H ^1 Pi ['IiE HISTORY or THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. BY M. A. THIERS, LATE PRIME MINISTER OF FRANCE. TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES, BY FREDERICK SHOBERL. SECOND AMERICAN EDITION. COMPLETE IN FOUR VOLUMES, WITH ENGRAVINGS. VOL. L PHILADELPHIA: ^CAREY AND HART. STEBEOTYFED BY L. JOHNSON. 1842. 4 9 9 1; 9 ' " , C. SHEIOIAN AMI) CO.. rUINTKUS, 19, ST. .JAAIKS STKKKT, PHILADELPHIA. 'DC -4? ^ CHRONOLOGY \^^2j OF THE \ / ', FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1789. May 5, Opening of the States-general at Versailles — The tiers-etat, 661 deputies; nobles, 285 ; clergy, 308 ; total, 1254. 6. Division between the dilTerent orders respecting the mode of verifying their powers. 10. The electors of Paris declare themselves in permanent session. 23. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of the tiers-etat, the different orders meet sepa- rately. The clergy and nobility communicate to the tiers-etat the renunciation of their privileges, and submit to pay their proportion of the public burdens. June 17. The deputies of the tiers-etat, already joined by some of the clergy, declare their assembly to be the only legal one, and constitute themselves as The National Assembly. The Assembly declares all the taxes illegally imposed, but it authorizes the levy of them provisionally, ow/y till the day of its first separation, from whatever cause that separa- tion may proceed. 20. The Oath of the Tennis Court. 23. Royal Session of the States-general. 27. The union of the several Orders in the National Assembly. 30. The Parisians set at liberty the French guards imprisoned in the Abbayc. July 2 — 9. A great number of troops collected around Paris. 11. Change of the ministry — Dismissal of Necker. 12. Riots in Paris. The Prince de Lambesc, at the head of the German dragoons, charges the populace in the Tuileries. Camille-Desmoulins, in the garden of the Palais-Royal, recommends an appeal to arms. The green cockade is assumed. Conflict between the French Guards and a detachment of the Royal German regiment. 13. First organization of the militia of Paris. The barriers attacked and burnt. 14. Storming of the Bastille. Massacre of the governor De Launay and Flesselles./Jrcro^ des marchands. The red and blue cockade (the city colours) substituted for the green cockade. 15. The King and his brothers repair to the National Assembly. The troops collected round Paris dismissed. Approval of the institutions of the riational guard. The electors nominate Bailly, mayor of Paris; and Lafayette, general-in-chicf of the national guard. 16. Recall of Necker — Count d'Artois and the Prince de Conde emigrate. 17. The King proceeds to the Hotel de Ville of Paris. Bailly thus addresses him: " Sire, I bring you the keys of the city of Paris ; they are the same which were presented to Henry IV. He had reconquered his people ; the people have reconquered their King." The assembled multitude applauded this address : the King assumed the red and blue cockade. His presence quiets the tumult. 22. Fresh disturbances on account of the dearness of corn. Massacre of Foulon and of Berthier de Sauvigny. 26. The tricoloured cockade adopted. On presenting it to the electors, Lafayette predicts that it will make the tour of the world. Aug. 1. The cannon of Chantilly, and of the lie- Adam, taken possession of and brought to Paris. 4. The National Assembly decrees that the constitution shall be preceded by the declara- tion of the rigms of man and of the citizen. Spontaneous abolition of the feudal system, and of all privileges in France. 18. Democratic insurrection at Liege. iii iv CHRONOLOGY OF THE Aug. 23. Decree proclaiming liberty of opinions, religious as well as political. 31. Suppression anil ilissolution of the French guards. Sept. 9. The Nalii)nai Assembly iledares itself to be permanently assembled. 10. It adopts as a principle that the legislative body shall consist of only one chamber. Oct. 1. Declaration of the Rights of Man in society. 2. Entertainment given by the Life-guanls, at Versailles. 5, 6. The populace at Versailles, 'i'he King and all his family are brought to Paris. 14. The Duke of Orleans quits Paris for a time and goes to England. 19. The first silting of the National Assembly at the archbishop's palace. 21. Decree conferring upon the tribunal of the Chi'itelet the cognizance of the crime of high treason against the nation. Martial law introduced. Nov. 2. Ecclesiastical property declared national property. The Abbe Maury, being threat- ened with death a la lanlerrie, escapes, by saying to those who have come to attack him, " Well, and shall you see any the clearer for that, do you think V G. Institution of the society of " The Friends of the Constitution," which subsequently became " The Society of the Jacobins." The National Assembly transfers its place of meeting to the Riding-house of the Tuileries. Dec. 19. Creation of territorial assignats. 24. Decree declaring Frenchmen who are not Catholics admissible to all offices, both civil and military. 1790. Jan. 15. Division of France into eighty-three departments. 21. Equality of punishments enacted, whatever the rank of the culprits. 26. The Assembly forbids its members to accept any office under government. Feb. 13. Abolition of monastic vows. Suppression of the religious orders. 19. Execution of the Marquis de Favras, declared guilty of high treason. 20. Lafayette proclaims in the National Assembly, that, when oppression renders a revo- lution necessary, insurrection is the most sacred of duties. March 1 G. Abolition of " Lettres de Cachet." 17, Api)ropriation of ecclesiastical property to the repayment of the assignats. 28. Suppression of the salt-tax. April 1. Publication of the " Red Book." The secret expenses of the court had annually been at the lowest, in 1787,82,000,000 livres ; at the highest, in 1783, 145,000,000 livTes. 29. Free trade in corn. 30. Institution of the jury. May 10. Massacre of the patriots at Montauban. 12. Uistitution, by Lafayette and Bailly, of the Society of 1789, (afterwards the club of the Feuiliaiis,) to counterbalance the influence of the Jacobin club. 22. The Assembly decrees that the right of declaring war and making peace belongs to the nation. June 3. Insurrection of the blacks at Martinique. 9, 10. The civil list fixed at 25,000,000 livres. 19. Abolition of nobility. July 10. Decree restoring to the heirs of Dissenters expelled by the edict of Nantes their conllscafed property not yet sold. 14. First National Federation. Aug. 6. Abolition of the droits d^auhaine (seizing the property of Aliens). 16. Justices of the peace instituted. 31. Revolt of the Swiss soldiers at (Chateau- Vieux. Sept. 4. Dismissal and Retreat of Necker. 6. Suppression of the y)arliamcnts. 10. Funding of the public debt. 29. Creation of 800,000,000 of forced assignats. Oct. 9. Insurrection of the mulattoes in St. Domingo. Nov. 4. Insurrection in the Isle ot France. 27. Civil constitution of the clercy. Institution of the Tribunal of Cassation. Dec. 30. Institution of the patents for inventions. 1791. Jan. 28. The French army is increased to the war establishment. Feb. 12. Abohtion of the monopoly for the cultivation of tobacco. FRENCH REVOLUTION. V Feb. 19. Monsieur (afterwards Louis XVIII.) gratifies the populace who surround his palace, by assuring them that he will never emigrate. 28. The leaders of the populace proceed to Vincennes and attempt to massacre the prison- ers. The day of the Daggers. The nobles with concealed arms assemble at the Tuile- ries. The King, in order to prevent a conflict between them and the national guards, commands them to lay down their arms. They obey ; and arc afterwards insulted and ill-used. April 2, 4. Death and funeral of Mirabeau. 23. I 1 18 HISTORY OF THE Neckor re-established order in the finances, and found means to de- fray the heavy expenses of the American war. With a mind more comprehensive, but less flexible, than that of Turgot, possessing more particularly the confidence of capitalists, he found, for the moment, unexpected resources, and revived public credit. But it required something more than financial artifices to put an end to the embar- rassments of the exchequer, aiid he had recourse to reform. He found the higher orders not less adverse to him than they had been to Turgot ; the parliaments, apprised of his plans, combined against him ; and obhged him to retire. The conviction of the existence of abuses was universal ; every body admitted it ; the King knew and was deeply grieved at it. The cour- tiers, who derived advantage from these abuses, would have been glad to see an end put to the embarrassments of the exchequer, but without its costing them a single sacrifice. They descanted at court on the state of affairs, and there retailed philosophical maxims ; they deplo- red, whilst hunting, the oppressions inflicted upon the farmer ; nay, they were even seen to applaud the enfranchisement of the Americans, and to receive with honour the young Frenchmen who returned from the New World* The parliaments also talked of the interests of the first aimed only at the office of first commissioner of finance, to attain which he en- deavoured to acquire a literary reputation, and published a panegyric on Colbert. Necker was beginning to enjoy some degree of reputation when Turgot was dis- graced, and anxious to profit by the dissipation in which the new minister, Clugny, lived, he presented statements to M. de Maurepas in which he exaggerated the resour- ces of the state. The rapid fortune of Necker induced a favourable opinion of his ca- pacity, and after Clugny died he was united with his successor, M. Taboureau des Reaux, an appointment which he obtained partly by the assistance of the ftlarquis de Pezay. After eight months' administration, Necker, on the 2d of July, 1777, com- pelled his colleague to resign, and presented his accounts in 1781. Shortly after, he endeavoured to take advantage of the public favour, and aspired to a place in the council. He insisted on it, and threatened to resign ; but he was the dupe of his own presimiption, and was suffered to retire. In 1787 he returned to France, and wrote affainst Calonne, who had accused him as the cause of the deficiency in the finances; this dispute ended in the exile of Necker; but, in 1788, when the general displeasure against Brienne terrified the court, he was again appointed controller-general, but, feeling himself supported by the people, he refused to accept the post, unless on the condition of not labouring in conjunction with the prime minister. Eager for popu- lar applause, Necker hoped to govern every thing by leading the King to hope for an increase of power, and the people for a speedy democracy, by the debasement of the higher orders and the parliaments. The report which he made to the council on the -27111 of December, 1788, respecting the formation of the States-General, proved the first spark which lighted the combustible matter that had long been prepared. On thelllh of Julv, when the court thought fit to declare against tht^ factions, Neck- er, who had become absolutely their sentinel in the very council of the King, was dismissed: but on the IGth the assembly wrote him a letter, expressing their regret at his withdrawal, and informed him that they had obtained his recal. His return from Basle to Faris was one continued triumph. During the remainder of the year he was constantly presenting new statements on the resources of the revenue ; "but he soon perceived that his influence was daily diminishing. At last, the famous Red Book appeared, and completely put an end to his popularity; so that in the month of December he determined to fly, after having seen the populace tear from the gate of his house, the inscription, ' To the adored minister.' He died at Geneva on the 9th of April, 1804, after a short but painful illness."— From a Memoir of Necker in the Biosmphie Moderne.. E. . ^ . . * " The Americ^an war was the great change which blew into a flame the embers of innovation. Such was the universal enthusiasm which seized upon France at ita FRENCH REVOLUTION. J9 people, loudly insisted on the sufterings of tfie poor, and yet opposed tlie equalization of the taxes, as well as the aboHtion of the remains of feudal barbarism. All talked of the public weal, {e\Y desired it : and the people, not yet knowing who were its true friends, applauded all those who resisted power, its most obvious enemy. By the removal of Turgot and Necker, the state of affairs was not changed: the distress of the treasury remained the same. Those in power would have been willing to dispense, for a long time to come, with the intervention of the nation, but it was absolutely necessary to subsist — it was absolutely necessary to supply the profusion of the court. The difficulty, removed for a moment by the dismissal of a minister, by a loan, or by the forced imposition of a tax, appeared again in aji aggravated form, like every evil injudiciously neglected. I'he court hesitated, just as a man does who is compelled to take a dreaded but an indispensable step. An intrigue brought forward M. de Calonne, who was not in good odour with the public, because he had contributed to the persecution of La Chalotais. Calonne, clever, brilliant, fertile in resources, relied upon liis genius, upon fortune, and upon men, and awaited the future with the most extraordinary apathy. It was his opinion that one ought not to be alarmed beforehand, or to discover an evil till the day before that on which one intends to set about repairing it. lie seduced the court by his manners, touched it by his eagerness to grant all that it required, afforded the Ring and every body else some happier moments, and dispelled the most gloomy presages by a gleam of prosperity and blind confidence.* That future which had been counted upon now approached : it be- came necessary at length to adopt decisive measures. It was imj)os- sible to burden the people with fresh imposts, and yet the coffers were empty. There was but one remedy which could be applied ; that was to reduce the expenses by the suppression of grants ; and if this expe- dient should not suffice, to extend the taxes to a greater number of contributors, that is, to the nobility and clergy. These plans, attempt- ed successively by Turgot and Necker, and resumed by Calonne, appeared to the latter not at all likely to succeed, unless the consent of the privileged classes themselves could be obtained. Calonne, therefore, proposed to collect them together in an assembly, to be called the Assembly of the Notables, in order to lay his plans before them, and to gain their consent either by address or by conviction. The as- sembly was composed of distinguished members of the nobility, clergy, and magistracy, of a great number of masters of requests and some commeiiceineiit, that iiohles of the highest rtmk, princes, dukes, and in;irquises, soh- cited with impatient zeal commissions in the regiments destined to aid tlie insur- gents. The passion for republican institutions increased with the successes of the American war, and at length rose to such a height as to infect even the courtiers of the palace. The philosophers of France used every method of flattery to bring over the young nobles to their side; and the profession of liberal opinions became JM indispensable a passport to the saloons of fashion as to the favour of the jjeople." — Ali>:on's French Rivolution. E. * " To all the re(piests of the Queen, M. Calonne woidd answer, 'If what your niaje.sty asks is possible, the thing is done ; if it is impossible, it shall be done.' "' — H'cocT, Memoirs, ^ E. 20 HISTORY OF THE magistrates of the provinces. By means of this composition, and still more by the aid of the chief popular gentry and philosophers, whom he had taken care to introduce into this assembly, Calonne flattered himself that he shoiUd be able to carry his point. The too confident minister was mistaken. Public opinion bore liim a grudge for occupying the place of Turgot and Necker. De- lighted in particular that the minister was obliged to render an account, it supported the resistance of the Notables. Very warm discussions ensued. Calonne did wrong in throwing upon his predecessors, and partly on Necker, the existing state of the exchequer. Necker replied, was exiled, and the opposition became the more obstinate. Calonne met it with presence of mind and composure. He caused M. de Miromenil, keeper of the seals, who was conspiring with the parlia- ments, to be dismissed. But his triumph lasted only two days. The King, who was attached to him, had, in engaging to support him, promised more than he could perform. He was shaken by the repre- sentations of the Notables, who promised to sanction the plans of Calonne, but on condition that a minister more moral and more deserv- ing of confidence should be appointed to cany them into execution. The Queen, at the suggestion of the Abb6 de Vermont, proposed to the King and prevailed on him to accept a new minister, M.de Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse, and one of the Notables who had contri. buted most to the ruin of Calonne, in hopes of succeeding him. The Archbishop of Toulouse, a man of weak mind and obstinate disposition, had from boyhood set his heart upon becoming minister, and availed himself of all possible means in pursuing this object of his wishes. He relied principally on the influence of women, whom he strove to please, and in which he succeeded. He caused his ad- ministration of Languedoc to be every where extolled. If, on attain- ing the post of minister, he did not obtain the favour which Necker had enjoyed, he had at least, in the eyes of the public, the merit of surperseding Calonne. At first, he Avas not prime minister, but he soon became so. Seconded by M. de Lamoignon, keeper of the seals, an inveterate enemy to the parliaments, he commenced his ca- reer with considerable advantages. The Notables, bound by the pro- mises which they had made, readily consented to all that they had at first refused : land-tax, stamp-duty, suppression of the gratuitous ser- vices of vassals, (corvees) provincial assemblies, were all cheerfully granted. It was not these measures themselves, but their author, whom they pretended to have resisted. Public opinion triumphed. Calonne was loaded with execrations ; and the Notables, supported by the public suffrage, nevertheless regretted an honour gained at the cost of the greatest sacrifices. Had M. de Brienne known how to profit by the advantages of his position ; had he actively proceeded with the execution of the measures assented to by the Notables ; had he sub- mitted them all at once and without delay to the parliament, at the instant when the adhesion of the higher orders seemed to be wrung from them ; all woidd probably have been over : the parliament, press- ed on all sides, would have consented to everything, and this conces- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 21 sion, though partial and forced, would probal)ly have retarded for a long time the struggle which afterwards took place. Nothing of the kind, however, was done, I3y imprudent delays oc- casion was furnished for relapses ; the edicts were submitted only one after another ; the parliament had time to discuss, to gain courage, and to recover from the sort of surprise by which the Notables had been taken. It registered, after long discussions, the edict enacting the second abolitioJi of the corvees, and another permitting the free expor- tation of corn. Its animosity was particularly directed against the land-tax ; but it feared lest by a refusal it should enlighten the public, and show that its opposition was entirely seltish. It hesitated, when it was spared this embarrassment by the simultaneous presentation ol' the edict on the stamp-duty and the land-tax, and especially by open- ing the deliberations with the former. The parliament had thus an opportunity of refusing the first without entering into explanations res- pecting the second ; and, in attacking the stamp-duty, which affected the majority of the payers of taxes, it seemed to defend the interest of the public. At a sitting which was attended by the peers, it denounced the abuses, the profligacy, and the prodigality of the court, and de- manded statements of expenditure. A councillor, punning upon the itats^ (statements,) exclaimed, " Ce ne sontpas dcs ctats mais des ttats- gineraux qu'il nousfaaf'' — " It is not statements, but States-General that we want." This unexpected demand struck every one with astonish- ment. Hitherto people had resisted because they suffered ; they had seconded all sorts of opposition, favourable or not to tlie popular cause, provided they were directed against the court, which was blamed for every evil. At the same time they did not well know what they ought to demand : they had always been so far from possessing any influence- over the ffovernment, they had been so habituated to confine them- selves to complaints, that they complained without conceiving the idea of acting, or of bringing about a revolution. The utterance of a single word presented an unexpected direction to the public mind : it was re- peated by every mouth, and States-General were loudly demanded. D'Espremenil, a young councillor, a vehement orator, an agitator without object, a demagogue in tlie parliaments, an aristocrat in the States-General, and Avho was declared insane by a decree of the Con- stituent Assembly — d'Esprenioiil showed himself on this occasion one of the most violent parliamentary declaimers. But the opposi- tion was secretly conducted by Diipont, a young man of extraordinary abilities, and of a firm and persevering character, the only one, per- haps, who, amid these disturbances, had a specific object in view, and was solicitous to lead his company, the court, and the nation, to a very different goal from that of a parliamentary aristocracy. The parliament was divided into old and young councillors. The first aimed at forming a counterpoise to the royal atithority, in order to give consequence to their company. The latter, more ardent and more sincere, wfre desirous of introducing liberty into the state, yet without overturning the political system under which they were born. The parliament made an important admission : it declared that it had not tlie power to grant imposts, and that to the States-General alone 22 HISTORY OF THE belonged the right of eptabhshing tliem ; and it required the King to communicate to it statements of the revenues and the expenditure. 