every vestige of republican feeling Be obliterated. The spirit of freedom soon disappears with the characteristick simplicity of its institutions. Although we are far from believing that either Buonaparte or his government is now popular, in the usual acceptation of the term, we can readily conceive, that the reflecting part of the nation may have many inducements to uphold his authority. Experience has taught them the unfit ness of their country for any other than an absolute government, and the necessity, at this moment, of a system of rigorous coercion. Dreadful as is the domestick police, there is no man acquainted with the actual state of society in France, who does not see the impossibility of preserving order without some such inquisition. Detestable, too, and dangerous as is the genius of their government, it cannot be without some merit in the eyes of Frenchmen. Under the shade of the imperial purple, most of the elegant pleasures of the mind, and some of the generous sympathies of the heart, are suffered to flourish, and may be almost considered as a new creation. From a state of total disorganization, of the most destructive civil war, France has been restored, by the provident ambition of her new rulers, to the enjoyment of many of the advantages of a well regulated community. Their labours to establish a regular administration of justice and of the finances, and to form some system at least of publick instruction, are not without their utility; although, as we are informed, they have not as yet proved eminently successful. Their plan of conquest, too, although it has deluged the neighbouring countries with blood, has preserved their own territory from becoming the theatre of war. The improvements in the roads; the rapid construction of publick works; the numerous institutions for the encouragement of national industry; the embellishments of the capital; the ostentatious protection extended to the sciences and to the fine arts, all involve solid advantages, while they spring from the comprehensive and truly Machiavelian wisdom of an ambitious despot. In making these remarks, we allude to the condition in which he found France; and must not be understood as retracting the opinions which we formerly delivered, with regard to the pernicious consequences likely to result, both to her and to the world from the foreign policy of his government. Under this point of view, we are ready to exclaim with the poet, Ας απολοιπο καὶ αλλο ὅτις τοιαυτά γερεζοι. We shall now present our readers with such a selection of the notices and anecdotes contained in these volumes, as our limits will allow. The first are instances of a flexibility of conscience or of judgment, not often paralleled, even in the world of poli ticks. On the 8th of Grégoire, whose name is so conspicuous in the annals of the revolution, is now a member of the senate and of the legion of honour. He was born near Luneville, in 1750; and, after serving as a curate, was deputed to the states general, and was among the first of those of the clerical order who passed down to the lower chamber. July, 1789, he declaimed against the march of the troops which the king had ordered to approach Paris, and exclaimed: "That if Frenchmen ever consented to become slaves, they should be despised as the refuse of nations." On the 5th of October, he described the king as surrounded by the enemies of the people; denounced M. de Bouille; and asked, why it was that Paris, after an abundant harvest, was driven to insurrection by the want of food. The ministers were less able to answer this question than the duke of Orleans; but the object of the orator was, to exasperate the populace against the court, by this insidious accusation. Grégoire was the first ecclesiastick who took the constitutional oath. In return, he vate the abhorrence which nations obtained the bishoprick of Blois, and should feel for kings.” In April, he soon after became president of the tendered to the convention some hisassembly. At the period of the torical researches concerning the tree king's flight, he pronounced a vio- of liberty. In September 1795, he lent invective against the monarch, became one of the council of five and called for an immediate trial. hundred. After the 8th Brumaire, In September 1792, he was delega- [December] 1799 he was elected to ted to the convention, and soon after the legislative body, of which he was made and carried a motion for the nominated president in February abolition of royalty, declaring at the 1800. On the 25th December, 1801, same time, “ that kings were, in the he was appointed a member of the moral order of things, what mon- conservative senate, and decorated sters are in the physical, and that with the insignia of the legion of hotheir history was the martyrology of nour. Grégoire has published a great nations.” On the 15th of Novem- variety of works, and now divides ber, he pronounced a violent philip- his time between literary pursuits pick against Louis XVI. and re- and the routine of his political staquested that he might be arraigned tion, which he fills with much appawithout delay. He was then made rent satisfaction. However reprehenpresident of the convention; and, sible for the violence of his revoluhaving proposed the incorporation of tionary opinions, he deserves no Savoy with France, was sent 10 ore small credit for the energy with ganize that county, under the name which, during the worst periods he of the department of Mont Blanc. defended, and for the zeal with As the king was tried during his which he has uniformly protected, absence, he did not vote ; but wrote, the cause of science and literature. concurrently with his colleagues, to At this moment, his house is the announce to the assembly, that, favourite rendezvous of many of the « under a conviction of the unre- most distinguished savans of the mitting treachery of that perjured French capital; and, in private life, monarch, he solicited his condemna- there are few men of more amiable tion without an appeal to the people.” character, or more winning manners. In 793, he invited Barere to retract The next name we shall select is the eulogy which he had pronounced that of Garat, originally a mere man on Louis the Twelfth, and undertook of letters, now a member of the le. to prove, that this pretended