The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-10-13
EYoItME j.

.TTT
reau Knowing tia, Iaiulais, whatever may have
been his object, has wandered from the truth on
other points, can the more eafily believe that he
has not more fcrupu'oufy adhered to II on -Aig.
But why has he nipoftd upon them What
reafone could have determined him. If his teIg.is
were fuct rs attributed to him, to imacAr.
MILTON which, at the bar Of iutce aii.l in pre-
fence Of Moreau. he acknowledge he meyer aid
receive To make, in the name Of general no
reau, promhyS rot only contrary TO the duty OF
the general to make, but contrary alto 20 his well
known ientimcntS prcinifes to make which he
formally confcfes he never had any authority
In his ni1ery alone viii be found the folutiou OF
the enigma.
Let us ior moment enquire who this La;o-
las is.
For conhdcrabie time, attached to Pichegru,
he nj frft, from the Ecncruiity of that general,
pofteiied the means OF exRence and the hoDes
of advancement. Involved in the var s, more
by his notifications than r. any req fault in the
rsfortunes of his friend, he was fubie9ed to
two years confinement in prifon, from whence
he was at laft delivered by the Judgment ola
council of war, which acquitted him of being
an accomplish Of Pichegru. On leaving priton
he found himfelf in the very abyfs of wretched-
nefs, without employment, without money, and
without the iimallef particle of property from
which to obtain it. He lived al fire upon what
he could borrow. It was known, indeed he
~.
was overwhelmed with debts, and that he was
under fears of arreft for upwards of eighty thou
fand francs. This was not likely to obtain
him much credit But he mutt nevertheless
live: and when all other means were exhauited,
he learnt that an accommodation had taken
place between Moreau and Pichegru. Every
purfe and every door was ilut aganft him. His
imagination could furnih no other rctoutce,
than to profit by this reconciliation. He cacu-
lated that general Moreau would cheerfully
perform the firit fervice that might be folicited
by Pichegru. He therefore procured, we know
not how, recommendation from the latter, in
which he begged that Moreau would endeavour
to procure fome appointment for eoor general
Laioiait, ruined by his long imprisonment. He
took this letter to Grc5-Bois; fpoke to the ge-
neral of his old friend and OF their reconcile
ment; received from him fome common civi-
ties fome amendments to his petition; and re-
celved ALTO the ailurance that he would have
great Plcafure in feeling Pichegru freely rcftored
to France; but nothing further. Moreau lived
altogether retired; and could not aid the petit
on Of LajolaiS He canddiy told him 70, and
councilled him to make application TO others.
This, and two or three other Wits at Paris,
opened and clofsd this acquaintance. AT the
ait, hetold Moreau that he was about to return
10 Aiiace, his native country, and requefted to
be aided with fon,e money. But as no friend
hip for Lajolais required the exercife OF its du-
ties, and as he knew that it would be f, much
money loft, the general reiufed. This is alto a
fact verified at the trial. Laiolais departed for
Aliace /; and MORGAN, hearing nothing more of
him, futtereti him to pats entirely from his me-
mory.
After he had remained, as we learn by the tef.
tmony of Couchery, for a few months in AL.
face, detained there by Il poverty which denied
hirn the power of travelling, he at laft found
means OF paying his patlage to England; whittier
he nICrnt CrN {-,,,a
bis refources. AT that moment the deiign Of
throwing back on France thef- inquietudes
which The had caufed in Great Britain, ferment-
ed in every brain. An invalion of royalifts was
a deirable thing, to parry the threatened deficient
on England. The hopes of obtaining bread.
might have induced Lajolais to avail hmfelf of
thofe diipohtions. 1t is not poliible to afcer-
tain how far he impofed upon Pichegru, and
the credulous royafts, concerning the fate of
France, nor how far he may have mifuft.d the
name OF Moreau but the hittory of this procefs.
the different circumstances difcofed by the trial,
the words which are attributed TO him bv two
of the accnfed, with much appearance of truth,
the conduct which he has obferved at Paris. the
evident faliehoods which he fri advanced. then
retratted, and afterwards explained, with fone
coniiderable ernbarraiment; all thefe circum-
ttances united. explain to Moreau that LaioIas,
to obtain food, and to render himfclf of more
consequence to thofe from whom be wiii1ed to
extraet few guineas, had formed an ingenious
plot*; promiied them, in France, names and
fupports which they were not lefs difinayed than
disappointed at not finding; and that he thus
implicated in this detachable affair, the name and
honour of general Moreau, into whole mind
fuch ideas never had entered, and from which
Lajolais was at that moment removed to the
greatef poilible ditance.
This is Imported by every degree of proba-
bility. If Lajoais originated thoGe reports in
London, reports belied according to the avow.
al Of all thofe who have been arrefecl) by the
conduct of Moreau, is it not evident that he told
tafehoods concerning Moreau and if he did
implicate Morcau by thofe falfehoods, he GER
tanly NUT have had motive.--This motive
could be no other than fcheme TO procure
bread. But becaufe it was advantageous to La
joals TO proltitute the name of Moreau in Lon
don, and to involve him in a party, is it right
that Gen. MORGAN fbould be rendered refpohG
be for an unjuftifiable conduct, by which he is
already the greateft or only fuficrerI
a laft word fhall cloie the examination of
this charge.
Gen. Moreau ihudders with horror at the
bare idea that he iliould b. even fufpe61ed OF
having entered into any project againt the 60
vernment; of having employed either Laioiais