'J'his acknowledgment of incompetence and usurpation, for the parhament had till then arrogated to itself the right of sanctioning taxes, could not but excite astonishment. The prelate minister, irri- tated at this opposition, instantly summoned the parliament to Ver- sailles, and caused the two edicts to be registered in ' a bed of justice.' The parliament, on its return to Paris, remonstrated, and ordered an inquiry into the prodigalities of Calonne. A decision in council instantly annulled its decrees, and exiled it to Troyes. Such was the state ofaftairson the loth of August, 1787. The King's two brothers. Monsieur and the Count d'Artois, were sent, the one to the Court of Accounts, and the other to the Court of Aids, to have the edicts registered there. The former, who had become popu- lar on account of the opinions which he had expressed in the Assembly of the Notables, was hailed with acclamations by an immense multi- tude, and conducted back to the Luxembourg amidst universal j)laudits. The Count d'Artois, who was known to have supported Calonne, was received with murmurs ; his attendants were attacked, and it was found necessary to have recourse to the armed force. The parliaments had around them numerous dependants, composed of lawyers, persons holding situations in the palace, clerks, and stu- dents ; an active bustling class, ever ready to bestir themselves in their behalf. With these natural allies of the parliaments were united the capitalists, who dreaded a bankruptcy ; the enlightened classes, who were devoted to all the opposers of power ; and lastly, the multitude, which always sides with agitators. Serious disturbances took place, and the supreme authority had great difficulty to suppress them. The parliament sitting at Troyes met every day and called causes. Neither advocates nor solicitors appeared, and justice was svispended, as it had been so many times during the preceding century. Mean- while the magistrates became weary of their exile, and M. de Brienne was without money. " He boldly maintained that he did not want any, and tranquillized the court, uneasy on this single point ; but, destitute of supplies, and incapable of putting an end to his difficulties by an energetic resolution, he entered into negotiation with some of the mem- bers of the parliament. His conditions were a loan of four hundred and forty millions (of livres,) payable by instalments, in four years, at the expiration of which the States-General should be convoked. At this rate Brienne was willing to renounce the two imposts, the objects of so much discord. Having made sure of some members, he ima- gined that he was sure of the whole company, and the parliament was recalled on the 10th of September. A royal sitting was held on the 20th of the same month. The King went in person to present the edict enacting the creation of the suc- cessive loan and the convocation of the States-(i'eneral in five years. No explanation had been given respecting the nature of this sitting, and it was not known whether it was ' a bed of justice', or not. The looks of the members were gloomy, and a profound silence prevailed, when the Duke of Orleans rose with agitated countenance and all the FRENCH REVOLUTION. ^ signs of strong emotion ; he addressed the King, and asked liim if this sitting were ' a bed of justice,' or a free deliberation. " It is a royal sitting," replied the King. The councillors Freteau, Sabatier, and d'Espremenil, spoke after the Duke of Orleans, and declaimed with their usual violence. The registration was immediately enforced : Freteau and Sabatier were exiled to the Hieres Islands, and the Duke of Orleans to Villers-Cotterets. The States-General were postponed for five years. Such were the principal events of the year 1787. The year 1788 commenced with fresh hostilities. On the fMnbly and thodo of his own advisers, who a.ssembled first at the Palais Royal, and afterwards ■ at Passy. On the '.V\ of July he was nominated president of the national asseiubly ; but he refused the post, anil busied huuself in corru[)tiinr the regiment of I'rench guards, and in pre[)aring the events of .Fuly the J4th. Lafayette having menaced him withthi' tribunals if lie did not leave France, he went over to England ; but at the end of eight months returned, and was received with transport by the Jacobins. In J791 M. Thevenard, before lie resigned the administration of the marine, caused the 24 HISTORY OF THE ishment, and, in order to obtain his recal, he descended to soUcitations even to the Queen, his personal enemy. Brienne was exasperated by obstacles without possessing energy to to overcome them. Feeble in Europe against Prussia, to which he sacrificed Holland — feeble in France against the parliament and the grandees of the state — he had now no supporter but the Queen, and, moreover, was frequently checked in his operations by ill health. He neither knew how to suppress insurrection nor how to enforce the re- trenchments decreed by the King ; and, notwithstanding the rapidly approaching exhaustion of the exchequer, he affected an inconceiva- ble security. Meanwhile, amidst all these difficulties, he did not neglect to obtain new benefices for himself, and to heap new dignities upon his family. Lamoignon, the keeper of the seals, a man of a stronger mind but possessing less inffuence than the Archbishop of Toulouse, concerted witli him a new plan for accomplishing the principal object, that of destroying the political power of the parliaments. It was of import- ance to keep it secret. Every thing was prepared in silence : private letters were sent to the commandants of the provinces ; the office where the edicts were printed was surrounded with guards. It was intended that the plan should not be known till the moment of its communication to the parliaments. That moment approached, and it was rumoured that an important political act was in preparation. D'Espremenil, the councillor, contrived to procure a copy of the edicts, by bribing one of the printer's men ; he then repaired to the palace, summoned his colleagues to assemble, and boldly denounced the plans of the minister. According to this plan, the too extensive authority of the parliament of Paris was to be abridged, by the establishment of six great baillages duke to be appointed admiral of France, for which the latter went to thank the King in person, and to assure hiui how grossly he had been misrepresented. When, Jiovv- ever, lie appeared at the levee, all the courtiers insulted him in the most outrageous manner, to which he would never be persuaded that their majesties were not privy, and this excited his irreconcilable enmity against them. On the 15th of September, 17iJ2, the comnuine of Paris authorized him to assume the name of Egalite for himself and his descendants, and deputed him to the national convention. When the King's trial took place, the Duke of Orleans voted for the death of his cousin with a degree of coolness which irritated the majority of the Jacobins themselves, and excited murmurs throughout the assembly. On the fatal day he came to the Place de Louis XV., and was present during the execution in an open carriage ; as soon as the body was removed, he returned to the Palais Royal, and went in a carriage drawn by six horses to revel at Raincy with his accomplices. It was then said that the Prince of Wales, having been informed of his conduct on this occasion, tore in pieces his por- trait, which he had left him. Towards the end of April, Robespierre caused his name to be erased from the list of Jacobins, though Kgalite had sworn to the Con- vention, OK the 4th of the same month, that if his son, (the present King of France,) who had just fled with Dumouriez, was guilty, the image of Brutus, which was before his eyes, would remind him of his duty. Soon afterwards a warrant was issued for his arrest; he was reuiovi^d to the prison of Marseilles, and, after six montiis' capti- vity', sent to take his trial at Paris. As a matter of course, the revolutionary tribunal found him guilty, and lie was guillotined on the Gth of Novetuber, 1793, when he was forty-six years of age. lie shrugged his shoulders on hearing the people hiss and curse him as he was led to death, and cried out, ' Tiiey used to applaud me.' " From an article in the Biographie Moderne. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. . 25 in its jurisdiction. The power of judging without appeal, and of re- gistering tlie laws and edicts, was to be transferred to a plenary court, composed of peers, prelates, magistrates, and military officers ; all appointed by the king. Even the captain of the guard was to have a deliberative voice in it. This plan attacked the judicial authority of the parliament, and utterly annihilated its political power. The com- pany, struck with consternation, knew not what course to pursue. It could not deliberate upon a plan which had not been submitted to it; at the same time it was of importance that it should not suffer itself to be taken by surprise. In this embarrassment it had recourse to an expedient at once firm and adroit, — that of recapitulating and con- firming in a decree all that it called constitutional laws of the mo- narchy, taking care to include in the number its own existence and rights. By this general measure it by no means forestalled the sup- posed projects of the government, and secured all that it wished to secure. In consequence, it was declared, on the 5th of May, by the parlia- ment of Paris : " That France was a monarchy governed by a king, according to the laws ; and that among these laws, several, which were fundamen- tal, embraced and consecrated : 1. The right of the reigning house to the throne, from male to male, in the order of primogeniture ; '2. The right of the nation to grant subsidies freely through the organ of the States-General, regularly convoked and composed; 3. The customs and capitulations of the provinces ; 4. The irremoveability of the magistrates ; 5. The right of the courts to verify in each province the edicts of the king, and not to order the registration of them, unless they were conformable to the constitutive laws of the province, as well as to the fundamental laws of the state ; 6. The right of each citizen not to be tried in any manner by other than his natural judges, who were those appointed by the law ; and, 7. The right, without which all the others were useless, of not being arrested by any order whatever, unless to be delivered without delay into the hands of competent judges. The said court protested against all attacks which might be made upon the principles above expressed." To this energetic resolution the minister replied in the usual way, always injudicious and ineffectual — he adopted violent measures against some of the members of the parliament. D'Espremeiiil and Goislart de Monsalbert, being apprized that they wei'e threatened, sought refuge amidst the assembled parliament. An officer, Vincent d'Agoult, repaired thither at the head of a company ; and, not know- ing the persons of the magistrates designated, he called them by their names. The deepest silence at first pervaded the assembly : all the councillors then cried out that they were d'Espremenil. At length the real d'Espremenil declared who he was, and followed the officer ordered to arrest him. The tumult was then at its height; the popu- lace accompanied the magistrates, hailing them with shouts of ap- plause. Three days afterwards, the King, in a bed of justice, caused the edicts to be registered, and the assembled princes and peers exhibited an image of thatplenary court which was to succeed the parliaments. VOL. X. — 4. ' 2 26 , HISTORY OF THE The Chatelet immediately issued a decree against the edicts. The parhament of Rennes declared all who should belong to the plenary court infamous. At Grenoble, the inhabitants defended their magis- trates against two regiments. The troops themselves, excited to disobe- dience by the military noblesse, soon refused to act. When the com- mandant of Dauphine assembled his colonels, to inquire if their soldiers were to be relied, upon, all of them kept silence. The youngest, who was to speak first, replied that no reliance was to be placed on his, from the colonel downwards. To this resistance the minister opposed decrees of the great council, which cancelled the decisions of the sovereign courts, and he punished eight of them with exile. The court, annoyed by the higher orders, which made war upon itin espousing the interests of the people and calling for their interference, had recourse, on its part, to the same means. It resolved to summon the tiers-etat (the third estate) to its aid, as the kings of France had formerly done to break up the feudal system. It then urged, with all its might, the convocation of the States-General. It ordered investi- gations respecting the mode of their assembling ; it called upon wri- ters and learned Ijodies to give their opinions ; and, whilst the assem- bled clergy declared on its part that a speedy convocation was desira- ble, the court, accepting the challenge, suspended at the same time the meeting of the plenary court, and fixed the opening of the States- General for the first of May, 1789. Then followed the retirement of the Archbishop of Toulouse, who, by bold plans feebly executed, had provoked a resistance, which he ought either not to have excited or to have overcome. And on quitting office he left the exchequer in dis- tress — the payment of the rentes of the Hotel de Ville suspended — all the authorities in hostility — all the provinces in arms. As for himself, possessing an income of eight hundred thousand francs from bene- fices, the archbishopric of Sens, and a cardinal's hat, if he did not make the public fortune, he at least made his own. By his last piece of advice he recommended to the King to recal Necker to the ministry of the finances, that he might fortify himself with his popularity against oppositions which had become unconquerable. It was during the two years 1737 and 1788 that the French were desirous to pass from vain theories to practice. The struggle between the highest authorities excited the wish, and furnished the occasion, to do so. During the whole course of the century, the parliament had attacked the clergy, and exposed its ultramontane predilections. Af- ter the clergy, it had attacked the court, condemned its abuses of pow- er, and denounced its extravagance. Threatened with reprisals, and attacked, in its turn, in its existence, it had at length just restored to the nation prerogatives which the court would have wrested from it for the purpose of transferring them to an extraordinary tribunal. After having thus apprized the nation of its rights, it had exerted its energies in exciting and protecting insurrection. On the other hand, the high clergy in delivering their charges, the nobility in fomenting the disobedience of the troops, had joined their efforts to those of the magistracy, and summoned the people to arms in behalf of their pri- vileges. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 27 The court, pressed by these various enemies, had made but a feeble resistance. Aware of the necessity of acting, yet always deferring the moment for doing so, it had at times abolisliod some abuses, ratii- er for the benefit of the exchequer than of tiie |)eoijle, and then sank again into inactivity. At length, finding itself attacked on all sides, observing that the higher orders were calling the people into the lists, it resolved to introduce them there itself by convoking the States- General. Hostile during the whole of the century to the philosophic spirit, it now appealed to the latter, and submitted the constitutions of the kingdom to its investigation. Thus the first authorities of tiie state exhibited the singular spectacle of usurpers disputing the pos- session of an object before the face of the riglitful owner, and at last even calling upon him to act as judge between them. Sucli was the state of affairs when Necker returned to the ministry. Confidence followed him; credit was instantly restored ; the most ur- gent difficulties were removed. He provided, by means of expedients, fi)r indis|)ensable expenses, till the meeting of the States-General, the remedy that was universally calhul for. The great questions relative to their organization began to be dis- cussed. It was asked what part the ficrs-etat would have to act there; whether it would appear as an etpuil or a supplicant ; whether it would obtain a representation equal in number to that of the tv.'o higher orders ; whether the discussions would be carried on by indivi- duals or by orders ; and whether the tiers would not have merely a sin- gle voice against the two voices of the nobility and clergy. The first question discussed was that relative to the number of the deputies. Never had philosophic controversy of the eighteenth century excited such agitation. People's minds became warmed by the positive importance of the question. A keen, concise, energetic writer, took, in this discussion, that place which the greatest geniuses of the age had occupied in the ])liilosophical discussions. The Abbe Sieyes, in a book which gave a powerful impulse to the public mind, asked this question : " What is the tiers-etat V And he answered : " Nothing." — " What ought it to be"?" — " Every thing."* The states of Dauphine assembled in spite of the court. The two higher orders, more adroit and more popular in that country than any where else, decided that the representation of the third estate should be * " Bonaparte said to me one day, ' That fool Sieyes is as credulous a-i a Cassan- dra.' In the intercourse, not very frequent cert.iinly, wliirli I had with hiin, he appeared to he far beneith the reputation which he had acquiri'd. [le reposed a blind confidence in a multitude of agents, wlioni he had sent into all parts of France. Sieyes had written in iiis countenance, ' Give me money.' I recollect that I one day alluded to this expression in the anxious face of Sieyes to the first consul. ' You are right.' observed he to me, smiling, ' when money is in question. Sieyes is quite u matter-of-fact man. He sends his ideology to the right about, asid thus becomes easily manageable. He readily abandons his coiistitutinnal dreams for a good round s.um, and tlint is very convenient.' i\I. do Tidleyrand, who is so capable ofestimating men, and whose admirable saviiiijs well deserve to occupy a place in history, had lonu entertained ati iudilVerent opinion of Sieyes. One day, wheti he wasconversing with the second consul concerning him, Cambacercs said : ' Sieyes, however, is a very profound man.' 