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 Rh dict a sure famine. Their alleged desire to avoid the evil is always sufficient reason for them to increase the evil. In the north, they put chickens to death under the pretext that they were consuming the barley. In the south, they destroyed silk worms under the pretext that silk was an article of luxury, and cut down the orange trees under the pretext that oranges were not a necessity.

It is impossible for you to conceive of all the devious ways pursued by all these sowers of discord, these spreaders of false rumors, who disseminate every possible kind of false report, which is not unprofitable in a country in which, as in ours, superstition is still so widespread. …

The domestic situation of our country demands your entire attention. Remember that it is our duty simultaneously to make war against the tyrants of all Europe, to keep fed and equipped an army of 1,200,000 men, and that the government is obliged ceaselessly to keep down with due energy and caution all our internal foes, as well as to repair all our defects. …

—Speech delivered February 5, 1794.