It j (1 J id 1 ./ f" ; iB A N HISTORICAL SKETCH or THE FRENCH REVOLUTION FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT TO THE Y E A R 1792. 11 Buon fi pcrdc Talor cercando il Meglio. Metajla/io, I^ertjiefira^ Aft. II. Scee I. LONDON.- Printed for J. DEBRETT, oppofite Burlington Hufe, Piccadilly. M.DCC.XCII. DC 866024 CONTENTS. Page A HE Author partly efpoufes Mr. Burke's Senti- ments 3 The Names of Authors principally quoted in this Work 4 The Rife of Sovereignty in France 8 Remarks on fome Parts of the Englifli Hiftory 12 Ancient Mode of electing Deputies in France 16 State of the Belgic Provinces - - aa Refult of all the Revolutions in the French Government fliortly ftated a 5 Gradations of the fucceflive Constitution of France 26 Lettres de Cachet 29 The latter Years of the Reign of Lewis XV. detefted and ridiculed 2> The Effects of the American War in France 3a Conduct of Monf. Calonne in the Aflembly of Notables 34 Complaints of the Commons againft the Clergy and Nobles - . 39 Character of M. Mounier 44 Plan of Government explained by Mounier 47 Two great Queftions determinable by the King's abfo- lute authority 50 M Necker unequal to the Talk of Political Legiflation 5* Remarkable Paffage in Mounier . . 58 M. Necker convenes the Aflembly of Notables 59 The Difference between England and France briefly ftated 6; Extract from Lally Tolendai's Speech at the Aflembly of Dourdan 69 The Factions clafled in three great Divifions 70 Character of Mirabeau . - 74 Mirabeau the profefled Enemy of Necker 7 Mirabeau attaches himfelf to the Orleans Party 80 Conjectures on the Intentions of the King 81 The tirft open Act of Violence committed in Paris 85 Conclufion of the King's Speech at the Opening of . the States-General . 90 Speech of the Garde des Sceaux 93 a a Extract iv CONTENTS. Page Extract from the Work called l'Ami du Roi 99 The Commons more connected and united than the Clergy and Nobility 10 1 Mirabeau carries the famous Motion to invite the Clergy to unite with the Commons 104 The Commons receive the Title of National AiTembly nz Decree unanimoufly patted relative to Taxes 1 1 3 The Majority of the Clergy join the Commons 123 The Commons ftrip the Clergy of their Revenues 124 Abftract from the King's Speech of the 23d of June 126 The Commons declare the Perfon of every Deputy in- violable ii 1 136 The Ferments at Paris continue to increafe 138 The Palace of the Duke of Orleans confidered as the Theatre of Ferocity 139 M. de Clermont moves, that the Nobles mould unite with the Commons - 142 A general Illumination at Verfailles 147 Riots raifed by the Gardes Francoifes 150 Song publicly fung through the Streets of Paris 1 52 The Opinion of Lally Tolendal 157 Extract from the Anfwer of M. de la Harpe to M. de Calonne's Pamphlet 160 M. Necker difmitied by the King, and ordered to quit the Kingdom 166 All Government at an End in the City of Paris 168 The Garde Meuble and the Invalids march to the Baftile 169 The Baftile taken by Storm - 170 Perfons put to Death on that Occafion 171 The Prevot des Marchands fhot, and his Body difmem- bcred 172 Two or three miferable Objects found in the Baftile 173 Remarks on the Fall of Nero 175 Proceedings on the Difmiflion of M. Necker 177 The Gardes Fiancoifa dcl'crt, and the Faith of the whole Army wavers 178 The Pariiiaiis ftt a Price upon the Head of Count .i'Artois i,-) La Fayette elected to the Command of the new-formed Army 18* The Cry ot Five le Roi changed into five la Nation 183 Dialogue between Malouet and Corollet 184 Reflections on the diftrefling Situation of the Queen of France 187 The Name of States General buried in Oblivion, and the Name of National AJJimbly ufed by all Par- ties 189 % Foul on, CONTENTS. % Page Foulon, a rich Financier, and Berthier, the Intendant of Paris, murdered 190 Some other Murders committed at St. Germain, Pon- toife, and Poilly 192 Extract of a Speech by Mirabeau 194 M. Necker recalled by the King's Letter I95 M. Necker makes his triumphal Entry into Paris 196 A Lift of fome of the atrocious Cruelties, which were the firft Fruits of Liberty in France 20 1 Terrible Tumults on the fertile Banks of the Saone 203 The National Aflembly alarmed atthefe horrid Excefles 207 Laws enacted to the Prejudice of the Clergy 211 The Fees or Taxes paid to the Court of Rome abo- liflied 212 The King informs the Aflembly of the Formation of his new Miniftry ' 214 Three Queftions propofed by the Committee of Con- ftitution 216 Proceedings relative to granting the King's Veto 221 Strenuoufly fupporred by Mirabeau in the Aflembly 222 The Aflembly adopt the Syftem of a fuipenfive Veto 224 Proceedings of the Aflembly refpecting the Loans 229 A Scheme of Patriotic Contributions promoted 230 The Nobles and Clergy accufed of Confpiracies againfi the Revolution 23 1 The Sovereignty of the People ftrangely interpreted 233 ' The Sovereigns of Verfailks aflume the arbitrary Power of Life and Death 234 The Gardes des Corps and the Regiment de Flanders dine together i 238 A Mob break into and plunder the Hotel de Ville Z40 Violence of Mirabeau in the Aflembly 243 An Army of Ruffians enter Verfailles 244 The National Aflembly filled with enraged Women 24; Heroic Conduct of the Queen 249 Her alarming and dangerous Situation 250 The Royal Family let off for Paris, eicorted by Ruffians and infamous Women 2; 4 Mounier's Life threatened by the Mob 2 56 The Aflembly pafs fevere Laws againft Rioters 462 The Aflembly determine, that the Election of Depu- ties fliould be made by the Citizens at large 263 France divided into fmall Diitricls - 265 Mirabeau regarded with Abhorrence by one Party, and with Sufpicion bv all - ,,.,. 267 r ' The vi CONTENTS. Pag* The great Object of the National Aflembly to defpoil the Clergy 271 All the territorial Pofieffions of the Church voted away 273 The King informs the Aflembly of the Difputes be- tween England and Spain 276 A Committee appointed to examine into all the exifting Treaties of Alliance 278 A grand Confederation to bind the King and the People by folemn Oaths 281 All Titles exifting in France abolifhed for ever 284 The Duke of Orleans returns to France, and takes the Oaths 288 The Oaths taken by the King, People, and Army 289 Heroic Conduct of a young Officer 290 Ai. Neckr retires to his own Country 292 The Conduct of Orleans and Mirabeau accufed and . ded 293 The Application of the Spanifti Court for Afliftance againil England laid before the National Aflem- bly 297 A Fleet of about thirty Sail fitted out at Breft 298 A Change of Minifters 301 The Finance?, the Adminiftration of Juftice, and the Difcipline of the Church, employ the Atten- tion of the Aflembly 302 A Tumult at Paris about the End of November 309 idi of Monarchy^ a CJub io called 31 1 y/ Luav of Paris revived at Aix 31* The internal War of Tenants againft Landlords conti- nued in icveral Provii: 314 The National Aflembly fendTroops and Commiffioners into Qu- ; 315 And open the Year 1791 in a Manner more honourable than their Enemies expected 316 Oomte de Provence conducted by Force to the Thuilki; i . 319 The' ferioufty ill of a bilious Fever 320 ;!h a Law of R 321 ithandFm Mirabeau 324 after 325 The King flopped in his Coach as he was going to St. ud 327 1 :igns his Command, and re-accepts it 328 The Aflembly make fomeLaws relative to their Re- eledYions 33 1 The French Conftitution very faulty in many Refpetts 333 Advice to Kings, Princes, and Rulers of eveiy Kind 335 APPEN- CONTENTS. ft APPENDIX. Page Bilhop Burnet's Chara&er of the Independent Faftion during the Civil Wars 337 The Difference between an AfTaffination by Ruffians and a judicial Trial and Execution 339 Mr. Burke unjuftly accufed of Want of Humanity to the Poor 340 Two of M. Necker's Opinions, publifhed in his Ac- count of his Conduct during his two Admini- ftrations 343 The National AfTembly wear Mourning, in Honour of Dr. Franklin's Memory 345 Declaration du Roi, concernant la prefente tenue des Etats-Generaux 348 Declaration des Intentions du Roi 3 S3 M. de Mefmay acquitted of the Charge of blowing up his Vaflals and Tenants with Gunpowder 364 PART the SECOND. Remarks on the National AfTembly 367 The Royal Family treated as Criminals, on being brought back to Paris after their efcape 37$ M. de Bouilli writes a furious Letter to the National AfTembly 378 An Invalid and a Hair-drefTer gibbeted, the laft pa- triotic Murder in France 383 The Conftitutional Code prefented to the King for his Signature 4^ The King goes to the AfTembly, and takes his laft and final Oath 4 8 In the French Colonies the Planters rife againft the Go- vernors, and the Regiments againft their Colonels 414 M. de Montefquieu reads to the AfTembly a Memorial on the State of the Finances 4 2 ADe- m CONTENTS. Fagt A Decree pafled, prohibiting any Club from afluming a public Function 42a The Affembly diflblved 423 Reflections on the Principles and Confequences of par- ticular Events 4*5 Remarks on Writers of the levelling Oafs 436 Recent Examples have more Influence than ancient Re- cords 457 Extracts from a Pamphlet, entitled Naked Truth 463 Remarks on the new Republic of America 470 Letter difperfed through Brabant from one of the pa- triotic Clubs 477 Anecdotes of one Jourdan, who was made General at Avignon 488 M. Guillin inhumanely murdered - 529 Certain Patriots adopt a Tone of Ferocity 530 Extracts from the Mercure - 53 Extract from Thucydides, pointing out the Caufe of all the Crimes and Misfortunes which frained the Grecian Name > 536 APPENDIX to PART II. The Confequences that follow from an early Neglect of Character in Men of high Rank 547 Remarks on M. de Bouilli's Conduct 548 Two Parties in Paris as well as London, minifterial and anti-minifterial - $$9 The democratic Party in France have imitated the fame Party in Kngland $iji Extracts from the Preamble to the third Book of Ma- chiavel's Hiftory of Florence 5^4 The Conftitution offered to the States of France by the King, infinitely more favourable to the Com- mons than the new Conftitution of Poland 56 AJ? HISTORICAL SKETCH. OF THE. FRENCH REVOLUTION. AMIDST the innumerable Publications which the French Revolution has occafion- ed, I have long wimed to fee a concife hif- torical ftatement of the principal fads, and of the Conftitutional queftions and difputes which led to that awful and unparalleled event. But as I have wifhed and waited in vain, and as mofl of the ingenious writers who have lately addrefled themfelves to the Englifh nation, have preferred eloquent de- clamation or metaphyseal difcuffion of ab- stract Rights to plain hiftory and chrono- B logy, t HISTORICAL SKET H OF THE logy, I have at laft. been tempted to take 1 up the pen, and engage for the fir ft, and pro- bably the laft time, in that field of literary warfare, to which my temper and my fitua- tion are equally oppofite, and in which I think myfelf obliged to feek the protection of invio- lable concealment : an impulfe perhaps, too romantic but an impulfe of duty has urged me on, and I have thought that there were fome periods fb momentous, that the weakcft and mod retired member of fociety was called forth into action, and was parti- cularly obliged to draw away the veil of il- lufion from the eyes of the multitude. If my ftricl: fecrecy with regard to myfelf mould excite doubts of my fincerity , I fhall en- deavour to prove it, by compofing this fketch chiefly of extracts from the moft approved French writers, and by advifing my readers no to trull: to Mr. Burke, or to me, or to Dr. Prieftly, or to Dr. Towers, but to ftudy the French accounts himfelf, or elfe to fufpend his opinion on this dubious t ran faction. But that I may not afllime the praife of more impartiality than is really my due, I muft FRENCH REVOLUTION. * liiuft confefs, that after following with at- tention the progrefs of the Revolution, I do heartily efpoufe the greater!: part of Mr. Burke's fentiments, although fome of them are carried a little too far. It has happened unfortunately in this bufi- nefs, that the private enmity which Mr. Burke has drawn upon himfelf by former political quarrels, has indifpofed many againft the mbft evident truths, if they fall from his pen, or from one of his adherents. 1 too, have frequently difapproved his fenti- ments ; I too, could enter into perfonal con- tell: ; I could a(k Mr. Burke whether he does not fee that this Revolution which he abhors, is the natural offspring of that Ame- rican Revolution, which he approved and patronized ? But all perfonal considerations, all needlefs tetrofpect ought to be banifhed from a difpute of fo extenfive and ferious a nature. The feelings of individuals ought to be fpared ; it is their public Writings, not their private a&ions, which lie before the tribunal of the public. Since I began this pamphlet, Dr. Price has paid the debt to na- ture, but his famous fermon and its appen- B % dix HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE dix remain behind, and I hope it will not be thougl them. thought ungenerous fometimes to criticife The French writings which I fhall often have occaiion to quote, are as follows : " EiTai Hiftorique Lir l'Hifloire des Co- M mices de Rome, des Etats-Generaux de " France, et du Parlement d'Angleterre." A book written with a portion of learning and philoibphy, but with an evident partiality to the monied above the landed intereit. The au- thor endeavours frequently to prove, that great landed proprietors are the moft vicious of man- kind, and that the vices of men poficfled of great perfonal wealth become trifling in com- panion. From various pavTages it may be col- lected that his moral and religious principles are not very found. But this difcuilion is fo- reign to theprefcnt iubjecl:. I have parti- cularly mentioned this book becaufe it con- firms Mr. Burke's fyftem, that the jealou fy of mowed men again ft landed proprietors has had a great fhare in this Revolution. To me, one half of the new French laws prove that unhappy jealoufv ; efpecially the in- troduction FRENCH REVOLUTION. ^ trodu&ion of gavel kind, or equal divifion of all property, real as well as perfonal, which, if ever carried to the height that was firft propofed in the Aflembly, will make it almojl impojjible for the fame efate to remain two generations in the fame family. But to return to the lift of authorities : " Hiftoire de la Revolution et de la Con- " ftitution Francoife." A book violently democratic. The " Procedure Criminelle du Chatelet," on the tranfa&ions of the 5th and 6th of 0t. 1789. " Calonne's pamphlets in favour of the tc Ancient Government." " L'Ami du Roi," a hiftory violent and partial to the Court, and intolerant towards Calvinifts, but full of curious fads as far a$ it goes. The " Mercure de France," the literary part of which is carried on by Marmontel, Ja Harpe, Chamfort, Berquin, and Framery ; B 3 ibme 6 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE fome of whom are men of great difHnction in the literary world, and this half is ex- ceedingly anti-ariilocratic. The other half of this compound work, the hiitorical and political part, is written by a M. Mallet-du- Pan, a native of Geneva, born a republican, but partial to a limited monarchy. At the firft opening of the States, he was alfo an anti-arhtocratic, but fince the complete tri- umph of the democratic party he has efpoufed the caufe of the vanquifhed, and cenfures the behaviour of the conquerors al- moft as ftrongly as Mr. Burke. All the works of M. Mounier and of LallyTolendal, principal leaders of the mo- derate party, eipecially their refpedtive Ex- fofes de leur Conduite, and Mounier's Obfer- vations fur Ies Etats Generaux. From fome of thefe books may be col- lected che little that is now to be known of the ancient Conftituiion of France, and it appears to be a fubject involved in greater jurity than the Conftitution of moft other European nations. It is only clear that the Stated-General, whenever they did aflemble, were FRENCH REVOLUTION. 7 were compofed of three chambers, who had a right to deliberate feparately, although they might fometimes forego it ; the depu- ties from the Clergy, the Noblejfe or No- bles, and the Tiers-Etats or Commons. Once for all it is neceffary to obferve, that whenever the word Nobles is ufed, I (hall include under that denomination thofe two chiles whom we are accuflomed to feparate by the words Nobility and Gentry ; and that although I mail often ufe the word Commons as more intelligible to Englifh ears, yet it is not the proper technical French term. It is certain that the Nobles and Clergy compofed the General AiTembly long before the Commons were admitted under the name of Tiers-Etat or Third EJlate. The firil clear evidence of the admiffion of the Commons is in the reign of Philip le Bel, about the year 1301. The original rulers of Europe, after the deiiru&ion of the Roman Empire, were in- dependent foldiers, who held lands by the tenure of military fervice performed to a chief whom they elected, and whom they obeyed no farther than fuited their own B 4 con " 8 Historical sketch of the convenience. From this root are derived, even to this day, ^our European ideas of no- bility. Mirabeau has told us in a pamphlet called " A Letter to theBifhop of Langres," that Kings created Nobility. The contrary pofition is the truth. Nobles firjl elected Kings : take as an in fiance the form of inauguration of the old Kings of Arragon by their Nobility ; " We that are your equals, " chufe you for our King, on condition " that you maintain our Rights." The ages of this military ariftocracy bear the name of feudal times, and were fo fruit- ful in violence and diforder, that fome cor- rective quickly grew neceflary. The clergy profiting by the religious fears of their mailers, were foon admitted to a mare in their Legislative AfTemblies. The elec- tive chief grew infenfibly into hereditary abfolute Kings, whilft their turbulent No- bles deeply felt that regal power was an in- vafion of their ancient independence. The Kings, jealous of Nobility, endeavoured to raife the people from that oppreflion in which merchants, farmers, artifans, had long been held by a haughty and victorious fill- FRENCH REVOLUTION. Q fbldiery ; and to Kings in moft countries (though perhaps not in England) is owing the firit admifiion of the Commons into Legillative AfTemblies. But throughout Europe the idea remained fixed in the breafts of the Nobles, that they were as the parent ftock from whence all other power was derived, and whenever they did meet in general AfTemblies, a diftinguifhed and an independent fhare in the government was al- ways claimed on their fide, and ceded by the other branches of fociety. Such a form of government and fuch prejudices cannot, perhaps, be juftified by the ftricl: rules of philofophy, but the error (if it be one) has prevailed from the Euxine to the Atlantic, from the fhores of the Mediterranean to the limits of the Polar Circle. Therefore I con- fefs it to be my general fyftem, that the Revolution of France, which aims at once to extirpate this wide-extended prejudice from the minds of Frenchmen, nay of Europeans, is a moft rafh, precipitate, and dangerous meafure. Philofophers mould have been contented at firft with the extirpation of defpotifm ; and in thefe days of commerce, expence, debt, credit, and paper-money, No- IO HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Nobility would foon have defcended quietly to its proper level. That Conftitution of three independent chambers who have each (to ufe an ancient word new vamped up) a veto on each other, that Conftitution fo detefted by the French and vilified as a political monfter, is or has been the conftitution of almoft every coun- try in Europe, even of thofe that hitherto had thought they enjoyed freedom. I am far from beftowing-praife on fo complicated a government, but I muft doubt whether it was lawful to overturn it by calumny, fedi- tion, rapine, and murder, for the fake of eftablifhing a Conftitution of very dubious tendency. Four vetas (including the royal veto) are certainly too many, but a Confti- tution fo fimple as to admit of no veto is thought by many to be much worfe, and by none more fo, than by the author of the 44 EfTais Hiftoriques," that vehement enemy of Clergy and Nobles : he fays,* " What- *' ever be the Conftitution of the political l * body, that machine ftands in need of a * Efiais I lift. vol. ii. p. 212, " rcgu- FRENCH REVOLUTION. ll * regulator which may check the rapidity " of its motion and maintain an equilibri- " urn between all its parts." He reafons afterwards for fixteen pages upon this idea, and juftifles the French Parlemens, or Courts of Law, for ufurping this neceflary office of a regulator, when it could not be exercifed by any other body of men. Emboldened by this example, I (hall ufe fometimes the word regulator and fometimes veto to ex- prefs the fame idea, for the fake of their conciienefs. England has happily efcaped without convulfions from this multiplicity of vetos, and reduced its Legiilative AfTembly into two diftincl: portions. But even here that phrafe confecrated in our law, that the Parliament is the * reprefentative of all the ejlates in the kingdom, reminds us of a time when there were Three Ejlates in England as well as other countries. That day, whenever it was, on which the Bifhops defcended from their independent pretentions and fat along with the Barons in the King's Great Council ; * See it lately ufcd in the vote on the Regency, Dec. 16th, 1788. that 12 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE that day ftill more important and ftill more obfeure, when the leffer Nobles, or Gentry, condefcended to become the reprefentatives of the boroughs ; thofe days, if they could be remembered, would more deferve to be celebrated by jubilees than the Revolution it- felf ; for to them it is owing that we have been able to attain a free Conftitution, with- out fowing the feeds of perpetual hatred be- tween the defcendents or reprefentatives of thofe clafTes into which fociety was divided during the feudal times. England was at different periods fo dif- fracted by civil commotions, arifing from a difputed fuccefiion, or from religious opi- nions, that it has gained the reputation of a turbulent country. But it is a fingular fact not enough obferved by fome hiftorians, that many of thofe great changes which have drenched and may again drench Europe in blood, have taken place in England iilently and imperceptibly. There is but one fhort inftance of a direct levelling infurreftion, that of Wat Tyler in the, FRENCH REVOLUTION* j the reign of Richard II.* From that period to the days of Elizabeth, the (la very of the peafants, commonly called Villainage, was extinguifhed little by little with the free confent of their mailers, and fo far from being repealed by exprefs law, the old fta- tutes relative to Villainage ftill remain in our law books, but happily there are no perfons to whom they apply. The final renunciation of the clergy to the important right of taxing themfelves in convocation, and their acceptance in its ftead of the right of voting for knights of the fhire, was ad- jufted fo very filendy indeed after the Reflo- ration, that fome have doubted whether it ever received the exprefs fanction of the legiflature. The gradual progrefs of that mixture of the different ranks of fociety which diftin- guiiTies England from moll: other European kingdoms, has been difcufled both by M. de Lolme and Dr. Miller ; and to their works the reader mould apply. Perhaps the for- * The revolt of Jack Cade was a political contrivance of the Houfe of York, mer 14 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TH& mer lays a little too much ftrefs on the ty- ranny of William the Conqueror, which forced the barons to pay court to the people, and Dr. Miller, on the other hand, has too much excluded it from his fyftem. From thefe premifes I would infer that Mr. Burke has not enough confidered the obftacles that lay in the way of the French nation before they could have given them- felves a Britijfj Conjlitution, ariiing from the rooted antipathies and prejudices of different claries of citizens, which acted flrongly upon French minds and lefs forcibly upon Eng- lim ones. But I agree with him, that they might have fabricated a better machine even from the bad materials which lay before them, and above all, that their Constitution need not have refembled a watch without a regulator. I fomewhat differ from Mr. Burke in the very fevere ceniure which he paries on their fingular mode of reprefentation, in which the body of the people are no otherwife concerned than to chufe electors, who have abfolute power to chufe the people's repre- fentatives. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 15 fentatives. It is certainly liable to this great defect, that the deputy hardly knows whether he is properly anfwerable to his immediate or his remote conftituents ; but it might, with * lome additional precautions, be made a barrier againfl that venality which has hitherto dilgraced all popular re- preientation, and it feems a neceffary bar- rier againft that excefs of democratic prin- ciple which in general pervades the French ConfUtution. But it is fbmewhat ftrange that neither Mr. Burke nor Dr. Price mould have difcovered, that this reprefentation fo vilified by the firft, fo admired by the laft, is no new invention of modern philofo- phers, but the ancient mode of Eleftion ufed in France, at leaft fince the days of Charles the VIII. For my authority I fhall again quote the Eflais Hiltoriques, -f which were published before the prefent States General were elected : * Perhaps it would be neceflary to fliut up ele&ors as foon as chofen, in the fame manner as jury-men. f Vol. ii. p. 189. " This j6 historical sketch of the " This is the manner in which the elec- u tions of deputies are generally fpeaking " carried on in France, for there are in fome " places trifling variations which it would " be tedious to relate. " At the end of high mafs or of vefpers " the Procureur Fabriclen, ( N. B. the *' French names of offices muft be retained, 66 for we have no precife equivalent) af- " fembles in the church all the inhabitants " of the pari(h, and the king's letter of con- " vocation is read to them. " The afTembly elecTs one or two depu- " ties, and they draw up the Cahier, or me- ' morial of grievances. Every peafant, " every individual in the afTembly has a " right to mention whatever he diflikes, and " whatever he wifhes to fee reformed, and " the memorial of each parilh is compiled 44 from all thefe feparate obfervations. " The deputy chofen by the parifh goes " on the appointed day to the court of the " judge, to whole jurifJiflion his oarifh be- " long . lie Has a right to be attended by " the FRENCH REVOLUTIONS *' the notary and Proctireur Fifcal of his " parifh, in order that tbefe men, lefs ig* " norant than himfelf, may, if it be necef- " fary, fpeak in his name, and fupport the " rights of his conftituents ; they may be " called the deputies affeffors and cannot 16 give their votes. This deputy finds at *' the court of his judge or Bailli, all the ** other deputies of the parifhes who belong " to the fame jurifdidtion ; he alfo finds u all the ecclefiaftics and all the gentlemen " who inhabit within the limits of the fame 11 jurifdi&ion. " The Bailli reads to them all, the king's 11 letter of convocation. The ecclefiaftics " claim their right to form afeparate cham- " ber to proceed to the election of their de- " puty, and draw up their memorial : the " gentlemen make the fame demand, and " the Bailli grants it. From this moment " the three orders are divided into three *' different chambers. The Bailli aflifts at 66 the election of the ecclefiaftics, his lieu- " tenant at that of the gentlemen, another " judge at that of the commons. C " The l5 HITORICAL SKETCH OF THE " The deputies of all thefe parifhes eledl: " a new deputy, who may be confidered as " the general reprefentative of all the pa- " rimes of that particular jurifdidtion. From " the feparate Cajbiers or memorials of " thefe parishes is formed a general raemo- " rial for the whole of the jurifdiction. So !* here is for one jurifdiction, three depu- " ties, and three memorials, that is to fay, " one for each order. " The three deputies carry feparately " the memorial of their refpeclive orders " to the Great Bailliage to which their re- M fpective jurifdiclion belongs* At the " great Bailliage they meet the three de- " puties of each of its iubordinate jurif- HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE confequence to enumerate the crimes of the dead ; bu: the impreffion left on the minds of furTerers, was too deep to be eafily era- dicated. The latter years of the reign of Louis XV. were, from his own weak and fenfual conduct, and from the violent actions of his Minifters, regarded with a mingled fenfa- tion of detefbtion and ridicule. He died, unlamented, in 1774, and was fucceeded by the prefent Lewis XVJ. his grandibn, fcarce 20 years of age, improperly educated, but pofiefled of an excellent heart ; and a head, not incapable of application, but, unhappily, incapable of fleadinefs and perfeverance. The young King gained an early popularity, by recalling the Parlemens banimed by his grandfather, and by the averfion which he Ihewed to vice and expenfive follies ; but he did not fufficiently reitrain the vices or fol- lies of his courtiers, his brothers, and his Queen. Mr. Burke might have cenfured the ferocity with which the Queen has been treated, without having become the declared knight errant of a Princefs, decried not only by one fingle calumniating pamphlet, written FRENCH REVOLUTION. 31 written by the * infamous La Motte, but by the general voice of France and of all Europe, till her misfortunes, and the courage with which me has fupported them, have re- deemed fome part of her loft character, and made impartial fpectators willing to believe, that her faults were greatly aggravated by the fpirit of party. The author of the Sketch of the lajl Ten Tears has defcribed fo truly the opinions entertained of the private characters of the King, the Queen, her fa- vourites, the Polignacs, the Count of Artois, and the Duke of Orleans, that it is urmecef- fary to affume the talk fo painful to a libe- ral mind of repeating tales of private fcan- dal. In 1777, the King fuffered himfelf to be led into the treaty with America, and the fubfequent war with England; by which the mercantile part of the nation expected to gain millions of money; a (peculation in which they have been difappointed. That war with England is j uftified in the + In- * See Burke's Pamphlet, page 124. f-Page 18. traduction 32 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE traduction to a very democratic book called! Me moires de la Revolution, as " un Coup de ** politique precieux et hardi ; a valuable and M and bold ftroke of policy, which dimi- " ni(hed by at leait one third the refources, " power, and ftrength, of a molt formida- 46 ble neighbour." Let England remember with what enmity democraties can write! The expences of the American war, joined to the debts of his brothers, which the King was weak enough to pay, exhaufted the public treafury. Neckar was put at its head ; his aim was popularity ; he avoided the odium of new taxes, he made loans, and trufted the payment of their intereft. to the uncertain refources of economy. He pub- liuSed his famous Compte rendu, in which he pretends to demonftrate, that under his adminiitration, the revenues of the State furpaflcd its expences. It has long been a difpute whether that book contained truths or errors, and whether its author was an able Statefman, or an empiric in politics. Opinion now inclines to the latter fide ; but, at leait, there remains to Neckar the repu- tation of an honeft man, which is only dis- puted FRENCH REVOLUTION. ** puted by a few bigots to the oppofite herefes of defpotifm and democracy. He was iacrificed chiefly to the jealoufy of the Parlemens, who feared his fcheme of provincial adminijlratiom ; but it was fup- pofed that his fall was haftened by the re- train ts he endeavoured to impofe on the prodigality of the Queen and the Comte d'Artois. From that moment they became the objects of popular averfion ; and Necker was regretted as another Sully. Fleury and d'Ormeflbn, who fucceeded him, could not gain the public confidence ; and Calonne, who fucceeded d'Ormeflbn in 1783, was univerfally difliked, except by courtiers. His character is thus drawn in the Hijloire de la Revolution : * " A man who dilapidated his " own patrimony a man inconiiderate by " character, immoral upon principle; who, * ; grown old amidft amorous and courtly u intrigues, loaded alike with debts and " with infamy, came to devour the finances " inflead of adminijlering them." * Page 18. D I tranflate 34 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE I tranflate this character, becaufe it holds out an awful leflbn to princes, and affords a fr.rik.ing proof, that a man of pleafure, a man of expence, will never be trufted as a ftatef- man. Of all the crimes charged upon M. de Calonne, none have yet been proved, but that kind of immoral life, which by courtefey of England, is called a gay life, and that in- dulgence to his friends, which, by a fimilar courtefey, adopts the name of good nature; but thefe have fufficed to make him uni- verfally hated. Calonne, for a few years, nattered the nation with promifing accounts of its fitua- tion, till in the year 1787, the King, by his advice, convened an aflembly of Notables. The Notables were certain members of the three eftates, named expreflly by the King, and not by the free choice of their refpedtivc orders; they had ever been confidered in France as a legal aflembly, though not equal in authority to the States-General. To this aflembly Calonne difclofed the fatal truth, that the expences of the State furpafled its revenues by near ioo millions of FRENCH REVOLUTION. 55 of livres, and that the national debt had in- deed been funded, but that there was no money to pay the intereft of the loans. Necker's Comte rendu.) was at that time imiverfally credited ; and the aftonifhing con- trafl ftruck the moft infenfible with horror. It was quickly fpread abroad that Calonnej the Polignacs, the Queen, and the Comte d'Artois, had fpent that immenfe fum in the gratification of their vices. ' The vafl expences of the Englifh war, fubfequent to Necker's difmiffionj were forgotten ; becaufe the people knew that War to be their own choice, and did not Care to take any part of the blame on themfelves, when two or three faulty characters were at hand to bear the whole difgraceful burden. Here began the firft, injuftice of the people, and the firft. fatal miftake of the Nobles quickly followed* Calonne prdpofed certain taxes to fupply the deficit \ and alfo propofcd the reforma- tion of certain unpopular abufes. But every fcheme that came from his odious fuggeftion was difliked ; and the Nobles objected to his D 2 propofed 36 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE propofcd territorial tax, becaufe their lanck had hitherto been almoft exempted from taxes. In (hewing; lome unwillingniefs to contribute their fhare of expence, they imi- tated the example of the Nobles of Denmark in 1660, and they have fuftered accor- dingly. Between the Nobles, the Clergy, and Calon ne's other enemies, a party was formed, who compelled the King to difmifs him. M. de Brienne, Archbifhop of Tou- loufe, (now Archbifhop of Sens) took his place, and loon made himfelf more detefled than all his predeceffors. He too was a man of pleafure, and diftinguimed at Court by his intriguing temper. He propofed taxes very fimilar to thofe of Caloimc ; the Notables artfully excufed themfelves from the unpopularity of palling them, becaufe they were not the Reprefen- tatives of the Nation. The Notables were peaceably difmifled, the edicts were fent to the Parlement of Paris, who, for the fi rft time in the courfc Lges, declared themfelves incompetent to 1 - .- taxes, and demanded a meeting of the FRENCH REVOLUTION. ^7 the States-General. The angry Minifter banifhed the Parlement to Tours, then, ter- rified by the popular fury, recalled them, only to enter into new quarrels, and gave hopes of the States-General without con- voking them. He and the Garde des Sceaux, M. deLamoignon, concerted apian of reform of civil and criminal jurifpru- dence, which they hoped would become popular ; and a plan of a new body, com* pofed chiefly of Peers and great Officers of State, who, under the name of Cour Pie- mere, mould regifter edicts inftead of the Parlement. The latter fcheme was de- tefted, the former was difregarded, the King was feduced into the meafure of ba- nishing the Duke of Orleans, and impri- foningMonfieurs d'Eprefmemil and Goelard, who were feized in the midfr, of the Parle- ment. This was the nrfl palpable act of defpotifm which had itained his reign, and mod of the misfortunes that have followed may be traced to this original. The Gentlemen of Brittany now threat- ened a rebellion, public credit began to fail, the city of Paris grew riotous, the Arch- D 3 bifhop, 3$ HISTORICAL SKETCH OF, THE bifhop, in the fummer of 1788, was terr> fied into resignation, and advifed the King to recall M. Necker, who was received with "univerfal joy, and who decisively fixed the meeting of the States-General for April 1789. The dawn of liberty now appeared in France, after a night that had lafted for ages ; but it was inftantly overclouded by ftorms and tempefts, which did not take their rife from the atmofphere of a Court, but from the fermentation kindled and dif- fufed through every part of the nation. If the three orders of Clergy, Nobles, and People, had remembered the mifchief and flavery produced by their ancient quarrels, had mutually agreed to give up a few points to each other, and to form a conftitution that mould defend them in future from Kings and Minifters they would have fet an example that might, indeed, have fired and illuminated all Europe, and England might, perhaps, have blufhed to fee herfelf outdone. Inftead of fuch noble behaviour, they immediately broke out into quarrels, and FRENCH REVOLUTION. go and though all fides have deferved cenfure, yet it feems to me that the firft marks of obftinate violence were given by the people. It cannot be denied, that the Commons had feveral juft caufes of complaint againft the Nobles, but they openly mewed a dif- pofition to redrefs their grievances by force rather than by gentle means. Their com- plaints may be ranked under the following heads : i ft. The Clergy and Nobles were ex- empted from fome taxes paid by the People, particularly the land-tax called faille, which, from the oppreflive mode of levying it, was confidered as a great and unequal burden. On this account they were called the privi- ledgecf clafles Clajfes Privilegies. They had fatally fhewn, in 1787, a difinclina- tion to abandon their pecuniary exemptions ; they were now beginning to repent of their error, but repentance did not come in time to fave them from punifhment. 2dly. The eftates of the Nobles were ftill, ia fome meafure, governed by the D 4 feudal 40 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE feudal fyftem. Vajfalage was abolished in the greateft part of France, but it fubnfled under the name of Droit de Maln-morte in Franche- Comte and a few other places : but there were rents paid in fome places by the pea- fants, as a compenfation to their lords for having abolimed vaffalage ages ago ; and mo- dern philofophy had taught, that it was a grievous oppreffion to pay a price for the enjoyment of the rights of men. There were alfo many different kinds of feudal iervices or rents paid to compenfate for them, which were very liable to be abufed, but which many Gentilbommes y of fmall fortunes, thought they could not give up without ruining their families. I truft that every difpaflionate Englishman will acknowledge, that this was a wound in the common- wealth which ought to be touched vVith a mofr. delicate hand, becaufe it affected the rights of property. Would it be jufr, would it be even popular in England to abolifh at once all the prerogatives of the Lords of the Manor, with a whole train of barbarous phrafes, Courts-Baron, Courts-Leet, He- riots, Deodands, all derived from Gothic legifla- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 41 legislation, and which poffibly may befome- s abufed ? No doubt the abufes were much greater in France, from the refentment exprefled againfl them by the People ; but thofe abufes will not overturn my principle, that it required a long term of years and many fucceffive States-General to have gradually abolished thefe evils, and enriched the tenant without impoverishing the landlord. If I may prefume to offer my opinion, as the nation gradually became more wealthy, the States General might have fet apart an- nually a portion of the public treafure to buy up and extinguim thefe latent caufes of dif- content between the Nobles and the People, and have beitowed marks of distinction on thofe who relinquished them voluntarily. In the prefent moment, when each fide was aSIerting exorbitant pretenfions, one fet of writings made thefe tenures fo odious, that the Nobles thought their intereir. obliged them to declare, that they held all the feudal rights to be inviolable property, and thus their 42 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE their unpopularity was considerably aug- mented. 3dly. A more unjuft though a more la- tent hardfhip had been gradually increaling, even within the lair, hundred years. It had been the policy of Richlieu, and of Lewis the XlVth. to draw the Nobility and even the Gentry from their own eftates, to attend on the perfon of their Sovereign. This po- licy carried too far, had made the Noble? fpend all the money, drawn from their country tenants, at Paris and at Verfailles. Being excluded from all profeflions but the military, and continually engaged in the pleafures of an expenfive Court, they were unable to fupport themfelves without the favors of that Court, which were difpenfed in penfions to the great families, and in mi- litary rank to the inferior gentlemen. It had not been originally the wi(h of the French Kings to employ none but Nobles : the Due de St. Simon blames Lewis the XlVth. for being jealous of the very ancient families, and chufing his Miniiters of State amongft men of inferior birth. But the in- fluence of folicitation and intrigue had too much FRENCH REVOLUTION. 