ALTORF.

AT the close of July 1796, the French army, in two columns, drew nigh to the Austrian territories in Suabia; and upon the third of August the advanced guard of the right wing of the army of the Rhine and Moselle, commanded by brigadier gene­ral Abat [...]cci, appeared before Altorf, the chief town of the Austrian government; whilst the general of division Ferino (who before the revolution had been a subaltern officer in the Imperial regiment of Bender) advanced at the hea [...] of the main body to­wards Aulenderf, and the column under the command of the general of division Tarreau, marched towards the lake of Con­stance, and spread itself over the adjacent country. The num­ber of persons in the Austrian territory, who considered the French as a sort of demi-gods, come to deliver them from fanci­ed ills, and from all the duties of a subject, and to procure them the enjoyment of the most unbridled liberty and equality. was far from inconsiderable; and the neighbouring towns discovered symptoms of a disposition but too favourable to the enemy, and prej [...]dicial to the imperial army. But the appearance of the French in their own undisguised form, and the barba [...]ous excesses whi [...] announced and accompani [...]d their intentions, by b [...]traying thei [...] real views, caused a speedy change in the sentiments of the peasa [...]try, in which they were soon joined by the inhabitants of the towns.

[Page 6] Upon the 4th of August, Ferino required from the town of Altorf a present of 300 louis for himself and the officers of his staff, for which he promised his future protection to that place and its inhabitants. In like manner Tarreau extorted 125 louis from five small villages, whilst his worthy colleague Stouhlen, the commissary at war, at the same time imposed the most exor­bitant contributions of provisions and clothing, the greater part of which he sold, and then exacted the delivery of similar arti­cles. Such oppressive conduct, joined to the ravages of the sol­diery and their inhuman treatment of the inhabitants, so enraged the peasantry, that they took up arms to oppose force by force, and some villagers actually attacked a detachment of 30 men be­longing to the brigade of general Rousseau, who had, during their march, committed a variety of excesses, and of whom they killed five, wounded several, and put the rest to flight. Upon the 8th of August this account was brought to that general, who was then at Altorf, and who ordered the strictest search to be made for the ringleaders, when six peasants were brought before him, and every one trembled for their lives, and the safety of the village. But Rousseau acted with more humanity and justice than perhaps any other general in the French army would have done on such an occasion; for after confining the peasants during several days, he reckoned as part of their punishment their constant apprehension of approaching death, and discharg­ed them, after requiring and receiving an oblation of 200 louis, which were readily given to him, with great admiration of his lenity.

The prudence and activity of the chief magistrate had saved Altorf from much oppression, and its suture security was thought to be ensured by the appearance of an Imperial detachment upon the 29th of September, which was received with the greatest joy by the inhabitants, when their hopes were most cruelly disap­pointed by a dreadful engagement upon the following day. For the Austrian general Klingling, at the head of 2400 men, hav­ing taken a position in the neighbourhood of Altorf, and his ad­vanced guard having repulsed a patrole of sixty French Hussars, this skirmish gave time for the main body of the French under general Ferino to advance, when the engagement soon became serious and general, and the Austrains having planted their artil­lery upon a hill south of the town, the French in three columns, to the number of 10, 000. pus [...]ed forward in fi [...]nt of the battery and of a tremendous cannonade with such vigour, that the Austrians were under the necessity of retreating. Still [Page 7]however they continued to engage with great bravery in the streets of Altorf, upon the neighboring heights, and within the walls of the Benedict ac abbey of Weingarten, in hopes that they should be reinforced by general Mercantin according to the plan which had been arranged. But such were the force and situation of the French army that general Mercantin was not even able to inform Klingling of the obstacles which prevented the intended junction; and to this is to be attributed the ill success of the day.

The abbey suffered severely, both during and after the engage­ment; for 500 of the enemy, burning with rage, and greedy of plunder, rushed into the convent, rifled every coffer and every closet, ransacked every room from the garret to the cellar, de­stroyed the greatest part of the furniture, beat and wounded the priests and their attendants, robbed them of the money in their pockets, and carried away all the plate, linen, cloth, leather, and other articles, exclaiming, that it was their lawful booty. During these transactions, the same were carrying on in the town of Altorf, and many houses were pillaged, even during the engagament. But this was only a prelude to greater and conti­nued persecution; for during five long and sorrowful days were the town and convent abandoned to the extortion of the com­missaries and officers, and to the excesses and rapacity of the sol­diers. It seemed as if hell had opened and discharged upon Al­torf its most reprobate and execrable demons; for there is no enormity, however horrible, that was not perpetrated during those painfully memorable days.

The troops had no sooner quitted the abbey, than the com­missaries appeared there for the purpose of plundering in the name of the French republic, by exacting the most unheard of contri­butions, which were extorted by force of arms, and under me­naces of conflagration and the sword. The whole stock of corn, of different kinds, all the cattle, all the wine and spirits, and, in short, all the necessaries of life, were ordered to be delivered, either at the camp or into the hands of those privileged locusts. One loaded waggon succeded another, conveying away the plun­der; and at last, the empty casks, sacks, and common house­hold furniture, were carried off, the horses were stolen out of the fields, many of the articles were sold or wantonly destroyed, and others were insisted upon in their stead. The fury of these banditti increased in proportion as their booty was diminished by their numerous thefts; and under pretence of searching for hid­den treasure and concealed arms, they were guilty of the most barbarous excesses. Whoever refused to part with the shirt upon [Page 8]his back was considered as a conspirator against the French Re­public, accused of not being a good patriot, and cruelly beaten, or maimed with a broad sword; and the prelate of the abbey was upon the point of being hanged whilst on his way to intreat the clemency of the commander in chief, and was saved only by the timely interference of an officer, who was more than commonly humane.

In the course of the first night after the engagement, some of the soldiers purposely and wantonly set fire to two houses in the town, and would not permit any attempts to be made to quench the flames. Several other houses were more than half consumed by fire, in consequence of their scattering red hot coals and burning candles about the rooms, under the beds and amongst every heap of combustibles they could discover, so that nothing but the great vigilance and exertions of the proprietors could have prevented the entire destruction of the town.

When Altorf was reduced to such poverty as to afford no further temptation to the pillagers, they spread themselves in bands over the surrounding country, attacked the cottages and habitations of the peasantry (to whom they had promised liberty, equality and affluence) rifled their pockets, destroyed their fur­niture, tore up the floors of their rooms, cut open the mattresses and feather beds, dug up the ground in the cellars and gardens, turned over even the contents of the privies, in hopes of finding some concealed treasure, returned six or seven times to the same houses, and never quitted them until they had left nothing behind them but the bare walls. Oxen, cows and swine, were either driven off, cut in pieces upon the spot; or left cruelly mutilated; geese and poultry were carried away either dead or alive; and such provisions as could not either be consumed or conveyed away were trodden under foot, or mixed with sand, ashes and ordure; nor did these ruffians spare even the stores of bread, which it is usual in that country to keep dried for consumption in the winter. Many cellars were left half full of wine, which had run from the casks they had wantonly staved; and the houses were long after­wards impregnated with the vapour of the brandy which they had poured about the rooms in the most wasteful manner. They destroyed even the milk-pails and the appendages of the dairy; and in many dwellings there was not even a bench or a chair un­broken. The peasants were sometimes threatened with imme­diate death, and sometimes put to extreme torture, in order to procure a discovery of money and other valuables, which they were accused of having concealed; and many were severely wound­ed [Page 9]and crippled, either by musket balls, blows with the but ends of the firelocks, or strokes of the broad sword. The deepest and most apparent poverty was not even a protection against them; for beggars were stripped of their rags; and the num­ber of those who were left without a shirt upon their back is by no means inconsiderable. Grey hairs and lisping infancy, the sick, the dying, and even women in labour, were alike exposed to the most inhuman treatment, and were dragged from their beds, kicked about, and frequently wounded, under pretence that they were the keepers of concealed treasure. The women and chil­dren, who att [...]mpted to escape, were pursued, plundered, and vio­lated: and girls from ten to twelve years of age were deprived of their innocence and health by these republican barbarians. Nei­ther age nor infirmity, nor yet the most offensive disorders, were able to set bounds to their more than brutal lust; and ten, twelve, and even twenty of these depraved wretches are known successive­ly to have gratified their passions with the same object, whilst their flameless colleagues either kept guard at the door, or held loaded pistols and fixed bayonets at the head of the unhappy sufferer. Even in the infirmary near Weingarten did these cannibals com­mit the same horrid crimes, and outrage persons suffering under the most disgusting maladies, and such as preclude them from communication with the rest of mankind. But delicacy forms [...]o part of the character of the French republican; for at Heiden­ [...]im they used as spits for their meat the iron spikes upon which t [...]ey had found the heads of some lately executed malefactors, and made their fire with the wheels upon which the corpses had been expo [...]ed. Even the bodies of young women, who had ex­pired under their barbarity, and of women who but a few hours before had been in labour, were made use of to satiate the infer­nal lust of these monsters in human shape, degraded far beneath the beasts of the field. With menaces of slaughter, with blows, with unsheathe sabres, and with loaded muskets, they enforced universal submission; and dreadful was their revenge when their inclinations were resisted. Whilst they were plundering, destroy­ing, dishonouring, and committing such excesses as humanity [...]udders to relate, at the village of Ingoldingen, from the second to the fourth of October, six or eight volunteers rushed into the louse of Jacob Frust, a farmer, whose wife they ill treated, and th [...]atened with instant death if she refused to consent to their desires; but that resolute woman declaring that she had rather [...]eet death than dishonour, attacked the ruffians, and, assisted by [...]er husband, who fortunately came in, drove them [...]t of the [Page 10]house. Determined however to revenge themselves, they set fire to the dwelling, which, with the furniture, granary, and every thing but the cattle, became a prey to the flames. Three other houses met a similar fate, and the damages fustained by this and an adjoining village amounted in contributions and in losses by plunder and conflagration, to the sum of 44, 824 florins, or above £. 4, 000 sterling.