father gion of honour, of the institute, and was, in fact, the scourge of his peo. of the senate, and professor of history ple. On the 7th November, howe, in the Lyceum of Paris. He was ver, he loudly condemned Gobel for sent to the states general from Laabjuring the Christian religion and bour; in 1798 was made minister of his episcopal functions. He was then justice, and, as such, acquainted the accused by Bourdon de l'Oise, of king with his condemnation. This wishing to christianize the revolution task he executed, according to Ber[Christianiser la revolution.] On the trand de Moleville, with great bar. 4th of March, 1794, he read to the barity. In March 1793, he became assembly an original letter, as he minister of the interiour. ' At a sit.. stated it to be, of Charles the Ninth, ting of the jacobins on the 16th July recommending that a recompense of that year, he was complimented should be given for the assassination by Danton on the important services of the constable of Mouy; and this which he had rendered the cause. letter he proposed to have enrolled He soon after abdicated his ministry, among the national archives, « in and announced his intention to edit order that its publicity might aggra. a republican journal. He was within zen. a short time, twice arrested, but sa. for a long period. On the 14tly ved by the activity of his friends. In November, the directory appointed 1797, he published an elaborate epis- him minister of justice, and, in Janutle addressed to La Harpe, with a ary 1796, minister of police. He view to demonstrate the utility of per- succeeded Barthelemy as a member severing in the use of the term Citi- of the directory, and acquired a great In 1798, he went as ambassa. ascendancy over his colleagues. Afdour to Naples ; but soon rendered ter having shared the supreme power himself obnoxious by the warmth of for some time with Barras and Rewhis republican principles, and return- bel, he was compelled to resign, and ed to take a seat in the council of had the good fortune to escape unancients. He became president of hurt from the accusations preferred this body in 1799, and pronounced a against him on all sides. After officidiscourse on the anniversary of the ating as attorney general in the court king's death. He cooperated zea- of Cassation, he became a member of lously in the revolution of the 18th the legion of honour in 1804; and, in Brumaire, and announced the adop- 1806, was made a counsellor of state. tion of the consular government, in Carnot said of this man, in his Mean encomiastick speech. In 1806, moir: “ That he marched steadily he delivered, before the senate, a in the revolutionary line, and never long and florid oration on the victo- swerved from his principles." His ries of the emperour Napoleon, present situation is the best commen. and now shares largely both in the tary on this panegyrick. He must not, favour and the munificence of his however, be confounded with another master. of the same name, Merlin de Thion. There are few names of more note, ville, one of the most indefatigable and in the revolutionary annals, than that relentless monsters of the revolution. of Merlin de Douai. He passed from The latter, originally sheriff's officer, the bar to the states general in 1789, announced to the convention, that he and was conspicuously active in pro. had no other accusation to prefer moting all the popular measures of against his own revolutionary conthat period. After the session, he duct, than that of having neglected became president of the criminal to poignard Louis XVI. on the 10th tribunal of the department of the of August. Although among the north, and was delegated to the con- prominent leaders of the republican vention in 1792; bui, on arriving in party, he eluded the persecutions to Paris, found himself implicated in which they were alternately subject, an accusation relating to some pa. and is now in the quiet enjoyment of pers seized in the Thuileries. He an immense fortune, accumulated by appeared at the bar on the 7th De- every species of rapine and viocember, and justified himself by pro- lence. ving, “that he had never committed Merlin de Thionville was intimatethe crime of wishing to serve Louis ly connected with Chabot, the celethe Sixteenth.” He voted for his brated Capuchin, in whose life there death; and, in 1793, procured the are some singular trails. In conseenactment of a law against suspicious quence of his “ ardent patriotism, persons; which crowded the prisons he became the curate of Grégoire ; Throughout France with numberless and, until he was executed in 1794, victims, of all conditions and parties. was in the first rank of incendiaries. He afterwards went under the name In the course of July 1792, he caused of Merlin the Suspicious. In 1794, himself to be wounded by six men he became a member of the com- hired for the purpose, in order that the mittee of publick safety, and was king might be accused of an attempt among the most active of that body at assassination. It is credibly stated, that he urged Merlin with the most affair of the 10th of August. On serious and pressing instances to as- the 20th of the same month, he prosassinate him ; and to have his body posed the formation of a corps of transported to the Faubourgs, in or- Tyrannicides, whose sole duty it der to kindle the fury of the mob, should be, to single out and to deand to expedite the destruction of stroy the kings at war with France, the monarchy. He, on one occasion, and the generals who commanded summoned the convention, of which their armies. He soon after moved, he was a member, to swear, that, that a reward of 100,000 francs profoundly convinced of the vices of should be given to the person who all kings, they would for ever detest should bring to the assembly the them." The whole assembly rose, heads of Francis II. the duke of and replied, “ Nous le jurons ; plus Brunswick, and all the other beasts de roi !” He requested also that a who resembled them.” He voted new law might be framed concerning for the death of the king; became emigrants, a so simple, that a child , a member of the committee of pubmight send an emigrant to the guil- lick safety; and procured the estalotine.” The liaisons of Merlin with blishinent of a committee of superthis man and Bazire, a worthy coad-vision