43 much in the laft reign confined all military and naval preferment to the clafs of Gentile hommes. The Parkmem, who boafted a Nobility of their own, had in fome places attempted a regulation of admitting none but Gentilhommes into their body, which excited even ftill greater odium. Thefe grievances, which were founded upon temporary regulations and not upon poiitive law, would eafily have been redref- fed, and many words need not be fpent on the fubjecl:. Preferment would have fhowered down upon the Third Eftate, from the moment that they had become of politi- cal importance. But no political importancce could fatisfy the Commons, fo long as the Nobles and Clergy enjoyed any importance feparate from theirs ; nor could they devife any means of redreffing their grievances, but by forcing thofe two claffes to amalgamate (if I may ufe the word) entirely with their own. This fyftem acquired new credit from the abilities and virtues of M. Mounier, a native of Dau- phine, a Member of the Tiers-Etat, pro- bably 44 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE bably bred to the iaw, and Secretary to the new-formed States of Dauphine. He be- came a principal inftrument, and at laft a confeientious victim of the French Revo- lution. The work called L'Ami du Roi et des Francois, too partial to the old government, is compelled, by truth, thus to praife the man whom yet it wifhes to condemn : After defcribing the felfifh ambition of Mirabeau, he fays, *** M. Mounier brought * c alfb his plan of government to the Af- ** fembly, but that plan was his own work, M the work of an unfpotted foul, and of a " noble genius ; it was virtue which had " formed this brilliant dream, and it was " by virtuous means alone that Mounier " intended to realife it." This brilliant dream confilted partly in confolidating the Three Orders into One by common confent ; and he had the aftonim- ing fuccefs to execute it in the States of Dauphine, which had been permitted to * Ami du Roi. Fagc 56. meet FRENCH REVOLUTION. ijj meet after a very long ceffation. Proud of this glorious victory, he advanced boldly to the new field of battle, and thought he could conquer prejudice by the mere force of reafon, in a great kingdom as well as in a fmall province. His future difappoint- ment affords a moil: awful warning to all fpeculative politicians. He might have very loon obferved an omen of that difappointment : the Province of Brittany had always enjoyed a little more freedom than the reft of France. The Tiers- Etat now grew difcontented, and demanded that their States mould be altered after the model of Dauphine. The Gentlemen who probably thought that this was a bad reward for their oppofition to M. de Brienne's ty- ranny, obftinately refufed to comply, and claimed the conflitution which had exifted from time immemorial. During the whole fpring of 1789, Brittany was almofr. in a ftate of civil war. Mourner's principal work is entitled, " Nouvelles Obfervationes fur les Etats^ " Generaux ;" it contains an hiftorical ac- count 46 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE count of the old States-General, and hte outlines of a plan for a new conftitution. In the firft part he endeavours to mew that* in fbmeof the earlier meetings of the States > and particularly in that of 1784, the Orders of Clergy, Nobility, and People, fat and voted in one houfe. Unluckily, the anony- mous author of the Effais Hiftoriques, wri- ting on the fame fide, aflumes quite diffe- rent premifes, aflerting, that none of the ancient States had voted in one AfTembly, and therefore none of them had ever done good. No Englishman, and very few French* men, are competent to the decinon of this queftion. If I could venture to offer a very doubtful opinion, it would be, that in the ancient States-General, the Orders delibe- rated feparately, but that the Cahier, or Me- morial of Grievances, was prefented in their joint names. Whatever be the truth of this obfcure point, it is allowed on all hands, that the five States-General between 1484 and 1614, fit and voted in three feparate houfes ; and this, faid the partizans of the Clergy and Nobility, is fufficient to give thofe FRENCH REVOLUTION. 47 thofe Orders the right of pofleflion in this valuable privilege. The plan of government explained by Moimier in the conclufion of his pamphlet, confifts of a total amalgamation of the Three Orders into One, and a Houfe of Reprefen- fatives chofen, not by feparate clafles, but by all the citizens at large, aimoft as it is now decreed, but with this difference, that he had no intention to abolifh hereditary titular honors. The firft States- General he thinks mould only confift of one Houfe of Reprefentatives, becaufe a fingle Aflembly is beft fitted to eftablifh a conftitution which might be loft in the endlefs difputes between two Houfes. But a constitution, he adds, muft be pre- ferved by different means from thofe by which it is eftablifhed. Therefore, in all future States-General, there muft be an Upper Houfe to defend Monarchy againft the inroads of feditious leaders of faction. This Upper Houfe he, indeed, compofes in a very Ariftocratic ftile the Princes of the Blood, the Chancellors of France, a certain number of 48 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE of the Pairs, (we have feen their pretentions to a (hare in the government), fome Mar- fhals of France, fome Deputies from the Supreme Courts of Juflice, were to be its principal members. He defires, in a note, that his enemies will not compare his Upper Houie with the Cour Pleniere of M. de Briennc. Unfortunately, they were a little alike in their compontion, though not in their functions, and that was furficient to throw all the unpopularity of the one upon the other. Add to this, the jealoufy before- mentioned of the lefler Nobles or Gentry againit, the Dukes and Peers of France. But, fuppoiing that thefe particular obftacles had notexiited, there were frill three leadincr queftions which Mounier (like rnoft men of bright parts) had never itaid to aik himfelf. lit. Although the amalgamation of the Three Orders into the fmgle clafs of fellow- citizens of one great empire, be in itfelf a very defirable mcafure, yet if it cannot be accomplished without offering violence to one or two branches of the legiflature, and (hocking the prejudices of thoufands, nay of hun- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 43 hundreds of thoufands, may it not be at- tended with evils little inferior to thofe which France now endures. 2dly. Although one AfTembly will more eafily fettle a conftitution than three, is it quite fo certain that it will alfo fettle it in a manner that moderate men will deem equita- ble ? After it has tatted the fweets of un- reftrained dominion, will it confent to fhackle its fucceflbrs, by creating a new and balancing power in the State ? And is it not likely that a great many heads will never comprehend the diftinttion between the AJfembly that creates, and the AfTembly that preferves a conftitution ? 3dly.* Suppofmg the AfTembly mould agree to reflrain its fucceflbrs, who will en- fure us that any Royal prerogatives will be left for this fubfequent Upper Houfe to watch over and preferve ? Who is there that fhall hinder this iingle Aflembly, this fingle Power which can devour every thing, (as Lally Tolendal called it when too late) from removing. all the old landmarks of pro- perty, and overwhelming the King, the E Princes 50 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Princes of the Blood, the Peers, and the Parlemens, in one general ruin. But it is needlefs to make remarks upon afa/ry vljion that never could be realized. I have given an abftract of Mourner' s work as an abftract of the general principles of the popular authors of that, period, when they hoped the King would join them againfr. the Nobles, and therefore inveighed frrongly again!! feudal ariftocracy, and were very indulgent towards regal power. Two great queltions were now at hTue between the three clafles, and the King's abfolute authority was appealed to by all par- ties to determine them. The firfl and the leading queftion was this ; Are the Deputies of the three Orders of the State to meet together in one afTembly, in which all the concentrated power of the States-General mail rcfide ? or fhall they be divided, as m 1614, into three chambers, through each of which a refolution mufl be car- FRENCH REVOLUTION. r X carried before it becomes the acknowledged will of the States ? The firft of thefe alter- natives was called, for concifenefs, voting by heads, " voter par tetes ;" the other, voting by orders, " voter par ordres." The fecond and relative queftion was as follows : Shall the number of the Deputies from each Order be the fame as in 1614, that is, nearly three hundred from the Clergy, about as many from the Nobles, and as many from the Third Eftate ? or fhall the Third Eftate fend fix hundred Deputies, whilft the Clergy and Nobles fend, as before, about, three hundred Deputies each ? This latter al- ternative was called, the Double Reprefen- tation of the People. Upon the decifion of this queftion de- pended the value and benefit of the other queftion to the Third Eftate. It was un- happily laid down by all the popular writers, that the three Eftates met to quarrel and to fubdue one another before they fubdued def- potifm. It was alfo taken for granted, that the Clergy and Nobility being " privileged E 2, " clafcs," 52 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE " clajfes" would moftly ftand together; and, therefore, if each Order fent three hun- dred, the Commons would have only three hundred votes againit nearly fix hundred votes, and then it would be lefs difadvan- tageous for the People if the Orders voted in feparate chambers as in 1614. But, on the other hand, if the double reprefeniat'wn was allowed, the Commons would have fix hundred votes as;ainir the three hundred of each feparate Order, and would be equal to the two other Orders joined. The voting by heads, viz. in one confolidated aflembly, would then decide the vi&bry for the Com- mons, becaufe it was expected that all their members would hold together, and that fome of the Curates would join them. Necker, (killed in finance and political ceconomy, has proved himfelf unequal to the greater tafk of political legiflation. He was embamfTed with thefe unexpected dif- ficulties, and yet does not feem to have been aware of the dreadful confequences which might reiult from them. His own opinion, as to the firfr qucfiion, feems never to have been thoroughly decided ; he inclined to the voting FRENCH REVOLUTION. 53 voting by heads , but yet was unwilling to compel it by arbitrary power. As to the fecond queftion, he was more decided on the popular fide. The Parlement of Paris early declared it- felf for the principle of convoking the States- General according to the regulations of 1 6 14, and by that circumftance loft, in the heated minds of the Commons, all the popularity that it had gained by its refiftance to M. de Brienne. M. d'Eprefmefhil, efpe- cially, was confidered, from that moment, as the tool of Ariftocracy, and no longer as the martyr of Freedom. The Comte d'Artois, the Princes of Conde and of Conti, (who now went by the name of the Triumvirate) declared them- felves flrongly for the pretenfions of the Nobles, and prefented a Memoir to the King, in which the pretenfions of the Third Eftate were not treated with fufficient re- fpect, although they declared themfelves willing to confent to an equalization of taxes, but as a matter of favor rather than of right. The Comte d'Artois probably thought that E 3 two 54 Historical sketch of the two hundred thoufand Gentilhommes, (for at that number they are in general reckoned Up both by friends and by foes) trained to arms, would probably get the better in the event of a civil war, and therefore thought he mould acquire the popularity of fuccefs. But the idea was fo univerfally imprefied, that his profligate life had, in great meafure, occafioned the diftrefies of France, that his name carried along with it a fort of poifonous infection. The Duke of Orleans, in no wife fuperior to him in purity of morals or in general eftcem, yet, as he had never been iuppofed to receive money from the public treafury, had now an opening to regain po- pularity, which his friends taught him how to employ. He declared for the 'Third FJlate, fcattered money amongft the poor of Paris, and became, for a time, le Roi des Holies, as De-Rets calls the Due de Beau- fort. (In Englifh we might term it, the King of Billing/gate.') The Dukes and Peers, glad of the oppor- tunity to take fome mare in public affairs, addrcflcd a letter to the King, in which they intreated him to receive their folemn refo- lution : French revolution. 55 Jution : " Voeu folemnel, to fupport all " public taxes and charges, in the juit pro- " portion of their fortunes, without any u pecuniary exemption whatever ;" and doubted not but thele fentiments would be exprefled by all the other gentlemen in the kingdom. The Parlement of Paris wifhing to recover the affection of the People, about the begin- ing of December 1788, affembled in great formality, inviting the Princes and the Peers (which was always a mark of fome important intention) and published a refolu- tion, intitled, " Arretefur la Situation attu- elle de la Nation" which was fuppofed to be dictated by M. d'Eprefmefnil. It traces a general outline of French Liberty, and declares, that no AJJembly could truly be called National, if certain eflential points were not granted to the nation, namely, The periodical return of the States- General no fubiidy to be allowed under any pretence, if it was not granted by the States ; no law to be executed by the Courts of Juftice if the States had not contented to it : the fup- preffion of all thofe taxes that marked a dif- E 4 tinlion 56 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE tinction between the Orders, and their re- placement by common fubfidies equally impofed on all : the refponfibility of Minif- ters : the right of the States-General to bring accufations before the Courts of Jus- tice for crimes that intereft the whole nation : the protection of the liberty of citizens, by obliging every man detained in a Royal prifon, to be put into the hands of his natu- ral judges : and laftly ; the lawful freedom of the Prefs.* I believe molt. Ensrlifhmen will think that here was a fair opening towards a plan of liberty, and that fuch a plan coming from a body which had but lately appeared fo highly refpered, would have been received with fome degree of gratitude, and have become a fbmdard to guide honelt and moderate men : Not in the leaft ! No body liked this plan : and virulent pamphlets againfr, the Parlement went on as much as ever. My readers muff, here be informed, that as the places of Judges in thefe Parlemens * Sec I' Ami du Roi, pnges 28 and 2 j . were FRENCH REVOLUTION. CJ were mofl frequently confidered as heredi- tary from father to fon, the pleading lawyers could not eafily obtain them, and had, there- fore, formed a powerful phalanx, deter- mined to ruin the old courts of juflice in the minds of the people. Some cafes, in which accufed perfons had been condemned to death without fufficient evidence, had gi- ven occafion to juit, complaints ; but on the other hand, the popular lawyers advanced principles which would make it almofl: im- poflible to convict criminals. One of thele principles was, that the perfons actually in- jured by any crime, muit only be allowed to bring their complaint, and not to give their evidence on the trial.* To explain this to Englifhmen, by a familiar inftance, none of the women, fuppofed to have been flabbed by Ren wick Williams, ought to have ap- peared at the bar, or fworn to the identity of his perfon. I have referved to this place a remark- able pafTage of Mounier, in which he lays * See the Plaidoyers of M. Dupaty, in favor of three men condemned to the wheel for a fuppofed burglary. down 58 HISTORICAL SKETCH Or THE down the following opinion " Let tis " fuppofe, that in the enfuing States-Gene- " ral patriotifm had flrength enough to al- * low of fome u fef ul reforms, notwith- M ftanding the feparation of the three Or- " ders, I afTert, that if they did not profcribe " this feparation in future, it would be very u unhappy that they Jhould have produced any " advantages ; their inutility or their quar- " rels might have (hewn us our danger in " time; but their fuccefs would hide the *' precipice into which we were falling.*'* It appears, afterwards, that the precipice which he fears, is a military ariftocracy like that of Poland. I may venture to fay, that in the prefent ltate of Europe, when com- merce is as eflential as arms to the gran- deur of every nation, it would be impofliblc that an ariftocracy of military gentlemen mould rife to fuch a dangerous height; although it is difficult to abolilh it in a coun- try like Poland, where it has been the efta- blifhed government from time immemorial. * Sec Mourner's Xouvellcs Observations, page 254.. Let FRENCH REVOLUTION. $n Let my readers now compare this ftrong declaration of an individual, at that time very important, with the general contempt fhewn to the Arrett du Parkment, and judge whether it be true, as the author of Temperate Comments on Intemperate Reflections fuppofes, that the French would never have thrown themfelves into anarchy, if they could have efcaped defpotifm without it. To me it appears that liberty was rejected, nay, detefted by the French, if me did not come v drefled exactly in the garb in which me had been reprefented by their fpeculative philo- ibphers. Mourner has, indeed, become a martyr to his honed: obftinacy, for he has rejected a government more democratical than he wifhed, with the fame fcorn that he would have rejected a government more ariitocratical. Necker, in the mean time, overpowered with pamphlets, proteftations, and Arretes du Par/eme?it, could difcover no better re- fource than to aflemble the Notables, as Calonne had done before him. That affera- bly met in the months of November and December 1788, and terminated as unfor- tunately 60 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE tunately in the one cafe as in the other; for it decided, againft Necker's will, for the re- prefentation of 1 6 1 4, and yet added no real ftrength to the party which defired that re- prefentation, nor abated Necker's wiih to carry, at leaft, one of the two points in fa- vour of the people. His fingle influence, oppofed to the Notables, and oppofed, it is faid, to almoft all the other minifters, de- termined the King, in the beginning of Ja- nuary, 1789, to ifliie his decree, which granted to the Third Eftate the privilege of a double reprefentation, (about 600 members to the 300 of the other two eftates) but did not touch on the erYential queftion of one, two, or three chambers. Necker's Me- moire, * which finally determined the King, is not much more explicit, but hints, dis- tantly, at the poflibility of the union of the three Orders into one aflembly. It con- cludes in this remarkable manner : *' If this difference in the number of the " deputies of the Third Eftate ftiould become " a fubject., or a pretence of difcord ; if from * D; ' mber 27, 17S8. " private FRENCH REVOLUTION. Cl " private views there were perfons who " undertook to weary out the honourable " perfevcrance of your Majefty ; if your will, " Sire, is not fufficient to remove thofe " obftacles, I turn my eyes from fuch ideas ; " I cannot give them attention I cannot " believe them : but what advice could I " then give your Majefty ? One only ad- " vice, and it would be my laft facrifice " the minifter who has had the greatefl " fhare in this your deliberation.'* The friends of M. Necker applauded this peroration, as an adt of the moft exalted felf- relinquifhment, " un Devouement Sublime " his enemies called it a ridiculous piece of egotifm, and afked whether the removal of one fingle minifter could appeafe revolts or civil wars, arifmg from the jarring preten- lions of thoufands. Without entering: into any queftion perfonal to M. Necker, it is ap- parent that the King's decree tended to make the Third Eftate more ftrenuous in their pretenfion of confolidating the three cham- bers into one, becaufe it was now their evident intereft, and they might now hope to be fupported at Court, whilfl: yet it did not 6Z HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE not take away from the Clergy and No- bles one jot of their power or inclina- tion to oppofe this re-union, and there- fore was more calculated to increafe than to diminim the general confufion. I am apt to think it would have been better (as the popular party was willing to allow the King to be a temporary legiflator, " le- gijlateur provifoire"} if the queflion had been at once decided, and the Clergy and the No- bles had been commanded to lit and vote with the People : but it mufl be confefled that meafure prefented many difficulties and dangers ; they might have refufed to appear in the States, (as actually did happen in Brittany) and defied the King and Com- mons to make laws without them. By fbme paffages in F Ami du Rot, it mould feem that it would then have been the turn of the ariflocratic party to have talked of the facred obligations of a King's Coronation oath, which forbids him to infringe the rights of any clafs of people. On the other hand, the Third Eftate, it was feared, might have re- fufed to obey, if fummoned according to the regulation of 1 614. So inextricable were the difficulties ariling from factious violence. M. Ca- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 63 M. Calonne, in a letter addreffed to the King, unpopular, like every thing that falls from an unpopular pen, but deferving to be read with attention, *propofes as a plan of conciliation to unite the Nobles and Clergy into oneaflembly, like the upper houfe in Eng- land, leaving the Third Eftate by itfelf, un- der the name of Houfe of Commons. Lally Tolendal + gives his readers a fuller and a better project, though rather as the iuggeftion of fome worthy friends than as his own. It may be thus expreffed ; unite the Clergy and Nobility in one houfe, reduce the feats in this upper houfe to a number chofen amongft the Clergy by rotation, and in the clafs of Nobles chofen amongft the elder fons, or amongft the noble pofleflbrs of a given quantity of land; let all the other Nobles and Clergy be eligible for the Commons. We mould then, fays Lally, have had counterpoifes to every power; we mould Lettre auRoi, page 137. t Memoire de Lally Tolendal, pages 36 and 37. have 64 HITORICAL SKETCH OF THE have efcaped this (ingle power which de- vours every thing ; " cette force unique qui " devore tout'* We mould have had the government of England with a better repre- fentation of the Commons. (That better fyftem of reprefentation, I have proved that the French had already, and that they do not owe it to the prefent revolution.) Something like the foregoing project is hinted by M. Calonne, but not fufficiently developed. Calonne is mentioned by Mr. Mitford, at the end * of the fecond volume of his ex- cellent Hiftory of Greece, as the firft writer who has difcovered the principal fecret of the Britifh Conftitution, and the true caufc of that concord between the gentry and the people, that latent harmony which reconciles our moil: violent civil diflentions. But it * From page 671 to page 674. was FRENCH REVOLUTION. 6? was previoufly to Calonne defcribed by She- ridan in his * account of the Revolution of Sweden. To him, and to Mr. Mitford I re- fer the reader, as I mould only weaken their arguments by giving them in any language but their own. The difference between Eng- land and France muft, however, be fummed up in a few words. In England, the younger branches of noble families are mixed with the people ; and it is the ambi- tion of the elder branches to have them lit in the Houfe of Commons. In France there was no law which prohibited the Third EJiate from choofing a Gentllhomme for their repreientative, but an unhappy pre- judice had made it a matter of reproach, either for a Gentllhomme to offer himfelf, or for a body of popular electors to choofe him as one of the popular reprefentatives. Hence arofe that peculiar compofition of the Third Eftate, that great proportion of lawyers, at- tornies, phyficians, artifts, authors, which furprifes Mr. Burke, whilft the chamber of Nobles was full of private gentlemen, who * See pages 141, 142, and 143. F in 66 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE in England would fit in the Houfe of Com- mons as knights of the Shire.* D Whether any new regulations propofed by M. Necker could have prevented the fad effects of ancient prejudice, rauft ever remain uncertain ; but certain it is, that he fuggefted no laws, and took no precautions which could tend in any degree to promote a fpirit of harmony between the Three Eflates. In Dauphiny alone did that har- mony prevail ; but the united States of Dau- phiny fet an unfortunate example, which did almoft as much mifchief as the difcord which raged in other provinces.-]- They fent the deputies of Dauphiny to the States- General with pofitive inftructions to fecede if it was refolved to vote in three feparate Aflemblies, and not in one confolidated Af- fembly. it was pollible, which happily it is not, to taint Eng- lilh minds at once with French principles, it is not merely IIT King, our Nobility, our Clergy, it is our whole body of Country Gentlemen that would be ruined. f Particularly in Bretagne, Provence, and Franchecomte. The melancholy details may be fcen in the IHJl. de la Revo- lution, and in VAmi du Roi. Mou- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 67 Mounierin his works endeavours to defend this instruction, (which had probably been drawn up by himfelf) but the event has de- termined againft him, and has proved that the obftinate virtue of Mounier, and the ir- refolute yielding virtue of Necker, were equally hurtful to that monarchy which they meant to reform, and much to their own furprife, have overturned. What a me- lancholy reflection for men of virtue ! and what a difcouragement to attempt reforma- tions ! The Nobles were enraged at thefe in ftru&ionSj and rafhly determined to (hew a fimilar obftinacy. In a great number of their meetings, they repeated, the fame fatal order that their deputies fliould fecede, if the queftion was carried againft them to vote in one confolidated Aflembly, and they even bound their deputies by the folemn tie of an oath. This was evidently fending them to begin a civil war, rather than to form a new conftitution : the meetings of the Commons were afhamed of going quite {o far, but they repeated the moft pofitive F 3 orders 68 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE orders to their deputies to inuft on one con- folidated Aflembly. It is impofiible for any Englifhman to have ftudied four or five hundred inltruc- tions and memorials from as many elective Aflemblies, but if we may believe M. Ca- lonne in his Efat de la France, the inftruc- tions of the different Orders were all for a free Conjlitution, but for a Conftitution ef- fentially different from that which the Na- tional Aflembly has framed. He afferts, (and it may be collected even from Mounier and Lally*) that the mitru&ions of the Orders did not greatlv vary, except in that important point of one or three chambers, and in that other delicate queftion the fup- preffion of feudal rents and fervices. The worft enemies of Nobility have not yet brought to light any Cahier in which the Nobles infifted on their exclufive right to military and naval preferments, and feveral Cahlers had expreffly renounced their old pecuniary exemptions. * SccL. TJ. Memoutj page no. The FRENCH REVOLUTION. Og The democratical writer of FHlJlohc de la Revolution* is forced to own, that " the "Nobles and the Third Eftate wifhed' " equally to be free ;" but he accufes the Nobles of " wifhing to weaken the royal " power in order to raife a defpotic arifto- " cracy." He brings no direct proofs, however, of this accufation, and I cannot fee that it is defpotifm to defend the rights enfured to you by the eftablifhed laws of the land ; at woril it only fhews an obfti- nate unaccommodating fpirit. But it appears from Lally Tolendal that the violence with which the Commons, and the invectives which the popular writers poured againft Nobility, had foured the tempers of the Nobles, and made them apprehend thus early the total deftruction which has fince taken place. In Lally* s fpeech at the Af- fembly of Dourdan were thefe words :+ " You are deceived, noble citizens, by thofe " who tell you that the Third Eftate re- iC claims juflice only to be itfelf unjuft * Vol. i. page 144. t Memoire de Lally, page 13. F 3 " that 7 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE " that when your pecuniary privileges are w deftroyed, it will attack your honorary * prerogatives, and abolifh your dignities. " This good people, whofe defence I af- " fume, have not even the idea of fuch " impracticable exceffes." After quoting his own fpeech, he exclaims, " How cruel *' is the reflection that I did not utter one *' fentiment which was not juft ; and yet, " that I did not fpeak one word which is *' not belied by the event." The States had been fummoned for the 27th of April, and mod of the deputies were afTembled on that day at Verfailles ; but as the numerous deputation from Paris was not yet elected, the King deferred the opening of the States to the 4th of May. The factions who were thus brought to clam together from the different parts of the kingdom, were by this time pretty well JiftinguiiheJ, and ranged under their re- fpeclivc chiefs. They may be claifed un- der three great divijions, which were broken into other fmaller parties. 1 ft. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 7 I I ft. The ariftocratic party who were re- folded to fupport, at all hazards, the repara- tion of the States into three chambers, and the refpeclive veto of each chamber on th$ others. MefT. d'Eprefmefnil and Cazales led this party amongfr. the Nobles, and l'Abbe Maury amongfr. the Clergy, from his elo- quence though not from his rank, for he is univerfally agreed to be one of their mod able extejupore fpeakers ; a talent which few Frenchmen as yet poflefs. This party were fuppofed to be connected with the detefted party of the Comte d'Ar- tois, the Princes of Conde and Conti, the Polignacs, the Queen (influenced by the Polignacs who had long held iupreme af- cendency over her) and in fhort, all the courtiers whofe vices and expences were faid to have occafioned the misfortunes of the State. I myfelf believe that it was the violence of the Commons which drove the ariftocratics into this very augufi, but in the common opinion, very bad company: of ill is, however, every reader muir. judge for jr 4 him- 72 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE himfelf.* Not one member of the Third Eftate ventured to declare himfelf of this fa&ion. 2dly. The moderate or middle party, who though averfe to the diftinction of three fe- parate Orders, wifhed for a Britijh Conjlitu- tion, or as that phrafe implies a little Britijh vanity, let it be called a Conjiitution founded on the principle of reciprocal controui. Mou- nier led this party in the Third Eftate, and along with him M. Bergaffe, and M. Ma- louet, deputy from Auvergne. Lally To- lendal, ion to the famous and unfortunate Lally, and the Comte de Clermont-Ton- nerre led this party in the houfe of Nobles, and the Bifhop of Langres was its chief partifan amongft the clergy. The work called l'Ami du Roi, though it difapproves its principles, confiders it as a party formed moftly of virtuous men, and hints, that for that reafon it ever was and * A Letter lately publiflied from M. de Polignac, in which he complains of the contempt with which Cazales had mentioned him in a fpeech, comes in fupport of my con- jecture. ever FRENCH REVOLUTION. 73 ever would be the leaft numerous party * Whoever compares that courtly work with the oppofite letter of M. Depont to Mr. Burke, (taking its genuinenefs for granted) will find that the majority both on the courtly and popular fides, agreed in dif- liking a clofe imitation of the Britifh confti- tution. If the like prejudice mould appear in fome Englifh writers againit the new French inftitutions, their own example mould prevent Frenchmen and their ad- mirers from feverely condemning it. Of the five profefled adherents to the Briti/h principle of reciprocal controul^ Mounier and Lally are in exile, Clermont-Tonnerre, Ma- louet and the Bifhop of Langres, have only ftaid behind to experience repeated affronts and ill ufage. In the third place munV ftand the mod: confiderable and triumphant democratic party, whofe leaders are too numerous to recite. The Bifhop of Autun, and the cu- rate Gregoire amongft the Clergy, M. Cha- pciier, a lawyer deputed from Rennes, Bar- * Ami du Rois, page 56. nave, 74 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE nave, a Proteftant deputed from Dauphiny, Rabaud de St. Etienne, a Proteftant clergy- man deputed from Nimes, Pethion de Ville- neuve, Charles de Lameth, and Roberfpierre amongit the Commons, may be named as the principal. But it is private and feparatc views of a fubdivifion of this party led by the famous Mirabeau, that the royalifts at- tribute moit of the cruel fcenes which have difgraced the riling liberty of France. The hiftory of Mirabeau would of itfelf fill a volume, but I am not well acquainted with its detail, neither do I think that pri- vate libels are ufeful and inftructive. From his earlieft youth he was diftinguifhed by fuperior talents, and by the mod reftlefs turbulent fpirit. One of his enemies, Lally Tolendal, thus indirectly defcribes his con- duct and adventures, (in the Obfervations fur la Lettre du Comte de Mirabeau au Co- mite des Recherches.) " To the former * merit of M. de St. Prieft, M. de Mirabeau " proudly oppofes the Donjon of Vincennes, " and his long confinement in ftate-prifons. " Imprifonment may not bejing/y a proof of ** guilt, but it is certainly not Jmgly a proof " of FRENCH REVOLUTION. yj of virtue. No doubt a man may fay, I have been ace u fed, imprifoned, con- demned, and yet I was innocent, avid yet I never had left the path of virtue. But ftrange would be the reafoning of him who mould venture to fay Paternal re- fen tment fell heavy on my head, my wife call: me off with horror, my hofts ex- claimed againfl my violations of hofpitali- ty, public authority, enforced by my own relations, fecluded me from fociety, the tribunals of juftice profcribed my perfon and condemned my book to the flames: therefore I am a virtuous man, therefore I am a meritorious citizen. Let us turn from his private life, and confider his writings. His Conft 'derations fur ks Lett res de Cachet L , his Denonciations de r Agiotage, and his Doutes fur la Liberie de PEfcaut, denote a moll: violent and male- volent temper, even when the caufe that he defends is good, or at leait plaufible; but it is in his famous Letters written from the Court of PruiTia, that his character appears in its moft odious fhape. Thofe Letters were publifhed at the time that he offered him- 76 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE himfelf as a Candidate for the States, fome think againfr. his knowledge and on purpofe to difgrace him. He protefted againft the publication, owning that he had written private letters to M. de Calonne, but pre- tending that they had received additions and alterations. But as he never vouchfafed to explain what thofe alterations and additions were, it is not furprifing if the world ranked his imperfect renunciation with Vol- taire's denials of his impious books, (every one of which Voltaire had notwithftanding written) ; Mirabeau itands, therefore, ac- cufed, and in a manner convicted of ingra- titude towards Prince Henry of Pruilia, whofe favour he enjoyed of fervile flattery towards Calonne, and of having deceived the French miniltry by wilful mifreprefen- tation, and by a monflrous exaggeration of the King of Pruffia's defects, to gratify his own virulence of temper and talents of in- vective. lie had endeavoured to be elected by his own Order of Nobles, but finding himfelf rejected and defpifed, he threw himfelf on the fide of the people, declaimed againit all here- French revolution. 77 hereditary honors, efpoufed the refentments of the Tiers-Hi at of Provence, could foment or allay at his pleafure, the civil commo- tions of Aix and Marfeilles, and was finally returned member for the Tiers-Etat of Aix. An Englimman will not readily blame him for being elected by the Commons, but it was contrary to French prejudices, and his enemies compared him (ingeniously enough) to Clodius, who was adopted by a Plebeian, that he might be chofen 'Tribune of the Peo- ple, and overturn the Roman Republic under the pretence of liberty. The molt curious circumftance in all this 1 tranfaction is the excellent judgement of this new Sovereign by Right Divine, the People, (or rather the Populace') who rejecting its former minijlers for their immorality, chofe for its favorite, a man as notorioufly immo- ral as the worfr. of the courtiers, a man who had defcended to the bafe office of a^>', a calumniating fpy I as Dry den fays, Why ! That's a Name ahhorr'd In Hell! Prince Arthur, Ad III. Scene lad. There 78 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE There was, indeed, another Sultan by Right Divine, the People of Paris, which did not at that time enter into the feelings of its Brother-Sultan of Provence ; Mirabeau was the profefled enemy of Necker, and Necker was then the idol of the Pariiians. Their affections were however a little diverted by the liberal and hitherto unufual alms and benefactions of the Duke of Orleans. That Prince had fdr many years been oppofed to the Court ; his exile during the miniftry of M. de Brienne had fixed his wavering refentment, and a private family reafon is by many fufpected to have confirmed it. A marriage was in agitation between his daughter and the eldefr. foti of the Count d'Artois. The * Ami du Roi plainly hints that if that marriage had taken place, it might have prevented lome of the misfor- tunes that have enfued. The Kins; of France had but two fons, the elded was at that time known to be dying, and the other did not pafs for a healthy child. The Comte de Provence had no children, the Comte d'Aitois and his fons ftood next to * Ami du Roi. page 48. the FREKCH REVOLUTION. 79 the fucceffion^ and whoever married his eldeft fon, was then fuppefed to have a good chance to become a Queen. It was therefore hinted by foreign newfpapers, that the Queen broke oft the marriage of Mile, de Chartres, with the intention of giving her own daughter to the Comte d'Artois' fon, and thus enfuring that crown to her daughter by right of marriage which women are forbid to claim by right of birth. If this be true, it will account for the mortal ha- tred of the Duke of Orleans ; but we Eng- lish, who are not governed by the Salic Law, will hardly think this fuppofed project a very Enormous Crime : it may be juftified by the policy of one of their mod: beloved Kings, Lewis the Twelfth, who havincr no fons, gave his eldefr, daughter to his coufin and heir, Francis the Firft. The Duke of Orleans was by this time chofen a member of the States for his own Bailliage of Crepy in Valois. He had got his instructions drawn up in a very demo- cratic ftyle by the Abbe Sieyes, a modern fpeculative politician, but more refpectable than many others of the Duke's aflbciates. Amongft 8o HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Amongft the leajl refpeftable has been named La Clos, better known as the author of a certain Notorious Romance, called Les Liaifons Danger eufes. Mirabeau, confcious that in Paris his .own popularity wanted fupport, attached himfelf to the Orleans party, and they are all accufed by their enemies of having formed a project to ex- tirpate or drive away the prefent Royal Fa- mily, and give the Crown of France to the houle of Orleans. It muft here be ob- served, that although the queftion of depo- fing kings has been unneceffarily difcufled by Englilh Writers, as a queftion refulting from the French Revolution, yet it has not till very lately been openly mentioned in France. The French in general think it a greater crime to change one Royal Family for another, than the Englifh ever did, or do even at this prefent hour of loyalty. This prejudice, like many others, may be traced up to important asras in French his- tory, and to the juft abhorrence entertained of the wicked attempts to deprive Charles the Seventh of his crown in ancient times, and Henry the Fourth in a more recent period. If FRENCH REVOLUTION. %i If it be now afked, what were the pro- bable intentions of the King himfelf? it muit be anfwered, that as far as conjecture can fathom the human heart, they feem to have been honeft and fincere. Lally To- lendal has thus given his opinion ;* " The " Commons wifhed to conquer, the Nobles " wifhed to preferve what they already pof- u fefled, the Clergy waited to fee which 44 fide would be victorious in order to join 44 the conquerors. If any one fincerely *' wifhed for peace, it was the King." The author of the Sketch of the Lajl Ten Tears has too fev.erely defcribed the King, as " vielding: with ungracious reluctance to " the approaching ftorm, and confenting to 44 adopt the humiliating and unwelcome 44 advice of convoking the States-General." Thefe words might have applied to the mi- niftry of M. de Brienne, but from the time that Necker was called in, I can fee no marks of ungracious reluctance in the King's conduct. He readily adopted all Necker's meafures without appearing to * Memoire de L. T. p. 23. G confider 82 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE confider them humiliating ; he fondly ho- ped to experience from Necker's wifdom,- that tranquillity and happinefs which he pathetically told his minifter he had only en- joyed for moments.* And had not that mi- nifler's flattering predictions of tranquillity proved deluiive, it does not appear that alt the machinations (real or fuppofed) of his wife and his brother would have fnaken his- confidence in Necker. The Courtiers might (as defcribed in page ii6th"of that pam- phlet) rejoice in the fources of internal dif- cord that were opened in the States, but the King is defcribed as fincerely lamenting them by Mourner and Lally, wknefles pre- fent on the fpot, witneffes who yet were angry at the imprudent meafures into which the King was afterwards precipitated. It cannot be fuppofed that any King could 1 wifh to eftablifli a confritution fo republican as the piefent one of France ; but he cer- tainly meant to have given them a conlli- tfttion much more free than his fubjech had ever known before : though perhaps ic x^'jkci'a Momoktj dated Dec. 27, i^88. might FRENCH REVOLUTION. 