prisonment and punishment upon mere suspicion, the most vexatious and odious instruments of despotick power, have been employed by the revolutionary government with a violence surpassing all that is recorded of the most rigorous tyrannies that have ever afflicted mankind. They have formally and openly abolished every trace of personal liberty in France by a single law, which requires no other comment than the proceedings of the convention itself. Barrere, in a report from the committee of publick welfare, explains the principle and object of this law. He says: "The quality of mercy is the first sacrifice which a good republican owes to his country. In order to preserve the revolutionary vigour of the government, an institution terrible indeed, but necessary, an institution which has been the salvation of France, has been disseminated throughout all the sections and all the municipalities: I mean the law for the arrest of suspected persons. The keen and piercing eye of jealous liberty has been fixed upon every citizen, has penetrated into every family, and pervaded every habitation.

"Publick opinion, which is formed upon the review of innumerable transactions of various kinds, which have passed at all the periods of the revolution from its commencement down to the present time, publick opinion has marked out the persons who ought to be suspected, and they have accordingly fallen under the severity of the law.

"Birth, prejudices of pride, and habits of aristocracy have branded every remnant of the gentry of France as a just object of suspicion.

"The useless if not dangerous nature of their occupation, their illicit gains, their confidential concern in the pecuniary affairs of foreigners are sufficient grounds for the arrest of the whole class of bankers.

"Their cruel speculations, their contempt for assignats, their sordid attachment to their own interest have estranged all merchants from their fellowcitizens: they therefore form another class of suspected

persons.

"The relations of emigrants, those who have aided them in their escape, those whom nature and the ties of blood have made the necessary accomplices of all their sentiments of hatred or affection, all these are equally obnoxious to suspicion.

"All the clergy who have refused the constitutional oath, and who think that all is lost because their trade is become useless; all the ancient magistrates, all those who have been bred to the profession of the law, are destined by their habits and interests to people the publick prisons. These are the classes of society which are sentenced at once without being heard; these are the professions which carry their condemnation with them; these are the natural connexions of parentage and affection which it is the duty of the law to strike without trial and without mercy. Let us banish all compassion from our bosoms? Oh what innumerable mischiefs may be produced by a false sentiment of pity! Shall not a few slaves of monarchy sacrifice some moments of their useless and inactive liberty for the salvation of the republick? They shall be taught to love liberty by suffering a long confinement. This is true humanity; for this is the only speedy and effectual method of finishing all our calamities, of completing the revolution, and of establishing the republick on an immovable foundation. Thus, this great and free republick shall draw new strength and vigour not only from the number of her defenders on the frontier, but from the number of her enemies imprisoned within her bosom; and the liberty of the people shall grow and flourish amidst crowded camps and overflowing jails." I have quoted this passionate invective against mercy and justice, for the purpose of apprizing you of the general ideas of the legislators of France upon the subject of personal liberty. I will now read to you the law which passed on the 17th of September.

"1. Immediately after the publication of the present decree all suspected persons, who shall be found within the territory of the republick, and who are yet at large, shall be put into a state of arrest.

"Those shall be deemed suspected persons;

2. Who by their connexions or relationship, by their discourses or writings, have shown themselves to be partisans of tyranny and federalism, and enemies, of liberty. 3. Who have no visible means of subsistence, or who cannot prove the discharge of their civick duties. 4. Those to whom certificates of civism have been refused. 5. Publick officers dismissed or suspended by the convention. 6. Such of the nobility, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, brothers, or sisters, or agents of the emigrants, as have not constantly manifested their attachment to the revolution. 7. Those who have emigrated between July 1st, 1789, and the publication of the law of the 8th of April, 1792, although they may have returned into France within or before the period prescribed by that law. 8. The committees of superintendence, or the revolutionary committees appointed in their stead by the convention or by its commissioners in the several departments are to make lists of all the suspected persons within the limits of their respective jurisdictions, to issue warrants of arrest, and to seal up their papers. 9. Arrested persons are to be permitted to take such part of their furniture into prison with them as may be of absolute necessity. 10. They are to defray the expense of their guard. 11. Civil and criminal tribunals may detain as suspected persons those whose indictments have been thrown out by the juries of accusation previous to trial, and those who shall have stood their trial and have been acquitted."

In addition to these precise definitions of suspected persons, by the fourth article of the law, all those to whom certificates of civism shall have been refused, are included within that description. The certifi

cates of civism are granted or refused at Paris at the discretion of the municipality; and on the 10th of October 1793, "the procureur of the commons of Paris reports to the council general, the characteristick marks and signs by which the council may recognise suspected persons, and those to whom certi

These

ficates of civism ought to be refused." characteristick marks and signs include so large a description of persons, that if a similar regulation were to be enforced in any country or in any assembly, it is difficult to imagine any possible case which might not be brought under some one of the articles of this exposition of the law. For, sir, you will observe that all persons are suspected and arrested,

"1. Who check the energy of the people, and embarrass the proceedings of popular assemblies by artful speeches, turbulent cries, and menaces.

"2. All those who with more prudence talk mysteriously of the calamities of the country, lament the condition of the people, and are always ready to spread bad news with an affectation of regret.

"3. Those who change their language and conduct according to events.

"4. Those who pity the greedy farmers and merchants, against whom the law is compelled to take effectual measures.

"5. Those who talk of liberty, but visit the late nobility, the counter-revolutionary clergy, the aristocracy, the Feuillants, and the moderates, and appear to take an interest in their fate.

"6. Those who have taken no active part in the revolution, and who plead in their exculpation the payment of taxes, or of patriotick gifts, or their services either in person or by substitute in the national guard.

7.* Those who have received the republican constitution with indifference, and have declared false apprehensions respecting its duration and establish

ment.

"8. Tho who have done nothing for or against liberty.

"9. Thos who neglect their attendance in the popular assemblies under pretence of being unable

* The constitution had actually been suspended when these resolutions passed.

to speak in publick, or of being engaged in the care of their own affairs.

"10. Those who speak with contempt of the esta blished authorities, of the emblems of the law, of the popular assemblies, or of the defenders of liberty."t

All these, sir, are suspected, committed to safe custody, and to be detained in prison until the peace.

By the last article of the law a class of persons is included, very inconsiderable indeed in number, but which one might suppose to be exempt from suspicion even under all the vigilance and jealousy of a revolutionary government; I mean those who have been acquitted by the previous jury of accusation, or have been declared innocent after a regular and solemn trial. By reference to the daily lists which are published of criminals condemned or acquitted by the revolutionary tribunals, I find that far the greater proportion of the very few who have the fortune to escape death is detained in prison on grounds of suspicion at the mere requisition of the publick accuser. This is the perfection of tyranny. It is not enough to deprive men of their liberty without alleging any specifick crime against them, or without admitting them to a hearing; but even after they have been heard and declared innocent, they are still subjected to penalties which belong only to convicted guilt.

By different laws and regulations several other classes have been added to the list of suspected persons; such as those who disobey the requisitions laid on their property; those labourers or workmen who disobey the requisitions laid on their manual labour; those who have shut up their shops or warehouses on

† It appears that the virtue of civism has never been accurately defined, although the want of it subjects men to the loss of their liberty. One instance will serve to show the manner in which certificates of civism are granted and refused at Paris: a certificate of civism was refused to Palissot a dramatick author, for having ridiculed J. J. Rousseau in a comedy; it was granted to him some time after, on his proving that he had praised Rousseau in other works.