and conveyed at the expense of the republic to the place of their desti

nation.

In the course of these discussions, it was announced, that by the orders of the directory the city of Lyons was put in a state of siege. This circumstance drew many severe reflections on the conduct of the directory from Camille Jourdan, and others; and, on the 8th of August, a resolution was passed by the council of five hundred, on the motion of general Jourdan, enacting, that such power should only be exercised in consequence of a decree of the legislative body.

Thus far, in principle, the council undoubtedly acted upon fair and liberal grounds. It may, perhaps, be objected, that such large concessions to the emigrants and priests were ill-timed. It may, perhaps, be said, that the republic was scarcely sufficiently established to admit of the return at once of so large a body of men as the deprived clergy, who were certainly ill-treated by their country, and could not be supposed well affected to the republican system. The influence which they must naturally have had over the minds of their hearers, an influence which it would not have been difficult to revive, might possibly, it may be alleged, have in many instances been turned to civil purposes, and insurrection excited. Be this as it may, however right or well-timed these measures might have been, it is certain they were unpopular, and they were artfully turned to the disadvantage of the majority of the councils. It is certain, on the other hand, that the hopes of the royalists were greatly raised by these measures, and by the dissensions which prevailed between the directory and

the council of five hundred. A counter-revolution, it is asserted, was confidently and openly talked of. The purchasers of the national domains, it is said, were intimi. dated and insulted, and in some instances, outrages committed against their persons. In consequence therefore of these alarms, whether real or pretended, republican clubs were formed, and particularly one, which was supposed to be instituted under the immediate sanction of the directory, and to which some of the most famous of the earliest revolutionists resorted. Clubs also of an opposite character were instituted. The respective parties distinguished themselves by their dress, and some commotions were excited by the partizans of the dif ferent factions accidentally encoun tering each other in the public places. To put a stop to these outrages, and not sorry to dissipate an association which was beginning to be formidable, all political meetings or societies were forbidden and dis solved by a decree of the councils. Unfortunately for the party in opposition to the directory, the dis content and suspicion excited by their measures reached the armies. The directors were intimately con nected, of necessity, with the gene. rals, and there is little doubt but every step would be taken to fan the rising flame among the military. The army of Italy led the way in addressing the directory, and the style of these addresses may be col lected from that presented from the division of Massena. "The defenders of their country," as they styled themselves, lamented in this address the violation of the consti tution, the degradation of the go vernment, the return of the emigrants, the favour and protection

afforded

afforded to non-juring priests, and the oppression and murder of faithful republicans. They concluded with the following remarkable words:"Does the road to Paris present more obstacles than that to Vienna? No; it will be opened to us by the republicans who have remained faithful to liberty. United we shall defend it; and our com

mon enemies shall have lived."

The example was followed by all the other armies of the republic, yet the courage and vigour of the opposition party was not diminished. They flattered themselves, that like La Fayette and Dumouriez, the generals would be forsaken by the soldiers; and they forgot the example of the Gironde party, who were overwhelmed by the policy and artifices of men more intriguing and bolder than themselves.

The minister of police, Cochon, was supposed to be in the interest of the opposition party; the directory therefore made a complete change of ministers. Talleyrand Perigord, who, our readers will recol lect, had formerly been bishop of Autun, was appointed minister of foreign affairs in the room of Delacroix, who was afterwards sent as ambassador to Holland; Pleville Pellay, an old sea-officer, was made minister of the marine in the room of Truguet; Hoche was nominated minister of war instead of Petiet, but he afterwards declined as not being. of the constitutional age; François de Neufchateau, a man of letters, of moderate principles and amiable manners, replaced Benezech in the home department; and Lenoin Laroche supplanted Cochon. The removal of this latter minister excited fresh murmurs. Camille Jourdan inveighed against the measure, and, on his motion, a resolution was passed to require of the di.

rectory a report of the present situation of the republic.

As Barras was the director more particularly obnoxious to the opposition party, an attempt was made to deprive him of his dignity, as not having been of the age required by the constitution when appointed a director. His colleagues in the government, however, supported his right by a formal message, asserting that he was born in the year 1755; and, as the fact was difficult to prove, the motions made for his removal on that plea were without effect, and served only to exasperate the parties more and more.