83 might rather have refembled that of Flan- ders and Brabant, than more perfect models. M. Carra in a pamphlet called " Obfer- *' vations Rapides fur la Lettre de M. de Ca- " tonne," after owning that he had once preferred the Britifh form of dividing a Par- liament into two Houfes, gives as his rea- fon for difapproving it in France,* " The " ardour of the French is inconftant in its " likings, but obftinate and extreme in its " hatreds."f A remarkable confeffion this of an tf//-ariil:ocratic writer ! If that temper is the true French character, and I believe it is, it wants the very firft. requisite to- wards making a good ufe of unlimited li- berty patience to endure contradiction,- and the French ought to have refted fatif- fied with a conftitution fomething fhort of the Metaphyseal Rights of Man. But whatever may be thought on that head, 1 fhall ever confider it as an event to be lamented, and as a fatal example to mo- * Page 63, . f Inconftant dans fes gottts, mais opiniatre, mais extreme dans fes contentions. G % narch?* 4 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THfi narchs, that the firft king who voluntarily offered to relinquish part of his power* fhould have been rewarded with fuch cruel humiliations. A particular misfortune aggravated the ill-temper of the people during the months immediately preceding and following the opening of the States ; an uncommon dear- nefs of corn, whether owing to fcarcity or monopoly, is an undecided queftion. Here the two violent factions may be faid to join J/fue, here begin their accufations againfr. each other of every crime that difgraces hu- manity. It is a principle laid down by the popular writers,* that the ariflocratic party iecretly raifed diforders to have the pretence of re- preffing them by force, of aflembling troops, and terrifying the reprelentatives of the na- tion by the irrefjlible argument of cannons and bayonets. The other party cries out as loudly, -j- that the democratics had formed * Sec Hiftoirc dc Revolution, vol. i. p. 16S. f SecAau duRoi, p. 9;. a re- FRENCH REVOLUTION. g^ a regular plan to frighten all the burghers of the great towns into arming in their own defence, and when once armed, to employ them againft the King's troops and all the Gentilhommes in the kingdom. Each fide (almoft in the fame words) attributes to the other, forcftalling and monopolizing of grain in order to occafion famine, and thus provoke the common people, and of hiring villains in Provence and Languedoc efpecially, who were guilty (it is faid) of more murders, riots, and robberies in one Winter than had been heard of through a long courfe of years. The firft open act of violence committed in Paris, happened on the 27th of April, (the very day that had been firft appointed for the opening of the States.) The primary anemblies, as they are called, namely, the affemblies to chufe the electors of reprefentatives, had hitherto gone on peaceably enough in the town of Paris, but accompanied with the moft for- midable apparatus of military preparation, the guards doubled at every poft, with muf- quets and cannon loaded. Thefe precau- tions were not then thought criminal, as ail the rich citizens dreaded thofe primary G 3 affem- 86 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE aflemblies, which we have already feen, were conftituted on the mod democratic plan, and where the meaneft individual had a right to give his opinion on national grie- vances. M. Reveillon, a very worthy and meri- torious citizen, (at the head of a great paper manufactory) had prefided, along with a M. Henriot and fome other Notables Bour- geois, at the Aflembly of the Di/iri3 St. Aniohie, and was fuppofed not to have al- ways liltened with chriflian patience to the political declamations of fome of his work- men. Thefe people, to revenge themfelves, fprcad the falfe report, that he had propofed to diminish the wages of workmen. On the 2^:11, the whole tumultuous Fauxbourg St. Antoine was in motion, and burnt Mr. Reveillon' s effigy ; he applied for fuccour, a chment of the French guards was fent him, but, as it proved, too fmall a one. On the 28th, the in fur reel: ion was renewed, M, Henriot and M. Reveillon's houfes were deftroyed ; a large party of the guards at length advanced, and, after bearing for fome time a fhower of ftones and tiles, fired on the FRENCH REVOLUTION, %J the ruffians, killed a great number, and dif- peried the red. Revcillon had accufed a certain Abbe Roy of forgery, he was now perfuaded that his enemy had raifed the mob ; the Abbe was accordingly taken up, but no fact could be proved againft him. The popular party inftantly reported, that this Abbe Roy was a creature of the Comte d'Artois, and had received money from him to hire ruffians. The other party was equally pofitive that the Duke of Orleans' gold had been employed to raife infurrec- tions, and he complained at the time of thefe fcandalous reports. Each party alTerts poli- tively , that wretches, dying of their wounds in the hofpital, confefled that they had been hired ; but who hired them is left in obfeu- rity. The friends of the Court Party fay, that the Abbe Roy was as poor and miferable after the infurrec~tion as before, and if he had been an inftrument in the hands of powerful princes, it would have become their interefl to have mended his fortune. It is not in the power of any Englishman, who knows the French only through the G 4 medium SB HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE medium of books and newfpapers, to de- cide which were the guilty, and which were the innocent ; or whether a humane hope may be indulged that all were innocent, at leafl of enormous crimes. But honeft men, and efpecially teachers of Chrijlianity ', ought to be cautious how they beftow unqualified admi- ration on a Revolution fufpected to have been promoted by fuch execrable means : as, on the other hand, I am very willing to own, that unqualified pity cannot be be- llowed on the triumvirate of Princes of the Blood, unlefs they demonstrate their inno- cence by proofs as clear as day. In the beginning of May peace was re- flored to the city of Paris, but it was a lowering and a dubious peace. It was ne- cefTary to put all the Gardes Fran^oifes un- der arms to enfure the execution of two vil- lains taken in the very ac"l of plunder. A feditious temper ftill fubfifted amongit the mob ; women had been taught by this infur- recYion to forget the timidity of their fex, and mix in fecnes of blood, while men were taught to difguife themfelves in the drefs of women FRENCH REVOLUTION. $9 women to evade the punifTiment due to their crimes. Under thefe fad aufpices the States-Gene- ral opened on the 4th of May ; the ceremony was the grandeft that imagination can paint, and anfwered to the molt auguft conception that can poffibly be formed : a whole na- tion aflembled under the eye of one common father, in order ^ to reftore their long-loft freedom, and infure their future happinefs. But all who knew the unbrotherly difpofi- tions which the different branches of this common family entertained towards each other, muft have trembled at the profpect of thofe crimes and miferies that were likely to precede the return of peace and freedom. Lally Tolendal* paints very naturally the change that had taken place in his mind, between the moment in which he eagerly longed to be elected to the States-General, and the moment in which he took his feat as a Deputy from the Nobles of Paris ; ter- rified at the fcene of intrigue and faction which opened before his eyes, and con- * Memoire of L. T. page 17. vinced *}0 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE vinced that an honeft man flood expofed t$ the fate of a martyr. The King from his throne pronounced a ihort fpeech, in which he mentioned his fa- tisfaction at feeing himfelf furrounded by the Reprefentatives of his People, and at hearing that the two firft Orders were dil- poled to renounce their pecuniary privileges, but exprevTed his uneafinefs at the general reftleflhefs which prevailed, and the excef- iive defire of innovation which had feized the minds of his People. Towards the end, he declared his refolution to fupport the principles of Monarchy, adding, " but all " that can be expected from the moft tender " attachment to public happinefs, all that i4 can be afked of a Sovereign the friend of " his People, you may and you ought to " expect from my fentiments. May a happy 44 union reign in this Aflembly, and this ** epoch become for ever memorable from " the happinefs and profperity of my ful> ^jeas!" The Garde des Sceaux (Barentin's) fpeech conveyed the fame general idea of a middle ilate FRENCH REVOLUTION. qt #ate between Abfolute Monarchy and Kc- publican Liberty. It juft touched upon the formidable queftion of Three Chambers or One, but did not venture to go beyond the furface. It only faid, " that the univerfal " voice had folicited a double reprefentation " in favor of the moft numerous of the (he could have unveiled many FRENCH REVOLUTION. l^j many of the myfteries of the Revolution, as far as the partifans and agents of that Duke were concerned. The garden belonging to the palace of the Duke of Orleans, (called Le Palais Royal,) had long been a public garden, and was now fixed upon as the fpot, where hi- red orators inflamed the populace to ads of violence ; it had long (fay the Duke's ene- mies) been the theatre of all the crimes of li- ceutioufnefs, it was now become the theatre of all the crimes of ferocity. The form of parliamentary debates was mimicked in va- rious places, orators upon chairs and benches harangued the mob, and moved flrong re- folutions of cenfure (blended with menaces of outrage) againll: the Princes, the Cour- tiers, the Nobles, and the Clergy ; Bulletins containing the news of Veriailles were read to the crowd and afterwards debated upon : when, if any one prefumed to juflify the Nobles or cenfure the Commons, he was arTaulted, ill-treated, obliged to run away, or to make a formal Amende Honorable, and cry, Vive le Tiers-Etat.* * Hiftoire de Revolution, vol. i. page 248. Thus I4O HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Thus were the Parifians gradually trained to defy fubordiijatiou, and to hear cruelty propofed without horror. As an inltance of the ftrange icenes which this garden exhibited, 1 muft (defi- rins; mv readers to remember that I have apologifed for it beforehand) repeat a ftory mentioned in all the foreign newfpapers. M. D'Eprefmefnil, as the great promoter of the obftinacy of the Nobles, was at that time the chief object of popular rage. An orator of the Palais-Royal made a motion one day to fire his houfe at Paris, and murder bis wife and children. Thefe horrid words were received with applaufe ; but another orator, who felt that iuch propofals went a little too far, and yet they could not be warded off by appealing to juftice and hu- manity, got up in his turn, and addreiTcci the mob as follows : 4t Gentlemen, yoa " may affure yourfelves that the fcheme of *' revenge now propofed would be no pun- " nilhment to the offender. His houfe and " furniture belong to the landlord, his wife " belongs to the public, and his children " may, perhaps* belong to any one of you." This FRENCH REVOLUTION. 141 Tii is jeft equally Falfe and brutal had, how- ever, the defired good eflecT:, the mob laughed, and were difarmed of their fury. The general turn of the Parifian minds was become fo heartily inclined to revolt, that Necker found it neceflary to write a letter to M. Du Crofne, denying any inten- tion in the Court to diffolve the States-Ge- neral. Necker, though difliked by the lea- ders of each party, was as dear as ever to the Parifians, who thought that he had pre- ferved them from bankruptcy and famine, and they trufted a little to his word, though not at all to their King's. The Commons, encouraged by this prof- pect of general fupport, affected to treat the King's declaration with filent contempt, as an infignificant paper that fcarcely exifted. The Nobles declared that they would ad- here to it ; but this imperfect adherence came too late, and a plan of concord, which, if propofed by themfelves at firft, might have been treated with juftice, was now, however, falfely denominated a plan of fla- verv. I42 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE very.* The Archbifhop of Paris, frightened by the mob, appeared in the National Af- fembly, and the minority of the Clergy withdrew their proteft. On the 24th of June, M. de Clermont- Tonnerre moved, that the Nobles mould unite with the Commons ; but though they were ready to vote a general adherence to the King's plan, it was impoffible yet to bring the majority into the humiliating mea- sure of entering the hall of the Commons* In the fpeech that Lally made to fecond this motion, appears the ftrongcft and be ft objection that the popular party ever made againft the King's plan. It has been re- peated ill Dcpont's anfwer to Burke, and has lately appeared again in La Ilarpe's an- fwer to Calonnc in the Mcrcure ; and there- fore it may be worth while to paufe for a moment to examine it. The plan was in- titled A ikclwation of the King s wi//, which gives Lally occaflon to fay, M however juft, *' however beneficent fuch an act may be, * Hiftoirt tic Revolution, vol. i. page 263. " what FRENCH REVOLUTION* 14J " what we only hold from the will of one ** monarch, we may lofe by the will of ano- " ther." This obfervation founds very plaufible ; but the experience of the Englifh nation proves that it is more plaufible than true. Were the Englifh lefs inclined to fupport Magna Charta as their right, be- caufe the mere outward form of it is that of a Charter granted by the king to his fub- jects ? Charters to corporations and compa- nies arc acknowledged by us to be mere gifts from the king, yet from the moment they are ratified by the Great Seal, they are held as facred and inviolable, perhaps too much fo, fince the general prejudice of their inviolability frequently flands in the way of reformation. Indeed the lawyers of all countries would have told the French patriots, that there are fuch things as irrevocable deeds of gift, and means were not wanting to have ren- dered this French Magna Charta irrevocable. The King himfelf declared, that all the acts paffed in. thefe States in favor of liberty, fhould be confidered as National property ; an idea as iacred in France, as Chartered Right* 144 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Rights in England. Mod: of the French crown lawyers held that the King could not alienate his domains bccaufe they were National Property.* And the fame argu- ment has been ufed to vindicate Francis the Firft for breaking the treaty of Madrid, namely, that the provinces he had engaged to yield were the property of the Nation. I muft confefs, that I cannot fee how the prefent King or any of his fucceflbrs could have broken the fetters of a law which was not impofed on him by force as Magna Charta was on King John, but was his own voluntary act and deed jointly with the Na- tion. Jf it be fuppofed that the obnoxious arbitrary exprefTions (which I do not ap- prove) were added by a few courtiers on purpofe to caufe the whole to be rejected, the friends of liberty, by accepting the ge- neral plan unexpectedly, would have out- witted their enemies, and were not pre- cluded from infilling on particular amend- ments. I have already declaimed all argu- ments on the metaphyfical rights of man ; * See Eflais Hiftorkjucs, vol. ii. page 41. I only FRENCH REVOLUTION. 145 I only repeat, that when liberty is offered into your hand, it is imprudent to dilpute by force of arms, whether it be a Favor or a Right, provided it is allowed that you may claim it as your right from the inftant you have grafped it. And, after all, the changes that have been rung in verfe and in profe, about Liberty, Slavery, Chains, and Dun* geons, I never can fee any thing in the un- qualified admiration of the French Revolu- tion, but an indirect avowal of this dreadful principle, that the moft enormous crimes become meritorious, for the fake of theory and fpeculation for the fake of having only one chamber of Parliament. It is now time to return to the courfe of our narration. The fpeeches and motions of Clermont and Lally being as ufelefs on the 24th of June as on the preceding days, the minority of the Nobles refolved that evening to unite with the Commons, and they made their appearance in the Hall of the National Af- fembly on the 25th of June. They had previoufly fent a letter to their Prefident, L the I46 HISTORICAL SKETC H OF TEE the Due de Luxembourg, exprefiing their concern at the ilcp which neceflity and duty- forced them to take. The King, on the 27th of June, fent a preffing exhortation to the folitary majority of the Nobles to unite with the other Or- ders, and haften the accomplifhment of his paternal views. A long and violent debate arofe; the D. of Luxembourg read a letter from the Count of Artois, which intimated, that the King himfelf might be in danger, if popular fury was roufed by their refufal. So little of a Kings friend was M. de Cazales, the zealous oppofer of the Commons, that lie cried out, " The Conftitution of the " Monarchy is more facred than the Mo- " iiarch ." He t longer, however, found fupporters, the vote of re-union was paft, and, at four o'clock in the afternoon, word was brought to the Commons, that the Nobles were coming into their Hall. To do the Com- mons juflice, all preparations were made tc receive them with decency, and not to in- fult thefe prifoners at difcretion by ill-timec applaufe. FRENCH REVOLUTION - . I47 applaufe. The remaining diflidents of the Clergy accompanied them, headed by the Cardinal de Rochefoucault ; both he and the Duke of Luxembourg took care to infert in their fpeeches, that refpect to the King was a principal caufe which induced them to this meafure. The town of Ver failles refounded with joy, a general illumination took place, and the people fondly thought that the happinefs of France was now complete. Happy, in- deed, would it have been for France, if the imprudent meafures of the Court had not given rife to the extraordinary fcenes that followed ; for there is reafon to believe that the violent Democrats would have been over-awed by the prefence of the Gentlemen and the Clergy. But a forced reconciliation is rarely durable or fincere ! Clouds frill ga- thered on the horizon ; the malecontents of both Orders were flill difpofed to confider their re-union as a temporary ftep, and not as the fixed conftitution of the State. Many of the Nobles were bound by the rafh oath they had taken ; they affifted at the debates without voting : it was held that no power L % could I48 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE could let them free, but the authority of the conftituents who had impofed that oath ; and the meetings of the Gentilhommes in the Provinces were apprehended as occaiions of diforder: but, above all, the gradual ap- proach of troops raifed fufpicions, and foured the minds of citizens towards each other : thefe troops had been collecting ever fince the meeting of the States. One Party af- ferts, that the triumvirate of Princes always intended to diflblve the States by their aflif- tance ; the other tide is equally pofitivc that the Democrats had rclolved to overturn Mo- narchy by force, if the States did not chufe to overturn it ; and, therefore, fuch precau- tions were neceflary by the right of felf- defence. It cannot be denied, that the States-Ge- neral, after their re-union, were guilty of D > overt act lurficient to juilify the King in diflolving them. A Committee was "ap- pointed to prepare materials for the new Conftitution. Lally Tolendal* and Mounier heard, with uneafinefs, fomc of its Members * L. ToL Maaoift, page 57. deve- FRENCH REVOLUTION. J49 develope a fyftem of liberty fo abftract and metaphyseal, that they thought it more fit to moled fociety than to render it happy ; and, above all, were mocked to hear one man fay, that the King's fandtion was not neceflary to laws ; but they {till hopep! to bring over the majority to their way of thinking. The Committee of Verification had pronounced Malouet's election void. The moderate party immediately cried out, That the only flaw in his writ was the mild invitation to the Clergy and Nobles which he had propofed on the 1 6th of May. The Houfe feemed to efpoufe this opinion ; the vote of the Committee was over- ruled by a a large majority, and good men accepted with joy this omen of returning moderation. But it may eafily be fuppofed, that every violent fentiment uttered in debate was car- ried, with aggravation, to the King's ears ; and, unfortunately, the tranfactions at Paris were, more and more, calculated to unfettle a mind that appears to have been naturally irrefolute. L 3 The I^O HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE The Gardes- Fran^oifes, Rationed in the town of Paris, had, like moil: troops fta- tioned in towns, imbibed the opinions of the townfmen. In a riot, at the conclufion of M. de Brienne's ill-fated adminiftration, the mob having threatened to pull his houfe down, the troops had fired on them, and had killed feveral. That event had made them unpopular, and they w r ere now determined to regain popularity by devoting themfelves to the Parifians. About the time of the Royal SefTion, a Marquis de Varadi, who had once been their officer, and a Marquis de St. Huruge, a frill more meddling and dangerous man, had run from barrack to barrack to animate their zeal for the Com- mons, and teach them that foldiers ought never to fire upon their fellow-citizens. The Gardes-Francoifes were afterwards fhut up within their barracks by order of their fupe- riors. On the 25th and 26th of June* they left their barracks by hundreds at a time, came to the Palais Royal, were feafled by * Hifbire de Revolution, vol. i. page 281. the FRENCH REVOLUTION. I'l the multitude, received money and even bank notes, (i. e. billets dc caifle) and joined with the crowd in huzzaing for the Third Eftate. For thefe, and other a&s of difo- bedience, eleven foldiers were committed to the prifons of the Abbaye de St. Germain. On the 30th of June, a letter was read aloud in the Palais Royal garden, inviting the people to deliver thefe brave men who fuf- fered in their caufe. The invitation was inftantly obeyed, the prifon was forced, the prifbners lodged at the Hotel de Geneve, and loaded with prefents ; and the next day a deputation of young Parifians afked the li- berty of the prifoners from the National Aflembly, but in terms that implied it was a right rather than a favour. The Aflembly felt their embarrafled fituation, and voted a moderate kind of refolution, by which it exhorted the Pariftans to tranquillity, and intreated the King to ufe clemency. The King could do nothing but comply, the pri- foners were fet free, and all was apparently quiet. Here it will not be amifs to quote one fong, among many others, recorded in L 4 foreign I52 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE foreign newfpapers, as being fung through the (beets of Paris to inflame the foldiery : " Autrefois machine, le pauvre foldat " Sous ladifcipline, etoit un format; *' Depuis qu'il fait lire, iln'eft plus oifon, ** II tient h 1 -empire, mais par la raifon." . Not many months ago, the National Affembly voted " >ue lajorce armce eft ejfen- *' tiellement obeiffante ;" which may be tranf- lated The ejfence of a military force is obe- dience. Let this vote be compared with the popular fong : Is it not evident that the Re- publicans, having turned the foldiers into politicians and philofophers to ferve their own ends, would not be lorry to transform them once more into machines^ if they had ikill enough to work fuch a transformation ? About the beginning of July different re- giments approached nearer and nearer to Paris and Verfailles ; the Aflembly grew jealous, (not without rcafon) and on the 10th of July prefented a fpirited remon- flrance to the KJng ; he returned anfwer, that he had no other motive than the necef- fity of maintaining good order at Paris ; and offered FRENCH REVOLUTION'. i 53 offered to transfer the Aflembly to Noyon or Soiflbns, and follow them to Compiegne. Some Members were fatisfied with this pro- pofal, others were difpleafed ; Mirabeau dif- tinguifhed himfelf amongft the latter, and two important conventions paffed between kim and Mounier. Tl?e firii paffed in the prefence of M. M- Bergaffe and Duport, previous to the ad- drefs of the ioth, in which Mirabeau told them, that he had met the Duke of Orleans, and hadfaid, " Your Highnefs cannot deny " that we may foon have Louis XVII. in- " ftead of Louis XVI. at leaft you may be " Lieutenant- General of the Kingdom. The " Duke," he continued, " anfwered me in " a very pleating manner." Mounier was alarmed, and fufpecled fome dark plot from his friend's fide, as much as from his adver- saries, After the King's anfwer, he preffed Mirabeau to lay afide the project of a fecond addrefs, and hinted, that he was exceffively alarmed at the manoeuvres daily employed at Paris to feduce the troops from their officers; and that an ambitious prince appearing at the head of a difcontented army, diftributing money with one hand and libels with the jother, 1 J4 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE other, might eafily ufurp the throne. Mira- beau anfwered, *' Why you good fimple " man ! (Bonhomme I) I am as much at- " tached as you to Royalty ; but what Jig- " nifies whether we have Louis the XFIIth. " or Louis the XVIth. and why need we have " a child* to govern us t n Mounier repre- fents himfelf (like our Hajiings, in Rowe's Jane Shore) as fwearing to plunge a dagger in the heart of the man who could conceive Jo wicked ajcheme. I have already mentioned the prejudices of the French in favor of unbroken, hereditary fuccehaon ; and when we confider how lit- tle France would have benefited by Juch an exchange^ we cannot think the expreflions too ftrong. Mirabeau is defcribed as playing a part which we may compare to that which Glofter plays in the above-mentioned fcene, as denying that he had the meaning which his words feemed to import, and hafUly breaking off the convcrfaiion. * B*mbin was the word. I cannot be certain whether, w Mirabeau employed it, it imported child or idiot. li FRENCH "REVOLUTION. 15$ If Mirabcau held fimilar ram dialogues with others, as is very likely from his im- petuous character ; and if we take into con- fideration all the tranfaclions of Paris, it will not appear very wonderful, that the King's brothers and his courtiers perfuaded him that his crown would be torn from his head by a perfidious relation, if he did not exert the utmoft fpirit, and change his plan of government. It cannot be denied by the moll: zealous Democrats, that the caufe of French liberty would have been purer, if it had never blended itfelf with the revenge of a diicontented Prince, or the intrigues of his felfiih agents. An entire change of meafures was now refolved on at court, but how far that change would have been carried, or what was the real degree of criminality in the plot, have not yet been fufficiently cleared. If we believe the declamatory writer of the Hift. de la Revolution* " fifty thoufand " men, one hundred pieces of cannon, fix * VoL i. page 306. tc thoufand 1 tfi nrSTQRICAL SKETCH OF THE u thou [and banditti ', and yv Princes, would ** have pulled down the fan&uary of liberty *' on its Minifters' heads, and overturned the fct French empire. The National AtTembly ' WQ\ Id have been dHperfed, its refolutions " declared Seditious, its members profcribed, " the Palais Royal and the houfes of Pa- * triors given up to plunder, the Electors * and the Deputies given up to execu- w doners. " This is the horrible tiiTue of crimes and 4t aflafli nations, which a troop of villains 44 and infamous women, (J'cclerats et femmes fc< perducs) meditated with barbarous joy in * the tumult of their execrable orgies." He afterwards declares, " that he turns away " his eyes with horror, wifhing to find rea- *' fons to believe that the public opinion u might be miitaken." It may be obferved upon this declamation,, that the crimes and ajfaffifmtions of the vil- lains and infamous women, on the popular fide, arc in the clafs of actual realities \ the CFimes of thofe, on the Court fide, are, as yet, only in the clafs of poflibilities. Tibe- rius, FRENCH REVOLUTICTN. i tf rius, it is faid, ufed to lament, that confpira- cies againji fovereigns were never believed, un- lefs they had taken effedi. When the peo- ple, or rather the populace, have inverted themfelves with all the rights of defpotic fovereigns, they muft not be furprifed IF they meet with the like unfavorable incre- dulity. The opinion of Lally Tolendal may now be properly quoted ; '*' For my part, I thought that trie new " counfellors, who had furprifed the King's " confidence, when they baniiTied the Mi- " nifter, who was a friend to liberty, (Nec- ** ker) had projects adverfe to liberty itfelf ; 0* that the troops had been arlembled, not M only to prevent the explofion that was -" feared after that Min iter's departure, but xi to put in execution the declaration of the f* 23d of June. I thought that we (the " States) ihould be required to ratify that ** declaration ; that if we confented, no en- " terprife would be formed ; that if we did * not confent, the King would be perfuaded * 6 to ufe the right he ought to have of dif- " iblving I5& HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE " folving the National Parliament;* and " that if we refufe to feparate, which would " certainly have happened, as the Conftitu- f* tion was not yet cirablifhed, and the right M of diflblution could not exift but by the f{ Conftitution, and, confequently, could not " take place till after its formation, there *' would be an attempt to diflblve us by au- " thority ; then the military would be called " in to reprefs the tumults that might be " caufed by our forced feparation. I was " indignant againft. this project, both for the " fake of the nation, and of the King but " a blockade but a fiege but the project " of overturning the capital of the kingdom " but that lift of deputies, who, it was " laid, would be feized upon Never did even " the ideas of fuch tranfaclicns enter into *'my mind; never were they prefentcd to " me by others, that I did not repulfe them " with indignation ; and none, perhaps, have " believed them lefs than the very perfons Oncrcafon fortrufting the dangerous power of difiblu- tion in the hands of the Kii.-g of England, is to prevent the ill effe&s of an obftinate quarrel between the Loi t's and the Commons. u who FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1 59 " who have taken fuch pains to propagate " them abroad." To this apparently candid explanation may be added, the fuppofitions repeated in fome foreign newfpapers, that the Nobles and Clergy had promifed the King large fums of money to fupply the public Treafury, till another States-General could be called to;e- ther in October or November, elected ac- cording to the proportion and forms of 1 6 1 4. If this be true, we fee that even defpotifm itfelf could no longer hope to govern France without a States-General ; the difpute was, whether thofe States mould be chofen in a manner favorable to one, or to the other clafs of citizens. That the difpute but little refembled a difpute between a defpotic Monarch and his fubjecls, appears from this paragraph of an anfwerof M. de la Harpe toM. de Calonne's pamphlet, inferred in the Mercure de France of the 9th of April, 1791- la l60) HISTORICAL SKETCrf Of THE " In regard to the Clergy, the Nobility, " the Magiitrature, (that is, the old Parle- 44 mens) it is well enough known, what " was the wifh exprefl'ed in the Cahicrs for * the abolition of privileges of all kinds; 44 and when the refinance of the privileged " Orders, who hadrecourfe to force* when 44 reafen was wanting, put the nation into " the neceflity of joining force to reafen ; " when from one end of France to the 41 other, all France was in arms in the " fpace of eight days, reckoning from the 64 14th of July, 1789, did not the nation, 44 by its actions, then declare its rcpreienta- 44 tives, We are put into the exercife of all 44 our rights by the oppoiltion made to thofe 44 that we reclaimed? A general infurreC- M tion proves a general will, and the wifh, M and the want of a new conftitution. It 44 was no longer in queftion to reform the 44 Clergy, the Magiftracy, the Nobility, 44 fince thefe oppreffive Orders (hew them- 44 felves {o obflinatcly your enemies, that 44 they mud be deftroyed." Hnd not the Commons appealed to force, when their Leaders lirt the mob upon the Archbifliop of Paris. Wc I 1 French revolution. 161 We fee that the power of the King is not directly interefted in this argument. A cafe might be fuppofed, by way of explana- tion, that petitions were fent from all parts of England, to oblige the Houfe of Lords to lit along with the Houfe of Commons, that a civil war was ready to break out be- tween the two HoufeSj and the King, un- luckily for himfelf, joined with the unpopu- lar fide. Or another fuppofition might be made of a violent quarrel arifing between the Knights and the Burgejfes on the firft for- mation of our Englifh Conftitution, and the Henry or Edward of the age, deciding in favor of the Knights. For our Knights of the (hire, in their firft institution, bore fbme limilitude to the reprefentatives of the French Gentilhommes, and that limilitude may Itill be traced in the Members for the Scotch Counties* But it muft be confeffed that all thefe comparifons are very imperfect, and only ferve to (hew, that there is no true fimili- tude between the French Revolution, and any of the Englilh victories over defpotifm, from Magna Charta downwards. It is the M falfe 1^2 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE falfe and malicious art of a faclion, to pretend that thoie who diflike the French Revolu- tion, difapprove of the principles of the Eng- lish Revolution in 1688. Englifh liberty and French liberty are built on totally dif- ferent foundations; the nrfl is grounded oil the concord of the Nobles and the people ; the latter on the hatred of the people againfk the Nobles. From thence it may be in- ferred, that the Englifh fhould be very cau- tious how they attempt transferring into their constitution, even what may be good in the French, becaufe the materials that fuit one foundation, might only ruin a build- ing, whofe foundation was eflentially dif- ferent. Let me again obferve, that it might be fuppofed, from La Harpe's arguments, that the hated Orders obftinately refufed to abandon any one of their privileges. The fact is, that they were ready to abandon the more odious of them ; and that the privilege of being an independent Houfe of Parliament in the Legi/lature of a free State, is fo glori- ous, lo dazzling hi its nature, that we can- n< FRENCH REVOLUTION. 162 not wonder at that ambition which eagerly- fought to retain it. >* As to the Magiftracy, (or Parlemens) although M. d'Eprefmefnil, one of their Members, was blameably active and obftinate in the prefent difpute; yet mod of thofe great bodies remained paffive, although re- luctant witnefles of the triumph of demo- cracy ; a univerfal panic produced a univer- fal tprpor, and the once dreaded Parlement of Paris, the great hereditary Court of Peers, was not even named amongft the ftrange events that followed upon Necker's dif- miffion. If in my preceding arguments I have en- deavoured to extenuate, it is not, by any means, my intention to juftify the meafures which the Court had now refolved upon ; they were precipitate and ill-judged in the highefr. degree, equal in their rafhnefs, (whatever they were in their criminality) to the famous attempt of Charles the Firft's to feize the fix Members ; they might, very probably, have led to a civil war, and perhaps it was the M 2 intention 164 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE intention of the mere Courtiers (thofe defpi- cable tools of narrow dirty intrigues) that thefe meafures mould have reftored the old reign of defpotifm. But I ftill think that corrupted bafe herd would have wanted in- ftruments to affift their malice, if the Com- mons had ever (hewn a difpolition to offer conciliating terms to the Nobles. o The fame remark may ferve, as to all the real or pretended plots of counter-revolutions. If the clafles that may be called the law and ,-the gentry, have correfponded with the exiled Courtiers, one might, fafely, in the Englifh itile, lay a bet, that it was becaufe their prejudices were treated with fuch arbi- trary violence. Mr. Fox, when he did not think of the French Revolution, could very truly lav, " That there is no tyranny (0 " fevere, becaufe there is none i'o hopelefs, 44 as that which is exerciied by the majo- " rity over the minority." The impartial obfervers of the affairs of France may decide whether thofe words do not convey a true picture of the iituation of that country everfince the celebrated 1 4th of July. Every mark of difcontent in the Nobles or Clergy has FRENCH REVOLUTION. 163 has been followed by fbme fevere refolution, which tended to blend them by force with the mafs of the people ; every fuch refolu- tion has ufually been followed with the ter- rors of a plot, and the mob has been called upon to prevent that plot by acts of cruelty. Thus fear has produced tyranny, and tyranny has produced fear with that continual aSfion and re-adlion which is one of the peculiar charade riitics of dcfpotifm. I am far from denying the right of the majority to command the minority, or from denying that the interefts of 20 millions are not of more confequence than the interefts of 2 or 300,000. But I do aflert, that if once malecontents come to be reckoned up by hundreds of tboufands, it would be pru- dent in the millions to mew them a little in- dulgence. It now only remains to mention, that I have been fomewhat dirfufe in the preceding narration, becaufe I have thought that in general the preliminary events were little underftood. Though the fubfequent events \vere of much greater importance, yet as M 3 they l66 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE they are univerfally known, they may bo recited with more brevity. On Saturday the nth of July, M. Nec- ker received an order from the King to give up his place and to quit the kingdom as foon as poffible. Luzerne, St. Prieft, Mont- morin, and the other minifters were either turned out or refigned the next day ; M. de Breteuil was raifed to the chief fituation in the minifrry, and marfhal Broglio, who had once been popular during the unfuccefsful German war of 1757, accepted the impor- tant and unpopular place of commander in chief. When this news was carried to Paris on the morning of Sunday the 12th, the fury of defpair and enthufiafm animated every mind. The people confidered Necker as the only pledge of liberty, his name refoun- ded from every fide, and the faction of the Palais-Royal contrived to join the lefs wor- thy name of the Duke of Orleans in the fame acclamations. Their bufts were taken from the fculptor's mop and carried about in FRENCH REVOLUTION. 167 in triumph. Witneffes * have fince attefled that a few voices were heard to cry, " mall " this prince be your king and (hall Necker " be his minifter ?" but the Parifians were not quite furious enough to give their aflent to the firft of thefe proportions. The Prince of Lambefc, colonel of the regiment of royal Allemand Rationed jufl without Paris, advanced into the garden of the Thuilleries, and vainly endeavoured to difperfe the populace, who threw {tones at him ; he is accufed of ajfajjination becaufe he ftruck and wounded fome perfons who, perhaps, were not the foremoftward in the attack ; a cafe which frequently happens in thefe fcenes of confufion. He and his troops retired, nor did any of the furrounding regiments attempt that night to enter Paris, which fome have con- sidered as a proof, that the miniftry of the hour had foolijhly rather than wickedly thought it was eafy to over-awe Paris by the r^refence of troops, and did not forefee the * In the Procedure du Chatelet. M 4 necef- .. v l68 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE neceifity of thofe fanguinary mcafures which their enemies affected to confider as decided and refolved upon. All regal, all judicial, all municipal go- vernment was now at an end in the city of Paris, and one univerfal panic, dread of {laughter from the army, and of plunder from thieves and banditti, had feized the whole body of the people. The Panfians foon prefented that extraordinary fcene rare even in civil commotions, of a hundred thou- fand individuals animated by one common foul. On Monday the 13th the temporary bodies pf the electors of reprefentatives took the command in their feveral diftricts, and were obeyed more implicitly than Lewis the Fourteenth in the zenith of his power. The Gardcs-Francoifes offered their iervices and were accepted. Thirty thoufand citi- zens unaccuftomed to arms, were armed, nay, trained to fome appearance of difci- plinc in twenty^four hours : a green cockade was firfl: taken (as the emblem of hope) and then rejected, for the fince famous national cockade red and blue, (the colours of the arms of Paris) intermixed with white, (the pid FRENCH REVOLUTION. 169 old national colour.) Some plunder and mifchief did actually take place, efpecially at the houfe of the congregation of St. La- zare, ( a truly pious and charitable inftitu- tion, but at that moment fui peeled to have a quantity of corn in their granaries.) Many (lighter robberies were committed,* and the robbers, when taken in the fad!:, were carried to the greve, and hung on the rope which commonly ferved to faften a lantern. From hence originated all thofe barbarous conceits and quibbles about lan- terns, which have fince infected fo many of the French writings, and that horrid cuftom of constituting themielves judges and execu- tioners in the fame moment, which the French people acquired in twenty-four hours, and have not forgotten in two years. On Tuefday the 14th of July, (a day for ever memorable in the annals of mankind) the newly-formed army, after taking arms from the Garde-Meuble and the Invalids, who made no refinance, marche4 to fum * See a pamphlet called Hiftoire des Evenemens remar- quables arrives dans la Capitale, moa 170 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE mon De Launay, the Governor of the Baftille, to lay down his arms ; and it is faid, that he gave them ambiguous hopes of compliance.