not pass the bounds
prescribed by my sex. Some small talents, a considerable share of
philosophy, a degree of courage more uncommon, and which did not
permit me to weaken my husband's energy in dangerous times--such,
perhaps, are the qualities which those who know me may have
indiscreetly extolled, and which may have made me enemies among
those to whom I am unknown. M. Roland sometimes employed me as a
secretary, and the famous letter to the king, for instance, is
copied entirely in my hand-writing. This would be an excellent
item to add to my indictment, if the _Austrians_ were trying me,
and if they should have thought fit to extend a minister's
responsibility to his wife. But M. Roland long ago manifested his
knowledge of, and his attachment to, the great principles of
political economy. The proof is to be found in his numerous works
published during the last fifteen years. His learning and his
probity are all his own. He stood in no need of a wife to make
him an able minister. Never were secret councils held at his
house. His colleagues and a few friends met once a week at his
table, and there conversed, in a public manner, on matters in
which every body was concerned. His writings, which breathe
throughout a love of order and peace, and which enforce the best
principles of public prosperity and morals, will forever attest
his wisdom. His accounts prove his integrity.

"As to the offense imputed to me, I observe that I never was
intimate with Duperret. I saw him occasionally at the time of M.
Roland's administration. He never came to our house during the
six months that my husband was no longer in office. The same
remark will apply to other members, our friends, which surely
does not accord with the plots and conspiracies laid to our
charge. It is evident, by my first letter to Duperret, I only
wrote to him because I knew not to whom else to address myself,
and because I imagined he would readily consent to oblige me. My
correspondence with him could not, then, be concerted. It could
not be the consequence of any previous intimacy, and could have
only one object in view. It gave me afterward an opportunity of
receiving accounts from those who had just absented themselves,
and with whom I was connected by the ties of friendship,
indep