them: The motive of this refufal was ftated to be that of a note from the King of England, demanding to have his envoys ad'mitted to the congrefs of Luneville, conjointly with the plenipotentiaries of the Emperor.

From that moment the government was obliged to break the armiftice, that the remainder of the autumn might not be loft in idle conferences.

General Moreau was ordered to acquaint the general of the enemy with the preliminaries, the fame that appeared in the official journal; and to inform him, that if they were not ratified within twenty-four hours, or if the Emperor wanted further explanations, the three garrifons of Ulm, Ingolftadt, and Philipf burg, fhould be given up to the French army, otherwife hoftilities fhould be recommenced.

The government has alfo informed the King of England, that it fees no inconvenience in admitting his envoys to the congrefs of Luneville, if he thould confent to a maritime truce, which prefents to France the fame advantages which the Emperor enjoys by the continuation of the continental truce..

The government has received by the telegraph the news, that his Majefty the Emperor has confented to deliver up Ulm, Ingolftadt, and Philipfburg, which places are now occupied by the troops. of the republic; and that Count Lehrbach, furnished with the neceffary powers from his Majesty the Emperor, is at the headquarters of Altoeffings with orders to repair to Luneville,

The difficulties naturally arifing from the conditions of a maritime truce, muft neceffarily caufe fome delay; but if the two governments fhould not agree to the conditions of this truce, in that cafe France and his Imperial Majefty will treat feparately for a peace, on the bafis of the preliminaries. And if the English party (which there is no reafon to fuppofe) fhould again be able to influence the minifters of Vienna, neither the fnow, nor the rigour of the feafons, fhall then retard the progrefs of the troops of the republic; but they will profecute the war to the utmoft extremity, during the whole of the winter, without giving the enemy time to form new armies.

Thefe are the principles of the government; extreme moderation in its conditions; but a determined refolution speedily to pacify the continent.

The moft vigorous meafures are taken to fecond the will of the French people in this effential object.

Thefe are all the fecret politics of their government.

VOL. X,

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Tribunate,

Tribunate.

Speech of the Prefident in the Sitting of the 23d September, on the Fête of the Republic.

IN

Tribunes,

N what place, in what affembly, can it be more becoming or more agreeable to celebrate the foundation of the republic, than in the bofom of an authority in its very effence popular, than in the bofom of the Tribunate? It is here (I may fay it without fear of wounding the friends of liberty who fit in the other contitutional authorities), it is here that love of the country, terror of oppreffion, noble difintereftednefs, heroical devotion, all the republican virtues, ought to have their fanctuary and their altars. Tribunes! you owe to France the prefervation and the example of them.

In fpeaking to you concerning the republic, I have a right to expect that I fhall be liftened to with favourable impreffions, fince I can do nothing more than recall to you all, my colleagues, your deareft aff ions; but I have alfo reafon to fear, in attempting to exprefs your fentiments, that you will accufe me of having weakened them. When I think that the Tribunate is the organ by which the national reprefentation fpeaks, and that it is in the name of the French people, and in its prefence alfo, that I now fpeak; how auguft does this ceremony now appear to me! how much does the truft which you have confided to ine, infpire even myfelf with awe! What can I fay which is not unworthy of a fubject fo grand! May not fome expreffion efcape me fufceptible of these base interpretations, to which I feel at least that I can approve the uprightnefs of my heart, the purity of my intentions, and, in order to reaffure me entirely, permit me to add, my colleagues, your candour.

I ought, perhaps, to go back to the epoch at which the republic was founded; to retrace the invafion of the French territory by the enemy; treafon calling upon and conducting the foreigner, and permitting him an eafy victory; feveral fortreffes of war furrendered or given up, and already meafures taken to defend Paris against an attack which even appeared inevitable and near; in difficult circumstances and extremes, arifing from their own extreme courage, which triumphs over circumftances; the throne pulled down, royalty abolished; the republic proclaimed; and fuddenly, from one end of France to the other, an active energy, an univerfal enthufiafm fpringing up, as if by a miracle; a million of foldies, forging arms, hurling thunder, multiplying all the means of defence and of victory.

But what am I doing? Before whom do I fpeak of thefe famous events? Do not 1 feç here many of the actors in thefe fcenes,

at

at once terrible and fublime? The Tribunate reckons them among its members. I have the honour of ranking among my colleagues and my friends many of the founders of the republic.

I will not imitate the imprudent rhetorician, who fpoke of war before Alexander: I fhould fear left at every circumftance which I mentioned, fome one among them fhould interrupt, and fay to me-You are wrong-I was there-I faw it-I took an active par: in it. The courage of the National Convention conquered for us liberty and the republic; the moderation, the wifdom, and the courage of the Tribunate will continue and preferve them.

You feel too well, indeed, the value of this depofit confided to your vigilance. It is not before you, tribunes; it is not at the commencement of the 9th year of our new era, that it can be neceffary to defend the fuperiority of the republic over the monarchy; and I fhall only fay a few words of parallel on a subject which has been fo often treated. I fhall afk what country one ought to be proudest of, and the most happy to inhabit, that of citizens or that of fubjects? I would ask what is the principal refource of monarchy? Is it not the love of diftinctions and preferences? Thus monarchical inftitutions do nothing but exalt egotifm, cupidity, ambition of frivolous honours; pride, and a itupid predilection for ourselves; meannefs, and flattery of the great; contempt for those who are named the vulgar; a profound indifference for the general good.