* A number of Parifians then came to the gates to demand arms and am- munition, De Launay admitted them, and as foon as they were within the firft court, is generally faid to have fired on them. This at of treachery, from a man fo unpopular as the governor of an odious prifon, and fuf- pedted befides of defrauding and ftarving his prifoners, inflamed the public revenge to a degree that blood itfelf could hardly expiate : but as Launay was not furTered to live to de- fend himfelf, it is impofiible to know whe- ther he could have explained or extenuated this apparent treachery. Bezenval on his trial affirmed, that he could not believe the crime imputed to Launay : however, no Pa- rifian patriot doubted of it ; the fortrefs was attacked with that energy which refultsfrom defpair ; and, to the aftonifhment of all mi- litary men, thofe feemingly inaccefiible towers and ramparts yielded, in two hours, to a volunteer army, fcarce one of whom * Hiftoire de la Revolution, vol. ii. page 9. had FRENCH REVOLUTION*. lyf had ever beheld a fiege before. De Launay was dragged to the Place de Greve, mur- dered by the mob ; and the favage cuftom of infultins" the laft remains of the dead, and exhibiting their heads upon pikes, as the defpot of Conftantinople exhibits the heads of his difgraced Vizirs, firit. commenced in this inftance. Jf he broke the laws of war, as a criminal, he deferved it ; but the ex- ample has been dreadful. Crimes beget one another the Major* of the BafHlle was murdered with equal cruelty, although he is now lamented even by democratic writers, as a man who was merciful to the priibners, and deferving of a better fate. A young man of falhion (the Marquis of Pelleport) who had received kindnefs from M. de Lofme when in prifon, took him in his arms, and pathetically intreated the people to fpare his friend. All intreaties were in vain, the Major's head was cut off, and his grateful defender could, with difficulty, efcape the fame fate. The new-formed-f' fil- * Hiftoire de Revolution, vol. ii. page 37. f I believe it would not be difficult to prove from biftory, that 172 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE foldiers of Democracy loudly exclaimed, " let " us hang the whole garrlfon !**. but the French Guards, who had once been the fol- diers of Monarchy, (now (tiled Tyranny) had not yet forgot their old monarchical and mi- litary honor ; they begged mercy for thoie f jldiers who had once ferved under the fame banners with themfelves, and they were too ufeful allies to be refufed.* The Prevot des Marchands, M. de Flef- felles, had been, in the mean time, detected in a correfpondence with the Court ; he was turned out of his office by the Com- mittee of Electors mot, as they were con- veying him to prifon, and his body was difmembered in the fame favage manner. After fome hours had paiTed away in the double intoxication of joy and revenge, fome humane perfons recollected that the prifoners ought to be delivered ; their cells were broke open, and they were conducted irx that ferocity toward 1 enemies is the leading vice of Democracy ; that luxurious dijjipation is the leading vice of European Mor-% narcljy ; whilft the Oriental Defpot unites them both. Hiftoirc de Revolution, vol. ii. page 42. triumph FRENCH REVOLUTION* I 73 triumph round the garden of the Palais- Royal. Seven prifbners* only were found in the Baftille, mod: of whom were perfons accufed of forgery, and two or three only were ob- jects of companion, as they had been de- tained ever iince the reign of Louis the XVth. and having loft their reafon, had re- mained prifoners becaufe nobody knew what to do with them. The Municipality of Paris were obliged, in a few days, to fend them to Charenton, which anfvvers to our hofpital of Bedlam. After all the deteftation excited again ft the Queen and the Comte d'Artois, it does not appear that any victim s of their revenge were difcovered whilft Mademoifelle Pom- padour, the idol of all the wits and philofb- phers of thofe days the idol of that Voltaire to whom the French are going to erect, mo- numents, that infamous idol had filled, with her victims, all the prifons of France. * Hvft, delaRevol. volii. pages 52, 53. Any I74 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Any one inftance of a miferable being confined in folitude, without knowing his crime or his accufer, till his reafon finks beneath the load of mifery, is alone fuffi- cient to fix indelible difgrace upon a Govern- ment ; and bold mufl that pen be which could attempt to vindicate the Bajlille. Had the gates of that horrible fortrefs opened to a peaceable deputation from the Three Orders of the State, charged with colle&ing mate- rials to prove .the neceflity of thofe laws in favour of perfonal liberty, which the King himfelf had left to their confideration and free votes, fuch a day would have deferved to be celebrated by one univerfa I jubilee of all the Friends of Freedom. And I cannot yet fee any reafon to believe, but that fuch a glorious day would have taken place, if the Conflitution of the 23d of June had been accepted. But as the event now (lands, the feelings of impartial men ought to remain fufpended. T^he taking of the Bajlille has betrayed the fecrct of all governments. Republican as well as Monarchical : it has proved that nothing can withftand the unanimous force of an enraged FRENCH REVOLUTION. iyc enraged multitude : an awful truth ! upon which all Kings and Senates fhould meditate in trembling filence, but of which the mul- titude ought ever to remain ignorant. Is this fpeaking like a friend of defpotifm ? Then let me aik thofe fcholars, with which our feci: of Independents is undoubtedly well provided, whether Tacitus is a friend to defpotifm ? and then, whether he expreffes any tranfport at the fall of Nero f Can they not perceive, through the veil of his obfeure concifenefs, that his deep-fearching mind was more affected with the misfortunes threatened to the Roman empire, from the want of Jubordlnation of the foldiery , than gratified by the death of a lingle tyrant, al- though he was the moft enormous monfter that ever difgraced humanity ? What pane- gyrics are beflowed, both by Tacitus and by Pliny, on Virginius Rufus, whofe uncom- mon merit was to have refufed the empire from the hands of the foldiery, and told his army, that he would not take arms againfta tyrant, until the Senate had ordered him ! If fj6 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE If any citizen of Paris* had made a fimi- Iar excufe for not arming, his head would probably have been on a pole the next mo- ment. It is difficult to fay what provocations would have induced the National Affcmbly to have given the decifive orders that would have fanftioned rejijlance by force of arms ; for, at that momentous period, the Demo- crats feem to have yielded the poft of honor to the moderate party, who always intended refinance without bloodfhed. The AfTembly, on hearing of the difgrace of Necker, thought that its own ruin was determined ; the Members aflembled on Monday the 13th with the terrors of diflblu- tion and imprifonment before their eyes, but were refolved not to give up a fingle point. Mounier began a firm yet temperate fpeech, by acknowledging the great and immutable line that muft be drawn between the legif- * I humbly beg pardon of Mr. Paine, and of the whole clan of the Mackiniojb**, if I am not yet perfuaded that they are fuperior to Tacitus. lative FRENCH REVOLUTION. I77 htive and the executive power; a line, which having once acknowledged, the Af- fembly has fince pretended to refpecl:, but, in fat, has continually overpaffed. He owned that the Affembly had no legal right to direct the King's choice of Minifters ; but as the choice he had now made led to the taoft dangerous confequences, it was necef- fary to vote their folemn and grateful thanks to M. Necker, and declare, that the new Aiiiiiftry had not the confidence of the na- tion. Lally Tolendal feconded his efforts, and votes of a fimilar nature paffed almojl unanimoufly. The Affembly, before it parted, voted a famous refolution, by which it declared, " A very extraordinary converfation is de- pofed upon oath, by two Members of the * Lai. Tol. Memoire, page 75. N 4 Nati- 184 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE National Aflembly, (M. Duchey and M. de la Maifonneuve) to have patted in their hear^ ing, between M. Malouet and M. Corollet, a Deputy from the Commons of Brittany, as they were accompanying the King to Paris, It may be difputed, whether it was ftrictly proper in thofe two witnefTes to mention this private converfation, but J fee no pofli- bility of difputing its truth. If we could take it in its literal fenfe, it would give a flrange picture indeed of revo-* lution morality, The dialogue was as follows : Malouet. " Why have you Bretons been " fo eager in fpreading calumnies againft * me?" Corollet. u We know you are an honeft ** man ; but you arc too moderate for 3 *S Revolution.' Malouet. " Your Revolution would never *' have begun, if the rabble had not threat-? <* ened to flone the Archbifhop of Paris." Cor, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 185 Cor. il It was we who fet them on." Mai. " You could not have completed M your purpofe without the defection of the " French guards and the troops of the (P line." Cor. " We were fure of the troops, and " had, for a long while, correfpondeucie? *' in all the regiments." Mai. " In fpite of all your arts, you M would never have fucceeded, if the Court ff had not fo imprudently difmifled M. * Necker " Cor. " That event only haftened the w execution of our fchemes. We would have M compelled the Parifiam to take arms, by f* fettingfire to the Palais Bourbon" Mai. " I have not a word more to iay; *' you did wifely not to let me into your " fecrets, for I never could have joined in a ** Revolution brought about by Juch means!* lam i86 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE I am willing to allow a great deal for the etourderie, forfanteric, and jaclance of the French character, (three moft expreffive French idioms, which our Englifh words giddinafs and boafting exprefs but imper- fectly.) I am willing to fuppofe that much of this ftrange converfation was the trick, of an etourdi, to frighten a grave man. But whoever ' allows this indulgence has a right to demand as much favor for the op- poflte party, and to fuppofe that moil: of the bloody fchemes, which to this day are attri- buted, in Revolution Hiftories, to the Court, took their rife from the heated expreflions of half a dozen Courtiers and Nobles curfing the rabble, (la Canaille) over a bottle; but forgetting all their fo much dreaded cotifpi-> racks the inftant they were fober. No fuch indulgence, however, was, or perhaps could be allowed at that moment; whatever was mod: atrocious was moft * readily believed ; fpies were planted in every * The known credulity of the Pai ifians, of which maHy ridiculous in dances might be given, takes away much of the credit due to their unanimous belief. corner^ TRENCH REVOLUTION. I 87 corner, and fervants encouraged to repeat the unguarded expreffions of their matters. Notwithftanding the fafe return of the King, the vanquifhed party expected no mercy from their enemies. In the courfe of a week or ten days, Marmal Broglio, the Po- lignacs, the Luxembourgs, all who were even fuppofed to have accepted pofts in the fhort Miniftry of three days, and, Iaflly, the Princes of Conde and Conti, the Count of Artois and his two fbns, (the very family next in fucceflion to the Crown) all difap- peared one after another, protected by the broken and retreating army; and after a fe- ries of romantic adventures and dangers, reached England, Germany, or Italy in fafety but a fafety at once fhameful and precarious. The Queen alone remained the Queen, equally hated by the people, who fuppofed that (he had induced her hufband to liften to the Count d'Artois advice, me was left by thofe favourites who had poifoned her un- experienced youth with the falfe tafte of prodigality and diffipation, was left alone and unprotected, to confront a danger from which l88 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE which the blood of the great Conde, and of Henry the IVth, (hrunk with apprehension. From that moment, whatever may have been her former errors, (he becomes an object of companion to generous minds. Cazales, d'Eprefmefnil, and Maury, re- tired for a fhort time, and then returned, encouraged by that inviolability, which the Aflembly perfifted in claiming for its mem- bers. They have fince continued the moft intrepid opposition to the meafures of the triumphant party ; but that party very well know that their oppofition may be defpifed as ineffectual, becaufe fo many (even of moderate men) think that they, in a great meafure, caufed the misfortunes of France by their obftinacy in refufing a temporary union for that verification of writs, which would have legally fanctioned their refpec- tive chambers. All the refractory Nobles haftened to renounce their former proteft, and held themfelves abfolved by ncceffity from the oath taken to their conftituents. It was agreed to bury the name of States-General in FRENCH REVOLUTION. i&g in oblivion, and the name of National Affem* bly was henceforth ufed by all parties. But no conceflions foftened the favage fpirit of the Parifians, and, indeed, much pains were taken to keep it up to its utmoft height. A fong was fabricated and became the mod popular vaudeville at Paris, which, alluding to fome phrafes ufed by the defeated party, u C'dn'irapas," this buiinefs can never go on, repeated for its burden, |" Cd ira, C'd ira" it will go, it will go on ; and ended with wifhingallthe Ariftocrats to be hanged at the Lantern : " 'Tous les Ariftocrates a la " Lanterne" Thefe barbarous words (which are fet to no inelegant tune) have been fung as the death Jignal, " Le Jignal de la mort" as Mallet du Pan exprefles it, in every part of France, and fome attempts have been made to introduce them into foreign countries, where the people had any caufe of vari- ance with their Magiltrates, particularly at Geneva, Let it be obferved, that the word Arijlo- crate, (Ariftocrat) was chofen from the firfr, inftead I90 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE inftead of Royalijle, to exprefs the victims devoted to popular fury, probably becaufe it was more difficult to make the word Royalljl found odious to a Frenchman's ears. But it is a much more dangerous word to be made the Jhibboleth of party, becaufe it is much more extenfive and undefined, and might devote to the Lantern the friends of the Republic of Berne, or of the kingdom of England, as well as the fupporters of the defpotic Nobility of Poland, or of the French tyrannical Lettres de Cachet. The fruits of thefe feeds of revenge and murder foon appeared in the horrible deaths of Foulon, an old rich financier, a man of bad character, and fufpected of having ac- cepted a place under M. Broglio, and of Ber- thier, the intendant of Paris, and Foulon's fon-in-law. They were feized in their flight* dragget to Paris on the 21ft of July, and murdered, with all thofe circumitances of refined infult and inhumanity, which are notorious to all Europe, and which, vdry near, if not quite i transformed a civilized city into a Hippah of New fkENCH REVOLUTION* lgi New Zealand Cannibals. I never heard but one imputation denied, that of the mob ha- ving obliged Berthier to kifs the head of his murdered father-in-law.* It is confefled in the Democratic hiftory of the Revolution, that the mob were ac- tually going to prefent him the head for that purpofe; but fome degree of humanity re- mained in La Riviere, the Ele&or, who brought Berthier to Paris, and he obliged them to take away that dreadful object. Bailly and Fayette exerted themfelves to preferve thefe miferable victims for farther examination ; but foon found that they mufl either abandon them to the populace, or {hare their fate. La Fayette exprerTed him- ielf with much indignation, and threatened to refign the command of the Parirlan troops, but was perfuaded to retain it, in or- der to prevent greater mifchiefs. Here let a native of England be permitted to remember with exultation, with what eafe the Lord Mayor and Common Council were able to refcue the hated JefFeries from the hands of * SeeHift. de laRevol* vol. ii. page 132. an SgZ HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE an Englifli mob, and that too in a moment, when all the bands of Government were dif- ijblved by the flight of James the lid. As the fcarcity of corn ftill continued, fome fcenes of horrid murder had actually taken place at St. Germain, Pontoife, and Poiily, on the fuppofltion of monopoly ; others had with difficulty been prevented. The moderate party grew alarmed, and Lally Tolendal was one of thefirfl: to lay be- fore the Aflembly the dangers of that in- creafing fanguinary fpirit. It has been ufual with the friends of the French Revolution, to afk whether the Na- tional AJJembly ever approved of the crimes, which they were forced to allow were un- neceflarily committed. To which it may be anfwered, that the enemies of the Rev< lution, the middle party, as well as the Aril tocrats, concur in accufing the majority that Aflembly of conniving at all the! crimes ; and never, even to the prefent da; having puniihcd any enormity committc again it any pcrfon.Jufpctted of favoring tl Nobles or the Clergy. FRENCH REVOLUTION. I93 The true teft of the liberty and impartial jujiice of any State is to be found in its beha- viour towards thofe who do not love the go- verning faftion. For it may be afked in the words of Scripture, with a fmall alteration, M If you are jujl to thofe who love you, life ; for the hiitorian of the Revolution owns * that no human power could have * Vol, ii. page 263. have FRENCH REVOLUTION. I99 have prevented another murder if he had been brought to Paris. Thirty thoufand frantic Parilians waited for him a whole day at the Greve, and had prepared with fa- vage pleafure all the inftruments of his death. It was high time to put fome curb upon the revengeful fpirit .of the people, for it had fpread into the provinces, which had al- mofr. all taken up arms on the news of the Revolution at Paris. Every man was ready to attack his own enemies under pretence of public good, and above all, the tenants thought this was their time to revive every old quarrel with the proprietors of land.- - The firft marks of this fpirit appeared in. Franche-Comte, where the peafants were ftiil under a kind of vafTalage. M. Mefmay, a counfellor of the Parlia- ment of Befancon, and known to be at- tached to the party of the Nobles, had, in order to mew a forced fatisfa&ion at the ftate of things, invited his neighbours and tenants to an entertainment. Some mif- chief happened by gunpowder, but its caufe O 4 and 100 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE and extent have never been clearly afcer- tained. It was immediately faid, that Mef- muy, from the fanaticifm of humbled vanity, had deiignedly blown up as many of the people as he could collect together. The Hiji. de la Revolution tells the ftory in the fame horrid way that it was firft reported. Lally Tolendal, in the moft oppoiite and ftrongeft terms, calls it " an infernal fable, " which was buried in oblivion as foon as " the calumniators found that the tide of " public indignation would be turned againft " them." The peafants of Franche-Comte were already beginning to rife, the horror infpired by this flory haftened their taking up arms, many gentlemen's feats were plundered and burnt, and the fame dreadful contagion of revolt fpread even into other provinces, where the peafants were not en- {laved. Here follows a (hort, imperfect lift given by Lally Tolendal of fome of the atrocious cruelties which were the firjl fruits of liberty in France.* The reader will, perhaps, take it for the annals of Catharine * See Mcmoirc dc Lally Tolendal, pages 104, 105, 106. of FRENCH REVOLUTION. 20I of Medicis, or an account of the Dra- goonades of Louvois. u In Languedoc, M. du Barras, cut in ** pieces in the prefence of his wife, who " was bio; with child and died of terror. " At Mans, M. de Monteflbn, (hot to death after " murdered. " death after having feen his father-in-law u In Normandy, a paralytic gentleman " thrown into the fire, and taken out again " after his hands were burnt. " A fteward, whofe feet were burnt off 4< to make him give up his matter's title 4i deeds. " In Franche-Comte, Mad. de Battenay, hs of the National Affembly. He thei '^rdmipofabolifhing, withoi any indemnity to the landlord, thofe rem 1 once, indeed, been paid as a coi ] for pcrfonal fcrvitudc, but whicl been fei tween the Lords ai theii FRENCH REVOLUTION. 22* their vaffals ages ago, had been exchanged, or bought and fold, without purchafera obferving that their origin was of an odious nature : he touched on the danger of offen- ding the Germans, who had great feudal property in Alface, guaranteed by fo- lemn Treaties ; and enumerated the vari- ous difficulties that would attend the aboli- tion of tythes, confidently, without making an honourable provifion for the Clergy, and laying the burden of their fubiiftence equally upon all claries of citizens, This letter; occafioned a general difcontent, not fo much for its matter, which they were forced to confefs was not unreafonable, but becaufe it was improper for the executive power to at- tempt to influence the Jegiflative power, by difcuffingthe laws when it was called upon to fandtion them. There is truth in this re- mark ; but it was a dilemma which their fcheme of a Royal Democracy naturally led them into. There are many laws, good in themfelves, but of which particular claufes, inferted by the heat of faction, are too harfli or nearly impracticable : fuch laws require a difcufJiGn and not a veto ; a conference be- tween two Affemblies, and not a total fup- O % prefiion Il8 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE pre/lion from the power of the Crown. Bur in France they mufr. either place the regu~ lating and difcufling power where no friend to liberty can wifh to fee it placed, or invefl one Aflembly with more unbounded power than even the Kings of France pofTefled in the height of their defpotifm, who were often forced to fit with aching ears, liftening to the fpirited and repeated remonftranccs of their Parlemens. It may eafily be fuppofed, that the King was obliged to fend his fanftlon pure etfmple ; and the principle was avowed, that the King, fo far from fufpending, could not even cri- ticife the meafures of the prefent legiflature. All thefe jealoufies and quarrels, within and without the Affembly, had only ferved to increafe the general confufion, and reduce the finances to the lowcfr, ebb. Juft after the famous Refolutions of th< 4th of Auguft, the King's Minifters had de- manded an audience, and having obtainec it, the archbimop of Bourdeaux, as keepei of the feal, gave a melancholy picture of the difor- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 42<) difordered fituation of France ; and Necker, as minifter of finance, demanded that the Affembly would fanSion a loan of thirty millions of livres as indifpenfably neceffary. This loan was permitted after fome objec- tions, arifing from the inftrutions of their conftituents to complete the constitution be- fore they granted fubfidies. But the af- fumed admiration of the patriots of M. Necker was apparent and not real ; they were determined to mew that they were not influenced by a Flrjl Lord of the 'Treafury ; they altered the terms of the loan into others lefs favorable to the lenders ; and thus de- clared at once to the nation their want of confidence in the man whom they had ex- tolled even to adulation. The confequence was, that the monied men immediately clofed their purfe- firings; the loan was never filled ; the failure of public credit, which might have been kept fecret, was betrayed to all Europe ; and the moil: demo- cratic of their writers is forced to cenfure the Affembly on account of this rafh meafure. Hiji. Rev. vol. ii. p. 355. A loan of eighty millions was afterwards voted on terms pro- pofed by M. Necker, but the erTecl: was no Q^3 better^ &$0 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE better, the firft opportunity had been loft and could not be regained ; the taxes were evaded or refufed in every part of the king- dom, efpecially the hated fait tax ; and fmug- glers exercifed their employment openly, even in the very town of Verfailles. This fin is alfo laid to the door of the difgraced Ariftocrats ; but, fuppofing it was juftly laid, their treacherous infinuation could only be founded on democratic principles, confecra- ted by the AfTembly, the illegality of the pre- fent taxes, and the right of every citizen to pay no fubfidy againfr. his own confent. So dangerous may it prove to infufe abitract general truths into unenlightened minds. A fcheme of patriotic contributions was now promoted, even filver buckles and gold ear-rings were received as gifts to the State; the King and Queen fent their plate to the Mint, not fo much, as Necker ex- prcfles it, for the real value of the donation, as to gain a fmall fupply of gold and filver for current coin. And the latter end of September, Necker prefented a fcheme to the AfTembly of a tax, which Richlicu or JLouvois would have flarted at, an extraordi- nary FRENCH REVOLUTION. 23 1 nary contribution of the fourth part of each man's yearly revenue to be fixed by the word of honor of the contributor, and be payable at different epochs in the courfe of three years. This fevere tax, almoft un- heard of in the annals of tyranny, one of the mofr. republican AfTemblies was obliged to vote, under pain of inftant bankruptcy. Mirabeau, by his extraordinary eloquence, greatly contributed to their refolution, al- though he hinted all the time, that he re r garded Necker with no efteem or confix dence ; but if the AfTembly refufed Necker's plan, they made themfelves anfwerable for the evils that would follow. This miferable ftate of the kingdom, confefled by the mofr. popular journalifts, occafioned the renewal of the mofl: atrocious accufations between the two parties, and gave birth to more extraor- dinary fcenes than any that had yet dis- graced the Revolution. The Nobles and Clergy were again accufed of confpiracies againfl the Revolution. The Hiftorian of the Revolution, vol. iii. page 227, pofitively affirms, that a fubfcription was fee retly opened for the murder of good citizens ; that Priefts Slid Nobles figned this profcription ; that it Q 4 was t*2 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE was refolved to invert once more with an army, both Paris and Verfailles, to diflblve, fword in hand, the National Affembly, and to kindle in all the ^empire the flames of civil war. Let it be remembered that even this violent writer does not accufe Priefts and Nobles of kindling a civil war to defend arbitrary taxation or imprifonment, but to defend their own wealth and their own ho- nors. Mounier and Lally, on the other fide, tell you, that the violent republicans were re- folved, at the hazard of murder and civil war, to compel the King and National Ai- fembly to refide within the walls of Paris, and be fubfervient to the influence of that turbulent capital, That many of the Nobles and Clergy ufed rafh language is probable; they fa^ their ruin determined, they faw that the flighteft obfervations, which tended to make their difgrace lefs apparent and their fall more eafy, were received as an affront by the violent party j and by La Harpe's confeiTion 4 ^in the Mercure de France) the writings in every cofFee-houfe ufed to exprefs their hope that the very word Nobility would foon M FRENCH REVOLUTION. 233 be banifhed from the language. On the other hand, the Courtiers, and the Queen efpeci- ally, might very lawfully dread a compulfa- tory refidence amongit a people who had diftinguimed themfelves by their cruelty, and who received the name even in fome very Anti-Ariftocratic newfpapers, of the Cannibals of Paris: not that the people of Verfailles were much more humane. A ftrange fcene which had lately pafled there, proves how ftrangely the fiver eignty of the -people was interpreted at that time. A man was condemned to the wheel for the murder of ilis father ; he pleaded in the excufe, that his father kept a miftrefs, with whom he (the fon) had frequent quarrels, and that the father interfering one day, received, un- fortunately, a blow that was aimed at the miftrefs. The people took the fon's part, and carried him off from the place of execu- tion. Even this would have been tolerable, but they hung up a woman who loudly con- demned their conduct ; and though (he was cut down alive, yet the poor creature had been fo much hurt that ihe expired the next day: the mob then went to the Garde des Sceaux, and inftead of imploring the pardon of their 34 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE their own crimes, loudly demanded the life of their moft obnoxious criminal, and, 1 be- lieve, obtained it. However, though the Jove reigns of Ver- sailles had aflumed the arbitrary power of life and death, yet Verfailles was not a wal- led town, like Paris ; and therefore it was pomble to efcape from their bloody man- dates. The King was at that time frill at- tended by his Gardes des Corps, a regiment deteftedby the people, becaufe it was entirely compofed of gentlemen ; (our Life Guards here in England were once on the fame footing, but it was found impracticable here to keep up the fame regulation.) Ver- failles had its National Guards, and they had put themfelves under d'Eftaing's command, but they had mown little inclination to refill the mob, and frill lefs to fight againft the National Guard of Paris. The old Gardes-Franco/fes, now in the fervice of the town of Paris, in their hearts regretted the honor of guarding the King, and were, con- fequently, very open to the folicitations of that fecret cabal, who were always willing to renew thofe projects of M. dc St. Huruge, which, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 23$ which La Fayette and Bailly had difap- pointed on the 30th of Auguft : he wrote on the 1 6th or 1 7th of September a letter, men- tioning how he had detected an attempt to P erfuade the grenadiers to fet out for Ver- failles, and added, " this inclination was en- *' tirely deft roved by the few words which I " faidto them, and I think no more of the *' t ran fact ion, except that it gives me an " idea of the unceaiing refources of the ca- " bailers ; Rejfources inepulfables des cabal- H burs." He therefore, though very Anti- Ariftocratic, believed that there was a dark cabal, an under plot directed againfr. the pre- fent pofleflbr of the Crown. Mounier, Lally, and all their party, are equally poflefled with the fame idea, and fix upon Mirabeau and the Due of Orleans as its heads. I do not mean to accufe them decifively, but onlv re- peat hiftorically the accufations of others, and as to the Due of Orleans in particular, it is probable, that at worft, he was the in- ftrument rather than the head of the cabal. An incident that pafTed on the 15th of September, increafed thefe fufpicions. The AfTembly had, in order to prefer ve the ap- pearance 16 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE pearance of French loyalty, declared the King's perfon facred and inviolable, and confirmed the fucceflion to the crown as efhblifhed by the Salic law. The friends of the Due of Orleans propofed to declare, that the renunciations of Philip Vth of Spain to the French Xrown were valid and legal, and therefore that the Orleans branch was next in the line of fucceflion after the reign- ing branch. This great queftion was talked over, rather than debated, for three days, and at laft adjourned from confiderations of prudence, M. de Virieu has attefted upon oath, (Procedure, dep. 140) that when he reprefented privately to Mirabeau the dan- ger of offending the Spanifh branch unnecef- farily, as there were fo many heads between them and the throne ; Mirabeau anfwered, that the queftion might not be far diftant ; that the King and the Count de Provence were very corpulent, and might not be long lived ; that the only remaining Dauphin was but a a child ; and that the Count d'Artois and his children might be regarded as fugitives, and almoft out-laws ; (cl^pcu-prcs ex-lex.) Other deputies overheard this con verfation, and no doubt, fuch as heard it, and already enter- tained .EVICTION. i-ry o tained a bad opinion of Mirubeau, did not go away convinced of his tender regard for the lives of the Royal Family. A few days after, about the 18th of September, La Fayette's letters were communicated by d'Eftaing to the Municipal Committee of Verfailles, and they were perfuaded to demand an additional regiment to fortify the town again ft any fud- den violence. This requeft being granted, with fome difficulty the regiment of Flan- ders was fent for; but immediately the fu ptcions of the common people of Verfailles and Paris were inflamed, and the orators of the Palais Royal affirmed, that the King was to efcape from his people under the efcort of this regiment. Some rough * drafts of letters from the Count d'Eftaign to the Queen found, when his papers were afterward feized, are brought as a kind of proof, but they only amount to vague reports of an efcape to Metz, which he had picked up in Patriot company, and it appears that he being con- vinced how often the irrefolution of the King * Hift, de Reyol, vol. Hi. page 229. had Z3& HISTORICAL -SKETCH OF THE had led him into^nbarraffments, was afraid, left he mould be influenced by fuch ideas ; but had not the fmalleft perfonal know- ledge of fuch councils. For my part, when I confider the utter impofnbility of refilling 30,000 men with 2,000, (for the King had no more at Verfailles) I cannot think that the plots of the King amounted to more than a wifh to fhew his enemies, that if they drove him to defpair by ufmg violence, he ftill had defenders who would die in his caufe. But this meafure, like all other meafures of the unfortunate French Court, was {o ill mana- ged, that it brought on the cataftrophe which it was intended to avert. No fooncr had the regiment of Flanders arrived at Ver- failles, than (as is attefted upon oath) the former a/lies of Parifan liberty, the women of pleafure, were detached to dirTuadc foldiers to abfent themfelves from roll calling, and to be guilty of all thofe pet acts of military infubordination, which pre vokes officers fully as much as greater en< mities. In this temper their officers wei invited to a dinner, given according to th< ulual etiquette of the fcrvice, by the Gan dc FfcEttCH REVOLtJTIOS. 1^ des Corps to the regiment jufl come into garrifon. The King and Queen were injudicioufly perfuaded to viiit them after dinner, and bring the infant Dauphin. They were re- ceived with the moft extravagant demon* ftrations of joy and loyalty, and the mufic played the air once fo popular, " O Richard, u O man Roi! furthers fabandonne" The banquet continued till late in the night, and ended with complete drunkennefs. In their cups they drank the King's health, and re- fufed to drink the health of the nation ; the Gardes des Corps, who had never quitted the white cockade for the ftriped Parifian cockade, are fuppofed to have declared their refolution of not wearing it ; and the officers of the regiment de Flanders, who knew that a foldier with that famous cockade thought himfelf fuperior to his officer, probably con- curred in it ; but the fuper-added accufation of tearing and infultinsj the National cockade has been denied, on the oath of all the gen- tlemen prefent. As foon as the news of this imprudent banquet were, with additi- onal circumftances, tranfmitted to Paris, the higheft *4<> HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THfc higheft rage was excited in the populace^ which were kept up by the price of bread, which had been very high during all the fummcr, and now amounted to an abfolute Scarcity, fb that money itfelf could not pur- chafe bread in the market. On the morning of the 5th of October, the fmothered flame burft forth, a number of women, chiefly of the clafles before de- jfcribed, with men habited as women, and therefore evidently the difguifed agents of confpiracy, broke into the Hotel de Ville, and plundered it. As an eflay, I fuppofe, of the bufinefs of death, fome of them hung up a poor eccleliaitic, whom they met on the flairs.* Others, more charltable y cut the man down, beat or kicked him into fenfa- tion, and fent him home to recover at lei- lure. The cry was univerfal, to go to Ver- sailles, demand bread of the King and the Aflemblv, and take vengeance on the Gardes du Corps. After icizing a magazine of * Procedure Crimincllc, au Chatdct, dcpofition 44- arms, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 24X arms, and forcing open the prifons, a de- tachment of Amazons fet out about noon, breathing threats and imprecations againft the Queen, the Guards, and the Clergy. No modeft tongue can repeat half the lan- guage of thefe auxiliaries to liberty, and every humane tongue mud faulterat repeat- ing the other half. The party that remain- ed behind were, at length, difperfed by La Fayette and his National Guard; but the latter refufed to difperfe them by any vio- lence, and told their General, that they could not fire upon their fellow citizens who ajkedfor bread. The fame frenzy of going to Versailles feized upon thefe troops, * and fome of the grenadiers plainly told La Fayette that they heard the King was an idiot, and that matters would go on much better if a Council of Regency was appointed. Fayette endeavoured to temporize for fome hours, but he and his officers being afraid for their own lives, were compelled at laft to \ield: and after obtaining; an order from the Mayor of Paris to lay before the * See Procedure, Depofition 30. R King 24* HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE King the uneafinefs of his people, about five in the afternoon he fet forward with his Na- tional army, in all the form of military pa- rade. Verfailles was beginning to take its (hare in the general confufion. The firft articles of the Conltitution, which enacted that the National Affembly fhould only be One Houfe, the King's fufpenfive veto, &c. &c. alone; with the declaration of the Rights of Men, had been laid before the King for his fanclion; Mounier had lately been made pre- fident, and his enemies were already pre- dicting that his prefidency would be the occafion of his fall. The King fent his anfwer on the morning of the 5th of October, and his anfwer did not give fatisfaction. Thefe were fome of the expreflions that difplcafed, " I grant, ac- " cording td your dclire, my acceflion to " thefe articles ; but, on a pofitive condition, " which I will never depart from, that by " the general refult of your deliberations, " the executive power fhall have its entire *' effect in the hands of the Monarch." Thefe FRENCH REVOLUTION. 243 Thefe words certainly fhewed an incli- nation to capitulate with the Aflembly, and not tofurrender the whole kingly power at once, to the difcretion of republicans; but whether fuch a meaning deferved the treatment due to a tyrant, I leave to the confciences of all honeir. men. Violent debates were occafioned by the King's anfwer, and Mirabeau took occafion to inveigh againft the imprudent feaft of the Life Guards; another deputy faid that it had been attended with criminal words and ac- tions; and being aiked if he meant to im- peach (denoncer) any particular perfon,* Mirabeau rofe, and with looks of furv cried out, " declare that the King's perfon alone is " facred, and I will bring forward the im- " peach men t myfelf." Whilft he waited for an anfwer, he re- peated with fupprefied rage to his next neighbours, the names of the >ueen and of the Due de Guiche, Colonel of the Life Guards. Mounier values himfelf, that by * Mounier, Appel-contre, M, Chabroud, page z2g. R exerting, 244 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE exerting, almofr. for the lafr. time, his autho- rity as prefident, he flopped this (hocking queftion, which would have certainly led to that fhocking cataftrophe, the murder of a defencelefs Princefs, which many people fufpecT: was intended by the cabal. The army of male and female ruffians were now beginning to enter Verfailles, and from that time the confufion was fo great, that none of itshiftorians have defcribed it very clearly. The Gardes du Corps are ac- cufed of provoking their enemies by fome rafh adYions, which are either denied or juf- tified by their friends. It may be obferved, once for all, that the indifference with which the Patriots had treated the murders committed at Paris, had convinced the real or fuppofed Arirtocrats that they could hope foi no protection from the laws, and that force alone muft repel brutal force. We cannot, therefore, wonder if they are fometimes liable to the imputation of beginning the attacl when they once heard their lives threatenec by the mob. But in this particular inftance I do not find any fufficient proof that th< guards had recourfe to illegal violence. Th< Garde FRENCH REVOLUTION. 24C Natlonale of Verfailles was rendered averfc to them, and partly from the infinuations of a M. le Cointre, who was from the firft their enemy and accufer. The regiment of Flanders had been gained by the double fe- du&ion of women and money. The King, convinced that their fmall number could do him no real fervice, fent them pofitive orders not to fire, and' about fix o'clock or- dered the greater! part of them to leave the town, whilft fome few, frill remained to guard the interior part of the palace. Whe- ther in their retreat they fired rafhly upon fome of the banditti who infulted them, or whether thofe banditti fired purpofely to throw on them the odium, feems uncertain ; but the Garde Natlonale of Verfailles took the pretence to fire on the Guards, exclaim- ing firfr. that fome of their men were wound- ed, and vengeance was denounced on the regiment from all quarters. In the mean time, the National Aflembly was rilled with enraged women, who, by the mouth of their orator, M.Maillard, inveighed againft the Ariftocrats, who occafioned fa- mine, and wore white cockades ; and fome- times they interrupted the debate with oaths R 3 and 246 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE and menaces. A deputation of the mofl: de- cent of this party was fent to the King, along with the prefident, M. Mounier ; the King received them kindly, and iflued the ftrongefr. orders that could be given, for the immediate fupply of Paris. In the midft of this confufion, the moft important of all poffible tranfactions, the fanclion of the leading articles of the Confti- tution was ftill under debate. Mounier was a fecond time fent to the King, to demand the acceptation pure et Jim- pie of the propoied articles. The King granted it, and Mounier returned with this momentous act to the National AfLmbly. No words can exprefs the extravagance of the fcene which then fucceeded. The wo- men had got completely intoxicated ; the deputies had moftly fled from their Baccha- nalian fury ; they crowded in every part of the hall, filled the feats of the deputies, and even the Prcfident's chair itfelf. Under fuch aujpices and in Juch company was the National Conftitution of France promul- gated ! Repub* FRENCH REVOLUTION. 