A NATIONAL PAPER, PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN F£NNO, No. 34, NORTH FIFTH-STREET, PHILADELPHIA [No. 62 of Vol. IV.] Foreign Affairs. ' FRANCE. NATIONAL CONVENTION, LETTER From Thomas Paine to thi People of France, " Paris, Sept. 2J, 1792. " First year of the KepUblic. " FELLOW CITIZENS ! I RECEIVE will) affectionate gra titude the honor which the late national aflembly has conferred up on me, by adopting ine a citizen of France ; and the additional honor of being elected by my fellow-citi zens a member of the national con tention. Happily imprefied as 1 am, by those testimonies of respect fliewn towards me as an individual, I ieel iny felicity increased by feeing the Kr(iV(*c rr' patrioiifm by spots of earth, and li mited ciiizenfhip to the foil, like vegetation. " Had those honors been confer red in an hour of national tranqui lity, they would have afforded no other means of {hewing mv affecti on, than to have accepted and en joyed them ; but they come accom panied with cii ctimflances that give me the honorable opportunity of commencing my citizenship in the itormy hour of difficulties. 1 come not to enjoy repose. Convinced that the caofe o£ France is the eaufe of all mankind, and that as liberty cannot be purchased by a wish, I gladly lhare with you' the dangers and honors neceflary to success. " I am well aware, that the mo ment of any great change, such as ■T-at acc,jr:*.;-!i flicd on lT.c i-o-h of" August, u unavoidably the'noinent of terror and cunfufion. The mind highly agitated by hope, suspicion and apprebenfion, continues with out relt till the change be accom plilhed. But let us now look calm ly and confidentially forward, and success is certain. It is no longer the paltry cause of kings,-or of this, or of that individual, that calls France and her armies into a<ffion. It is the cause of all. It is the esta blishment of a new era, that shall blot despotism from the earth, and fix, on the lasting principles of peace and citizcnfhip, the gre?t republic of man. " It has been my fate to have borne a /herein the commencement and complete eflablifliment of one revolution, (I mean the revolution of America). Tlie success and e vents of that revolution are encou raging to us. The prolperity and h;ippinefs that have since flowed to that country, have amply rewarded her for all the hardlhips (he endur ed, and for all the dangeis flic en countered. " The principles on which that revolution began, have extended ihemiejves to Europe ; and an over ruling Providence is regenerating the old woi M by (he principles of the new. The difiance of America i roil) all the other parts of the globe, did not admit of her carrying of those principles beyond her own li tnation. It is to the peculiar honor of France, that (lie now railes the standard of liberty for all nations ; »i d in fighting her own battles, con tends for the rights of :• ] 1 mankind. " 1 lie fame spirit of foititude infilled I'uccel's to America,will inftii e it to t ranee j for it is impof fiblc to conquer a nation determi ned to be fieej The military circum ttanoes that now unite them(elves • o 11 ante, ate (uch as the despots of thu earth know nothing of, and can form no calculation upon. The)' know not what it is to fight against a nanon. i hey have only been ac cuituuu'd to make war upon each January 2, 1795. other ; and rhey know from fyftetn and practice, how to calculate the probable success of despot agaiiift despot ; and here their knowledge and their experience end. " But in a contell like the pre sent, a new and boundless variety ot circumstances arise, that derange all such culiomary calculations. When a whole nlktion ails as an army, the despot knows not the extent of the power against which he contends. New armies rife againit him with tlie neceflity of the moment. It is then that the difficulties of an inva ding enemy mulriply, as in the for mer cafe they diminiflied ; and he finds them at their heighth when he expected them to end. " The only war that has any fi inilarity of circumstances with the present, is the late revolution-war is in France, it was a war of the whole nation. There it was that the enemy, by beginning to con quer, put himfclfin a condition of being conquered. His firft victories prepared him for defeat. He ad vanced (ill he could not retreat,and found himfelf in the midst of a na tion of armies. " Were it now to be' proposed to the Aullrians and Prulliails to escort them iuto the middle of France,and there them te'make the inoft of such actuation, they would fee too much into the dangers of it to accept the offer ; and the fame dan gers would attend them, could they arrive there by any other means. Where then is the military policy of their attempting 10 obtaiir, by fort'*;, that which they would refufe by choice; But to reason with oci pots,is throwing reafoii away. The best of arguments is a vigorous pre paration. " Man is ever a stranger to the ways by which Providence regulates the order of things. The interfe rence of foreign despots may serve to introduce into their own enilaved countries the principles they come to oppose. Liberty and equality are bleflings too great to be che inhe ritance of France alone. It is* ho nour to her tobe rhef.r!t chanijUon ; and (Tie may now fay to her enemies, with a mighty voice, " O ! 