the nobles, many of whom were not averse to it, the public imagined that the only change in the state of Venice, would be from an aristocratic to a democratical republic. This alteration had also been introduced as a punishment on the nobles, who alone were represented as inimical to the French, the commonalty being reputed warmly devoted to them. By the terms of the treaty between Venice and the French, and which these agreed punctually to fulfil, though all its possessions were ceded to the French, yet part of them were to be restored on the final set tlement of affairs in Italy. A large sum of money, no lesss than eighty millions of livres, had at the same time been paid to them, by way of atonement and compensation. These various circumstances induced the public to expect,that content with the transforming of Venice from a lordship, as it was styled, to a popular state,the French would have left it in that condition, which would have placed it on the same footing as the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics. This too was considered, by some very shrewd politicians, as the surest method of preserving Italy from the yoke of Austria, as those three republics would in all likelihood unite for their common defence against the at tempts of that dangerous neighbour to recover his former domains. But all these expectations were at once frustrated, by the cession not only of several of the provinces of Venice, but of the very capital of that ancient state, to the house of Austria. This, in fact, was to annihilate all hopes that Venice would ever again resume its station in the political system of Europe: VOL. XXXIX.

experience having long proved, that every country, that fell into the possession of that family, had never recovered its primitive situation, but through the most violent strnggles, and the most extraordinary and unexpected events.

The friends to liberty had beheld, with marked satisfaction, the abolition of the Venetian senate, and especially of the council of ten, and of the inquisition of state. The election of fifty individuals, by the suffrages of the community, with six commissaries nominated by Buonaparte, had been greatly approved of, as a very fair and equitable government. As it had continued several months, and been exercised with moderation, an idea had naturally prevailed, that it would have remained unaltered, and the inhabitants enjoyed their new acquired freedom. It was therefore, with deep regret and indignation, that these found, that they were to be stripped of what they began to consider as their constitutional rights, and delivered over to the dominion of Austria: a power of which they well knew the despotic maxims, and dreaded to be come the subjects more than ever; since the introduction among them of French principles and regulations. The commonalty, which felt a particular partiality to these, bitterly complained, that they should have experienced them to no other purpose, than to grieve for their loss when subjected to the severity of the Austrian government.

Thus ended, for the present, the contest between France and Austria, to the great satisfaction of the people of both countries. In France, the exultation was boundless. In imitation of the precedents of for

mer times, the reign of Lewis the XIV. particularly, calculations of the number of victories and trophies won by the French armies were pompously distributed to all the members and departments of go vernment, and published with much splendour and solemnity in all parts of the republic. In these it was stated, that the French had been victorious in two hundred and sixty engagements, thirty of them pitched battles. Of their enemies upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand had been slain, and near two hundred thousand made prisoners. About eight thousand pieces of cannon had been taken, and one hundred and eighty thousand muskets. These atchievements had taken place within the space of three years and a half, commencing with September, 1793, and ending with February, 1797. Since which, upwards of twenty thousand more of the Austrians had either been killed or taken during the hostilities that preceded the armistice, and preliminary pacification, concluded in April following, between France and the emperor.

While the arms of France were obtaining so many successes abroad, the internal peace of that country was continually shaken, by the irreconcileable disposition of those who opposed the present constitution. Stung with resentment at the many disappointments they had experienced in their efforts to overturn it, these, instead of relaxing, had rather encreased their resolution to persevere, and fall in the attempt, should such a fate attend them, than desist from what they looked upon as equally a point of honour and of duty.

Such still continued to be the character of that resolute party which opposed the republic, and was determined, at all hazards, to labour for its destruction, and the restoration of monarchy. These two objects were incessantly in their contemplation. The blood that had been so profusely andvainly shedfortheir accomplishment was considered only a just and necessary tribute, which every loyal subject should hold himself under the most conscientious obligation to pay, when summoned to do it by those who bore the lawful commission of the sovereign, and whenever any prospect appeared of acting to advantage in his service.

These principles were strongly current among large numbers in every part of France. The persecution and sufferings which those, who professed them, were liable to undergo, did not seem to make much impression upon them: undeterred by the vigilance, with which their motions were watched, they acted together with a concert and boldness that exposed them to perpetual detection. But such was their courage and firmness, that they took little or no care to conceal their principles. Their conduct, in fact, bordered on temerity, their zeal being such as to overleap all the bounds of discretion, and to set their oppressors at defiance.

