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IX.

1792.

Jan. 14,

1793.

CHAP. Kellermann, on assuming the command of the army of the Alps, informed his soldiers, that "he had received orders to conquer Rome, and that these orders should be obeyed." Basseville, the French ambassador in the Eternal City, was so active in endeavouring to stimulate the people to insurrection, that at length, on the 14th January 1793, when proceeding in his carriage to one of his assemblies, he was seized by the mob, at whom he had discharged a pistol, and murdered in the streets. This atrocious action naturally excited the most violent indignation in the Convention, and a decree was passed authorising the executive to take the most summary measures of vengeance. Nor was Switzerland more fortunate in avoiding the revolutionary tempest. Geneva did not long escape. A French army, under General Montesquiou, approached its walls, and the senate of Berne made great preparations for resistance; but the strength of the democratic party in Geneva made it impossible to provide for its defence in an effectual manner, and the excitement in the whole Pays de Vaud rendered it doubtful whether the first cannon-shot would not be the signal for insurrection along the whole Leman lake. Still, General Montesquiou hesitated in commencing hostilities, as the mountaineers of Berne were unanimous in their determination to resist, and they could bring twenty thousand admirable soldiers into the field. Brissot, however, in a laboured report on the subject, declared "that the revolution must take place there, or our own will retrograde;" and insisted on the Swiss troops being withdrawn from the city, that is, on its being delivered over unarmed to the revolutionary faction. To this humiliating condition the Swiss submitted; and in consequence, on 27th December, the revolutionists overturned the government, and delivered over that celebrated city to the French troops. xxxiv. 153. Nor were the small German princes neglected: the 97, 237. Elector Palatine, though all along remaining neutral, had his property on the Lower Rhine put under sequestra

Dec. 27, 1792.

1 Ann. Reg.

Bot. i. 96,

IX.

tion, and considerable portions of the territories of Hesse- CHAP. Darmstadt, Wied-Runchet, and Nassau-Sarbrook, were annexed to the neighbouring departments of France.

1792.

116.

claration of

all nations.

At length, on 19th November, a decree was unanimously passed by the Convention, which openly placed French dethe French Republic at war with all established govern- war against ments. It was in these terms: "The National Conven- Nov. 19. tion declares, in the name of the French nation, that it will grant fraternity and assistance to all people who wish to recover their liberty; and it charges the executive power to send the necessary orders to the generals, to give succour to such people, and to defend those citizens who have suffered, or may suffer, in the cause of liberty." Brissot himself, at a subsequent period, styled styled xxxiv. 153. this decree “absurd, impolitic, and justly exciting the Hist. Par. disquietude of foreign cabinets." And this was followed Brissot à up, on 15th December, by a decree so extraordinary and mettans, 88. unprecedented, that no abstract of its contents can con- edition. vey an idea of the spirit of the original.1

66

1 Ann. Reg.

xx. 364.

ses Com

London

the Conven

The National Convention, faithful to the principles 117. of the sovereignty of the people, which will not permit Decree of them to acknowledge any institutions militating against tion. it, decrees as follows:-1. In all those countries which Dec. 15. are or shall be occupied by the armies of the French Republic, the generals shall immediately proclaim, in the name of the French people, the abolition of all existing imposts and contributions of tithes, feudal and manorial rights, all real and personal servitude, and generally of all privileges. 2. They shall proclaim the sovereignty of the people, and the suppression of all existing authorities; they shall convoke the people to nominate a provisional government, and shall cause this decree to be translated into the language of that country. 3. All agents, or officers of the former government, military or civil, and all individuals reputed noble, shall be ineligible to any place in such provisional government on the first election. 4. The generals shall forthwith place under the safeguard

IX.

CHAP. of the French Republic all property, movable or immovable, belonging to the treasury, the prince, his ad1792. herents and attendants, and to all public bodies and communities, both civil, religious, &c. 9. The provisional government shall cease as soon as the inhabitants, after having declared the sovereignty of the people, shall have organised a free and popular form of government. 10. In case the common interest should require the further continuance of the troops of the Republic on the foreign territory, the Republic shall make the necessary arrangements for their subsistence. 11. The French nation declares that it will treat as enemies the people who, refusing or renouncing liberty and equality, are desirous of preserving their prince and privileged castes, or of entering into an accommodation with them. The nation. promises and engages not to lay down its arms, until the sovereignty and liberty of the people on whose territory 1 Ann. Reg. the French army shall have entered shall be established, Hist. Parl. and not to consent to any arrangement or treaty with the princes and privileged persons so dispossessed, with whom the Republic is at war." 1

xxxiv. 155.

xxi. 350,

352.

118.

structions

This decree was immediately transmitted to the generals Violent in- on the frontier, with a commentary and explanatory notes, more violent, if possible, than the original. To assist generals by them in their labours, commissaries were appointed with Convention. all the armies, whose peculiar duty it was to superintend

to their

the French

the revolutionising of the conquered districts. They were enjoined "not to allow even a shadow of the ancient authorities to remain ;" and "not only to encourage the writings destined for popular instruction, the patriotic societies, and all the establishments consecrated to the propagation of liberty, but themselves to have immediate communication with the people, and counteract by frequent explanations all the falsehoods by which evil-minded persons could lead them astray." The decree of 19th

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* The ablest writers of France fully admit the insane desire for foreign warfare which at this period had seized on its government. "Every one,"

IX.

