The Mirrour — Concord, N.H., 1793-06-03 00:00:00, page 1

Letter of General Dumourier,
Commander in Chief of she northern
Army, to the National Convention.
Louvain, March 12, 1793—• S
econd year of the Republick.
CITIZEN PRESIDENT,
THE fafety of the people is the
fopreme law ; and to this conside
ration I have just facrificed an al
most certain conquest, by quitting
the victorious part of the army rea
dy to penetrate into the heart pt
Holland, to come to the fuccour of
those of the troops of the Repub
lick, who have just sustained a
check; The check has been ow
ing to the physical and moral caus
es lam about to develope to you,
with _the franknefs which is more
necessary than ever, and which
would invariably have wrought the
fafety of the Republick, had it
been emp'oyed in the accounts
they gave in, by all the agents by
whom & is fared, and had it al
ways been listened to with as much
complaisance as has been bestowed
on deceptions flattery.
You know, Citizen Reprefenta
tives, into what a state of disorgan
ization and fuffering the armies
of Belgium have been thrown, by a
Minister, and by the Committees
that have brought France to the
brink of ruin. This Minister and
these Committees have been chang
- ed ; but very far from punishing
them, Pache and Hassenfratz
have succeeded to the important
post of Mayoralty of Paris ; and
hence has the capital witnessed the
renewal, in the Rsr des Lombards,
of scenes of blood and carnage.
In the month of December, I
presented to you, in four memori
als, the grievances it was necessary
to redrels. I pointed out to you
the foie means which could put an
end to the evil, and restore to our
armies all their energy, as well as
to the cause of the nation all the
justice by which it ought to be
charsaerized. Thele memorials
were thrown slide; and you are
strangers to them. Cause them to
be again presented to you, and you
will find in them the prediction of
all that has befallen us. You will
also discover in them the remedy
of the other dangers which sur
round ui, and which threaten our
growing Republick.
The Belgic armies, united in the
Territories of din-la-Chapelle and
Liege, have there fuffered priva
tions of every description without
murmuring ; but : gradual!, de
prived st the fame time, by disease,
MR. RUSSELL,
TN reading a late London paper, 1
1 met with the following Letter of
Geo. Dumourier : At firft I had
my doubts of its authenticity : But
finding its receipt acknowledged in
Paris papers which I have seen,
those doubts have ceased ; and 1
fend it you, for insertion.
A Lover of TRuttf.
From the Columbian Centinel.
Volume I.]
Published by ELIJAH RUSSELL, at his OFFICE, near the Meeting House, in CONCORD, Newhampsh l re.
CONCO R D, M ONDA Y, June 3,1793-
by Ikirmifhes with the enemy, and
by the numerous desertions of ol
ficers and soldiers, of more than
the one half of their ftrengthjt
was not until the entry of General
Bou R NONVILLE into the Ministry
that the recruiting of these armies,
and the supply of their wants, were
attended to. This was, however,
so short a time ago, that we (till
experience, in its fulleft latitude,
the diforganiziog scourge of which
we have been the viaims.
Such was our fienation when#
on the firft of Feb. you thought
that you owed to the National
Honour the Declaration of War
against England & Holland. From
that moment I facrificed all my
chagrins, and thought no longer
of my resignation, which you will
find announced in my four memo
rials. I now made the enormous
dangers and the fafety of my coun
try my foie objects ; I fought to
anticipate our enemies ; and the
diftreged army I have described to
you forgot all its (offerings to at
tack Holland. Whilst aided by
new supplies of troops from France,
I took Breda, Klundert, and Ger
truydenburg ; preparing to push
these conquers still further, the
Belgian army, under the command
of Generals filled with courage and
civifm, undertook the bombard
ment pf Mae&ricbt. In this ex
pedition every thing was needed ;
the new administration was not yet
eftablilhed ; and the old one was
both criminal and vicious. Money
was in abundance ; but the new
forms established at the Royal
Treasury prevented cash being
forwarded to any department of
the service. I cannot as yet en
ter on a detail of the causes of the
cheek our armies have received,
since I am but just arrived ; the
hope, however, of obtaining pos
session of Maeftricbt has not only
been abandoned, but the armies/
have retired with loft and confu
fion. The Magazines of every
description, which we had begun
to collect at Liege, as well as a part
of the old army and some new bat
talions, have fallen into the hand
of the enemy. This retreat has
drawn upon us new enemies ; and
it is expedient in this place that I
should develope to you the moral
causes of our evils.
In human events there exists at
all times, a recom pence for virtues,
and a punishment for vices—lndi
viduals may escape this providence,
which you may term what you
please, because such points are too
delicate for our perceptions. Whilst
our cause was just we have van
quished our enemies I As soon as
avarice and injustice guided our
steps, we destroyed ourselves, and
our enemies took the advantage
of us.'
You are flattered ; you are de
ceived ; and I will now remove
the veil. We have oppressed the
Belgians by every species of vexa
tion ; have Violated the sacred
The Mirrour.