Not a trace of decency, not the least regard to religion and its customs, appeared in the conduct of the French soldiery. In the churches they broke open the pyx, trampled the host under foot, carried away the communion plate and the robes of the priests, destroyed the crucifixes and other images, and treated with ignominy every thing that is deemed holy by the catholic, and respected by the well meaning man of every religion. In one of the villages, where the church was stripped of its ornaments, and the minister completely pillaged, they placed upon the altar the figure of Satan, which they had taken from the representa­tion of the Redeemer tempted in the desert; and in another vil­lage they placed a crucifix before the fire, and amidst shouts of most indecent mirth, turned it round like meat roasting upon a spit, whilst the grey headed minister of the parish, at the vener­able age of eighty-three, was not only plundered and insulted, but severely beaten, as a reward for the hospitality with which he had received them. And indeed it ought not to be forgotten, that, with very few exceptions, the most brutal actions and the greatest excesses were committed in the house of those, who, by anticipation of their wishes, or promptitude in execution of their orders, endeavoured to disarm their ferocity, and secure protection and tranquility.

It was not until the fifth of October that this district was relieved from the Republican troops, and from the tribe of Jews, spies, and traiterous informers, the refuse of Suabia, who had fol­lowed the French army, and greatly contri [...]med to increase the distresses of the people. Upon the 6th of October, the Impe­rialists were welcomed with a joy as sincere and universal as was the detestation of the Republicans and their principles.

The damages sustained by the Abbey of Weingarten, by pil­lage and requisitions, amounted to 257, 082 florins; those incur­red by the town of Altorf, to 93, 229 florins; and the whole amount of damages sustained by this district was 500, 000 florins, or upwards of 45, 000 l. sterling.

PFULLENDORF.

Upon the second of August 1796, a division of the column under the orders of general Ferino marched through this village, when some chasseurs belonging to the advanced guard entered a shop, and forcibly took silk handkerchiefs and other goods to the value of 100 florins, for which they offered some assignats in payment; but upon the shopkeeper refusing to take such useless paper, they struck at him with their sabres, and left the shop with shouts of laughter and torrents of abuse. Five others en­tered the house of one of the magistrates, loudly asking for wine and victuals, with which they were speedily and amply served, and for which they testified their gratitude by robbing their en­tertainer of his watch and money. The same night they threat­ened an inhabitant with death for telling an officer who wanted to put his carriage into his barn, that there was no room for it; and his life was with difficulty saved by a magistrate, who had him conveyed to the town prison, (as a place of safety for the enemy) under promise that he should be punished.

In the neighbouring village of Neubronn, belonging to the prince of Frustenberg, six riflemen imposed a contribution of 400 florins, or about 27 l. sterling, pillaged several houses, and so ill treated such as endeavoured to protect their property, and to resist the insults offered to their wives and daughters, that many honest and industrious labourers were reduced to the greatest distress.

If the rough and barbarous manner in which these armed ruf­fians extorted what they wanted excited terror and detestation, their intemperance gave rise to an equal degree of astonishment; for two Frenchmen would devour at a meal as much as would serve three hard working Germans during three or four days; and between the hours of two and nine, they would frequently have three complete meals, which they generally moistened with whole rivers of wine, plentifully sweetened with sugar, and usually strengthened with cherry brandy.

Pfullendorf and the adjacent villages, suffered however, but little, in comparison with other places, until the enemy began to retreat, when the French not only carried away or destroyed all the forage and corn they could find, but so entirely demolished a small hamlet in the neighbourhood, by breaking the windows, forcing open the doors, and destroying all the beds and other furniture in the houses, as to oblige the owners to have recourse to their neighbours for lodging and subsistence. After the en­gagements [Page 12]at Biberach, upon the 2d of October, which was very destructive on both sides, without altering the situation of affairs, the French main hospital was removed to Pfullendorf. The enormity of the requisitions for this hospital was equalled only by the waste and the frauds commmitted by the officiers de sante (the physicians and surgeons) who publicly sold the sugar, and were more occupied in bargaining for the sale of such other articles as they had extorted, than busied in attending to the wants of the sick.

Upon the fifth of October, general Moreau himself fixed his head quarters at Pfullendorf, and was followed by his whole army, which was distributed about the country, and, like the preceding hordes, rendered itself forever infamous by the grati­fication of every savage passion, the commission of every sort of excess, and the practice of every species of extortion. A brave fellow, who had assisted in driving some of the plunderers out of the village he inhabited, was af [...]erwards recognized and shot▪ as were two farmers in another village, whilst endeavouring to prevent the doors from b [...]ing forced open. A servant at the hospital of Pfullendorf, who served as guide to a dragoon, was shot by the blood thirsty villain without any provocation, and so grievously wounded, that he shortly after expired. Two labour­ers and a shoemaker were murdered in another place by some of the straggling soldiers, for endeavouring to prevent some attro­cious action, and for threatening to ring the alarm bell. A poor woman, 60 years of age, who was gleaning in a field, was forcibly thrown down by one of the Republican barbarians, and menaced with death if she did not yield to his brutal desires, whilst another stood with his bayonet at the breast of her aged husband, and forced him to be a witness of his wife's dishonour. A church was broken open and plundered, and the minister's house completely rifled, under the eyes of general Moreau him­self, who to the lamentations of the sufferer, contemptuously replied, "I cannot prevent it"—and quietly betook himself to his favourite cherry brandy, in which he indulged himself to excess, like the meanest of his soldiers.

Amongst the commissaries, who pillaged in the name of the Republic, one Nicolas particularly distinguished himself; for hav­ing suddenly required, as absolutely necessary for the army, the delivery of such an immense quantity of hay and corn as he was told, could not possibly be procured in so short a time as he had mentioned, he made no scruple of declaring, that if a weighty purse were offered to him for his own private use, he would say [Page 13]nothing more about the requisition; and having cheated a mil­ler in the weight of the flour delivered by him, he extorted from him upwards of 13 louis, as a compensation for the pretended deficiency. Out of the many instances of fraud committed by the commissaries, we will mention one, which in several respects is not a little characteristic. One evening two of those harpies required the delivery of 3000 pounds weight of beef upon the following morning; but the butcher suspecting it to be a scheme to extort money, applied to an officer upon the staff, who imme­diately agreed in opinion with the butchers, and gave them a [...]ote to the commanding officer, who expressed the same opinion, but added, "It is not in my power to protect you against these blood-suckers, and I must therefore advise you to comply with their demands." They followed his advice, were employed the whole night in slaughtering their beasts, and were told the next day that the meat was not wanted.

WALDSEE.

Before the armies of the French republic overran, vexed, and desolated the Circle of Suabia, the inhabitants of the little town of Waldsee were enabled to form a correct judgment of the cha­racter of the republican troops, from the conduct of the French prisoners who had been originally quartered there between the 21st of December 1795 and 6th of July 1796, so that they heard of the approach of this lawless horde with more apprehen­sions than the inhabitants of most other places. The French behaved more like conquerors than prisoners, not only towards the inhabitants, but towards the Austrian officers and soldiers; and when they heard that the whole French army had crossed the Rhine, their outrageous joy knew no bounds. They insulted the inhabitants in the grossest terms, repaid the kindnesses they had received with insolence, and even with blows; began to pil­lage the houses of the peasantry, robbed the gardens round the town, laid waste the corn fields, endeavoured forcibly to dishon­our women and children, and by numerous excesses abused the kind and noble manner in which they had been treated by the Austrians. Several of the officers deceived the vigilance of the garrison, and making excursions to the neighboring free Impe­rial towns of Ravensburg and Biberach, reconnoitred the coun­try, and found many who, either out of interest or from attach­ment to the emissaries of liberty and equality, degraded them­selves by carrying on a traiterous correspondence with the enemy, [Page 14]and forwarding the dispatches of the prisoners to the Directory, so that it is no longer to be wondered at that the leader of the Republican armies should possess such a circumstantial knowledge of every district through which he was to pass.

Upon the 28th of July the Imperial general Frolich, at the head of his corps, quitted Waldsee, where he had arrived upon the preceding day, and being too weak successfully to contend with the superior numbers under the command of general Ferino, withdrew by Wurzach towards the Danube. He was followed by the emigrant legion amounting to nine or ten thousand men, who upon the second of August were at so short a distance from Waldsee, that Ferino's advanced guard had pushed within a mile and a half of their rear. Upon the following day a detachment of French infantry entered the town, and whilst their command­ing officer was endeavouring to persuade the magistrates that the inhabitants should enjoy the most perfect security both in person and property, his soldiers forcibly entered the shops and carried away what they thought proper. The officer indeed ordered the goods to be restored, and appointed a non-commissioned officer to execute his commands; but only a few trifling articles were returned, and the non-commissioned officer publicly divided the rest of the spoil amongst his comrades, not failing to take due care of himself. Reeling with wine, and loaded with plunder, they quitted Waldsee in the evening, and were next morning suc­ceeded by another detachment, five of whom hastened to a cha­pel, which they broke open and pillaged of the communion plate; after which they proceeded to a neighbouring village, plundered several houses, and fired 15 times at one Beckhinger, a miller, who defended his property like a hero, and who, with­out being himself wounded, shot one of the robbers dead upon the spot, broke the leg of another, and put the rest to flight. In the mean time, those in the town revelled in abundance; took the watches from the pockets of the inhabitants, and under pre­tence of paying in specie for what they wanted, forced the tradesmen to open their shops, took what articles they chose, and paid for them in mandats and assignats.

