lord who was engaged about the king's perfon, as a proper man to obferve the motions of the populace. This great perfon (probably the prince de Luxembourg) was, at that time, apprehenfive of an infurrection in the fuburb of St. Antoine; he therefore employed M. de Favras to procure intelligence, in order that, in fuch a cafe, meafures might be taken for the king's fafety, and prefented him with 100 louis to difcharge his expences in this inquiry. On this account, and on this only, he declared, he had applied to Tourcaty and Morel, and had founded M. Marquié with respect to the fentiments of the French guards." It is faid, moreover, but on what authority we cannot fay, that he asked the judge who at tended him on the occafion, "whether, if he were to explain himself more openly, it would make any alteration in his favour?" and that, upon the judge affuring him that it was impoffible to defer the execution of the fentence, he replied "In that cafe, my fecret fhall die with me."

At eight o'clock in the evening M. de Favras defcended from the Hôtel de Ville, "and proceeded to the place of execution (furrounded with lamps and torches) with a firm tep, and with the utmost compofure exhorted his friends not to lament him. The whole of the ferocious multitude, who waited for and rejoiced in his death, was moved.The curate of St. Paul fainted, When at the foot of the scaffold, he exclaimed-" Citizens, I die an innocent man. Pray for me." The whole affembly trembled; the executioner himself was overwhelmed with emotions of grief; the moft awful filence enfued for fome minutes, and was only broken by the intrepid fufferer himfelf calling out

to the executioner to do his duty. After hanging the ufual time, his body was delivered to his friends.

Such was the fate of this unfortunate nobleman ;-unmerited, certainly, if we are to judge only from the evidence which is before the public; and if among his papers, which were feized, any more convincing teftimonies were found, they ought to have been fairly exhibited to the world, whatever the rank of the perfons whom they might involve. Either the public ought to have been fatisfied of the guilt of M. de Favras, or he ought to have been acquitted. What is moft extraordinary is, that about the fame period a M. Augeard was accufed before the fame tribunal of a fimilar crime; and a project in his own hand writing for carrying off the king to Metz was produced, which project he had himself communicated to M. de Clermont Tonnerre; and yet, difficult as it may be to reconcile fuch contradictions, this man was folemnly acquitted, while the elegant and accomplished Favras was condemned and executed.

While the Chatelet was thus ignominiously employed, the nationał aflembly was proceeding in its patriotic labours. Several decrees which reflect honour on their liberality of fentiment were passed. Among thefe we fhall only mention the decree which declares all perfons, whether profefling the catholic religion or not, eligible to all offices and employments of the ftate; and that which abolished the barbarous feudal principle, which attached infamy to the defcendants of perfons executed for crimes, and which, with us, is ftill retained under the unphilofophical term, cor ruption of blood. On the 4th of February the king voluntarily re

paired

paired to the national affembly; and lamenting, in a long difcourfe, the malignant efforts of the enemies. of the new conftitution, he declared folemnly, that he would defend it to the last moment of his existence; and that, in concert with the queen, it fhould be his conftant endeavour to educate his children in the facred love of liberty." The applaufe which was bestowed on this difcourfe was mingled with tears of joy and gratitude. As foon as the king was retired, the affembly decreed a moft loyal addrefs; and profiting by the occafion, it was alfo determined to adminifter immediately to all the members prefent the civic oath, and that thofe who were abfent fhould not be permitted to take any part in the deliberations till they had fubmitted to a fimilar ceremony. The example was followed by the whole city of Paris; and at the fame time an addrefs to the provinces was decreed by the affembly, to announce what they had already effected, and what they ftill propofed to do for the entire regeneration of the empire.

The diforders of the kingdom had not yet entirely fubfided.-At Beziers a riot was occafioned by the feizure of fome contraband falt; and five perfons were hanged by the mob. The caftles of the nobility in many parts of the kingdom were pillaged; nor did thofe of the moft decided patriots efcape. That of M. Charles Lameth was plundered; and that of the duke d'Aiguillon was threatened, but was faved by the activity of the national guard. As the only remedy, therefore, to thefe difgraceful proceedings, the affembly was obliged, in addition to the riot act formerly mentioned, to pafs a decree, which made the municipality refponfible for whatever damages might enfue from

riotous affemblies of the people in any part of the kingdom.

The continuance of these acts of violence furnished the parliament of Bourdeaux with a pretext for exciting the country against the new conftitution: and a kind of report was drawn up by the chamber of vacations there, of the grievances which the new arrangement had brought upon the country. As foon as this matter was known to the nas tional affembly, it was agitated with much violence for fome days; but they at length difmiffed the magiftrates of the parliament with a gentle reproof.

