1794.




PREFACE TO BRISSOT'S ADDRESS.


The French Revolution has been the subject of various speculations and
various histories. As might be expected, the royalists and the
republicans have differed a good deal in their accounts of the
principles of that Revolution, of the springs which have set it in
motion, and of the true character of those who have been, or still are,
the principal actors on that astonishing scene.

They who are inclined to think favorably of that event will undoubtedly
object to every state of facts which comes only from the authority of a
royalist. Thus much must be allowed by those who are the most firmly
attached to the cause of religion, law, and order, (for of such, and not
of friends to despotism, the royal party is composed,)--that their very
affection to this generous and manly cause, and their abhorrence of a
Revolution not less fatal to liberty than to government, may possibly
lead them in some particulars to a more harsh representation of the
proceedings of their adversaries than would be allowed by the cold
neutrality of an impartial judge. This sort of error arises from a
source highly laudable; but the exactness of truth may suffer even from
the feelings of virtue. History will do justice to the intentions of
worthy men, but it will be on its guard against their infirmities; it
will examine with great strictness of scrutiny whatever appears from a
writer in favor of his own cause. On the other hand, whatever escapes