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YOUNG'S TRAVELS IN FRANCE.

293

been urged by the Count de Mirabeau , on a former dtly, and fpoke flrongly onhisun.juftifiable call on the people of Bretagne , to a redoubtable denombrement. He faid, thatit would better become the members of fuch an aflembly, to count their own principlesand duties, and the fruits of their attention, to the privileges of the fubjeCt, than to callfor a denombrement , that would fill a province with fire and bloodfhed. He was inter-rupted by thenoife and confufion of the alTembly, and of the audience, fix feveral times;but it had no effect on him ; he waited calmly till it fubfided, and then proceeded, as ifno interruption had been given. The fpeech was a very able one, and much rclifhed bythe royalifts; but the enrages condemned it, as good for nothing. No other perfonfpoke without notes ; the Count de Clermont read a fpeech that had fome brilliant paf-fages, but by no means an anfwer to l’Abbe Maury , as indeed it wmuld have been won-derful if it were, being prepared before he heard the Abbe ’s oration. It can hardly beconceived how flat this mode of debate venders the tranfaCtions of the Aflembly. Whowould be in the gallery of the Englifh Houfe of Commons, if Mr. Pitt were to bring awritten fpeech, to be delivered on a fubjeCt on which Mr. Fox was to fpeak before him ?And in proportion to its being uninterefting to the hearer is another evil, that of length-ening their fittings, fmee there are ten perfons who will read their opinions, to one thatis able to deliver an impromptu. The want of order, and every kind of confufion, pre-vails now almolt as much as when the Affembly fat at Verfailles. The interruptions givenare frequent and long; and fpeakers, who have no right, by the rules to fpeak, will at-tempt it. The Count de Mirabeau preffed to deliver his opinion after the Abbe Maury ; theprefident put it to the vote, whether he fhould be allowed to fpeak a fecond time, andthe whole houfe rofe up to negative it ; fo that the firft orator of the Affembly has notthe influence even to be heard to explain—-we have no conception of fuch rules; andyet their great number muff make this neceffary. I forgot to obferve, that there is agallery at each end of the faloon, which is open to all the world ; and fide ones for ad-miffion of the friends of the members by tickets : the audience in thefe galleries are verynoify : they clap, when any thing pleafes them, and they have been known to hifs ; anindecorum which is utterly deflructive of freedom of debate. I left the houfe beforethe whole was finifhed, and repaired to the Duke of Liancourt’s apartments in theThuilleries, to dine with his cuftoinary party of deputies ; Meff. C.hapellier and De-meufniers were there, who had both been prefidents, and are ftiil members of confider-able diftinCtion ; M. Volney, the celebrated traveller, alfo was prefent; the Prince dePoix, the Count de Montmorenci, &c. On our waiting for the Duke of Liancourt,who did not arrive till half after Even, with the greateft part of the company, the con-verfation almoff entirely turned upon a ftrong fuipicion entertained of the Englifh hav-ing made a remittance for the purpofe of embroiling matters in the kingdom. TheCount de Thiard, cordon blue, who commands in Bretagne , fimply dated the fact, thatfome regiments at Breft had been regular in their conduit, and as much to be dependedon as any in the fervice ; but that, of a hidden, money had found its way among themen in confiderable fums, and from that time their behaviour was changed. One ofthe deputies demanding at what period, he was anfwered * ; on which he immediatelyobferved, that it followed the remittance of 1,100,000 livres (48,1251.) from England,that had occafioned fo much conjecture and converfation. This remittance which hadbeen particularly enquired into, was fo myherious and obfeure, that the naked fact onlycould be difeovered ; but every perfon prefent afferted the truth of it. Other gentle-men united the two faCts, and were ready to fuppofe them connected. I remarked,

* It was a late tranfafticn.

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that