'ye A uf trians ! ye Prulfians ! ye who now turn your bayonets againlt us ; it is for you j it is for all Eutope; it is for all mankind, and not for France alone, that flie raises the Itandard of liberty and equality !" " The public caule has hitherto fufFered from the contradictions contained in the conflitution of the former condiment aflembly. Those contradictions have served to divide the opinionsof individuals at home, and to obfeure the great principles ot the revolution in other countries. But when those contradictions fliall be removed, and the conflitution be niadeconformable to the declaration of rights; when the bagatelles of monarchy, royalty, regency and he reditary fucceflion, lhall be exposed, with all their absurdities, a new ray of light will be thrown over the world, and the revolution will de live new strength by being univer sally underflood. " The scene that now opens it felf to France, extends far beyond th« boundaries of her own domini ons. Every nation is becoming her colleague, and every court is become her enemy It is now the cause of all nations against the cause ot all courts. The terrors that despotism felt, clandeflinely begot a confede ration of despots ; and their at tack upon France fe produced by their fea:s at home. " In entering on this great scene, greater than any nation lias yet beeu called to a<s in, let us fay to 245 tin jcvtarcvf nind, be calm. Let us puuifh by iuftructing, rather than by revenge. Let us begin the new sraby a greatness of friendfhip,and hail the approach of union and suc cess. Your Fellow-Citizen, " THOMAS PAINE." (LA CROIX, PRESIDENT.) Letter from General Montefquiou. ' I AM hitherto informed, by the public prints of rne decree which pronounces my difjliflian ; I have officially received that Mfhich suspends its effert. I refpeft, as I ought, the decrees of the peo ple's repreientyfives. Thsy ought to rcjeft the Cervices of'thofe who were suspected, the moment they put fufficient confidence in my accusers, to regard their assertions is pi oofs. If truthcouid lmeiven heaid, the national Convention fhoiild haye known that all which was told tliem was a collection of impofit'.ons ; they ihould have known that I had never pe-' tioned nor adhered to any petition ; that the statement presented by me tu the legislative aliombfy, cf the Kii sos Sardinia's forces, is perfectly exact ; that it is the executive coun cil which had forbid the attack of Savoy; and that it was my prefllng feprcfentntion, the re peated communication of my plan, and my proinife of success, which determined the exe cutive council to give me the liberty to ast ; it fhonld have known that the fables repeated by fevcral journalifh,on the infalubritv of the ca. Ps I had chosen, were so many li.*s } it flujlrf have known, in fliort, that the most honor; blc confidence of my army, is a re ward ior all my trouble. I have the happiness to do a service to my country and to mankind, in introducing the ft uidard of liberty among a good people, who appeal- to me worthy ot this great benefit. No facrifiee has poisoned this happiness. The satellites of despotism have every where fled before an army of citizens. Sav: y is as much French as the eighty three dep o , tnients, and its attachment to the nati on has already reflected honor 011 the general who firft planted the tree of liberty on a foreign Bastille. My race is run, and I can no longer hope to oe ultrful. A general who has been once beset by sus picion, on whom the national convention lias once imprinted the seal of public miltrnft,can 110 longer act with a receilary spirit of free dom, with that inward and communicated len time r,t oi'intentions,always pure and loyal. Those whose intrigues have once followed me, can ngver forgive my having conquered Sa voy, 011 the day they denoune'ed me as a trai tor. Every one of my operations would be croiTed ; every trap set by the enemy would be denounced as a treason : secrecy, the foul of success, would always hide some fu petted intention. I.therefore demand, Mr. PreGdent, and I demand it prefiing!v,from a love for my coun try, from attachment and gratitude to an ar my to whom I am much indebted, that ano ther general be named in my place : Nothing can deface the decree of the 23d of Septem ber, and it is necHfary that the citizen who commands a French army, should be not only purej' but free from suspicion. I solicit only one favor, that I may be per mitted to return home, there to enjoy my rights of a citizen, and to prove, by the ob fcuriiy of my lite, that if ever I had an am- it was that of serving my country. The general of the Alpine army, Monies qu i ou. A debate followed on tSe fuhjedl of general Montefquiou's letcer, in which it was propos ed to reicind the original decree for the dii milfion of the general, but after an animated difcflion, it was adjourned till thecommiflion ers coildbe heard. A petition was then presented from the sec tion of the temple, against the propolition of collecting an armed fbrce round the conven tion, draw hi in equal parts from eafch of the eighty-three departments. A debate followed, in whicji it was hinted that the members were afraid of their situa tion, hut this idea was universally scouted : The petition was sent to the committee to report on it in three days. THE MINISTER AT WAR Requested the permifiion of the afTembly to pure hale felted provisions in Hamb«urg, Hol land, and Ireland, to the amount of three millions of livresj.Mie observed