'Profound!' said Talleyrand, 'yes, he is a cavity, a perfect cavity, as you would,say.' " — BourritnnKS Memoirs of Napoleon. E. 28 HISTORY OF THE equal to that of the nobiUty and the clergy. The parliament of Paris, foreseeing already the consequence of its improvident provocations, perceived plainly that the tiers-^tat was not coming in as auxiliary, but as master ; and, in registering the edict of convocation, it enjoined, as an express clause, the maintenance of the forms of 1614, which reduced the third order to a mei'e cipher. Having already rendered itself unpopular by the difficulties which it had thrown in the way of the edict that restored civil rights to Prostestants, it was on that day completely unmasked, and the court fully revenged. It was the first to experience the instability of popular favour ; but, if at a later pe- riod the nation might appear ungrateful towards chiefs whom it forsook one after another, on this occasion it had good reason to turn its back on the parliament, for that body stopped short before the nation had recovered any of its rights. The court not daring to decide these important questions itself, oi rather desirous of depriving the two higher orders of their popularity for its own benefit, asked their opinion, with the intention of not adopt- ing it, if, as it was probable, that opinion should be unfavourable to the tiers-etat. It summoned therefore a new Assembly of Notables, in which all the questions relative to the holding of States-General were brought forward. The discussions were warm : on the one hand, great stress was laid on ancient traditions ; on the other, on natural rights and reason. Even in going back to traditions, the cause of the tiers-etat still had the advantage ; for, in opposition to the forms of 1614 demanded by the higher orders, forms yet more ancient were adduced. Thus, in certain assemblies, and on certain points, the members had voted individually ; sometimes they had deliberated by provinces, not by orders ; frequently the deputies of the tiers had equalled in number the deputies of the nobility and clergy. Why then refer to ancient usages ] Had not the powers of the state been in a continual revolution 1 The royal authority, at first sovereign, then vanquished and despoiled, raising itself again with the aid of the people, and again uniting all the powers in its own hands, exhibited a perpetual conflict and an ever-changing position. The clergy were told, that if they were to take ancient times for their standard, they would cease to be an order ; the nobles, that the possessors of fiefs only were qualified to be elected, and that thus most of them would be excluded from the deputation ; the parliaments themselves, that they were but unfaithful officers of royalty ; lastly, all were assured that the French constitution had been but one lonjj revolution, durinff which each power had successively predominated ; that every thing had been innovation, and that amid this vast conflict it was for reason alone to decide. The tiers-etat comprehended nearly the Avhole nation, all the use- ful, industrious, enlightened classes. If it possessed but a portion of the lands, at least it wrought them all ; and according to reason, it was not too much to allow to it a number of deputies equal to that of the two other orders. The Assembly of Notables declared itself against what was called the doubling of the third estate. One of the government offices, that » FRENCH REVOLUTION. 29 over which Monsieur, the king's brother, presided, voted for this doubhng.* The court, then, taking, as it said, into consideration the opinion of tlie minority, the sentiments expressed by several princes of the blood, the wishes of the three orders of Dauphine, the demand of the provincial assemblies, the example of several countries of the king- dom, the opinion of various public writers, and the recommendations contained in a great number of addresses — tlie court ordained, that the total number of the deputies should be at least a thousand ; that it should be formed in a ratio composed of the population and the amount of taxes paid by each haillage, and that the number of the deputies of the ticrs-etat should be equal to that of the other two orders united. This declaration excited universal enthusiasm. As it was attributed to Necker, it raised him in the favour of the nation, and gained him the increased enmity of the great.! Still it decided nothing as to the vote by individuals or by orders, but it included it by implication ; for it was useless to augment the number of votes if they were not to be counted ; and it left the tiers-ctnt to seize by main force what was refused to it at the moment. It therefore conveyed an idea of the weak- ness of the court, and of Necker himself. That court included an assemblage of inclinations which rendered any decisive result impos- sible. The King was moderate, equitable, studious, and too distrust- ful of his own abilities ; loving the people, and readily listening to their complaints. He was nevertheless seized at times wi.h su- perstitious terrors, and fancied that he beheld anarchy and impiety marching hand in hand with liberty and toleration. The pliilosophic spirit in its first flights could not but commit extravagances, and a timid and religious king could not help being alarmed at them. Overcome, at every step, by weakness, terror, and uncertainty, the unfortunate Louis XVI. resolved for his own part to make every sacrifice. Not knowing how to impose such conduct on others, the victim of his in- dulgence for the court, of his condescension to the Queen, he expiated all the faults which he had not committed, but which became his own because he winked at their commission. The Queen, engrossed by pleasure^ dazzling all around her by her charms, was desirous that her husband should enjoy trancjuillity, that th(! exchequer should be full, that the court and her subjects should adore her.f Sometimes " "This resolution was carried by tlic single casting vote of Monsieur, who was afterwards Louis XVIIL When it was reported to Louis XVL, he observed, ' Let them add mine, I give it willingly.' " — Lahaiane. E. t " The concessions of Necker were those of a man ignorant of the first principles of the govenuucut of mankind. It was he who overturned the monarchy, and brouffht Louis XVL to the scalVold. Marat, Danton, liobespierre himself, did less mischief to France. Necker was the author of .ill the evils which desolated France during the Revolution; all the blood that was shed rests on his head." — Bourricntie's Memoirs of Napoleon. E. X Madame le IJrun, tlie celebrated painter, in her 3Ic7nnirs, written by herself, draw.s the following pictiu'e of this princess: " It was in the year 1770 that I painted for the first time the portrait of the Queen, then in the tlower of her youth and beautv. Marie Antoinette was ta. I ,.quisitely well made, sulliciently pliuup without being ton iiiurh so. Her arms v.-i i superb, her hands small, perfect iifform. and her feet charming. Her gait wa* Tve grace- ful than that of any woman in France ; she held her head very errtt, Witn a majesty 30 HISTORY OF THE she concurred Avith the King for the purpose of effecthig reforms, when the necessity for them appeared urgent. At others, on the con- trary, when she conceived the supreme authority to be threatened, and her court friends despoiled, she stopped the King, removed the popu- lar ministers, and destroyed at once the means and hopes of improve- ment. She yielded more especially to the influence of a portion of the nobility who lived around the throne, fattening on favours and abuses. This court nobility was solicitous, no doubt, like the Queen herself, that the King should have wherewithal to supply a lavish pro- fusion ; and from this motive it was inimical to the parliaments when they refused taxes, but became their ally when they defended its pri- vileges, by refusing, under specious pretexts, the territorial impost. Amidst these contrary influences, the King, not daring to face difficul- ties, to condemn abuses, or to suppress them authoritatively, gave way by turns to the court and to public opinion, without satisfying either. If, during the course of the eighteenth century, when the philoso- phers, assembled in an alley of the Tuilerics, wished success to Fre- derick and the Americans, to Turgot and Necker — if, when they did not yet aspire to govern the state, but merely to enlighten princes, and foresaw at most the distant revolutions which the signs of disquietude and the absurdity of existing institutions fully authorized them to ex- pect — if the king had spontaneously established some equality in the official appointments, and given some guarantees, all discontent would have been appeased for a longtime, and Louis XVI. would have been as much adored as was Marcus Aurelius.* But when all the autho- rities had been debased by along struggle, and all the abuses unveiled by an Assembly of Notables; when the nation, called into the quar- rel, had conceived the hope and the will to be something, that will be- vvliich eiKibled you to distinguish tlie sovereign amidst all her court, and yet that majesty did not in the le.'ist detract from the extreme kindness and Ijenevohence of her look. In short, it is extremely dithcult to convey to any one who has not seen the Q,ueen, any idea of all the graces and all the tlignity that were combined in her. Her features were not regular; she derived from her family that long, narrow oval, pe- culiar to the Austrian nation. Her eyes were not large ; their colour was nearly blue, and they had an intellectual and mild expression; her nose was thin and handsome, her month not too large, though the lips were rather thick. But tiie most remark- able thing about her face was the brilliancy of her complexion. I never saw any so brilliant — yes, brilliant is the word — for her skin was so transparent that it took no shade. Hence I never could render its effect so as to please myself; I lacked colours to represent that freshness, those delicate tones, which belonged exclusively to that fjiscinating fice, and which I never observed in any other woman. As for her con- versation, it would be dilficult for me to descril)e all its grace, all its benevolence. I do not tliiid< that the Queen Marie Antoinette ever missed an occasion to say an agree- able thing to those who had the honour to approach her. During the tirst silting that I had of her majesty on her return from Fontainebkau, I ventured to remark to the (incen how much the erectness of her head heightened the dignity of her look. She answered, in a tone of pleasantry, ' If I were not a Queen, people would say that I have an insolent look — would they not?' " E. * " The life of Marcus Aurelius was the noblest commentary on the precepts of Zeno. He was severe to himself, indidgent to the imperfection of olhers, just and beneficent to all mankind. War he detested, as the disgrace and calamity of hmnan nature. His menn)ry was revered by a grateful posterity, and, above a century after his death, many persons jireserved his image among those of their household gods." Gibbon's Rome. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 51 came imperative. The States-General was promised to the nation ; it demanded that an early time sliould be fixedfortheir convocation; when that time was near at hand, it insisted on tlie preponderance in them : this was refused, but, in the doubling of the representation, it was fur- nisiied with the means of conquering that preponderance. Thus the government never yielded but partially, and when it could no longer resist; but then the strength of the nation had increased, it was aware of its power, and required all that it conceived itself capable of accomplishing. A continual resistance, irritating its ambition, must soon have the effect of rendering it insatiable. But even then, if a great minister, communicating somewhat of energy to the Kmg, con- ciliating the Queen, bridling the privileged classes, had anticipated and satisfied at once the national expectations by giving of his own accord a free constitution ; if he had gratified the impulse to act which the nation then felt, by summoning it immediately, not to re- form the state, but to discuss its annual interests in a ready constituted state — perhaps the conflict would not have taken place. But it would have been absolutely necessary to meet the dilficulty instead of giv- ing way to it, and above all to sacrifice nmiierous pretensions. It would have required a man of strong conviction, and possessing a re- solution equal to his conviction ; and this man, no doubt, bold, ener- getic, perhaps passionate, would have alarmed the court, which desir- ed no such person. In order to spare at one and the same time the public opinion and the old interests, the king had recourse to half measures. He selected, as we have seen, a half-philosophic, half-ener- getic minister, and who possessed immense popularity, because, at that time, demi-popular intentions in an agent of power surpassed all hopes, and excited the enthusiasm of a people, whom the demagogue spirit of its leaders was very soon afterwards incapable of satisfying. ,_^^Men's minds were in a universal ferment. Assemblies were form- ed throughout France, like those of England, and called by the same name, that of clubs. Nothino- was discussed in them but the abuses to be abolished, the reforms to be effected, and the constitution to be established. A rigid inquiry into the state of the country produced irritation. Its state, political and economical, was in truth intolera- ble. There was nothing but privileges belonging to individuals, clas- ses, towns, provinces, and to trades themselves ; nothing but shackles upon the industry and genius of man. Civil, ecclesiastical, and mili- tary dignities, were exclusively reserved for certain classes, and in those classes for certain individuals. A man could not embrace a pro- fession unless, upon certain titles and certain pecuniary conditions. The towns possessed their privileges for the apportioning the assess- ment, and the levying of taxes, and for the choice of magistrates. The very pensions converted by the survivors into family properties, scarcely allowed the monarch to show any preferences. He had nothing left to his disposal but a few pecuniary gifts, and he had even been obliged to quarrel with the Duke de Coigny about the abolition of a useless place.* All was therefore monopolized by a few hands, . *• See Bouillis's M^moires. 32 HISTORY OF THE and the burdens bore upon a single class. The nobility and the cler- gy possessed nearly two thirds of the landed property. The other third, belonging to the people, paid taxes to the king, a multitude of feudal dues to the nobility, the tithe to the clergy, and was, more- over, liable to the devastations of noble spoi'tsmen and their game. The taxes on consumption weighed heavily on the great mass, and consequently on the people. The mode in which they were levied was vexatious : the gentry might be in arrear with impunity ; the peo- ple, on the other hand, ill treated and imprisoned, were doomed to suffer in body in default of goods. It subsisted, therefore, by the sweat of the brow ; it defended with its blood the upper classes of so- ciety, without being able to subsist itself. The bourgeoisie, industri- ous, enlightened, less miserable certainly than the peasantry, but en- riching the kingdom by its industry, reflecting lustre upon it by its talents, obtained none of the advantages to which it had a right. Justice, administered in some of the provinces by the gentry, in the royal jurisdictions by magistrates who purchased their offices, was slow, frequently partial, always ruinous, and particularly atrocious in crimijial cases. Individual liberty was violated by lettres de cachet, and the liberty of the press by the royal censors. Lastly, the state, ill-defended abroad, betrayed by the mistresses of Louis XV., com- promised by the weakness of the ministers of Louis XVI., had recent- ly been dishonoured in Europe by the disgraceful sacrifice of Holland and Poland. The popular masses began already to put themselves in motion ; disturbances had several times broken out during the struggle of the parliaments, and especially on the retirement of the Archbishop of Toulouse. That minister had been burned in effigy ; the armed force had been insulted, and even attacked ; the magistracy had been back- ward in prosecuting the rioters, who supported their cause. The pub- lic mind, agitated by these events, full of the confused idea of a speedy revolution, was in a continual ferment. The parliaments and the higher orders already saw the arms which they had given to the peo- ple directed against themselves. In Bretagne, the nobility had op- posed the doubling of the third estate, and had refused to elect depu- ties ; the bourgeoisie, who had so powerfully served against the court, then turned against them, and sanguinary conflicts ensued. The court, conceiving itself not sufficiently revenged on the Breton nobi- lity,* refused them its aid, and, on the contrary, imprisoned some of their number who came to Paris for the purpose of remonstrating. The elements themselves seemed to be let loose. A hailstorm, on the 13th of July, had made havoc among the crops, and was likely to increase the difficulty of supplying Paris, especially amidst the troubles that were preparing. All the activity of commerce was scarcely suffi- cient to collect the quantity of provisions necessary for that great capi- tal ; and it might naturally be expected that it would soon be very difficult to subsist it, when confidence should be shaken and the com- munications interrupted by political disturbances. Ever since the * See Bouille's Memoires. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 33 cruel winter which had succeeded the disasters of Louis XIV., and immortahzed the charity of Fenelon, so severe a season had not been known as that of 1788-1789. The beneficence which was then dis- played in the most affecting manner was not sufficient to alleviate the wretchedness of the people. A great number of vagabonds, without profession and without resources, thronged from all parts of France, and paraded their indigence and their nakedness from Versailles to Paris. At the slightest rumour, they eagerly came forward to profit by chances, which are always favourable to those who have every thing to gain, even to the subsistence for the passing day.* Thus every thing concurred to produce a revolution. An en- tire century had contributed to unveil abuses, and to carry them to excess ; two years to stir up insurrection and to exasperate the popu- lar masses by making them interfere in the quarrel of the privileged orders. In short, natural disasters, and a fortuitous concurrence of various circumstances, brought on the catastrophe, the epoch of which might have been deferred, but which was sure to happen sooner or later. It was amidst these circumstances that the elections took place. They were tumultuous in some provinces, active every where, and very quiet in Paris, where great unanimity prevailed. Lists were dis- tributed, and people strove to promote concord and a good understand- ing. Tradesmen, lawyers, literary men, astonished to find themselves assembled together for the first time, raised themselves up by degrees to liberty. In Paris, they reappointed themselves the bureaux formed by the King, and, witliout changing the persons, asserted their power by confirming them. The learned Bailly quitted his retreat at Ciiaillot : a stranger to intrigues, and deeply impressed with his noble mission, he proceeded alone and on foot to the assembly. He paused by the way on the terrace of the Feuillans. A young man, whom he did not know, respectfully accosted him. " You will be returned," said he. " I cannot tell," replied Bailly ; " that honour ought neither to be so- licited nor refused." The modest academician resumed his walk, repaired to the assembly, and was chosen successively elect«)r and deputy. The election of the Count de Mirabeau was stormy ; rejected by the nobility, supported by the tiers-itat, he agitated Provence, his native country, and it was not long before he showed himself at Versailles. The court had no wish to influence the elections. It was not dis- pleased to see a great number o? cures returned, reckoning upon their opposition to the high ecclesiastical dignitaries, and at the same time * "The charity of Fenelon, which immortalized the disastrous epoch of Louis XIV., was now equalled by the humane beneficence of the clergy of Paris : but all their efforts could not keep pace with the inunense mass of indigence, which wa? swelled by the conlliience of dissolute aud ahaiuloued cliaiacters from every part of France. These wretches assembled round the throne, hke the sea-birds round the wreck, which are the harbingers of death to the siidvuig mariner, and iiiready appear- ed in fearfid numbers in the streets o)i occasion of tbi; slightest tunnilt. They were all in a state of destitution, and for the most part owed their life to the charity of the ecclesiastics, whom they afterwards massacred in cold blood in the prison of Carraes." — Alisoii's French Revolution. F.. VOL. I. — 5 r 2 ^4 HISTORY OF THE upon their respect for tlie throne. It is true that it did not foresee all that was to happen ; and in the deputies of the tiers it perceived rather ad- versaries to the nobihty than to itself. The Duke of Orleans was ac- cused of taking active steps to procure the nomination of himself and his partisans. Already numbered among the enemies of the court, the ally of the parliaments, and called for as leader, with or without his consent, by the popular party, he was accused of various underhand practices. A deplorable scene took place in the Fauxbourg St. An- toine, and, as people are fond of giving an author to all events, it was laid to his charge. Reveillon, a manufacturer of stained paper, who had an extensive manufactory, improving our industry and furnishing employment to three hundred workmen, was accused of an intention to reduce their wages to one half. The populace threatened to burn his house. Means were found to disperse them, but they returned on the following day ; thehouse was broken into, set on fire, and destroyed. Notwithstanding the threats held outon the first day by the assailants, notwithstanding the meeting agreed upon for the second, the authorities were very late before they began to act, and then they acted with extreme severity. They waited till the people had made themselves masters of the house, they then attacked them with fury, and were obliged to slaughter a great number of those ferocious and intrepid men, who afterwards showed themselves on all occasions, and received the name of brigands. All the parties which were already formed accused each other ; the court was reproached with its first tardy and afterwards cruel proceed- ings; it was supposed that it wished to leave the people time to act that it might make an example and exercise its troops. The money found on the destroyers of Reveillon's house, and the expressions that dropped from some of them, led to the conjecture that they were urged on by a secret hand. The enemies of the popular party accused the Duke of Orleans of a wish to try his revolutionary bands. That prince had been endowed with excellent qualities. He had inherited immense wealth ; but, addicting himself to dissolute habits, he had abused all these gifts of nature and of fortune. Without consis- tency of character, alternately regardless of public opinion and greedy of popularity, he was bold and ambitious one day, docile and absent on tlie morrow. Havingquarrelled with the Queen, he had become an enemy to the court. When parties began to form themselves, he had suf- fered his name to be employed, and it is said, his wealth also. Flattered with the vague prospect before him, he was active enough to draw ac- cusation on himself, though not to ensuix success ; and his partisans, if they entertained any serious plans, must have been driven to despair by his inconstant ambition. The moment of the convocation at length arrived. In this common danger, the higher orders, creeping close to the court, had grouped themselves around the princes of the blood and the Queen. They strove by flattery to gain the country gentlemen, and in their absence they ridiculed their clownishness. The clergy endeavoured to gain over the plebeians of its order, and the military noblesse those belong- ing to the same class with itself. The parliaments, which had expect- •>t FRENCH REVOLUTION. 