Upon the 7th of August, the advanced guard of the column commanded by general Ferino, amounting to 4, 000 men, under the orders of general Abbatu [...]ci, entered Waldsee, which was now obliged to provide, not only for this army, but also the nu­merous out-posts beyond the town. A contribution of 15, 000 pounds weight of bread, and 4, 000 bottles of wine commenced [Page 15]the list of requisitions which succeeded each other almost with­out intermission, and were rendered the more oppressive from the danger which: very convoy of corn and cattle incurred from the enemy; for whatever fell into the hands of the out posts, tho' destined for the supply of the army, became a prey to those un­governable banditti: the peasantry, going to the town, were [...]obbed of their shoes, stockings, and wearing apparel; and even the waggons and horses that brought wine and provisions for the troops were seized and sent away, and the owners were frequent­ly detained, and forced to follow the army during several days, and even weeks, until they could purchase their liberty with money. Not satisfied with the common fare of the country, these pretended champions of liberty and equality, demanded large suppl [...]s of fish, butter, cheese and fruit, after every meal, and if they were not instantly produced, they fell upon the landlord and servants, beat them, and threatened them with death, and finished by plundering the kitchen, pantry and cel­lars, and such was their wilful waste of fodder, that in this single lay several farmers were deprived of their whole provision for [...]e winter.

Upon the 8th of August, this unbridled horde quitted Wald­see, and Ferino himself appeared there at the head of the main body of the army, but was preceded by the adjutant general Berthold, who came to prepare quarters for the staff, and who tendered himself odious by his unbounded insolence and rapacity. With menacing gestures and the most horrid oaths he threatened [...]o cleave with his sabre the head of the burgomaster, merely be­cause he had conducted him to a house not suited to his refined [...]aste, although it was by far the best in the place, nor was he [...]acified until he had been complimented with a present of 15 [...]uis, which his servant, a wretch with the countenance and demeanor of a galley slave, negociated for him without the least delicacy. The other officers, without scruple, extorted breeches, [...]hoes, boots, stockings, linen, and other necessaries; and Pring, the commandant of the town, declared, that he would make no attempt at discipline until he and his servant had been newly cloathed. Others exacted a large quantity of dishes, glasses, kitchen furniture, and provisions for their respective corps in the neighbourhood of the town, but offered to relinquish the articles acquired for a certain compensation in louis or dollars.

Notwithstanding the maintenance of this rapacious soldiery, and of their numerous cavalry▪ far surpassed the ability of this small town, the commissaries ordered 300 bushels of oats to [...] carried away, so that the whole store was exhausted before [...] [Page 16]army had begun to move. Smiths, saddlers, and wheelrights were forced to work hard without a recompence; and amongst the innumerable articles put in a state of requisition, was even a quantity of greese for wheels

Upon the 10th of August, Ferino and his licentious host be­ga [...] to m [...]ve forwards; but not until the infirmary had been stripped of all the beds, mattresses, and linen, nor until the go­vernor of the infirmary, and all the sick and poor under his care had been plundered of every thing they possessed. Thencefor­ward, until the retreat, the town was dail [...] obliged to provide for 20, 50, and frequently for 100 men, who with horses and baggage waggons passed through with their spoil, and required to be forwarded to the consi [...]es of France. The flying hospitals also became another sco [...]ge and source of oppression to the town of Waldsee, from the quan [...]ty of drugs, wine, vinegar, shirts, cloth, and lint, which were constantly put in requisition, and by which the sick and wounded soldiers were but little be­nefitted; for the officers of health, who were as shameless cheats as the commissaries sold the greatest part of the wine, caused shirts for themselves and shifts for their wives and mistresses to be made out of the cloth, and frequently took money instead of the drugs most requisite, suffe [...]ing the sick and wounded to re­cover as they could. They even carried their inhumanity to their own countrymen so far, that during a day's halt at Wald­see, the wounded were not once taken out of the waggons, but were forced to remain there throughout the day, unattended, and exposed to the burning heat of the sun.

At length, upon the 28th of September, the advanced guard of Ferino's column again marched into Waldsee, and was quick­ly succeeded by the main body of the army. The houses were now crowded with soldiers, who committed every species of excess, and were even more fierce and malicious than before. Under pretence that they had been robbed of their arms or bag­gage, they extorted from the innocent landlords and servants com­pensations in money, ill treated such as did not instantly comply, ca [...]ried away all the furniture that was portable, want only de­stroyed the corn in the barns and fields, rifled and wholly stripped several habitations, and displayed the extreme of their infernal wickedness and malevolence by pi [...]ng up all the bread they could find, and setting it on fire, although they know that the poor [...]ined inhabitants were in the gre [...]test want of that most necessary article of support. The fem [...]le [...]ex was neither so pub­licly nor so generally dishonoured here as in many other places: [Page 17]and they who were unfortunate enough to be violated, endeavor­ed to conceal their disgrace, but to no effect; for it discovered itself in consequence of the disgusting maladies which soon broke out, and with which they had been infected by these ruffians.

It was useless to complain to the general officers of the unrea­sonable demands of the commissaries and the excesses of the sol­diery, for their answer was, "Give them what they ask for, and their extortions must necessarily terminate." And thus were they constrained to see all the provision of corn taken from the granary of the infirmary, and many of the inhabitants robbed of their whole stock of fodder for the winter. At midnight the whole army unexpectedly began to move, and commenced their march with burning torches and lighted endles in their hands; their retreat was covered by general Jordis, and the next morn­ing not a Frenchman was to be seen in or near the town of Wald­see; though upon their march a band of chasseurs straggled into an outlying hamlet, and demanded the immediate payment of 12 louis as a contribution; but the peasantry not producing it so speedily as was expected, the banditti rushed into their houses, destroyed every thing too bulky to be carried off, and rolling the winter stock of bread in filth and ordure, with malicious and sa­tan-like shouts of laughter, offered it to the unfortunate and helpless labourers. When about 10 l. sterling had been collected with much difficulty, and under continual dread of being mas­sacred, these unhappy people were under the necessity of using the most humiliating entreaties to their plunderers to accept this sacrifice, and do them no further injury.

The damages incurred by the inhabitants of Waldsee, in con­sequence of this fraternal visit from the great nation, amounted to 45,000 florins, or upwards of 4,000 l. sterling.

MARKDORF. A small town in Suabia, in the bishoprick of Constance.

When the French appeared upon the banks of the lake of Constance, their leaders affected to be surprised that people should be afraid of them, and that many should desert the coun­try: "For," said they, "we are only come to offer peace to the Emperor, and not to violate either your religion, your cus­toms, your persons, or your property, all which shall be most carefully respected and preserved." This assurance was publicly given to the deputies from [...]everal towns and villages by gen­eral Tarreau, who added, "that it was his particular object and business to maintain the severest discipline and the most exact [Page 18]order in his army." Tranquilized by this serious declaration the deputies returned home, and upon the third of August, at noon­day, the French, to the number of 6000 men, entered Markdorf and the neighbouring hamlets, and were entertained as liberally as possible by the inhabitants. But they soon began to break open doors and commit thefts, even under the eyes of the staff officers, and some of the horde spread themselves over the sur­rounding country, where these [...]elf-termed protectors of the pea­santry tore the clothes from the backs, and the shoes and stock­ings from the feet and legs of the poor cottagers and farmers who offered them provisions, broke open their cellars, ri [...]ed their closets and coffers, carried away all the valuable articles they could find, destroyed the household furniture, and cruelly beat and wounded such as made a show of defending their property. At length three volunteers were arrested for having robbed a public messenger upon the highway of two watches and his money, and afterwards wounded him in the head with a bayonet, because he complained of their ill usage. A court martial immediately passed sentence of death upon one of the malefactors, and con­demned the others to the galleys, which latter part of the sen­tence [...]arreau converted into punishment by death; but this was only done to deceive the people by a semblance of justice and discipline: for not withstanding the preparations for their execution, the thieves were not hanged, but were very soon afterwards discharged.

No man knew better than Tarreau how to reap where he had not sown, and no sooner was he arrived at the castle of Mark­dorf than he began to demean himself like a madman, furiously complaining that bread had not been purposely baked for his army, although he knew that it was impossible to prepare such a quantity upon such short notice, and that the troops had been so liberally treated with bread and wine upon their arrival. "If you don't instantly provide bread enough," said he with a thundering voice, "I will give orders to my whole brigade to fal [...] on and plunder you." The commissary Stouhlen, one of the most worthless men in the army, and for that reason the con­fidential favourite of Tarreau, not only spoke in the same tone, [...]out immediately issued a requisition, by which 18,000 pounds weight of bread were ordered to be baked before nine o'clock at night, under the penalty of the town being given up to be plundered by the soldiers. The chief magistrate not aware that this was only a premiditated scheme to raise money, was full of anxiety for the town, well knowing that such a provision [Page 19]could not possibly be made in so short a time; but he was soon relieved from his distress by a visit from Labrousse, one of Tar­reau's [...]ides-de-camp, and his faithful colleague in the arts of extortion, who advised him to pacify the general by a present of two gold watches. "But," added he, "you must not hint that I gave you this advice, for the general is a man of the most delicate feelings, and the nicest honour." Two handsome gold watches were immediately procured, and offered to Tarreau, whose fury abated, and whose brow was smoothed; whilst Stouhlen tore in pieces the requisition for the 18,000 pounds of bread. and said, "Let them bake what they can"—and so ended the farce.

The column soon afterwards proceeded on its march; but two days afterwards Stouhlen sent a demand for 9,000 pounds weight of bread, which were delivered to him, and Markdorf was relieved from farther contributions, until the close of September, though it still suffered much from the exactions and thefts committed by the troops, who were continually marching to and fro.

The retreat at length took place, and upon the 22d of Sep­tember the head quarters were fixed at Hofen, in the neighbour­hood of Markdorf, which, with the adjoining villages, now ex­perienced every sort of oppression. Two of the commissaries, established at different places near Markdorf, at the same time and with similar menaces, required from that town the most ex­orbitant supplies; so that it was exposed to the merciless attacks of those harpies, without a possibility of redress, and requisition succeeded requisition. The deputy commissaries also visited the adjacent country with their exactions, and obliged the peasants either to comply with their demands, or to purchase their exemp­tion with gold. "We coin requisitions like money," said the commissary Nonette, who, like his brethem, readily and public­ly desisted from levying contributions in return for a present to himself; and the town of Markdorf was forced to pay him in cash the value of 20 tons of hay and of 25 sacks of oats, in order to prevent the threatened general pillage by the sol­diery; nor could the execution of a similar menace from ano­ther commissary be averted but by a well-timed present to his secretary.

