FRANCE. 
SI 6 
return from confinement in Aufiria, been honourably re¬ 
ceived in the legiflature, was alfo a confpicuous leader. 
They had eftabliftied a committee of infurreftion, under 
the name of fecret directory of public fafety, which cor- 
refponded with inferior committees, difperfed throughout 
the capital. Funds were fupplied for the maintenance of 
patriots by voluntary contribution, and great numbers 
daily flocked to Paris, who were confidered as recruits. 
Their plan was, to maflacre the five directors, all the le- 
giflators who had deviated from the principles of the 
mountain, the minifters, and all the conftituted authorities 
in Paris who fliould iflue orders for refitting,them, and all 
’foreigners of whatever nation they might be. The in- 
fnrgents were then to feize the gates of Paris, the pod- 
office, the treafury, the mint, and all magazines, contain¬ 
ing victuals or ammunition. The conftitution of 1793 was 
to be proclaimed on the bodies of the victims, and two 
placards were ready printed which were to be profufely 
distributed and palted up. 
Whatever appearance of formidable combination this 
confpiracy may prefent on paper, it was, in reality, at¬ 
tended with little danger : the directory were apprised of 
all the circumflances and all the agents, and fent Several 
meflages to the councils, and ilfued proclamations indi¬ 
cating their intelligence, and forbidding alarm. They 
even permitted the confpirators to proceed till the eve of 
executing their projeCt, when a proclamation appeared, 
May 11, 1796, detailing all its particulars. The conl'pi- 
rators were then feized, feals put on their papers, a report 
made on their treafon, and a court empowered to lit at 
Vendome for the purpofe of trying them. Drouet pro- 
tefted his. innocence in vain, and made unavailing efforts 
to account for his aflociation with the confpirators ; he 
was ordered for trial, but found means to efcape from 
prifon. Baboeuf, on being apprehended, wrote infolent 
letters to the directory, inviting them to treat with him as 
with an equal power, and threatening them with new dan¬ 
gers from the exertions of his party. His letter was treated 
with ridicule and contempt; yet while the high court at 
Vendome was proceeding on his trial, a new infurreCtion 
was actually excited. It was planned with fome dexte¬ 
rity, as white cockades were thrown about the ftreets, five 
banners infcribed “ Death to republicans,” and “ Vive 
le roi,” were feized, and placards were were polled in¬ 
viting the people to re-eftablifh royalty. Thefe ma¬ 
noeuvres were intended to miflead the attention of govern¬ 
ment ; but the real nature of the project was clearly afcer- 
tained, and meafures adopted for its fruffration. Difap- 
pointed in thefe efforts, the confpirators tried a coup-de- 
main on the camp at Grenelle, where, after fome ineffec¬ 
tual endeavours to induce the foldiers to fraternife with 
them, they made a defperate attack on Malo, commander 
of a troop of horfe, but were defeated, and great numbers 
of them taken prifoners. A military commiffion con¬ 
demned twenty-five to imprifonment, thirty to deporta¬ 
tion, and thirty-two to death, who were in purfuance of 
their Sentence (hot in the Champ de Mars and in the plain 
of Grenelle, in December 1796. Baboeuf and feveral of 
his accomplices luff'ered under the guillotine in the pre¬ 
ceding May. 
Amidit their preparations for the approaching cam¬ 
paign, the directory endeavoured to increafe their repu¬ 
tation, by eftablilhing the National Injlitute, a fociety of 
men of letters, conftituted on a plan fimilar to that of 
the truly celebrated Royal Academy, and equally under 
the protection of the government. Into this body were 
collected the molt diftinguifhed literary characters in the 
nation ; fuch as La Place, Lalande, Fourcroy, Berthollet, 
Volney, Dolomieu, and others, well known throughout 
Europe. The firft public meeting of the inftitute was 
held with great fplendour, on the 4th of April, 1796, in 
the hall of the Louvre, called the Hall of Antiques. The 
ambaftadors of Spain, Pruflia, Sweden, Denmark, Hol¬ 
land, America, Tufcany, Genoa, and Geneva, were pre¬ 
fent. The members of the directory attended in their 
robes, and their prefident made a fpeech of installation, 
declaring the determination of the executive power to 
proteCl and encourage literature and the arts. Dufuulx, 
the prefident of the inftitute, then declared the refolution 
of the members to labour to give lit ft re to the republican 
government by their talents and productions. 
