* The prejudices of my countrymen on this subject are respectable, and I know I shall be deemed guilty of a species of political sacrilege.  I attack not the tombs of the dead, but the want of consideration for the living; and let not those who admire republican principles in their closets, think themselves competent to censure the opinions of one who has been watching their effects amidst the disasters of a revolution.

Our slumbers have for some time been patriotically disturbed by the danger of Holland; and the taking of the Maestricht nearly caused me a jaundice:  but the French have taught us philosophy—­and their conquests appear to afford them so little pleasure, that we ourselves hear of them with less pain.  The Convention were indeed, at first, greatly elated by the dispatches from Amsterdam, and imagined they were on the eve of dictating to all Europe:  the churches were ordered to toll their only bell, and the gasconades of the bulletin were uncommonly pompous—­but the novelty of the event has now subsided, and the conquest of Holland excites less interest than the thaw.  Public spirit is absorbed by private necessities or afflictions; people who cannot procure bread or firing, even though they have money to purchase it, are little gratified by reading that a pair of their Deputies lodged in the Stadtholder’s palace; and the triumphs of the republic offer no consolation to the families which it has pillaged or dismembered.

The mind, narrowed and occupied by the little cares of hunting out the necessaries of life, and evading the restraints of a jealous government, is not susceptible of that lively concern in distant and general events which is the effect of ease and security; and all the recent victories have not been able to sooth the discontents of the Parisians, who are obliged to shiver whole hours at the door of a baker, to buy, at an extravagant price, a trifling portion of bread.

* “Chacun se concentre aujourdhui dans sa famille et calcule ses resources.”—­“The attention of every one now is confined to his family, and to the calculation of his resources.”  Discours de Lindet.

     “Accable du soin d’etre, et du travail de vivre.”—­“Overwhelmed with
     the care of existence, and the labour of living.” 
     St. Lambert

—­The impression of these successes is, I am persuaded, also diminished by considerations to which the philosopher of the day would allow no influence; yet by their assimilation with the Deputies and Generals whose names are so obscure as to escape the memory, they cease to inspire that mixed sentiment which is the result of national pride and personal affection.  The name of a General or an Admiral serves as the epitome of an historical relation, and suffices to recall all his glories, and all his services; but this sort of enthusiasm is entirely repelled by an account that the citizens Gillet and Jourbert, two representatives heard of almost for the first time, have taken possession of Amsterdam.