demociary, but iodine toW«»'d» the
latter. Pure democracy and ablo
lute defpotiltn are the two primi
tive colour!, the (hades of which
prevail more or left in every kind
of government.
THE Sovereignty is in the People.
This, doubileis, is true ; but it is
in an implied manner, that is to lay,
that the people never (hall exercile
it but to appoint their representa
tives, and in a monarchy, that the
king (hall always be the firft n'agiO
traie—Thus, although it be in taei
true, that every thing comes from
the earth, it is (till neceflTary tofub
due it by labor and culture, as we
fubiedl the people by the authority
and by the laws. The sovereignty
is in tl<e people as fruit is in the
fields, in an abftraA manner. It is
neceflary tha: the fruit palles by the
tree which produces it, and the pub
lic authority by-the sceptre which
excrcifes it. Ctolutnb• dentinet.
Foreign Intelligence.
STOCKHOLM, March ij.
THE Empress of Rullia is said to
have required of our court,llo
further intercourse, diredi or indi
reCt, with France.
The E)uke Regent has given or
ders to equip a fleet of twelve ships
of the line and four frigates, to
serve as a convoy 10 the merchant
men during the present war.—His
Royal Highness is determined to
observe the ftrirteft neutrality ; but
these peaceable sentiments are not
quite agreeeble to the Ruffian court.
The Abbe de Verninac is expect
ed here as Ambassador from the
French National Convention.
A few days ago Count Horn, Pie
iident of the College of War, died
s here, in the 73d year of his age.
LONDON, March go.
Abridgement oj the State of Politics for
this we-ek.
It is an observation of Lord Ba
con's, that " the best things of na
ture, when corrupted, become the
worft—Corruptio optimi fit peffi
ma." There is not a more noble
or more animating passion that fires
the human breast than the love of
liberty. But even this paffion,when
it bursts the barriers,of rea(on, and
lays-profit ate every other consider
ation, degenerates into a torrent of
licentiousness, bold and irrefiftable
iu proportion to the vigour of that
ere<ft sentiment of which it is
an unfortunate perverhon, which
sweeps before it the gradual and
leifnrely monuments of humanity,
refinement, and political and civil
government,and reftoresand threat
ens the reign of anarchy, common
ly followed by that of despotic pow
er. The truth of Lord Verulam's
position with refpe<ft to things mo
ral and political, is fatally verified
by the present disastrous state of
France.
A moderate and not nnreafonable
share of fcbe rty was offered to the
French nation by the late excellent
King : & greater was aflumed, with
out opposition on the part of the
monarch, by the firft National As
sembly, without due confidei ation
of all the mutual dependencies of
the French monarchy, and how
strong a head and hand it required
to keep togeiher so vast and so com
plicated a fabric. The political in
fignificance of the king, unluppnrt
ed as he was by an intermediatory
power between the throne and the
generhl afl'embly,. was quickly fol
lowed by tumult and not a little
bloodshed. The lecond National
Afl'embly alfumcd more liberjy, and
blood began to flow a-pace. This
democracy, according to a very just
though nire difciintinarion, was
soon changed into aLaocracy. The
mob of Paris gave law to the Aflem
bly and the ination. Horrors and
maflacres were multiplied, and are
£1511 increafcd. Infurretftions begin
to appear at Bourdeaux, Lyons, and
other places in France, inoppofition
to the sudden and ill-digested go
vernment of the ufurpprs. Civil
war is kindled in the interior, while
the world, combined in arms, prefl
es on the frontiersof France. The
miseries of that unhappy kingdom
verge fad to the extremity of poli
tical distress, that knows no conso
lation save only this, that it cannot
be lasting ; and contemplates the
alternative of quick recovery or
speedy diflolution.
But the ills of this dilmal date of
affairs are not confined to one coun
try or one age—Liberty is wound
ed by her votaries ran mad—the
cause of justice and freedom is hurt
by the injustice of those who only
afiume her name, and whose moral
conduit,unreftaained hpf iioralprin
ciple, coincides exatfjy with brutal
appetite and physical necedity.
From ■rat LONDON GAZETTE, Awn. 9.
HAGUE, April 3.
INTELLIGENCE has been received
from Gen. Clairfayt, dated at Tour
nay the 2d instant, advising that General
Dumourier had that morning sent to him
as prisoners, M. Bournooville, M. Ca
mus, and other Commissioners Who had
been authorifcd by the National Conven
tion to apprehend him, and conduct him
to their bar ; and chat, in a letter which
he at the fam* time wrote to Gen, Clair
fayt, he declared his intention to _march
the next morning with his army for Parrs.
April 6. The re-surrender of Breda,
has com pleated the rapid deliverance of
Holland from the threatened tyranny of
French fraternity. How far the events
of this (hort war may have fuVdued the
spirit of democracy, cannofc.at prefeot be
ascertained. Parties still tnn high, and
both fides speculate at this moment pret
ty freely on the confequeaces which may
flow from the punishment, or mercy that
may be administered to the Dutch revolt
ers now taken in arms. The Prmcefs of
Orange, through the whole of the prcfent
conflict, has judiciously declined appear
ing too forward in the military councils.