Among men of this description. it was not difficult to find agents, as well as adherents, by those strenuous friends to royalty, who still abounded in France: the staunch republicans dreading the effects of this unconquerable antipathy to their cause, and alarmed by the frequent intelligence of threatened insurrections, contracting on their

side a rancour against the royalists, and a thirst of revenge that induced them to pry into all their actions, with a suspicion that fell upon the most imocent, and that sought for plots and machinations against the established order of things, in the commonest intercourse between those individuals, who were either known or suspected to incline to what was termed royalism.

This being the relative situation of the partizans of the commonwealth and the monarchy, it was natural that they should hold each other in abhorrence. Those of the republican party, who favoured moderate measures, and who, though true to their own side, were disposed to treat their antagonists with fenity, incurred, on many occasions, the imputation of being unsteady in their principles and yet, the only charge that could be brought against them was, that of endeavouring to mitigate the spirit of enmity that prompted men to unnecessary acts of severity, and to persuade them to rest contented with those precautions that deprived their adversaries of the means of executing their inimical intentions, without punishing them merely for entertaining sentiments contrary to their

own.

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The nation was deeply involved in this conflict of repugnant ideas and interests, when new jealousies and apprehensions arose, to add fresh fuel to the flame of reciprocal animosity. On the twelfth of Pluviose,(January the thirty-first, 1797) the directory informed the council of five hundred, that a conspiracy had been carried on against the republic, by the emissaries of the late king's brother, styling himself king of France, and that four

of the principal conspirators had been arrested.

According to the report of the minister of police, there had been for a considerable time, persons in Paris, commissioned by that prince, to correspond with his partizans in all the departments, and to organize the plan of an insurrection. After preparing their own people, they next ventured to make application to some officers in the republican army, in hope of bringing them over to their party. Ramel, commander of the guards, attending the directory, was tampered with, as was also Malo, the commanding officer of a regiment of dragoons. They both feigned an approbation of the proposals made to them; but informed the minister of the police of the business in agitation. A place was appointed where he might over-hear the discourse between these officers and the royal commissioners. Thither he repaired, and they disclosed, in his hearing, the whole plan of the conspiracy, producing, at the same time, their powers, and the papers relating to it. They were immediately seized, by his orders. Their names were Duverne, Duprale, known also by the naine of Dunant, and who ac knowledged upon examination, that he had assumed several others; Laville Harnois, formerly belonging to the court of the late king; Brothier, who appeared, by papers found upon him, to be in the confidence of Lewis XVIII.; and a person called baron Poly. They were accused of having endeavoured to seduce the above-mentioned officers into a conspiracy against the repub lic, in which they were to be assisted by England. Had their design succeeded, and a counter revo[E 2]

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lution been effected in favour of Lewis, deeds of a most atrocious nature were to have ensued. That prince was, at his restoration, to have assumed the mask of clemency, and to have issued an act of oblivion; but this was to have been declared null and void by the parliament, after his power had been firmly settled, and the ancient courts of judicature re-established: other acts of perfidy were to have accompanied this one. The leading members of the present legislature were to have been taken into favour, and promoted but condemned to punishment on the first opportunity. Other frauds and barbarities were mentioned, such as exposing La Fayette in an iron cage, and sentencing to the gallies the inferior actors in the revolution. If the strength of the royalists proved insufficient for their purposes, the jacobins and terrorists were to have been resorted to for aid, on plausible pretexts, Such were the principal charges against the four persons arrested. As their answers did not invalidate them, they were ordered, by the directory, to be tried before a military tribunal, as falling under the accusation of having levied forces to be employed against the

relating to France. He detailed, in the minutest manner, the multiplicity of intrigues carried on, at home and abroad, against the republic, specifying facts and persons with the most circumstantial accuracy. His object, by making these discoveries, was, he said, to frustrate the attempts of the enemies to the commonwealth, and to enable it the more readily to crush them, by being forewarned in time. The part that England acted in these transactions was very particularly described. According to his report, the British ministry was at the bottom of every design meditated against France, and spared no expence to forward their execution. Nothing, in short, was omitted, on the part of this ancient rival, to overturn its present, and to restore its former government. But notwithstanding the utility, which the royal cause expected to derive from England, the king, he said, meaning Lewis XVIII. and his council, had always been of opinion, that the services of England were perfidious, and tending to no other end than the ruin of France. This declaration made much noise at the time, and gave occasion to a variety of speculations.

The detection of this conspiracy coinciding with the period immedi ately preceding the annual change of one-third of the legislature, awakened the suspicions of government, and induced them to imagine that their opponents would exercise all their influence throughout the nation, to render the ensuing election of members, to replace those that vacated their seats, unfavourable to the views of the present rulers. Herein they were not deceived. Every species of opposition, vio

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