The council of ancients, in this extraordinary crisis, endeavoured, much to their honour, to act as moderators between the contending parties. The resolution which restricted the directory with respect to the expenditure, was negatived by the ancients on the 27th of July. The decrees relative to the priests were held under discussion; and a decree of the council of five hundred, relative to the sale of the national domains, was rejected.

The leaders of the hostile parties on both sides were now, however, apparently determined to have recourse to force, and both equally prepared for the fatal conflict, the ultimate appeal not only of kings but of republican factions. Jealous of the designs of the directory, and probably apprehensive of the spirit which had been already manifested by the regulars, the council of five hundred, in the beginning of July, determined to reform, or (in their own phrase) re-organize the national guard. This task was committed to the management chiefly of the ex-generals Pichegru and Willot. On the 20th of July the former presented his plan for their re-organization, and it was ordered to be

printed

printed in the course of the day. The plan was again presented on the 28th, in an amended state, by general Willot. The leading feature of it was to deprive the directory of the right of nominating the officers. In each department a jury of examination was to present a list, out of which the directory was obliged to make their election. This plan, after some debate, was adopted, and reduced into the form of a decree.

While such, in the language of Thibadeau, were the tardy precautions of the council, a circumstance occurred which contributed to has ten the crisis. On the 20th of July the council received authentic information that some regiments of the Sambre and Meuse army had advanced to Corbeil, within seven leagues of Paris, according to rumour, while, by the sixty-ninth article of the constitution, the directory could not order or authorize such a march without incurring the penalty of ten years imprisonment. A message was immediately dispatched to the directory, and their answer was received before the close of the sitting. It is true, said the directory, that four regiments of horse passed within the distance of eleven leagues from Paris. It was but yesterday we were apprized of this infraction of the constitutional act, and immediately an or der was dispatched to send away the troops. The directory attributed this circumstance to the inadvertence of the commissary of war. Itthought it was owing to a mistake. The council spoke in its message of troops arriving at Soissons, but the directory had no knowledge of it. The message was signed, Carnot and Larevilliere, for the secretary general.

A message on the same subject was soon after addressed by the

council of five hundred to the coun cil of ancients, to be considered in their extraordinary sitting at seven o'clock the same evening; and a committtee was appointed to exa mine the business, and to report on the message of the directory.

The following day produced another message from the direc tory, equally unsatisfactory with the former. The directory desired to distinguish between the order to march and the order of marching. It avowed having given the order to march, but for a far different destination. It was ignorant who had given the order of marching. The commissary Lesage at Mezieres had given order to prepare quarters at Ferte-Alais. It concluded by desiring the council to trace the line of demarkation. The most common opinion was, that FerteAlais is thirteen leagues. The last edition of the Vosgien dictionary stated it at twelve.

On the 26th Pichegru, as the chairman of the committee ap pointed to take into consideration the march of the troops and the answer of the directory, made his report. After remarking that the answer of the directory was evasive, he asked what was the invisible power that gave the order to march? and why the troops had made a retrograde movement? If Brest was their destination, continued he, they might have assembled north of Paris; nor can I understand how they were directed to march southward. Besides, why employ eight regiments of light horse, and a regi ment of light artillery?

Another message was in conse quence dispatched to the directory, in which not only the subject of the march of the troops was pursued, but the inflammatory addresses of the army severely censured.

The

The report of the committee produced a more detailed message from the directory relative to the march of the troops; and as the subject is important, and as the paper gives an interesting view of the state of France at this important juncture, we have thought it necessary to insert it at large.

Citizens Representatives, 'The executive directory delayed replying to your message of the seventeenth of this month, relative to the marching orders given to four regiments of chasseurs which were to pass by Ferte-Alais, in the expectation that the report of the committee of inspectors, upon which that message had been adopted, would be printed. It is not yet printed; but the directory, who in the mean time have been collecting the documents they were desirous of procuring respecting the route of these troops, consider it their duty to transmit to you such information as has reached them.