247 Republicans may, doubtlefs, defpife the violation of aught fo infignificant in their eyes as a regal palace ; but can they reflect without horror on this (hameful violation of the majejly of a republic f America is the French model : Wafhington is their hero. Would Wafhington have permitted fuch infults on legiflation to go unpunifhed ? Whilfl the deputies were retreating to their homes, hoping the word was over, the unexpected news was brought that Fayette was marching to Verfailles with 30,000 men. Signals of mufquetry and roc- kets were heard and feen at a diftance, and the hoarfe found of the drum which Mou- nier had caufed to be fent through the ftreets to fummon the deputies to a fecond meeting, founded to the affrighted inhabi- tants of Verfailles like the prelude of war, Fayette, however, feems to have come with pacific intentions ; he made his troops ftop in the avenue of Verfailles, and fwear fidelity to the King and to the Laws ; he prefented himfelf firft before the King, and tfien before the AfTembly, with the appear- R 4 ance 248 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ance of great fubmifTion and refpect ; he la- mented to Mounier and his partifans the meafures which a powerful cabal had forced him into ; and it was understood that a few fubmiilions from the Gardes des Corps, and their adopting the national cockade, would reconcile every thing. About two or three in the morning he perfuaded Mounier to break up the Aflembly and retire to reft ; which afterward proved to have been a fatal error. It is probable that the fears and fa- tigues of the day had quite exhaufted him ; but he ou:ht to have refuted nature, and not have clofed his eyes in deep when ruf- fians were waking for murder ; and the Affembly, who had fat up one night for their own protection, might have fat up an^ other for the protection of the King. The difmay and embarrafl'ment of the. Court had been exceflive, and fome fchemes had even been propofed of flight, which would certainly have been followed by the King's depofition. Mounier hints that he advifed the King to give his pure and fmiple acceptation to the confUtutional articles, though he himfelf thought many of them very FRENCH REVOLUTION. 249 very faulty, but to refill: courageoufly the violent attempts of the Parifians, and to call on the National Aflembly to aflert their own freedom and the freedom of their Sove- reign. It appears as if the King himfelf was defirous that the Queen mould retire to fome place of fafety, and that an attempt was once made to fend for the royal car- riages, which were flopped by the people. The Queen nobly refufed, and faid, " She would flay and die at the King's feet." Her whole behaviour, whilft a furious mob was at intervals curling her and calling: out for her blood, is attefted upon oath, and al- lowed by her greatefr. enemies to have been firm and collected in the nig-heft degree ; nor does the eloquence of Mr. Burke interefl one fo much in her favour as the fimple de- pofition of her bedchamber woman, who fays, that at two o'clock, "LaReinefe coucha " fort tranquillement" The Queen went to bed with great tranquillity. So much cool- nefs at fuch a dreadful moment difplays an innate greatnefs of mind, which the influ- ence of bad example had warped, but could not 20 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE not annihilate.* A fcene was, however, at band, which no firmnefs was able to rc- At fix o'clock, a body of the fame ruf- fians, who had left Paris the day before, broke with furious menaces into the courts of the Palace, feized two of the Life Guards on their polls, (MeiT. de Huttes and Vari- court) dragged them into the outer court, and murdered them in the moll: cruel man- ner, their heads being fevered from their bodies by the unexperienced hand of a felf- conflituted executioner, one Nicolas, who, from the beginning of the troubles, had prided himfelf in beheading or mangling the enemies of liberty. Another party rufhcd into the Queen's apartments, roaring out, " That they would eat her heart, and make a fricajjee of hei lkcr."\ (I beg my reader's pardon ; but it Her mother'! courage hai been admired by all Europe; but Maria Therefa was never for a moment in danger of he life. \ See Procedure, Depofitions 9, 18, 370, 375. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 2JJI is neceflary they mould fee Parifian liberty to its true colours.) The centinel, M. de Miomandre, after refilling a few minutes, opened the Queen's door, ^nd called cut, " Save the Queen, her life is aimed at ; " I ftand alone again ft two thoufand ty- " gcrs" He was foon after defperately wounded and left for dead, but crept away unfeen, and has fince recovered. The un- happy Queen flew almoft naked through the apartments, ftarting at the found of pif- tols that were fired in the courts, and calling out to every guard whom me faw, " O my *' friends ! fave my life, fave my children." It appears certain that the attendants thought the life of the Heir to the Crown was in danger. The alarm fpread fail: ; the chil- dren were hurried * from their apartments, and brought to the King's feet as their only chance of fafety. Such was the reliance frill placed on the fuperftitious refpect that Frenchmen pay their King. The King had been awakened by the noife, and flew through a private paffage to the Queen's apartment, alone and unprotecl> * Deposition 158. ed, 2$2 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ed, to defend her life. He was met by fome of his guards, and efcorted back to his own apartment, where he found her in fafety. Some fay fhe fainted in his arms ; but the circumftances of their meeting do not ap- pear in any of the depofitions. What would have been the event had he met the ruffians in their frantic career of blood, is hard to fay ; perhaps traditional fuperftition would have pleaded in vain ; perhaps it would have been as proud a day for France, as fome writers think the 30th of January is for England.* The murderers were now employed in breaking open an apartment, where the per- fecuted Life Guards had barricaded them- felves ; when, in that critical moment, Fayette and his officers appeared. Th< ruffians were with fome difficulty perfuadec to defifr. perfuaded, and not forced ; for th< National Guards would not ufe force a^aini men whom they called their fellow-citizens and fome of them had feen from their ports * See Appendix, Note 2. fRE^JCH RfcVOLUTIOtf. 453 t!ic murders of M. M. Huttes and Varicourt, without attemptiing to fave them. Some other Life Guards had, I believe, been killed, and all were in danger ; all were hunted from place to place by their enemies, like the Proteftants after the Saint Bartelemi : but their particular efcapes it were unne- ceflary to relate. The King himfelf, attended by La Fayette, went through the Palace, recommending his Guards to the mercy of the Parifians, and declaring that they were unjuftly accufed. He now appeared on a balcony to repeat his* interceilion, and the mob violently called out for the Queen. Fayette went to fcek her. She hefitated for a moment, and afked if her prefence was neceffary to appeafe the people.* He afTured her it was. ** Then, faid me, " I will go, even if I was fure that '* I went to execution*' au dernier /up-* plice. She did appear, bearing the Dauphin in her arms, and the popular fury feemed a * Procedure, Depofition 190. little 254 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE little appeafed ; although fome of the fpe&a* tors, whether truly or falfely, ftill thought they faw amidft the crowd, mufquets levelled at the Queen's head.* Prefently a univer- sal cry refounded, " To Paris, to Paris !" The whole Royal Family were now at the mercy of the people ; nor could La Fayette have infurcd their lives, if they had appear- ed to hefitate. The King aflented ; papers were difperfed around to convey thefe tidings to the crowd ; the melancholy preparations were foon made, and the Royal Family fct off, preceded by the bloody heads of their own guards, accompanied by ruffians and infamous women in lavage triumph, and efcorted by fome of the difperfed obnoxious regiment, difarmed and treated as prifoners of war. Mounicr, who had rcpofed too much on La Fayette's vigilance, was awakened at eight o'clock by thefe horrid tidings. Hi imagination pointed out to him the downfa of Liberty, no lefs than that of Monarchy, I Ic battened to the Aflcmbly, and propofe * Dcpofition 365. the . FRENCH REVOLUTION. 2J5 that they mould immediately relbrt to the Palace, hold their meeting in the great fa* loon of Verfailles, and affift the King with their advice in this momentous crifis. Mi- rabeau anfwered, that it was beneath their dignity to meet in the King's Palace, and this anfwer was accepted as a fufficient rea- fon. Mounier afferts, that the joy of Mira- beau, of Barnarve, and the more violentPtf- trlots, was indecently apparent ; whilft the others imagined themfdves furrounded by armed men, trembled for their lives, and dared not utter a word. It was voted, that the National AJJcmbly was infeparable from the King ; and they went on debating, or pretending to debate, on fome trifling fub- jecl, whillr. the difmal proceffion was mov- ing off for Paris. The broken remnants of the Middle Party met the next evening under as much appre- henfion as the Courtiers themfelves, con- vinced that their own lives were aimed at ? that the freedom of the Aflembly was at an end, and that its laws would now be dic- tated by a triumphant faction. Some refolved to 2j6 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE to fray; Mourner and Lally Tolendal re* fblved to quit the Aflembly. Whether their determination was blame* able, would form too long a difcufTion* Mounier's life had been threatened by the mob, and therefore his enemies have accufed him of fear. He fays in his Defence, that he had refolved to ftir up the province of Dauphiny to infiir. that the National Aflem* bly mould not be held at Paris, and to de- clare that its decrees could not pafs as bind- ing whilfr. it voted under the influence of a mob and an army ; and other Deputies, he fays, profefTed to have fimilar intentions* Whether this plan was lawful is alfo a mat- ter of doubt ; it might certainly have led to a civil war, that evil which Mounier had once fo much deprecated. But his plan was foon difappointcd : Barnavc and man] of his brother Deputies had prepoffevled th< people's minds againft him ; and in a moi time this advocate for liberty was forced t( leave France, to fhelter himfclf from the re- feutment of that province, which but a fci months before had adored him. lie has 2 fince FRENCH REVOLUTION. 257 Cmce refided at Geneva, fully prepoffefled with the melancholy fentiment, that all his efforts had only ended in enflaving France to the defpotifm of Faction, inltead of the defpotifm of Royalty. I fhould not have been fo minute in many of thefe little details, which Mr. Burke has already defcribed, if they had not, from his relation, been ridiculed, and almoft, denied. I have advanced nothing but what is arTerted upon the oath of eye-witnefles, in the depofitions taken before the Chatelet, omitting whatever bears the appearance of hearfay report ; and I know but of one ma- terial fact at ijfue between the contending factions Whether or no the ruffians entered the Queen's chamber, and fearched her bed ? Mounier values himfelf, amidft all his mis- fortunes, that he had firft called the atten- tion of the public to the horrid maffacre in- tended and actually begun on the 6th of October, and thus compelled the National Affembly to order its authors to be profe- cuted. S There, 258 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THF. There are three fyftcms laid down with regard to this event, which muft be ex- plained to the reader. Some think, like the writer of Dupont's Anfwer to Burke, " That the Revolution u was already effe&ed, and that the events H of the 5th and 6th of October added to " every fpecics of atrocity the moft perfect " inutility.'* Very different is the fyftem of the author of Hiftoire de Revolution^ who calls them " fatal days, if in refpect to the bloody " fcenes which they prefented: happy days " in refpecl that they faved the King and " the Nation, extinguifhed the torches of " civil war, and ftiflcd the confpiracies " formed againft the Conftitution." -f If thefe days were fuch a necejfary fupplement to the Revolution, an author may then be ex- cufed if he has detained his readers a little too long on their fhocking tranfadtions* * Vol. iii. p 398. f 1 have the oftencr quoted that l>ook, becaufc the cure tie Frame once praifed its impartiality. Mi FRENCH REVOLUTION. 2^9 May it not fairly be obferved, that a fimilar excufe might ferve for the contrivers of the malYacres of St. Bartelemi M We Catho- *' lies were the majority of the nation, we " wanted to ftifle the confpiracies of the " minority, and the popular fury went a " little farther than we intended." The third fyftem, efpoufed both by the Ariftocratic and the Moderate party, is, that two factions concurred in railing thefe tu- mults with very different intentions. The republican levellers meant to put it entirely out of the power of King, Nobles, or Clergy, to defend any one of their rights, not only by arms, but even by legal refinance. Ano- ther party, fuppofed to be headed by Mira- beau, was more favourable to Monarchy, but wifhed to change the Monarch and fet up fome phantom of power, under whofe name Mirabeau and a few more of the cabal fhould govern with fupreme authority. The object of the fir ft party was to confine the King within the walls of Paris ; the object of the fecond was to terrify him into flight ; but it was the intereft of both to unite in the ufe of the fame means, fedition and murder. Ss The 26o HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE The famine fo often laid to the charge of the Nobles, is, by this fyflem, laid to the charge of thefe factions; for, fays Mounier, could the Courtiers wifh to bring the en- raged Parifians to Verfailles, when they had not troops enough even to protect their flight ? The famine ceafed as foon as the King was lodged at Paris ; another proof, fay his ad- vocates, that it was occafioned by the rulers of the people, and not by a weak disjointed party, who could not thus have produced, and then put a flop to it by their word of command. The levelling party fucceeded ; the other faction, more criminal, becaufe lefs heated by enthufiafm, were baffled, difappointed, and reaped no other harvefl than difgrace and mortification. The reader is left to judge between the twooppofite fyftems; but in either cafe, it is plain, that the Revolution was from that; hour completed, and that the republicans met with no obftacle in their future career: my talk, therefore, is drawing to a conclu- fion. The object of this pamphlet is more th( FRENCH REVOLUTION. 26 I the Revolution itfelf, than the laws and con- ftitution which have been given to France in confequence of that Revolution. An author, acquainted with the French nation, chiefly from books, would unavoidably be led into miftakes in many technical details, of which the knowledge can only be acquired by con- verfation. Leaving that great work to fome abler writer, I fhall barely mark the progrefs and the dates of fome of their principal tranfa&ions, and make a few obfervations on the fpirit that appears to animate them. Whatever triumph the principle leaders of the Affembly might feel at the entire humi- liation of the Court, it was impoflible that they mould not ftartle at the reflection, that they were going to (hut themfelves up in a town where the populace had been permit- ted to aflume the right of life and death, A falfe accufation, believed by the mob, might inftantly deftroy the moft zealous Patriot; and two months before, the Marquis de la Salle had very nearly afforded a dreadful example of that truth.* They therefore took care to * He had been falfely accufed of conveying gunpowder to the Court, and was faved with great difficulty by Fayette's exertion. S 3 pafs 262 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE pafs the ftrongeft votes on the fubject or their own facrednefs and inviolability, and even then the Aflembly betrayed fymptoms of reluctance and apprehenfion ; and fo many Deputies alked for leave of abfence, that it was, at lalt, thought neceflary to give a ge- neral refufal. Soon after their refidence in Paris, about the third 'week in October, ano- ther tumult happened, and an innocent ba- ker was hanged in the fight of his wife and family, upon a falfe report that he was a monopolizer of bread. The danger had now approached fo near their own doors, that the AfTembly were roufed into exertion, and afTuming courage from excefs of fear, pafled a fevere law, on the plan of our riot-act, ordering the muni- cipal Magistrates to proclaim martial law whenever the mob proceeded to outrage, and adding the formidable emblem of a red flag to be hung out from- the Town-Houfe. As this unfortunate baker was neither priejl nor ^gentleman, his murder was deem- ed defcrving of punifhment, and two 01 three of the rabble were executed. Th< Parifians were a little reconciled to this fe- vcrity, FRENCH REVOLUTION"* 163 Verity, when they heard a few days after- wards* that a man, employed to buy com for their own provifion, had been almofr. hanged at a neighbouring town by the enra- ged inhabitants, who thought they had a natural right to eat bread at as cheap a rate as the people of Paris. The firft perfon who attempted the refcue of the victim, was a fpirked young Engiim midmipman, who drew his cutlafs, and fwore " he would " never tamely fee a man hanged without " trial ';" and he was afterwards thanked in form by the magiftrates. The Anembly, now enjoying a few mo- ments of peace, proceeded quietly to deter- mine, that the elections of Deputies mould be made by the citizens at large, and no longer by the three feparate Orders, whofe very names were now entirely abo- lifhed. The debates on the qualification for electors gave fome fatisfaction to the friends of property and law, as it was agreed that fome qualification, though a very {len- der one, mould be requifite, to vote in the Primary Aflemblies ; that the men thus en- titled to vote, mould be redftered under the S 4. name 264 HisfoRicAL Sketch of the name of the Active Citizens, (Choiens Aftlfs) and that a qualification fomewhat larger fhould be required of thofe who were cho- fen Electors. The levelling party were very angry at thefe votes ; but it is a molt remarkable cir- cumftancc, that it never came into the head of any French Democrat to fay, that the people at large ought to chufe their own Re- prefentatives, and not employ the medium of Eleflors. Such is the influence of laws and cuftoms of immemorial antiquity, even on the wildefl fpirits ; and fuch, therefore, is their ufe for the prefervation of peace and good order, though arguments may be brought to prove them defective. Let us place the fcene in England, let us but fuppofe, for a moment, that the fcheme of chufing electors was pro- pofed to the freeholders of Middlefex, or th( houfeholders of Weftminfter, and confider whether they would bear to hear it without dangerous marks of impatience* I have FRENCH REVOLUTION. 2.6$ I have mentioned this circumftance be- fore ; but I think the admirers of France, and the declaimers for reformation, cannot be too often reminded, that the unanimous con- fent of the French nation has in a manner confecrated this principle : " It is dange- " rous to extend the right of voting to the " whole body of the people, unlefs you in- " terpofe a middle power between the peo- " pie at large, and their Reprefentatives. About the fame time that it made laws for future elections, the Aflembly begun that divilion of France into fmall diftridls, (o much cenfured by Mr. Burke. The mo- tive appears to have been good ; namely, the fuppreffion of the partial and hurtful privi- leges of the old Provinces, and the conloli- dation of them all into one undivided en> pire ; but from the ipirit of independence fome diftricl:s have fhewn, it looks as if the Aflembly had cut off twenty Hydra's heads to give room for eighty new ones to fprouc from the recent wounds. The Aflembly, alfo, ordered all the old Parlemens to remain in a ftate of vacation, a and 66 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE* and thus declared their intention to aboHfrt thoie independent courts of juftice, which were once thought effential to the French Conftitution. Soon after the Aflembly had removed to Paris, a letter was fent round in their name to the feveral Provinces, with the decree that ordered the contribution of the fourth of their revenues ; a letter faid to be drawn up by the Bimop of Autun, which fully ex- plains the miftaken principle upon which the honefr. part of the Democrats acted : for the letter lays it down as a maxim, and comments on it for fome pages, that " all " abufes muft be extirpated together, and at " once." To me it appears that few maxims are more calculated to throw fo- ciety into univerfal diforder, and to make the reformation of abufes almofl impofTible, by interefting fuch numbers in the prefcrvation of every leparate abuie. I have heard that when Mr. Howard laid before Catherine of RuiTia fome of the abufes committed in her prifons, me an- iwered, " Cefont des c/oux Qifilfaut tlrcr les " uns French RElfc>LUTiaN.' 267 *' uns apres les autrcs" thefe are nails which mu ft be drawn out the one after the other. Perhaps there was more found philofophy in this maxim, uttered by a defpotic Cza- rina, than in all the declamations of a re- publican Biftiop. The reader may alfo con- fult Mr. Burke's fpeech on the Civil Lift Bill, particularly the 14th page, where he will find feveral arguments againft univerfal and precipitate reformations, which at leaft feem to prove that Mr. Burke's prefent fen- timents are not fo different from his former ones, as his enemies have alledged. Mirabeau, at the very moment of the Af- fembly's departure for Paris, propofed an addrefs to the Provinces, in which it was metaphorically faid, that now " the veffel of " public bufinefs would proceed in its courfe ." more rapidly than ever." This propofal excited indignation in many minds, as it feemed to convey a manifeft approbation of the plot formed to force the National Afletn- bly into Paris. Mirabeau was looked on with abhorrence by one party, with fufpi- cion by all, and the {lender reed on which he had tried to lean failed him at once. La Fayette c68 historical Sketch of tjie Fayette had neither forgotten nor forgiven the difobedient fpirit of his troops on the 5th of October ; he certainly attributed it to the Due of Orlean's ascents, though we know not exactly on what proofs he grounded his opinion ; and he has certainly drove the Due of Orleans into his well-known jour- ney to England, though we are not ac- quainted with the private converfations that palfed on the occafion. It was attelted be- fore the Chatelet, that when Mirabeau heard of the Due of Orlean's refolution, he abufed him with all the energy of the French vul- gar tongue^ and concluded by exclaiming, " He does not deferve the trouble that has ** been taken for his fake .'" Mirabeau, in his fpeech of defence againft the Chatelet, owned, that " indignation made him utter '* indifcrcet and infolcnt fpeeches," without confdfing precifely what they were. His next attempt was to compel the King, either to receive him as his Miniiter, or ac- cept a Miniflry entirely of his formation. It was neceflary to engage the National Af- fembly into this fcheme, and for that pur- pofe, he mad^- a motion to admit the King's Minifters FRENCH REVOLUTION. 269 Minifters into the Affembly ; this propofai was very ill received : the Courtiers detefled Mirabeau ; the Republicans felt that they had not overturned the firft throne of Eu- rope, in order to be governed by one of their equals, and an equal too, difliked on account of his immoral character. It was, therefore, not merely filently rejected, but they posi- tively decreed on the 7th of November, that ' none of their members mould accept a place in the Miniftry. Such was the particular effect of uncommon circumftances, that a law, moft palpably unfavourable to Royal Authority, was received by the Royal Party with a kind of triumph. Mirabeau, difap- pointed in all his projects that related to Princes, Regents, or Kings, was compelled once more to devote himfelf to the people; but he always bore a fmothered refentment againfl the leaders of the Democratic party. The AfTembly now proceeded to eftablifli fome legal method of trying perfons accufed of treafon againfl: the nation ; both the Af- fembly and the city of Paris had eftablifhed committees of refearch, who are flill in ex-* iflepce, and are accufed of proceeding in a very kj6 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TH very inquifitorial manner. They conftituted the Chatelet of Paris iuprcme judge of fuch crimes, till they had organized lome better court of juftice ; and they were forced by the reclamations of the moderate party to include in this lift of crimes, the bloody fcenes of the 6th of October, which at firir. the Democratic Journalifts had rep relented as a&s of felf defence. Bezenval, commander of the Swifs guards, was the firft prifoner accufed of leze nation, brought before this new tribunal, and the fturdy Switzer, baffled by his firmneis all the malice of his enemies. The only fact they could urge againft him, was his let- ter to Launay, giving orders to defend the Baftille. To this he anfwcred, " I ordered him to " do his duty, and if I was at this moment *' entruftcd by the city of Paris, with the ' care of the Hotel de Ville, I mould " equally hold it my duty to defend it to the lad." This FRENCH REVOLUTION. 271 This argument could not have but weight with the Magiftrates, who remembered the plunder of the Hotel de Ville on the 5th of October, and the danger of the municipal officers. The mob foon guefled the inten- tion of the Chatelet to fpare Bezenval, they raifed a tumult in the Court, and demanded his blood. The iteadineis of the Magiftrates, and the ;ood behaviour of the National Guard, prevented farther mifchief; Bezen- val was acquitted, and has ever fince been acknowledged a quiet and peaceable citizen by that very people, who, on the 30th of July, would have murdered him without the leaft remorfe. The Chatelet foon after ventured on a bolder meafure, in acquitting the Prince de Lambefc, Marfhal Broglio, and fome other principal fugitives, who were accufed, in their abfence, of the plot real or fuppofed, which occafioned the Revolution of July; but againft whom nothing but conjectural proof appeared. To make amends, as was generally fuppofed, they facrificed M. de Favras, a victim to popular prejudice, and condemned him to death for plotting a counter 1"}Z HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE counter Revolution, on the oaths of two witneflfes, who appear to have fomewhat refembled lltus Oats. Whether he was entirely innocent of rafh defigns, is more than can be pofitively aflerted ; but if Riche- lieu or Louvois had facrifked him on fimi- lar proofs, it would have been recorded as an act of minifterial defpotifm. The great bufinefs of the National Aflfem bly, through the winter of 1 789, and the ipringof 1 790, confided in totally defpoiling > the Clergy. Their firft ftep commenced with a decree, paffed early in November, which declared that all the eftates of }he church were at the difpofal of the nation. Mounier aflerts, that when he learnt in Dauphine the details of that bufinefs, the active part which the mob had taken, either at the door or in the galleries; the threat again ft the Priefts, and the cries of refent ment againft thofe members who fpoke their favor ; he became entirely convince that the deliberations of the Aflembly wei no longer free, and that nothing remaincc for him but to refign his feat, Th$ FRENCH REVOLUTION. 273 *I*he next important ftep was taken on February 13th, 1790, when they fupprefled all monaftic eftablifhments for ever, and feized on their lands, allowing, however, the prefent friars and nuns to obferve their monaftic vows ; and granting to nuns the fpecial indulgence not to be removed from the convents they then refided in, without their confent and free choice* In the month of April they completed their plan ; they voted away all the territorial poffeffions of the Church, giving to all Churchmen, in return, penfions much fmal- ler than their former revenues ; and giving to the creditors of the State affrgnauons^ i. e. affignats on thefe lands, as a new kind of paper money* Mirabeau was one of the ftrongeil: advocates of thefe violent proceed- ings, in oppofition to his own fentiments, expreffed in his pamphlet againft the Em- peror, called Doutes fur la Libertt de rEf- caut, where, amongft many fimilar paflages, he fays expreflly, " Defpife *the monks as " much as you pleafe, but do not rob them, * Page 1 59, Note the fecond. T " for 274 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE M for it is unlawful to rob either the moft 41 determined atheift or the moit credulous ** capuchin friar." It would appear very unfuitable to the philofophy of the prefent age, to aflert that it is facrilege to feize on the revenues of the Church, in order to fupply the necefTities of the State. Let it be allowed, that the Na- tional AfTembly might fairly have taken the Church lands after the death of the prefent incumbents ; but let it be alfo allowed, that it is injuftice to take from any man, with- out compenfation, a revenue which he had received as an undoubted life eftate, and which had been confidercd as fuch through a long courfe of ages. The continually increa- ling deficit had made immediate fupplies ne- cefiary true; but the deficit increafed in exact proportion to the incrcafe of wild de- mocratical liberty. Few of the taxes were now paid ; and the fait tax, one of the moll: productive, was ablblutely refufed. Five collectors were hanged by the mob at Be- ziers, and aflbciations againft paying it were formed in fome of the provinces : the terri- fied Affembly were obliged, on the 14th of March, *RENCK REVOLUTION. 2j$ March, to repeal it, without providing any fubftitute; and in about a month afterwards they made the Clergy expiate the fins of the people. The Clergy, who thougnt that the Com- mons had, "Judas-like, betrayed them with & %ifs, became from henceforth implacable ene- mies of the new Conftitution, and were foon accufed of flirring up troubles, efpe- cially at Nimes, and at Montauban. At Nimes, a dreadful tumult happened in June 1790, during which about twenty Protec- tants were killed by the Catholic party ; the Protectants gained a complete victory, and, in revenge, are faid to have murdered two hundred Catholics. There is,' certainly* no excufe to be made for the eccletiaftics, if they really fomented thefe difturbances ; but does not the expe- rience of all ages prove, that if you {trip* one hundred thoufand men of what they * The number of Clergy, fecular and regular, in France, has been reckoned at 1 30,000 ; but I fuppofe that many poor Curates were gainers by the change, T a think 276 HISTORICAL SKETCH OV THE think is their property, and reduce them to defpair, fedition and rebellion will always follow as the confequences. In the midft of thefe internal altercations', the unexpected difpute between Spain and England called forth the divided French nation to take a part in external politics. About the middle of May, the King fent a meflage to the Affembly, informing them of this di{pute, of the Englifh naval prepara- tions, and defiring their ailiftance in equipping a fleet of fourteen (hips. The Parifians, on thismefiagc, were very near returning totheir wonted irate of outrage ; for they imagined that this meflage covered a plot to unite the French army with the Spanim troops, and bring about a counter revolution. The Af- fembly returned a general civil anfwer, and immediately proceeded to debate that im- portant queftion, " intowhofe hands mould " be lodged the power of peace and war?" The Democratic party were of opinion, that it ought to be lodged in the AtYembly,and all the uiual common -place topics were repeated again ft: tyrants and conquerors, whilit the many v.ars that have been occasioned by factious FRENCH REVOLUTION. 277 factious demagogues were totally forgotten. One Deputy, however, told them in return, that if they took this power to themfelves, " a battle would foon be fought in the middle of u their hall between Spanifo piajlres and Eng- " ^fi guineas" Mirabeau, after having, in the beginning of his fpeech, courted popu- larity by a romantic dream of fome future millenium of peace and concord between free States, was yet of opinion, that in the prefent fituation of affairs, the power of peace and war muft be left to the King : im- mediately it was reported that he was bribed by the Court, and a pamphlet was fold about the ftreets, giving an account of " the " great treachery of the Count Mirabeau," He affected ftoutnefs, and braved the Demo- crats ; but, at laft, a compromife took place, and a decree pafled, importing that " war " mall not be made, but by a decree of the " National Aflembly after the King's formal w notification of his opinion of the neceflity M of war, and that the King mall be obliged *' to make peace if the Affembly require it." In this decree was contained that famous ciaufe, which renounced all conquefts in the T 3 name Z"] HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE name of the French nation, a claufe which has been the fubjedt of much < ; but which, at the moment, was almoft i culous, as the divifions of France would have left it an eafy prey to foreign ambition. How far. that Kingdom will repay the for- bearance of its neighbours, mud be left to the decifion of time. When we reflect on their lofty difregard of treaties, their prefent illiberaliry to all the Governments of the reft of Europe, an illiberality which has pro- voked the ftriftures of other writers; and on the intriguing fpirit (hewn by fome of their leaders, there is too much caufe to fear that their pacific fpirit will exift in name alone, not in reality. After the decree was paffed, and the peo- ple were pretty well fatisfied, a Committee was appointed to examine into all the exif- ting treaties of alliance. This appointment was grounded on an opinion very general amengft the violent Patriots, that all the treaties then exifting were null; a eonfe-. quence derived from that logic, which had taught chem on the 17th of June, 1789, that FRENCH REVOLUTION. 279 that all the exlji'mg taxes were null and illegal. They had now leifure to look again at home, and proceed in their work of tho- rough reformations. They had compelled the King to lend round to all the provinces the refolutions of the 4th of Auguft, under the authority of his great feal, and fanc- tioned as laws, whilfr. they themfelves con- ferred that the laws were yet to make, had entrufted their formation to a fpecial com- mittee, and had promifed to confider whe- ther any modifications would be neceflary. It is not furprifing if this confufion between fuch different ideas as votes and laws, occa- sioned frefh confufion between the tenants and the landlords ; the tenants taking the votes in their moil: enlarged fenfe, and in- filling on immediate execution ; the land- lords holding off, and fecretly expecting that the laws, when completeted, would be modified rather more to their liking. New riots had happened in the courfe of the win- ter in Brittany, Auvergne, &c. and feveral gentlemens houfes were attacked. Molt, of T 4 the 280 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE the feudal fervices and rents had been de- clared redeemable, but ordered to be paid as before till redeemed. The peafants, who had been told by the enthufiaftic admirers of the glorious \th of Augujl, that all feudal tenures were abolifhed, could not compre- hend this diitinftion, and by the confeflion of M. Cerutti, a democratic writer, in feve- ral places erected gibbets, to hang the land- lords or the {rewards who claimed their wonted rents. Tumults had alfo happened in Burgundy, and much more dangerous riots at thofe important towns, Marfeilles and Toulon, riots ariiing from municipal quarrels. The Aflembly, fome time in the Spring of 1790, paffed a decree that all municipalities mould be anfwerable for the damage done by rioters. I do not know whether this law has ever been exe- cuted. ; But no conviction of the danger of exaf- perating the minds of the people againft thole who had been long their fuperiors, could with-hold the Democrats from their grand fcheme of the total extirpation of No. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 281 Nobility. It is curious to confider ionic littic iteps which led to that event.* A Grand Confederation had already been voted to take place on the 14th of July, to bind the King and the People to each other by new oaths, and in fact, to bind by the obligation of folemn oaths, the troops, of whole mutinous fpirit they were every day growing more afraid, and the national guards, who were by no means under proper Subordination. On the 19th of June, M. de Cloot, a malecontent Pruffian rending at Paris, en- tered the National Aflembly at the head of a number of Grangers, collected (as he faid) from every quarter of the globe, even from Turkey and the Eaft Indies, and made a fpeech, the bombaft of which defies all tranflation : but its chief purport was to reprefent the ambafladors from all exifting governments as the ambafladors of tyrants, and to demand places for themfelves at the * See the Mercure de France for the end of June and beginning of July 1790, cn %2 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE enfuing ceremony, as the virtual ambaffadon of all the enflaved nations who wiihed to be free. Satyrical report has affirmed, that the fellows who perlbnated the Afiatics were afterwards (een at the door of the Af- fembly begging for the wages winch had been promifed them. Will it be too fevc-e to refer to Mr. Mit- ford's account of tiie pretended mourn proceifion, and the harangue of the fai'.or who had fwam afhore on the barrel, em- ployed by the factions at Athens as theatrical arts, to work up the Athenians to deftroy feven meritorious generals r* After M. de Cloot and his motley crew had retired, a motion was made to remove the fratues of (laves, which furrounded a famous ftatue of Lewis the Fourteenth, that the eyes of foreigners might not be wounded with fuch an exhibition. This was unanimoufly voted. The houfe was now thought worked up to a fufficient pitch of enthufialm ; it was an evening feflion, * Mitford's Hill, of Greece, vol. ii. pages 665, 666. time FRENCH REVOLUTION. 383 time when by tacit confent, important queftions had been feldom moved, great numbers of the minority were therefore ab- sent, the decree that abolifhes all hereditary Nobility was introduced, and voted by ftra- tagem and fuprife. La Fayette was amougfl its zealous fupporters, and yet he appears to have retained many old French notions of loyalty to the King, and zeal for the Salic I .aw of ftrict mafculine hereditary iuccef- iion. Some impartial friend might have aiked him, whether it was probable that the nation would retain the fame' veneration for hereditary monarchy when they were taught to look on all other hereditary dis- tinctions not only with contempt, but with, abhorrence ; and when the family called to the fupreme diftinction of alone iupply- ing the vacancies of the throne, was not permitted to claim any outward marks of honor that might at ail feparate it from a family of plebeians ? This famous decree carries in its very preamble, the flrongefl features of that con- ceit inherent in the French temper, that va- nity which would fquaie the opinions of all the 284 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE the world to its own ; of which it is diffi- cult for other nations to fpeak, without be- traying a little too much refentment. The Aflembly were not fatisfied with declaring that hereditary Nobility was incompatible with the Liberty of France, it declares in general terms, that hereditary Nobility is in- compatible with a Free State ; and thus, by implication, declares all Europe enflaved, except a few Swiis Democrats. I defy the greateft. enemy of England to aflert, that id her proudefr. " hour of infolence" me ever declared by Acl of Parliament, what foreign governments were or were not confident with her ideas of liberty. The decree then abolifhes " for ever" all titles exifting in France, including all the intermediate titles from prince to fquire, i. e. ecuyer ; it forbids with a precilion worthy of a fynod of Quakers, that appellation of high- nefs, excellence, &c. &c. mould be given to any man or body of men ; it abolifhes all names derived from eftates, (a common practice in France) all coats of arms, and all liveries. The fRBNCH REVOLUTION* 2$$ The decree next defcends to fuch minu- tiae as to prohibit a trifling honor, paid fome- times to governors and noblemen, and fome- times to the Seigneurs de Paroijfes, of bur- ning incenfe when they came into the church. To this law may be joined a claufe in a late decree, which forbids thefe lords of pari/hes to have a pew diftindl: from their parifh- ioners. One of the evils that had ever been la- mented in France, was the non-relidence of country gentlemen on their eftates, and a wife legiflature ought, by every means to have allured them, if poffible, into a tafte for rural life. On the contrary, may it not happen that thefe repeated mortifications will drive them flill more into towns and cities, where the fuppofed difgrace will be lefs vifible. Philofophers may laugh if they pleafe at the importance that I fuppofe at- tached by a lofing party to iilly ceremonials and unmeaning coats of arms : but I appeal to every generous Briton, (no matter whe- ther noble or plebeian) whether the moft trifling degradation, inflicted as a ftudied in- fult by a triumphant faction, does not aflume an 286 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 1 TR an importance far beyond its real value ? Great injuries may be dictated by neceflity or felf defence, petty affronts appear to be the offspring of refined malevolence* The King of France had furTered tod much already in the caufe of his Nobles, to attempt any reiiftance, and his fanclion was accordingly fent on the 21ft of June* Of all his miniftcrs, Necker alone, Neckcr a plebeian, a republican, Necker born in a democracy, infilled that his difapprobation mould be fent to the Aflembly ; and as the other minifters refufed, he publifhed his obfervations in a feparate pamphlet, obfer- vations that do him credit, as being pru- dent, rational, and moderate. He aiks jthem in one paiTagc, whether, as they had voted hereditary Nobility inconfiftent with a Free State, they meant to infer that Nobi/tj for life might be allowable ? Here was a door opened for difcuilion ; upon this ground, philofophers might have endeavoured t< combine the good derived from honors thai do not taint the mind with felfifh lucre, with their doctrines of the natural equality of man : FRENCH REVOLUTION. 