[No. 1 8,.0f Vol. IV.]
TRANSLATION OF
M. ANDRE CiIENIER's LETTER }
Publijhed in the "Journal d£ Paris,"
9 f lc of May.
Citizens ! on this day when a deplo
rable and Ihameful eveut, at ihe commence
ment ot 'he war, has severely admoniftied us of
the value of wisdom and rcafon, let us guard against
that ficklenefs ol mmd which has always appeared
so be the ch uicV rillic ot our nation.—The leaf!
success elevates our hopes, to a degree borderi.v
on soliy :—The leall repuife plunges us into del
fp.:ir.—Buv. it in the midit of a well-minded grief,
we are willing at last to examine maturely the mis
fortunes which have just befallen us, and firmly
»ppl ; y those certain remedies which these misfor
tune tin ms ivrs point out, we shall have no realon
to oe discouraged. Let us only open our eyes
let us icmfniht r iiat fortune and chance arecmpty
founds : —That success is the rewaid of good con
duit ; that the rcveite is the chastisement due to
imprudence.—Since we have negle&ed thecounfel
of wisdom, let us at lealt profit by the errors or
which lhe had lorewarned us. Lei the pafl cor
reti the ♦uiuie ; and then, not only tne melancho
ly fcencs which we lament, will cease to bean un
lucky omen, but they will rather be a beacon
placed at tne entrance ot a dangerous channel, to
caution us to quit it oS soon as poflible.
Till now. A.i men who saw with terror the re
laxation ot discipline tn our armies, who saw dif
ooedience and n volt reduced to system and become
our rniii.at y code ; the foldlery encouraged to Im
biue in Clubs the molt dcteftable principles— or
the rr.oft pernici' o and talle conclusions from true
pi uciples ; 11:(. Generals difgulted 111 a thousand
ways—mful ed, chaled, struck, alldllinated with
impuniry, and always condemned unheard ; —the
foidiers always excused, juftified without inquiry,
applauded ai.d rewarded when they ought to have
been pumihed—r hose whs have Jeen with terror
such things, who loudly lamented them, and who
wou'd have had us look then fatal consequences
in the face, p fled (if not for traitors} at least for
men governed by old prejudice.-, incapable ot ex
panding theii minds to our new plans of Govern
ment, or of rifmg to the he ighth ol a Revolution',
But on the conrary; thole men, infulced every
day by a crowd « i merct naiy wretches, were,and
always will be, friends of their country, friends of
humanity and of the laws ; who infteod ot at
tempting by furious declamations, to flatter the
paflions ot a ; -y and ignorant multitude, employ
the.r ieifure and their r-tle&ion in Audying history
and the nature ot things.
They know that when men arm d and embo
died are not confined within the rules jnd limits
of exact discipline, debauchery, thoughtleirner.s, ,
and a contagious indolence, loon enervate their
minds and their bodies,—They know that want
of luboi dination in armies, partakes of the essence
of delpolic empires ; in which the foidiers, at
least sometimes, revenge the wrongs of the people,
but aiways do lo by producing evils still greater ;
and that free nations,who have done greater things
than others in war, have obtained their fuperion
ty by the rigid auiteiity of their discipline.— You
may quote as an example of the contrary, those
very enemies agairtil whom we now fight. But
have thole Germans received the military art from
their fathers, or have they borrowed it eliewhere ?
Do their armies resemble thole of the ancien:
northern Hordes, or are they governed by jule.
to thole the Roman armies ?—Let no
one then treat the German or PrufTian discipline
with a deiilion equally itupid and proud ; and let
them .earn to imitate despots in thole things, in
which despots have imitated free people.
Let us then, since it mult be so, cast a glance up
on the horrible and fharoeful event with which
we have stained the commencement of this war.
I do not remark that French joldicrs have fled;
lor the circumstances which followed were such
that one no longer thinks of reproaching them
with their flight. They have alLflinated their
chiefs ; they have mallacied unarmed prisoners.—
Do lucii horrors compote the history ot Jree peo
ple, or that of eafterri tyrannies ? It is in the latter
that armies resemble thole wild bealts which they
tame 111 the fame countries, to prepare them for
the chafe ; but which, when they are in want of
prey, return furious and lhike tin ir keepers with
tenor. '1 is there that Generals are butcher d,
that prisoners are cut to pieces, that prisons and
ftiong caltks are the or*iiy asylums to which Am
balladors and peaceful Urangers can fly for ihel. er,
a gain ft the violence of an enraged populace. Is it
there we would look for example? And are
french tioops becoming Janizaries f
If any thing can yet farther excite the
•f evtry truly patriotic heart, it would be the tune
and dilcou.lt* of all thole odious fanatics, of all
thofr vile turbulent demagogu. s that fill tiic clubs,
whom the evil genius ol Ftaiue has railed and fup
portsagair.lt tier.—Thcnu have aii our misfortunes
proceeded. There, have I.een 'onu-med
and want ofdifapline. Tnere, has rebellion ben
lawful authorities; hatred to
every virions ttyn ; prnteaion to all mali-faito.*.