at the fame time, that this enormous foiti fcarcf fufficed for the nourifliment of the armies ten davs. Decreed. A secretary read a second letter from the fame rainifter, in which he demanded, if it was necessary to deliver in the accounts' al ready prefenred to and pa fled by the national legislative aflembly ? The Jacobins cxprefs a strong defii e to have the ci-devant King and Oueen brought to trial. The Convention seem to agree in the opinion of tha Club, and one• of the Deps raents of Paris has expressed the utmoil anx " ty for a speedy judgment. Ckamkcry, OClobcr 3 The Senate of Venice detei miudd : gaitift en tering ifito the European Alliance to France. The reason they aflign is not the be ft that might or could be yet it is good e ough—namely, that their forces would add Ik* tie strength to the League, and that they are needed at home to prevent the epidemical in fluence of the French opinions fprt ading. At Valtnfolcs, a Citizen sent five sous to the Army, and made hmfclf the (ixth soldier of his family— A daughter ashamed to be left at home, put on the male habit, &joined the army* MatfeiHes attempted to be plunged in ali (he infamous and ciifgraces of Paris, has refilled the artifices of the Arch-deltio)er of Man, whose verv name dfhonours the page oii which it is found. Baflc preserves not the armed Neutrality of 'Berne, bu one of a less menacing nature. The French read friendlhip thercj and molt proba* bjy read cojrcftly. Caillard, the French Envoy to has quilted this feudal Metiopolis—They iuunihcd him a paflport daied September u, and tailing only eight days Ail Frenchmen aie expelled thence* Morjieur, the brother of Louis XVI. has cei tainly overshot himjelf to imagine, that his Bc dy-guard will be accepted in the Cartel for ex changing prisoners as to many Auihians or Pruflians.— He and they, it may be depended upon, will meet the treatment only of traitors taken in arms.fighting against their country. The ltaliam .are i)»eadfully afraid, that the triple-coloure*! French will make them a vifir* Rome prays, Naples arins, and cails upon the grand Mallei to save her, and Portugal to lend her succours. is airgry and appeased, me naces and dreads, ye't does nothing. A Messenger arrived at Dover, from Turin # on Monday, by way of Oftend. The report was then that the King of Sardinia had been at* fafiinated* There is a true and there is a falfe Pbilofophy ; but as it is the cafe with truth and falsehood*, the latter has a more exienfive circulation than the former, always countera&mg its falutaiy influ ence. It is to the falfe Philosophy of Francti that this unhappy people owes its mufortuues j theftream of which, polluting whatever it ap proximates, may be traced to the authors of the boasted, but motl pernicious PhilolOphic Dic tionary* A wife Member of the National Aflembly, a ftiort timebefore its diflolution, proposed, 44 that the Rights of a French Citizen ftiould be de* creed to Mr. Addifon." This Son of Liberty was whispered by a friend, that Addifon had been dead thefc fifty years* A letter from tbeComfniffioners at concludcs thus : " It appears from every information, that the brothers of the ci-devant King, accompa nied by Castries, formerly a Marflial of France, were at the head of the column of the Emigrants. They were known by their fury, and they endeavored by the molt infa. mous and mean hypocrisy to introduce reli gion into their atrocious quarrel. " We saw General Kellerman at Suippe, and found his army in the best poflible order. Discipline prevails among thefoMicrst they are full of ardor and courage, and we did not hear a single complaint either from the Gene ral or the troops, who have mutual confidence in each other. " Provisions arrive in great abundance j and while we fee the fiekK ftrewea with the carcalfes of the horles of the enemy, ours are ftroug and vigorous." Hon. Richard D. SpaiqHT, to be chofeu GOVERNOR of this State. His Excellency Alexandir Martin, Esq. our late Governor, elected SENATOR, ia Congters, in place of the Hon. Samuel John ft on,' the term of whose appointment expire-, in March next; that by the last balloting for the place for holding the next alterably Flf cttcvilla had a majority. [Whole No. 384.] Letter from tha Mrniftcr at Wsr. ( (ktv/er 5. 1752; " Fii'ft Year of the Republic. '' Citizen PreJuLfit, " Colonel Uceltennann, from tfac united armies of the ventre, has arrived in Paris this maming; he has confirmed all the detail* sent nie bv the General*; and adds, that they continue to barrais the enemy daily. They take carriages, provisions, and have made a number of prisoners, among v. i:om are leverai emigrants. (Signed-) " Sir van." li A R L E M, 9. The French remained at Spires when out last intelligence came away. They had fenc away 500 carriages to Landau, laden with the produce of the magazines. The Auftriannia gazines at Heidelberg have been sent away tor fear of another such visit as that of Spires. The Prince Bishop has alio left that place,and the Margrave of Baden is hourly expected to do the fame. Philipfburgh, which is in th<p Bifaop of Spire's territory, is under the ap prehensions of an as well as the Elec tor's dominions, it being reported that the French had thrown bridges over the Rhiitf for that purpose. LONDON, FAYETTEVILLE, (N. C.) Dec. 18. Letters from Newbern mention the J O&riber is,
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