Lord Auckland, as British minister, has
conciliated the general refpeft of the con
federate powers, by the wife and decided
measures he proposed, and which he has
had the address to carry rapidly into ef
fe£,maugre the wonted system of Dutch
deliberation ! Gen. Boetzlaar and .his
lovely daughters have been received at
court with every possible mark of esteem.
The Saxe Gotha regiment, the principal
gallant defenders of Williamftadt, have
marched into this garrison on royal duty.
DUMOURIER'4 flight.
BRUSSELS, April 2.
Letter from his Excellency General Clair-
fayt, to MonsieUr Comte Statemberg,
Imperial Minister at the Hague, dated
Tout nay, March 31.
" I lose not a moment in communicat
ing to your Excellency what Dumourier
has just written to me, when he sent to
our camp eight or nine prisoners, this
morning; four of whom, with General
Bournonville, he fays, were specially
commiflioned by the National Conventiort
to arrest and conduct him a prisoner to
their bar ; and, on any resistance on the
part of Dumourier, to have him afiaflin
ated on the road. " But," adds the wri
ter, " I have been before-hand with them,
in securing those commifiioners and their
deputies as my piifoneis." These he has
sent under a itrong escort to the Prince de
Cobouig, after Tiaving put leals to all
their papers, &c.
" M. Dumouricr transmitted n.e at the
fame time a lift of the prisoners, and con
cludes by faying, " that he was that in
itant about to move with the ttufty pait
of his army, in order to destroy those who
may further oppose themselves to the pub
lic good of Fiance, and to give to that
diftrafted kingdom permanent peace and
tranquillity.
" 1 have the honor to be, !cc. &c.
COLbGNE, April 2.
We are, this instant informed, that
Cuftine having marched from Mentz, on
the lft inft. to retake Copenheim, the
two wings of the Prussian' army cut off
his retreat, and he was entirely fuiround
ed with all his army, and it was supposed
he could not escape.
Every thing is ready for the bombard'
ment of Mentz and Caflel, and if the gar.
rifons do not surrender they will be entire
ly destroyed.
BERGEN-OP-ZOOM, April 4.
Intelligence has been received from the
Prince de Saxe Cobourg's head quarters
at Mons, that an armistice had been a
414
irreed upon between his fcrere li.gUeCi
and general Dumourier, the latter hav.ng
previoufiy conferred to evacuate the Aul
trian Netherlands and Dutch Brabant
That general Dumourier set out on the
2d inft. on his mareh to Paris—That his
serene highness had put his troops into
close cantonments, keeping them in im
mediate readiness to aci— That the king
of Prussia had crofled the Rhine at Bu
chera, attacked the French at Bingen,
Creutzenach and Altheim, took general
Neuwinger, 50 officers, 200 non-com
rniffioned officers and privates, 15 cannon
and a military chest, and had formed the
blockade of Mayence ; —That general
Wurmfer, with a Prussian corps, was im
mediately to pass the Rhine at Manheim,
and ad on the left of the king—That
Worms and Oppenheim were evacuated,
and that the enemy bad retreated from
tbofe places towards Landau. These o
perations happened between the 27th of
March and the lit of April.
|>ARIS, April 3.
At length you are ir. possession of the
proceedings of the convention since the
time that all communication ha* been
ftopt between the two countries. I like
wise fend you some account of the pro
ceedings of - the Jacobin Club, and the
Commune, which at this crisis are of con
siderable importance. The clubs, yoa
will fee, now exercise both the legislative
and executive functions of government,
and while they didate to the deliberations
of the Convention, iflue their mandates
with all the imperioufnefs of conflicted
authority. These I accompany with some
little details, which will moie clearly
(hew you the state of facts, and the spi
rit which prevails in this capital.
By some, Dumourier is accused a« a
traitor, and as having acted all along with
views hostile to his country. By others,
his conduct is juftified upon the ground
of necessity, and reprefemed as the only
resource which his present situation allow
ed. He has been publicly threatened
with assassination. In th; club of Cor
deliers, it wasrefolved on the 26th March
that he and the other commanders of the
army (hould be brought to Paris in order
to be tried ; "and if," ct ied some of 1 hose
present, " they escape the tribunal, they
(hall not escape us."
In consequence of an order of the com
mittee of fuperintendance, all the papers
of Roland have been sealed up. He is
accused of being concerned in the confe
deracy with Dumourier.
Oiders of arrest are iffutd against Mef
dames Sillery, Egalite, Lady Fitzgerald j
against Valence, Egalite the younger,
Montjoye, and others, who are officers
under the command of Dumourier.
" CLAIRFAYT."
Danton, the other day, used in the con
vention, a iimile certainly by no means
inapplicable to the present Itate of the
French Legislation. " A great Revo
lution, said he, is like a met3l which boil*
in a furnace ; the statue of Liberty is not
yet founded ; if you do not know how
to manage the furnace, the metal will boil
over and burn you."
