Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-08-08
SPEECH OF NCRE.HU,
nKFoRE THE COURT OF CRIMIEAL 10
TfCE.

fNEs
Gen'lcmen,-In presenting myself be
fore you, | ask % be heard for "a moment.
My confidence ia The council have cho.
sen Is entire; l have resigned TO them
without reserve the care uf defending my
innocence i! IS only IN compliance, wiki
their desire that wi,k to speak before
the court. but feel the need of speaking
m! self, both to you and the na,ion.
Unhappy circumstances produced by
chance or prepared by hated may OBJ
scure some peuods Of the lie Of The most
upright man. With much address a cri.
mnal may remove fir M him both the sus
pIciens and the proofs of crimes: whole
HE Is always the surest testimony against,
or III favor of the accused. IL is then my
whole life which oppose to the accuscrs
who pursue me. Il has been sufficiently
public to be known. will recall some e.
pochas of IT and the witnesses that shall
invoke are the French people, and the
people whom France has conquered.
AT the commencement Of that revoln-
ton which was TO found the liberty of The
French people, was devoted to the stu.
dy OF laws. II changed the destination
OF my life; ] devoted il to arms; did
not place myself among The soldiers of
liberty from ambition-I embraced the
military life from respect Tor the laws of
the nation; became warrior, because
was 4 citizen.
supported this character under the
colors-! have always preserved it. The
more loved liberty, the more submitted
to discipline.
advanced very rapidly, but always
trom Ct ade, 10 grade, wi thout overlapping
any--al"ays serving my country, never
hattering the committees. Arrived a, the
chief command when viGlory caused US TO
advance into the middle Of hostile nations,
| did not less apply myselI TO make the
character OF the French people respected,
than to make their armies dreaded. The
var under my orders was q scourge only
IN the fields of bat;ls. Even from the
midst OF their ravaged plains, more than
once have nations and hostile powers rem
dered me his testimony. This conduct
believed as proper as oar Victories, to
mai coup"esis TO France.
Al Tie time when even contrary max
inns Appeared to prevail in the committees
OF government, this conduct did not ex
cGc against me either calumny OF .perse-
cution. No cloud ever arose to tarnisa
the military glory which ] had acquired,
ill that too famous day--the 18th Fructi.
dor: those who with too much rapidly
eStolled that day, reproached me with
Being too SLOW TO denounce q man, in
whom ! could see only a brother in arms,
even at the moment when the evidence
OF facts and Cf prn"fs convinced me that
he was accused by truth, and not by
unjust suspicious The Directory, no
alone knew the circumstances of my con-
duel sufficiently to Judge Of it correctly,
and who every one knows could not be dis
posed to Judge me with indulgence, bold.
Iy declared that they found me irreproach.
able; they employed me in their service
The post was not brilliant, but it soon be-
came so.
| dare to believe that the nation has not
forgotten how much ! showed myself wor-
Inv Of it; it has not forgotten with what
lac'le dcvotedness fought in Italy in sub.
ordinate stations it has not forgotten how
] was restored to The chief command by
the reverses Of our armies, and renamed
general in some measure, by our misfor.
tunes; II remembers how I twice recon.
posed The army ofthe wrecks Of hose that
had been dispersed; and how. after hav.
ing twice sent it back in a condition to Oh
pose the Russians ard Aus,rians, twice
resigned The command Of il to enter on
one oil much higher confidence.
was not III that era OF my life, more
republican than in all The others: az.
peared more so. saw fixed upon me, in
a more peculiar manner, the regards and
The confidence Of those whose province it
was to impress new movements, and new
directions oniherepub!ic. They proposed
1t is well krown, TO place me at the head
~ --------, lite similar to that oc the
i8lh B'ums'ie. My ambition, IL had
much Of II, could easily conceal itself
rom all appearances, or even do honor 10
itself by every sentiment Of the love Of