Since I last wrote, the government has considerably improved in decency
and moderation; and though the French enjoy as little freedom as their
almost sole Allies, the Algerines, yet their terror begins to wear off--
and, temporizing with a despotism they want energy to destroy, they
rejoice in the suspension of oppressions which a day or an hour may
renew. No one pretends to have any faith in the Convention; but we are
tranquil, if not secure--and, though subject to a thousand arbitrary
details, incompatible with a good government, the political system is
doubtless meliorated. Justice and the voice of the people have been
attended to in the arrest of Collot, Barrere, and Billaud, though many
are of opinion that their punishment will extend no farther; for a trial,
particularly that of Barrere, who is in the secret of all factions, would
expose so many revolutionary mysteries and patriotic reputations, that
there are few members of the Convention who will not wish it evaded; they
probably expect, that the seclusion, for some months, of the persons of
the delinquents will appease the public vengeance, and that this affair
may be forgotten in the bustle of more recent events.--If there had been
any doubt of the crimes of these men, the publication of Robespierre's
papers would have removed them; and, exclusive of their value when
considered as a history of the times, these papers form one of the most
curious and humiliating monuments of human debasement, and human
depravity, extant.*

* The Report of Courtois on Robespierre's papers, though very able,
is an instance of the pedantry I have often remarked as so peculiar
to the French, even when they are not deficient in talents. It
seems to be an abstract of all the learning, ancient and modern,
that Courtois was possessed of. I have the book before me, and have
selected the following list of persons and allusions; many of which
are indeed of so little use or ornament to their stations in this