The Commissioners of public fafety
have announced to the convention the
discovery ac Chatuilly, of the most valu
able effe&s of the Prince of Conde.—
They have already sent to Paris 2208
marks of gold and lilver. They itate too
that they have found there a vast number
of letters, among which were some from
the late King, the Queen, Madame Eli
zabeth, Neckar, Calonne, Dubarry, &c.
and the secret motives of the expences of
the Red Book, and various articles rela
tive to the Revolution. As it wasfup
pofed that much more remained to be dis
covered, two commissioners were ordered
by the convention to proceed to Chantil
ly. Having rcached the place of their
detlination, they wrote that they had dif
covercd various secret openings in the
walls of the palace, in which were new
made mulkets and ammunition, papers,
and two boxes of jewels. They demand
ed powers to feaich the houses and papers
of variovs persons fufpe&ed of concealing
efFe£tsof the late Prince of Conde. New
commissioners and new powers were sent
to them, with particular inltrudtions to
prefeive the Cabinet of Natural Hiltory.
1 lie confufion which reigns here can
more easily be conceived than described.
We seem to have returned to a Hate of
complete and political chaos. All is tu
mult and disorder. In this situation,
force alone can decide, and difcntangle
the jarring elements. Those however,
whofoiefce a fyeedy conclutkm to the
prefe.it (lalft of diltra&ion, will p' :>i
be miltaken. That order will fpnng ti a
confufion, and fume regular form of g.».
vernment facceed to the present anarchv,
is indeed to be hoped, but not speedily
to be looked for. In proportion to the
violence with which diltra&ion now ragei
must be the time it willrequire to subside.
Before the government can be regenera
ted, and the numerous crimes committed
at the different periods of the Rerolutioa
done away, it must be purified by much
blood. Even fiippofe the war Ihould be
brought to a more speedy cOncluGon than
is at present probable, it will be difficult
to determine in what mode things can be
fettled. There is such a collilion of pat
(ions, prejudices and interests that it mult
be leng before any fettled order ofthing»
can take place. What means indeed will
be found to reconcile the wilhes and adjult
the claims of the different paities, it is
impoflible to forefee.
We now touch on a new sera of a re
solution which has been continually va
rying it« form, and giving life to frefti
changes; a revolution which has iftonilh
ed ordinary observers, by the novelty,
magnitude, and rapid fuccclSon of events;
which has filled with horror the friends
of humanity, by the crimes which it has
produced, and the evils with which it
threatens hnmanity : and which has open
ed a new field of curiosity and fpeculati.
on to the Philosopher, while it baffles e
very effort of teafoning and conje&ure.
SITTING of the JACOBINS.
March 29.
Robefpieire, inveighed bitterly against
a decree pafled on the morning fitting 3.
gainst those who might inltigate to mur
der and pillage. He requested that that
part of the convention, which did not
wish for the public good, migkt be un
mailced, and that they Ihould be deprived
of the power of doing hurt. " Let,
said he, the faithful departments be in
vited to proceed againlt those who are
unfaithful, in order to crulh them. Strike
at length ; (It ike all traitors, and iefpe&
only the national representatives."
March 31.
Marat.—" The dangers which threa
ten our country ate at their height, and
the moment has arrived when the courage
of Republicans ought to be displayed-—•
The treacheries of oui* generals are no
longer a mystery.' My predictions are
accomplished. But we have opened our
• eyes too late. A messenger ha 6 been dis
patched to Dumourier, and I will warrant
that by this time he has emigrated. Bour
nonville has set out to seize all the papers
which may tend to convi& himfelf, and
perhaps to try to march againit Paris with
Dumourier.
Danton in a speech of some length,
recapitulated his former services, in hav
ing prevented the miniltry, of which he
was a member, from leaving Palis in Sep
tember last. He knew Dumourier to be
unprincipled and ambitious ; but he knew
his military talents, and wished to give
his country the benefit of them. But
Dumourier conceived the proje£t of con
quering the Netherlands and Holland, ft
making himfelf their Prote&or. All his
a&ions were infe£led by this idea ; and
if he did not annihilate the Prussians in
the camp of La Lane, it was because he
wished to reserve himfelf an asylum in cafe
of defeat, in the dates of Frederick Wil
liam. His retreat from Belgium was ra
ther the faulc of his inferior officers than
his own. Miranda was a fool or a trai
tor. When Dumourier returned from
Holland to Belgiunl he was quite dejec
ted. The failure of hjs visionary projedU
reduced him almolt to a (late of insanity.
He retained nothing of a Republican but
his military ardour, and fought every 2
leagues. " But, continued the speaker,
let us leave this raving general, and think
only of saving the Republic. France is
far from having lolt her force. Under
Louis XIV. (he combated all Europe,
with resources far inferior. But where
are those resources ? It is for the Jacobins
to find them. It is not enough to have
levied an army of 300,000 men ; we mud
raise a central army to defend Paris, and
succour all the r<;tt. Let the Jacobins
call upon all good citizens, and feleft
those who are the mod capable to defend
their country, and we (hall soon have a
formidable-army. The factious talk of
dissolving the convention ; I cannot bear
the idea of diftolutiun. Let those who
have (hewn themselves too pulillanimous
to join their names to tV'fe wliofe glory
will defcendto posterity, withdraw from
it. Let us engage the people to speak»