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An Appeal to Impartial Posterity - Volume I
An Appeal to Impartial Posterity - Volume I
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Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original edition for your reading pleasure. (Worth every penny!) *** An excerpt from the beginning of the ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE EDITOR: Citizenness Roland, the wife of a man of science, was persuaded, that the celebrity of a woman ought to be confined to the esteem arising from the practice of domestic virtues. On this account she always refused to publish writings, which would have procured her literary fame. It was even necessary to be intimately acquainted with her, and enjoy her confidence, to be enabled to form a just estimate of her native merit, her acquired talents, and the strength of her character. Citizenness Roland, the wife of a minister, retained the same principles. She assisted her husband in his political labours, as she had before assisted him in his scientific pursuits, without suffering her name to appear. But her situation was changed. Before she was confined within a narrow circle of friends: now, become the centre of a numerous group, the enthusiastic admiration of her friends, and the invidious malevolence of her enemies, soon combined to give her that renown, which she was still far from seeking.
Imprisoned, calumniated on all sides, having nought but the scaffold before her, citizenness Roland could not avoid seeking the esteem of posterity, to console her for the injustice of her contemporaries, and future glory, as an indemnification for premature death. Then alone she appeared to separate her reputation from that of her husband: then alone she assumed the pen, to make herself known as an individual, and to furnish materials for history in her own name. It will be seen, however, that the sole desire of her own reputation, and her own fame, determined not her resolution: every page will show, that she was particularly animated with the duty of repelling the calumnious charges accumulated against her husband, and revenging the memory of Roland, if he should not have it in his power, to write or publish his last justification. The public, already prejudiced in her favour, will judge from a perusal of her writings, whether she were really deserving of the commendations bestowed on her by her friends, and whether she did not deserve the hatred of the villains, who finally condemned her to the block. Malevolence, assuming the mask of criticism, will endeavour, no doubt, to depreciate this monument erected by a woman to the glory of her sex; but the impartial reader will discover her traits. I will only say, as an excuse for some superfluous relations, and some negligences of style, that citizenness Roland composed the part entitled Historical Memoirs, two thirds of which, and those the most interesting, are loft, in the space of one month, and all the rest in two and twenty days, in the midst of vexations and disquietudes of every kind; and that the manuscript had very few corrections. Many persons, whose characters citizenness Roland has given, will have to complain of her. Posterity must decide, whether she have judged them well or ill. I have confined myself strictly to the office of an editor; and not permitted myself to make the least alteration in the text, even when it was evident, that she had been mistaken. There is a passage, for instance, where she seems to cast suspicions on citizen Dulaure, which I believe him far from deserving, and which every true republican will be eager to repel. It may not be amiss here to relate the cause of her errour. Dulaure, a patriotic journalist, and a writer of courage, visited Roland, whose principles were analogous to his own, and whose conduct he esteemed. Dulaure, a deputy to the convention, thought it incumbent on him, as a matter of delicacy, to desist from frequenting the house of a minister, of whose actions he was constituted a judge. Citizenness Roland attributed this reserve to a change of opinion in politics, and to the instigation of the mountaineers: hence the gall, which seems to have predominated, when she wrote the article concerning him; but in which, notwithstanding, she does his character the justice it deserves. The courage with which citizen Dulaure has printed all the complaints of citizenness Roland since the 31st of may; the honourable proscription he has undergone; and his last publication, entitled, Supplement to the Crimes of the late Committees of Government; render farther justification unnecessary. It was my intention, to have given the public the whole of the work at once; but the delays of the press at the present moment, and the observations of some good citizens, have determined me to publish it in parts. There will be four; which will follow each other, as speedily as circumstances will permit. The second will be filled with several detached pieces, respecting the events of the revolution, and the papers that relate to her death, or immediately preceded it.
Imprisoned, calumniated on all sides, having nought but the scaffold before her, citizenness Roland could not avoid seeking the esteem of posterity, to console her for the injustice of her contemporaries, and future glory, as an indemnification for premature death. Then alone she appeared to separate her reputation from that of her husband: then alone she assumed the pen, to make herself known as an individual, and to furnish materials for history in her own name. It will be seen, however, that the sole desire of her own reputation, and her own fame, determined not her resolution: every page will show, that she was particularly animated with the duty of repelling the calumnious charges accumulated against her husband, and revenging the memory of Roland, if he should not have it in his power, to write or publish his last justification. The public, already prejudiced in her favour, will judge from a perusal of her writings, whether she were really deserving of the commendations bestowed on her by her friends, and whether she did not deserve the hatred of the villains, who finally condemned her to the block. Malevolence, assuming the mask of criticism, will endeavour, no doubt, to depreciate this monument erected by a woman to the glory of her sex; but the impartial reader will discover her traits. I will only say, as an excuse for some superfluous relations, and some negligences of style, that citizenness Roland composed the part entitled Historical Memoirs, two thirds of which, and those the most interesting, are loft, in the space of one month, and all the rest in two and twenty days, in the midst of vexations and disquietudes of every kind; and that the manuscript had very few corrections. Many persons, whose characters citizenness Roland has given, will have to complain of her. Posterity must decide, whether she have judged them well or ill. I have confined myself strictly to the office of an editor; and not permitted myself to make the least alteration in the text, even when it was evident, that she had been mistaken. There is a passage, for instance, where she seems to cast suspicions on citizen Dulaure, which I believe him far from deserving, and which every true republican will be eager to repel. It may not be amiss here to relate the cause of her errour. Dulaure, a patriotic journalist, and a writer of courage, visited Roland, whose principles were analogous to his own, and whose conduct he esteemed. Dulaure, a deputy to the convention, thought it incumbent on him, as a matter of delicacy, to desist from frequenting the house of a minister, of whose actions he was constituted a judge. Citizenness Roland attributed this reserve to a change of opinion in politics, and to the instigation of the mountaineers: hence the gall, which seems to have predominated, when she wrote the article concerning him; but in which, notwithstanding, she does his character the justice it deserves. The courage with which citizen Dulaure has printed all the complaints of citizenness Roland since the 31st of may; the honourable proscription he has undergone; and his last publication, entitled, Supplement to the Crimes of the late Committees of Government; render farther justification unnecessary. It was my intention, to have given the public the whole of the work at once; but the delays of the press at the present moment, and the observations of some good citizens, have determined me to publish it in parts. There will be four; which will follow each other, as speedily as circumstances will permit. The second will be filled with several detached pieces, respecting the events of the revolution, and the papers that relate to her death, or immediately preceded it.
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