Upon, the morning of the fifth of October, Tarreau arrived at Markdorf with his staff, and finding that his head quarters had been established at the inn, he galloped up to the Castle, and vehemently demanding why it had not been prepared for his [Page 20]reception, added, speaking to the burgomaster, ‘But I know you had much rather entertain the Imperialists; here in the Castle, however, will I lodge, and if in the course of two hours five beds are not prepared for me and my staff, you shall re­ceive 25 lashes, to be repeated every hour, until my orders are obeyed.’ The beds were accordingly prepared; but Tarreau's wrath was not appeased; and it approached almost to madness, when late at night he received an order for the army to continue its retreat early the next morning. The people of Markdorf passed this whole night in the greatest anxiety; for Tarreau had more than ten times threatened to set fire to the town in four different places, and his ungovernable rage gave them good reason to apprehend the worst; they were, however, fortunate enough to escape the conflagration, and the next morn­ing the barbarian marched away with his division, followed by the execrations of the whole country, who upon the same day joyfully received the Austrians as their deliverers from the iron yoke which had been imposed by these champions in the cause of liberty and equality. Their visitations cost the inhabitants of Markdorf near 40,000 florins, or about £ 3,600 sterling; a large sum, considering that the town did not contain more than 350 heads of families, few of whom were in a state of affluence, and that they had, during some years, been very unsuccessful in the culture and produce of their vineyards.

It ought not to be forgotten, that in a hamlet near the town, ten brutal French soldiers alternately violated the chastity of a woman, who hourly expected to be taken in labour, and whose husband was forcibly made a witness of their barbarity. An offi­cer too, whose assistance had been requested by the neighbours, upon entering the house, was so far from reproving the soldiers, that—horrible to relate!—he immediately followed their exam­ple, and added to the injuries already offered to the expiring woman. In another village, a woman who had only borne a child about eight days, was dishonoured and treated with such violence that her recovery was extremely doubtful, and when, in despair, she fled from them in her shift, and with her infant in her arms, she was pursued by the loose jokes and malign shouts of these inhuman sons of Satan, over whose other atrocious actions in this district it is now time to throw a veil.

MEERSBURG. A town upon the banks of the Lake of Constance, in the circle of Suabia, and the residence of the prince-bishop of Constance.

Advice having been received at this town upon the 18th of September, that the division of the French army under general Tarreau, was retreating through that part of Suabia, the gates of the town were ordered to be shut; and, according to the [...]nor of a French proclamation of the 18th of August, they were not to be opened to any of the officers and soldiers, except to such as had their route made out and signed by the officers upon the staff. Notwithstanding this precaution the inns were soon filled with French soldiers, and the stables were crowded with horses they had stolen upon the march; and such as could not gain admittance were amply provided with meat and drink at the gates of the town. Three days afterwards, Tarreau, who probably had long wished for an oblation from Meersburg, sent the following despotic and alarming note to the magistrates; "I command you to appear at my head-quarters at Yssni, in the course of twenty four hours." The Baron de Reichlin and two other respectable magistrates forthwith repaired to Yssni, and were received by the aid-de camp Labrouse, who reeling about half naked, greeted them in a thundering voice with "come in scoundrels as you are; your town shall speedily be reduced to ashes, and yourselves exalted upon a gibbet;" and then placing a guard over them, and reassuring them, "that the sun should early the next morning light them on their way to the gallows," he staggered into the apartment of Tarreau. The deputies at length discovered that their gaolers thir [...] [...] for the blood of the governor of Meersburg, who had caused the gates to be shut, as above related, and who would certainly have fallen a sacrifice to their rage, if he had not hastily retired into Switzerland. Upon examination of the deputies the next morning, and upon their declaration that the gates had been [...]ut by order of the governor, Labrouse ordered two carriages to be prepared, and immediately drove with them, escorted by twenty hussars, and preceded by a hangman to Meersburg, when such members of the regency as had not escaped were summoned and treated with the same insolence and menances as the deputies had been subject to upon the preceding evening. Fire and sword gallows and musket ball, thundered incessantly from the lips of the tyrant, and he swore that the house of the governor should instantly be reduced to ruins. At length after much altercation Labrousse detained two of the chief officers of state as hostages, [Page 22]and departed with them for head-quarters, where, whilst the people of the town anxiously awaited the catastrophe, this appa­rently tragical story terminated in peaceful robbery. General Tarreau had an inclination for, and was complimented with a handsome carriage and two fine horses belonging to one of the hostages, which, with a weighty purse of gold, sacrificed to him and his assistant Labrousse completed the expiation, though not until the friendship of the general's valet de chambre and cook had been purchased at the price of five louis each: for this knot of thieves was so closely united that it was not safe to pass any of them unnoticed. Tarreau demanded also and received six horses from the stables of the prince bishop of Constance, and the commissary Didier imposed upon the town of Meersburg the most exorbitant contributions, which he afterwards withdrew upon receiving a present of sixty louis and two fine horses. These are some of the many base actions of the French at Meersburg, which though not generally plundered, was exposed to much robbery and vexation; for some of the French, with an officer at their head forcibly entered a shop, and carried off goods to the value of seventy pounds sterling; another party robbed a watchmaker of four gold and two silver watches; and several petty thefts were committed both by the officers and soldiers.

BREMEN, A village in Suabia, in the county of Friedberg.

Humanity shudders at the recollection of the cruelties and enormities committed by the French in many parts of the county of Friedberg, and particularly at the village of Bremen, which, upon the 6th of October, in the evening, was beset by a band of robbers, under the denomination of Republican soldiers, who, mad with wine, rushed into the houses with the most hedious war-hoop and had immediate recourse to their well known system of plunder. All the coffers and closets were broken open and rifled—all the houshold furniture was destroyed— the peasants were required, with loaded pistols at their breasts, to deliver up their money—the beds and bedding were unripped and examined—and under pretence of searching for concealed treasure, not only the floors of the rooms were torn up, but even infants were vehemently dragged from their cradles, and many families were deprived of nearly all their property. But still more terrible to these peaceable and innocent country people was the infernal manner in which the female sex was treated by th [...]s [...] vill [...] In the whole village there was neither maiden, [Page 23]wife▪ nor widow, who was not forcibly and repeatedly dishon­oured; and such was the depravity of these miscreants, that eight, ten, and frequently more than that number, successively insulted the same unfortunate victim, with the accomplishment of their brutral purposes. Neither early youth, nor hoary headed age, nor deformity, nor yet the most offensive disorders, could abate the fury of their passions; and not only husbands, but fathers, and—to fill up the measures of their iniquity—even little children, were made to be witnesses of these abominable outrages. One woman, who, with her husband, had struggled ineffectually against the attempts of six of these monsters, was dragged into the fields, over hedges and ditches, repeatedly dishonoured, and left half dead upon the ground, whilst her husband was cruelly [...]aimed with their sabres, and even her sucking infant was treated with the greatest inhumanity. Others of the female sex, both here and in the adjacent villages, were fastened to trees, and violated by succeeding numbers.

Not satisfied with these excesses, they proceeded to rifle the churches, and, with the most blasphemous expressions, destroyed the altars, polluted the communion table with their ordure, pul­led down and reviled the image of our Saviour, trampled the host under foot, and then threw it to the dogs.

General Courbe levied a contribution of 20 louis upon the poor inhabitants of the small hamlet of Brunweiler, under a solemn promise that they should not be plundered or molested; but the money was scarcely paid, before a party of his soldiers arrived, and completely ruined them.

A party of grenadiers came to the house of a farmer and innkeeper in another village, and after being liberally supplied with provisions, suddenly attacked the master of the house calling out in the language of highwaymen, "Your money or your life;" and when they had secured all the money he had about him, they forcibly threw him upon the ground and beat him, broke open and plundered all his chests and coffers, and were upon the point of departing with their booty, when they were joined by nine dragoons, who, after indulging themselves with the contents of the cellar, discharged th [...]e muskets, as a signal to their distant comrades, that they had discovered some secret treasure. In less than a quarter of an hour they were reinforced by two hundred men, who presently consumed or de­stroyed all the wine, bread, and provisions in the house, and ter­minated their heroic exploits by breaking all the glass and earthen [Page 24]ware, destroying the empty casks, and threatening to set fire to the premises.

WEHR, A village in Austrian Suabia.

This place was visited, upon the 18th of July 1796, by four mounted artillery men in ragged uniforms, who, in the style of a requisition, demanded 66 sacks of oats, and three waggon loads of hay, which were no sooner delivered to them, than they conveyed them to a neighbouring town, and there sold them for ready money.

In the same month the environs were cursed with the presence of general Tuncq, [...]hose infamy is recorded in the annals of La Vendee, and who was assisted in his crimes by his aid-de-camp Schulz, the son of a petty innkeeper at Huninguen. This general chose, as articles of plunder, wood and flax, and obliged the Baron de Schonaw, chief proprietor of Wehr, to cut down and deliver, in the course of five days 372 oaks and other trees, which he floated down the Rhine into Switzerland, where he had previously fixed an agent, who sold the wood, and divided the spoil with his employer. When the chiefs of several vil­lages represented to him the impossibility of furnishing what he required, he ordered them to be beaten, and chained together, and thrown into prison like common malefactors. It is true, that upon complaint to the Directory, Tuncq was brought to a court martial and degraded, and that his aid-de-camp found it prudent to retreat with part of his booty; but no recompence was made to those whom he had injured and plundered, and other privileged thieves, under the denomination of commissa­ries and agents, appeared in their room, and were sanctioned in their numerous oppressions.

