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Page 35
"This, General, is all I have to tell you respecting my relations
with Pichegru, and it must convince you that very false and hasty
inferences have been drawn from conduct which, though perhaps
imprudent, was far from being criminal."
Moreau fulfilled his duty as a public functionary by communicating to the
Directory the papers which unfolded a plot against the Government, and
which the chances of war had thrown into his hands. He fulfilled his
duty as a man of honour by not voluntarily incurring the infamy which can
never be wiped from the character of an informer. Bonaparte in Moreau's
situation would have acted the same part, for I never knew a man express
stronger indignation than himself against informers, until be began to
consider everything a virtue which served his ambition, and everything a
crime which opposed it.
The two facts which most forcibly obtruded themselves on my attention
during the trial were the inveterate violence of the President of the
Court towards the prisoners and the innocence of Moreau.
--[It is strange that Bourrienne does not acknowledge that he was
charged by Napoleon with the duty of attending this trial of Moreau,
and of sending in a daily report of the proceedings.]--
But, in spite of the most insidious examinations which can be conceived,
Moreau never once fell into the least contradiction. If my memory fail
me not, it was on the fourth day that he was examined by Thuriot, one of
the judges. The result, clear as day to all present, was, that Moreau
was a total stranger to all the plots, all the intrigues which had been
set on foot in London. In fact, during the whole course of the trial, to
which I listened with as much attention as interest, I did not discover
the shadow of a circumstance which could in the least commit him, or
which had the least reference to him. Scarcely one of the hundred and
thirty-nine witnesses who were heard for the prosecution knew him, and he
himself declared on the fourth sitting, which took place on the 31st of
May, that there was not an individual among the accused whom he knew,--
not one whom he had ever seen. In the course of the long proceedings,
notwithstanding the manifest efforts of Thuriot to extort false
admissions and force contradictions, no fact of any consequence was
elicited to the prejudice of Moreau. His appearance was as calm as his
conscience; and as he sat on the bench he had the appearance of one led
by curiosity to be present at this interesting trial, rather than of an
accused person, to whom the proceedings might end in condemnation and
death. But for the fall of Moreau in the ranks of the enemy,--but for
the foreign cockade which disgraced the cap of the conqueror of
Hohenlinden, his complete innocence would long since have been put beyond
doubt, and it would have been acknowledged that the most infamous
machinations were employed for his destruction. It is evident that
Lajolais, who had passed from London to Paris, and from Paris to London,
had been acting the part of an intriguer rather than of a conspirator;
and that the object of his missions was not so much to reconcile Moreau
and Pichegru as to make Pichegru the instrument of implicating Moreau.
Those who supposed Lajolais to be in the pay of the British Government
were egregiously imposed on. Lajolais was only in the pay of the secret
police; he was condemned to death, as was expected, but he received his
pardon, as was agreed upon. Here was one of the disclosures which
Pichegru might have made; hence the necessity of getting him out of the
way before the trial. As to the evidence of the man named Rolland,
it was clear to everybody that Moreau was right when he said to the
President, "In my opinion, Rolland is either a creature of the police, or
he has given his evidence under the influence of fear." Rolland made two
declarations the first contained nothing at all; the second was in answer
to the following observations: "You see you stand in a terrible
situation; you must either be held to be an accomplice in the conspiracy,
or you must be taken as evidence. If you say nothing, you will be
considered in the light of an accomplice; if you confess, you will be
saved." This single circumstance may serve to give an idea of the way
the trials were conducted so as to criminate Moreau. On his part the
general repelled the attacks, of which he was the object, with calm
composure and modest confidence, though flashes of just indignation would
occasionally burst from him. I recollect the effect he produced upon the
Court and the auditors at one of the sittings, when the President had
accused him of the design of making himself Dictator. He exclaimed,
"I Dictator! What, make myself Dictator at the head of the partisans of
the Bourbons! Point out my partisans! My partisans would naturally be
the soldiers of France, of whom I have commanded nine-tenths, and saved
more than fifty thousand. These are the partisans I should look to! All
my aides de camp, all the officers of my acquaintance, have been
arrested; not the shadow of a suspicion could be found against any of
them, and they have been set at liberty. Why, then, attribute to me the
madness of aiming to get myself made Dictator by the aid of the adherents
of the old French Princes, of persons who have fought in their cause
since 1792? You allege that these men, in the space of four-and-twenty
hours, formed the project of raising me to the Dictatorship! It is
madness to think of it! My fortune and my pay have been alluded to; I
began the world with nothing; I might have had by this time fifty
millions; I have merely a house and a bit of ground; as to my pay, it is
forty thousand francs. Surely that sum will not be compared with my
services."
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