fying causes and effects, are to be discussed, a considerable part of the time of those, whose object is to make a stand on the side of expiring freedom, more than to secure any private advantage from their labours, must necessarily be employed in combating that part of the press, which is incessantly labouring for the destruction of all that ought to be deemed most valuable in civil society; that part of the press (forming nineteen twentieths of the press in this kingdom), which is incessantly employed in habituating the minds of the people to all those notions, which have a tendency to make them base as well as foolish, and, in the end, to render this country what one of our poets has described another to be: "A land of tyrants and a "den of slaves." Nor, must the reader suppose, that it is here meant to speak of the news-paper part of the press only. The remark and description applies, and, perhaps, with a smaller proportion of exception, to all those books and pamphlets, whether individual or periodical, which treat of the subject of politics, or matters closely connected with politics: as history, biography of public men, law, religion, military and naval undertakings and establishments, political economy, and the like. To face, and to make head against, or, at least, to expose, this part of the press, which, though a slower-motioned, is, perhaps, a more sure engine for permanently blinding the eyes, debasing the minds and corrupting the hearts of the people, has always been a much-desired, and may now be, in some degree, a practicable object. It is not to be supposed, that all the works of the above description can even be noticed in consequence of the additional space that will be obtained; for, by the aid of sources so powerful as those to which they might here be traced, they are forced out in such abundance as even to overwhelm a public greedy of novelties Difcounts, 4. and enamoured of delusion; but, at any rate, some of the most mischievous of these works may be met and counteracted; or, at the least, the public may be put upon their guard with respect to them; while, on the other hand, such works, upon the subjects above mentioned, as appear likely to produce beneficial effects, may be described and recommended. To state precisely the mode of arrangement, which will be given to the proposed future contents of this work would be unnecessary. The nature of the contents is alone material. But, it is necessary distinctly to state, that communications from correspondents will not be wholly excluded; for, it would be great presumption in any conductor of a periodical work to suppose, that no one is able to aid him in the execution of any thing intended for the public good. Yet it is as necessary to lay down certain rules, as to the admission of such communications. The first of these is, that their insertion, or rejection, must, in all cases, be understood to be left entirely to the judgment and discretion of the person to whom they are offered: and this for two very obvious reasons; first, because the very act of addressing them to him necessarily supposes a submission to his judgment; and, second, because on him lies all the responsibility, literary and legal, for promulgating them to the world. And, that he may freely and impartially exercise his judgment, no communication should be accompanied with the real name of the author. Another rule is, that correspondents should, whatever may be their feelings, so far master them as to refrain from every thing that may, in any degree, leave a pretence for legal accusation. How many valuable papers! What volumes of useful information; of fine reasoning; of noble exertion in the cause of freedom and truth, have been committed to the flames, in order to get rid of the perilous temptation, because AREE it was impossible to separate the reasoning only necessary to add, upon this head, that from the facts; because it was impossible no communication will be inserted, unless addressed to MR. BAGSHAW, the Publisher, the postage being paid. That is the regular channel. To make use of any other is attended with great inconvenience. * The molives to this revival and extension of exertion have been truly stated at the out-set of this address. With motives, however, the public have little to do. It is the principles, the reasoning, the facts, in which they are interested. The question always ought to be: is this just; is this true; is this right? And not, whence comes this? Who has put it upon the paper? To eradicate the prejudices, which, by the means, principally, of a hireling press, have been so widely spread and so deeply implanted, is a task which it would be madness to hope to accomplish; but, it is not too much to hope, that they may be to separate public good from the personal danger of doing it! In looking back upon the destruction of these masses of useful labours, one is ready to fling the pen from one for ever, and to shut one's eyes against every thing in the shape of letters. It is, however, obvious, that every correspondent should constantly bear in mind, that a publication is not, in this country, less libellous because it is true; and that libel is a crime,' punished with more severity than the greater part of felonies.A third rule, though of less consequence, is, nevertheless, necessary to be observed by all correspondents; namely; to convey their sentiments and facts, in a legible hand, writing in an illegible hand being much about the same, as to the effect, as writing in an incomprehensible style, or in a language which no one but the writer under-checked in their growth; that they may be stands. The first object of writing, as of speaking, is to be understood: how blameable, then, must be that negligence, or how much worse than contemptible that affectation, which produces, under the name of writing, an assemblage of marks, which puzzle the heads and waste the time of the persons to whom they are addressed, and who generally avenge themselves by resorting to the use of the flames! It is impaired in their strength, and that their natural fruit, slavery and misery, may be diminished. At any rate, though the attempt should wholly fail, he who makes it will have the satisfaction to know, that he is one amongst those, who have a right to say, that they are free from all share in the degradation of the country, while they are, at worst, in no worse a state than their neighbours. This was the well-known witty