obliged the government once more to reftrain the Jaco¬ 
bins, by (hutting up their principal place of meeting 
near the Pantheon, and by preventing their fecret affem- 
blies in various places ; but, at the fame time, they clofed 
many churches, theatres, and amicable focieties, as if they 
were defirous to confole the Jacobins, and confound all 
diftinftions between them and their opponents. By de¬ 
grees, however, thefe fragments of the Mountain party 
became more dangerous to the peace of the metropolis, 
and it was found neceffary to take meafures for prevent¬ 
ing their confpiracies, by difarming and difperfing their 
leaders. Baboeuf, who had ad’umed the appellative 
Gracchus , placed himfelf at the head of a new confpiracy ; 
and Drouet, the poft-mafter of Varennes, who had on his 
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