Drouet had been elected by the Five Hundred, after | prepared an acte d'insurrection, or instructions for an his return from his captivity, to fill one of the vacant insurrection, with the motives and objects of it. This places in that body. All that the Directory asked for was granted immediately by the Councils. It was not exactly known what the danger was, but the majority supposed that they had escaped some imminent peril, and in their gratitude and their fears they would have given the Directory anything that they chose to ask for. It was decreed that all former members of the Convention, who had not been re-elected, all functionaries who had been removed from their offices, all officers who were without employment, and many others, should quit Paris in three days, and remain at the distance of ten leagues at least, under pain of deportation. This conspiracy is said to have originated in the prisons where great numbers of patriots were confined after the 9th Thermidor and 1st Prairial. Here was formed a sect, called the sect of the Equals. When these men received their liberty after the 13th of Vendémiaire, they set about giving unity to their plot. The directors were Babeuf, Buonarotti, Fontenelle, and some others. Babeuf was obliged to keep himself concealed, but he attacked the Directory in the Tribun du Peuple.' With the view of preparing people for their schemes, the club of the Panthéon was established. The great object was the destruction of the new Constitution; but it was necessary to set up something in the place of that which they intended to destroy, and as Babeuf had the chief influence in organizing the new constitution of things, the conspiracy was called the conspiracy of Babeuf.* His design was to overthrow the whole social fabric, and to build up another founded on the principle, that individual property is the cause of slavery, that society ought to be considered as a community of property and of labour, and that the object of society should be to equalize labour, to give equal enjoyment to all, and so forth. The public were prepared for this great change by pamphlets and writings of various kinds, and by Babeuf's journal. When the club of the Panthéon was closed, Babeuf, Buonarotti, Antonelle, and others, established a secret. Directory of Public Safety, as a means of rallying the patriots, and giving them an impulse towards the general object. This Directory published an analysis of the doctrines of Babeuf, and twelve agents were appointed to organize the twelve arrondissemens of Paris; others were sent round the cafés and public places to stir up the people. A journal called the Enlightener ('L'Eclaireur') undertook to diffuse Babeuf's doctrines among the poorer classes. Greater publicity was given to these insurrectional writings even by the royalist and ministerial journals, which copied them as samples of madness and audacity; but they thus gave them a wider circulation than they would otherwise have had. The secret committee * Thibaudeau, Mém,' ii., 5. Conspiration Anarchiste de Babeuf." The history of this affair was published at Brussels, in 1828, by Ph. Buonarotti, one of the principal actors in it. 66 acte was a very attractive prospectus. The overthrow of the constituted authorities was a necessary preliminary, which was to be followed by various important measures, as the foundation of a new order of things: the distribution among the defenders of the country and the unfortunate, of the property of emigrants, of conspirators, and of the enemies of the people; the immediate location of the unfortunate in the houses of the friends of the power that now exists; restoration of the property of the people deposited in the Mont de Piété; adoption by the people of the wives, children, fathers, mothers, brethren and sisters of citizens who should perish in the insurrection. This was a direct appeal to all the robbers and bandits of Paris; and it was followed up by the central committee communicating with a military committee, to which Fyon, Rossignol and others belonged. These men brought them into connection with some Montagnards, formerly members of the Convention, who were also preparing a movement. All the names of these Montagnards are not known, but Amar, Javogues, and Robert Lindet, are mentioned among them. The minister of police made several attempts to seize the conspirators together, but failing in this he arrested them separately on the 21st Floréal (10th of May). The government had been for several days before informed of the designs of the conspirators by Georges Grisel, who was one of them. The papers which had been seized were examined, and from time to time communicated to the Five Hundred, and extracts from them found their way into the journals. It is said that the publication of this plot for the overthrow of all existing institutions excited general disgust against the conspirators, whose doctrines were as anarchical as those of Hébert and his associates, whom Robespierre had crushed.* Babeuf, on being examined at the ministry of police, admitted all the papers, which were shown to him, but he would not name any of the conspirators. This affair occupied the two Councils for several weeks. The arrest of Drouet, a member of the Five Hundred, was a grave question. It was at last settled that the accusation against him should be admitted, and that he should be heard before the Five Hundred. He denied all knowledge of the conspiracy, but it was finally decided (20th of July) that there was ground for examining into his conduct; and Drouet and his accomplices were sent to be tried before the high court of justice, which, for the occasion of this trial, was fixed at Vendôme. Drouet escaped from the prison of the Abbaye, and there was suspicion that the Directory favoured his escape. The rest of the prisoners, who were numerous, were taken to Vendôme. Among them were