'Citizen Lesage, commissary at war, has made the following decla ration upon this subject:

"Citizen Lesage,commissary of war for the army of the Sambre and Meuse, charged with the police of the division of chasseurs commanded by general Richepause, certifies, that after the said general had given to him, at Durenne, the itinerary of the route which this division was to observe in going to Chartres (an itinerary which was entirely written by general Richepause, but not signed by him), he received at Aixla-Chapelle the order of proceeding in that destination, and preparing, before-hand, at the places pointed out, the necessary provisions and quarters for the four regiments which composed that division, but which were only to arrive in suc

cession at these resting places: that, without examining the itine rary which had been given to him, or knowing that Ferte-Alais was within the constitutional limits of Paris, he expedited the order for the route, in consequence of which the troops were to march-that he fol lowed the same route to Rheimsthat, being there assured that the letters he had written to Charleville, with directions to the municipali ties of the places through which the troops were to pass, had been duly received, and having no fur ther precautions to take, as the municipal administrations were charg ed with quartering and providing for the troops, he yielded to the desire of seeing his family, who re side at Chartres, and left the route of the division to take the shorter one by Soissons.

"He further certifies, that neither the general Richepause, nor any other staff officer, gave him any other marching order than the above, the itinerary of which was transmitted to him at Durenne ;— that, during the course of the march, he did not hear any of the troops speak of their destination;—that he only heard, at Bonn and Durenne, persons who did not belong to the army say, that the division was to embark at Brest."

General Richepause states, on his part, that he received an order from general Hoche, dated Cologne, the 15th Messidor, in the following terms:-

"General Richepause, commanding the division of horse chasseurs, is hereby ordered to proceed, with the four regiments under his command, to Brest, by the way of Chartres, and Alençon.

"HOCHE." General Richepause has besides made the following declaration,

which he subscribed before the directory on the 22d of Thermidor:

"I certify that it was in consequence of the order of the general in chief, Hoche, dated the 15th Messidor, directing me to proceed with the four regiments under my command to Brest, by the way of Chartres and Alençon, that I traced the route by which the division I commanded was to proceed to Char tres; that I was totally ignorant of the existence of any law which required that the troops should not come within twelve leagues of Paris;-that I even was inclined to have made them pass through Paris: and that the difficulty of maintaining order among troops quartered in a large city was the only reason which determined me not to adopt that route; that my intention was evidently pure; for, if it had not, I should not have ordered a commissary of war to have preceded me, who was six days before the van of the troops, which was the head of the column commanded by me.

66 RICHEPAUSE."

Such is the information which the directory has procured respecting the marching order given to the four regiments of chasseurs drawn from the army of the Sambre and Meuse, and which were to pass by Ferte-Alais to Brest. While the directory confine their answer to this point, they consider it necessary to direct your attention to a statement which appears to have been contained in the report upon which your message was founded. All the journals agree in stating, that you were informed that arms and ammunition had recently been distributed at Chartres to five hun dred ruffians, for the purpose of suppressing or of threatening the freedom of the legislative body. This statement is completely dis

proved by the municipality of the place. The proces-verbal of the municipality has been addressed to you; so that you must already be convinced that the enemies of the country have led the members of your committee into an error upon this subject.

'We now come, citizens repre sentatives, to the second part of your message. The executive di rectory did not, till the day before yesterday, receive the originals of the addresses of the defenders of the country from the different divisions that compose the army of Italy. They were all destined for the executive directory, with the excep tion of two only; and these were addressed to the defenders of the country_composing the other ar mies. Though the meaning and sense of the word " deliberer" to deliberate) has not been so accurately defined as to be clearly applied to the act by which, after having expressed their fears and their hopes to the executive directory and to their brethren in arms the defenders of their country have only stated the wishes they had formed, and the sentiments that animated them, the executive directory have, ne vertheless, resolved to prevent its circulation. They have also written to the general-in-chief, deplor ing the circumstances which had induced the brave republican soldiers to commit those acts which might be considered irregular, and inviting them carefully to avoid every thing which may in the least degree tend to the infraction or violation of the constitution. The directory has not stopped there; they have thought it their duty to go back to the causes, and to point them out, persuaded that you will, in your wisdom, adopt such measures as shall make them cease to