1792.

November was accompanied by an exposition, addressed CHAP. to the general of every army in France, containing a schedule as regularly digested as any by which the ordinary routine of business in any department of the State could be digested. Each commander was furnished with a general blank formula of a letter for all the nations of the world, beginning with these words, "The people of France to the people of, greeting. We are come to expel your tyrants." And when it was proposed in the National Convention, on the motion of M. Baraillan, 1 Hist. Parl. to declare expressly that the decree of 19th November 1311. Hist. was confined to the nations with whom they were at war, 352, 353. the motion was negatived by a large majority.' 1 *

1

xxxiv. 1310,

Parl. xxi.

cited in

proceedings.

These unprecedented and alarming proceedings, joined 119. to the rapid increase and treasonable language of the Alarm exJacobin societies in Great Britain, excited a very general Great Brifeeling of disquietude there. The army and navy had tain by these both been reduced in the early part of the year 1792, in pursuance of a recommendation from the throne, and the English government had resisted the most earnest solicitations to join the confederacy against France. Even after the king of that country was overturned on the 10th August, the British ministry enjoined their ambassador, before leaving the capital where there was no longer a stable government, to renew their assurances of neutrality; says Marshal St Cyr, "of the least foresight, at the close of 1792, was aware of the dangers which menaced the Republic, and was lost in astonishment, I will not say at the imprudence, but the folly of the Convention, which, instead of seeking to diminish the number of its enemies, seemed resolved to augment them by successive insults, not merely against all kings, but against every existing government. A blind and groundless confidence had taken possession of their minds; they thought only of dethroning kings by their decrees, leaving the armies on which the Republic depended in a state of entire destitution."ST CYR, Mémoires, i. 19, 20.

* "LE PEUPLE FRANÇAIS AU PEUPLE

"Frères et amis ! Nous avons conquis la liberté, et nous la maintiendrons; notre union et notre force en sont les garans. Nous vous offrons de vous faire jouir de ce bien inestimable qui vous a toujours appartenu, et que vos oppresseurs n'ont pu vous ravir sans crime. Nous sommes venus pour chasser vos tyrans ils ont fui: montrez-vous hommes libres, et nous vous garantirons de leur vengeance, de leurs projets, et de leur retour.

"Dès ce moment la République Française proclame la suppression de tous

IX.

1792.

CHAP. and the French minister, M. le Brun, declared, that the French government were confident that "the British cabinet would not at this decisive moment depart from the justice, moderation, and impartiality which it had hitherto manifested." But when the National Convention began openly to aim at revolutionising all other countries, their pro1 Ann. Reg. ceedings were looked upon with distrust; and this was 165; and heightened into aversion when they showed a disposition to include England among the states to whose rebellious subjects they extended the hand of fraternity.'

xxxiv. 163,

State Pa

pers, 327.

120.

The London Corresponding, and four other societies, on Opening of 7th November, presented an address, filled with the most the Scheldt. revolutionary sentiments, to the National Assembly, which

Nov. 16.

was received with the warmest expressions of approbation; and so strongly did the belief prevail in France that England was on the verge of a convulsion, that on the 21st November, the president, Abbé Grégoire, declared that these "respectable islanders, once our masters in the social art, have now become our disciples; and, treading in our steps, soon will the high-spirited English strike a blow which shall resound to the extremity of Asia." At the same period the French committed an act of aggression on the Dutch, then in alliance with Great Britain, which necessarily brought them into collision with the latter power. By the treaty of Münster, it had been

vos magistrats civils et militaires, de toutes les autorités qui vous ont gouvernés; elle proclame en ce pays l'abolition de tous les impôts que vous supportez, sous quelque forme qu'ils existent - des droits féodaux, de la gabelle, des péages, des octrois, des droits d'entrée et de sortie, de la dîme, des droits de chasse et de pèche exclusifs; des corvées de la noblesse, et généralement de toute espèce de contributions et de servitude dont vous avez été chargés par vos oppresseurs. Elle abolit aussi parmi vous toute corporation nobiliaire, sacerdotale, et autres, toutes prérogatives, tous privilèges contraires à l'égalité. Vous êtes dès ce moment frères et amis, tous citoyens, tous égaux en droit, et tous appelés également à défendre, à gouverner, et à servir votre patrie.

"Formez-vous sur-le-champ en assemblées de communes; hâtez-vous d'établir vos administrations provisoires : les agens de la République Française se concerteront avec elles, pour assurer votre bonheur et la fraternité qui doit exister désormais entre nous.”—Proclamation-Le Peuple Français a tous les Peuples-adoptée par la Convention, 15 Décembre 1792; Histoire Parlementaire de France, xxi. 352, 353.

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