and pithy answer to an epitaph, promising a glorious resurrection to a notoriously wicked man; and, if the publication, on which I am going to remark, contains a true account of Moreau, a similar sentiment will apply to his case. The bare fact of a man's losing his life in fighting in foreign ranks against the armies of his country; this bare fact, without any thing more, requires a great deal to wipe away dishonour from the party; it being, upon the face of it, a crime which has ever been looked upon as worthy of the most ignominious of deaths.Therefore, he, who undertook the vindica |cated than these; to you I observe, that it is out of the adversary's own lips that I mean to draw his conviction: and, proceeding, as I do, upon ground so fair, to you I confidently appeal; to your reason and your rectitude I appeal for a decision. -The first of the two objects of the Memoir, is, to elevate the character of Moreau, whose example it is thereby obviously wished to induce other French ge He tion and even the eulogium of Moreau, ought to have been well prepared with infallible materials. Whether this was the case with the eulogist in question, we are now going to see. -The publication before me professes to be a Biographical Memoir of General Moreau, "by PAUL "SVININE, charged (by the Emperor of "Russia) to accompany the General on "the continent." The author is a Russian; was an agent of Russia in the Ame-nerals to follow. To this point, therefore, rican States; and is now, as it appears from his own account, in the service of Russia. The Memoir has been translated and published in England; and, it is said, that the author has met with a most liberal | reward. The objects of the publication are two: first, to vindicate and eulogize Moreau; second, to blacken the character of Napoleon; but, in lieu of having succeeded in these objects, the author of the Memoir has stated facts, which sink the character of Moreau even lower, nay, a great deal lower than it before stood, and which, at the same time, raise the character of Napoleon. In short, if what this Memoir says, be true; for, I myself profess to know nothing at all of the facts; if what this Memoir says be true, Moreau was one of the meanest and most perfidious of wretches, and Napoleon is one of the most magnanimous of men!· Now, reader, if you should be one of those, whose sense of moral rectitude, whose love of truth, are nearly extinguished by long habitual fear and prejudice, and to whose reason an appeal is made almost in vain. If you should be one of those, who are willing, and even eager, to hug to their bosom traitors and assassins in alliance against an open enemy; if you be one of that description, throw down the paper and avoid the mortification here approaching; but take along with you the disgrace of having forfeited all claim to those qualities which distinguish man from the beast, or, of having a mind too much corrupted to be able to endure the contemplation of truth.Reader, you whose mind is open to conviction; you who seek for truth; you who desire that justice should prevail; you who are able to understand, and ready to listen to, the voice of reason; to you I address myself upon this occasion; to you I observe, that the source of my facts is a work written for the express purpose of vindicating and eulogizing Moreau and of blackening Napoleon; to you I observe, that I will not avail myself of numerous other facts, making in favour of my positions, and better authenti we will, in the first place, direct our attention, taking Moreau up where we find him at the out-set of the French Revolution. He was, at that time, the Memoir says, Provost of Jurisprudence at Rennes. was not, therefore, a man to be deluded by the revolutionists. He was not a man either of an age or of a capacity to be surprised into any act of consequence of a public nature; and, to this we must add, that he was in an employment, which had been confided to him by the then King of France. The grounds, however, upon which he became so active and so efficient a revolutionist, might be good, and the act praise-worthy; but, to justify his taking such a part, we must take it for granted, that a very learned, very acute, and very wise man (for such the Memoir represents him), saw the old government of France in so odious a light, that it became the bounden duty of even persons holding offices under that government to array themselves in arms against it; and, if such was the government of the Bourbons, what shall we say of Moreau, by and by, when we find him plotting to effect the restoration of those same Bourbons? -Looking forward to the proof of this latter fact, we now follow him in his career, as a republican general, till the time of his denounc ing Pichegru to the Directory! But, before we enter fully upon this important act of his life, we must stop to observe, that he proceeded, with regular steps, in the service of all the different governments at Paris. That he served under the Girondists, under Robespierre, under Barrere and his colleagues, and, upon no occasion signified openly his disapprobation of any of the acts, even of that monster Robespierre. We are told of his fine feelings; of his compassionate heart; of his noble and angelic soul. But, still he served! Still he fought in support of Robespierre! We are even, quite to surfeiting, told of his loyalty. But, we find him serve, we find him uphold, those who cut off the head of the king, in whose service he had been; the head of the queen; and who had, in some bating against the House of Bourbon and way or other, put the Dauphin to death. its Allies.But, a time was to come Moreau, the kind-hearted; Moreau, the when his fidelity, public as well as private, compassionate, the fine-feeling, the loyal was to be put to the test. Pichegru; his Moreau, continued to serve, to uphold, to old friend Pichegru, who had promoted maintain and increase the power, of those him, and who is represented as having been who had committed these acts. Now, his kind and constant friend; a time was to either these acts were just, or they were come, when the fate of Pichegru was to be most horrible murders. If they were in his hands.The facts, as related in just, what becomes of the character of the Memoir (for I will not go out of that), the Bourbons, and how unjust are all were these: From papers which Moreau had the charges, which, on this score, have seized in the baggage of an Austrian Genebeen preferred against the Republican ru- ral, it appeared, that an understanding lers? And, if these acts were most horrible "subsisted between Pichegru (who was murders, is the man to be eulogized, who still in the republican service), the Prince continued voluntarily to serve those, by" of Condé, and the English minister whom these murders were committed; and " Wickham.