Vadier, Amar, Choudieu, Ricord, Antonelle, *The acte d'insurrection, which was found among Babeuf's papers, is printed in the Hist. Parl.,' xxxvii., 158. Nothing could be more explicit, nor more villainous. C C Rossignol, Babeuf the leader, Buonarotti, Felix Lepelletier, and others. The design to destroy the existing government, in which Babeuf had failed, was actually attempted to be executed in the beginning of September, when six or seven hundred armed men went in a body to the troops at Grenelle, and endeavoured to seduce them by cries of" Live the Constitution of '93; down with the Committees; down with the new tyrants." The officers were however forewarned, and the troops were not disposed to mutiny. The insurgents were attacked, some were killed, and others wounded and made prisoners. The Five Hundred, upon the recommendation of the Directory, determined that the prisoners should be tried by a military commission, for there were 132 prisoners, and it would be very inconvenient to proceed against them by the ordinary forms. Some of the prisoners were acquitted, some were sentenced to deportation, and a considerable number were condemned to death and shot. Among those who were executed, was the ex-conventional Javogues, who well deserved his fate. The patriots and terrorists, or by whatever name they may be called, were disconcerted by this affair of the camp of Grenelle, and their energy seemed to be totally destroyed. The fear of this party had hitherto made the two chambers act with apparent unanimity on almost every question. CHAPTER LVII. BONAPARTE. UNDER the Directory the French government assumed a kind of orderly appearance, and even of splendour. The Directors were installed at the Luxembourg, and Barras did the honours. The saloons of Barras were the resort of generals of fortune, of men who had enriched themselves by speculation and peculation, of those who began to think that the government had attained a certain degree of stability, and were willing to take anything that they could get. There was great looseness of morals under the Directory. The freedom of divorce caused great licence, and marriage, it was said, had become a kind of concubinage. Proposals were made in the Five Hundred to alter the law, which allowed divorce, and even to repeal it. A committee was appointed to consider the matter, and a report was made, which gave rise to animated discussions. 30,000 millions. But after deducting assignats that had been burnt, and making other deductions, the amount in circulation on the 15th Brumaire was about 19,000 millions. The government paper, however, was not all that was in circulation: "there were billets de commune, from the amount of two liards to five livres, issued by every commune in France; we have seen some of these notes, which are now very rare; they were called billets de confiance, billets patriotiques, mandats, bons." To meet the public necessities, which were still urgent, notwithstanding the recent issue of the three milliards, a forced loan of 600 millions was resorted to, after the example of the Revolutionary government; and this loan was to be raised from the richest classes, and paid either in coined money or in assignats, at the rate of the hundredth part of their nominal value. Thus, 200 millions of the forced loan, if all paid in assignats, would have brought in 20,000 millions, or the whole of the paper which was in circulation. But in paying the government annuitants, the same rate was not adopted, and the annuitants received only ten for one. The land-tax and the duties which were farmed were to be paid half in assignats and half in produce; and the custom-house duties half in assignats and half in coin. In Belgium, the forced The high society, as it was called, was adorned by the beauty of Tallien's wife, the grace of Madame Beauharnais, and the brilliant talents of Madame de Staël. Bonaparte married Madame Beauharnais; and other adventurers looked for wives either among women who belonged to the former class of nobles, or in families which had risen to wealth during the revolution, --for fortunes are made as well as lost in times of political agitation. The question of the assignats was always upper-loan and the taxes were to be paid in coin, for the most. The three milliards of assignats which were allowed to the Directory upon entering on office, did not produce above a hundred millions of francs in value. The demand of the Directory for this sum was made on the 15th Brumaire, in the year 4. The enormous issue of assignats that had been made, and the various tamperings with the circulation, render it extremely difficult to state the facts clearly. A report was made to the Five Hundred, stating the whole amount of assignats "issued by virtue of decrees, and fabricated by orders of the Committee of Finance up to the 8th Brumaire, of the year 4," at something less than assignats had not circulated to any extent in Belgium. The forced loan, it was supposed, would bring in at least a considerable part of the paper money, and some coin. There would still remain the resource of issuing new assignats, which would become more valuable by the absorption of part of the old assignats. It was also determined that part of the public property should be scheduled, which was a tedious operation. Houses *Poujoulat, Hist. de la Rév. Française,' ii., 200; and Thiers, Hist. de la Rév. Française,' as to the assignats generally. To anticipate the forced loan, and the other sources of income, the government issued promissory notes to the amount of 60 millions, which were to be paid with the first coin that should come into the treasury; but it was with great difficulty that these notes obtained a circulation. The produce of the forced loans came in very slowly; and the government again applied to their ordinary resource, the plate of the assignats; and the whole amount