Upon the 20th of October, in the afternoon, the rear guard (in every respect the refuse) of the army of the Rhine and Moselle appeared at Wehr, and encamped under the walls of the castle. The women and children now fled up the country with part of their cattle and effects, and took refuge in a wood; but the family in the castle and all the men remained at home, with the hope of in some degree, preventing the evils they so justly dreaded. The first set of banditti began their operations by plundering the villages, and in the course of three hours con­veyed to their camp 120 swine, 62 sheep, 36 calves, a great quantity of poultry, and upwards of 1200 sheaves of wheat; and finished by tearing the shoes from off the feet of the inhabi­tants. [Page 25]The next visit was from a party of hussars headed by a colonel Marulat who appeared late in the evening, drank all the wine and spirits in the village of Wehr, and misused those who were not able to afford them any; and at midnight, when all was quiet, 600 volunteers, with bayonets fixed, appeared be­fore the castle, and loudly called for 3▪600 bottles of wine, at the same time threatening to set fire to the village and castle if their demand was not immediately complied with. Remon­strance was vain and useless; and after the officers and men had familiarly drank to the greatest excess, they carried away the remainder of their booty.

Amongst the innumerable acts of inhumanity committed du­ring this dreadful night, the following deserves to be particu­larly recorded: —Five soldiers having forced open the door of a house, in which lay a poor woman who had been taken in la­bour about twelve hours before, they, with drawn swords at the breast of the still suffering woman, demanded her money, and upon being told that she had none, ransacked the dwelling and out-houses, and carried away all the furniture, wearing apparel, swine, and poultry they could find, and at departing, one of them by way of humanity, threw a dead fowl at the head of the poor sufferer, and told her she might make herself some broth with it ^*.

The retreat of the French through this district was mark­ed by similar instances of rapine and brutality. In one village they violated and so barbarously abused a girl about 15 years of age, that in three days she was a corpse. In the same village they broke into the house of a shopkeeper who was recovering from a severe illness, cut his bedding in pieces, scattered the feathers about the premises, rifled the house and shop, and having discovered in the garden a chest full of goods which had been de­posited there for security, carried off with the rest of their [...]ooty. They not only plundered another house, but with the malevolence of evil spirits, mixed together all the wheat­ [...]orn, oats, and rye they could find, and strewed them over the apartments. The village was completely pillaged and [...]ined, the utensils necessary for the vineyard were thrown into [Page 26]the Rhine, the churches were plundered, the pyx broken to pieces, and the consecrated host trampled under foot. In the environs of the camp the corpses of several women were found, who had been violated and abused even unto death; and how­ever incredible it may appear it is a fact, that the monsters sa­tisfied their brutal appetites with corpses, and with some un­happy victims in the agonies of death.

RADOLF-ZELL. A town in Austrian Suabia, near the Inferior Lake of Constance, containing about 1,800 souls.

The attachment testified by the greatest part of the inhabit­ants of Suabia, and especially by those of the Austrian territo­ries in that circle, to their governors and constitution, amidst the successes of the enemy, was frequently attended by very consi­derable danger, and was either ridiculed or murmured at by the French, who called them German beasts, unworthy of the good fortune, which, like missionaries from hell, they offered them, with the dagger in one hand and the firebrand in the other. But neither menaces nor insults could weaken their fidelity and loyalty, and it is worthy of remark, that the incursion of the French into the empire not only put an end to every wish to re­volutionize, but contributed to unite the sovereign and the people much more closely than before. Several towns, and Radolf-Zell in particular, suffered much for their distinguished attachment to their sovereign and constitution: and upon the retreat of Tar­reau, the last mentioned town was saved from threatened con­flagration, by a present of two fine horses to the general, and by supplying him and his army with an abundance of the most costly provisions th [...]t could be procured; after which the soldiers destroyed the vineyards, the produce of which was upon the point of being gathered, cut down the fruit trees, in order the more easily to pluck the fruit, and broke down the hedges and fences of the gardens. In the neighbouring villages they stole all the horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, as well as all the stock of wine in the cellars, and the store of corn in the granaries and barns. The female sex here also met with the most barbarous usage, the consequences of which were fatal to many of them.

ENGELWIES, DURBHEIM, and BARENTHAL. Three villages in Suabia.

In this district the French were guilty of the greatest exces­ses [Page 27]during the retreat; and regardless of the conditions in the convention which had been solemnly agreed upon, they treated the peasantry and villagers like people who were to be trampled upon, without the privilege of resistance, which was deemed a crime punishable with conflagration and the sword, as was prov­ed in the case of the village of Engelwies, upon account of the following incident.

A soldier belonging to a party that had begun to plunder the village, having pillaged the dwelling house of the parish minister, was not satisfied without wanting to strip him of his breeches; upon which his brother, formerly an Austrian non-commissioned officer, started up in his defence, and just as the Frenchman was about to fire his musket at him, struck him such a blow upon the head as brought him lifeless to the earth. This was no sooner discovered by the comrades of the deceased, than their rage, as well as their numbers seemed every moment to increase; they committed cruelties too horrible for description, and concluded the terrible scene, by swearing that the whole village should be a [...]ihilated; nor could the prayers and intrea­ties of the aged and the matron prevent or delay the execution of their threats. The parsonage, 15 other houses, and 18 [...]arns, were speedily reduced to ashes, with their furniture, and all the produce of their late abundant harvest; and the signal was already given for burning the remaining houses, when they received an order from head quarters to desist, and immediately commence their retreat, the Austrians being in full march against them. The minister's brother had early saved himself by flight, but the priest and his clerk were carried, chained together, as far as Muhlheim on the Danube, and there with difficulty re­leased; and three of the clerk's children, who remained in the house whilst he escaped into the church with the minister, were inhumanly suffered to perish in the flames.

The fate of the village of Barenthal was as shocking as that already related. The perfidy with which the French violated the articles of the convention, and the inhumanity with which they treated the inhabitants of the districts through which they passed, had determined the peasantry to arm themselves, and drive them out of their dwellings, the protection and security of which had been promised by the most solemn proclamations. So that when, upon the 6th October, a horde of robbers attempt­ed to plunder some houses is Barenthal, they were opposed by the inhabitants, who, after a vigorous resistance, were defeated [Page 28]with the loss of 5 killed, and 3 so desperately wounded that they soon afterwards expired. The rage of the conquerors now vented itself upon the whole of the unfortunate village, which after being plundered of every thing valuable and portable, was set on fire, and in a few h [...]rs, the church, 18 houses, and as many barns, were reduced to a heap of shapeless ruins. The greatest part of the inhabitants lost the whole of their property, and many years must pass away before they can recover from the state of poverty into which they were plunged by the everts of that dreadful day.

The village of Durbheim was, upon the 7th of October, com­pletely sacked, with the exception of the parsonage and two other houses: and as it was not expected that the French would penetrate into that seque [...]ered valley, no precautions had been taken, and every thing of value fell into the hands of the sol­diers; notwithstanding which they searched the newly made graves, and broke open the coffins, in hopes of finding some treasure interred with the dead [...]odies.

They not only indulged in drinking to the most beastly ex­cess, but, taking the cro [...]ks out of the casks, they suffered the wine to run out on the cellar flo [...]. They also led away 31 horses from this small village, and made the minister exchange a favourite saddle horse, valued at 36 louis, for two half-starved ponies, which they had stolen from a neighbouring farmer. Upon the 9th of October, the village was again visited by six hussars, who riding up to the parsonag [...] with the most terrifying menaces, demanded either a cask of wine or a present of six louis, and upon being refused, not only swore that they would burn the village, but actually fired into the houses, and spread univer­sal consternation. The peasantry who soon gathered together, prevented any farther misch [...]ef, and upon the following day, four of these band [...]tti were taken prisoners by an Austrian pa­trole, as they were maurauding in an out-lying hamlet. Upon the same day the minister of another village was carried in fetters before general Moreau, and accused of having excited the people in his village to take up arms, and defend themselves against the assaults of their enemies; for which he and five of the peasants were condemned to be hanged, and were saved from execution with the greatest difficulty, and after suffering, during some time, all the anguish attendant upon the expectation of a cruel and ignominious death.

WATTERDINGEN, A village in Suabia, containing 453 inhabitants.

UPON the first days of October, a detachment of the army of the Rhine and Moselle over-ran this village, and distinguished it­self by such excesses as cannot fail of stamping the Great Nation with everlasting infamy. Not satisfied with the anticipation of their wishes by the inhabitants, they furiously ran about the street with drawn swords and cocked pistols, broke into houses, rifled the different apartments, carried away provisions, kitchen uten­sils, bedding, and wearing apparel, and wantonly destroyed what they could not convey away; so that the losses of the different proprietors amounted, upon the most moderate computation, to 21,000 florins, or nearly £ 2,000 sterling. Thirty-six horses, 96 swine, two bullocks fit for the slaughter-house, two calves, 150 geese, and a great quantity of poultry, formed one part of their spoil; and the minister of the parish, who was the principal suf­ferer, lost 60 louis in cash, much silver plate, all his kitchen furni­ture, nearly all his clothes and household linen, 5 beds, 35 sacks of corn, and a large quantity of flour. Such of the corn and flour as they could not carry away, they rendered useless by mix­ing with dust, ashes and ordure: they also broke in pieces, the looking glasses, wardrobe [...], and other household furniture, tore the books and pictures, destroyed the curcifixes, incessantly villified the name of their Creator, and the most sacred things, and drove the minister out of his house, after dangerously wounding him with their sabres. In the church, they broke the pyx, trampled under [...]oot the consecrated host, threw down the images, carried away such of the communion furniture as was valuable and useful to them, clothed themselves in the [...]cerd [...]tal robes, and paraded the streets o [...] horseback, roaring out the most obscene and blasphe­mous s [...]gs and ballads.

Humanity shudders, and the blood runs cold, at the relation of the more [...]an brutal [...]er [...]ci [...] [...] lust with which the female sex was d [...]ed by these monsters. Three women, already past their s [...]ve [...]eth year, six lying-in women, four far advanced in their pregnancy, and 12 young girls, were, by their outrages, br [...], [...] to the [...]es of death. Even Children, thirteen years of age, lost their [...]nnocence and their health, in the con­strained pr [...]senc [...] of [...]thers still [...] than themselves; and five m [...] who [...]e p [...]d to protect [...]he [...] of their wives, were trampled under [...] de [...] with severe wounds from the broad swo [...]ds of these [...] villains.

