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Article MONTHLY CHRONICLE. ← Page 2 of 8 →
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Monthly Chronicle.
The following Message , sent by the French Directory to the Council oi Five Hundred on the 5 th of February , will farther illustrate the cause and progress of a Revolution which has dissolved the venerable Helvetic Confederation . ' Citizens Representatives , the Helvetic Oligarchy , which , since the commencement of the Revolution , has taken so active a part in all the secret machinations against liberty , and in all the plots formed for the ' destruction of the French Republic , has " now filled up the measure of its crimes , h" violating , in the of several of brave brethren in armsthe most sacred laws of the
persons our , rights of nations . The Executive Directory , in conformity with the jiSth article of the Constitution , must acquaint you with every thing that has passed , and with the measures it has taken . The People of the Pays de Vaud , detached from Savoy in 1530 , have for a longtime groaned under the despotism of the Governments of Berne and Fribourg . That country , originally dismembered from
France , formed under the Saroysian government a separate province , governed by the" States in concert with a ducal Bailiff , whose prerogatives were circumscribed by constitutional laws . These laws , even in 1530 , were despised and trod underfoot by the patricians of Berne and Fribourg . In ' S-H > the . Duke of Savov renounced all pretensions to that country , but he formally stipulated that its constitution should be preserved ; and on the 26 th of April 156 ; , the French government constituted ilse'lf guarantee of this treaty , and consequently of the political rights of the Paysde Vaud . It is well known with ho . v little delicacy violated the social contract
ihe Governments of Berne and Fribourg constantly formed between them and the Vaudois , by these new treaties . The Vaudois , at different periods , remonstrated against that oppression to which they were victims ; but force for a long time imposed silence on the multitude , and those among them wild displayed more courage than the rest were proscribed . One of these was the brave General Laharpe , who , adopted by the French Republic , became one of its most intrepid defenders , and sealed with his blood , in the plains ' of Italy , the attachment which he had sworn to it . Liberty , -howerer , was supported ' in the Pays de Vaud by numerous and strenuous friends , who at length
determined to claim the protection due to them from the Republic , in virtue of the treaties of 156 4 and 1565 , both as the substitute of the ci-devant Duke of Savoy , and as replacing the ancient French Government . ' Scarcely was the report of this claim spread abroad , when malevolence endeavoured to lay hold of it , and to insinuate in a public journal , that the Pays de Vaud , as a Reward for its attachment to liberty , was to be detached from Switzerland , and incorporated with France . —These insinuations , which ascribed to the French Republic views of invasion contrary to its good faith , had evidently no .
olherobjcct than to alarm the Vaudois respecting the consequences of those steps which they might take for the recovery of their ancient rights . The Executive Directory took the first opportunity therefore of proving the falsity of them by a decree of the 27 th Frimaire , which prohibited ihe journal that contained them , and by notifving what it had done to all the Helvetic cantons . On the Sth Nivbse following , the Minister of Foreign Affairs gave an account to the Executive Directory of the claims which had been addressed to it , for re-establishing the Vaudois in the political rights hitherto guaranteed to them in vain by the treaties of
136 4 and 1565 ; and the Directory the same day passed a decree , charging the . Minister of the Republic to the Helvetic cantons , to declare to the Governments ' of Berne and Fribourg .-that the Members of these Governments should be perso ' nably answerable forthe individual safely and property of the inhabitantsof the Pays
de Vaud , who should , or might , in future address themselves to the trench Republic , to obtain it , by its mediation , to be maintained or re-instated in all their rights , according to ancient treaties . This determination ' was the more urgent , since the Government of Berne , as it has itself acknowledged by its"answer to an official remonstrance made to it by the Directory through its diplomatic agent , had already ' ordered a levy of militia to march against the French troops assembled in some , places of the department of Mont Terrible " , and had even caused to be arrestedthe deputies of those communes who had refused to take up arms against the Republic . ' The Government of Berne had even proceeded farther . It had publicly enrolled ; emigrants , and given shelter tp French requisitionaries and deserters ; and it did
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Monthly Chronicle.