They have alrendy out on the tomb of tile
unfortunate DILLON', and the companions of his
tall, atrocious and bafc ; which, for
four yean pafl, are the only expiations which
na»e followed the murder of so many victims la
cuSced by the friends and retainers of these fociev
t ' e j- Dcuht not that the authors of so manV dis
orders let every inßrumeot at work to prolong
them • doubt not that they will contend for revolt
•nd '.[under. As for their altars arid fire-fides
nouut not they will afcufe the Rights oj Man as a'
Preteit for , rocutn.g impunity to thofc who de.
sad malfaci* their Generals. Doubt opt (hat
A NATIONAL PAPER, PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, PHILADELPHIA
Wednesday, August i, 175)2.
those fa!fe atid ferocious p us, which insult their
country by calling themielves patriotic* will la
bour and lliive, after the firft transports of our
grief fhail bepuft, to intercft us for the fate of sol
diers who could make no oLher use of their arms
than in assassination ; and to tell us, that in truth
it was only an trior, but that the chiefs were aris
tocrats, and that the aimy was fold. It will not
be for want of their efforts, if we do not hear some
buffoon pieparing a Triumph to those cowardly
murderers.
Allyewhofe fouls can feel what is honorable
and good ; all ye who have a country, and who
r.nuw what a country is; who knew what you
laid when you swore to defend it, and with whom
to " live or to die Jrcc" are not words withodt
meaning ; Oh, French citizens, alt ye who have
Sons, Wives, Parents, Brother s* Friends, with
whom and tor whom you wish to conquer ; with
whom or before whom you arerefolvcd to die,
how long {hall we talk of our liberty in order to
remain Haves to impious fa&ions ? Raise then
your voice, shew youi selves, let the nation come
forward, and annihilate all those troops of ideols
who usurp its name ; and w.ho, commanded by
knaves, will destroy us if you <so not all put forth
your hands. This is the only moment that re*
mains, this the pfccile moment in which we are Co
dccide the future. Evil (hall it be to us, it we (hut
the car to the fir it warning that war has given us.
If our condutl 15 courageous and wife; if our re
presentatives display, on this occasion, the grand
charadler of equity, constancy, and vigour, worthy
ol them and of us ; if those regiments of the line
who have acted with French courage, if that bat
talion of spirited National Guards, whom the city
ol Paris shall have eternal honor in having given
birth to ; in a word, it all the warriors who be
haved as good soldiers, as good citizens, as free
men, are commended and rewarded as they merit
—if those who abandoned their General shall be
chafed with ignominy, deprived for ever of the
ufc of arms and ol the rights of citizenship ; —if
the muidercrs of their commander s shall meet con
dign puniffiment ;—if the villains who mafTacred
I unreiiiting prisoners are given up to thfe hostile na
tion— in Ihort, to let all Europe know that the
French people disavow this right borrowed from
the manners of canibals, and that they have not
recovered their liberty in order to make war like
barbarians ;—if the law invest our Generals with
all the power nece-flary to prelerve in their armies
a Hi i£l difciplin , and punish them for improper
tenderness rather ihan for rigour ; —ifjuftice be al
ways attainable, and the immediate confenuence of
the crime ; —it tne intolerable audacity of tht fe
usurping fraternities be reprefFed ; —if the proje&s!
of our Generals, the march of our armies, the pians
of attack,before their execution, cease to be objects
ofdifcuffion in clubs—the present evil may be easi
ly »epaircd—our Generals may recover confidence
and our troops regain their own eftcetn, as well
as that of foreigners. The loft oja pojl is a matter
of uidiftcrence, but the honor of France has been
more brought mqueftionby these detelfable adtions
than it had been for ages part.
II m place of this, our Legislature (hall be indo
lent and weak, where juftjee and firmnefs alone
can lave „s, what officer, having a foul and talents,
would wish to remain in such an army?— What
General wilh to command troops capable of affaf-
Jinating tlie man whom they have previously dis
honored ?—Where is the citizen that would rot
to makewa, ori an enemy to whom unpu
nilhed massacre would give a right to make retalia
tion, linlefs they choole to conquer us by generosity
and virtue ? And what people would not confidt r
theniltlves just in defpifirig another, which, in be
coming free, lor gets ihe manners of civilized life
and diwefts themfc lvei ul humanity ?