'ii> edto play the principal part in the States-General, began to apprehend that their ambition had miscalculated. The deputies of the tiers-ctat, strong in the superiority of their talents, in the energetic eloquence of their speeches, encouraged by continual intercommunication, nay, spurred on by the doul)ts which many had conceived respecting the success of their eflbrts, had taken the firm resolution not to yield. The Kinf alone, who had not enjoyed a moment's repose since the commencement of his reign, regarded the States-General as the ter- mination of his embarrassments. Jealous of his authority, rather for the sake of his children, to whom he deemed it his duty to transmit this patrimony entire, than for his own, he was not displeased to restore a portion of it to the nation, and to throw upon it the difficulties of the government. Accordingly, it was with joy that he made preparations for this grand assemblage. A hall had been hastily got ready ; the costumes were determined upon, and a humiliating badge had been imposed on the tiers-Hat. Men are not less jealous of their dignity than of their rights: with a very just pride, the instructions forbade the deputies to condescend to any degrading ceremonial. This new fault of the court originated, like many others, in the desire to preserve at least the symbols when the realities had ceased to exist. It could not but produce a deep irritation at a moment when, before attacking, the parties began to measure one another with their eyes. On the 4th of May, the day of the opening, a solemn procession took place. The King, the three orders, all the great dignitaries of the state, repaired to the church of Notre-Dame. The court had dis- played extraordinary magnificence. The two higher orders were splen- didly dressed. Princes, dukes and peers, gentlemen, prelates, were clad in purple, and wore hats with plumes of feathei's. The deputies of the tiers-etat, covered with plain black cloaks, came next ; and, notwithstanding their modest exterior, they seemed strong in their number and their prospects. It was remarked that the Duke of Or- leans, placed in the rear of the nobility, chose rather to lag behind, and to mingle with the foremost deputies of the third estate. This national, military, and religious pomp — those pious chants — those martial instruments — and, above all, the importance of the event — deeply moved all hearts. The discourse delivered by the Bishop of Nanci, full of generous sentiments, was enthusiastically applauded, notwithstanding the sacredness of the place and the presence of the Ring. Great assemblages elevate us. They detach us from ourselves and attach us to others. A general intoxication was diffused, and all at once many a heart felt its animosities subside, and became filled for a moment with humanity and patriotism.* * I should not quote the following passage from the M6moircs of Fcrrieres, if base detractors had not ventured to carp at every thing in the scenes of the French Revo- lution. The passage which I am about to extract will enable the reader to judge of the effect produced upon the least plebeian hearts by the national solemnities of this grand epoch. " I yiyld to the pleasure of recording here the impression made upon me by this august and touching ceremony; I shall transcribe the account of it which I then wrote down, whilst still full of what I had felt. If this passage is not historical, it will perhaps have a birouger interest for some readers. 36 HISTORY OF THE The opening of the States-General took place on the following day. May, 5 1789. The King was seated on an elevated throne, the Queen beside him, the court in stalls, the two higher orders on both sides, the tiers-etat at the farther end of the hall, and on lower seats. " The nobility in black coats, the other garments of cloth of gold, silk cloak, laco cravat, plumed hat turned up a /« Henri IV. ; the clergy in surplice, wide mantle, square cap : the bishops in their purple robes, with their rochets ; the tiers dressed in black, with silk mantle, and cambric cravat. Tiie King placed himself on a platform richly decorated; Monsieur, the Count d' Artois, the princes, the ministers, the great offi- cers of the crown, were seated below the King; the Queen placed herself opposite to the King; Madame, the Countess d' Artois, the princesses, the ladies of the court, superbly dressed and covered with diamonds, composed a magnificent retinue for her. The streets were hung with tapestry belonging to tlie crown; the regi- ments of the French and Swiss guards formed a line from Notre-Dame to St. Louis; an immense concourse of people looked on. as we passed, in respectful silence; the balconies were adorned with costly stuffs, the windows filled with spectators of all ages, of both sexes, lovely women elegantly attired : every face bespoke kindly emo- tion, every eye sparkled with joy; clapping of hands, expressions of the wannest interest, the looks that met us and that still followed after we were out of sight . . . . rapturous, enchanting scene, to which I should vainly strive to do jus- tice ! Bands of music, placed at intervals, rent the air with melodious sounds ; mi- litary marches, the rolling of drums, the clang of trumpets, the noble chants of the priests, alternately heard, without discordance, without confusion, enlivened this tri- umphal procession to the temple of the Almighty. " Plunffed into the most delicious ecstacy, sublime but melancholy thoughts soon presented themselves to my mind. I beheld that France, my country, supported by Religion, saying to us. Desist from your puerile quarrels ; this is the decisive moment which shall either give me new life or annihilate me for ever! Love of country, thou spakest to my heart ! .... What ! shall a handful of ambitious madmen, base intriguers, seek by tortuous ways to disunite my country ? — shall they found their destructive systems on insidious advantages? — shall they say to thee, Thou hast two interests ; and all thy glory and all thy power, of which thy neighbours are so jealous, shall vanish like a light smoke driven by the southern blast? No, I swear to thee, that my parched tongue shall cleave to my palate, if ever I fo^-get thy grandeurs and thy solemnities. •' What splendour this religious display shed over that wholly human pomp ! With- out thee, venerable Religion, it would have been but an empty parade of pride; but thoupurifiest and sanctifiest, thou heightenest grandeur itself; the kings, the mighty of the age, they too, by at least a show of reverence, pay homage to the King of kings Yes, to God alone belong honour, empire, glory ! Those sacred ceremonies, those hymns, those priests clothed in the dress of sacrifice, those perfumes, that canopy, that sun resplendent with gold and jewels I called to mind the words of the prophet: ' Daughters of Jerusalem, your Kingconi- eth ; put on your nuptial robes, and hasten to meet him.' Tears of joy trickled from ray eyes. My God, my country, my fellow-citizens, had become identified with myself. '• On their arrival at St. Louis, the three orders seated themselves on benches placed in the nave. Tlie King and Queen took their places beneath a canopy of purple velvet, sprinkled with golden fleurs-de-lis; the princes, the princesses, the great nthcers oi' the crown, and the ladies of the palace, occupied the space reserved tor their majesties. The host was carried to the altar to the sound of the most impressive music. It was an salutaris Hustia .'' This natural, but true and melodious vocal performance, unencumbered by the din of instruments which drown the expression; this mass of voices, rising in well-regulated accord to heaven, convinced me that the simple is always beautiful, always grand, always sublime Men are idiots, in their vain wisdom, to treat as puerile the worship that is paid to the Ai- mi'^hty. With what indifference do they view that moral chain which binds man to God, which renders him visible to the eye, sensible to the touch! .... M. de la Fare, Bishop of IS'anci, delivered the discourse. Religion constitutes the strength of empires ; religion constitutes the prosperity of nations. This truth, which no wise man ever doubted for a single moment, was not the important question to be FRENCH REVOLUTION. 37 A movement arose at the sight of the Count de Mirabeau ; but his look, his step, awed the assembly.* The tiers-etat remained covered like the other orders, notwithstanding the estabhshed custom. The King dehvcrcd an address, in which he recommended disinterested- ness to some, prudence to others, and professed to all his love for his people. Barentin, the keeper of the seals, then spoke, and was follow- ed hy Necker, who read a memorial on the state of the kingdom, in which he treated at great length of the finances, admitted a deficit of fifty-six millions, and wearied by his prolixity those whom he did not offend by his lessons. On the next day, the deputies of each order were directed to the place allotted to them. Besides the common hall, which was sufficiently spacious to hold the three orders united, two other halls had been erected for the nobility and the clergy. The common hall was assigned to the tiers ; and it thus had the advantage, whilst in its own place of meeting, of being in that of the States. The first busi- ness was the verification of the powers of the members. It became treated in the august assembly ; the place, the circumstance, opened a wider field : the Bishop of Nanci durst not, or could not, traverse it. " On the following day, the deputies met in the hall of the Menus. The assembly wasneither less imposing, nor the sight less magnificent, than the preceding day." — M6moircs du Marquis de Ferricres, tom. i. * " E.xcluded from the rank to which his birth entitled him, Mirabeau determined to recover it at any price. He vowed vengeance against his eneuiies, and with this bitterness of feehng did Mirabeau take his seat in the asseuibly of the States-General. As he entered the hall, he cast a threatening glance on the ranks which he was not al- lowed to approach. A bitter smile played on his lips, which were habitually contracted by an ironical and scornful expression. Ho proceeded across the hall, and seated himself on those benches from which he was to hurl the thunderbolts which shook the throne. A gentleman strongly attached to the court, but likewise a friend of Mirabeau, who had observed the rancorous look which he darted round him when he took his seat, entered into couversation with him, and pointed out to him tliat his peculiar position in the world closed against him the door of every saloon in P;irJs. ' Consider,' said he, ' that society, when once wounded, is not easily conciliated, if you wish to be pardoned, you must ask pardon.' Mirabeau listened with impa- tience, but when his friend used the word 'pardon,' he couldcontain himself no long- er, but started up and stamped with violence on the floor. His bushy hair seemed to stand on end, his little piercing eyes flashed fire, and his lips turned pale and quiver- ed. This was always the way with Mirabeau when he was strongly excited. ' I am come hither,' cried he, in a voice of thunder, ' to be asked, not to ask pardon.' "' — Memoirs of the Duchess d' Abrantcs. E. " Hardly any of the deputies had hitherto acquired great popular reputation. One alone attracted general attention. Born of noble parents, he had warmly espoused the popular side, without losing the pride of aristocratic connexion. His talents universally known, and his integrity generally suspected, rendered him the object of painful anxiety; harsh and tlisagreeable features, a profusion of black hair, and acom- manding air, attracted the curiosity even of those who were unactjuainted with his reputation. His name was Miuabeau, future leader of the Assemiily ! Two ladies of rank, from a gallery, with very diflVrent feelings, beheld the spectacle. The one was Madame de Montmorin, wife of the minister of foreign afl'airs ; the other, the illustrious daughter of M. Necker, Madame de Staiil. The latter exulted in the boundless prospect of national felicity which seemed to be opening under the auspi- ces of her father. ' You are wrong to rejoice,' s%id Madame de Montmorin: ' this event forebodes nmch misery to France and to ourselves.' Her presentiment turned out too well founded ; shii herselfperished on thescatfold with one of her sons ; ano- ther was drowned ; her hushuid was massacred in lln' prisons on September'Jd ; her eldest daughter was cut o(V in goal ; her vonngest died of a broken heart before she had attained th^ge ol" thirty years. '' — Afisan's Frencli Revolution. E. 4 '^ -i b '^ 38 HISTORY OF THE a question whether this should take place in common or by separate orders. The deputies of the tiers, alleging that it was of importance to each portion of the States-General to satisfy itself of the legitimacy of the two others, insisted on the verification in common. 'J'he nobi- lity and the clergy, desirous of keeping up the division of orders, maintained that each ought to constitute itself apart. This question had nothing to do with that of individual votes, for they might verify their powers in common and afterwards vote separately, but it neai-ly resembled it ; and on the very first day it produced a division, whicli it was easy to foresee, and which might have been as easily prevented by putting an end to the dispute beforehand. But the court never had the courage either to deny or to grant what was just, and, besides, it hoped to reign by dividing. The deputies of the tiers-ctat remained assembled in the general hall, abstaining from any measure, and waiting, as they said, to be joined by their colleagues. The nobility and the clergy, retiring to their respective halls, proceeded to deliberate on the verification. The clergy voted the separate verification by a majority of 133 to 114, and the nobility by a majority of 188 to 114. The tiers-etat persisting in its inaction, pursued, on the morrow, the same course as on the pre- ceding day. It made a point of avoiding any measure which could cause it to be considered as constituting a separate order. For this reason, in sending a deputation of its members to the other two cham- bers, it abstained from giving them any express mission. These members were sent to the nobility and clergy to inform them that the tiers-etat was waiting for them in the common hall. The nobility were not sitting at the moment ; the clergy were assembled, and offer- ed to appoint commissioners to settle the differences that had arisen. They actually appointed them, and invited the nobility to do the same. In this contest, the clergy manifested a very different spirit from the nobility. Among all the privileged classes, it had suffei'ed most from the attacks of the eighteenth century. Its political existence had been disputed ; it was divided, owing to the great number of its cures ; be- sides, its professional character was that of moderation and the spirit of peace. Accordingly, as we have just seen, it offered a sort of xiiediation. The nobility, on the contrary, declined it, by refusing to appoint commissioners. Less prudent than the clergy, more confident in its rights, conceiving itself not bound to moderation but to valour, it vent- ed itself in refusals and threats. These men, who never excused any passion in others, gave the reins to all their own passions, and, like all assemblies, they yielded to the domination of the most violent spirits. Casalfes and d'Espremenil, recently ennobled, made the most indiscreet motions, and, after preparing them in a private meeting, pi-ocured their adoption in general assembly. In vain did a minority, composed of men more prudent or more prudently ambitious, strive to enlighten these nobles. They would not listen to any thing. They talked of fighting and dying, and they added, for the laws and jus- tice. The tiers-etat, immoveable, endured with patience every insult. Though irritated, it was silent, conducted itself with the prudence and firmness of all powers which are commencing their career, and receiv- 1 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 39 ed the applause of tlie tribunes, orioinally destined for the court, but soon taken possession of by tlie pubUc. Several days had already elapsed : the clergy had laid snares for the tiers-etat hy inciting it to certain acts which would have given it the character of a constituted order. It had, however, constantly re- fused to comply ; and, taking only indispensable measures of internal police, it had confined itself to the election of a dean and assistants for the purpose of collecting opinions. It refused to open the letters addressed to it, and it declared that it formed not an order, but a meet- ing of citizens assembled by a legitimate authority to icait for other citizens. The nobility, after refusing to appoint conciliatory commissioners, at length consented to send deputies to arrange matters with the other orders. But their mission was rendered useless, since it charged them at tiie same time to declare that it persisted in its decision of the Gth of May, which enjoined the separate verification. The clergy, on the con- trary, adhering to its part, had suspended the verification which it had at first commenced in its own chamber, and declared itself not consti- tuted, awaiting the conferences of the conciliatory commissioners. The conferences were opened: the clergy was silent ; the deputies of the commons argued their point with calmness, those of the nobility with warmth. Both parties returned soured by the dispute; and the tiers-ttat, determined not to give way, was doubtless not displeased to learn that all compromise was impossible. The nobility was assured every day by its commissioners that they had the advantage, and this served to heighten its exaltation. By a transient gleam of prudence, the first two orders declared that they renounced their pecuniary privi- leges. The tiers-ctat accepted the concession, but persisted in its re- fusal to proceed to business, still requiring