whole of the clergy of France. Of the curates, who are 52,* only 9 have taken the oath." [It appears that but one bishopt took the oath.] "If the assembly prevails, we shall see in a few weeks the schism completely established. All intercourse with Rome is cut off; and 88 schismatical bishops in the places of the 136 now existing; in which case we must practise our religion in corners and holes." In a letter dated the 20th September, 1791, he writes, "All our churches are shut up. A considerable number of our late labourers are obliged to flee. All the candlesticks, whether silver or brass, are carried to the mint, to be turned into coin: the quantities of the former are amazing, all lying in heaps. But what is incredible, there is not so much as one six livre piece to be seen." In a letter dated 21st March, 1792, the Abbé writes, "This unfortunate country is in a state of anarchy not to be described. Each province, each city, each village, is a little independent republic."

The Abbé's correspondence having stopped here, we have no account from him of the terrible atrocities of August and September, 1792, or those that followed, except the interesting narrative of his attendance, at the risk of his life, on Louis the XVI., when he was put to death on the 21st of January, 1793, "A prince, (he observes,) who had every virtue, and but one fault, that of thinking too well of others." He adds, that if it should be asked, "by what luck I escaped the danger apprehended for my life, I can only answer that I really know it not. All I can say is, that as soon as the fatal blow was given I fell upon my knees, and thus remained until the vile wretch who acted the principal part in this horrid tragedy, came with shouts of joy, shewing the bleeding head to the mob, and sprinkling me with the blood." It appears that the Abbé then passed through the guards and crowd unmolested. He is himself silent as to the expression, which, by other accounts, he had the courage to utter aloud when the axe was falling, "Fils de St. Louis montez au Ceil."

* Meaning, no doubt, those in Paris.-Editor.

† Talleyrand.

The violations of civil rights and institutions went on as rapidly as those respecting the church; each new change being in general much worse than that which preceded it. In fact, the number and enormity of crimes against God and man, which were committed between the years 1789 and 1795, but chiefly in 1792, 3 and 4, by the new rulers of France; and the evils and misery thereby occasioned, are scarcely to be conceived, and almost incredible. Assassination was deliberately committed and justified;* sacrilege and robbery were deemed meritorious; imprisonment, banishment and every sort of outrage were considered as trifles. And all these malefactions were practised under the pretence of vindicating the rights of man, and establishing liberty and equality; while the perpetrators were trampling on every right and duty, moral and religious, natural and civil, not only against superiors but equals.

Indeed, considering the composition of the assemblies, and the mode in which their proceedings were conducted, nothing good or useful could be expected to emanate from them. They alternately encouraged, and were controlled by mobs, within doors and without. They were influenced and overawed by seditious clubs and political societies, particularly that of the Jacobins, so called from its having met in the suppressed Jacobin convent; a set of the most blood-thirsty and diabolical wretches that ever disgraced the name of man. Many of these cut-throats were members of the convention. It has been ascertained that those mobs and clubs were secretly instigated and paid by persons of great rank and fortune, some of them nearly allied to Royalty but opposed to the court. One of these nobly born, but base-minded characters, in order to obtain favour with the rabble, took the name of Egalité,† notwithstanding which he gained very little popularity, and lost his head.

* Of these monsters one was so shameless as to declare that if he were permitted to put aristocrats and priests to death for six days, he would consent to lose his own life on the seventh!

The following are some of the principal acts and measures of these legislators, and their consequences.

In July 1789, a most furious and immense mob, with cannon and assisted by soldiers, (the army having been corrupted) broke into and destroyed the state prison and fortress of the Bastille, and beheaded the governor and others, without any assignable reason, for it is said that but one or two (insane) persons were cónfined in it.

In October 1789, a dreadful riot took place at Versailles, to which place the Parisian mob proceeded. They would have murdered the queen, if they could have discovered her, having pierced her bed with swords and daggers. They forced the king to come to Paris, whither also the National Assembly came.

In June 1791, the king and royal family, who were no better than state prisoners, attempted to escape, but were brought back to the Tuilleries, where they were strictly watched.