Behold then what every Frenchman ftiould fay
to nimfelf, and fay to his fellow Frenchman, in
repelling with lhameand igoominy all infamous
'"""'l ™ ho to render a useless example ol
ihis hi ll lelTon of misfortune.
Ye to whom .he withes of your fellow-crizen,
have trnfted the deftly of the empire, it is nme
to lee and to found the pr ctpice toward which
we drive W'th such great ftridc*. You have too
long lillcned to those who call a hatred ot all Cub
ordination patriotism, the impuniiy of all crimes
liberty ; who have futernal feelings for thole a
looe who are banditti or murderers; and who
iek 01 tne reputation of humanity in their pity
v'i'lai ns, wh ch is an insolent derision of all
:;ood men. Rcrollefl that nothing i s more hu
mane, more indulgent, more delightful, than the
Ivere inflexibility oljuft laws ; nothing more cru
el, more unpuiable, tnan clemency to criminals •
that there is no liberty which is riot held undei
aws, nothing as despotic or as fangulnary as
Legislators ! France has undertaken, with
courage and alaciiiy, a war, the fu cess of which
jhallfecurc its own liberty and that oi Ejrcpe at
ice. I, is for France to furnifh its army, hut it
is you is to orgai.ize it, and in order to this you
mull both creaie and repair.
-t is your duly—you are charged to prevent
rrenchmen from having made a frivolous and
vain oatn, when they swore to defend" their liberry
against all its enemie-. Foreign Dcfpots, at the
lame time that they lellusthey do not wilh to m
u.war dare.odia.teto refptfiing the kind
ol Coultuution under which it pleases them that
we (hould live-tegiOatou! it is for you to decide
wheticr thcie contumelious proportions shall
have the force ol laws, or whether they (hall mere
1> Ik come ridiculous bravadoes. Recollect that
an undisciplined army 14 terrible only to its own
country.
ANDRE CHENIER,
69
From a late Englifli Paper.
EPISTLE,
Fiora Napper Tandy, in Dublin, to Tommy
Pain e, in London.
I3eAR To 4 ;f my this comes from the ifiand of
Saints,
Where Nappe i is making a thou land complaints,
'Gainst Law ar„i Religion, Vicegerents and Kings,
And Bishops anil Judges, and such odious things ;
And happ) he is not alone to complain,
But in concert to growl with his dear Tommy Paine.
You have heard how Ichalleng'd a Manof the Law,
And efcap'd by a Trick from the Messenger's Paw,
How they took me again, and refufmg all Bail,
Sent your poor Napper Tandy difgraceful to Goal.
But ecod I'll be up with these Great Legifl.itors,
And make them submit to our new made Diftatdrs.
You ' now Who I mean, and how easy the way lick,
The jacobin Club that alembic at Daly's.
Please God ere its long, every Man in the Realm,
Shalt each take in his turn and dire£l the State
Helm ;
And your Do&fine no longer be any man's scorn,
For you know, my dear Tciti % 14 We arc equally
born,"
And that he who this moment is ploughing the
land,
Has a right in his turn our Helm to command.
Nor is the day distant when you, Thomas Paine y
Of the Government of England (hall hold the
chief Rein ;
And I, Napper Tandy, (hall joyfully sing,
" I'm greater in Ireland than Viceroy or King"-
So keep up the Ball—and write ilrong as you can,
In favor of France, and her new Rights of Man.
P. S. As I've loft being Sheriff, next Michaelmas
dav.
I mean on your fide the water a vifir to pay ;
And my Wife fays (he'll go, her fancy so itches
To fee if (he knows the Combujlible Breechcs ;
Those Breeches, Oh, Tommy, how dismal the tale !
That just in the critical moment (hould fail
Those dear Galligafkinsthat had they been burn'd,
Your whole Constitution must be overturn'd :
tfor your Lords and your Commons would cer-
tainly fall)
And the four Courts of Justice inWeftminfter-Hall.
To the tunc of ca in, the Mob would all Dance,
And England be just such a Country as Francc.
OF Q_U AC K DOCTORS.
AN EXTRACT.
From the Bojlart Independent Chronicle.
' T 75/ itA degree of knowledge can be rea-
V V lonably allowed this kind of" practiti
oners, .vhen fix or eight months are the extent
of time devoted to physical studies. Without
any other kind of knowledge, they turn over
many valuable volumes, written by the ableu
pens—and in the course of their pernfal,acquire
a number oi oid Latin phrases, and hard techni
cal terms, and then dole their books forever.
.Thus stored, in their opinion, with a fund of
uleful knowledge, they commence man-flayers.