throughout France, which gave jutor, gave rise to the following jeu birth to the revolutionary tribunals, d'esprit. so celebrated for the atrocity of their “ Connoissez-vous rien de plus sot, proceedings. Que Merlin, Bazire et Chabot ? After a zealous and efficient coNon: Je ne connois rien de pire operation in the violent and sanguinaQue Merlin, Chabot et Bazire : ry measures of the time, he became, Et personne n'est plus coquin Que Chabot, Bazire et Merlin.” &c. in the year 1796, a member of the Jean Debry, associated in the council of five hundred, was elected French mission to the congress of secretary, and soon after president Rastadt wih Robertjot and Bonnier, of that body. In 1798, he presented whose mysterious assassination crea- a report on the necessity of infusing ted so lively a sensation throughout new life and vigour into their repubEurope, is now a senator, a dignitary lican institutions, in which the folof the legion of honour, and prefect lowing, among other sentiments, are , of the department of Doubs. He to be remarked. « If we must have was originally a delegate to the le- a superstition, let us have that of ligislative assembly, and a coryphæus berty; the fanaticism of liberty, if of the popular party. No man There is no philosophy evinced, on all occasions, a more without patriotism, no genius but in acrimonious and active hostility to a republican soul. The sacred love priests and kings, whom he constante of liberty is one of the noblest chaly denounced as the feculence and fru- racteristicks of talent, as well as of trefaction of the human race. At his virtue," &c. In 1798, he was sent instigation the assembly decreed, that as minister plenipotentiary to Rastadt, monsieur, the brother of the king, and, on his return, was wounded in had forfeited his right to the crown, the attack made upon the French le. in consequence of disobedience to gation. On his arrival at Paris, he the laws on the subject of emigration. made his appearance in the council On the 20th of June 1792, he pre- of ancients, with his arm in a sling, vented the assembly from entertaine and invoked the vengeance of the naing a question which tended to the tion on the house of Austria. At the prevention of the nocturnal attacks sitting of the 19th June, consecrated made on the palace of the Thuileries, to the memory of Bonnier and Ro. and signalized himself, by his exer- bertjot, the president solemnly ad. Lions to promote the memorable dressed Jean Debry in this way. we can. وو "You live. The task of proclaiming your merits belongs to posterity. It is our province to avenge your wrongs. Debry made this reply. "I swear by the manes of my unfortunate colleagues, that I will rather share their fate than be unfaithful to this republick; without which, nothing remains for us but to die." It was then decreed, that the seat of Robertjot, who had been a member, should be covered with black crape; and that, until it was filled, the president should, whenever his name was read from the roll, pronounce these words: "May the fate of the French ministers assassinated at Rastadt be retorted upon the house of Austria!" After the revolution of the 18th Brumaire, Jean Debry became a member of the tribunate; and, in 1800, pronounced a panegyrick on the first consul, and a speech in honour of the victory of Marengo. He has since seconded and applauded all the measures of the new government, and is now among the most ardent admirers of "those transcendent quaEties which belong to the whole imperial race." During the revolution, this man was remarked for the acrimony of his invectives against the emigrants, and those who had voted for the banishment of the king. Among the latter, many were induced to pronounce that judgment, from a conviction, that by no other expedient could the life of the monarch Le saved. Others, who aimed at the destruction of the monarchy, were nevertheless subdued by the virtuous and beneficent character of the sovereign. Their lenity proved fatal to themselves, by marking them out as objects of suspicion and vengeance to the more sanguinary republicans. One of the opinions delivered on this subject, by a member of the name of Alasseur, deserves to be mentioncl, as exhibiting a curious rapprochement. It was expressed in this way: Rome banished her kings, and remained free. Cesar was assassinated by Brutus, and had a successour. The English destroyed their tyrant, but resumed their chains. I think, therefore, that to preserve liberty, Louis should be banished." Many of the members who voted for the punishment of death, expressed their opinion in a manner too shockingly barbarous to be related. One of them remarked, that, long before the revolution," he had conceived and trea sured up that vote in his heart.” It is said of another, of the name of Le Jeune, that he had small guillotines made for the purpose of decapitating the poultry used at his table; that he used them to cut his fruit; and never failed to point out to his guests the general utility of the machine. Cochon, whose name must be familiar to all our readers, is now prefect of the Netherlands, and a member of the legion of honour. After voting for the death of the king, and cooperating in all the excesses of the time, he was sent as commissary of the convention, to the army of the north, and assisted with distinguished courage at the siege of Valenciennes, the capitulation of which he attributed to the treachery of the inhabitants, in his report to the convention. He became, in 1794, a member of the committee of publick safety, and in 1795, accompanied the army of the north to Holland. In the following year, the directory appointed him minister of police, a situation in which he was found eminently useful, in detecting and baffling the conspiracies of Babœuf and of the camp of Grenelle, where four hundred jacobins were cut to pieces, conformably to his arrangements with the commanding officer. In 1797, he denounced and brought to trial, several emissaries of the Bourbons; and stated, in his report of the trial, "that he knew not to what he was to attribute the odious distinction of being placed in their list of the ministers who were to be retained after the revival of the monarchy," with this additional remark," that he had voted for the death of the king." He soon after |