Of DUHEM, the General of Division.
At Fribourg▪ in Brisgaw, in the circle of Suabia.

UPON the 12th of October, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, orders were received to prepare quarters, in a gentleman's house, for a French general and four officers; soon after which appeared the general of division Duhem, and a suite of 30 or 40 officers, several privates, and servants, who were re­ceived with the greatest complaisance. But the general, in a com­manding tone, gave orders that a dinner, fit for a republican ge­neral and twenty-five of his retinue, should be provided at five o'clock, and he added, that he expected to be in all respects treat­ed and attended according to his rank and dignity. Six rooms and the saloon were immediately opened; but the servants of the house not being able, in the hurry and confusion, to find the keys of the other apartments, the general threatened to break open the doors, and his aid-de-camp began to talk about cudgels and horse­whips. Before I proceed, let me relate an anecdote of this aid-de-camp, highly characteristic of him and his associates: Duhem hav­ing issued an order that the magistrates of Fribourg should furnish the instruments used in the Turkish music, and they having repre­sented to the aid-de-camp the impossibility of obeying so unrea­sonable a demand, that shameless reprobate replied, "that if they would procure him a couple of handsome girls, they might keep the Turkish music for themselves."

The general, officers, and privates passed their whole time at the table, and every exertion was made to satisfy their gluttony, but in vain; for upon the 13th of October general Duhem, after bitterly complaining of his ordinary fare, with many threats commanded the delivery of 20 pounds weight of sugar, 16 of coffee, 16 of rice, and 18 lemons, which he had no sooner received, than he made a further demand of 50 bottles of champaigne, and 30 bot­tles of sweet wine; and the next morning, before his departure, he issued a fresh order for 50 more bottles of champaigne, which he received and conveyed away. Neither were his servants idle; for in the afternoon of the 13th of October, they broke into the saddle house, and plundered it of all the saddles and har­ness they could find; and though the general and some of his officers saw them carry away their spoil, and were applied to for redress, they did not chuse to listen to the complaint, but suffered the booty to be carried off. When Duhem and his followers quitted the house, upon the fourteenth of October, it was discovered that they had left in their apartments and [Page 31]beds the most filthy traces of their existence, and that they had stolen several pairs of sheets and a handsome counterpane, and rifled a portmanteau of its contents. The upper part of this house had been previously plundered by a commissary's assistant in July, and was now again publicly robbed, not by the ungo­vernable soldiery, but by a general, who affected to talk about discipline, and by his officers and servants. A French lieutenant had indeed been degraded and sent to the galleys for levying a trifling contribution when the French first appeared at Fribourg; but that was done only to deceive the Germans until they had got a firm footing in the country, after which the incendiaries, murderers, and plunderers of all descriptions were suffered to com­mit their ravages with impunity.

HEDINGEN, A Franciscan convent, and the two farm-houses, in the county of Sigmaringen, near the Danube, and in the circle of Suabia.

UPON the fifth of October, whilst a column of the army of the Rhine and Moselle was retreating towards Switzerland, a party of the infantry marched across the fields, plundered the two farm-houses, stormed the convent, stripped the priests and their servants even of their shoes and neckcloths, and either car­ried away or destroyed all the bedding, and every thing else they could discover; and two cavalry officers, who appeared to have more humanity than their comrades, coming up an ordering them to desist, were grossly insulted, deprived of their pistols, and put to flight by the soldiers with their sabres. The church was pillaged of the sacerdotal garments and communion plate, and the greatest indignities were offered to every thing that is deemed sacred. These excesses continued from eleven in the morning, until four in the afternoon; and the friars, after re­peated blows, and threats of immediate death, lost almost every thing but their lives.

SCHWANDORF, A village in the Austrian part of Suabia.

To this place of the 8th of October was a day of terror and ca­lamity; and as the report of the French cruelties had already reached the ears of the inhabitants, the women and children fled, with some of their valuable effects, into an adjoining wood, hop­ing to be there secure from the attacks of the soldiers, who were now upon their retreat, and entered the village, to the number of 3000. Some of them stopped at the parsonage, and demanded [Page 32]wine; but whilst the minister was giving orders for its delivery, they dragged him into the cellar, and robbed him of his watch, whilst others stole his horses out of the adjoining pasture. In the mean time the heroes who, in the language of their employ­ers, had not ceased to deserve well of their country, began pillaging with such violence and rapacity, that the inhabitants were dri­ven by despair to attempt the protection of their property, which enraged the aggressors so much, that they threatened to burn the village, and would probably have done so, but for the exertions of some officers, and for the flight of the peasants, whom they pursued towards the wood, where the shrieks of the women and children presently discovered their retreat. When the soldiers had here satisfied their rapacity, and plundered the poor fugitives of nearly all that they possessed, they completed the tragedy with outrages the most shocking to humanity. Married women were dishonoured in the presence of their husbands and children; and young girls were despoiled of their innocence under the eyes of their parents and companions. Even women, who had borne children only eight or ten days, were not safe from the disgrace­ful outrages of these inhuman wretches, who dragged the infants from their arms, and insensible to the agonizing screams of the sufferers, threatened the resistance of their mothers with instant death.

EMMINGEN, A village in Suabia, in the principality of Furstenberg.

Upon the morning of the seventh of October the peace of this village was suddenly and unexpectedly disturbed by six or seven hundred Republicans, who to the character of soldiers added that of robbers, miscreants, and barbarians, destitute of feeling and of decency. They broke into the dwelling of one of the prin­cipal farmers, carried off all the provisions, linen, and wearing ap­parel, even of the children, and stole a waggon and four horses, with which they conveyed away their booty; and most of the houses in the village underwent a similar fate. But the minister of the parish was one of the greatest sufferers; for not even age or severe illness could protect him from ill usage, and from being dragged from his bed under pretence that he had concealed his money; after which they broke open his wardrobe and coffers, and carried away all his money, plate, household linen, and wearing apparel.

The prince of F [...]stenberg's steward, who, in attempting to escape, fell down and dis [...]ocated his ancle, was pursued by the [Page 33]soldiers, and nearly beaten to death; after which they pillaged his habitation, and committed every species of enormity. Seve­ral young girls and married women fell a sacrifice to the outrage­ous passions of these ruffians, against whom even grey hairs af­forded no protection; for an old woman near 70 years of age was successively dishonoured by four of these monsters, whose brutality words are wanting sufficiently to reprobate.

BIBURG, A small but pleasant village near Augsburg in Suabia. ^*.

Upon the 20th of September, part of the French army re­treated through Biburg, under the command of general Duhem, who, with a retinue of 45 men and 50 horses, took up his abode at the country-house of a gentleman of Augsburg, and com­manded a large supply of provisions for the table. But the lesser robbers, upon their march towards Bavaria, had so plundered the village, that there was but little left fo [...] the greater; and he had fortunately brought with him a cask of wine, stolen by his orders out of a cellar at Augsburgh. His followers, how­ever, ransacked every part of the house, and the soldiers either carried away or destroyed what had been left by their prede­cessors; every thing was deemed lawful prey, and scarcely a house escaped without being completely pillaged. The beer in the casks was wasted, large branclies of fruit trees were cut off, and even the water pipes were cut to pieces, so that the village remained four days without water. Women advanced in years, and girls who were hardly out of their childhood, were sacrificed to the passions of these savages; and a French officer who attempted to put a stop to their brutality, was so despe­rately wounded by them, that he fell almost lifeless from his horse. Duhem, who demanded a quantity of sugar and coffee, and condescended to accept about three louis in their stead, marched out of Biburg the next morning; when it was disco­vered that the great general and his gang understood the art of thieving and desolating as well as the rest of the banditti; for they had carried away all the plate and linen, let all the wine run out of the casks in the cellar, and done all possible mischief to the furniture.

[Page 34] The damages sustained by this village, during four or five weeks, by the French, upon their march and their retreat, were very considerable; and several families were reduced to the great­est poverty and distress. Such are the blessings conferred upon their fellow-creatures by the disciples of liberty and equality, the vile instruments of a few sanguinary and ambitious tyrants!

STOZINGEN, A village in Suabia, containing 1,100 inhabitants, and belong­ing to the Count Stain and others. ^*

When the French entered this place, they testified some sort of respect for the articles of the convention, which had been purchased at so great a price; but upon the following day they threw off the mask, assumed their proper character of plunder­ers, and turned the contest against kings into war with the pea­sants and mechanics. But this was only a prelude to greater calamities; for general Vandamme having, either through ig­norance or inattention, established his military chest at Stozin­gen, under a small guard, and an Austrian party, lying only five miles distant, having in the course of their patrole, fallen in with and carried it off, and made the guard prisoners, the inhabitants were accused of having given information to the Austrians, and a detachment, under the command of colonel Lavalle, arrived upon the 10th of August, with orders to set fire to the village. Old and young, and women with infants at the breast, rending the air with their lamentations, hastily fled into the fields, and at four o'clock the cannons were pointed against the houses, whilst the hussars and chasseurs with cocked pistols and drawn swords, prevented the flight of the few who had remained there. One woman was killed by them upon the spot, and another died two days afterwards in consequence of the blows she re­ceived upon the breast with the but-end of a pistol. Lavalle, after the most humiliating entreaties, at length yielded to the prayers of the clergy and other persons, and promised to spare the town upon the payment of 1,000 louis, which condition, though tending to their ruin, was complied with; but most of the houses were pillaged, several women were abused in the [Page 35]most brutal manner, and five of the most opulent inhabitants were led away as hostages, one of whom was tied between two horses, and forced to keep up with them on foot, even when upon the full trot. Neither was the bloody and rapacious mind of Vandamme satisfied with the payment of the 1,000 louis; for he insisted upon and actually received 500 more, which, with the subsequent losses of the inhabitants by different parties during the [...]treat of the French, raised the damages to consi­derably more than 2,500 pounds sterling, and reduced many in­dustrious persons to the greatest distress.

