Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Roman Consuls To The Citizens Commissioners Of The French Republic, Dated At Rome, Oct. 19, 179 8.
THE ROMAN CONSULS TO THE CITIZENS COMMISSIONERS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC , DATED AT ROME , OCT . 19 , 1798 .
Citizens Commissioners , THE Consuls , proud of the august functions with which they have been clothed by you , owe to France , to Rome , to all the Republicans ot Italy , a solemn declaration of their sentiments . A longer silence would be criminal : it would excite impatience , and entirely paralyze the energy of that croud of friends to liberty , who await from you the signal of triumph . _ An enemy , made bold b weaknesshas laced his hopes in our subjection . He has
y our , p p laced the certainty of his successes , not in the valour of his slaves , but m the lethargy of freemen , whose destruction he meditates ; not in his melancholy phalanxes , but in the hostile disposition : ) of counter-revolutionists , who surround us on every side . Shall the native soil of Brutus be disgraced hy the presence of tlw partizans of tyranny ? Shall the insolence ot a . Monarch trample upon the descendants of the masters ofthe world ? Alii since
the moment when , thanks to French intrepidity and our patriotic sentiments , we recovered our rig hts from despotism , a neighbouring despot menaces us , insults us , plans our destruction ! He seeks to smother the Republic in her cradle . He incites against her her own children , whose affections he alienates . He arms against her internal ' enemies , whom he keeps in pay . His hatred has fomented a sedition in the department on her frontiers . . He pays the rebels ; he applauds their crime ; he gives them for chiefs officers of his of the French
own . He opens in his state an asylum for the assassins army , for those who burn and destroy republican property . He lavishes on them provisions and stores of . every kind . This is not ail . He inundates our country with incendiary plans , with seditious letters , with counter-revolutionary promises , with destructive menaces ; his agents circulate them in cities , hi the country , in public places and private societies . His spirit infests apart ' of the authoritiesit insinuates itself into the tribunalsThose who expect ,
; ^ his approach with impatience no longer dissemble their joy ; those who execrate royalty ask if they have been sold to tyranny " . Public credit , -which only exists by security , is every day diminishing , Under the terrors that besiege us in every part of the Republic . How " shall we keep up the value of domains which ma- ,- be .. t ' o-iuOrrbw invaded , and which , perhaps to-morrow , '
will no longer exist" in a land inhabited by liberty ? How can we conceive hope of a substantial credit , when we every where behold a scandalous pillage ; dilapidations which would make even a common brigand shudder ; and management of money and provisions in the hands of a crowd of plunderers , who only know the Republic by the treasures of which they strip her ? How shall we flatter ourselves with an'amelioration of public-spirit , while the sword of royal and theoretic despotism shall remain brandished over the
heads of republicans , while patriotism shall not bs held in esteem , while it shall have no means of developing it character , while the enemies of liberty shall live menacing ancl audacious , while they shall not be driven from a soil which they poison wi . th their deadly aristocracy , and while the impudent hawkers of sacerdotal anel monarchical manifestoes shall remain unpunished ? Do you wish for arms ? We shall have them : the Consuls call to witness the taking of the Bastile . Do you wish for money , subsistence , stores
° f all kinds ' ? We- shall find tlu-m . The Consuls know the sublime detennftation ofthe National Convention of France . Do you wish that the Roman , territory should be disembarrassed of -at the enemies that overwhelm H rtyeak the word 1 Do you wish we should avenge the mother Republic and '" r daughter , by punishing the dissoluteness of a King ? At your voice , at oui's , at that of the French , the avowed friends of our prosperity , phalanxes VOL . xi . ' 3 P
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Roman Consuls To The Citizens Commissioners Of The French Republic, Dated At Rome, Oct. 19, 179 8.
THE ROMAN CONSULS TO THE CITIZENS COMMISSIONERS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC , DATED AT ROME , OCT . 19 , 1798 .
Citizens Commissioners , THE Consuls , proud of the august functions with which they have been clothed by you , owe to France , to Rome , to all the Republicans ot Italy , a solemn declaration of their sentiments . A longer silence would be criminal : it would excite impatience , and entirely paralyze the energy of that croud of friends to liberty , who await from you the signal of triumph . _ An enemy , made bold b weaknesshas laced his hopes in our subjection . He has
y our , p p laced the certainty of his successes , not in the valour of his slaves , but m the lethargy of freemen , whose destruction he meditates ; not in his melancholy phalanxes , but in the hostile disposition : ) of counter-revolutionists , who surround us on every side . Shall the native soil of Brutus be disgraced hy the presence of tlw partizans of tyranny ? Shall the insolence ot a . Monarch trample upon the descendants of the masters ofthe world ? Alii since
the moment when , thanks to French intrepidity and our patriotic sentiments , we recovered our rig hts from despotism , a neighbouring despot menaces us , insults us , plans our destruction ! He seeks to smother the Republic in her cradle . He incites against her her own children , whose affections he alienates . He arms against her internal ' enemies , whom he keeps in pay . His hatred has fomented a sedition in the department on her frontiers . . He pays the rebels ; he applauds their crime ; he gives them for chiefs officers of his of the French
own . He opens in his state an asylum for the assassins army , for those who burn and destroy republican property . He lavishes on them provisions and stores of . every kind . This is not ail . He inundates our country with incendiary plans , with seditious letters , with counter-revolutionary promises , with destructive menaces ; his agents circulate them in cities , hi the country , in public places and private societies . His spirit infests apart ' of the authoritiesit insinuates itself into the tribunalsThose who expect ,
; ^ his approach with impatience no longer dissemble their joy ; those who execrate royalty ask if they have been sold to tyranny " . Public credit , -which only exists by security , is every day diminishing , Under the terrors that besiege us in every part of the Republic . How " shall we keep up the value of domains which ma- ,- be .. t ' o-iuOrrbw invaded , and which , perhaps to-morrow , '
will no longer exist" in a land inhabited by liberty ? How can we conceive hope of a substantial credit , when we every where behold a scandalous pillage ; dilapidations which would make even a common brigand shudder ; and management of money and provisions in the hands of a crowd of plunderers , who only know the Republic by the treasures of which they strip her ? How shall we flatter ourselves with an'amelioration of public-spirit , while the sword of royal and theoretic despotism shall remain brandished over the
heads of republicans , while patriotism shall not bs held in esteem , while it shall have no means of developing it character , while the enemies of liberty shall live menacing ancl audacious , while they shall not be driven from a soil which they poison wi . th their deadly aristocracy , and while the impudent hawkers of sacerdotal anel monarchical manifestoes shall remain unpunished ? Do you wish for arms ? We shall have them : the Consuls call to witness the taking of the Bastile . Do you wish for money , subsistence , stores
° f all kinds ' ? We- shall find tlu-m . The Consuls know the sublime detennftation ofthe National Convention of France . Do you wish that the Roman , territory should be disembarrassed of -at the enemies that overwhelm H rtyeak the word 1 Do you wish we should avenge the mother Republic and '" r daughter , by punishing the dissoluteness of a King ? At your voice , at oui's , at that of the French , the avowed friends of our prosperity , phalanxes VOL . xi . ' 3 P