the scaffold without a trial, alleging that all France declared him a traitor, and that that was sufficient reason why he should be put to death.

It seems that Frenchmen under Roberspierre had the same notions of criminal jurisprudence, as they now have under Bonaparte. They brought charges against the king for what he had done long before he was accountable to any one for his acts, that is, before he accepted the constitution, consequently a variety of charges were all jumbled together in the same act of accusation*.

It always appeared to me enigmatical that no attempt was made to save the King, either to carry him off by force, or to make a proper representation to some of the leaders in the Convention. All that I have been able to collect from Barrère, Tallien, Carnot, &c. was, that they received anonymous letters containing threats, &c. but, that no attempt to save him was made either direct or indirect. Santerre told me that he trembled the day on which the King was executed, more than ever he did in his life, and never, said he, "was the destruction of the convention so near as it was that day, for had one man shouted vive le Roi, when the King was on the way to the place of execution, or at the place, all would have been over!"

A comedian of the Théatre François of the name of Michaud, who was on duty at the temple as a

* Bonaparte's system is the same. I will treat of it more fully in its proper place.

municipal officer, assured me that nothing could have been more easy than to have carried off the Royal Family; and he further observed, that all the other municipal officers who appeared the most brutal to the unfortunate sufferers, were the most disposed to serve them.

It is admitted by all parties that the stupor which reigned in the convention was beyond any thing ever witnessed, Hundreds of members voted, from fear alone, for the King's death; all those who seemed in the least degree inclined to be merciful to him, were menaced by furies of both sexes, placed for that purpose at the hall of the convention, and in the tribunes, at three livres per day: and I have been told, that after the president Vergniaud had pronounced judgment of death against the King, the convention sat in a kind of stupor for five minutes, not a word escaped even the most violent of its members.

Some of the cabinets not at war with France, wished to save the King. Our court sent a note to the French minister here on that subject. The Spanish King had also a note presented to the French government through his chargé d'affaires at Paris, Mr. Ocaritz *.

Those powers at war with France, viz. Austria

* This note shall be inserted in another part of this publica tion, when I treat of Bonaparte's conduct towards Spain, as he very recently, in a publication, reproached the dethroned victim, for not attempting to save the life of his cousin Louis XVI,

of

and Prussia, were positively applied to by the French Executive Government, for the purpose saving the King; but strange to relate, the Court of Vienna, which was called upon by ties of consanguinity to listen to proposals of that kind, nevertheless received them with apathy; the reason asscribed for this conduct was, that by thus treating, they would recognize the new Government of France.

The propositions were, that if the combined armies would retire from the French territory, the King and the Royal Family should be sent to Austria! Mr. Mercy D'Argenteau, who was the Imperial Commissioner with the Austrian army, was charged with this important negotiation; but there was no ap, pearance whatever of the accession of the Court of Vienna to the demands of the French,

The Prussians certainly would have done any thing on their part, and acted with more bonne foi; but seeing that the Austrians were not disposed to it, of course the negotiations were broken off *.

No sooner had the King suffered, than the Jacobins planned the destruction of their opponents the Brissotins. It was now that the eloquent Verg

This negotiation was confided to a Mr. de Kölln, a Prussian Privy Counsellor, author of a work called Vertraut Briefe, Confidential Letters, which he published at Berlin, when the French were masters of that country; when they evacuated it Mr. de Kölln was taken up by the Prussians, and confined in a fortress, accused of having been many years a spy, and a secret agent of France.

niaud said, "la Révolution Française est comme Sa"turne, elle devore ses propres Enfans."

The Convention, from this period till its dissolution, presented an extraordinary spectacle: with an appearance of deliberation, they voted under a dominion of a stern necessity. There was then just as much liberty of speech in the Convention, as there is now in Bonaparte's Senate; they sat in mockery of legislation, repeating in resolutions the words of those whom they detested as their tyrants: but still the Convention said they were free. I will give a specimen of the liberty they then possessed.

A Deputation of the Sections of Paris appeared at the Bar of the Convention, on the memorable 31st of May, 1793, of which so much has been said

This Deputation demanded the heads of 22 members without naming them. It was left to Marat to make out the list. Amongst others he named two who were not Brissotins. Some of the members observed that those two accused by Marat were staunch sans Culottes: upon which he laid his hands upon the shoulders of two members who were sitting on the bench before him, not even knowing who they were, " dans ce cas là," said Marat, "j'accuse ces deux citoyens d'avoir conspiré "contre la Sureté et l'Indivisibilité de la République." One of them thus accused was a young man from Bourdeaux, of the name of Ducos (afterwards

guillotined with Brissot and others) of the Gironde party, the other was Lanthenas *, who was a neutral; he was protected by several members against the inculpation, upon which Marat said, 66 que diable voulez vous que je fasse, il m'en faut " vingt-deux!!" However at the next sitting he got another victim, who was Valaze†.

During this scene of riot and confusion, Barrère made a motion, that in order to prove to all France that the deliberations of the convention were not overawed by an armed force, the President (Mr. Herault de Sechelles), with all the members, should walk round the garden of the Thuilleries and declare the same to the people. The motion was agreed to, and the procession began; but when the president reached the gate of the palace which leads to the garden, he was stopped by Henriot, the commandant of the armed force at Paris, who was there with his troops and artillery; he desired

* Lanthenas was always Thomas Paine's interpreter in the Convention.

I have in my possession a printed Mémoire of Mr. Meillan, a Girondist member, who escaped on the 31st of May, which he circulated amongst his friends! he thus describes the making out of the list by Marat: "On lut la liste des "proscripts. C'est alors que nous connumes toute la puissance de Marat. A mesure qu'on lisoit, il indiquoit des retranchments ou des augmentations, et le lecteur effaçoit ou ajoutoit des noms sur la simple indication sans que l'assemblée fut aucunement consultée. La liste ainsi arrêtée, on demande d'aller aux voix," &c. &c.