Well might such men wear swords by their'ides
to ihow they have a commifTion to kill. Alex
ander was a celebrated warrior, who, through
his martial spirit, fheel rivers of human blood.
j.n like manner, £)uack Doctors, through their
ignorance of the force of medicine, and of its
operative effects upon the constitution, are 110
less diftinguiflied for man-flaughter.
" A lingular instance of this vice, arising
from this order of men, took place not long
since in the slate of New-Hampshire. A young
iad is thrown from a horse and wounded. ' The
be ft, as was thought, of the eight or nine doc
tors lefiding in the town, is called. While the
tender youtn, by an exprefiive wilh in his coun
tenance, asks a respite from pain, and relief
from his irioft distressing situation, and nature
w..its. patiently for human aid—the famous doc
tor arrives. He has the knowledge, as well as
the weeping parents, that something the youth
ails—But what it is, and the remed v, are equal
ly unknown to him. As something mail be
don?, he applies . Having given his
learned prescription, he mounts his horse in
great haste, to be gone. The anxious patents
.beg he would tarry a few moments. But to
avoid exposing his ignorance, both of the com
plaint of the youth, and its removal, he answers
" He will do well, I mufl visit another patient''
Thus the youth is left expiring, and made a fa
entice to the gross ignorance of a fa'lfe phy
sician."
[Whole No. 340.]
r I U R I f], April 25.
Notwithstanding the paci
fic afliirances given by this courc
in respect to the affairs of France,
there is every leafon to mifliuil its
obscure policy. A whole year ha»
now been spent in completing the
troops of the line, and belides chefe
the provincial regiments are arming.
These regiments form in the whole
an army of i$ or 16,000 njen, and are
so organized that the whole of tlieni
may be collected in a lew days. The
garrison of Nice is considerably aug
mented. Considering the exhauiled
(late of our treasury, however, there
is reafou to think that all these pre
parations may be fylely meant tor in
ternal defence.
MARSEILLES, April 9.
The true patriots in Marseilles are
a majority of" its inhabitants ; but:
they are timid, and the primary af
feinblies have the affiirance to inti
midate their antagonists who are hoc
friends to anarchy. Whoever is not
a republican and anti-royalist is,with
them, an aristocrat j and this word,
like the head of Medusa, petrifies all
minds.
GIRONNE, (Spain) Jan. 12.
ADDRESS TO THE KING OF SPAIN,
Written by a gentleman of Traga, wha
travelled into France with the famous
Count d' Aranda.
Charles ! thy august Father gained
the affections of the Spanish nation by
a government founded 011 modera
tion : his reign was marked with
blefhngs, the memory of which will
never be effaced ; he bridled religi
ous despotism, and mitigated the ho
ly bai bariry of the intjuifhion. We
expecfted of a Prince, whose senti
ments announced philanthropy and
philosophy, that he would perfect
ihefe glorious beginnings : but,
Charles ! thou haft deceived the hopes
of thy people ; thou haft fuffered them
to languish under the iron sceptre of
monachifin, and the pride of Spain
feels the insult. Our allies, the
French, are free, and the report of
their glorious revolution hath struck
thy ears like a peal of thunder, and
made thee tremble on thy throne.
The (late dungeons, which thy au
gufl father had fhu c up, ha*e at thy
command been put to use, and thou
haft spread fear and diftrull; through
out thy wide domains ; the age of
Philip the Second is revived ; bur,
Charles ! listen to the voice of a des
cendant of Cortes, listen to the voice
of Spain entire ; restore to thy peo
ple those rights which God and na
ture bellowed on them, if you desire
not to fee them seize on them by
lorce ; fnut up forever those gloomy
mansions of de/olation, where sacer
dotal vengeance offbis up its human,
lacrifices 10 a God of mercy ; give us
up the liberty to fpeafc and think ;
none but a tyrant can dread the truth,
and surely ihou canst not desire that
so execrable a name should descend
linked with thine to posterity ; con
template the miserable condition of
our lands, bj nature the nioft fertile
in Europe ; tuj fleets bring into our
ports the gold of Mexico and Cufco,
but thy peeple are poor and without
industry ; within these ten years
three great nations have atchievecl
their liberty, and Spain rests llill in
slavery ; we have driven away the
courageous Moors, and fuffered our
selves to bemaitered by the monks
Oh ignominy ! oh shame I—Charles,
thoti art the richest monarch in the
univer/e, be also the 1110 ft glorious,
the must just, the inoft beloved ;
(new tltyfeif worthy of commanding
the Spanish nation, of reigning over
ft eemen ; think on thy true intcreft,
think 011 the energy of the nation,
„.1 _ .