Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 7.djvu/189



in fitting out the fleets of the Republic; the ports of Brest, Rochefort, and Lorient had but six vessels of the line fit to put to sea, and the Mediterranean fleet was undergoing repairs at Toulon.

You had one hundred and seventy representatives of the people in the departments to excite the patriotism of the citizens for the enlistment of 300,000 men, or on various missions of superintendence; but one of the maneuvers of the enemy was to calumniate them in order to block the success of their operations. Nothing was left undone to decry them, to discredit their authority, and to create enemies for them; everywhere a word was used which has since become a party name: they were called "Maratists" — a name invented by our enemies to decry the most energetic patriots. It was said that the "Maratists" were assassins, partizans of the agrarian laws and of royalty for the Duke of Orleans. Soon the same epithet was applied to a portion of this Assembly.

Such was the condition of the Republic when the Committee of Public Safety was organized.