The mind recoils and the hand almost refuses to do its office in recording the crimes committed by these plunderers in several neighbouring villages, where they burned, destroyed, pillaged, and violated, according to their wonted system, and where, with the malignity of demons, they broke even the crutches of a crip­ple, because he possessed nothing worth their stealing from him.

And against such wild beasts will not every arm be lifted up, should they again attempt to make an attack upon our country?

AYSTETTEN, A village in the neigbourhood of Augsburg, in the Circle of Suabia.

Upon the 22d of August this place was visited by a party of the French, who broke open the cellar in the castle, drank or carried away a large quantity of foreign wine, stole or destroyed much of the furniture, and conveyed away their spoil in a car­riage drawn by two fine horses, which they took out of the sta­ble. From that period until the middle of September, not a day passed but the village was either plundered by soldiers or oppressed by commissaries armed with requisitions; and as they constantly rendered useless what they could not carry away, the damages sustained by the inhabitants amounted to upwards of 3,000 l. sterling. But no adequate idea can be given of the cru­elties inflicted upon the men, and of the outrages committed against the women, both here and in the neighbouring towns and hamlets; it is, however, worthy of observation, that these self-named protectors of the peasantry seemed to take the great­est delight in robbing the houses, and destroying the peace of that class of people, whose protection and welfare they and their employers have so frequently declared to be the chief ob­jects of their ambition.

ENGEN, A small town in Suabia, in the Principality of Furstenberg.

Although the destructive steps of the French were every where marked with blood, cruelty, and rapine, no place suffered in so great a degree as the town of Engen; and the most un­feeling must tremble, the most patient be inspired with desire of revenge, and the most obstinate partisan of Frenchmen and French principles must be converted, and even filled with horror, at the relation of all the criminal excesses committed in this lit­tle town by the Republicans. ^* But I will spare my readers the pain of perusing a repetition of such calamities, and shall only mention some of the most attrocious actions of these pretended friends to liberty and to mankind.

A man happening indiscreetly to express his joy at the retreat of the French, and the near approach of the Austrians, was shot at and mortally wounded; and another, who had expressed the same satisfaction, and had attempted to defend his property, was deliberately shot, after tearing his flesh to pieces, and pulling his tongue out by the roots. Married women and girls, mothers and their daughters, who had hoped for safety in the church, were violated at the foot of the altar; and neither the venerable age of seventy or eighty years, nor the most loathsome disorders and deformities, could check the passions of the invaders, who left behind them traces of diseases, whose very names had until then been unknown in this sequestered district. All the archives in the town-house were wantonly destroyed, the churches in eve­ry way profaned and defiled, and even the crosses upon the graves of the dead were objects of their fury and passion for destruction.

But it was reserved for Gen. Ferino to crown these misdeeds with an action eternally disgraceful to his name and country; for upon t [...] 9th of October, under pretence of the treachery of the inhabitants, he commanded one of the suburbs to be set on [Page 37]fire; and in order to prevent any attempts to quench the flames, [...]e surrounded it with a guard. In a short time thirty-three hous­es and barns, with all their contents, were reduced to ashes and ruins, and only the church and four cottages escaped the fury of the conflagration; but having received advice at midnight that the Austrians, to the number of 10,000 were in pursuit of him, Ferino became so furious, that he ordered another suburb to be set on fire, and twelve houses fell a sacrifice to the inhumanity of the Republicans, who left the place, followed by the curses and bitter lamentations of numerous families and individuals, whose ruin they had thus wantonly accomplished.

I have purposely, omitted the detail of the various acts of plun­dering and destroying, and shall close this melancholy account by flating, that the losses sustained by the people of this town and twelve neigbouring villages, amounted at the lowest computation to 373,768 florins, or more than £. 33,000 sterling.

OF GENERAL TARREAU, At Hofen, a Benedictine convent, in Suabia, near the Lake of Constance.

SEVERAL of the leaders of the French hordes have, by their misdeeds, forever connected their names with infamy; but gene­ral Tarreau united in himself the several bad qualities of the rest. and cannot be mentioned without horror and detestation. The most unbounded rapacity, insatiable cruelty, intemperance, thirst of revenge, vulgar insolence, contempt of every thing sacred and decent, and the disavowal of all the feelings of humanity, formed the basis of the character of this man, who in no country but in France, and there only under the auspices of such a revolution, could ever have been entrusted with the command of an army. Some of his monstrous excesses have already been recorded, and it remains only to be told, that when the French were obliged to give way before the Austrians, this man, raging like a tiger that had lost its prey, arrived upon the 23d of September at Hofen, where he established his head-quarters, and with his worthy asso­ciate Labrousse, and his confidential valet Laguerre, endeavoured to make himself a small compensation for the loss of the spoils of Vienna, of which the French had thought themselves secure. His whole character will best be known from the following dread­ful declaration, which was continually upon his lips, that "He only repented having at any time acted with humanity, and of not having converted into dust and ashes all the cities, villages, and [Page 38]convents he had seen upon his march." His life at Hofen was one continued scene of cruelty, robbery, intemperance, and debauche­ry; and upon the 23d of September he sent a requisition to Con­stance of 6,000 pints of brandy, to be delivered in 24 hours, under pain of being given up to be plundered by the soldiery. No more than half of the quantity demanded could be found in Con­stance, and was sent off towards head quarters by water, but was detained by contrary winds; upon which Farreau threatened not only to set fire to the town, but to put to death the chief magis­trate, and several others whom he detained as hostages, and who, after passing the night under the apprehensions o [...] approaching death, would probably have fallen a sacrifice to the passion of this sanguinary commander, if the brandy had not arrived in the morn­ing before the hour appointed for their execution. The booty remained three days at head quarters, and was then sold by the commissary Stouhlen to the neighbouring Swiss; nor did the French soldiers taste one drop of this liquor, which had been ex­torted under pretence that it was necessary for the army.

ANECDOTES of various French Generals, Officers, and Com­missaries.

THAT not only privates, but that even officers of rank, either pillaged or divided the spoil, is proved by innumerable instances, of which we think it necessary only to notice the following. A carriage laden with plunder, belonging to an officer upon the staff, having broken down during the retreat of the French army, two of the inhabitants of the village of Eyken, where the acci­dent happened, were obliged instantly to provide another convey­ance, and re-load the booty, which was so speedily and well exe­cuted, that, contrary to their expectation, and to the usual practice of his comrades, he rewarded them with 16 pounds weight of tal­low, and a complete set of joiners' tools! Another officer of rank sold in the same village a bird cage and a Bohemian drinking glass for the sum of about seven pence sterling; and at Rheinfel­den, another officer having sold a horse to a Swiss of the Can­ton of Basle for 9 louis, he no sooner received the money than jumping upon the horse he gallopped away, and disappeared both with the horse and money. A soldier having stripped a gentle­man's servant of the boots he was wearing, was, upon the com­plaint of the servant to an officer, obliged to restore them; but the officer drawing them on, and finding that they fitted him, told the servant, in a jeering tone, that they were much too good [Page 39]for him, and strutted away with them. Whilst the French were at Donauwerth, a general officer, accompanied by two officers, [...]nd escorted by six hussars, espying some ducks and poultry in a farm-yard in a village through which they were riding, the officers dismounted, and whilst the general held their horses, they stole the ducks and fowls, and returned triumphantly to Donauwerth with their booty. When Tarreau had his head quarters at the im­perial town of Wangen, he made a requisition of such a quantity of corn as it was impossible for the municipality to furnish; but the chief magistrate having received a hint that the general was very fond of cray-fish, he sent him a present of some out of an adjoining lake, famous in Suabia for those fish, with which the general was so pleased that he withdrew the demand for corn, but put in requisition all the cray-fish in the lake for the daily supply of his table, as long as he should remain there. A [...] a [...]panion to the foregoing anecdote, we will mention, tha [...], in a village near Wisbaden, upon the Rhine, one of the commissaries of the army of the Sambre and Meuse put in requisition not only all the wine belonging to the Minister of the parish, but his glasses, bottles, kitchen furniture, table linen, and napkins for twelve persons, and even his house-keeper, to prepare the dinner; and further informed him, that he must send to Wisbad [...]n to purchase what they wanted, and what his house did not afford.

Some French soldiers having stolen a very fine horse out of a farmer's stable near Augsburg, he complained to the adjutant-ge­neral Houel, who promised him redress, but upon seeing the horse, thought proper to retain it for his own use. But it should seem as if Providence connived a [...] this crime, as carrying its pu­nishment along with it, for Houel was shortly after drowned in crossing the Leck, whilst riding the stolen horse, which worked its way through the water, and fortunately found its road back to its old master.

A republican general having upon the retreat taken up his quar­ters at the house or a clergyman, went qu [...]tly to bed after demand­ing and receiving six shirts for himself and his followers; but his servants soon afterwards came to the clergyman with an [...] from their master to procure him a handsome b [...]d [...]ellow, whic [...] [...] refu­sed, and threatened in case of ill-usage to alarm the p [...]a [...]antry; upon which they desired that they might be allowed to [...]duce one out of the village, to which he so s [...]e [...]uously [...]j [...]ed that, being few in number, they thought proper to de [...] from their de­mands. The next morning the general ordered his entertainer to [Page 40]give him his money; but he replied that some republican robbers had already deprived him of his watch and money, and had left him nothing but a dollar, which the general condescended to pocket, and then rode away.

Ecclesiastics of every description and every religion, and parti­cularly the professed, of both sexes, seemed the chief objects of republican malevolence, in morality, and cruelty, in which the sol­diers were led on and encouraged by their officers [...] respect for decency and for the sufferers forbids us to particularize the num­berless well authenticated proofs of this assertion, and to name the places where aged priests were forced to the commission of the most indecent and immoral actions, and where nuns were stripped of their garments, and obliged to dance in a state of nature with the officers and soldiers. At a small town in Suabia, the friars and nuns belonging to two neighbouring convents were convened by command of the French officers, bound fast together face to face, with their hands tied behind their backs, and each was obliged to drink a cup full of coffee, containing a strong emetic; and in that position did they remain until the medicine had operated, whilst the officers rejoiced and shouted as if they performed some heroic action.