the common verification. The conferences yet continued, when it was at length proposed, by way of accommodating the matter, that the powers should be verified by commissioners chosen from the three orders. The deputies of the nobility declared in its name its dissent from this arrangement, and re- tired without appointing any new conference. Thus the negociation wns broken off. The same day the nobility passed a resolution, by which it declared anew that for this session the verification should take place separately, and that it should be left for the States to deter- mine upon some other mode in future. Nv This resolution was communicated to the commons on the 27th of May. They had been assembled ever since the 5th ; twenty-two days had consequently elapsed, during which nothing had been done. It was high time to come to a determination. Mirabeau, who gave the impidse to the popular party,* observed that it was time to decide upon * " Iloiiore Gabriel Riinietti. Cotnte Ac Mirabeau, was born in 1749. Youthful impetuosity and ungoveriied passions ukuIo tlie early part of his life a scene of dis- order and misery. After basing been some time in the army, be married ;\Iade- moiselie de Mariiruane, a rich heiress in the eity of Aix; but the union was not for- tunate, and his extravajjant expense.s deransrinj; bis all'airs, he eontracted debts to the lunoiint of 300,01)0 livres, in consequence of which his father obtained from the Cli:Uelet an act of liuiacy against him. l^nraged at this, he went to settle^it Manosquo ; 40 HISTORY OF THE something, and to commence their lahours for the public welfare, which had been too long delayed. He proposed, therefore, in conse- sequence of the resolution passed by the nobility, to send a message to the clergy, in order to obtain an immediate explanation from it, and whence he was, on account of a private quarrel, some time afterwards removed, and shut up in the castle of If; he was then conveyed to that of Joux, in Tranche Comte, and obtained permission to go occasionally to Pontarlier, where he met Sophia de RufFey, Marchioness of Monmir, wife of a president in the parliament of Besanoon. Her wit and beauty inspired Mirabeau with a most violent passion, and he soon es- caped to Holland with her, but was for this outrage condemned to lose his head, and would probably have ended his days far from his country, had not an agent of police seized him in 1777, and carried him to the castle of Vincennes, where he re- mained till December, 1780, when he recovered his liberty. The French revolution soon presented a vast field for his activity ; and, being rejected at the time of the elec- tions by the nobility of Provence, he hired a warehouse, put up this inscription, " Mirabeau, woollen-draper," and was elected deputy from the tiers-etat of Aix ; from that time the court of Versailles, to whom he was beginning to be formidable, called him the Plebeian Count. On the day when the States opened, he looked at the monarch, who was covered with the crown jewels, and said to those near him, " Be- hold the victim already adorned !" He soon took possession of the tribune, and there discussed the most important matters in the organization of society. He had never at that time conceived the possibility of establishing a democracy in so immense a state as France. His motive for seeking popularity was solely that he might regulate a court which he caused to tremble, but the court committed the fault of not seeking to seduce his ambition. He then connected himself with the Duke of Orleans, from whom he obtained certain sums that he wanted; butsoon perceiving that it was impos- sible to make any thing of suchaclod, he broke off the intimacy in October, 1789. If he was not one of the principal causes of the events which took place on the 5th and 6th of that month, the words he made use of before and during that time, give reason to suppose he was no stranger to them. The next day he made the King new over- tures, and repeated them shortly after, but they were invariably rejected ; and he then considered how he should, by new blows, compel the sovereign and his council to have recourse to him. Not, however, till the end of the session did this take place ; and then, by the intervention of Madame de Mercy and M. de Montmorin, his debts were paid, and a pension was granted him. From that time he devoted himself to strengthening the monarchy, and addressed to the King a statement on the causes of the revolution, and the methods of putting a stop to it. It may be doubted whether he could have succeeded in this undertaking ; but it is now certain, that, at the moment of his sudden death, he was busied in a project for dissolving an assembly which he could no longer direct. On the Kith of January, 1791, he was appointed a member of the department of Paris, and on the 31st, president of the National Assembly. This being the period of his closest connexion with the court, he wished as president to acquire new celebrity, and show himself capable of directing the assembly ; a de- sign which he executed with a degree of address admired even by his enemies. On the 28th of March he was taken ill, and died on the 2d of April, at half-past eight in the morning, aged forty-two. So short an illness excited a suspicion at first that he had been poisoned, and all parties mutually accused each other of the crime; but when his body was opened, there appeared, as the physicians asserted, no marks of violence. When on his death-bed, he said openly to his friends, ' I shall carry the monarchy with me, and a few factious spirits will share what is left.' At the mo- ment of his death he retained all his fortitude and self-possession ; on the very morn- ing, he wrote these words : " It is not so difficult to die ;" and at the instant when his eyes were closing, he wrote, " to sleep." His loss seemed to be considered as a pub- lic calamity, and it is remarkal)le that all parties believing him to be in their interests, joined in regretting him. His obsequies were celebrated with great pomp ; all the theatres were shut; tiic deputies, the ministers, the members of all the autiioritative assemblies, formed a procession which extended above a league, and which was four hours marching; and his body was placed in the Pantheon beside that of Des- cartes. In Noveml)er. 1793. his ashes were, by order of the Convention, removed thence, and scattered abroad by the people, who at the same time burned his bust in I ^mmaiM^ 'm.JiiE^mmj^^ Piib.i.-^iici; D\- L'.ucViV llaa-l. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 41 to ascertain whether it would orwould notmeetthe commons. The pro- posal was immediately adopted. Target, the deputy, proceeded at the head of a numerous deputation, to the hall of the clergy. " The gentle- men of the commons," said he, " invite the gentlemen of the clergy, i.v TUE NAME OF THE GOD OF PEACE, and for the national interest, to meet them in the hall of the assembly, to consult upon the means of effecting the concord so necessary at this moment for the public welfare." The clergy was struck with these solemn words. A great number of its mem- bers answered them witli acclamations, and would have instantly com- plied with this invitation, had they not been prevented ; and the reply given to the deputies of the commons was, that it would deliberate on the subject. On the return of the deputation, the inexorable tiers-etat determined to await, without breaking up, the answer of the clergy. As this answer did not arrive, a message was sent that the commons were waiting for it. The clergy complained of being iiurried, and requested to be allowed the necessary time. The ticrs-ctat replied with moderation, that the clergy might take its own time, and that the commons would wait, if requisite, the whole day and the whole night. The situation was difficult. The clergy knew that after its answer the commons would fall to work, and adopt a decisive course. It wished to temporize, in order to concert with the court. It re- quired time till the following day, which was granted with regret. Next day, the King resolved, in accordance with the wishes of the higher orders, to interfere. At this moment, all the animosities be- tween the court and the higher orders began to be forgotten, at the sight of that popular power which rose with such rapidity. The King at length appeared, and invited the three orders to resume their confer- ences in the presence of his keeper of the seals. The tiers-itat, not- withstanding all that has been said of its projects, upon judgments formed after the events, did not extend its wishes beyond moderate monarchy. Knowing the intentions of Louis XVI., it was full of res- pect for him : and, unwilling to injure its cause by any wrong step, it replied that, out of deference to the King, it consented to renew the conferences, though, inconsequence of the declaration of the nobility, it could not but consider them as useless. To this reply it annexed the Place de Grove, as an enemy to the republic, and one who had corresponded with the royal family. Thus did .Mirabeau verily what he had himself said, ' tiiat the Capitol was close to the Tarpeian rock, and that the same people who flattered him would have had equal pleasure in seeing him hanged.' Mirabeau was of middle stature; his face was cfisfigured by the marks of the smallpox; and the enormous quantity of hair on his head gave him some resemblance to a lion. He was of a lofty character, and had talents which were extraordinary, and some which were sublime ; his felicity of diction was unrivalled, and his knowledge of the human heart profound ; but he was essentially a despot, and, had he governed an empire, he would have sur- passed Richelieu in pride, and Mazarin in policy. Naturally violent, the least resist- ance inflamed him ; when he appeared most irritated, his expression had most elo- quence; and being a consummate actor, his voice and gestures lent a new interest to all he said. His chief passion was pride ; and tliough his love of intrigue was un- bounded, it can be ascribed only to liis pecuniary necessities. In the last year of his life he paid immense debts, bought estates, furniture, the valuable library of Burton, and lived in a splendid style."— From the article "Mirabkao," in the B'wgraphu- Moderne. E. VOL. I. — 6 , 2 42 HISTORY OF THE an address, which it charged its dean to deliver to the prince. This dean was Bailly, a simple and virtuous man, an illustrious and modest cultivator of the sciences, who had heen suddenly transported from the quiet studies of his closet into the midst of civil broils. Elected to the presidency over a great assembly, he had been alarmed at his new office, had deemed himself unworthy to fill it, and undertaken it solely from a sense of duty. But, raised all at once to liberty, he found within him an tmexpected presence of mind and firmness. Amid so many conflicts, he caused the majesty of the assembly to be respect- ed, and represented it with all the dignity of virtue and of reason. Bailly had the greatest difficulty to penetrate to the King. As he insisted on being introduced, the courtiers reported that he had not even paid respect to grief of the monarch, affiicted by the t'eath of the dauphin. He was at length presented, contrived to avoid every humiliating ceremonial, and displayed equal firmness and respect. The King received him graciously, but without entering into any ex- planation of his intentions. The government, having decided on making some sacrifices to ob- tain money, designed, by opposing the orders, to become their umpire, to wrest from the nobility its pecuniary privileges with the assistance of the tiers-etat, and to check the ambition of the latter by means of the nobility. As for the nobility, having no need to concern itself about the embarrassments of the administration, caring only for the sacrifi- ces which were likely to be wrung from it, it hoped to bring about a dissolution of the States-General, and thus to frustrate the object of their convocation. The commons, Avhom the court and the higher oi'ders would not recognize by that title, were incessantly acquiring fresh strength, and, being resolved to brave all dangers, were anxious not to let slip an opportunity which might never recur. The conferences demanded Viy the King took place. The commis- sioners of the nobility raised all sorts of difficulties about the title of commons which the tiers-etat had assumed, and about the form and signature of the minutes (proct' s-verbal). At length they entered upon discussion, and they were almost reduced to silence by the reasons urged against them, Avhen Necker, in the name of the King, proposed a new mode of conciliation. Each order was to examine the powers separately, and to communicate them to the others. In case difficul- ties should arise, commissionersshouldreportupon them to each cham- ber, and if the decision of the different orders disagreed, the King was to judge definitively. Thus the court would settle the dispute to its own advantage. The conferences were immediately suspended to obtain the adhesion of the orders. The clergy accepted the plan purely and simply. The nobility at first received it favourably ; but, urged by its usual instigators, it rejected the advice of its most discreet members, and modified the project of conciliation. From that day must be dated all its disasters. The commons, apprized of this resolution, waited till it should be communicated to them in order to explain themselves in their turn ; but the clergy, with its ordinary cunning, desirous of bringing them into bad odour with the nation, sent them a deputation to invite them to FRENCH REVOLUTION. 43 take into consideration, along with it, the distress of the people, whicli M'as daily increasing, that they might lose no time in providing toge- ther against the dearth and high price of provisions. The commons, who would have exposed themselves to the popular odium if tliey had appeared indifferent to such a proposal, opposed craft with craft, and replied that, deeply impressed with the same duties, they awaited the clerjfy in the great hall, in order to deliberate with it on this important subject. The nobility then arrived, and solemnly communicated its resolution to the commons. It adopted, it said, the plan of concilia- tion, persisting, however, in the separate verification, and referring to tile united orders, and to the supreme jurisdiction of the King, sucli difficulties only as might arise respecting the entire deputations of a whole province. Tiiis resolution put an end to all the embarrassments of the coi^.i- nions. Obliged either to yield or to declare war single-handed against the higher orders and the throne, if the plan of conciliation had been adopted, they were relieved from the necessity of explanation, as the piaii had been accepted only with important alterations. The moment was decisive. To give way on the separate verification was not, in- deed, giving way on the vote by order ; but to betray weakness once was to be weak for ever. They must submit to act nearly the part of a cipher, give money to power, be content with the abolition of a (isw abuses, when they saw the possibility of regenerating the state, or take a strong resolution, and seize by force a portion of the legislative power. This was the first revolutionary act, but the assembly did not hesitate. In consequence, all the minutes (proci's vcrbaux) being siifUf^l, and the conferences finished, Mirabeau rose : " Any jilan of conciliation rejected by one party," said he, " can no longer be exam- ined by the other. A month is past ; it is time to take a decisive step : a deputy of Paris has an important motion to make — let us hear him." Mirabeau, having opened the deliberation by his audacity, introduced to the tribune Sieyes, a man of a comprehensive mind, systematic and rigorous in his deductions. Sieyes in a few words recapitulated and explained the motives of the conduct of the commons. They had waited and had acceded to all the conciliations proposed ; their long condescension was unavailing ; they could delay no longer without failing in their duty ; they ought consequently to send a last invita- tion to the other two orders, to join them for the purpose of commen- cing the verification. This proposition, based on sufficient motives,* * I think it right to state hore the motives on wliich the assembly of the commons founded the resolmion which it was about to take. This first act, which commu nces the revolution, being ofhigh importance, it is essentia! to justify the necessity for it, and I think tliis cannot be done better, than by the considerations which preceded the reso- hition (rtrre<^) of the commons. These considerations, as well as the arrt'it! itself belong to the Abbe Sieyes. '• The assembly of the commons deliberating on the overture of conciliation pro- posed by the commissioners of the King, has deemed it incumbent on it to take at the same time into consideration the resolution {arrclt) which the nobility have hastened to adopt respecting the same overture. " It has seen that the nobility, notwithstanding the acquiescence at lirst professed, soon introduced a modification which retrjcts it almost entirely, and that consequent- 44 HISTORY OF THE was received with enthusiasm ; it was even in contemplation to sum- mon tlie orders to attend within an hour. The period, however, was prorogued. The following day, Thursday, being devoted to religious solemnities, it was postponed till Friday. On Friday, the last invitation was communicated. The two orders replied that they woidd consider of it, and the King that he would make known his intentions. The call of the haillages began : on the first day, three cures attended and were hailed with applause ; on the second, six arrived ; and on the third and fourth ten, among whom was the abbe Gregoire. During the call of the baillages and the verification of the powers, a serious dispute arose concerning the title which the assembly was to assume. Mirabeau proposed that of Representatives of the French ly their resolution {arrtti) on this subject cannot be considered as any other tiian a positive refusal. " From this consideration, and because the nobility have not desisted from their preceding deliberations, in opposition to every plan of reunion, the depuiies of the commons conceive that it has become absolutely useless to bestow any further alteu- tion on an expedient which can no longer be called concihatory, since it has been rejected by one of the parties to be conciliated. " In this state of things, which replaces the deputies of the commons in their origin- al position, the assembly judges that it can no longer wait inactive for the privileged classes without sinning against the nation, which has doubtless a right to require a better use of its time. " It is of opinion that it is an urgent duty for the representatives of the nation, to whatever class of citizens they belong, to form themselves, without further delay, into an active assembly, capable of commencing and fulfilling the object of their mission. " The assembly directs the commissioners who attended the various conferences, called conciliatory, to draw up a report of the long and vain efforts of the deputies of liie commons to bring back the classes of the privileged to true principles; it takes upon itself the exposition of the motives which oblige it to pass from a state of ex- pectation to a state of action; finally, it resolves, that this report and these motives shall be printed at the head of the present deliberation. •' But, since it is not possible to form themselvesinto an active assembly, without pre- viously recognising those who have a right to compose it, — that is to say, those who are qualified to vote as representatives of the nation, — the same deputies of the conmious deem it their duty to make a last trial with the clergy and the nobility, who claim the same quality, but have nevertheless refused up to the present moment to make them- selves recognised. •• Moreover, the assembly, having an interest in certifying the refusal of tliese two classes of deputies, in case they should persist in their determination to remain un- known, deems it indispensable to send a last invitation, which shall be conveyed to them by deputies charged to read it before them, and to leave them a copy of it in the following terms : '■ ' Gentlemen, we are commissioned by the deputies of the commons of France to apprize you that they can no longer delay the fulfilment of the obligation imposed on all the representatives of the nation. It is assuredly time that those who claim this quality should make themselves known by a common verification of their powers, and begin at length to attend to the national interest, which alone, and to the exclu- sion of all private interests, presents itself as the grand aim to which all the deputies ought to tend by one general effort. In consequence, and from the necessity whicli the representatives of the nation are under to proceed to business, the deputies of the commons entreat you anew, gentlemen, and their duty enjoins them to address to you, as well individually as collectively, a last summons to come to the hall of the states, to attend, concur in, and submit, like themselves, to the common verification of powers. We are at the same time directed to inform you. that the general call of all the hailliages convoked will take place in an hour, that the assembly will imme- diately proceed to the verification, and that such as do not appear will be declared defaulters.' " FRENCH REVOLUTION. 