Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-08-08


patriotism, and in our national assemblies
by their talents l refused it | believed
myself made TO command armies, and did
not wishto command the republic.
This was enough TO prove, in my OPT
Mon, that II had a ambition it was not
that OF authority, Or Of power: very soon
after, proved this still farther.
The l3,h Brumaire arrived, and was
at Paris. That revolution, provoked by o.
theirs as by me, could not alarm my con-
sciencs. Dme6ted b. a man evironed
with blaze of glory, II made nae TO hope
Tor happy results. began 10 second it
when other parties pressed me 10 put my
sell at their head to combat i'll receive
cd in Paris the orders oi General Bora
parie. In executing them | concurred
10 elevate him to that high degree OF pow
or which circumstances rendered neces-
sary.
When sometime after he offered me
the CHI ef command OF the army of the
Rhine, l. accepted it from him with as
/ much devotion as from the hand of Tie re-
pubic itself My military successes were
never more rapid, more numerous, more
decisive, than at that epoch when their
spiendor overspread The government Which
accused ,se.
Upon the event of so many successes,
OF which the greatest of ali was TO have
asccrtained, in an eiiicacious manner, the
peace Of the continent. the soldier heard
the lofty shouts Of national gratitude.
What moment to conspire il such a
design had ever been able 10 enter my
soul-Every one knows the devotedncss
OF armies TO chiefs whom they love, and
whom they have just led from Victory to
/ victory: an ambitious man, a conspira;or,
would lie have suffered The occasion to
escape, when at the head Of an army of
hundred thousand men so otter trium-
plant, he returned to the midst OF nation
still agitated, and always restless with re-
! gard TO lis principles and their duration
only thought of disbanding the ar
my, and returned 10 the repose Of civil
lile.-
In this repose, which was not without
| glory, enjoyed without doubt my honors
! those honors which human power can
| never Wrest from me, the remembrance
OF my actions, The testimony of my con-
science, the esteem of my compatriots
and strangers, and, # it may be said, the
iia'tering and sweet Preseutiment of pos
( terity.
enjoyed fortune which was not great,
! because my desires were not immense,
and which caused no ieproach of consci-
ence.--l enjoyed the entertainment of my
retreat. Surely was content with my
loI.-l who never envied the lot Of any.
My family and my friends, so much the
more precious as not having any thing to
hope from my credit or my fortune, they
could remain attached but TO myself a.
! lone.
All these blessings, which alone higli-
! ly appreciate, filed my soul entir, ly, and
: could permit no undue desire or ambitious
Wish TO enter would it then be open to cri.
minal projeGls?
i his condition of my soul was so ell
known, 1t was so well guaranteed by the
| distance at which kept from all the paths
OF ambition, that since the victory of Hoo
henlinden till my arrestation, my enemies
have never been able either to find or 10
seek re by another crime than the free
dom OF my discourses my discourses-
they have often been favorable To the ope-
ra,lons Of government: and If at any
| time they have not been so, could there
fore think that that was a crime among a
! people who had so often decreed that Of
thought, that of word, that of the press,
and who had enjoyed much of it even un-
der kings.
! confess, that born with an openness of
! disposition, / have not lost this attribute
ofthe country (of France where Ireceived
life, neither in the camp where every thin,
/ gives new impetus, nor in the revolution
which has always proclaimed it as a virtue
oil the man, and as a duty of the citizen-
/ But do those who plot blame So openly
what they disapprove i'll had wished
to form and pursue plans OF conspiracy, [
would hsye dissembied my sentiments,
and solicited all the situations which could
have replaced me in the miGsts of the
forces OF the nation.
! In order to trace this plan, in default oF
political genius, which never possessed,
l had examples known to all the world, and
renderedlmposing by their success. know
well that Moncll did not Withdraw from
the armies when he wished to conspire,
and that Cassius and Brutds approached