And here let us conclude the detail of crimes, surpassing in cruelty and variety any excesses ever before committed by the sol­diers of a civilized country, and rendered more hideous, when we consider that the perpetrators proclaim themselves the most hu­mane and enlightened people of the earth, and endeavour to seduce the subjects of other countries from their allegiance by the speci­ous but treacherous offer of a liberty pregnant with mischief, and of an equality which has been found to be impracticable.

AMERICANS,

THUS have you seen the consequences of FRENCH INVASION, from which you have also seen, that no compact, no convention, no treaty, no TRIBUTE, will preserve any country, in which these infernal monsters can, either by force or fraud, once get a sure footing. That they will leave nothing unattempted to get such a footing in these States is most certain; so that you have only to determine, whither you will witness horrors such as you have read of, and perhaps still worse, or bravely resolve to keep off the contaminating, cut throat crew, by the thunder of your can­non and the point of your bayonets.

Peace! peace! peace!—Ah! this is the soothing sound, by which you have been, and yet are, lulled and deluded. A cor­rupt and wicked faction, who are combined with the despots of France, and who are continually endeavouring to divide you and keep you disarmed, in order that you may fall an easier prey to themselves and their Gallic masters; this abominable faction, in spite of all your boasted knowledge and still more boasted love of liberty and independence, have contrived to hood-wink and de­lude you, and to make you submit, with seeming resignation, to injuries and insults unheard of; and all this have they done by a continual canting repetition of the single monosyllable, PEACE!

But, even suppose it possible to patch up a peace with the haughty Divan: suppose that your government and yourselves were to abandon every thought of preserving you [...] national honour and independence, and basely knuckle down before the altar of Ga [...]lic despotism, bearing the demanded TRIBUTE in your ener­vated hands; and suppose, that, in consequence of this, the gro­veling tyrants were to condescend to honour you with the superci­cilious grin of forgiveness? Suppose all this; would all this in­sure you your beloved peace, after which you hanker and pine wi [...]h the fond [...]ess of the lover and the f [...]etfulness of the child?— The answer to this question is best given in the fate of the de­graded republics of Europe, to whom, on like conditions, France has alre [...]dy granted the blessings of PEACE.

Holl [...] stands first in the catalogue of misery and dishonour. Ho [...]land so lately the s [...]at of freedom, comme [...]ce industry, and affluence, having been pillaged by its dear ally the rapaciou [...] re­publi [...] of France, and forced to declare war against Great B [...]itain by which it lost both its maritime importance and nearly all he foreign valuable possessions, presents at this moment the sad sp [...] ­tacle [Page 42]of a country divided against itself, governed by the haughty mandates, and awed by the arms of France, destitute of com­merce, its navy annihilated, defaced almost from amongst the na­tions of Europe, and reduced to a mere skeleton of that power, which once so n [...]bly contended for real liberty, and which dis­puted with Great Britain the empire of the main.—If I ask you to what this mighty downfal is to be attri [...]ed, you will not he­sitate to answer, that it was effected by th [...] introduction of French principles, and by the united efforts of the crafty and the credu­lous; by the traitors who (as ours do) stil [...] cried peace with France, and by the silly people who listened to their deluding voice.

Geneva owes its ruin to a peace with France. Without the least excuse in the world, in the year 1792, the French marched [...]n army against this little republic, and surrounded the city. The Genevese, having called in their neighbour, the Swiss, to their assistance, were in a situation to defend themselves, and expressed their determination to do it. The Convention (ever as base as it was bloody) finding this to be the case, wheedled them into a ne­gociation. A treaty was made, according to which the Swiss were to be sent away, and the French army was to retire. The army did [...]etire; but, when the Swiss were gone, the villains of the Convention annulled the treaty; their army advanced, entered the city, and were joined by numbers of traitors. All the bless­ings of a French revolution began. The rich were plundered, some of them put to death, others to flight; the poor little state became a province of France, and, from case, opulence, and inde­pendence, fell to the lowest degree of misery and vassalage.

Gen [...]a, by yielding to demand after demand, by paying tribute upon tribute, and by swallowing humiliation upon humiliation, thought to escape the general wreck; but no; a revolution has been effected, as at Geneva, and followed by similar conse­quences.

Hamburgh, Bremen, and Lubeck, though so remote, have not been able to avoid the out stretched arm of French rapacity and power; but have been compelled, as the price of peace, to pay a tribute of several millions, in return for which they are hourly threatened with final subversion and total ruin.

Venice made peace with the French, and thereby gave them an opportunity of displaying the treacherousness of their character in its fullest glare. After deluding the people of this state with the hopes of liberty, equality, and independence, they pillaged [Page 43]the city of its treasures, destroyed its most splendid institutions [...] [...]lly ornaments, and levelled the pride of ages with the [...]. They took possession of its most valuable islands, plun­dered it of its navy, beat and murdered hundreds of its inhabi­tants in mere whim and caprice, and finished their perfidious work by delivering up the miserable people to the government of a stranger and of a monarch, whom they had always affected to consid [...]r as one of the greatest enemies of liberty, and whom they had, in their decrees and proc [...]amations, a thousand times styled a despot.

Switzerland, closes the awful lesson. This republic was, like the United States, a federative one. It had long been equally the admiration of the historian and the civilian, and not unfre­quently the subject of the muse's praise. Yet, by peace with France this much admired republic has been torn up root and branch —Switzerland, basely forgetting the murder of the King's guards on the 10th of August, officiously came forward, the first state in Europe, to acknowledge the republic of France. The Swiss observed what they called a neutrality; but it was vile­ly insincere, always operating in favour of the French. When these latter had swallowed up the neighbouring countries, they quarrelled with the Swiss. They ordered them to send away the English Ambassador, which would have been done, had he not spa [...]ed them the disgrace by retiring. They were next ordered to banish the emigrants: they negociated and complied. Now there was no ground of quarrel left; an insurrection was there­fore excited, and the generous French marched in their army to protect the poor oppressed insurgents!—In short, the HELVETIC UNION was now told that they must change their constitution. They negociated; but still the enemy approached. The legisla­tors met: they offered to make some alterations. Those would not do. They must receive a constitution from Paris. They re­fused, and collected their army; but, still indecisive (just like our House of Representatives,) they ordered their army not to act. At last, while they were still debating, comes the French [...]ans-cu­lottes and disperses them at the point of the bayonet. The Swiss army was sound; the people were brave and active; but what, with such governors, were they to do against ten times their forces —They rushed on the enemy's cannon; were blown to pieces by thousands. The women fought by the sides of their husbands; no less than eight hundred of them expired under the sabres of the [Page 44]bloody French. With these gallant females the liberty of Swit­zerland groaned out its last.

Thus, AMERICANS, have all the republics of Europe, for their endeavouring to conciliate with France; for their [...]ame submission to injury and insult; for their whining, cringing, and crawling for peace, been finally rewarded by the subversion of their governments, by the loss of their property, by the massacre of their people, by being reduced to the last degree of national wretchedness and dis­grace, and by being rendered the scorn and contempt of the Uni­verse.

But, the example is not complete without shewing you what would have been the effect of an opposite conduct. This you must also learn by again turning you: eyes on Europe. There you will perceive, that those who have fought the French with bravery, who have obstinately resisted the progress of their principles, and who have never yielded to their insolent demands, are still secure in the enjoyment of their commerce, their wealth, their liberty, and their religion.

Viewing the general desolation of Europe, the fallen state of all the countries that have submitted to the scourge of the republicans, and the calamitous, the brutal condition of these republicans them­selves, what a grand and noble figure do the people of Great-Brit­ [...]in exhibit to surrounding nations, standing, as they do, firm and erect amidst the storm, proudly determined not to submit to the will of the enemy, bravely resolved to sacrifice every comfort in support of their religion and their liberties, and still enjoying all those blessings, of which other countries have, in so short a period, been bereaved! Their trade and manufactures still flourish "thro' the state," and surpass the commercial enterprizes and successes of all the other nations in the world. Agriculture, far from languish­ing during the war, has been pursued with unexampled vigor and prosperity; all their excellent institutions continue to thrive under the unremitting assiduity of their governors, and the ceaseless ge­nerosity of the public; and the national benevolence has been most nobly displayed in the successive and ample subscriptions for the relief of persecuted foreigners, for that of their own wounded sol­dies and sailors, and for the benefit of the widows and the orphans of those who have fallen in fighting the battles of their country. The intercourse between man and man is preserved unalloyed by suspicion; the charms of society remain uncontrouled by terror; their wives and daughters sleep without apprehension of being dis­turbed by the violator or the assassin; and their property is secured [Page 45]by mild and well-dispensed laws against the public depredator, and the private aggressor. Their islands in the west-Indies have been secured, and augmented by those of the enemy; their posse [...]ions on this continent have continued unmolested; their extensive and valu­able territorities in the East-Indies have enjoyed the most profound tranquility; they have added conquest to conquest in Asia and A­frica; the Cape of Good Hope is the guardian of their commerce to the East, and the rock of Gibraltar defies the power of Spain. In naval same they have made a vast acquisition. In that part of the war which belongs to Britain, they have obtained successes which surpass the most brilliant examples of their ancestors: His­tory abounds with the noble deeds of British tars; but it was re­served for GEORGE THE THIRD, after decisive and glorious vic­tories successively gained over the fleets of France, Spain, and Holland, to see his navy ride triumphant at the same moment, at the mouths of Brest, Cadiz, and the Texel.

Such, AMERICANS, and so situated, is the nation from whom, generally speaking, you are descended. Compare her situation with that of the degraded peace-seeking republics of Europe, and then de­termine which example you shall follow. Independence, with all its attendant blessings, is yet within your power; but, as it was ob­tained by arms, so it must be maintained; and you have not a month, [...]ay, not a day, left you to consider, whether you shall assume those arms, or basely bend your necks to the galling yoke of the insolent blood-thirsty tyrants of France.