In August 1792, the king, though his person had been declared inviolable by a constitution sworn to be maintained, was assailed in his palace, his guards murdered,* himself made a close prisoner; treated with the greatest indignity; brought to a mock trial in January 1793, and sentenced to suffer death, which in a few hours after was inflicted on the scaffold, as if he were the lowest and vilest of criminals. His once beautiful Queen, who was most basely calumniated, his sister and other members of his family, after being immured some months longer, suffered the like fate. The poor infant, the dauphin, was placed with a cobbler, where he pined and not long afterwards died—of what cause is uncertain. His sister was kept a close prisoner, but after about three years' confinement was exchanged.

These humane and pious legislators, during the king's captivity, prepared and ordained a new oath to be taken, viz. "Hatred to Royalty;" and they declared France a republic, one and indivisible.

* It was stated in some of the daily papers that the flesh of many of the Swiss guards was made into pies, and given as food to their brethren who were prisoners!

† As if such men regarded an oath!-Editor.

Long before the king's death, he was stripped of his chie prerogatives. His property, private as well as regal, was seized. The nobility were first degraded; next, their order was abolished; they were deprived of their lands; their chateaus or mansions were plundered of their plate, pictures, libraries and other moveables, and most of their dwellings levelled with the ground.

The church establishment was totally changed. The bishops and clergy were deprived of their lands and revenues, and they were to receive stipends from the state, instead of their former incomes, of which it laid hold; a new oath was required from them, which most of them conscientiously refused to take; and constitutional bishops and curates were put in their places. But the new reformed system did not long last. The clergy, the clerical profession, and all religious orders were soon after suppressed. The churches were robbed of their plate, ornaments and bells; their monuments were destroyed or defaced, and they were then shut up. Many were subsequently converted into prisons, or otherwise desecrated. Death was decreed to be an eternal sleep, and the resurrection of the dead was pronounced to be an invention for tormenting the living. In fine, all public worship was prohibited, except that of the Goddess of Reason; and all religion and its ministers were proscribed. Thus was Atheism proclaimed throughout those dominions which were once governed by "the most Christian King."

Having put an end to religion, they, as might be expected, forbad all religious rites and observances, such as baptism, christian burial, and marriage by the clergy. Matrimony was made a civil contract, and divorce became almost a matter of course. Nearly all the antient laws were abrogated or greatly altered; the antient corporate bodies, such as universities, colleges, academies, and other institutions-religious, civil or scientific, were dissolved, and their members sent adrift. The aged and infirm monks and nuns were reduced to the most deplorable state of destitution and wretchedness, and hundreds of them perished for want.

All titles, dignities, ranks, degrees and distinctions, hereditary or personal, professional or honorary; in short, the entire

frame of society was crushed into ruins, in order to lay a foundation for the phantoms of liberty and equality, that is, to bring the whole community, rich and poor, master and servant, learned and ignorant, to the same level of citizen, by which appellation only, all persons, male and female, were to be addressed; even Sir, or Madam not being allowed.

They collected and burnt all the books of heraldry, and family or genealogical records which they could find; and all other evidences and memorials of descent.

The land owners, merchants, bankers and other wealthy persons were stripped of their property on the slightest pretences. Many of them were imprisoned without any known cause, many others were executed, and great numbers were forced to fly. The vague charge of incivism or federalism was a common pretext for persecution. Some hundreds, driven to desperation and madness, put an end themselves to their existence.

Magistrates and public functionaries who did not renounce their allegiance, were displaced, and several of them massacred. The authority of the laws totally ceased. Robbery, and even murder were committed with impunity. There was no protection for life, liberty or property.

The liberty of the press was annihilated, except as it was exercised in favour of the new lawgivers and their principles; or in obscene, seditious, profane and blasphemous publications. A line published in defence of religion, royalty, or the ancient system, was a sufficient and certain cause for sending the author to some of the numberless Bastilles then existing, and soon afterwards transferring him to the care of Sancta MaterGuillotina, or as they sometimes expressed it, to look through the little national window, viz. the aperture for the head.

Among the most frightful acts of these republican tyrants was the horrid practice of making domicilliary visits. A person's house, which ought to be his castle and safeguard, was liable to be suddenly broke open and entered at any time of the day or night, and the inmates dragged to some distant prison; without any previous summons, or being informed of the imputed offence; nor were their friends permitted to know where they