2$} man : but the French philofophy is inclu- ded in one word -Extirpation* Montefquieu has a remarkable chapter 1 * which intitles M Idee du Defpotifme" and when the reader expecls a logical definition, he meets with a fhort expreffive fimile. " When the favages of Canada wifh to ga- w ther fruit they cut down the parent tree. 44 Such is the government of a Defpot !" May not a fimilar comparifon apply to the National Aflembly ? A favage found his cottage incommoded by the (hade of an an- tient wide-fpreading tree, and inftead of lop* ping the branches, he fell to grub it up by the roots. In the conduct of thefe enemies to defpotifm an obferving mind may defcry much of the rapid violence of a defpot, al- ways ready to exclaim like our Richard in Shakefpeare, r~ Off with his head ! " So much for Buckingham !" This unparalleled decree was received witk high indignation by all the gentUhommes ki the kingdom, who lent up repeated pro- teftations again ft it, which protections were *8S HISTORrCAL SKETCH OF THfc were not allowed to appear on the journals The Nobility and the Clergy of AH'ace were more enraged than any of their brethren at the fpirit of the late decrees* and, indeed, with better rcaibn, for they had received their honors and emoluments from the German empire, not frorri the French nation ; their rights had been confirmed to them by the treaty of Weftphalia, and they denied the power of the National Affembly to alrer that treaty. They have been fufpe&ed ever {ince of exciting the refentment of the Ger- man Princes again ft France ; and it is by keeping alive the refentment of the com- mons againft the gentlemen, that France muft fecure itfelf from henceforth againft any attempt of the Empire to reconquer that ceded province. The day of the Confederation was no^ approaching, and the unlucky Duke of Or- leans, no longer a Prince, declared his in- tention to quit England and be prefent at the lcene. The jealou fy of La Fayette again endeavoured to prevent him, but wj obliged to delift ; M. cTOrleans returnee took the oaths with the reft, and his nai neec FRENCH REVOLUTION. 28^ liccd not again have appeared in the nar- ration, if it had not been from the accufa- tion foon brought againft him. (It may juft be mentioned, however, that the name La CIos, his fuppofed friend, has been lately mentioned as a feditious orator at fome fe- ditious clubs.) The Grand Confederation and the reci- procal oaths of King, People, and Army, took place on the 14th of July, with great iplendor and without any confufion ; nor can it be denied that this folemn ceremony gave an apparent legality to the constitution, even though its foundation might have been laid by force. But the revolt of Nancy, which happened foon after, proved the oaths which all the regiments of the army had taken by deputy, had not retained much in- fluence on their conduct ; in many regi- ments the foldiers, having now righted the public, had begun to think of righting their private wrongs, to complain that their offi- cers cheated them, and to plunder the military chefts. Thefe difcontents had rifen ac Nancy to the pitch of downright rebellion and the AfTembly had been obliged to au-> U thorizc igO HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE thorize M. de Bouille, commander at MetZ, to fupprefs them by force of arms. This ftep was taken very reluctantly, for they fufpected Bouille of being an ariftocrat, and according to their ufual cuftom of never punifhing democratic criminals, they were debating about fending commiffioners to pacify, inftead of troops to reduce the infur- gents. But M. de Bouille, when armed with the firft decree, marched directly to Nancy at the head of fome regular and fome national troops, and fubdued them, not without considerable (laughter. Here every hiftorian, even the writer of an abridgement, mould ftep out of his way to relate an action fo heroic, that it equals all that is recorded in Greek or Roman an- nals, A young officer, M. Defilles, after endeavouring vainly to perfuade the infur- gents to capitulate, threw himfelf acrofs the mouth of a cannon which they were going to fire off, and bade them complete their crime by blowing him to pieces. They did not put him to quite fo dreadful a death, but they tore him from the cannon and ftabbed him with bayonets. The ftruggle had, FRENdH REVOLUTION. and yet forced to approve a man who had acted in conformity to their own orders. But the Parifians were enraged, affembled round the doors, and demanded Bouille's head and the heads of the minifters, though they could hardly tell why. The National Guard quieted them ; but this event unex- pectedly haftened the final refignation of Necker. Ever fince the tranflation of the Affembly to Paris, he had fenfibly felt that his credit was expiring ; he was considered U a as 292 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TH2 as a tool who had done the bufinefs or party, and might now be laid afide at plea- fure. M. Camus, the leader of one of their Committees on public accounts, a violent alienor of rigid ceconomy, and many other members, had frequently quarrelled with all his plans, and brought cavilling accufations againft him. In return, he had told them home truths, which only ferved to increafe his unpopularity with the AfTembly. On the night when the mob rofe on receiving the tidings from Nancy, he was afTured that his life was aimed at ; he quitted his houle, and fpent many hours in the fields near Paris. Convinced that he had kept his place too long for his own honor, he plead- ed ill health and infirmities, and fent his refignation to the National Aflembly, who read it, and with the mod: carelefs in- difference, called for the order of the day, Pierced to the heart with this difdainful treatment, he fet out for Switzerland ; but the bitter cup of his humiliation was not yet cxhaufted : he was flopped and con- fined like a prifbner by the National Guan of Arci-fur-Aube, who thought that n< finance minjfter ought to leave France with* FRENCH REVOLUTION. 293 without firft making up his accounts. He was fet at liberty by a very dry letter from the AfTembly, and retired to his native country without one Tingle mark of efteem or regret from that nation, which, for his fake, had but the year before rebelled againft their King. On the 7th of Auguft, a little while before Necker's retreat, the Chatelet, by the mouth of M. Boucher d'Argis, had informed the Aflembly that two of its members had ap- peared liable to be accufed (decretez) for the tumults of the 5th and 6th of October 1789. It was prefently known that thefe. members were Orleans and Mirabeau, and all the true Democrats, from zeal to their caufe rather than love to their perfons, united in their defence* The affair was referred to a Committee, which, on the sd of October, made its report, delivered by M. Chabroud, and the AfTembly declared that there was no ground for the accufa- tion. It appears that the Chatelet had acted ramly in accufing with great folemnity two U ^ members, 194 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE members, againft whom they had collected but very (light legal proofs, though the fuf-' picions of the public were by no means flight : but the great partiality of the report of M. Chabroud did not the lefs fcandalize all moderate perfons, efpecially when he endeavoured to excufe the murder of the Life Guards, on the fuppofition that they fired on the 6th of October, when they faw the mob breaking into the Palace. The fact itfelf is pofitively denied ; but fuppofe it were true, let royalty be forgot, and let the cafe be ltated thus : A man's houfe is fur- rounded by ruffians, who attempt a forcible entry with the molt horrid threats againft his fervants and his wife ; the fervants fire, and kill one of the rabble. Where is the EngliiTi law, or indeed the Englifh lawyer, that would prefume to call fuch an action murder, or to vindicate, as M. Chabrou< has done, the vengeance of the ruffian; againft thefe faithful fervants ? But another and more important confe- quence rcfulted from the vote of theAflem- bly ; it became a legal and conltitutional privi- lege of the Aflembly, that no inferior court coulc FRENCH REVOLUTION, 2ge could profccute one of its members for any crime, until the Affembly itfelf had voted that there were grounds to profecute him. There is no need of fpending many words to prove that fuch a privilege, granted to a fovereign, uncontrouled Affembly like that of Fiance, may lead to a tyranny as oppref- (ive as any the French have efcaped from. The Chatelet grew hated by the people of Paris, who complained that they dis- graced by their conduct the Revolution ; for they had imprudently begun to unveil fome of the odious manoeuvres that led to it. The Parisians were forced to own there was fome guilt in the tranfactions of the 6th of October ; but they affirmed, that the tumult of the 5th was very patriotic, as if the indifcreet zeal of the Life Guards could not have been checked by a folemn and de- cent deputation fent from the Hotel de Villq to complain of the fufpicious circumftances that attended their banquet, and as if the fac- tions, who let out a herd of two thoufand ti- ger j,are not anfwerable for the mjfchiefs they commit. The affair was immediately taken Cut of the hands of the Chatelet, and the U 4 profe- $96 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE profecution was entirely laid afide; by which means the people received another proof that murdet was not held to be deferving of punifhment, in England we lay high treafon: but it is a new principle of law, adopted by the French patriots, that it is not high trea- fon to confpire the death of a king's wife ; wife is the phrafe that they ufe, and they feem to wifh to bani(h from the language the word queen as well as the word noble* I mould not have infifted fo much on a fubjedt, which is but an epifode in this aw- ful tragedy, if it did not give room to fome apprehenfions, that the unmanly ferocity which had feized the minds of the French, has extended itfelf to the party, the very fmall party, as I believe, of Englirn who ap- prove their conduct. One inftance may be furficient, in an anfwer to Mr. Burke, in- ferred in the Diary laft December, and fajd to come from a gentleman of literature ; I read with pain the following inhuman fentence ; *' If the Queen was guilty, was her beauty I* to exempt her from the punifhment due " to her crimes r" Such an cxprcmon would only have been allowable when Mary queen FRENCH REVOLUTION, 20^ of Scots was accufed of the barbarous mur- der of her hu(band : it is horrid to apply it to mere female frailties and weaknefs, or even to indifcreet councils given to a huf- band at a moment when (he might be per- fuaded, that the crown and the life of her hufband and of her children were in dan- ger. The public tranfactions of Europe now call us back to the beginning of Auguft, when M. de Montmorin laid before the Na- tional Affembly the application of the Spa- nifh Court for affiftance, and the Committee afore-mentioned made a report more favour- able to Spain than to England. The minds of the people were much changed fince the month of May ; fpeeches had been made, and violent pamphlets pub- Jifhed againft the fuppofed ambition of ^England ; commercial jealoufy v had been, youled, that modern fource of war, as inex- Jiauftible as the martial pride of the barons and knights of feudal ages ; and the mer- chants of the fouthern provinces expreffed jkeir apprehenfion, that Spain, if deferted,, would 98 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE would make a treaty with England, that would be very prejudicial to the trade of France. The Committee and the Aflembly joined, therefore, in recommending the fit- ting out of a powerful fleet, and a defenfive alliance with Spain, deprecating at the fame time any alliance for ofFenfive purpofes : but experience (hews, that a defenfive alliance means juft what nations chufe it mould mean, and may be converted at pleafure into an ofFenfive ; and there can be little doubt that France, unfit as it was for war, would have been dragged by Spain into the quar- rel, if the bufinefs had not been brought to a fpecific termination ; and all the fine compliments that pafled between the Revo- lution Club and the Due de Rochefoucault and the magiftrates of Quimper, would not have retarded hostilities for a moment. A fleet of about thirty fail was now fitted out at Breft with all poffible expedition ; but M. Albert de Rioms, who commanded it, though an able officer, was fufpe&ed not to be fufficicntly democratic. It is probable that a fcheme was laid in the private cabals of party, to turn out at once the Admiral and all the Minivers* FRENCH REVOLUTION". 2(j Minifters, againft whom there had been many petty accufations and many exceptions taken. A mutiny, therefore, fuddenly broke out at Brett, upon occafion of fome of the articles of a new penal code of Marine Law voted by the AfTembly. A Committee was as ufual appointed, and M. Menou on the 20th of October made a report, in which, after cenfuring the failors, he reprefented that the want of confidence in the Miniflry was the latent cauie of all the mutinies and riots in the kingdom. A motion was made to accufe the Minifters, but unexpectedly it was loft, at which the Democrats were enraged. The next day, M. Menou, who had before owned that the failors and municipality of Breft were pu- nifhable, told the Houfe with unequalled aflurance, that fince they would not punifli the true authors of mifchief, they ought not to punifh men, who had only erred from excefs of patriotifm. The failors were there- fore mildly exhorted to return to their duty, the ofFenfive articles were promifed to be re- confidered, and a new ftrip'd flag was fubfti- $uted for the white flag. This proportion of 300 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE of changing the national fla excited the re fentment of the minority, and Mirabcau, giving way to his ufual violence, cried out, *' The Ariftocrats are grown infolent from u their victory of yeflerday ; a fortnight " ago they dared not, for their own fafety, w have objected to this propoial." Thefe words excited much noife and clamour from the oppofite party, and were called " lan- *' guage worthy of a leader of banditti." I defire that my readers will compare them with fimilar words uied by Mirabeau, on a debate on the dangers that might threaten from the fide of Germany ; he laid, " That * the Emperor would be unwilling to en- " gage in the quarrel, when he recollected " what an hoftage was in the hands of the " French (the Queen being Leopold's fifc ter.") Does it not, then, appear, that oblique threats of murder and ajfajfmation were the favourite argument of that ambitious dema- gogue, who has fo unjuftly ufurped the honours due to virtue, The motions of M. Menou were all car- ried, and the afiiflants of executive govern- ment FRENCH REVOLUTION. 30I itient faw that their fate was determined. Albert refigned, and Bougainville was made Admiral of the Breft fleet. Luzerne, Minis- ter of Marine, refigned ; Fleiirieu was put in his room, but has met with fo many mortifications from the Affembly, that a few months ago he gave up his place, and M. Thevenard fucceeded. All the Minifters were weeded out one after another. M. Du- portail fucceeded M. Tour du Pin as War Minifter, and has hitherto not difpleafed the Affembly ; but the malcontents reproach him with taking no care of the difcipline of the army, and allowing tha foldiers to be- come independent. w The failors at Breft became pacified ; but in the mean time the Court of Spain had heard terrible accounts of the mutinous Spi- rit of the French fleet, and, if all the foreign newfpapers deferve any credit, in confe- quence of thofe acounts iigned the Conven- tion with England. Three great internal objects had occupied t;he Affembly for fome time, and employed them during the remainder of the lafl year and $02 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THfi and the beginning of the prefent, 1791 the? Finances, the Adminiftration of Juftice, and the Difcipline of the Church. Each of thefe would cieferve a volume written by men converfant on the fubjecT:, in order to diftinguifh what is good, what is tolerable, and what is dangerous. I fhall only obferve on the firft head, that the fcheme of forcing the Affignats or paper money into circulation, and obliging people to employ them in the rrurchafe of the Church Lands, has hitherto fucceeded bet- ter than was expected. But the want of current coin is dill feverely felt, efpecially at Paris ; Affignats lofe, when exchanged againft money, fometimes 10 and fomctimes 1 8 per cent. ; and the money brokers who carrv on this ufurious traffic, have now fuc- ceeded to the millers and bakers in the ha- tred of the common people. The enemies of the Revolution fay, that the Deficit \s not yet filled up, and that when all the Church Lands are fold, it will appear that the finances of the nation are ftill in a flate of embar- raflment. The FRENCH REVOLUTION. *oj The taxes have hitherto been very ill paid, by the confefrion of M. Camus, IVL , Montefquieu, and the Committee of Ac- counts ; and in particular, M. Necker's contribution of the fourth of each man's re- venue has not been acquitted. Trade has been relieved from many burthenfome taxes; but as heavy taxes are indifpenfably necef- fary, it is probable they will fall feverely upon land. As to the fecond head, the friends of the Revolution celebrate exceedingly the adop- tion which the French have made of the Englifh inftitution of Juries in criminal cafes. That inftitution is moil: excellent in a country that has long been ufed to it ; but time alone can fhew whether it will be practicable in a kingdom where not the fmalleil: traces of it had hitherto appeared. Here, as on every other fubjedt, the French have carried good principles to that excefs in which they become bad. A fort viAriJlo- phobia (if I may coin the word) has feized the National AfTembly, and they think that there is no liberty if any power exifts inde- pendent of the choice of the people. Not only 304 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE only they have diflolved their old Parlia- ments, and made Judges elective, by the fame Electors as chufe the Members of the Aflembly, but they have refufed the King the fmalleft check on the election ; and what is worft of all, the Judges are elected only for fix years, and after that may be re-elected if agreeable to the people. In- dependent Judges and independent Juries awing one another, have given to England a purity of juftice unknown to moit other countries ; but whether the fame purity may be expected when the two powers are in fact reduced to one, and when the Judges are dependent on the intrigues of popular factions, not more confonant to morality than the intrigues of courtiers, experience muft determine ; but at prefent it appears very problematical. The internal adminiit ration of the govern- ment and police of the kingdom may be ranked under this head, and the divifion of the kingdom into municipalities included within the dntricts and anhvcrable to them, whilft the diflricts are included within and anfwerable to the elective adminiflrations of the FRENCH REVOLUTION. 305 the eighty larger departments ; this divifion, fay, this gradual icale of elective powers, has been the fubjecl: of, to fome writers, unbounded admiration. But where is the higheir, point of this political fcale, and to what power are the eighty departments an- fwerable ? This is (bmewhat like the ques- tion which is faid to puzzle an Indian philo- fopher : " The world is fupported by an " elephant, the elephant by a tortoife " Very wel/, but how is the tortoife fup- " ported?" It will appear to all who read the debates of this laft fpring, that the National Affem- bly have often felt this difficulty, however their friends in England may have difre- garded it. They dare not entruft any effec- tual power of controul to King or Minifter, and to erect any body of magiftrates, with power to call thele petty republics to ac- count, would be Arijlocracy, a word more odious to a Frenchman's ears than Defpotifm itfelf. Whilft the fubjecl: of internal police is mentioned, it may be proper to obferve, that X the 306 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE the AfTembly, who have fcornfully rejected that independence of Judges which even Re- publicans in England have never attacked, have frequently fhewn a difpofition to adopt our fyftem of Poors Rates, that part of our internal government which fpeculative wri- ters have mod queftioned, and for which a hundred plans of reformation have been pro- pofed, though none have been yet carried into execution. If the Committee of Men- dicity, as it is called, can hit upon any plan that can reconcile humanity, ceconomy, and the due encouragement of induflry, may they prolper in their views ! England, in this infhnce, will not deny that it may be outdone. But fir ft let a native of England be allowed to tell the French Democrats a truth, which few Englimmcn will deny. The internal management of our pariihes is one of the mod democratic parts of our Conftitution, and at the fame time one the mod abufed. The churchwardens an< overfeers elecled by the Tiers- Et at of En^ land, and anfwerable to that alone, are fre- quently accufed of grofs corruption, liti- gioufni . 1 inhumanity. And on the whole, the bell- -d pariihes^ and tho! when FRENCH REVOLUTION. 30? where the poor are mod kindly treated, are thofe that are fuperintended by landed gen- tlemen of confiderable property and family long refdent in the neighbourhood, that order of fbciety at prefent fo perfecuted * and de- graded in France. The difcipline of the Church was the third great object of the National AfTembly. The fyftem they adopted is founded on the fame principle, and every benefice, from a curacy to a bifhopric, is elective; One of their regulations is certainly blame- able, and as fuch is particularly cenfured in the Pope's late briefs on the fubject the re- gulation which admits people of all religions to vote at thefe elections. I do not fee how a Catholic can bear to have Proteflants inter- fere with the choice of his teachers, nor how a confcientiousProteftant can join inchufing a Catholic pafton The Clergy had by this time contrived a plan to gratify their refentment ; they allovv- * Appendix* Note 3, Xa ed 308 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ed that the nation had the legal right to take away their revenues, but they denied its right to alter the church discipline, and in particular to change the limits of diocefes, or the mode of nominating to benefices, with- out a National Council, which the Aflembly had not the leaft inclination to convoke. Incenlcd at this objection, they impofed, about the end of November, an oath on the Clergy, to obferve the Constitution decreed by the Aflembly. Great numbers refufed, and many of thole clergymen who were at the beginning the firm friends of the Com- mons. Some offered to take the oath, with a referve that it did not extend to admit any fpiritual authority in the Aflembly ; but though the Aflembly declared it did not in- tend to meddle with the fpiritual part of re- ligion, it would not allow of any referve ii the oath. All the rcfraflory clergymen were with- out diftinclion cje&ed from their benefices and others chofen in their room ; and moi of the curates who diftinguimed thcmfelv( in the Aflembly have been elected to bifhoj rics. Meanwhile many dsvout and fcrupu- loui FRENCH REVOLUTION. 309 lous minds have refufed to acknowledge thefe new paftors, efpecially fince the Pope has publicly expreffed his difapprobation of the oath. Thus the AfTembly, whilfr. they they meant to fubdue men's peribns and confciences without referve, have raifed up a fe& of French Nonjurors , who may prove as troublefome as the Englifh Nonjurors after the Revolution. The Englifh could not avoid that perplexity, becaufe the difpute related to an oath of allegiance, which the Englifh clergy had always taken. But as this French oath was entirely unprecedented, it has been faid, that the AfTembly aled both harfhly and imprudently in forcing it at once upon minds unprepared to receive it. The courfe of events now brings us to mention a tumult which happened at Paris about the end of November. M. de Caftries having had fome words with M.deLameth, a violent patriot, a duel was fought, and M. de Lameth was flightly wounded. Im- mediately the mob cried out, that M. de Caflries was bribed to aflaffinate a patriot, that his fword was poifoned, &c. &c. They rufhed upon M. de Calrnes' hotel, plundered X 3 it, 310 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE it, and deftroyed its furniture and pictures ; whilit Caftries himfelf efcaped from their fury, and quitted France. This tumult is fuppofcd to have proceeded from one of the principal fources which taints the nfing liberty of France with the poifon of licen- tioufnefs, the influence of a powerful club. There is at Paris a number of thofe focieties, which imitate the proceedings of the Na- tional Aflembly ; have their prefident, their tribune for harangues, their motions, their divifions ; and it is well known, that the decrees which pafs in the Aflembly, are often prepared and voted in thefe little felf- elecled oligarchies. One of the principal of thefe clubs is the Club of the Jacobins, or Amis de la Conjlitution, though another, called the Club of i 789, being almoft as republi- can, fometimes lifts up its head, and endea- vours to difpute the palm of popularity. But the Club des Jacobins, to which M. La- meth belonged, is by far the mod formi- dable, as it has its correfponding clubs (fa Ajjilies is the word) in moit of the towns ii France ; and wherever a branch of the Ja- cobins is cftablifhed, it may colt people theii lives to affront one of its members, or fet uj air FRENCH REVOLUTION. 311 any political club which profefles lefs demo- mocratical principles. In Paris, the Count de Clermont Ton- nerre (whofe principles leaned to the mode- rate party) endeavoured to fet up a club called The Friends of Monarchy. He alledged, that the books and journals publicly printed by Defmoulins and Briflbt de Warwille, members of the Jacobins, books which open- ly advifed the French to conftitute them- felves a republic, justified a meeting of thofe friends to a limited government, who thought that monarchy was effential to the fafety of a great nation. This unfortunate club has o been the object of a perfecution, carried even to ridiculous lengths, and of which the de- tails may be read in the Mercure. Some- times the orders of the mayor, M. Bailly, and fometimes the infults and threats of the mob, have perpetually prevented it from affembling. It was well afked, even in a French newfpaper, when did the Whigs in England prevent the Tories from meeting at the Cocoa Tree ? But at Aix, in the month of December, much more dreadful events happened ; the X 4 Gibbet 312, HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Gibbet Law of Paris was revived, and an officer and two lawyers were hanged for fetting up a club in oppofition to the clubs already exifting, and hanged in the face of the magiitrates, who flood tamely by. The officer is owned to have been very indifcreet in his cenfures of the prefent government : but, alas ! he was Jourfcore ! an age that would have difarmed the fury of an eaftern defpot. One of thefe lawyers, M. de Pafcalis, was mentioned with efleem even by Patriots in the National Affembly, as having formerly publiflied very good works on the Reform of the Provincial States. Unfortunately, he could not approve of breaking his native province into departments, and ftill lefs of abolishing the Parlemens, which many Frenchmen, once reckoned enemies to def- potifm, had been taught to regard as facred and inviolable. lie had figned a ftrong pro- teft of the lawyers againlt diffolving the Parlement of Provence, and from that time the people were inftigated to take away his life. It FRENCH REVOLUTION. 313 It muit be confeffed that M. de Calorme's imprudent work, PEtat de la France, in which he lays down the plan of a Counter Revolution, whilft neither he nor his party- had the neceffary means to effect it, had greatly contributed to infect the minds of the Revolutionises with malignant fufpicions of plots. But it was not the lefs ihameful for a legiflator to utter, in the fanctuary of law and juftice, " That it was no wonder if the " people ibmetimes revenged themfelves " when they were continually attacked ;" i. e. Le peuple continuellement attaquefe venge quelquefois. Such was the fpeech of M. Charles de Lameth in the National Affem- bly ; and many of the republican Journals ipoke with the famecarelefs barbarity of the murder of a worthy man, for fo all parties allowed him to be. Montefquieu ufed to be mentioned as a friend to liberty, even in the writings of Price and PriefUey ; but he was attached to Nobility, (till more attached to the privi- leges of the Judicial Parlemens, and of too active a fpirit to have remained neuter in a pme of civil commotion. Can 314 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Can any one reflect without horror, that if Montefquieu's life could have been pro- longed to thefe days, he might probably have died by the hands of a frantic rabble ? The internal war of the tenants asrainft the landlords continued during the winter in feveral provinces, in Limoulin, in Quercy, (where the gentlemen made a league to pro- tect their country feats, which league was held fufpicious, and fome gentlemen mur- dered in confequence) in fome parts of Brit- tany, and even near Amiens, where a lady's houfe was plundered and her life threatened by the peafants of the village, fet on by the municipality itfelf, on a quarrel relative to fome rights of commonage. The political half of the Me r cure has ad- mitted many letters from angry Gentil- hommes, one of whom fwears, in his wrath, " that the declaration of the Rights of Man " may as well be called a declaration for the u defhuction of mankind, when one con- * fiders the ufe to which it has been ap- < plied." The FRENCH REVOLUTION. *\t The National AfTembly fent troops and commiflioners into Quercy, and reftored tranquillity ; but the criminals always found friends in the National Affembly, and the commiflioners never attempted to inflict the lead punifhment. The fenfations of the Aflembly were very different, when on the 14th of March, 1 79 1 , a mocking riot hap- pened at Douai, when M. Derbai and a M, Nicolau were barbaroufly murdered for ha- ving exported corn again ft the will of the people. The AfTembly fufpected that this riot had been connived at, with a view to fufpend the election of a new Bimop. Juf* tice was therefore called upon to unfheath her almoft rufty fword, and the municipa- lity was ordered to be impeached of Leze Nation, for not ordering the troops to fire. The Magistrates did not wait for their im- peachment, and ran off; but the excufe they left behind them was the abfolute refufalof the troops to fire upon the rioters. It is certainly probable that the troops might remember how the Parifians commended the grena- diers, who faid to La Fayette, on the 5th of O&ober, 1789, " We cannot fire upon our V fellow citizens who afk for bread." Far, 316 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Far, very far, has the majority of the Na- tional Affembly (hewn itfelf, from imitating the glorious, though bloody impartiality of Cromwell, who beheaded, in the fame day, and on the fame fcaftoid, Mr. Gerrard, who had confpired againft his government, and Don Pantaleon de Sa, who, from a private grudge, had confpired againft the life of tha; very Mr. Gerrard. The National Afiembly, however, opened the prefent year 1791, in a manner more honorable than their enemies expected ; for it had fometimes been hinted that they would take advantage of their indefinite oath, not to part till the Conftitution was fettled, to per- petuate their authority and become another long Parliament. On that day, a lift was brought in of the conftitutional points which ftill remained to decide, and they decreed that a new Afiembly mould be chofen after that lift had been adjufted. Their attention this fpring has been divi- ded between the neceflary preparations for the important work of a new AfYembly; the alarms given them by the enmity of the neigh- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 317 neighbouring German Princes,' both eccle- -fciftical and civil, who fill the Diet of Ratif- bon with complaints, and are fuppofed to encourage the Emigrants in a ram and defpe- rate fcheme of invafion, and more than all the reft, in the perplexities occafioned by their harm and violent treatment of the Clergy. The King had wiflied to tempo- rife, had delayed giving his fanction to the decree impofing the civic oath, as it is cal- led, and was endeavouring to negotiate with the Aflembly: they chid the King into his fpeedy fanction, and fet about the great work of difmifling all the Clergy, high and low, rich and poor, who Icrupled taking the oath without explanation ; but in fome places, the country people refufed to part with Curates whom they loved; and in others, efpecially at Paris, the rage of the populace againft thofe who were called refradlory priejls, went beyond all bounds, and (hocked even the Aflembly itfelf. Ac- cording to the principles of Popery, if any Bifhops, Priefts, &c. are turned out by an incompetent authority, and fuch is all civil authority acting without the fpiritual, the ufurping fucceflbrs to thofe benefices be- come 3lS HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE come fchifmatics, and all the facraments that they adminifter are invalid ; the wafer of the Communion remains a mere wafer ; their baptifm is no baptifm, and does not entitle the period baptifed to a Hate of falvation. Some attempts were formerly made by our En glim Nonjurors to inculcate thefe pre- judices ; but they did not eafily take root amongit Proteftants: on the contrary, they are fo fuitable to the opinions of Roman Ca- tholics, that there is reafon to believe, many weak confciences all over France are at pre- fent exceedingly unhappy, afraid of hearing mafs, and ftill more afraid of having their children baptifed at the eftabliflieJ pariftl churches. The Aflembly are exceedingly perplexed, between their profeflions of un- limited toleration, their declarations that the magiftrate has no right over private con- fciences, and their fear of giving a regular eftablifhment to a feet of Nonjurors, whofe teachers will be averfe to the Conftitution. The Pope threatens thenevvGallican Church with excommunication the Aflembly defy him ; and yet fwear that they are good Ro- man Catholics, and make it a kind of treafon to behave as if you thought the contrary* Tl FRENCH REVOLUTION. ^\n This was probably the fee ret motive which made the ruling party fo enraged at the de- parture of the two remaining daughters of Lewis the XVth, who had ftaid whilft Monarchy was overturned ; but fled, from the apprehenfions of a fchifm. The month, of February was pafled over in ridiculous debates, whether, as one Member farcafti- cally expreflcs it, " two old ladies mould " hear mafs at Rome or at Paris." Thein- fults and delays thofe Princeffes met with at Moret and at Arnai-le-Duc, are too well known to be repeated. The National A fembly wou Id willingly have authorifed their detention ; but as they could find ho law to that purpofe, they were obliged to order the Princeffes to be fet free. The heroic Poiffardes of Paris began to fhew, once more, their turbulent fpirit, and taking an alarm, that the King's Brother, the Comte de Provence, was alfo going off, conducted him, by force, from his own Pa- lace to the Thuilleries. On the 24th of February, the garden of the Thuilleries was full of rabble, who infixed that the King ihould order his aunts to return. La Fayette and 320 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE and his National Guard difperfed them, and on the 28th of February were again called into action, to prevent the mob from pulling down the old ftate prifon of Vincennes. Unluckily, on that day, a quarrel happened between the National Guard, and two or three hundred officers, or gentlemen who had imprudently gone to offer theirfervices to defend the King from violence. Fayette was difpleafed at this intrufion, and they were dis- armed with fome circumftances of indignity* Soon after, the King fell ferioufly ill of a bilious fever, and it was fuppofed that his late vexations and total want of exercife, fhut up, as he is, at Paris, had occafioned it. When he recovered, as much buftle was made \\i:h illuminations and Tc Deums as if he had been at the point of death. I know not whether hypocrify dictates thefe demonfrrations, or whether the flighted danger of that terrible misfortune, a long minority, had brought the nation to fome fenfe of feeling. The latter was probably the cafe, fince the Afi'embly poftponed all other bufinefs to eflablim FRENCH REVOLUTION. 21 cftablifh a law of Regency, in which they declared that Regency mould belong to the next heir, adding, however, this qualifying circumftance, " that the Regent never (hould " be the guardian of the King's perfon." It cannot efcape the reader, that the firit part of this decree eftablifhes that principle which our great leaders of oppofition failed of eftablifhing in England. I will be bold enough to fay, that both nations acted wifely considering their refpective circum- ftances, though they have acted in a man- ner diametrically oppofite. The Crown of France is at prefent too weak to bear the mortefl inter-regnum, or the fhadow of an election of a ruler ; and this decifion is almoft the only circumftance from which we may fuppofe that the Democracs do not entirely mean to abolifh Monarchy. They have not, however, (hewn much refpect to Royalty, in their law, voted on the 28th of March, on the refidence of public functionaries, fonftlonaires publics, a French phrafe not very eafy to tranflate; befides confounding the chief Magifirate, Y the 322 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE the center of all public authority, with thr lowed: fundiionarks in the commonwealth, by the very title of their law, the Republi- cans have introduced the great queftion of deposition, that queftion fo grating to French ears, as it were by a fide wind, ordaining, that if the King leaves his kingdom, and re- fufes to return when fummoned by the Af- fembly, he mail be confidered as having ab- dicated. This might be ju (tillable, but they clogged the decree with the obligation of re- fiding in the fame town with the National Aflembly ; and though they did not cxprefs the penalty, the general enating-c/rf/ of the Bill, that they who difobcy this decree fhall be deprived of their functions, hinted pretty ftrongly at rhe danger of depofition. The incoijryenience of fuch a law being re- preiented to them, as it might leave a King to the mercy of the rabble of a great city, they ridiculoufly marked out a geographical cir- cuit of twenty leagues, within which he may travel at plcafurc. In return for this tyranny, they have given power to a King to tyrannize over his fon, or his nephew; for they enact, that the next heir fhall not quit the Court without leave from the reign- inz . FRENCH REVOLUTION. 32J ing King ; and if he quits the kingdom without leave, he forfeits his title to the Crown. If the French nation and their Royal Family are not to live upon terms of more generous confidence, French liberty is not likely to be very tranquil or durable. All the remaining Royalifts in the AiTem- bly received this law with every expreffion of abhorrence : Mirabeau, who was not on good terms with the Democrats, and was thought by many to be coming round to the Royalifts, was not prefent at the decifion* He was, at that very time, {truck by the hand of death, and hurried offin a few days from that power to which he had iacrificed nil the feelings of a man, and which he was *uft beginning to grafp. He had been elec- ted one of the adminiftrators of the depart- ment of PariSj a very important place, and which gave him a right to command the municipality of that turbulent capital. His colleagues had left to his care the drawing up of a proclamation, in which he had mofl ftrongly recommended obedience to that law, and fubmiffion to that order which he had once encouraged the populace to over- Y 2 turn. 3^4 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE turn. He expired on Saturday the 2d of April, after a fhort and violent illnefs, and confidering the atrocious fufpicions that the French factions entertain of each other, it will not appear extraordinary that poifon fhould have been fufpected. Several Ma- gistrates and all the principal furgeons were ordered to attend at the opening of the body, and, happily for the tranquillity of Paris, they decided, that there were not the lead traces of poiion. It would fill a volume to relate all the pub- lic honors beftowed on this unworthy cha- racter. A public funeral was ordered, at which almoft all the AfTembly walked ; the Paritians all put on mourning for a week ; the example fpread through the country ; the fleets of France lowered their topfails, even in foreign harbours, and to crown all, the National Affembly ordered, that firfr all their great men fhould be buried ii the new church of St. Genevieve, whicl is deftined to receive the allies and difpbj the monuments of Patiiots and of Heroes. Fe^ FRENCH REVOLUTION. J2< Few circumftances are more difgraceful to the Revolution, in a moral light, which, after all, is more important than all other lights, in which politicians view events. The Affembly cannot now be angry if the cruelties of the populace are laid to their charge, fince they have deified the man who appears to be one of the infligators of thofe cruelties; the man who had no God, no country but his intereft, and who feems to have thought, like Cefar Borgia, or Ca- therine of Medicis, that crimes are neceftary inftruments of policy. Even the friends of peace and order regretted his death, (how- ever ft range it may feem) and thought that his proclamation fhowed that he was become ienfible that his violence had ;one to far. But when I read in that proclamation, that a Revolution muft be made by one fet of means, and a Conftitution (upported by ano- ther, I could not help translating it thus : " My good friends, you have committed as " many murders as were neceffary to bring " me into power; if you commit a fingle ** murder more I will punifh you." Y 3 The 326 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE The people of Paris were more difpofed to honor his memory than to obey his pro- clamation. The PaiTion Week is the time when moft Catholics confefs and receive abfolution preparatory to receiving the fa- crament on Eafter Sunday, and confe- quently it \\ as the time when the quarrels broke out between the neweftablifhed church and the Nonjurors. The department of Paris were willing to have allowed Nonjurors to celebrate di- vine fervice in chapels hired for that pur- pofe, on the fame footing as Lutherans or Calvinifts. But the populace were inflamed to fury, and tore down the proclamation of the department ; the female allies of Pari- sian liberty attacked the convents, fell upon that very refpedtable order of nuns who de- dicate themfclves to the care of the lick, flopped them when they came abroad, in- fulted, and even fcourgcd them. The Non- jurors withdrew themfclves from popular fury ; but it appears that, encouraged by fome late decrees of the ArYcmbly to enforce obe- dience to magidracy, they had again ven- tured to hire a church for their meetings, and FRENCH REVOLUTION. 