The principle of the republic, on the contrary, is that of virtue, and this principle comprehends every thing that is good or great among men, benevolence and reciprocal efteem, difintereftedness, fimplicity, modefty, and loyalty. It is by the energy of virtue that the love even of glory is made to give place to the love of the country, and zeal for the intereft of fellow-citizens. In a monarchy every one is occupied primarily with himself, then with his family, then with his friends, then with thofe for whom he is interested. The good of the state comes laft. In a republic all this ought to be contrary; the country ought to be the first object of concern, and ourselves the laft. This is the generous devotion which republican inftitutions know how to infpire and to develope.

Not that it would be true to fay, that in every fpecies of government which calls itfelf monarchical, there can neither be virtue nor happiness for the people, nor even a certain degree of liberty and love of the country, efpecially if the monarch be fuch a one as may be found in places far removed from each other in the space of ages-if, I fay, the monarch is him felf the friend of illumination, and if he remembers that he is a man and a citizen, before thinking of his being a king.

Not that it is neceffary to believe alfo that every republic must be an absolute democracy, or refemble thofe of Sparta, Athens,

T 2

and

and Rome. Words have been too much abufed, and ideas too much confounded. The influence of books ufed in our education, the admiration for the beautiful Greek and Roman literature; the ardour, and even the great talents of fome writers of this age, who are witneffes and courageous enemies of the abufes and of the crimes produced by defpotifm, have combated them with fo much eloquence, every thing has raifed enthufiafm, every thing has thrown us into a fyltem of exaggeration. Why should not I avow, tribunes, both our exceffes and our misfortunes? What purpofe would it ferve to wish to conceal them? The univerfe is full of them.

You certainly do not wifh that this difcourfe fhould merely confift of high-flown phrafes without object and without utility; fuch has not been the custom of the Tribunate hitherto, nor will it now begin. Ten years of experience, often calamitous, have taught us to prefer truth fimply expreffed, to error difguifed in fine language.

Enthufiafm began the revolution, but, by being pushed to excess, might have overturned it.

People wifhed, or feemed to wifh, for a republic, fuch as might exift in a small territory of about fifteen or twenty leagues of extent, and furrounded by other focieties fimilarly fituated, without confidering the difference between the ancient republic, and a nation containing between twenty-five and thirty millions of inhabitants, with a territory of 28,000 fquare leagues, furrounded by monarchical and powerful ftates, connected among themselves, and with her, by a political fyftem embracing the whole of Europe. They did not attend to the old habits of this nation, to her numerous prejudices and her long corruption."

Thofe who with all at once to transform the French, into Greeks and Romans, feem to be ignorant of, or to mifunderftand, the inftitutions of thefe ancient people. They forget that every citizen in Sparta and in Athens poffeffed a troop of flaves; and that at Rome flavery was not only tolerated, but that there were five different claffes of citizens. Such were the models which have been boldly recommended by perfons preaching liberty, equality, and humanity. Our paffions mix with our errors, and paffions produce deftruction.

Do not think, Tribunes, that I imitate thofe who violently harangue upon thofe unhappy times, confound the republic with thofe horrors which have been produced by an abufe of its facred name; difguifing, under declamations against the fyftem of terror, their hatred of the principles of the revolution, and their wish for the restoration of royalty, and all kinds of fuperftitions and prejudices. Do thefe diftractors of their country know fo little of its history, or of the annals of the world? They would have feen in thefe bloody pages, that all revolutions are alike, and that they are

all attended with crimes and with troubles; and that there are no evils more dreadful than civil wars, except thofe for religion.

They ought to know, that if the love of liberty may be pushed to fanaticifm, it is lefs cruel, more excufable, and more easily cured than religious fanaticifm. But let us only henceforth recall thefe difaftrous times to our recollection, to draw useful leffons from it, and to compare it with that state of calmness which is be come neceffary for us, and which we enjoy under a government which neither can nor will abuse the confidence of the people. In the eyes of enlightened men, and fincere lovers of their country, the greatest crimes of all thofe parties, who have by turns contended for and obtained power, is, that they have almoft made us hate and defpife the most noble and valuable thing in the worldliberty; and have even rendered the republic unpopular; and laftly, that they have expofed not only France, but even Europe, to the danger of being again plunged in ignorance, and of renewing the miseries of flavery and barbarifm. We have seen and groaned under thefe dangers; the fortune of the republic has caufed us to escape them. Let us look forward with the hopes of happiness: the genius of the government allows us to entertain them.

I will fay it, citizens, because it is true, that if at this period laft year we had been promifed that in one year all thofe advantageous changes which we have fince experienced, could take place, we fhould not have believed it. As after a long malady, a fkilful phyfician reftores by falutary medicines the body enfeebled by a violent crifis, fo our government has adopted a mild and pacific fyftem. It has avoided every thing which could caufe new agitations. It has fpread throughout the whole body politic, not the heat of a fever, but the warmth of health. It has endeavoured to efface even the recollection of ancient diffenfions. It has endeavoured to blend together all the different fhades of opinion. It has, if we may use the comparifon, endeavoured to reunite feveral rival fects, who differed perhaps upon fome dogmas, though liberty was the foundation of their common religion.

Speech pronounced in the Temple of Mars by Lucien Bonaparte, Minifter of the Interior, on the 23d of Sept. on the Fête of the Republic.

Citizens,

A FEW months have fcarcely revolved, fince the day on which the 14th of July was celebrated in this temple, and already the anniversary of the republic brings us back to this place. A very fhort interval separates these two fêtes. What thanks would we. not have to render to the Eternal, if the fame year had contained

the