■rights Os their Liberty ; and have
imprudently infused their religious
opinions. By a robbery, but little
lucrative, the ioftruments of theii
sacred woifhip have been profan
ed ; and their character and inten
tions have been misrepresented to
you. [ The Union of Hainanlt to
the Republick was effeded by fa
brei and mufquets ; and that of
Brajels, by an handful of men who
could exist in trouble only, and by
a few sanguinary men assembled to
intimidate the citizens. Attend to
the hiftory of the Netherlands ;
you will there find that the Belgi
ans are good, frank, brave, and
impatient under any yoke. The
Duke of Alva, the most cruel of
the facellites of Philip the Second,
caused 18,000 of them to perish
by the hands of hangmen. The
Belgians revenged their cause by
30 years spent in civil wars ; and
their attachment to the religion of
their ancestors could alone fubjed
them once more to the yoke of
Spain.
" Your finances were exhausted
when we entered Belgium. Your
species had either disappeared, or
was purchased by its weight in gold.
>Cambon, who perhaps is an honest
/citizen but who certainly is in tal
ifents beneath the confidence you
stave placed in him in the Depart
ment of the finances, saw no other
; remedy than the possession of the
I riches of this fertile country. He
I proposed to you the fatal decree of
'the isth of December ; you ac
rcepted it unanimously ; notwith
-I'ftanding each among you to whom
;'l have spoken on the fubjeft, has
fold me that he disapproved of it,
land that the decree was unjust.
i.One of my four memorials was di
,reded against this decree—it was
I not read in the Convention ; and
the fame Cambon endeavoured to
render my remonstrances odious
land criminal, by observing at the
-^tribunal, that I opposed a veto to
Ithedfciee of the Convention. This
decree you confirmed by that of
the 30th of December, and charg
ed your commissioners to fee it
ftrialy executed. Conformably to
yotir orders, the Executive Power
feat at least thirty commiffiooen—
the choice was bad, if we except a
few honest men, whole civifm is
perhaps doubled, because they seek
to lessen the odiousness of their
functions. The greater part are ei
ther r'afh, tyrannical, or men with
out re flexion, whom a brutal.and
insolent zeal has constantly led be
yond their functions. Agents of
tyranny have been spread over the
whole furface of &/gi#o.—The
Military Commanders, in obedience
to the decree, have been obliged to
employ, at their request, the forces
entrufled to them • ,which exasperat
ed to the uemoft height the exas
perations of the Belgians. Hence
terror, and perhaps hatred, were
substituted to that mild fraternity
by which our firft steps io Belgium
were accompanied ; and at the
moment of our ill successes our
agents were most violent and un
just.,
" You have Been milled with
refpeft to the union of several parts
of Belgium to France ; you deem
ed it voluntary, because your infor
mation Was untrue : Hence you
thought you could Garry, offthe fu
perflucus church plate, without
doubt, to defray (he expenses of
the war. Yoti regarded the Bel
gians from the time as Frenchmen ;
but had they been even so, it would
still have been necessary to wait,
until the abandonment of this plate
should be a Voluntary facrifice ;
without which, to carry it off by
force, became in their eyes a sacri
lege. This is just what hrt hap
pened !— The priests and monks
have profited by this ad of impru
dence, and we have been regarded
as robbers flying from our foes,
iofomuch that the commonalties of
the villages are every where arm.
ing against us. This is not a war
of aristocracy, for our revolution
favours the peasants, and still the
peasants are arming against us, and
the toefin founds in every direc
tion ; to them it is a sacred war,—
to us a criminal one. We are, at
this moment, surrounded by ene
mies, as you will fee by my reports
to the War Minister. You will ac
the fame time fee the firft steps ne
cessity has obliged me to take, to
save the French army, the national
honour, the Republick itfelf!
" Representatives of the nation,'
I invoke your duty and your prob
ity—l invoke the sacred principles
explained in the declaration of the
Rights of Man, and impatiently
wait your decision. At this mo
ment you hold in your hands the
lot of the empire, and lam per
suaded that truth and virtue will
guide your decisions, and that you
will not fuffer your armies to be
tarnilhed by crimes, of which they
must become the vidims.
" The General in Chief of the
northern Army:.
"DUMOURIER."
THE Fellows of the New
bampJbire MEDICAL SOCIETY
are desired to take Notice, that their an
nual Meeting will be holden at Hanna
for d's Tavern, in Concord, on the fecondl
Wednesday of June next, at to o'Clock
in the Forenoon. Exeter, May 13.
THE Ecclesiastical Conven
tion of the State of NrwhampJhire,
are hereby notified, that their next annu
al Meeting will be holden at Concord, on
the firft Wednesday of June next; when a
Sermon will be delivered by the reverend
Mr. Smith, of Gilmdnt&uin. By Order,
ISRAEL EVANS, Clerk./
K, The Printers in this State are re
queued to insert the above in their re
fyedive Newspapers.
T HEREBY warn all Persons
A not to purchase a Note of Hapd, fign
ql.ty me, promising to pay Ephraim
Colby, the Sum of fix Pounds two Shil
lings and three Pence, in neat Stock, at 1
Cafti Price, dated March 10, 1790, as said
Note was never justly due, and I am de
termined never to pay the fame.,
• ABNER MILE%%§
Northfield, May 27, 1793. ^J
moment of our ill lucceffes our
[Number 32.]