.

As in all countries the restraints which religion imposes are more
readily submitted to by the inferior ranks of life, it is these which
must be most affected by its abolition; and we cannot wonder, that when
men have been once accustomed to neglect the duty they consider as most
essential, they should in time become capable of violating every other:
for, however it may be among the learned, _qui s'aveuglent a force de
lumiere,_ [Who blind themselves by excess of light. Destouchet.] with
the ignorant the transition from religious indifference to actual vice is
rapid and certain.

The Missionaries of the Convention, who for two years extended their
destructive depredations over the departments, were every where guilty of
the most odious excesses, and those least culpable offered examples of
licentiousness and intemperance with which, till then, the people had
never been familiar.*

* "When the Convention was elected, (says Durand Maillane, see
Report of the Committee of Legislation, 13th Prairial, 1st June,)
the choice fell upon men who abused the name of patriot, and adopted
it as a cloak for their vices.--Vainly do we inculcate justice, and
expect the Tribunals will bring thieves and assassins to punishment,
if we do not punish those amongst ourselves.--Vainly shall we talk
of republican manners and democratic government, while our
representatives carry into the departments examples of despotism and
corruption."

The conduct of these civilized banditti has been sufficiently
described. Allard, Lacoste, Mallarme, Milhaud, Laplanche,
Monestier, Guyardin, Sergent, and many others, were not only
ferocious and extravagant, but known to have been guilty of the
meanest thefts. Javoques is alledged to have sacrificed two hundred
people of Montibrison, and to have stolen a vast quantity of their
effects. It was common for him to say, that he acknowledged as true
patriots those only who, like himself, _"etaient capables de boire
une verre de sang,"_--("were capable of drinking a glass of blood.")
D'Artigoyte distinguished himself by such scandalous violations of
morals and decency, that they are not fit to be recited. He often
obliged married women, by menaces, to bring their daughters to the
Jacobin clubs, for the purpose of insulting them with the grossest
obscenities.--Having a project of getting up a