45 People ; Mounier that o? Deliberative Majority in the absence of the Minority ; Legrand that o^ National Assembly. This last was adopt- ed, after a very long discussion, which lasted till the night of the 16th of June. It was one o'clock in the morning, and it became a question whether the assembly should constitute itself before it broke up, or should defer that business till the following day. One portion of the deputies wished that not a moment should be lost, that they might ac- quire a legal character which should command the respect of the court. A small number, wishing to impede the operations of the as* sembly, became extremely violent and uttered furious cries. The two parties, ranged on the two sides of a long table, reciprocally threaten- ed each other. Bailly, placed at the centre, was called upon by the one to adjourn the assembly, by the other to put the motion for constituting themselves to the vote. Unshaken amidst shouts and abuse, he continued for more than an hour motionless and silent. The weather was tempestuous; the wind blew with violence into the hall, and added to the tumult. At length the brawlers withdrew. Bailly, then addressing the assembly, which had recovered its tranquillity on the retirement of those by whom it had been disturbed, recommended it to defer till daylight the important act which was proposed. His ad- vice was adopted, and the assembly broke up, applauding his firmness and prudence. Accordingly, on the 17th, the proposition was taken into considera- tion, and, by a majority of 491 votes against 90, the commons consti- tuted themselves the National Assembly. Sieyes, again charged to report the motives of this determination, did it with his accustomed precision. " The assembly, deliberating after the verification of the powers, ascertain that it is already composed of representatives sent directly by ninety-six hundredths, at least, of the nation. Such a mass of deputa- tion could not remain inactive on account of the deputies of certain baillages, or of certain classes of citizens ; for the absent loko have been called, cannot prevent the present from exercising the plenitude of their rights, especially when the exercise of those rights is an urgent, an imperative duty. " Moreover, as it belongs only to the verified representatives to con- cur in the national will, and as all the verified representatives are to be admitted into this assembly, it is further indispensable to conclude that it l)cIongs to it, and to it alone, to interpret and to represent the gene- ral will of the nation. " There cannot exist any veto, any negative power, between the throne and the assembly. " The assembly therefore declares that the general labour of the na- tional restoration can and ought to be begun by the deputies present, and that they ought to prosecute it without interruption and without impediment. " The denomination of National Assembly is the only one suitable to the assembly in the present state of things, as well because the members who compose it are the only representatives legitimately and publicly known and verified, as because thev are sent bv nearly the 46 H [STORY OF THE whole of the nation ; and, lastly, because, the representation being one and indivisible, none of the deputies, for whatever order or class he has been elected, has a right to exercise those functions separately from this assembly. " The assembly •will never relinquish the hope of collecting in its bosom all the deputies that are now absent ; it will not cease to call them to fulfil the obligation imposed upon them to concur in the hold- ing of the States-General. At whatever moment the absent deputies pi"esent themselves during the session that is about to be opened, it declares beforehand, that it will be ready to receive them, and to share with them, after the verification of their powers, the series of important labours which are to accomplish the regeneration of France." Immediately after passing this resolution (arr(:,tc), the assembly, desiring at once to perform an act of its power, and to prove that it had no intention to impede the course of the administration, legalized the levy of the taxes, though imposed without the national consent. With a presentiment of its separation, it added that they should cease to be levied from the day on which it should be broken up ; foreseeing, moreover, a bankruptcy, the expedient left to power for putting an end to the financial embarrassments, and dispensing with the national con- currence, it satisfied prudence and honour by placing the creditors of the state under the safeguard of French integrity. Lastly, it announced that it should immediately direct its attention to the causes of the dearth and of the public distress. These measures, which displayed equal courage and ability, pro- duced a deep impression. The court and the higher orders were alarm- ed at such courage and energy. IMeanwhile, the clergy was tumul- tuously deliberating whether it should join the commons. The multi- tude awaited outside the hall the result of its deliberation ; the cures at length carried the point, and it was learnt that the union had been voted by a majority of 149 votes to 115. Those who had voted for the junction were received with transports of applause ; the others were abused and insulted by the populace. This moment was destined to bring about a reconciliation between the court and the aristocracy. The danger was equal for both. The last revolution was as prejudical to the King as to the two higher or- ders themselves, whom the commons declared that they could dispense with. Tile aristocracy immediately threw itself at the feet of the Ring. The Duke of Luxembourg, the Cardinal de Larochefoucauld, the Archbishop of Paris, implored him to repress the audacity of the tiers-ctat, and to support their rights, which were attacked. The parliament proposed to him to do without the States, promising to assent to all tlie taxes. The King was surrounded by the princes and the Queen ; this Avas more than was requisite for his weakness : they hurried him off to Marly in order to extort from him a vigorous measure. Necker, the minister, attached to the popular cause, confined himself to useless remonstrances, which the King thought just when his mind was left free, but the effect of which the court soon took good care to destroy. As soon as he perceived the necessity for the interference of FRENCH REVOLUTION. 47 the royal authority, he formed a plan which, to his courage, appeared very bold. He proposed that tlie monarch, in a royal sittinnf, slioiild command the union of the orders, but only for measures of general interest ; that he should assume to himself the sanction of all resolu- tions adopted by the States-General ; that he should condemn before- hand every institution hostile to moderate monarchy, such as that of a single assembly ; lastly, that he should promise the abolition of pri- vileges, the equal admission of all Frenchmen to civil and mihtary ap- pointments, &c. As Necker had not had the energy to outstrip time for such a plan, so likewise he had not sufficient to ensure its exe- cution. The council had followed the King to Marly. There decker's plan, at first approved, was subjected to discussion ; all at once a note was delivered to the King ; the council was suspended, resumed, and adjourned till the following day, in spite of the necessity for the utmost despatch. On the morrow, fresh members were added to the council ; the King's brothers were of the number. Necker's plan was modified ; he resisted, made some concessions, but finding him- self vanquished, returned to Versailles. A page came three times bringing him notes containing new modifications ; his plan was wholly disfigured, and the royal sitting was fixed for the 22d of June. Itwas as yet but the 20th, and already the hall of the States was shut up, under the pretext that preparations were requisite for the presence of the King. These preparations might have been made in half a day ; but the clergy had deliberated the day before upon join- ing the commons, and it was desirable to prevent this junction. An order from the King instantly adjourned the sittings till the 22cl. Bailly, conceiving that he was bound to obey the assembly, which, on Friday, the 19th, had adjourned to the next day, Saturday, repaired to the door of the hall. It was surrounded by soldiers of the French guard, who had orders to refuse admittance to every one. The offi- cer on duty received Bailly with respect, and allowed him access to a court for the purpose of drawing up a protest. Some young hot- headed deputies would have forced their way through the sentries ; liailly hastened to the spot, appeased them, and took them with him, that the generous officer, who executed the orders of authority with such moderation, might not be compromised. The deputies collected tumultuously ; they persisted in assembling ; some proposed to hold a sitting under the very windows of the King, others proposed the Tennis-Court. To the latter they instantly repaired ; the master cheerfully gave it up to them. The hall was spacious, but the walls were dark and bare. There were no seats. An arm-chair was offered to the president, who re- fused it, and chose rather to stand with the assembly ; a bench served for a desk : two deputies were stationed at the door as door-keepers, and were soon relieved by the keeper of the place, who came and offered his services. The populace thronged around, and the delibe- ration commenced. Complaints were raised on all sides against this suspension of the sittings, and various expedients were proposed to prevent it in future. The agitation increased, and the extreme parties 48 ^ HISTORY OF THE began to work upon the imaginations of their liearers. It was proposed to repair to Paris : this motion, hailed with enthusiasm, was warmly supported ; and they began to talk of proceeding thither in a body and on foot. Bailly was apprehensive that violence might be offered to the assembly by the way : dreading, moreover, a rupture, he opposed the scheme. Mounier then proposed to the deputies to l)ind themselves by oath not to separate before the establishment of a constitution. This proposal was received with transport ; the form of the oath was soon agreed upon. Bailly claimed the honour of being the first to take it, and read the form, which was as follows : — " You take a solemn oath never to separate, and to assemble where- ever circumstances shall require, till the constitution of the kingdom is established and founded on a solid basis." This form, pronounced in a loud and intelligible voice, was heard outside the building. All lips instantly repeated the oath ; all hands were outstretched towards Bailly, who, standing and motionless, received this solemn engage- ment to ensure by laws the exercise of the national rights. The crowd instantly raised loud shouts of Vive V Assemblec ! vive le Roi ! as if to prove that, without any feeling of anger or animosity, but from duty, it reclaimed what was its due. The deputies then pro- ceeded to sign the declaration which they had just made. One only, Mai-tin d'Auch, added to his name the word opposer. A great tumult took place around him. Bailly, in order to be heard, mounted upon a table, addressed the deputy Avith moderation, and represented to him that he had a right to refuse his signature, but not to form an op- position. The deputy persisted ; and the assembly, out of respect for its liberty, allowed the word to stand, and to be inserted in the minutes. This new act of energy excited the apprehensions of the nobility, who went on the following day to lay their lamentations at the King's feet, to excuse themselves in some measure for the restrictions which they had introduced into the plan of conciliation, and to solicit his assistance. The noble minority protested against this step, maintain- ing with reason that it was no longer time to solicit the royal interfer- ence, after having so unseasonably refused it. This minority, too little attended to, was composed of forty-seven members, among whom were enlightened military officers and magistrates — the Duke de Liancourt, a generous friend to his King and to liberty ; the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, distinguished for inflexible virtue and great abili- ties ; Lally-Tollendal, already celebrated for his father's misfortunes and his eloquent reclamations ; Clermont-Tonnerre, remarkable for his eloquence ; the brothers Lameth, young colonels, known for their intelligence and their bravery ; Duport, already noticed for his extra- ordinary capacity and firmness of character ; and lastly, the Marquis de La Fayette, the defender of American freedom, and combining with French vivacity the perseverance and the simplicity of Wash- ington. Intrigues retarded all the operations of the court. The sitting, at first fixed for Monday the 22d, was postponed till the 23d, A note written very late to Bailly, and at the termination of the great council FRENCH REVOLUTION. 49 acquainted him with this postponement, and proved the agitatioii which pervaded all minds. Necker had resolved not to attend the sitting-, that he might not sanction by his presence plans which he disapproved. Petty means, the ordinary resource of a feeble authority, were em- ployed to prevent the meeting of Monday the 22d. The princes hired the Tennis-Court for the purpose of playing on that day. 'J'he asseml)ly repaired to the church of St. Louis, where it received the majority of the clergy, with the Archbishop of Vienne at its head. This junction, marked by the utmost dignity, excited the greatest joy. The clergy came, it was said, to submit to the common verification. The following day, the 23d, was that fixed for the royal sitting. The deputies of the commons were to enter by a side door, a differ- ent one from that reserved for the nobility and clergy. If violence could not be employed, they were not spared humiliations. The} waited a long time exposed to the rain : the president was obliged to knock at the door; it was not opened. He knocked repeatedly, and Avas told it was not yet time. The deputies were about to retire, when Bailly again knocked. The door was at length opened ; the deputies entered, and found the two higher orders in possession of their seats, which they had been desirous to secure by occupying them beforehand. The sitting was not, like that of the 5th of May, at once majestic and touching, from a certain eff"usion of sentiments and Iiopes. A numerous soldiery, a sullen silence, distinguished it from the former solemnity. The deputies of the commons had resolved to keep the most profound silence. The King addressed the assembly, and be- trayed his weakness by using expressions far too energetic for his cha- racter. He was made to launch reproaches, and to issue commands. He enjoined the separation into orders ; annulled the preceding reso- lutions (^arretes) of the tiers-etat, promising to sanction the abdication of the pecuniary privileges when they should be relinquished by the holders. He maintained all the feudal rights, both useful and hono- rary, as inviolable property. He did not order the meeting of the three estates on matters of general interest, but held out lH)])es of it from the moderation of the higher orders. Thus he enforced the obedience of the commons, and contented himself with presuming that of the aristocracy. He left tlie nobility and clergy jiulges of what specially concerned them, and concluded with saying, that if he met with fresh obstacles he would singly establish the welfare of his people, and that he considered himself as its sole representative. This tone, this language, deeply incensed the minds of the connnons, not against the Ring, who had feebly represented passions not his own, but against the aristocracy, whose instrument he was. As soon as he had finished this address, he ordered the assembly to separate immediately. The nobility followed him, together with part of the clergy. The majority of the ecclesiastical deputies remained ; the depnties of the commons, without moving, preserved profound si- lence. Mirabeau, who put himself forward on all occasions, then rose. " Gentlemen," said he, " I admit that what you have just heard might be the salvation of the country, if the gifts of despotism VOL. I. — 7 ^ 3 60 HISTORY OF THE were not always dangerous The ostentatious display of arm?, the violation of the national temple ... to command you to be happy ! . . . Wliere are the enemies of the nation? Is Catiline at our doors'? I demand that, covering yourselves with your dignity, your legislative power, you adhere religiously to your oath : it forbids you to separate before you have framed the constitution." Tiie Marquis de Breze, grand-master of the ceremonies, then re- turned. " You have heai-d the orders of the King," said he, address- ing Tiailly. Bailly replied, " I am going to take those of the assem- bly." Mirabeau stepped forward. " Yes, sir," he exclaimed, " we have heard the intentions that have been suggested to the King ; but you have neither voice, nor place, nor right to speak, here. How- ever, to avoid all delay, go and tell your master that we are here by the power of the people, and that nothing but the power of bayonets shall drive us away." M. de Breze retired. Sieyes then said : " We are to-day what we were yesterday ; let us deliberate." The assem- bly collected itself to deliberate on the maintenance of its preceding resolutions (arrefh). " The first of these resolutions," said Barnave, " has declared what you are ; the second relates to the taxes, which you alone have a right to grant ; the third is the oath to do your duty. None of these measures needs the royal sanction. The King cannot prevent that to which his assent is not required." At this moment workmen arrived to take away the benches ; armed soldiers crossed the hall ; others surrounded the outside ; the life-guard advanced to the very door. The assembly continued its proceedings without in- terruption ; the members kept their seats, and the votes were collected. They were unanimous for upholding the preceding resolutions. That was not all: amidst the royal town, surrounded by the servants of the court, without the aid of that populace since so formidable, the as- sembly was liable to be threatened. Mirabeau repaired to the tribune, and proposed to decree the inviolability of every deputy. The assem- bly, opposing to force but one majestic will, immediately declared each of its members inviolable, and proclaimed everyone who should offer tliem violence a traitor, infamous, and guilty of a capital crime. Meanwhile, the nobility, who looked upon the state as saved by this " bed of justice," presented its congratulations to the prince who had furnished the idea of it, and carried them from the prince to the Queen. The Queen, holding her son in her arms, and showing him to these devoted servants, received their oaths, and unfortunately abandoned herself to a blind confidence. At this very moment shouts were heard : every one ran to inquire the meaning of them, and learned that the people, assembling in crowds, were applauding Necker be- cause he had not attended the royal sitting. Alarm instantly took the place of joy ; the King and Queen sent for Necker, and those august personages were obliged to entreat him to retain his portfolio. The minister complied, and transferred to the court a part of that popu- larity which he had acquired by absenting himself from that fatal sitting. Thus was effected the first Revolution. The tiers-itat had reco- vered the legislative power, and its adversaries had lost it by attempt f FRENCH i:r. VOLUTION. 