327 and as fbon as mafs was concluded, the mob broke in and demolimed the altar. But thefe fcandaious tranfa&ions all va- riifh before that famous day, almolt as fa-, mous as the 5th of October, when the Pa- rifians flopped the King's carnage as he was going to St. Cloud for the holidays, confined him in the Thuilleries, and thus demon- ftrated to all Europe, that after they have called their King, the Rejlorer of their Liberty, they will not permit him to enjoy his own, and dare not truft him out of the limits of a walled city. It was fufpected that the Kins; intended to have received the facra- ment at Eafter from the hands of a difpof- feiTed Nonjuror, and it is very probable that he had not freed himfelf from his religious prejudices as eafily as his fubje&s. The department addrefled one reprimand to the King, and another to the people. The King was by far the moft obedient of their fub- je&s, for he difmifled his almoner at their dedre, and all the Noblemen of his bed- chamber finally refigned. Y 4 La 328 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE La Fayette was the only perfon who fhewed determined fpirit. True to the principles of military fubordination, he de- clared, that as the National Guard had on that occafion difobeyed his orders and behaved mutinoufly, he would command them no longer. The news of his refig- nation (truck the Parifians with terror ; all the arts of his enemies could not prevent the people and the foldiery from fending him repeated deputations, to exprefs their penitence and entreat him to refume the command. On Eafter Sunday, April the 24th, he complied with their defires, but firft obtained orders from the mayor to break a mutinous company of Grenadiers, and bound the National Guard by a new oath, " to obey the laws and their General." (A plain proof that the folemn oath of the Confederation had not made a very deep im- preflion.) Since that time the National Guard have been pretty zealous in the pre- fervation of order, and in particular, have more than once refcued the unpopular race of monev brokers from the lantern. But when order is preferved in a great city, chiefly by the influence that the fpirit of one man FRENCH REVOLUTION. 329 man has obtained over an army, we are tempted to afk, if it was worth while to make a Revolution? Such order and fuch tran- quillity were to be found in the dominions of Alibeg or of Hyder Ally. Though La Fayette thus obtained ample redrefs for his wrongs, the King could not obtain the leaft fatisfa<5tion, though he had, immediately after the infulr, remonftrated to the Aflembly, how dangerous it was that a pretence mould be given to aflert that his fandlion was extorted. He has {till re- mained to this prefent time (the month of June) fhut up at Paris, and has not ven- tured to offend or terrify the Parilians by even taking the air. The Aflembly were, however, convinced of the neceffity of putting fome check on feditious clubs, one of which, (called the Cordeliers) had mitigated the people to this laft infult. They palled lome laws againft the licence taken by thofe clubs of flicking up in public places, their treafonable refo- lutions; but the laws were not fevere f nough to infpire much awe. They 33. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE They have fince employed themfelves in preparing the way for another National Af- fembly, which the French feem to wait for as eagerly and ardently, as they waited for the nrfl meeting of the States-General. On the 1 6th of May they took the only refo- lution which can at all juftify the previous panegyric that one of our great orators had patted upon the French Revolution. They voted that none of the prefent members mould be re-elected in the next legiflature. The jealoufy of the two leading parties was one great caufe that facilitated this kind of felf-denying ordinance. They have exe- cuted ftrict juftice on themfelves; for both parties were fo inflamed with anger and re- venge, that it was high time the bufinefs of legfiflature fhould be configned to cooler heads and milder bofoms. But when it was propofed that this particular exception mould become a general {landing law, then, as ufual, whilfr, they aimed at patriotifm they bordered on ablurdity. At laft, an amendment was adopted and carried, which permits the members of a future Aflcmbly to be re-ele&ed to the Af- fembly FRENCH REVOLUTION. g Dauphin was abolifhed, and that of Prince Royal fubftituted in its flead. Soon after the removal of the Afiembly to Paris in October 1 789, it had been decreed that none mould be admitted to the Primary Aflemblies (under the name of Active Citi- zens) but fuch as paid a direct* annual contribution equal to the value of three days labour. A contribution fomewhat higher * Direft taxes are thofe paid immediately to the reve- nue officers employed by Government, incliredt taxes are thofe laid on articles of confumption. was FRENCH REVOLUTION. 391 was required for an elector, and the direct contribution of a mark of fiver was requi- red for a reprefentative. The prefent Com- mittee in their revifal of thefe important decrees fucceeded in perfuading the Houfe to increafe the qualification of an elector, but, to gratify the Republicans, were obliged to give up entirely the fyitem of requiring any other qualification for reprefentatives than the very fmall one required for Active Citizens.* Thus they have voluntarily run the ha- zard of throwing the whole power of le- giflation and of government into the hands of the poorer and meaner fort of citizens. In this article they have contradicted the principles not only of the Englifli but of their favourite American Ccnftitution.f The point which the Committee feemed mod eager to carry, and which their ad- * I do not prefume to have fufficient local knowledge to fettle the true value of a French qualification : but am inclined to think that the direct annual tax required from Active Citizens- amounts to fomething lefs than three {hillings Englifli money. f At leaft of the principal American States. C c 4 verlaries 392 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE verfaries contefted moft ftrenuoufly, was the degree of connection that ought to exifl between the Miniftry and the Aflembly. It was allowed on all fides that Minifters fhould not have votes in the Legiflature, but it was earneftly contended by the Com- mittee, that they mould have feats in the Houfe, and mould be allowed to fpeak when- ever they had any information to commu- nicate to the Aflembly. It was alfo ftrong- ly urged that the King mould be enabled to chufe his Minifters amongft the Members of an Aflembly immediately on its diflo- lution, whilft the violent Republicans in- filled, that a Member of the Legiflature fhould be incapable of receiving offices from the Crown till four years after the diflblution of the Aflembly. On one fide it was argued, that too rigid a line of fepa- ration drawn between a Miniftry and a Le- giflature, tended to fet them at perpetual variance with each other, and infpire the Minifteis with a fecrct wifh of counter- acting; the Aflemblv ; and fome ventured to hint, that it was abfurd to forbid the agents who mud: execute the law from previoufly informing the lawgivers of the difficulties that FRENCH REVOLUTION. gO<> that might impede its execution. On the other fide the danger of Minifterial influ- ence was continually repeated, the example of England was urged as a country fvvayed by Minifters ; and the names of Fox and Pitt were introduced in a manner that (hewed the one to be no more reflected* in France than the other. The decrees which terminated this ob- flinate difpute, partook once more of the nature of a compromife. The heads of the principal departments, Juftice, War, &c. were permitted to have a feat in the houfe, to fpeak on the bufinefs of their own depart- ment whenever they pleafed, and on other fubjects, if the houfe gave them exprefs per- miflion. The period of incapacity was ftill n allowed to fubfifr, but it was reduced to the fhorter term of two years, inftead of four. M. Thouret and other members of the Com- mittee frill remained dhTatisfied, and ex- preflfed their fears that France would fuffer * If 1 am not raiftaken, one Member faid, that England was always doomed to the government of fome one artful man, and that they would neither have a Pitt or a Fox to govern them. greatly 394 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE greatly from the want of able Minifters, well informed in the laws which they were to execute. As M. Barnave had infilled zea- lonfly on thefe arguments, he fell under the fame fufpicion which, on the removal of the AtTembly to Paris, had almoft overturned Mirabeau's popularity. He was fuppofed to have made his bargain with the Court, and received a promife to be placed at the head of the Miniftry as foon as the Aflem- bly feparated. It may be remarked in general, that the jealoufy which each party has (hewn of the power and abilities of their principal lea- ders, and the patient tamenefs with which they have endured (at leafr. till very lately) the felf-afllimcd authority of Clubs, are two of the mod fingular and dif- tmennmed features of the French Revo- lution. Towards the end of Auguft the AfTembly entered on their great, their final, and of all others, mod important queftion : What right of altering this Conftitution fhould be recognized in the people at large ? After 2 placing FRENCH REVOLUTION. 395 placing the whole right of fovereignty ia the bulk of the people, and applauding the wild ideas of Paine' s pamphlet on this par- ticular queftion, it was difficult for the ma- jority to recede from their former profeflions, and yet they had evidently a mind to fug- gelr. that the prefent Conftitution was un- alterable. Many awkward expedients were propofed, (contradictions muit. always be awkward and liable to ridicule) and after the rejection of at leaft half a dozen different iyflems, a decree was paffed confirming of many articles, which mould be read at full length in the Code itfelf. It will there ap- pear that the firft and fecond Legiflature fucceeding the National Affembly, are for- bid to propofe any alterations in the Code ; and after the end of the fecond Parliament, no alteration can take place until three fuc- ceflive Legiflatures have declared that there exifts fufficient caufe for a reviiion. The fourth Affembly is then to be augmented with 249 members, and called AJjembUe deRevifion: they fhall have no right to alter any articles but fuch as fhall be laid before them by the uniform votes of three prece- ding Legiflatures, and when the Revifion is 396 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE is finished, the 249 additional members mull retire. Not a word is faid of Con- ventions to be called at the pleafure of the people, and to be chofen in a nu :ier entirely different from the common Legis- latures. This has been a favourite fyftem of fome modern politicians, and a plan of a fimilar nature had been fuggefted in the late debates, with the ridiculous preamble of ad- vifing that many-headed defpot, the People, not to exercife this his unalienable fight under a term of thirty years. As well might the Parlement of Paris have advifed Lewis XlVth, in his plenitude of power, to flay thirty years before he ordered them to enregifter any new taxes. It is no part of my intention to animad- vert upon thefe reftraints impoled by the AfTembly on a fpirit of innovation, but only to obferve, that the defenders of the French Confritution can no longer defend it on Mr. Paine's principles. Their Code of Laws makes a pamphlet of feventy pages, and coniifts of almoft innumerable articles, not one of which (however difliked by the people) can be changed, unlefs four Parle- 1 ments, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 397 merits, immediately following one another, pronounce its revocation* But what if the people fhould fay, we will have an Aflem- bly of Revifion without thefe tedious for- malities, and we will name that Affembly ourfelves without the intervention of elec- tors ? What umpire could decide that quar- rel ? No other umpire than that power of the fword, which on the 14th of July, 1789, decided that France mould have but one houfe of Parlement, and on the 17th of July, 1 79 1, decided that France fhould ftill be governed by Lewis XVIth. Innu- merable cenfures have by the French leaders of party been heaped upon the Britifh Par- liament, for ufurping the unalienable fove- reignty of the people; but thefe claufes which preclude the people from calling an extraordinary Affembly till three of their ordinary Parlements have given them leave, mark an equal affumption of fovereignty by the ordinary Legiflature, though difguifed under fpecious phrafes. To this let us add the article which declares that the Nation can only exercife its power by delegation ; let us confider the prohibitions laid on the Primary 398 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Primary and Electoral Affcmblies to debate on any fubjects whatfoever ; the general principle laid down in their debates, that all indructions to members are unconditu- tional ; the decree which forbids any petition to be prefented in the name of a corporate body, but merely in the name of the indi- viduals who actually fign it: let all thefe circumdances be confidered in one view, and it will appear that the National Aflem- bly, after making an open profefTion of De- mocray, were as willing to evade the coun- terpoifing power of the people at krge, as any Aridocratical Senate whatfoever. In England, on the other hand, condiments may dictate indructions to reprefentatives in a tone of fome authority, though they cannot exact obedience; and every Parlia- ment may repeal any law that it pleafes. No part of the Conditution is fuppofed to be utterly unalterable by the whole Legif- lature united ; but the general iydem of three powers acting under the names of King j Lords, and Commons. The danger of rafh innovations equally remains as a mod important conlideration ; but it is a confider- ation FRENCH REVOLUTION. 30a ation left to the prudence, confcience, or intereft of every individual legiflator. The declaration of the Rights of Man is inferted into the beginning of the Code as its eflentiat and indifpenfable preamble. I have already mentioned how much the Clergy complain that the 17th article, re- fpe&ing property, has been fhamefully vio- lated. But let the 6th article alfo be com- pared with thefe articles that relate to the Primary Affemblies. The 6th article fays, that All Citizens have a right to concur per- fbnally, or by their reprefentatives, to the formation of the laws, and that all Citizens are equally admiffible to dignities, places, and public offices. The fecond feclion of the firft chapter excludes from voting, all who do not pay a direct annual contribu- tion (a fmall one indeed) to Government ; and what feems harder, all who are not in- fcribed in the lift of National Guards, and all who have not taken the Civic Oath. Thus the meaning of all Citizens is to be modified into all who have not an invincible diflike to military fervice, which may eafily be the cafe of many an honeft, nay wealthy, but 400 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE but fedentary, and therefore indolent manu- facturer.* Thofe fects who, like the Quakers and Mennonites, prohibit their difciples from appealing to oaths or taking up arms, are likewife debarred from thofe Rights of Men which that famous declaration had ex- prefsly mentioned as common to all. It may hence be inferred, that although legif- lators ought to keep before their eyes the abftracl: principles of natural liberty, yet it is dangerous to publim them abroad as a catechifm for the common people, fince there never yet was, and never will be, a government who is not obliged fometimes to depart from thofe principles by the par- ticular exigencies of their fituation. o v A ftrong pufli was made by the followers of Pethion and Roberfpierre to get inferted into the Code thofe decrees which forbid any pardon or any commutation of fentence. But the oppofite party prevailed, and they were left amongft thofe regulations which * This law which forces all citizens into the militia, was, I think, firft fuggefted and warmly promoted by M. Rabaud deSt. Ltiumc, the Calvinift minifter. the FRENCH REVOLUTION* 4OJ the next Affembly had power to alter* The Republicans were more fortunate on another article ; for it was decreed that all laws relative to taxation mould be intirely within the hands of the Affembly, without any neceffity of applying to the King for his fanction. It was, however, agreed that if the non-payment of taxes mould oblige the Affembly to pafs any new laws to punim the refractory, fuch laws (as refer- ring to Criminal Juftice) mould be liable to the King's fufpenfive veto* During all this period the majority con- tinued to (hew that bitter hatred to nobility which has fo remarkably diftinguifhed their whole conduct. On the 31 ft of July they paffed a decree, abolifhing the order of St. Efprit, and every other order, except that of St. Louis, referved for the Military* and to be called from henceforth a Military Decoration, prohibiting at the fame time any Frenchmen from entering into the order of Malta, or accepting any or- ders which are referved for Nobility. Soon after they propofed to inflict penalties on all nobles who mould ufe their old titles in any D d deed, 402 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE deed, or infert the words ci-devant autrefois^ contrivances which ingenious vanity had in- vented to ftrusjele with unfeeling and arbi- GO O trary feverity. M. Chabroud (the fame man who could find no crime in the mur- ders of the 6th of October) was not afhamed to think that retaining of titles was a crime which defer ved the pillory. His motion, however, was difapproved, and after various debates it was decreed, that the parties who ufed fuch words mould pay a fine, and be deprived of the rights of active Citizens (which includes difability to hold any office). The notaries who received the deeds in which fuch words were inferted, incurred the forfeiture of their office. A iimilar punifhraent of fines and disabilities was inflicted on thofe who mould prcfumc to give their fervants a livery, or exhibit a fciitcheon of arms on their houfes or car- riages. About the end of Augult two formal complaints were laid before the Aflembly by the King's Miniftcrs, which fomewhat con- tradicted their former principles. M. Du- the War Miniftcr, after having per- mitted FRENCH REVOLUTION. 403 mitted the troops to frequent, nay to enroll their names amongft the Jacobine focieties, now lamented to the Affembly the total want of difcipline which prevailed in the regular troops, and was encouraged by the maxims which they heard at thofe clubs. One fide of the Affembly cried out, that the foldiers were mutinous becaufe their officers were Ariftocrates. M. Barnave anfwered, that the ariftocracy of the officers, whether real or imaginary, was not the caufe, but rather the pretence of that total want of fubordination which pervaded the army. A decree of the Affembly had referved a cer- tain proportion of commiffions to be in future difpofed of amongft the non-com- miffioned officers and private men ; * and he believed that in many regiments the fer- jeants and corporals were intriguing againfl their officers to haften the hour of this de- fired preferment. He therefore moved, that the benefit of this law mould be fufpended in fuch regiments as were notoriouily muti- * This was one of the many decrees pafled to flatter private foldiers, and was celebrated, at the time, as a maf- ter-piece of humanity and wifdom. D d 2 nous; 404 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE nous ; and he carried this motion as well as fome other fevere articles againft difobe- dience. On the 2 ifl of Auguit* M. Duport du Tertre, the Minifter of Jufticc, a man chofen for his known attachment to the Revolution, made a complaint of an equally important nature againft the Jacobine So- cieties for interfering with the Courts of Juftice, and in fome Cafes for interfering with foreign tranfactions (of which more fhall be faid in the latter part of this work). Thefe and many other fimilay fymptoms more and more convinced the National Af- fembly, that they would not long be fuffered to hold the legiflative and executive powers united, and that a general diflblution of nil order might be expected, if they did not quickly reftore the kingly power in one fhape or other, as a centre of unity. They knew befides, that feveral foreign courts hac taken the opportunity of the King's confine- ment to refufe any farther acknowdgement of the French Ambafladors ; they were not ignorant of the intrigues carried on by the exiled FRENCH REVOLUTION. 405 exiled Princes, and faw an evident proba- bility that any farther infult offered to their Monarch would be the fignal of a foreign war. They proceeded therefore with greater difpatch in debating the remaining articles of the ConfUtution, and on the 3d of Sep- tember declared, that the Code was com- pleted, and ready to be fubmitted to the free examination and acceptance of the King. It is difficult to underftand what can be the free examination of a king who is not allow- ed to make the (lio-nted remark on the Padia Conventa he is to fign with the Na- tion, who has been deprived of his liberty to qualify him for the acceptance of a crown, and who knows that his refufal will probably be followed by perpetual impriibn- ment. To preferve, however, fome appearance of freedom, it was agreed, that the King fhould be reftored to the power of giving orders to the National Guards who fur- rounded him, and it was hinted, that he might retire into fome other city to examine the Code at his leifure. It was probably well known and concerted beforehand, that D d 3 he 406 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE he would lay no claim to fo dangerous a privilege. On the evening of the fame 3d of September, a deputation, headed by M. Thouret, prefented the Conftitutional Code to the King, who returned a favourable an- fvver, promiling to give his decifion as foon as pomble, and adding, that he was deter- mined to remain at Paris. This lafl claufe was underftood to imply a promife of con- fent, and confequently the anfwer was re- ceived with applaufe ; but the interval of ten days, which enfued between the prefen- tation and the acceptation of the Code, threw the minds of the people into agitation, and they were frightened with repeated tales tiat the Arillocrates were laying plots for the King's efcape. This interval was in reality filled up with private intrigues, of which no certain account can be given, and for which we can only quote the paragraphs of news- writers and the narrations of journalifta. The Queen was iuppoicd to have been gain- ed over by the Royal Democrates from a jea- loufy that the exiled Princes, if they returned victorioust, would reduce the King and her to be mere cyphers of (late. The enemies of Mb Barnave afierted, that he prefled the Kinz FRENCH REVOLUTION. 407 King to defire the alteration of one (ingle article that which forbade him to chufe his Minifters from the prefent Aflembly, be- cauie that was the article which ftood in the way of Barnave's ambition. Mallet du Pan, in the Mercure, fpeaks of two projects of acceptation laid before the King. The firfl was drawn up by a fecre- tary of the late Mirabeau, and dictated by lome intriguing fpirits whom he does not name. This may, perhaps, be the plan attri- buted to Bamave, for it is well known that the late Mirabeau always profefled his opi- nion, that Minifters mould be chofen from the Members of the Aflembly. The fecond plan was concerted by another fet of men, who employed an American, a member of the nrft Congrefs, to draw up a paper in the Englim tongue, which they translated into French, and which was a kind of memorial, ftating in the King's name all the difficulties that he fhould meet with ac- cording to the prefent Conftitution, in per- forming his office of executing the laws. The Minifhy did not venture to adopt this project, as they law that the majority were Dd4 - per* 408 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE perfuadcd that the King muft. not give his opinion on any one Conftitutional Article. The King, on his part, difliked the letter compofed by Mirabeau's fecretary ; and at lafl: M. Thouret was permitted to draw up the decifive letter of acceptation. It is art- fully and ably written to prove, that the King might reafonably be more fatisned with the Conftitution and with the National Aflembly than at the moment of his flight from Paris ; but, like all equivocating per- formances, did not thoroughly fatisfy the zealots of any party. The King at the fame time endeavoured to earn a little popu- larity by refufing to wear the blue riband, formerly belonging to the order of St. Ef- prit, which the Aflembly, after fome de- bates, had referved to the King and the Prince Royal as a mark of diftindtion. On Tuefday the 13th of September, the letter of acceptation was carried to the Af- fcmbly; onWedncfday the mighty work of more than two years was accompliflied by the King's coming to the Aflembly and taking his lafl: and final oath to obferve the Conftitution; and on Saturday the 1 8th, it was FRENCH REVOLUTION. 409 was folemnly proclaimed throughout the city of Paris. Every pamphlet and every news* paper have been filled with the ceremonies obierved on thefe great occafions, with the details of the public feftivals 'given by the King and Queen to the people of Paris, with the vifits of their Majeities to the different theatres, and the unbounded ap- plaufe with which they were received. Time only can fliew whether this applaufe was the pure erFet, of fincere attachment, or influenced by the awe infpired by the exer- tions of the National Guard on the 1 7th of July. Certain it is, that the republican party are ftill numerous at Paris, and omit no oppor- tunity to infpire the people with diftrufr, of the King. The public joy, whether real or diffem- bled, was not interrupted by the itrong pro- tection publilried by the remnants of the ariftocratic party. It produced, however, a decree of the AlTembly, declaring that pro- tefters againft the Conftitution were inca- pacitated for any employment. M. Ma- 2 louct, 4-IO HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE louet, left a folitary, neglected adherent of the moderate party, publifhed at the fame time a declaration, which imported that he could not approve the Code, as varying from his own principles and from the inftructions given him by his conftituents ; but as it was now folemnly accepted by the King, his zeal for public peace did not allow him to proteft againft it. On the 13th of September, and immedi- ately after the King's letter had been read with applaufe, La Fayette had the honour of making the firft proportions which, fince the very commencement of the Revolution, had breathed in any degree the fpirit of gene- rofity or reconciliation. He moved a gene- ral amnefty, which mould put a ftop to all profecutions begun on account of the Revo- lution, with a decree to abolim the neceflity of paflTports, and to permit free egrefs and resrefs both to natives and foreigners. Thefe decrees were voted by unanimous acclama- tion, and it was declared by the ruling party, that as the Revolution was fully completed it was time to lay afidc thofe precautions which had hitherto been ncceffarv. By FRENCH REVOLUTION. 41 I By virtue of the firlt of thefe decrees a great number of fufpected perfbns were dis- charged from all the prifons in the kingdom, efpecially from the Abbaye St. Germain, which mal-contents had honoured with the name of the new Bajlillc, and the tribunal of Orleans was diflblved ; a tribunal erected in the beginning of 1 791, to try all the per- fbns accufed of plotting a counter-revolution. This euV.bliiriment had been compared to thole fpecial commifiions for trying fpecial crimes, Such as the Chambre Ardente fox poifoning in Lewis XlVth's time, which had always been cenSured under the molt defpotic kings, It is, however, allowed on all hands that thefe judges did not err on the fide of Seve- rity. Their proceedings were dilatory and . expenfive, very few Sufpe&ed criminals had been tried, and they had been acquitted for want of Sufficient evidence. This amnefty was profefledly intended to cover the errors of both fides, and therefore included the authors of the late Sedition, and all Soldiers accuSed of diSobedience. But whether it was. 412 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE was intended to fhelter the murderers of M. Pafcalis and of M. Guillin, remains as yet uncertain. The fecond decree was intended to re- move thofe reftraints upon emigrants and emigrations, which had often been com- plained of as contrary to the Rights of Man. This topic had always been perplexing and painful to the National Affembly ; for they had good reafon to fufpect the intentions of emigrants, and yet the voice of hiftory told them, that to betray much fear of emi- grations had ever been confidered as the furefr. fign of a weak or oppreifive govern- ment. They now hoped to check this mif- chievous fpirit by affecting to defpife it, but their hopes were vain. Numbers of land officers inftantly quitted their regi- ments, and fome marine officers followed their example. Numbers of provincial gentry, who had rifqued their lives by the imprudent joy they exprefied at the King's efcape, profited of this unexpected moment of liberty to fly from a country which was rendered unfafe or odious to many of FRENCH REVOLUTION. 41$ of its fons by the fury of contending factions.* Whilft unremitting feverky had hitherto been (hewn with regard to all the prejudices of officers or gentlemen, the prejudices of the French Weft-Indian planters had fome- times been attacked and fometimes been in- dulged, according as different parties bore fway in the Aflembly. A complete hiftory of the Colonial dif- fentions would (a9 I have already faid) re- quire more materials than are yet before the public. The National Aflembly had hoafted at firft, that whilft England had treated its colonies tyrannically* France had proved its liberality by admitting colonial reprefentatives into its Legiilature. But thefe reprefentatives were in much too fmall a proportion to prevent votes from palling that were difagreeable to their con- ftituents, nor have they prevented a fpirit * The War Minifter has told the new Aflembly, that nineteen hundred officers had quitted their regiments fince laft Auguft, Of 414 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE of independence from rifing in the colonies. As foon as the news of the Revolution reached the colonies, the planters rofe againfl: their governors, and the regiments againft their colonels, (two of whom have been cruelly murdered) M. Macnamara at the Ifle de France, and M. Mauduit at St. Domingo. The Affembly applauded this glorious zeal for liberty, till they fufpe&ed that the colonies meant to feparate from their mother-country, and they were as little difpofed to bear that idea as the mod unpopular of thofe Englifh minifters who perfifted in the American War. This in- dependent fpirit had, however, in the begin- ning of the prefent year, appeared lefs pre- valent, when it was revived at St. Domingo by a difpute in the National Affembly re- lative to the civil rights of free mulattoes. There are feveral thoufand free mulattoes at St. Domingo; a lhong enmity had broken out between them and the whites in con- fequence of the Revolution, and great num- bers had been put to death for confpiracies or rebellions. M. Bar- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 415 M. Barnave was fome months ago a lea- der of the Jacobine Club, and has always been connected with the planters, whilft fe- veral other Jacobines were connected with thofe focieties known under the name of Amis des Noirs. His enemies, therefore, in his own party, and his rivals in the oppolite club of 1789, pufhed on a queftion favou- rable to mulattoes ; a conteft of popularity was tried between the two clubs, and was gained in a fplendid manner by the club of 1789. A decree was paffed on the 15th of May 1 79 1, which gave the rights of Adiive Citizens to free mulattoes born of free pa- rents ; the decree was received with accla- mations by the galleries, and the National Guards of a department near Bordeaux fent an addrefs to the National Affembly, offer- ing, in cafe of difobedience, to go over to the Weft Indies and enforce its decrees.* The Members of St. Domingo exprefled great refentment and feceded from the Na- tional Affembly. * Let our Revolution Societies confider how they re- concile thefe votes and thefe addrefles to the received opi- nion that England had no right to interfere in the internal legiflation of America. The 416 Historical sketch of the The embarrafirnent3 Which followed the King's flight, fufpended thefe difcufTions for a while, but during the month of Augufl fuch repeated accounts came of the indig- nation with which this decree was received at St. Domingo, and fuch fufpicion3 were entertained of dark projects forming to call in the Englifh, that the friends of the African race felt their influence much weak- ened. M. Andre and his club were recon- ciled to M. Barnave, who had quarrelled with the Jacobins, M. Roberfpierre and the violent Republicans were unpopular in the Aflembly, and the caufe of the planters gained ground in proportion as their influ- ence declined. The queftion was therefore debated a fc* cond time, and on the 24th of September, a decree was paflfed, which virtually revoked the famous decree of the 15th of May. In the fir ft. article of this important law they aflfumed the right of external legiflation over the colonies ; in the fecond, they left the fete of the negroes and the mulattoesy whether (laves or freemen, entirely to the dilcretion of the colonial aflemblies, (infert- ine o tREttCIt REVOLUTION* 4l* ing the words " notwithftanding any pre- " ceding decree,") in the third, they re- ferred the difcuffion of all queftions rela* tive to the right of internal legiflation over the Whites, to that future Aflembly to whom they were preparing to yield up their feats. The King declared that he accepted this decree as a fupplement to the Confti* tutional Code. Will it be too fevere to affirm, that the new Government of France has in its firft outfet fallen into the moft important error that the Englifh Government ever com- mitted, who, by rafhly paffing the Stamp- Acl:, loft the affection of their colonies, and by timidly repealing it, forfeited their refpecl: ?* The National Aflembly was now draw- ing apace to its concluflon. On the news of the King's flight they had flopped the Electoral Affemblies from proceeding to the choice of another Legiflature ; but although * Since this was written a terrible infurrection of the Blacks has completed the misfortunes of St. Domingo. E e tt\at / 4l8 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE that decree was complied with in an hour of danger, yet the moment that fecurity was reftored, the Aflembly felt its unpopularity, and were obliged to revoke it. New Mem- bers were continually pouring in from dif^ ferent parts of the kingdom, and Paris itfelf was occupied with electioneering intrigues, and divided by the oppofite factions of the Jacobines and Feuillans, who were every day libelling each other's candidates (both in pamphlets and handbills) with the molt in- veterate malice.* The efforts of the Feuil- lans were chiefly directed again ft M. Briflbt de Warville, vehemently fufpected of pro- moting the riot iu the Champ de Mars, but his perfeverance carried the day. He was elected along with M. Garran de Coulon, another bufy demagogue, and on the whole, the Jacobines had no reafon to be difpleafed with the twe.ity-four Parilian Members, and their in te reft alio prevailed in feveral other de- partments. It has been obferved, that none of the former gentry are Members of the new Aflembly, and not above twenty cccleli- aftics, a very large proportion of lawyers * See Note 3d. (fome FRENCH REVOLUTION. 4/ , (fbme fay 500 out of the whole 749 Mem- bers,) and a very fmall number of landed proprietors that clafs of men in whom leveral philofophers and ftatefmen have thought that the power of Government might be lodged with leaft danger. As their fucceflbrs were now coming into view, and ready to demand their rightful feats, the prefent Members found it was time to quit their elevation of power. Three queftions of internal police had the befl claim to occupy their laft moments the church, the army, and the finances. As to the church, they feem to have left it to its own fate ; in fome * departments the nonjuring priefts perfecute the Conftitu- tional priefts, and in others are perfecuted by them, f whilft the AfTembly did not lat- terly venture on coercive meafures to com- pel either one fide or the other to a paci- fication. M. Du Portail, on the 25 th of September, comforted them with fome better tidings * As for inftance, in the department of Vendre. f As more particularly in Paris itfelf. E e 3 re- 4*0 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE refpe&ing the army, and aflured them that the foldiers were tired of difobedience and be- ginning to return to their duty : words which convey but a melancholy idea of the general {late of discipline. The Minifter of Finances gave infor- mation that the departments were comple- ting their fubfidy- books, and would foon pay up their taxes : yet it plainly appears, even by the Minifter's favourable fratement, that the nation frill owes the public treafury the amount of half the taxes which it is bound to pay* M. dc Montefquieu read to the AlTembly a memorial on the flate of the finaoi which gave flattering hopes of their com- plete reitoration. M. BergaiTe (one of the middle party) attacked this memorial in divers publications ; and the Ariftocrates {pent their laft hopelefs efforts in attacking it in the Houfe. The Abbo Mauray af- cended the tribune and with his ufual ve- hemence infilled that the Aflembly owed to the nation a full and complete account of its administration of finance, with legal 2 proof* FRENCH REVOLUTION. 42I proofs of each allegation, to juftifv itfelf from the charge of increasing that deficit which it was convoked to remedy. He was fcarcely allowed to proceed in his fpeech, and the majority called out that the National Aflembly was not accountable like a Mi- nifter of Finance; that its Members had never handled the public money ; but that it had merely given directions to the accoun- table officers. There was a fecret reafon for this reciprocal fury, the fufpicions cir- culated by the Ariftocrates that feveral pa- triots had gained money by trafficking un- fairly with affignats. Names of oppro- brium refounded from each fide of the Houie. M. Lavie, a Member from Alface, cried out to the Ariftocrates, u We'll reevm- " mend you to the provinces ;" and M. D'Eprefmefnil retorted, " You are a villain, M who would inftigate aflaffination." Thus thefe two defperate factions parted as they had met, preferring acrimony, in- vective, and revenge, to moderation, Qon- cord, or the love of their country. E e 3 A very 42 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE A very fhort interval of political exigence yet remained for the majority, and they employed it in a bold and equitable meafure, though not expreflive of much gratitude towards their old friends and fupporters. On the 29th of September, they took into confideration the complaints of M. Duport du Tertre, and pafled a decree prohibiting every club from afluming a public function, interfering with any branch of the public adminiftration, or fetting its name to any petition or declaration as a collective body,* under penalty, that its members mould for fix months be fufpended from the rights of active citizens. Much of the peace and profperity of the French nation, nay, per- haps of all Europe, will depend on the Itrict execution of this decree ; but if the Jacobine Club fhould obtain a decided majority, it is too probable that its meaning will be evaded. Immediately after pafling this decree, a letter from the King informed them, that he intended the next day to clofe their fcf- * Such a law in England would take away from the aflumed dignity with which the Constitutional Society pub- Iriho its advcrtilunc Ms. fiords, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 423 (ions. The countenances of the Members ieemed to intimate, that this meifage was in rather too regal a (tile, but it was re- ceived without any objection. On the 30th of September this all-powerful Aflembly met for the laft time, and an unufual filence pervaded the hall. The King appeared, at- tended by his Ministers, and pronounced a good fpeech, which recommended mode- ration and obedience to the laws, in a ftile neither too haughty nor too timid. He de- parted, and after a moment of fblemn ex- pectation, M. Thouret the Prefident pro- nounced thefe decifive words, " The Con- " ftituent Aflembly has ended its feflions." The Houfe broke up, and all its Mem- bers returned home no longer inviolable legiflators, but private citizens, A more remarkable furrender of abfolute power has never taken place fince the abdication of the dictator Sylla ; but let it be remembered, that Sylla's abdication has not abfolved his memory from the guilt of ufurpation and tyrannical government, E e 4 The 424 ' HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE The Surrender of power ever has a daZ- zling appearance, and no other part of the conduct of the Revolutionifts can lay fa plaufible a claim to thofe encomiums with which a great orator aftonifhed the Englifh Houfe of Commons. But thofe who look beyond the outfide of things, will have fuf- flcient reafon to fee nothing of genuine ho- nefty or heroifm, in thefe fplendid tranf- actions, nothing but the common game which divided and fubdivided factions have a thoufand times played againft one another; the fame game that was played by the Pref- hytciians, the Independants and the Church- men, during our own unhappy civil wars. The National A (Terribly feem at laft to have profited a little from reflecting on the mif- fortunes of the Long Parliament, but they might have learnt a great many more in- ftructive leflbns from thofe difgraceful pages of our Englilh hiftory.