If the gentlemen of the robe contended with their usual chicanery and addrefs, the oppofition of the clergy was not lefs violent. It mutt indeed be confeffed, that the property which the latter had at flake was much more confiderable than that of the former; and their claim to that property was much ftronger than that which the legal profeffion advanced in favour of their monopo ly of juftice. Thefe clamours were increased by the apprehenfion that the church lands were speedily to be put to fale; and as a preparatory step, the abolition of monaftic vows and orders was agitated in the affembly. After a clamorous debate upon this fubject, which in its own nature fcarcely admitted of any, it was decreed," that in future the affemblywould fanction no monaftic vows in perfons of either fex: that the monaftic orders were from that moment fuppreffed in France: that every individual confined in monafteries, of either fex, might be immediately releafed from their monaftic obligations, by giving in their declaration to the municipality, and that fuch fhould be entitled to a certain penfion; but that houses should be provided for the reception and fupport

of

of fuch as fhould not be difpofed to take advantage of this decree."

During the difcuffion of this topic in the affembly a voice was heard, requiring that a decree fhould be paffed, folemnly declaring that the Roman catholic religion was the efta blished religion of the state; and this was followed by a violent clamour, that the church was in danger. M. Dupont replied, that there could not be a doubt that the Roman catholic religion was the religion of the state, fince they had appropriated more than 80,000,000 (or four millions terling) annually to its fupport. To put an entire termination, however, to all fimilar debates, the affembly decreed," that the attachment of the nation to the Roman catholic reKgion ought not to be doubted, fince the fupport of that form of worship held the first rank in the public expences."

Thefe proceedings were fpeedily followed by a decree, authorizing the fale of the church lands to the amount of 80 millions of livres; to be difpofed of from time to time, as the legislature fhould direct. In the mean time it was determined, that a number of affignats, or notes of æredit upon thefe lands, to be accepted in payment on their fale, fhould be itfed into circulation. Some regulations were alfo made refpecting the ranfom of the feudal rights, and the temporary adminiAlration of the tithes.

Several other financial arrangements were adopted for the cafe and convenience of the people, and for the encouragement of commerce. The taxes upon leather, oil, foap, ftarch, and iron, were all abolished. But the most popular step of the legiflature was to annihilate for ever the odious and oppreffive droit dega belle, or falt tax, which had for ages been the cause of continual feditions

among the people. These were replaced by a fmall addition to the territorial taxes. The tax on tobacco has fince been abolished; and from that period tobacco and salt are become, what they were not before, confiderable articles of commerce in France. In fine, that no unlawful restriction fhould remain upon commerce, the trade to the Eaft Indies was declared free and open to the whole nation.

In the mean time the affembly was not inattentive to that great and neceffary task, the reform of the jurifprudence. In almost every nation of Europe the laws are founded upon an equivocal bafis; the structure is heterogeneous and inconfiftent, and the practice confequently difficult, expenfive, and uncertain. They are either founded upon the voluminous code of the Roman law, or they are derived from feudal principles, which are now obsolete and barbarous. Thus the fources of European jurifprudence have no connection or analogy with the manners or the fpirit of the times; and the practice of the courts is neceffarily fometimes in contradiction to the principles of the feudal laws, and at others abfurdly directed by them. The precedents which are founded upon these un certain and obfolete principles are too voluminous to be useful, too contradictory to be jut. The laws themselves, inftead of being fimple, and obvious to the capacities of the people, are more deeply involved in mystery than the moft abftrufe fpeculations of school divinity: they are fludied, not to be understood, but to be difputed; and the people are governed by a collection of maxims of which they know as little as of the code of China or Indoftan. In no country was this the cafe more than in

France,

France, and in fcarcely any were the expences of lawfuits more grievoufly oppreffive. The affembly at once fimplified the laws, and placed justice within the reach of the poor; by ordering that it fhould be gratuitoufly adminiftered. It reftored the excellent, inftitution of juries in criminal cafes, though it is to be regretted that they have not yet extended that inftitution to civil causes, where it is ftill more effential to an uncorrupt administration of justice.

The abolition of the feudal tenures affected materially the revenues of fome of the princes of Germany who had poffeffions in France: to these the French legislature decreed a compenfation; but the prejudices or the policy of those noblemen have not yet permitted them to accept of any.