issued finally amounted to 40,000 millions. The assignat was now reduced to about the two hundredth part of its nominal value, for an issue of 20,000 millions hardly brought in to the government 100 millions' worth. The operation had now come to its natural term. A franc in an assignat was worth next to nothing; and no more could be done with them. They were either refused by sellers, or taken at their value. Here was another opportunity of making a settlement by taking the assignats for what they were worth. There was really only 200 millions' worth of paper in circulation, and the redemption of that amount was all that had to be provided for. Everybody had lost something by the assignats; and as they could never have their nominal value, the simplest way was to settle the matter by taking them at their present value, and issuing no more. in towns, and lands of less amount than three hundred or, in other words, that the assignat should be liquiarpents, were to be sold immediately; and the rich dated at one-thirtieth of its nominal value, which was spoils of the Belgian clergy. All the former royal a great deal too much. Six hundred millions of manpalaces, except Fontainebleau, Versailles, and Com-dats were to be issued for the public service; and 1,000 piègne, were also to be put up to auction; and the millions were reserved for future necessities. This movables of the emigrants. There were means enough was a new creation of assignats under a new denoto settle all the difficulties of finance, if the govern- mination. As the value of the mandat was made thirty ment had simply taken the assignat for what it was times that of the assignat, and there were twenty-four worth, which was very little, issued no more, and come milliards of assignats in circulation, which were to be back to specie payments. The large mass of the covered by 800 millions of mandats, there remained assignats had never been worth their nominal value: 1,600 millions of mandats, which, valued at thirty times the government which issued them got only for them the assignats, made an addition of forty-eight milliards what they were worth at the time; and though it is of assignats to the circulation. Thus, in fact, the whole said that they were at par with silver in 1793, when value of the national property was fixed at seventy-two the amount in circulation was comparatively small, milliards of assignats. The mandats were created on the this is a statement that cannot be believed. 16th of March. The national property was forthwith put up to sale, and transferred to those who offered the value in mandats. All the arbitrary measures adopted to maintain the value of the mandat were ineffectual, and there were no means of making it equal in value to coin. In a short time the mandat of 100 francs fell to 15 francs, but it rose to 30, 40, and in some places to 88 francs. Many sales were immediately effected; and those who could buy up the mandats had the means of making large fortunes. But the further depreciation of the mandats themselves could not be long deferred. There was national property to the amount of 2,400 millions hypothecated to answer to the like amount of mandats, but a piece of land which in 1790 was valued at 100,000 francs, did not sell now for more than about one-third of that sum, and it was not possible that the mandats could be worth more in the market than the land was. The violent measures of 1793 could not be resorted to in order to maintain the mandats at par with silver; and all private transactions were now carried on in coin. Silver, which had been buried or carried out of the country, appeared again. People used that circulating medium which was adapted to their wants, and they could not be compelled to use one which had only a nominal value. Wages were paid in coin, and in the markets silver alone circulated. But it was determined to issue a new paper, called The mandats came into the hands of speculators, who mandats, to the amount of 2,400 millions, to represent took them from the government and sold them to the 2,400 millions of national property, which was the secu- purchasers of national property; or they got them rity for them. Thus the mandats actually represented from public functionaries, public creditors, soldiers and a certain amount of property, taken at the valuation of others, who were reduced to great distress by being 1790, and the only change, it was supposed, that could paid in a nominal value, which they had to exchange take place would be in the value of the property itself. for a much smaller real value. The armies in Italy The office of these mandats was to bring in the assig- and Germany were living at the expense of the people nats, for every piece of property might be bought at a among whom they were, but the soldiers in the interior fixed price in mandats, without any auction or bidding. suffered great privations, and the whole service was The plate of the assignats was broken on the 19th of disorganized. While the community was recovering February, 1796. Forty-five milliards, and five millions from the effect of the paper money, simply by having of assignats had been issued; but by the forced loan and nothing to do with it, the government which lived upon other means the circulation had been reduced to thirty-it, and all who received their pay from the government, six milliards, and it was supposed that it would be soon were in the greatest distress, notwithstanding the aid reduced to twenty-four milliards. These twenty-four of some millions of money which Bonaparte sent as milliards of assignats, reduced to one-thirtieth part, the fruits of his Italian campaign. It would be tedious would represent 800 millions; and it was decreed that to trace the history of the mandats; after falling so they should be exchanged for 800 millions of mandats, much below their nominal value, they became almost |