* I HAVE now completed my intended abridgement of the hiilory of the two mod important and mod wonderful years that this See Note 4th, FRENCH REVOLUTION. /L.$ this century has beheld, and defire my readers leave to make fome obfervations on the principles and confequences of thefe events. The flrft refle&ion that I rauft confider as the final refult of the foregoing difcuffion, is, that the principle of refiftance to defpo- tifm has had but a fmall fhare in the French Revolution ; its three great leading principles have been, the utter impove- rifhment of the clergy, the utter annihi- lation of all diftinc*tions of birth, and the eftablimment of an entire equality between the mechanical and the liberal profeffions. The two firfr. points have been carried, but thofe clubs, who call themfelves the Friends of the Conjlitution, think their triumph incomplete, unlefs they can carry the third. Whoever doubts of this fact may be fatisfied by reading M. Briflbt's works, efpecially the preface to his Tra- vels in America. When the States General were firft fum* moned together, the univerfal voice of France proclaimed, that arbitrary power could 426 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE could no longer be endured. The majority of Clergy, Nobles, and Commons, inftru&ed their members to demand a conftitution in which laws mould be made by the people, fubjeft to the King's negative; * judges mould be named by the people, fubjecl to the King's negative, and if approved by him, fhould receive their commiflions for life, or good behaviour ; arbitrary taxation and arbitrary imprifonment were to be utterly abolifhed. The King was at the mercy of the States; he might have temporifed a little, but the flighteir. degree of legal peace- able refinance would have overcome the feeble efforts of his court. The Clergy had already given up their exemption from taxes, the Nobles were proceeding in the fame courfe, though not quite fo rapidly ; but the Commons would be fatisfied with nothing, unlefs they at once refigncd their indepen- dence as legiflators, and altered without ex- amination the tenures of their eftates. From * Several inftances of fuch requefti from the meeting! cf Nobles arc to be feen in Calonnc's Etat de la France. And the Ami du Roi fays, that the Provincial gentry were ftrongly prepoflefled againft Lettfcs dc Cachet. that TRENCH REVOLUTION. 447 that hour party fpirit took the place of rational zeal, and two violent factions turned againfl each other the arms which they had re- ceived from their conftituents to employ againlt defpotifm, From that hour, the troubles of France haye been chiefly occafioned by the contefts between thofe clafles of mankind which exift more or lefs in every fociety emerged from a ftate of nature, a contefr. between the monied and the landed interefts, between landlords and tenants, between families long diflinguifhed and families rifing from ob- fcurity ; and, worft of all, moil: implacable of all, a con tell: between the rich and the poor. Thefe are contefts of a much more fatal nature than contefts that relate to the depo- {ition of a king, or to the abolition of regal prerogative. In the latter cafe, only a few courtiers are really much concerned, but here every man's perfonal and family inte- refts are involved in the quarrel, and every individual is fighting pro arts etfocts; con- fequently thefe are the contefts that good men would be mofl unwilling to begin. They would confider whether it is not bet- ter 428 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ter to abandon many abufes, many pre- judices to the lenient hand of time, and the gradual change of manners, rather than by a precipitate reformation inflame the paf- fions of thoufands, and leave the fecret cauftics of hatred and refentment to burn within their hearts for perhaps a century to come. It were a tedious and difficult talk to fearch into the latent reafons that have in- duced different portions of the world to adopt different forms of government, but the fact is certain, though the caufc is ob- icure. Defpotifm has ever been the go- vernment of Afia ; ariftocracy has been the ground- work of all European governments, fince that momentous period when the war- like tribes of the north enilaved the degene- rate Romans; and democracy is, at this equally momentous hour, the firlt, the only government of independent America. I mult avow my decided opinion, that utterly to annihilate in either of thefe continents that fpecies of power to which the natives are accuftomed, and to fubftitutc an entirely new government in its room, would be both arafh FRENCH REVOLUTION. 42$ a ram and a criminal attempt. I mould equally condemn the man who would en- deavour to erect a democracy at Pekin, and the man who would introduce hereditary nobility at Philadelphia. But by parity of reafon I mult alfo condemn the anathemas lately poured out in France againfr. thofe principles of hereditary difHnction, which have for fo many ages occupied the atten- tion and flattered the vanity of Europeans,, and which, in fome countries, thoufands are from their cradles taught to hold as more valuable than life, and no lefs facred than religion. It muir. not be diffembled, that it is the happy fuccefs of the American revolution which has turned the heads of almoft. alt the French philofbphers Dean Tucker was, perhaps, the flrft who difcerned the riling tempelr, and announced it in the fecond and ilxth letters of his Cui Bono, ad- drefled to M. Necker. The prophejies, for they deferve that name, contained in the fecond letter are fo remarkable that they ought to be read at full length in the origi- nal. But one extract from the fixth letter h 430 HISTORICAL SXETCrt OF -PHE is fo much to the point, that it muft wot he omitted : " America is a riling empire, without " Bi/bops! without Nobles! without Kings! " This, Sir* you know, is the language of " that celebrated Republican, Dr. Price. " But perhaps you have never yet been told " the name of the original author of that " prophetic fcntence. It was your own " predeceflbr, the late M. Turgot. Now ' he is dead I am at liberty to declare it. " In a letter of his, dated Paris, 18th of "February 1777, he fays, Je fais des *' voeux pour la liberte des Americains par- Mj ceque ce fera le premier exemple d'un " grand peuple qui n'ait ni Rois, ni No- " blejfer Thus early did the levelling fpirit arife in France, and fuch were the true reafons which made their philofophers fo zealous in the caufe of America. Turgot had once been the Minifler of the prefent King of France, who is fuppofed to have facrificed him to the refentment of his courtiers FRENCH REVOLUTION. 431 courtiers and clergy, and thus to have given the fir ft proof of that fatal indecifion which has, hitherto at leaft, rendered all his virtues ufelefs But if thefe were Turgot's demo- cratic principles,* he was an unfit Minifter for any European king, whether defpotic or limited* Men who abhor the European dis- tinction of ranks infociety, mould go and in- habit that country where thofe doctrines are lawful and conftitutional. It is the misap- plication of the principle which is more cenfurable than the principle itfelf. Ame- rica never had bifhops, never had nobility, never faw royalty but through the medium of a governor's temporary and precarious power. They had nothing to do but fever the thread which united them to the throne of England, and the democracy was already completely formed. They rigoroufly ex- pelled all the royalifts, and then fet them- felves down, not without parties indeed, but without thofe formidable parties which arife from the prejudices imbibed by different * la J. Adam's Defence of the American Conftitution, other proofs may be found that Turgot was more a Demo- crate than the American Statefman. clafTes 43* HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE dalles of rhen from generation to generation* Cannot the French politicians, obferve that it is fafe and eafy to decree, " that never (hall ** exift which never has exiiTed ?" but diffi- cult and dangerous to fay, " that fhall ceafe " to exift which has exifted for ages, and is *' ftill regarded by thoufands with vene- " ration r" The Republic of Florence once tried a fimilar experiment, as is recorded by Machi- avel, who, with all his fms, was yet a friend to republican liberty, and therefore may be admitted as competent evidence.* After a dreadful civil commotion the Nobles were expelled, and were obliged to purchafe their re-admiftion to the privileges of citizens by laying down their coats of arms, their family names, and enrolling themielves amongfl: feme of the trading companies. But did this violent treatment enfure peace to that diffracted Republic ? l>v no means. The Nobles who lubmitted - * Machiavcl's Hiftory of Florence, Book III. Sec Note 5. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 433 to this degradation ftill were considered as a diftinct body of men,* the old factions were ftill kept up, and new ones arofe between the rich and the poor plebeians, between the companies of merchants and thofe of me- chanics, + till the Republic, wearied out by inceflant difcord, funk under the abfolute power of the Medici family, who firft paved their way to grandeur by courting the Arti Minoriy or the companies of inferior trades- men. It might be no unprofitable fpecu- lation to compare the third and fourth Books of Machiavel's Hiftory of Florence with M. Briflbt's preface, where he complains that merchants and bankers conilder mechanics as their inferiors ; and to obferve how fimilar paffions operate alike in diftant ages. The National Aflembly have guarded with infinite care againft the invafions of kings and of certain privileged claffes, but have left the door wide open to noify, tur- bulent demagogues, thofe pefts of a free * Thofe nobles were called Notili Pofotini. f They were called Arti Maggiori and Arti Minor 7, and fometimes Popolani and Pkbtu F con- 434 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE conftitution, who wear the mantle of popu- larity, nay fometimes of charity, to cloak their unbounded ambition. Nothing can guard againft their malevolence and rapacity ib effectually as the fixed eftablimed power of one man, afTuted by a certain number of ancient families, to whom the people are ac- cultomed to look up with refpect ; I do not mean with fervile refpedl:, but with that free fubordination which, however Mr. Burke's opponents may have laughed at the phrafe, will ever be the furefr. pledge of good government on one lide, and due obe- dience on the other. A pamphlet has been lately publifhcd in which an Englifh Leveller, for we have a few animals of that genius in England, a Leveller, illuminated, I fuppofe, with fome inward light, fnft difcovers the abolition of nobility in the Revelations, and then expatiates in much better language than might have been expected from fuch wildnefs, on the vices, the weaknettes, the incapacity of hereditary nobles : he tells us how they fhriuk in times of civil confufion before thofe nobles by nature, who are gifted by heaven with fuperior FRENCti REVOLt/tlOlJ* 435 fuperior talents which require not the fofter- ing aid of birth or education. I adopt his epithet and allow his afTertion, but retort his reafonings on himfelf, and infill: on the utility of nobles by political convention to counteracl: the nobles by nature, till he can prove, not by reafonings a priori, but by the furer guide of experience, that nobles by nature, when poffefled of unbalanced power, are not fully as tyrannical and cruel in their government as they whofe vanity is fed by the recollection of an illuftrious line of an- ceftors. It Was an obfervation of claflical antiquity* that the generality of tyrants were in their origin, demagogues fet up by the people to overturn the nobly-born and the men of property. A long lift of names might here be inferted (not much to the honour of no- bility by nature*) of men* who* from low and mechanical ftations, have rifen to fud- den power by the force of original genius, and have grofily abufed their talents. Cleon, the leather- feller, at Athens ; Agathocles, the potter, at Syracufe ; the tribune Satur- nius ; the warrior Marius, in ancient Rome ; F f 2 Rienzi, 436 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP* THE Rienzi, the attorney, in modern Rome ; (though Rjenzi had fomething generous in his purpofe) MaiTaniello, the fifherman, at Naples; Menzicoff, the paltry-cook, favou- rite to Czar Peter ; Biron, the fon of a groom, favourite to Czarina Anne :* thefe make but a fmall part of the lift of thofe ty- rannical nobles by nature under vvhofe go- vernment, whether it laded ten days or twenty years, no Englishman would have wilhed to live. Writers of the levelling clafs infill with no fmall complaifance, on the triumph or the Parliament Generals taken from mop* or from the plough, over the generals felect- ed from amongll: the hereditary nobility. But.they ought 10 remember, that fuch a traditionary remembrance is left behind of the arbitrary conduit and indolent behaviour of Cromwell, and Ireton, and Defhorough, and Harrifon, and all the demagogues and committee-men of that unhappy period, that until length of time (hall have obliterated been ennobled .i::.r,-. but Biron and Menzicoff certainly were. the FRENCH REVOLUTION. 437 the deep impreffion, England will not be dii- pofed again to fubmit to the fole government of nobles by nature, although it will readily admit fuch characters to work their gradual way into the participation of power, and fhame the torpid vanity which (lumbers upon the fcutcheons of its ancestors. But none of thefe moderating principles are now to be admitted in France, no me- dium is to be adopted in argument, no ex- amples from hiflory are to be allowed to weigh with metaphyseal reafoning, the pride of birth is to be utterly exterminated : it is become the hackneyed topic of abufe to every declaimer, and no journalift thinks he has given a good account of a book,* if he has not inferted fome reflections againft hereditary 'difiincliion. I am ready to ac- knowledge the ill effects it has often occa- fioned when carried to excels ; but are we, therefore, to deftroy any one principle * As an inftance, when the Mercure gives an account of the life of the late Marechal Richelieu, a very vicious nobleman, it does not fo much attribute his vices to his ir- religion and want of principle, as to his ariftocratical pride. F f 3 which, 43$ HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE which, by the univerfality of its influence, appears congenial to human nature. Thefe vain and airy pretenders to philofo- phy ought to know, that it would ill be- come a true philofopher to extirpate, if it were poflible, one weaknefs from the human mind, unlefs he could be fure at the fame inftant to extirpate the weaknefs that leans to the oppofite clafs of follies. If pride of birth could be extinguished whilir. the pride of wealth remains, it would be of fatal confequence. The former is much more analagous to noble feelings and much more convertible into fomething like virtue than the latter. The defire of perpetuating our memory and of railing our defcendents above the common level, will ever exift whilft the re- lation exifrs between parent and child ; or if fome unknown power could abolim it, woe be to the human race, it would probably fink many degrees nearer to the brute crea- tion. Then, furely, is not the defire of leaving our children honours lefs likely to pro- TRENCH REVOLUTION. 439 produce bafe actions than the defire of leav- ing them a mafs of wealth ? Trie French legillators have probably been aware of that difficulty, and have boldly tried to counter- act that fecond and moit common fhape of the univerfal paflion of raifing a family, by propofing one general law .of gavel kind. They have carried one half of their original intention ; for it is decreed, that the perfonal and real eftates of all who die inteftate fhall be equally divided, but they have not yet been able to take from a father the power of devifing his eftate to his eldefr. fon. It is, however, a favourite topic with republicans, and will, probably, be revived in the prefent AfTembly. They have never confidered, whether fuch a law would not encourage that dangerous and fenfual egotifm which leads a man to fay ; Why fhould I labour to improve an eftate which muft be fold af- ter my death to facilitate an equal divifion ? Why mould I take much care of my pro- perty iince it will never enrich any one of my children ? Let me live without wife or children, enjoy ^momentary pleafures, and eat and drink, Jince to-morrow we die. F f 4 A rigid 440 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE A rigid, unalterable law of gavel kind would, perhaps, anfwer very well in a coun- try of primitive fimplicity, and unacquainted with any art but agriculture ; but in the prefent age of refinement, luxury, and fond- nefs for great cities, there had need of many trifling attachments ; fuch as affection for the farm our father improved, or the coun- try-houie he built, or the parks that travel- lers ufed to vifit, or twenty other ideas, equally natural though equally unphilofo- phical, to counteract the fafcinating influ- ence of great cities, and of that voluptuous indolent life, which men of moderate but in- dependent perfonal fortune may fo eafily lead in thofe feats of diffipation. Thefe argu- ments are not intended to prove that no laws mould be made to prevent the excef- five accumulation of landed property in a few hands, but to fhew the difficulty of making fuch laws as will not fubftitute fome frefli evil in the place of the evils in- tended to be removed. But the French Republicans feem to have argued that when nobility, gentry, and fa- mily influence were deftroyed, the morals of FRENCH REVOLUTION. 441 of the world would mend of themfelves ; an expe&ation in which I doubt they will be grievoufly difappointed. But put the cafe, that this extirpating fyf- tem mould fucceed in France, let us confi- der how it will be received in countries more devoted toantient prejudices, and from, thence conjecture the probable influence of the French Revolution upon the freedom and the tranquillity of the reft of Europe. I mufl join with many other friends to moderate liberty in exprefling my apprehen- fions, that the extent to which this Revolu* tion has been carried, inftead of haftening will retard the progrefs of liberty, and when fhe does come, (for her hour mufl come at laft) it will caufe her footfteps to be difgraced by bloodfhed and anarchy. All good men ought to rejoice if fuch melan- choly expectations mould prove vain, but they are too confbnant to another of the univerfal weaknefles of human nature that obftinacy which attaches men with re- doubled ardour to every little diftindlion which their rivals feck to efface. The fury 44* HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE fury with which the National Aflembly has attempted to * hew down prejudices with a fabre, has made it the intereft of a mul- titude of counfellors to divert Princes from advifing with the people, or beginning the reformation of ancient abufes. Formerly that intereft was confined to a few profli- gate Courtiers, but now it is extended to all that bear the name of Gentlemen or Priejl. If we in England are fomewhat hurt at the profcription of the very words Nobi- lity and Gentry, what fenfations muft the Germans (for inftance) experience, with whom the prejudice of noble birth is car- ried to a height, that we Englifhmen, placed in our happier medium, can fcarcely tole- rate, or even conceive ? Do French philo- fophcrs imagine that their eloquence will at once perfuade a German, vain of his fifty- two quarters, and his epithet of Hogebornen, that the title of Citizen is infinitely more honourable, and is all that the member of * Sabrer Us Prcjugis x is an expreflion of cenfure ufed in the Ltydeo Gazette. a free FRENCH REVOLUTION. 443 a free ftate mould ever defire ? As well might they preach to a Bramin on the banks of the Ganges, that it was no difho- nour to be excluded from his caft ! Let us fuppofe a German nobleman ad- vifing with his friends, and afking them what degree of liberty he fhould allow his vaffals. May not thofe low dependents, to whom any oppreffions of the nobility are ufually imputable, hold up the example of France before his eyes, and plaufibly, though falfely, fay, the French people felt much lefs the yoke of feudal inftitutions, they had a political exiftence independent of their Lords and for that very reafon they were never fatisfied till they had levelled their Lords with the dull: of the earth ? What a fcope is here given to thofe per- nicious flatterers whom Racine has fo well defcribed ;* tc Bientot ils vous diront* " Qu'aux larmes, au travail le peuple condamne, *' Par un fceptre de fer veut etre gouverne, t* Que s'il n'eft ofprime, tot ou tard il opprime. * Athalie, Aft. IV. Scene 3. Let 444 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Let it be fuppofed that a King of Den- mark mould become convinced that the famous and culpable States of 1660, had placed more power in his hands than any iingle mortal can exercife equitably ; fuppofe he mould hint a refolution to re-aflemble the States and diveft himfelf of defpotic power, is it not too probable that he would fee all his nobility on their knees exclaim- ing, Oh, Sir! let us not be ruined and de- graded for ever ? The hatred of the people diverted us of our mare in the government, and fubje&ed us to yourabfolute authority; they madly enflaved themfelves for the pleafure of enflaving us; do not revive the old intermi- nable quarrels, and expofe our caflles to be plundered and our arms torn down by the hands of an enraged rabble ? Since the writers of the French fide of the queftion have indulged themfelves in a hundred romantic villous on the happinefs caufed by this revolution, not one of which vifionshasasyet been rcalifcd, why may not one of their opponents be indulged in a romance on the contrary fide ? Let imagi- nation FRENCH REVOLUTION. 44? nation pi&ure forth the States of France aflembled, the Commons perfuaded by fome really wife men to endure the balancing power of a houfe of Nobles, and contenting themfelves with eftablifhing equality of tax- ation; the Courtiers awed to filence; the King yielding, whether from fenfe or from fbftnefs would then have been of little con- fequence; the Baftille opened by common confent, and a folemn covenant entered into between the King and the three orders of the State, with this difference, that as they contented themfelves with fettling the pri- vileges of Frenchmen, and left the reft of the world to itfelf, they would not have voted a declaration of the Rights of Alan one day, and in the next, that it did not include ne- groes and mulattoes. Gentlemen and land- ed proprietors obliged to refide on their eftates, if they hoped for influence in elec- tions,* would have felt the neceflity of po- pularity amongft their tenants and neigh- * That influence is by fome confounded with the cor- ruptions of Burgage-tenure. But what have the French fubftiftited in its place ? The influence of Clubs! bours, 44& historical sketch of 'iUe bours, and in the next States General, if not in the firft, would have given way to the gradual alteration of feudal tenures. The glorious flame of liberty would have fpread through Europe, but it would have been a lambent flame that warms and cherifhes, not the flam attending a thunderbolt that withers and con fumes every object placed within reach of its influence. The nobles of other enflaved countries would have learnt that it was more glorious to lead the people on to freedom, than to participate in their oppreifion ; kings would more eafily have given way, when they faw that the French Monarch had never for a moment loft the veneration which they naturally think is due to royalty; all thofe boafted difcoveries of the natural equality of man might itill have been made, (lowly indeed, but fmoothly and fecurely, and the Euro- pean inftitution of hereditary nobility, though it ceafed to.,bc the moving fpring of eminent, might ftill be retained as the counterpoise and regulator. Another kingdom has lately made itfelf conspicuous in Europe by a revolution, which, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 447 which, though far from being perfect or fecure, may poflibly realize in fome degree the vifionary picture which I have ventured to draw. But it is enough to excite a fmile of contempt to fee a revolution intended to iupprefs anarchy, perpetually confounded with a revolution which fupprefled def- potifm, or to hear the French vainly boaft- ing that the example of their revolution has induced the Poles to correct the abufes of ariftocracy. The partition of Poland was fuch an un- paralleled leflbn to the ariftocratic pride of the Polifti nobility, that it convinced them of fome of their errors, when a hundred volumes of levelling declamations by Meflrs. Sieyes, Condorcet, and BrifTot, would pro- bably have hardened them in obflinacy. It is a YQalfaSf, not a fuppqfition, that when the admiflion of Deputies from the towns was firit. propofed to the Diet, fome haughty Nobles urged the example of France as an objection to the meafure, and a proof that if the people were admitted to the legiflation, they would totally extirpate nobility. Hap- pily the galling remembrance of foreign tyranny 44& ttrsrorttcAL sketch of the tyranny obliterated thefe fainter impreflions of remote danger. But fuch a remembrance will not induce to terms of conciliation the Nobles of Germany, or the Senators of Ve- nice or of Berne, who never yet thought themfelvcs liable to the infamy of a Polifh partition. It mould alfo be obferved, that the law which favours the rights of Burghers and Citizens, pafled in the month of April, an- tecedent to what is commonly called the Polifh Revolution, which did not take place till May, 1 791- It may feem a flrange alTertion at firil fight, but that particular tranfa&ion, graced by the popular name of a Revolution, inftead of being copied from the French Revolu- tion, bears a refcmblance to the unfuccefs- ful attempt of the King of France to efta- blifh a conftitution drawn up by his Minis- ters on the 23d of June, 1789. Nay, a friend to the King of France might (late the two events in fuch a manner as FRBNCH REVOLUTION. 449 as Would give the palm of true patriotifm to his mailer. His parallel might run as fol- lows : S tan illas, born a private gentleman, elect* ed by foreign influence to a nominal crown, and confefledly no more than the chief ma- gift rate of a Republic, having aflembied his Diet to correct the erroneous Conltitution of Poland, and finding that their time was confumed in ufelefs debates, comes fuddenly to the afTembly, having previoufly called out the armed burghers on whofe affection he could depend. He draws forth and reads the plan of a Conltitution, in which he gives himfelf an authority itrictly limit- ed indeed, but yet an authority greater than his predecefTors had enjoyed for ages; and what was an action of ftill greater violence and unwarrantable, except from extreme neceffity, he changes an elective into an hereditary Monarchy. He Itifles the cla- mours of the minority by the louder voices of his own partizans, and obliges the Diet to vote the Conftitution and fwear to its observance before he leaves the hall. G g Louis, 450 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THfi Louis, defcendcd from the moft ancient royal family now exifting in Europe, born to abfolute power and educated with the idea that it was his right, becomes at laft fenfible that his people ought to have a fliare in the government, and affembles hio States according to ancient forms. Inftead of giving him the advice which he expected, they not only difpute with one another (as in Poland) but bring the kingdom to the eve of a civil war. He calls them together, and reads them the plan of a Monarchy lefs ftridtly limited, indeed, than England or Poland, but yet undeniably a limited Mo- narchv, in which he diverted himfelf of powers which his ancestors had exercifed for above 300 years, and endeavoured to com- promile the difputes between his fubjec~ts. He telta them, in too peremptory a tone, that he expected obedience; but he quits the hall, and leaves them to their debates, un- controlled by his prefence.* If the attempt of Louis was an invafion of the liberty of a National AflcmbJy, the * Stc Nuic 6. attempt FRENCH REVOLUTION* 451 Attempt of Staniflas mufl be condemned by the fame arguments. Yet Staniflas has been rewarded with acclamations and ftatues, and celebrated as the faviour of his country. Louis was rewarded with fcorn and abhor* rence ; his attempt has been emphatically filled * " The lafi: crime of defpotifm," his throne and life have been endangered, and he has received affronts, which, though he may forget, it will be very difficult for his people to think he has forgotten. Whilft after all, the real difference was {imply this Staniflas was fure of his party, and con- ducted a change of government with greater fleadinefs. 1 have written thefe obfervations rather in the character of a French Royalift than in my own. I venerate the character, and am convinced of the patriotifm of Staniflas ; but it has happened to him as to Guftavus Vafa, that his intereft and his patriotifm have mod: fortunately coincided. The Con- stitution which he has eftabliflied, is like all the works of mortal s> liable to objections ; * By I*a Harpe in the Mercure cient Greece, it well becomes impartial rea- foners to look back on the effects fuch prin- ciples once produced on the morality and the happinefs of a country which difcon- tented philofophers have falfely reprefented as a kind of elyfium. None of the Grecian States ever made a formal renunciation of conqueft; yet it was generally underftood, that none of them could exercife the rights of conqueft over one another.* Meanwhile, every indepen- dent Athenian burgher indulged a vanity and ambition as infatiate as ever turned the head of a defpot, and fome expedients were requifite to gratify thefe craving appetites. Thofe leaders who fought power by court- ing the democracy, Themiftocles, Pericles, Alcibiades, and worft of all, that low-born, low-minded villain, Cleon, carefully culti- vated the friendship of the mal-contents in their neighbouring countries, and privately held forth the protection of Athens to all * Not at leaft, over thcfe who fent Deputies to the Am- phyctionic Council. 2 * who 4/4 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE who wifhed to revolt againft their magif- trates. Magiftrates are not gods, and, therefore, it is not difficult to find out fome who had the vices of men to anfwer for as well as their fellow-citizens. The gloiious infurredtion took place, the magiitrates were banifhed or murdered, and Athens was in- vited to take under its flickering- wins: this generous people who were exerting them- felves in the caufe of democracy. Thus it happened in Beotia, at Corcyra, and a hundred other petty States, whofe flories are tedious and uninterefting, if it were not for the general and uniform in- ftrucl:ion to be derived from them. The de- mocratic factions, to enfure their own au- thority, enflaved their cities to Athens un- der the falfe name of allies, and every de- fertion from that alliance was treated as re- bellion, and punimed with the mod: delibe- rate cruelty. Sparta, who thought all thefe artifices aimed at her grcatncfs, became the patron of the ariftocratic factions, and hence arofe fuch direful fcenes of feditions and mavTacres as are mocking to the humane rea- der : the nobler qualities of the Greeks were FRENCH REVOLUTION. 475 were loft amidft inteftine quarrels about va- rious forms of republican government; they were nrft fubdued by the cunning of Philip of Macedon, and their fpirit funk for ever under the better-conducted ambition of the Roman People. It will be time enough for the Revolution Society to indulge -their high-flown decla- mations on the benefits of French liberty, when experience mail have convinced us, that France will not act towards Europe, as Athens acted towards Greece. Though France has fometimes protected tyrants, it has much oftener protected de- mocratic factions in other countries. In- trigue, infinuation, and all the other qualities requifite for the tools of party, have hitherto feemed inherent in the French character ; they were not created, but found and em- ployed by defpots, and it is difficult to be- lieve that they will from henceforth be fo concentrated at home, as never to find fuf- ficient leifure to carry defolation abroad. But 476 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE But let us again proceed from fuppofition to facts, and examine what benefits the neighbours of France have hitherto reaped from its Revolution, efpecially thofe weaker neighbours who are lcarce able to cope with a great kingdom even in its divided ftate. Liege revolted againft its Bifnop foon after the celebrated 14th of July ; it profefTed much admiration of the French model, and defire to follow it, and fome agents went to Paris, and privately conferred with the lea- ders of the Republicans. The confequence has been, that Liege has drawn down on it- ieif the refentment of the German empire ; it has been fubdued by force, and refuted that juftice which it would have, perhaps, ob- tained againir. its unpopular Bimop, if it had contented itfelf with appealing to the laws of Germany. The revolt of Brabrant and Flanders fol- lowed in a few months, and what is moft remarkable, after they had expelled the troops of Jofeph II. they were ruined by inteftine quarrels, and gave the world a new inftance of that ancient hatred between arif- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 477 ariftocracy and democracy, which has in- duced many liberal-minded philofbphers to think that the power of one man, equally elevated above all the jarring factions of the irate, is a more tolerable form of go- vernment than a republic. As the arifto- cratic faction prevailed during the duration of thofe unfuccefsful United Provinces, the French were not much interefted in their cauie. But a fingular letter lately dif- peried through Brabant, from one of the patriotic clubs to the returning emigrants, feems to imply, that they would not a fecond time obferve the fame neutrality. 11 To the Patriots. 44 Sirs, 44 You know how to value liberty ; you 44 defired it, and unhappy events have pre- 44 vented you from conquering it. The 44 friends of the French Conftitution em- 44 brace the whole world in their fyjlem of 44 philanthropy, and in virtue of that right, 44 Sirs, they exprefs their hopes, that when 44 you return into your country, you will 44 fcatter the feeds of our beneficent pro- 44 jects. 478 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE " je&s, that they may produce a plentiful 44 haired" Let not this letter be parted over with contempt, becaufe it is the production of one fmall club. All thofc clubs who call themfelves " Friends of the Conltitution," are connected by the new-invented tye of affiliation to the Mother Club of the Jaco- bines at Paris, even as all the Jefuits, whe- ther at Goa, in China, or in Paraguay, were connected with the Jefuit's convent at Rome, and ated under the order of then General and his Council.* If * This extraordinary letter ought to have the honour of making its appearance " in propria perfona" before our readers. Lettre des Amis de la Confthution de Maubeugc, anx Patriotes Brabancoas. Le 18 Septcmbrc 1791. ct Mejfieurs le Patriotes, u Vous faviez apprecicr la liberte, vous la defiriez, it M des evenemens malheureux vous ont privet de fa con- *' qnctc. Les Amis de la Conftitution Frantiim difturbed the minds of the French common people, fince frequent complaints have been made to both the Aflemblies, that they refufe to carry their children to be baptized at parifh churches. NOTE 5. IT may not he unsuitable to infert fome pafihges, literally tranflated from the pream- ble to the third book of Machiavel's hiftory of Florence : " The weighty and natural hatred which " exifts between plebeians and nobles, the 44 latter wifhing to command, and the for- 44 mer refufing to obey, is the occafion of 44 all the evils that happen in ftates ; becaufe 44 all other difturbances in the common- 2 " wealth . APPENDIX TO PART II. $yj " wealth take their fource from this contra- " riety of temper. M This quarrel dhunited Rome ; this M quarrel (if fmall things may lawfully be " compared to great) has difunited Florence, ** although it produced different effects in M thofe two cities The enmities between " the nobles and the people in Rome were " decided by fpeeches, in Florence by arms ; " in Rome they were terminated by fome " new law r , in Florence by exile and death. " Thefe different effe&s proceeded from " the different ends propofed by the Roman M and the Florentine people. The people of " Rome defired to enjoy high offices and " honours jointly with the nobles ; the peo- " pie of Florence ftruggled to enjoy them " a/one, and to exclude the nobles from any " fhare in the government. Now, becaufe M the wifh of the Roman people was reafon- " able, the offence appeared fupportable to " the Roman nobles, infomuch that they " yielded eafily, and without taking up u arms. a On 556 APPENDIX TO PART ir: " On the other hand, the defire of the ** Florentine people was injurious and unjuft y " which made the nobility ftand ftoutly on " their defence, and occafioned the death and " banishment of many citizens." Behold a prodigy ! Machiavel more fcru- pulous in matters of juftice than the French National Affembly. NOTE 6. THE Conftitution offered to the Hates of France by their King, was infinitely more favourable to the Commons than the new Conltitution of Poland, though the bounds of regal authority were lefs exa&ly defined. The Commons were to have a negative on all the other orders of the ftate, whereas the deputies of the cities in Poland fit confound- ed with the nobles, in too fmall a propor- tion to fway their debates. The form of provincial or internal adminiftration would alfo have been favourable to the people at large. APPENDIX TO PART II. 557 large. The fmall remains of perfonal vaf- falage were to have been totally abolifhed in France. I cannot underfiand the 4th arti- cle of the Polifh Conftitution as abolifhing perfonal flavery ; it only implies, that if a proprietor grants his vaflals liberty, fuch grant fhall bind his heirs. The mofl ferious objection that has ever been made to that unfortunate project, re- jected in France without examination, be* cauie it was brought forward in an indifcreet manner, is, that it did not recognize the le- giflative power of the ftates. But the ftates were defired to make new laws on finance, police, militia, civil and criminal juftice, and were promifed, that none of thefe laws mould be altered without the confent of fu- ture ftates ; and, befides, the whole power of taxation was left to thofe future ftates confequently the power of legiflation was virtually theirs, and would, no doubt, have been exprefsly recognized in a few years. I cannot but fuipet that the very party, who fpread abroad that the King could have refumed his former defpotifm at pleafure, knew 55$ APPENDIX TO PART It. knew the fallacy of what they advanced ; and a little circumftance, not generally ob~ ferved, increafes my fufpicion. Towards the conclufion of the National Aflembly, M. Roederer, a violent Jacobin patriot, propofed that the liberties of the nation mould be declared national property. This motion was received with applaufe, but fuffered to fall to the ground;. Perhaps the party recollected that this ex- preflion was ufed in that abhorred declara- tion of the king. This proportion, how- ever, confirms the opinion advanced in the firft part of this Hiftorical Sketch, that the term national property had a peculiar facred- nefs to French ears ; and that the King, by uiing it, gave a ftrong proof of his fince- rity. It has been laid, in a fhort abflract of the hirtory of this Revolution, iniertedin fome Englifh newfpapers, that all queftions re- fpecYmg a Constitution were referved to the Three Chambers feparatelv. This is not itriclly APPENDIX TO PART LI. 559 ftrictly true. The only queftions exprefsly referved were the ancient rights of the three orders, and the form of Conjlitution to be given to the future States-General, which does not include any great queflions relative to the conftitutional rights of individuals as oppofed to defpotifm. The King abandoned his own prerogatives to the difcretion of a hoftile majority ; he only ftipulated for the rights which two claffes of his fubjecls had enjoyed for near a thoufand years. The vanity of the national French cha- racter is equally capable of good as of bad impulfes ; and therefore it is probable, that if the Commons had Toothed and flattered their rivals, inflead of provoking them, moll: of thofe rights would have been vo- luntarily abandoned. The author of the Ami du Roi pretends, that a phrafe which offended many impar- tial men, " if you forfake me, I will alone " confult for the good of my people," was the production of Necker's pen. It is cer- tain that Necker complains, in his Defence, that when the other miniflers altered his de- clara- 560 APPENDIX TO PART II. claration, they injudicioufly applied fome phrafes to the whole body of the ftates, which he had addrefled to the clergy and nobles. As the hiftory written under the name of V Ami du Roi has not been completed, we have not yet an opportunity of feeing how a writer, devoted to the Court, juftifies the meafures which it purfned immediately previous to the taking of the Baftille. F I N I S. % UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. FEB 5 1961 Wri MAY Z 1965 bmjrl r\0Vl3)36b J* HOV 8 W r JV3N 3 tfi REFD LD-URt WAR 1 7 7987 ^ I JUL16S L9-50m-4, , 61(B8994n4)444 3 1158 00836 4183 AA 000101576 7