laws, than they could hope to see France submitting to those of Germany or of Russia. The Revolution would penetrate into their Dominions by means of the very soldiery employed to subvert it. What temptation could be held out to induce them to enter France? The plunder of Paris, But the frontiers of the Kingdom are hedged round with fortresses, defended by a multitude of regiments and of national guards, and there are in the interior a million of armed citizens ready to replace them. Would those Powers say to their troops, as an inducement to fight in support of foreigners who never did any thing for them: "Go "and re-establish the French Nobility in the right, "claimed by every Nobleman from his birth, of "domineering over men? If you are victorious,

you acquire the honour of subjecting the French "to a yoke similar to that which you yourselves 46 wear. If you perish, you die faithful to your

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Religion, which enjoins you to obey, and for"bids you to reason." France on the contrary, would say to her Citizens: "You are accused by "the Nobility of Rebellion, but that imputation "falls upon themselves: Rebellion is the resistance of individuals or of corps to the National « will.. Rebellion is the subversion of the "laws, and Revolution is that of tyrants. "The Nobility are the persons who want to be "such in France, by arming against her King

legions of foreign soldiers. Go and fight "them. If you come off victorious, you se"cure for ever the liberty of your fortune, of " your talents, of your conscience: if you "die, you perish in defending the rights of

"Human

"Human Nature. Your cause is the most just and the most sacred for which a People ever con"tended: it is that of GOD and of Mankind."

Gentlemen of France will you rush upon destruc tion in defiance of the abuses of which you yourselves have so frequently complained? The Nation, you say, has deprived you of your honours. It is for the sake of those who have honour, and who do not wish to usurp the honour of another, that she has willed it to be the privilege of every Frenchman to raise himself by his own merit. Place yourselves in the rank of her Citizens; she has elevated those of your order, who have distinguished themselves by their virtues, to the stations of President, of Commandant, of Mayor, of Deputy to her Assembly; to them she has confided her dearest interests; it is for you particularly that she has been labouring. The ancient Government reserved it's honours for the great and the rich exclusively; it is now in your power, by your virtues, to obtain that which they acquired only by dint of gold and and intrigue.

If there be no longer Nobility from inheritance; there ever will be personal Nobility; besides, the condition in which we are born has an influence on our manners. Commerce inspires the love of money; the bar, chicane; the arts dispose to artifice, and rude labours to vulgarity. The Nobility, of the ancient times of chivalry, distinguished themselves, by their generosity, their candour, their politeness. Noblemen! who are their descendants, add to these patriotism and intelligence, and the people of France will advance to meet you. VOL. IV. G g You

You complain of their anarchy, it is your insursection on the frontiers which keeps it up. He who sets his face against the Laws, cannot expect protection from them.

Patriotism produced the Revolution and will maintain it; patriotism it is which, uniting every order of Citizens, banished from among them the fatal prejudices of their ambitious education. It has cemented into one body, at once, those whose duty it was to suggest counsels, and those who were to execute them; it has scattered to the winds all the distinctions of rank and estate. We have seen Noblemen receiving orders from shopkeepers, Priests from laymen, Counsellors from attornies: we have seen soldiers, without pay, passing indifferently from the rank of officer to that of private; ready at all times, by night and by day, to quit their business, their pleasures, their families; proposing to themselves no other recompense but that of serving their Country. Thus were ye formed, virtuous National Guards of Paris. Sometimes, combating Aristocracy, you have disarmed it without vengeance; sometimes, resisting Anarchy, you opposed to it an insurmountable bulwark. Neither the flattery of courtiers, nor the insults of the populace, have been able to make you deviate from your principles of moderation. The only object you have kept in view is the public tranquillity. Generous inhabitants of Paris, under your protection the French Constitution was formed. Your example has been followed by all the Municipalities of the Kingdom; it will extend still further; benefits propagate themselves as well as ab

surdities.

surdities. Our grandees, in their vain luxury, had adopted the riding-jackets, the horse-races, the hunters, the polished steel of England; you, with much greater wisdom, have taken for your share her liberty. Already your Constitution, like the dove escaped from the ark, is taking a flight over the whole Globe; already it hovers in company with the eagle of Poland; it carries as an olivebranch the rights of mankind; this is the standard of Nature, which is universally inviting the Nations to liberty. In defiance of the suspicious vi gilance of the despotic powers, which interdict to their enslaved subjects the history of your successes, the rights of human nature, translated into all languages, and printed even on the handkerchiefs of women, have penetrated every where. Thus Man, subjugated in his very conscience which he dares not look into, will read his rights engraven even on the bosom of his partner; thus, as you have exercised an influence over the pleasures of Europe by your fashions, you will extend that influence over the general happiness by your virtues. Patriotism brought you together in the tempest; and it will keep you united in the calm. Receive your fugitive and unhappy brethren with generosity; you owe them protection, safety, tranquillity, support, by the very Constitution to which invite them. Recollect that they were your you seniors; share with those who shall express a tvish to be Citizens, the services and the honours of your Country, the common mother of us all; and, restored to the management of your affairs, exhibit to your children the example of concord.

Of the Clergy and the Municipalities.

THE Clergy and the Church ought not to be confounded with each other. The Church is the Assembly of the faithful in the same Communion; the Clergy is the Corporation of it's Priests. A Church may exist without Clergy; such was that of the Patriarchs, and such is at this day that of the Quakers: a Clergy cannot subsist where there is no Church.

Rome, plundered by barbarians, resumed over them by the power of speech, the Empire which she had lost by the feebleness of her arms. The wretched nations of Gaul embraced with ardour a Religion which preached charity in this world, and promised eternal felicity in that which is to come; they contrasted the virtues of their first Missionaries with the robberies of their conquerors. The Priests, supported by popular favour, acquired an unbounded authority. Masters of the conscience, they soon became so likewise of the fortunes, and even of the persons of men. As they were the only men who knew how to read and write, they became the sole depositaries of testaments. Notaries were at that time clerks, whose dependence was on the Bishops: a will was good for nothing, unless the testator had left a legacy to the Church. The parish priests of that period, were obliged to keep a register of those who took the Sacrament at Easter, of those who did not, as well as of their good and bad qualities, and to transmit the particulars to the Bishops. It is extremely probable that they kept then as they do now, a register of births, marriages, and burials. All alms- deeds were administered