theosing an obscure
demagogue, the celebrated Condorcet expired, through the neglect of a
gaoler; and now, the coarse and ferocious Marat, and the more refined,
yet more pernicious, philosopher, are both involved in one common
obloquy.

What a theme for the moralist!--Perhaps the gaoler, whose brutal
carelessness terminated the days of Condorcet, extinguished his own
humanity in the torrent of that revolution of which Condorcet himself was
one of the authors; and perhaps the death of a sovereign, whom Condorcet
assisted in bringing to the scaffold, might have been this man's first
lesson in cruelty, and have taught him to set little value on the lives
of the rest of mankind.--The French, though they do not analyse
seriously, speak of this event as a just retribution, which will be
followed by others of a similar nature. _"Quelle mort,"_ ["What an end."]
says one--_"Elle est affreuse,_ (says another,) _mais il etoit cause que
bien d'autres ont peri aussi."_--_"Ils periront tous, et tant mieux,"_
["'Twas dreadful--but how many people have perished by his means."--
"They'll all share the same fate, and so much the better."] reply twenty
voices; and this is the only epitaph on Condorcet.

The pretended revolution of the thirty-first of May, 1792, which has
occasioned so much bloodshed, and which I remember it dangerous not to
hallow, though you did not understand why, is now formally erased from
among the festivals of the republic; but this is only the triumph of
party, and a signal that the remains of the Brissotines are gaining
ground.

A more conspicuous and a more popular victory has been obtained by the
royalists, in the trial and acquittal of Delacroix. The jury had been
changed after the affair of Carrier, and were now better composed; though
the escape of Delacroix is more properly to be attributed to the
intimidating favour of the people. The verdict was received with shouts
of applause, repeated with transport, and Delacroix, who had so
patriotically projected to purify the Convention, by sending more than
half its members to America, was borne home on the shoulders of an
exulting populace.

Again the extinction of the war in La Vendee is officially announced; and
it is certain that the chiefs are now in treaty with government. Such a
peace only implies, that the country is exhausted, for it suffices to
have read the treatment of these unhappy people to know that a
reconciliation can neither be sincere nor