In the regulation of their own Weft India colonies a ftill more difficult task was impofed upon the national affembly; and as thefe affairs have been much spoken of, but not generally understood, we shall endeavour to itate them as authentically as we can, and as copiously as our limits will admit. When the national affembly first proclaimed the rights of men and citizens, the fugar iflands trembled, in the apprehenfion that the two moft cruel outrages against humanity, flavery and the flave trade, were about to be abolished. The enlightened policy of the united states of America had fet the example; and a confiderable majority of the people of Great Britain demanded the abolition of the slave trade with a peremptory voice. The most unjuft fufpicions had pervaded the islands of the intentions of the negroes; which united to the diftruft in which the planters held the views of the affembly, contributed to pro

duce a general ferment in the minds of the white inhabitants.

St. Domingo above all was deftined to be, the fatal theatre of commotion and of bloodshed. This ifland is divided into three provinces, the north, the fouth, and the weft; but these are united under one governor general, and one intendant. It appears that fo early as the month of June 1789, the deputies from this ifland negociated with the minister of marine concerning the new form of government which was intended for the colony. It was however the 27th of September before any thing decifive was determined; and then the minifter of marine addreffed to the governor and intendant an order to convoke the inhabitants for the purpose of forming a legiflative asfembly for interior regulation, &c.

The minifter's letter arrived too late in the island; three committees were already formed for the three provinces: thofe of the fouth and weft ftill preferved a communication with the administration, and with the metropolis; but that of the north, which was affembled at the Cape, manifefted very different principles. It declared that the full power of the northern province was legally vefted in itself, and that any other affembly would be feditious, and would rather obftruct than promote the re-establishment of order. prefumed to control the executive government; it continued in their functions for a time the public officers; but it nevertheless intercepted the minifterial difpatches, made fome alteration in the taxes, and in the adminiftration of justice; it even imprisoned M. Dubois, deputy procureur general, for having faid that the flavery of the negroes was an infraction of general liberty. The neceffary confequence was a conteft

It

between

between the committee and the exe cutive power.-M. Peynier, the governor, annulled by a decree of the fupreme council all the refolutions of the committee; forbad the imprifonment of M. Dubois, and ordered an account of all these facts to be tranfmitted to the national affem bly. On the other hand the decree of the governor and council was declared invalid by the rebellious affembly, who chofe a commander in chief of their militia, and were proceeding to hostile meafures; but the prudence and moderation of M. de Peynier for a while at leaft repreffed their violence.

The free people of colour (fo all the shades between black and white are termed), who formed a confiderable part of the population, and poffeffed a great part of the property of the island, conducted themfelves in a very different manner. The únjuft arrogance of the whites had placed them in a state of degradation, and infulted with opprobrium every person who bore the smallest relation to the despised African race. As the abolition of all abfurd and oppreffive prejudices was one of the first principles fanctioned by the French revolution, thefe depreciated perfons were induced to hope that the day was at hand, when a barbarous prejudice, which branded them with the feal of infamy, fhould no longer exift. In the courfe of November 189, the people of colour were affembled in the different parifhes for the purpose of advancing a modeft claim to the common rights of citizens, and on the 19th they prefented an humble memorial to the affembly adapted to that purpofe. Such an act of infolence, as it was termed, irritated at once the offended pride of the whites; they caufed the deputies to be arrested, and threatened to hang them on the

1791.

fpot, if they refused to disclose the name of the perfon who drew up their addrefs. It proved to be a M. Ferrand, á procureur of the king. He was therefore immedi atly fent for and interrogated. He declared himfelf with a becoming firmnefs the author of the paper which they termed feditious, and proclaimed himfelf the defender of the caufe. Without further ceremony or procefs, they ordered his head to be ftruck off by the common executioner, and the fentence was inftantly performed.

The outrages and perfecution which were commenced upon the people of colour immediately after this tranfaction knew no bounds. On the nights of the 26th and 27th of November the whites of the committee of Aquin, in three bands, fell upon their habitations, under the pretence of fearching for treasonable correfpondence. Among others, thefe ruffians repaired to the house of a M. Labadie. This refpectable old gentleman was at that moment repofing quietly in his bed. They burft open his door, and informed him, without further preface, that they were come for his head. Five and-twenty mufkets were intantly fired at him, and his young child was murdered at his fide. Though defperately wounded, he had ftill ftrength enough left to defend himfelf; and as they knew he had 150 negroes by whom he was adored, and whom a fingle call would have brought upon them, they confented to a kind of compromife, that they would fpare his life for the present, if he would make no refiftance, but go along with them and submit to a trial. He was immediately, without dreffing his wounds, put to the bar; and after a mock examination his head was going to be taken off, had he not been rescued from the execu,