may do
every thing, obtain every thing, destroy every thing--imprison all,
try all, transport all, or guillotine all. Don't spare him a
moment; and thus, through his means, all may tremble, every thing be
swept away, and, finally, be re-established in lasting order.
(Signed) "Piorry."

The gentleman who translated the above for me, subjoined, that he
had omitted various oaths too bad for translation.--This Piorry
always attended the executions, and as fast as a head fell, used to
wave his hat in the air, and cry, _"Vive la Republique!"_

Such are the founders of the French Republic, and such the means by
which it has been supported!

--It may be admitted, that the lives of the higher Noblesse were not
always edifying; but if their dissipation was public, their vices were
less so, and the scenes of both were for the most part confined to Paris.
What they did not practise themselves, they at least did not discourage
in others; and though they might be too indolent to endeavour at
preserving the morals of their dependents, they knew their own interest
too well to assist in depraving them.

But the Representatives, and their agents, are not to be considered
merely as individuals who have corrupted only by example;--they were
armed with unlimited authority, and made proselytes through fear, where
they failed to produce them from inclination. A contempt for religion or
decency has been considered as the test of an attachment to the
government; and a gross infraction of any moral or social duty as a proof
of civism, and a victory over prejudice. Whoever dreaded an arrest, or
courted an office, affected profaneness and profligacy--and, doubtless,
many who at first assumed an appearance of vice from timidity, in the end
contracted a preference for it. I myself know instances of several who
began by deploring that they were no longer able to practise the duties
of their religion, and ended by ridiculing or fearing them. Industrious
mechanics, who used to go regularly to mass, and bestow their weekly
_liard_ on the poor, after a month's revolutionising, in the suite of a
Deputy, have danced round the flames which consumed the sacred writings,
and become as licentious and dishonest as their leader.

The general principles of the Convention have been adapted to sanction
and accelerate the labours of their itinerant colleagues. The sentences
of fel