At this period the Britifh government made an approach- 
towards a pacific negociation with France. On the 8th of 
March, Mr. Wickham, the minifter plenipotentiary to the 
Swifs cantons, tranfmitted to Barthelemy, ambaflador from 
the French republic to the Helvetic body, a note contain¬ 
ing three questions : Whether France would be dilpofed 
to fend minifters to a congrefs to negociate a peace with 
his Britannic majefty and His allies ? Whether France 
would be difpofed to communicate the general grounds 
on which {he would be willing to conclude peace, that his 
majefty and his allies might confider them in concert ? 
and, laftly, Whether France would defire to communicate 
any other mode of accompliftiing a peace ? The note con¬ 
cluded with a promife to tranfmit to the Britifh court 
whatever anfwer fhould be returned ; but declared, that 
Mr. Wickham was not authorifed to enter into any dif- 
cufiionupon thefe ftibjedts. 
On the 26th of the fame month, Barthelemy returned 
an anfwer in the name of the French diredtory. This 
anfwer began by complaining of infincerity in the propo- 
fal made by the Britilh court, feeing its ambaftador was 
not authoriled to negociate, and that a congrefs was pro- 
pofed, which muft render negociation endlefs. It pro¬ 
ceeded to ftate the ardent defire of the directory for 
peace ; but alferted that it could liften to no propofal for 
giving up any territory that had been declared by the 
constitutional adt to form a part of the republic (alluding 
to the Auftrian Netherlands); declaring, however, that 
other countries occupied by the French armies, and poli¬ 
tical or commercial interests, might become the fubjedt of 
negociation. Upon thefe points the directory declared its 
readinefs to receive reafonable propofals. To this anfwer 
no reply was fent ; but the Britifh court published a note, 
of which copies were prefented to the foreign minifters at 
the court of St. James’s ; and in it the fpirit of the direc¬ 
tors’ anfwer was complained of, and alfo the refufal even 
to negociate about the retention of foreign territory, un¬ 
der pretence of an internal regulation. It was added, that 
while fuch dispositions were perfifted in, nothing was left 
but to profecute the war ; but that, when more pacific 
fentiments fliould be manifested, the king of England 
would be ready to concur with his allies in taking mea¬ 
fures for eftablifning a juft, honourable, and permanent, 
peace. 
While the armiftice was pending, the fituation of the 
imperial and French armies in Germany was as follows : 
the Rhine Separated them from the frontiers of SwiSTer- 
land to the environs of the town of Spires, where it 
ceafed to be their common barrier; beyond that city, 
the cantonments they refpedti vely occupied at the distance 
of fome leagues from each other, extended acrofs the 
Upper Palatinate, the duchy of Deuxponts, and the 
Hundfruck. The line occupied by the imperial army 
palfed through the towns of Spires, Neuftadt, Kayfer- 
flautern, Ruffe],and thence crofting the Naye, terminated 
at the Rhine, in the neighbourhood of Baccharach. At 
this point, that river again became the common Separation 
of both armies, and continued fo to beyond Cologne, be¬ 
tween the river Sieg and the town of DuSTeldorf. The 
Austrians and French divided between them the whole 
fpace between the river and the laft-mentioned fortrefs, be¬ 
fore which the army of the latter had an intrenched camp. v 
The imperialifts occupied on the Rhine the Strong for- 
treSTes of PhilipSburg, Manheim, Mentz, and Ehrenbreit- 
ftein. The French poSTeSfed on the Upper Rhine thofe of 
A-lface, and on the Lower Rhine that of Dulfeldorf. The 
French armies commanded by Jourdan and Moreau were 
estimated at 160,000,men; thofe under the archduke 
Charles did not amount to 150,000. 
It 
