Page:Madame Rolland (Blind 1886).djvu/253

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AVE LIBERTAS.
243

1790, and 1791, which bore such unmistakable witness to her revolutionary enthusiasm?

The purpose of the tribunal was not served by these eloquent replies of the accused, which needlessly prolonged a trial of which the result could not be doubtful. She was told, roughly enough, that she was not showing off her wit at the Hotel of the Interior, and had better confine herself in her answers to a plain Yes or No.

Let us briefly recapitulate some of the leading points, which show the nature of these proceedings.

Question.—Was it known to you that Roland, before he entered into the Administration, belonged to the Committee of Correspondence of the Jacobins?

Answer.—Yes.

Q.—Was it not you who took upon you to compose the letters it was his duty to draw up for the Committee?

A.—My husband never borrowed my thoughts, although he may sometimes have employed my pen.

Q.—Were you not acquainted with the office for the Formation of Public Opinion, established by Roland to corrupt the departments; to bring to Paris a departmental force; to tear the Republic to pieces, according to the plans of a liberticide faction, &c. &c.; and was it not you who conducted the business of that office?

A.—Roland established no office under that denomination, and I conducted the business of none. After the decree, passed at the latter end of August, ordering him to disseminate useful writings, he assigned to some of his clerks the care of forwarding them, exerting himself to the utmost in the execution of a law