-This correspondence, which who thereby did his best to enable them" was in the cipher, had been very slowly and encourage them to commit fresh mur- "made out, and Moreau shewed the greatders?- -However, there was, it seems "est repugnance at communicating it to from the Memoir, one occasion when the "the Directory. At length seeing the fine-feeling, the compassionate Moreau, did strife between that body and the councils entertain the design of quitting the repub-" settled, and guessing what would be the lican service, on account of the cruelties issue of it, the General felt that he would practised by the government. But, what "lose himself by his silence, without saving was this occasion? Why, when his own" Pichegru, and being particularly pressed father had been put to death by the Jaco- "by his chef d'état Major, who announced bins of Brest. Then he did, it seems, to him that if he persisted in his silence, meditate, what? Emigration! That is to" he should be obliged to reveal every thing, say, desertion from his army, and not any "he wrote that letter with which he has design to avenge his murdered father." never been reproached, unless because However, if the Memoir speaks truth, he "the imperious necessity to which he did feel; he did think of quitting the ser- "had yielded, was unknown." vice. Admit this to be true and give him what was this" imperious necessity's full credit for his feeling; but, then, it Why, that of saving himself! Oh! the must be borne in mind, that, with all his noble-minded man! Oh! the "great and loyally, the deaths of the king, queen," good Moreau!" He denounces his friend dauphin, and the king's sister, all put together, did not produce any such effect upon his mind.This fine-feeling, how ever, even in the case of the murder of his own father (for such it is called), was not of long duration. He appears to have very soon forgotten it; and, we now find him, in 1794 and the following years, pushing on in that career of glory, as the Memoir calls it, during which he gained so many victories, and took so many towns, in the service of Robespierre and the Directory. And, what was the motive which prevented him from emigrating? What was the motive that retained him in the service of the murderers of his king, his queen, and his own father? Why, we are told, "that "Pichegru observed to him that he was "not sure, that he would be well received "by the Austrians ;" and, therefore, he did not emigrate; therefore he did not desert; therefore he continued to serve Robespierre; therefore he persevered in com -And, and protector, who is sent off to Cayenne in consequence of the denunciation; and the motive is, the "imperious" motive is, the saving of himself!- -I remember, that, in some verses, in the Anti-jacobin paper, written chiefly by Messrs. Canning and Frere, this act of Moreau was severely lashed. Whether it would now be expunged, if a new edition were to be printed, is more than I can say.But, it is not his conduct towards Pichegru, that we have here to comment on. It is on his conduct towards the government, whom he was serving, that country whose bread he was eating, and that army whose blood was flowing to gain him fame, and to gain him those riches, of which we shall, by and by, find him, all of a sudden, pos sessed.- -If it be true, that there was proof, discovered by Moreau of an understanding between Pichegru, the Prince of Condé, and the English minister Wickham, there can be no doubt, that Pichegru was a traitor to his own government and country, into whose service he had voluntarily entered, in whose service he was still with his own will. Therefore it was the bounden duty of Moreau to denounce him. If he failed to do that, he became a traitor himself. Well, he, at last, yields to the calls of duty; but when, and why? When his Chef d'état Major threatens to impeach him, and from the fear of losing himself! And, this was a noble-minded man, was he! This discovered fine-feeling; a high sense of honour; and a contempt of personal safety! Taking this relation for true, then, it appears, that Moreau, from motives of friendship and gratitude, would fain have screened treason against his country, and that he was, at last, induced to reveal it from a most dastardly motive. Such a man is a proper object for the praises of this Russian author; but, I will yet hope, that he will find few Englishmen so very base and corrupt as to adopt his sentiments. We are now to follow the eulogized General into scenes, where he comes in close contact with Napoleon, and where, of course, he will appear in a character more interesting to the world.The Memoir says, that Moreau lent Buonaparte his aid in putting down the Directory; but, it adds, that, some days;" only some days, after the 18 Brumaire, he saw that he had been mistaken, and feared, that he had concurred in giving a tyrant to his country, Indeed! So soon! Oh! yes; for it was thought necessary that Moreau should, thus early, begin to perceive what Buonaparté would turn out to be. But, notwithstanding his prognostic fears upon this head, away he goes to take the command of the army of the Danube and Rhine, and "to put the seal to his great military reputation in a new campaign.' "Was that all? Did he not go, too, to fight for the support of the First Consul? Did he not go to endeavour to add to his power? Did he not go to serve him, to aid him, to obey him, who he feared would be the tyrant of his country? Is it possible for all the arts of sophistry to find the ineans of justifying such conduct? Either what this Russian has asserted, in this respect, is false; either Moreau thought well of the character and the designs of Buonaparté, or the former was one of the meanest and most unprincipled of men. -We, after this, find him finishing his military career with the famous battle of Hohenlinden, which induced the Austrian government to sue for peace. Upon 66 66 his return to Paris, the Memoir says, that The -We -Where got he this fortune? › From his provost-ship before the revolution? Did his condemned and executed father |