The following Message , sent by the French Directory to the Council oi Five Hundred on the 5 th of February , will farther illustrate the cause and progress of a Revolution which has dissolved the venerable Helvetic Confederation . ' Citizens Representatives , the Helvetic Oligarchy , which , since the commencement of the Revolution , has taken so active a part in all the secret machinations against liberty , and in all the plots formed for the ' destruction of the French Republic , has " now filled up the measure of its crimes , h" violating , in the of several of brave brethren in armsthe most sacred laws of the
persons our , rights of nations . The Executive Directory , in conformity with the jiSth article of the Constitution , must acquaint you with every thing that has passed , and with the measures it has taken . The People of the Pays de Vaud , detached from Savoy in 1530 , have for a longtime groaned under the despotism of the Governments of Berne and Fribourg . That country , originally dismembered from
France , formed under the Saroysian government a separate province , governed by the" States in concert with a ducal Bailiff , whose prerogatives were circumscribed by constitutional laws . These laws , even in 1530 , were despised and trod underfoot by the patricians of Berne and Fribourg . In ' S-H > the . Duke of Savov renounced all pretensions to that country , but he formally stipulated that its constitution should be preserved ; and on the 26 th of April 156 ; , the French government constituted ilse'lf guarantee of this treaty , and consequently of the political rights of the Paysde Vaud . It is well known with ho . v little delicacy violated the social contract
ihe Governments of Berne and Fribourg constantly formed between them and the Vaudois , by these new treaties . The Vaudois , at different periods , remonstrated against that oppression to which they were victims ; but force for a long time imposed silence on the multitude , and those among them wild displayed more courage than the rest were proscribed . One of these was the brave General Laharpe , who , adopted by the French Republic , became one of its most intrepid defenders , and sealed with his blood , in the plains ' of Italy , the attachment which he had sworn to it . Liberty , -howerer , was supported ' in the Pays de Vaud by numerous and strenuous friends , who at length
determined to claim the protection due to them from the Republic , in virtue of the treaties of 156 4 and 1565 , both as the substitute of the ci-devant Duke of Savoy , and as replacing the ancient French Government . ' Scarcely was the report of this claim spread abroad , when malevolence endeavoured to lay hold of it , and to insinuate in a public journal , that the Pays de Vaud , as a Reward for its attachment to liberty , was to be detached from Switzerland , and incorporated with France . —These insinuations , which ascribed to the French Republic views of invasion contrary to its good faith , had evidently no .
olherobjcct than to alarm the Vaudois respecting the consequences of those steps which they might take for the recovery of their ancient rights . The Executive Directory took the first opportunity therefore of proving the falsity of them by a decree of the 27 th Frimaire , which prohibited ihe journal that contained them , and by notifving what it had done to all the Helvetic cantons . On the Sth Nivbse following , the Minister of Foreign Affairs gave an account to the Executive Directory of the claims which had been addressed to it , for re-establishing the Vaudois in the political rights hitherto guaranteed to them in vain by the treaties of
136 4 and 1565 ; and the Directory the same day passed a decree , charging the . Minister of the Republic to the Helvetic cantons , to declare to the Governments ' of Berne and Fribourg .-that the Members of these Governments should be perso ' nably answerable forthe individual safely and property of the inhabitantsof the Pays
de Vaud , who should , or might , in future address themselves to the trench Republic , to obtain it , by its mediation , to be maintained or re-instated in all their rights , according to ancient treaties . This determination ' was the more urgent , since the Government of Berne , as it has itself acknowledged by its"answer to an official remonstrance made to it by the Directory through its diplomatic agent , had already ' ordered a levy of militia to march against the French troops assembled in some , places of the department of Mont Terrible " , and had even caused to be arrestedthe deputies of those communes who had refused to take up arms against the Republic . ' The Government of Berne had even proceeded farther . It had publicly enrolled ; emigrants , and given shelter tp French requisitionaries and deserters ; and it did