51 ing to keep it entirely to themselves. In a few days, this legislative revolution was completely consummated. Recourse was still had to petty annoyances, such as interruptiu"; the internal communications in the halls of the States; but they were unsuccessful. On the 24th, the majority of the clergy proceeded to the assembly, and demanded the veritication in common, in order to deliberate afterwards on the proposals made by t!ie King in the sitting of the 23d of June. The minority of the clergy continued to deliberate in its own chamber. .Tuiwne, Archbishop of Paris, a virtuous prelate and a benefactor of the people, but a stickler for privileges, was pursued, and forced to promise to join the assembly. He accordingly repaired to the Na- tional Assembly, accompanied by the Archbishop of Bordeaux, a popular prelate, who was afterwards minister. The nobility was in a state of the greatest agitation. Its ordinary instigators inflamed its passions : d'Espremenil proposed to prosecute the tiers-6tat, and to direct proceedings to be instituted against it by the attorney-general : the minority proposed the reunion. This mo- tion was rejected amidst tumult. The Duke of Orleans supported the motion, after having, on the preceding day, given a promise to the contrary to the Polignacs. Forty-seven members, having determined to join the general assembly, in spite of the decision of the majority, repaired to it in a body, and were received with demonstrations of public joy. But, notwithstanding the rejoicing caused by their pre- sence, their looks were sad. " We yield to our conscience," said Clermont-Tonnerre, " but it is with pain that we separate our- selves from our colleagues. We have come to concur in the public regeneration ; each of us will let you know the degree of activity which his mission allows hira." Every day brought fresh accessions, and the assembly saw the number of its members increase. Addresses poured in from all parts, expressing the good wishes and the approbation of the towns and provinces. Mounier prompted those of Dauphine ; Paris sent one, and even the Palais Royal despatched a deputation, which the assem- bly, as yet encompassed with dangers, received, that it might not alienate the multitude. At that time it did not foresee the excesses of the populace ; it had need, on the contrary, to presume its energy, and to hope for its support : many, however, doubted the courage of the people, which was as yet but a pleasing dream. Thus the plaudits of the tribunes, fi-equently annoying to the assembly, had nevertheless supported it, and the assembly durst not prevent them. Bailly would have complained, but his voice and his motion were drowned by thundering applause. The majority of the nobility continued its sittings, amidst tumult and the most violent animosities. Terror seized those who directed it, and the signal for reunion was made by those very persons who had previously preached resistance. But its passions, already too much excited, were not easily guided. The King was obliged to write a letter ; the court, the grandees, were humbled to entreaties. " The junction will be transient," it was said to the most obstinate; " troops are approaching; give way to save the King." Consent was 52 HISTORY OF THE extorted amidst uproar, and tlie majority of the nobility, accompanied by the minority of the clergy, proceeded, on the 27th of June, to the general assembly. The Duke of Luxembourg, speaking in the name of all, said that they were come to pay a mark of respect to the King, and to give a proof of patriotism to the nation. " The family is complete," replied Bailly. Supposing that the assemblage was entire, and that the question was not to verify but to deliberate in common, he added : " We can now attend without intermission and without distraction to the regeneration of the kingdom and of the public weal." Many petty artifices were still employed to avoid the appearance of having done what necessity imperatively required. The new comers always entered after the opening of the sittings, all in a body, so as to give themselves the look of an order. They affected to stand behind the president, or, at least, not to appear to sit. Bailly, with great moderation and firmness, at length overcame all resistance, and prevailed on them to be seated. Attempts were also made to displace him from the presidency, not by main force, but sometimes by secret negociation, at others by stratagem. Bailly retained it, not out of ambition but out of duty ; and a plain citizen, known only by his virtues and his talents, was seen presiding over all the grandees of the kingdom and the church. It was too evident that the legislative revolution was accomplished. Though the subject of the first dispute was solely the mode of verifi- cation, and not the manner of voting ; though some had declared that they joined merely for the common verification, and others in obedience to the royal intentions as expressed on the 23d of June; it was certain that the voting by individuals had become inevitable : all remonstrance therefore was useless and impolitic. The Cardinal de Larochefoucauld, nevertheless, protested, in the name of the mi- nority, and declared that he had joined solely to deliberate on general subjects, still retaining the right to form an order. The Archbishop of Vienne replied with warmth, that the minority had not had the power to decide any thing in the absence of the majority of the clergy, and that it had no right to speak in the name of the order. Mirabeau inveighed strongly against this pretension, observing, that it was strange any one should protest in the assembly against the assembly. " You must," said he, " either recognize its sovereignty or retire." The question of imperative instructions was next brought forward. Most of the instructions expressed the wishes of the electors respect- ing the reforms to be effected, and rendered these wishes obligatory on the deputies. Before they stirred, it was necessary to ascertain to what point they could go : this question, therefore, could not but be the first. It was taken up, and resumed several times. Some were for returning to their constituents ; others were of opinion that they could not receive from the constituents any other mission than that of voting for them after subjects should have been discussed by the representatives of the whole nation, but they were not of opinion that deputies could receive instructions ready made beforehand. If we assume, in fact, that we have no power to make laws but in a general I FRENCH REVOLUTION. 53 council, either because we meet with more intelhgence the higher we rise, or because we cannot come to any decision but when all the parts of the nation have reciprocally understood one another, then, indeed, it is true that the deputies ought to be free and unshackled by obliga- tory instructions. Mirabeau, sharpening reasoning by irony, observed, that " those who considered the instructions as impei'ative, had done wrong to come ; they had but to leave instructions on their benches, and those papers would fill their seats as well as they." Sieyes, with his usual sagacity, foreseeing that, notwithstanding the perfectly just decision of the assembly, a great number of members would fall back upon their oaths, and that by taking refuge in their consciences they would render themselves unassailable, moved the order of the day, upon the groimd that each was the best judge of the validity of the oath which he had taken. " Those," said he, " who deem them- selves bound by their instructions, shall be considered as absent, just the same as those who i*efused to verify their powers in general assem- bly." This judicious opinion was adopted. The assembly, by having recourse to constraint, would have furnished the opposers with pre- texts ; whereas, by leaving them free, it was sure to bring them over to its own way of thinking: for thenceforth its victory was certain. The object of the new convocation was the reform of the state, that is, the establishment of a constitution, which France as yet had not, whatever may be said to the contrary. If any kind of relations between the governed and the government are to be so called, then indeed France possessed a constitution ; a king had commanded, and subjects obeyed ; ministers had arbitrarily imprisoned ; contractors had wrung the last denier from the people ; parliaments had sentenced unfortunate wretches to the wheel. The most barbarous nations have such kinds of constitutions. There had been States-General* in France, but without precise powers, without fixed times for nieethig again, and always without results. There had been a royal autho- rity, alternately null or absolute. There had been sovereign tribu- nals or courts, which frequently combined the legislative with the judicial power. But there was no law to ensure the responsibility of the agents of power, the liberty of the press, individual liberty ; in short, all the guarantees which, in the social state, make amends for the fiction of natural liberty .f * Pliilippe le Bel was thu first French monarch who convoked tlie States-General, in 1303. Jean le Bon, in 1:555, also called together tiie national assemblies, or " les Champs de Mars;" and these assemblies have since that period always retained the title of States-General. The clergy had as their president the Archbishop of Rlieims ; Gaulhier de Brienne was cho.sen by the nobles; and Marcel, the Mayor of Faris, was at the head of the iicrs-fAat. 1 1 snpport with notes and (ptotations only such passages asare susceptible of being disputed. The question, whether we had a constitution, seems to me one of the most important of the revolution ; for it is the absence of a fundamental law that justi- fies our having determined to give ourselves one. On this poiiU. I think it impossi- ble to quote an authority more respectal)le and h-ss suspicious than that of 31. Lally- Tollendal. On the 15th of .lujy, 1789, that excellent citizen delivered a speech in the chamber of the nobility, the greater part of which is subjoined. " Long reproaches, tinctured moreover with considerable acrimony, have been made, gentlemen, agalinst members of this assembly, who, with equal "pain and re- serve, have e.\pressed doubts on what is called our" constitution. This subject has 54 HISTORY OF THE The Avant of a constitution was acknowledged and generally felt : all the instructions had energetically expressed it, and entered into a formal explanation of the fundamental principles of that constitution. They had unanimously prescribed the luonarcliical government, here- not perhaps a very direct connexion with that at present under discussion ; but since it has afforded ground for accusation, lei it also furnish one for defence ; and pern)it nie to address a few words to the authors of these reproaches. " You have assuredly no law which enacts that the States-General are an integral part of the sovereignty, for you are demanding one; and, up to this day, sometimes a decree of council forbade them to deliberate, at others a decree of parliament au- nidled their deliberations. " Vou have no law that fixes the periodical return of your States-General, for you arc demanding one; and it is one hundred and seventy-five years since they were assembled. " You have no law to protect your individual safety and liberty from arbitrary at- tacks, ibr you are demanding one; and, during the reign of a King whose justice is known and whose probity is respected by all Europe, ministers have caused your magistrates to be torn from the sanctuary of the laws by armed satellites. In the preceding reign, all the magistrates in the kingdom were dragged from their seats. lirom their Jiomes, and scattered by exile, some on the tops of mountains, others in the slough of marshes, all in situations more obnoxious than the most horrible of prisons. Go back still farther, and you will find a hundred thousand kttnsde caclict issued on account of paltry theological squabbles; and farther still, and yon see as many sanguinary commissions as arbitrary imprisonments; nay, you will find no spot on which you can repose till you come to the reign of your good Henry. '• You have no law which establishes the liberty of the press, for you are demand- ing one ; and up to this time your thoughts have been enslaved, your wishes chained ; the cry of your hearts under oppression has been stifled, sometimes by the despotism of individuals, at others by the still more terrible despotism of bodies. " You have not, or at least you no longer have, a law requiring your consent to taxes, for you are demanding one ; and, for two centuries jmst, you have been bur- dened with more than three or four hundred millions of taxes without having consent- ed to a single one. "You have no law which establishes the responsibility of all the ministers of the executive power, for you are demanding one ; and the creators of those sanguinary commissions, the issuers of those arbitrary orders, thedilapidators of the public exche- quer, the violators of the sanctuary of public justice, those who have imposed upon the virtues of one king, those who flattered the passions of another, those who brought disasters upon the nation, have been called to no account — have undergone 110 punishment. "Lastly, you have no general, positive, written law, no diploma at once royal and national, no great charter, upon which rests a fixed and invariable order, from which each learns how much of his liberty and property he ought to sacrifice for the sake of preserving the rest, which ensures all rights, which defines all powers. On the coiitrary, the system of your government has varied from reign to reign, frequently from ministry to ministry ; it has depended on the age and the character of one man. In minorities, under a weak prince, the royal authority, which is of importance to the prosperity and the dignity of the nation, has been indecently degraded, either by the creat, who with one hand shook the throne and with the other crushed the peo- ple, or by bodies which at one time seized with temerity what at another they had defended with courage. Under haughty princes who had flattered, under virtuous princes who were deluded, this same authority has been carried beyond all bounds. Your secondary powders, your intermediate powers, as you call them, have not been either better defined or more fixed. .Sometimes the parliaments have laid it down as a principle that they could not interfere in affairs of state ; at others, they have insisted that it was their prerogative to discuss them as representatives of the nation. On the one hand were seen proclamations making known the will of the king, on the other decrees, in which the king's officers forbade, in the king's name, the execu- tion of the king's orders. Among the courts the like discord prevails; they quarrel about their origin, their functions ; they nmtually launch anathemas at each other by their decrees. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 55 ditary succession from male to male, the exclusive attribution of the executive power to the King, the responsibility of all agents, the con- currence of the nation and the King in the making of laws, the voting of the taxes, and individual liberty. But they were divided on the creation of one or two legislative chambers, on the permanence, the periods for the meeting, and the dissolution of the legislative body ; on the political existence of the clergy and the parliaments ; on the ex- tent of the liberty of the press. All these questions, either solved or proposed in the instructions, plainly show to what a degree the pub- lic mind was at that time awakened in all parts of the kingdom, and how generally and decisively the wish for liberty was expressed in France.* But the founding of an entire constitution amid the rubbish " I set limits to these details, which I could extend ad infinitum, but if all these are incontestable facts, if you have none of these laws which 1 liave just enumerated and which you demand, or if, havini; them— and pay particular attention to this point — if, having them, you have not that which enforces their execution, that which guarantees their accomplishment and maintains their stability, explain to us what you understand by the word constitution, and admit at least that some indulgence is due to those who cannot help entertaining some doubts of the existence of ours. You are told continually to rally round this constitution: let us rather lose sight of that phantom to substitute a reality in its stead. And as for the term innovatimis, as for the appella- tion of innovators, which is constantly levelled at us, let us admit that the tirst uino- vatorsarein our hands, that the first innovators are our instructions; let us respect, let us bless this happy innovation, which must put every thing in its place, which must render all rights inviolalile, all the authorities beneficent, and all the subjects happy. " It is this constitution, gentlemen, that I wish for; it is this constitution that is the object for which we were sent hither, and which ought to be the aim of all our la- bours I it is this constitution which is shocked at the mere idea of the address that is proposed to us — an address which would compromise the King as well as the na- tion — an address, in short, which appears to me so dangerous that not only will I oppose it to the utmost, but that, were it possible it could be adopted, I should feel myself reduced to the painful necessity of protesting solemnly against it." * It may not be amiss to introduce here the summary of the instructions submitted to the National Assembly by M. de Clernmnt-Tonnerre. It is a good sketch of the state of opinions at this period, throughout France. In this point of view the sum mary is extremely important; and, though Paris exercised an intlueiice upon the drawing up of these instructions, it is not the less true that the provinces had the greatest share in them. Report of the Committee of Constitution, containing a Summary of the Instructions rela- tive to this subject, read to the National Assembly by M. the Count de Clermont- Tuntierre, in the silting of July 27, 1789. " Gentlemen — You are called to regenerate the French empire : to lliis great work yoif bring both your own wisdom and the wisdom of your constituents. " We have thought it right first to collect and present to you the suggestions scat- tered over the greater number of your instructions; we shall then submit to you the particular views of your committee, and those which it has been, or shall be, en- abled to collect from the different plans, and the ditl'ereiit observations, whicli have been, or which shall be, communicated or transmitted to it by the members of this august assembly. '•It is of the first part of tliis labour, gentlemen, that we are about to render you an account. " Our constituents, gentlemen, are all agreed upon one point: they desire the re- generation of the state; but some have expected it from the mere reform of abu- ses, and from the re-establishment of a constitution existing for fourteen centuries past, and which appeared to them capable of being yet revived, if the injuries which It has suffered from time, and the numerous insurrections of private interest against the public interest, were to be repaired. " Others have considered the e.xisting social system as so faulty, that they have de- 56 HISTORY OF THE of an ancient legislation, in spite of all opposition and the wild flights of many minds, was a great and difficult work. Besides the disagree- ments which diversity of interests could not fail to produce, the natu- ral divergence of opinions was also to be dreaded. An entire legisla- manded a new constitution, and that, with the exception of the monarchical govern- ment and forms, which it is an innate feeling of every Frenchman to love and to resjiect, and which they have ordered you to maintain, they have given to you all the powers necessary for creating a constitution, and for founding the prosperity of the French empire on sure principles, and on the distinction and regular constitu- tion of all the powers. These latter, gentlemen, have thought that the first chapter of the constitution ought to contain a declaration of the rights of man, of those im- prescriptible rights for the maintenance of which society was established. " The demand of this declaration of the rights of man, so constantly misconceived, may be said to be the only difference that exists between the instructions which de- sire a new constitution, and those which demand only the re-establishment of that which they regard as the existing constitution. " Both the one and the other have alike fixed their ideas upon the principles of monarchical government, upon the existence of the power and the organization of the legislative body, upon the necessity of the national assent to taxes, upon the organi- zation of the administrative bodies, and upon the rights of the citizens. " We shall advert, gentlemen, to these different subjects, and submit to you on each, as decision, the uniform results, and, as questions, the differing or contradictory results, presented by such of your instructions as it has been in our power to analyze, or to procure the substance of. " 1. The monarchical government, the inviolability of the sacred person of the king, and the hereditary descent of the crown from male to male, are alike acknowledged and sanctioned by the great majority of the instructions, and are not called in ques- tion by any. " 2. The king is, in like manner, acknowledged as the depositary of tlie executive power in ail its plenitude. '' 3. The responsibility of all the agents of authority is generally demanded. ''4. Some of the instructions assign to the king the legislative power, limited by the constitutional and fundamental laws of the kingdom; others admit that the king, in the interval between one session of the States-General and another, can, singly, make laws of police and administration, which shall be but provisional, and for which they require free registration in the sovereign courts ; one haillage has even required tliat the registration shall not take place without the consent of two thirds of the intermediate connnissions of the district assemblies. The greater number of the instructions acknowledge the necessity of the royal sanction for the promulgation of the laws. " VV^ith respect to the legislative power, most of the instructions recognise it as residing in the national representation, on condition of the royal sanction; and it ap- pears that this ancient maxim of the capitularies. Lex fit consensu populi et constitutione regis, is almost generally adopted by your constituents. "As to the organizationof the national representation, the questions on which you have to decide relate to the convocation, or to the duration, or to the composition, of the national representation, or to the mode of deliberation proposed to it by your constituents. " As to the convocation, some have declared that the States-General cannot be dissolved but by themselves; others, that the right of convoking, proroguing, and dissolving, belongs to the king, on the sole condition, in case of dissolution, that he shall innnediately issue a fresh convocation. " As to the duration, some have required that the sessions of the states shall be pe- riodical, and insisted that the periodical recurrence should notdepend either on the will or the interest of the depositories of authority : others, but in smaller number, have demanded the permanence of the States-General, so that the separation oi'lhe mem- bers should not involve tiie dissolution of the states. " The system of periodical sessions has given rise to a second question : Shall there or shall there not be an intermediate commission in the intervals between the sessions ? The majority o>f vour constituents have considered the establishment of an Intermediate commission as a dangerous expedient. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 57 tion, to be given to a great people, excites their minds so powerfully, inspires them with plans so vast and hopes so chimerical, that mea- sures either vague or exaggerated, and frequently hostile, are natu- rally to be expected from them. In order to give regularity to the "As to the composition, some have insisted on the separation of the three orders; but, in regard to this point, the extension of the powers which several representa- tions have already obtained, leaven, no doubt, a greater latitude for the solution of tiiis question. " Some huilluges have demanded the junction of the two higher orders in one and the same chamber; others, the suppression of the clergy, and the division of its mem- bers between the otlier two orders ; others, that the representation of the nobility should be double that of the clergy, and that both together should be equal to that of the commons. " One baUlage, in demanding the junction of the two higher orders, has demanded the establishment of a third, to be entitled the order of tlie farmers (ordre des cam- pagnes). It has likewise been proposed, that any person holding otiico, employ, or jilace at court, shall be disqualified to bea deputy to the States-General. Lastly, the inviolability of the persons of the deputies is recognised by the greater number of the baiiliigcs, and not contested by any. As to the mode of deliberation, the question of opinion by individuals, and of opinion by orders, is solved : some baillages require two thirds of the opinions to form a resolution. " The necessity of the national consent to ta.xes is generally admitted by your con- stituents, and established by all your instructions : all limit the duration of a tax to the period which you shall have fixed, a period which shall in no case extend further than from one convocation to another ; and this imperative clause has appeared to all your constituents the surest guarantee of the perpetuity of your national assem- . bhes. " Loans being but an indirect tax, they have deemed it right that they should be subjected to the same principles. " Soma baillnges have excepted from imposts for a term such as should be destined for the liquidation of the national debt, and have expressed their opinion that these ought to be levied until its entire extinction. " As to the administrative bodies, or provincial states, all the instructions demand of you their establishment, and most of them leave their organization to your wis- dom. " Lastly, the rights of the citizens, liberty, property, are claimed witn energy by the whole French nation. It claims for each of its members the inviolability of private property, as it claims for itself the inviolability of the public property ; it claims in all its extent individual liberty, as it has just established for ever the national liberty ; it claims the liberty of the press, or the fifee communication of thought ; It inveighs with indignation against iettres de cachet, which dispose in an arbitrary manner of persons, and against the violation of the secrecy of the post, one of the most absurd and most infamous inventions of despotism. "Amidst this concurrence of claims, we have remarked, gentlemen, some particu- lar modifications relative to letlrcs dc cachet and the liberty of the press. Vou will weigh them in your wisdom; you will no doubt cheer up that sentiment of French honour, which in its horror of disgrace, has sometimes misconceived justice, and which will no doubt be as eager to submit to the law when it shall command the strong, as it was to withdraw itself from its control when it pres.sed only upon the weak; you will calm the uneasiness of religion, so frequently assailed by libels in the time of the prohibitory system ; and the clergy, recollecting that licentiousness was long the companion of slavery, will itself acknowledge that the first and the natural effect of liberty is the return of order, of decency, and of respect for the objects of the pub- lic veneration. " Such, gentlemen, is the account wiiich your committee has conceived itself bound to render of that part of your instructions which treats of the constitution. You will there find, no doubt, all the foundation-stones of the edifice which you are charged to raise to its full height; but you will perhaps miss in them that order, that unity of political combination, without which the social system will always exhibit numerous defects : the powers are there indicated, but they are not yet distinguished with the necessary precision ; the organization of tlie national representation is not VOL. I. — 8. <^ 3 58 HISTORY OF THE proceedings, a committee was appointed to measure their extent, and to arrange their distribution. This committee was composed of the most moderate members of the Assembly. Mounier, a cool-headed, but obstinate man, was its most laborious and influential member; it was he who drew up the order of the proceedings. This difficulty of giving a constitution was not the only one that sufficiently established, the principles of eligibility are not laid in them : it is from your labours that those results are to spring. The nation has insisted on being free, and it is you whom it has charged with its enfranchisement: the genius of France has hurried, as it were, the march of the public mind. It has accumulated for you in a few hours the experience which could scarcely be expected from many centuries. You have it in your power, gentlemen, to give a constitution to France : the King and the people demand one ; both the one and the other have deserved it. " Result of the Analysis of the Instructions. "avowed principles. " Art. 1. The French government is a monarchical government. "2. The person of the King is inviolable and sacred. "3. His crown is hereditary from male to male. " 4. The King is the depositary of the executive power. "5. The agents of authority are responsible. " 6. The royal sanction is necessary for the promulgation of the laws. " 7. The nation makes laws with the royal sanction. "8. The national consent is necessary for loans and taxes. "9. Taxes can be granted only for the period from one convocation of the States- General to another. " 10. Property shall be sacred. " 11. Individual liberty shall be sacred. " Questions on which the whole of the Instructions have not explained themselves in a uni- form manner. "Art. I. Does the King possess the legislative power, limited by the constitu- tional laws of tlie kingdom ? "2. Can the King, singly, make provisional laws of police and administration in the interval between the holding of the States-General? " S. Shall these laws be subject to free registration in the sovereign courts ? "4. Can the States-General be dissolved only by themselves ? " 5. Has the King alone the power to convoke, prorogue, and dissolve, the States- General ? "6. In case of dissolution, is not the King obliged immediately to issue anew con- vocation? " 7. Shall the States-General be permanent or periodical ? " 8. If they are periodical, shall there or shall there not be an intermediate com mission ? "9. Shall the two first orders meet together in one and the same chamber ? " 10. Shall the two chambers be formed without distinction of orders ? " 11. Shall the members of the order of the clergy be divided between the other two orders? " 12. Shall the representation of the clergy, nobility, and commons, be in the pro portion of one, two, and three? " 13. Shall there be established a third order, withthe title of order of the farmers? " 14. Can persons holdmg offices, employments, or places at court, be elected deputies to the States-General ? " 15. Shall two thirds of the votes be necessary in order to form a resolution? "16. Shall taxes having for their object the liquidation of the national debt be levied till its entire extinction? " 17. Shall iMrcs dc cachet be abolished or modified ? " 18. Shall the liberty of the press be indefinite or modified?" FRENCH REVOLUTIOi*. 6d the Assembly had to surmount. Between an ill-disposed government and a starving populace, vs^hich required speedy relief, it was difficult for it to avoid interfering in the administration. Distrusting the supreme authority, and urged to assist the people, it could not help, even without ambition, encroaching by degrees on the executive power. The clergy had already set it the example, by making to the tiers-ttat the insidious proposal to direct its immediate attention to the subject of the pid)lic subsistence. The Assembly, as soon as it was formed, appointed a committee of subsistence, applied to the ministry for information on the subject, proposed to favour the circulation of provisions from province to province, to convey them officially to the places where they were needed, and to defray the expense by loans and charitable contributions. The ministry communicated the effica- cious measures which it had taken, and which Louis XVI., a careful administrator, had favoured to the utmost of his power. Lally-Tol- lundal proposed to issue decrees relative to free circulation ; upoji which Mounier objected that such decrees would require the royal sanction, and this sanction, beinj; not vet regulated, would be attended with serious difficulties. Thus all sorts of obstacles combined toge- ther. It was requisite to make laws, though the legislative forms were not fixed ; to superintend the administration without encroaching on the executive authority ; and to provide against so many difficulties, in spite of the ill-will of power, the opposition of interests, the jarring of opinions, and the urgency of a populace recently awakened and rousing itself, a few leagues from the Assembly, in the bosom of an immense capital. A very small distance separates Paris from Versailles, and a person may traverse it several times in one day. All the disturbances in Paris were, therefore, immediately known at Versailles, both to the court and to the Assembly. Paris then exhibited a new and extraor- dinary spectacle. The electors, assembled in sixty districts, refused to separate after the elections, and they remained assembled either to give instructions to their deputies, or from that fondness for agitation which is always to be found in the human heart, and which bursts forth with the greater violence the longer it has been repressed. They had fared just the same as the National Assembly: being shut out of their place of meeting, they had repaired to another ; they had finally obtanied admittance into the Hotel de Ville, and there they continued to assemble and to correspond with their deputies. There were yet no public prints that gave an account of the sittings of the National Assembly ; people therefore felt it necessary to meet for the purpose of learning aiul conversing upon events. The garden of the Palais Royal was the theatre of the most numerous assemblages. This magnificent garden, surrounded by the richest shops in Europe, and forming an appurtenance to the palace of the Duke of Orleans, was the rendezvous of foreigners, of debauchees, of loungers, and, above all, of the most vehement agitators. The boldest harangues were delivered in the coffee-houses, or in the garden itself. There might be seen an orator mounted upon a table, collecting a crov.d around him, and exciting them by the most furious language — language al- 60 HISTORY OF THE ways unpunished — for there the mob reigned as sovereign. Here men, supposed to be the tools of the Duke of Orleans, displayed the greatest violence. The wealth of that prince, his well-known prodi- gality, the enormous sums which he borrowed, his residence on the spot, his ambition, though vague, all served to point accusation against him.* History, without mentioning any name, is authorized, at least, to declare that money was profusely distributed. If the sound part of the nation was ardently desirous of liberty, if the restless and suf- fering multitude resorted to agitation for the purpose of bettering its condition, there were instigators who sometimes excited that multi- tude, and perhaps directed some of its blows. In other respects, this influence is not to be reckoned among the causes of the revolution, for it is not with a little money and with secret manoeuvres that you can convulse a nation of twenty-five millions of souls. An occasion for disturbance soon occurred. The French guards, picked men, destined to compose the King's guard, were at Paris ; four companies were detached by turns to do duty at Versailles. Be- sides the barbarity of the new discipline, these troops had reason to complain also of that of their new colonel. At the pillage of Reveil- lon's house they had ceilainly shown some animosity against the populace ; but they had subsequently been sorry for it, and, mingling daily with the mob, they had yielded to its seductions. Moreover, both privates and subalterns were aware that the door to promotion was closed against them : they were mortified to see their young ofld- cers do scarcely any duty, showing themselves only on parade-days, and after reviews not even accompanying the regiment to the barracks. Here, as elsewhere, there had been a tiers-itat, which had to do all the work without receiving any share of the profit. Symptoms of insubordination manifested themselves, and some of the privates were confined in the Abbaye.t * '' At this period, a report, which had long been circulated, assumed a semblance of truth. The Duke of Orleans had been accused of being at the head of a party, and the newspapers of the day employed his name in the hints which they daily set forth, that France should follow the example of England. The Duke of Orleans was fixed upon, because, in the English revolution, the direct line of the royal family had been expelled in favour of the Prince of Orange. The thing was so often re- peated, that the Duke of Orleans began at la.st to believe that he might place himself at the head of a party, and become the leader of a faction, without the qualitication for such an office." — Memoirs of the Duchess d'Abrantes. E. t " The regiment of the French guards, consisting of 3600 men, in the highest state of discipline and equipment, had for some time given alarming symptoms of disaffection. Their colonel had ordered them, in consequence, to be confined to their barracks, when three hundred of them broke out of their bounds, and repaired instantly to the Palais Royal. They were received with enthusiasm, and liberally plied with money, by the Orleans party; and to such a height did the transport rise, that, how incredible soever it may appear, it is proved by the testimony of numerous witnesses above all suspicion, that women of family and distinction openly embraced the soldiers as they walked in the gardens with their mistresses. After these disor- ders had continued for some time, eleven of the ringleaders in the mutiny were seized and thrown in the prison of the Abbey; a mob of GOOO men immediately assembled, forced the gates of the prison, and brought them back in triumph to the Palais Royal. The King, upon the petition of the Assembly, pardoned the prisoners, and on the following day they were walking in triumph through the streets of Paris." — Alison's French Revolution. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 61 The men assembled at the Palais Royal, shouting " To the Ab- baye !" the mob instantly ran thither. The doors were broken open, and the soldiers brou: with the citizens. Not less acute than bold, he ventured to assure the King that his promises should not be vain. " You have summoned us," said he, " to regenerate the kingdom ; your wishes shall be accomplished, in spite of snares, difficulties, dangers," &c. The address was presented by a deputation of twenty-four mem- bers. The King, having resolved not to enter into explanations, replied that the assemblage of troops was for no other purpose than the maintenance of the public tranquillity, and the protection due to the Assembly ; that, moreover, if the latter still felt any apprehen- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 63> sions, he would remove it to Soissons or Noyon, and that he would himself repair to Compiefifae. The Assembly could not be satisfied with such an answer, and especially with the proposal to withdraw from the capital, and to place itself between two camps. The Count de Crillon proposed that they sliould trust to the word of a King, who was an honest man. " The word of a King, who is an honest man," replied Mirabeau, " is a bad security for the conduct of his ministers ; our l)lind confidence in our kings has undone us: we demanded the withdrawal of the troops, and not permission to flee before them. We must insist again and again." This opinion was not supported. Mirabeau insisted so strongly upon open means, that he may be forgiven any secret machinations, if it be true that he actually resorted to them. < The 11th of July had now arrived. Necker had several times told the King that, if his services were not acceptable, he wotdd retire with submission. " I take you at your word," replied the King. On the 11th, in the evening, Necker received a note in which Louis XA'F. required him to keep his word, and urged him to set out, adding that he had sufficient confidence in him to hope that he would keep his de- ])arture a profound secret. Necker, justifying the honourable confidence of the monarch, set out without apprizing his friends or even his daughter, and in a few hours was at a considerable distance from Ver- sailles. The following day, July r2th, was Sunday. A report was now circulated at Paris that Necker had been dismissed, as well as Messrs. de Montmorin, de la Luzerne, de Puisegur, and de St. Priest. As their successors, Messrs, de Breteuil, de la Vauguyon, de Broglie, Foulon, and Dam^court, were mentioned, almost all known for their opposition to the popular cause. The alarm spread throughout Paris. Tile people hurried to the Palais Royal. A young man, since cele- brated for his republican enthusiasm, endowed with a tender heart but an impetuous spirit, mounted a table, held up a pair of pistols, and shouting " To arms!" plucked a leaf from a tree, of which he made a cockade, and exhorted the crowds to follow his example. The trees were instantly stripped. The people then repaired to a museum con- taining busts in wax. They seized those of Necker and the Duke of Orleans, who was threatened, it was said, with exile, and then spread themselves in the various quarters of Paris. This mob was passing through the Rue St. Honore, when it was met, near the Place Vendome, by a detachment of the Royal German regiment, which rushed upon it and wounded several persons, among whom was a soldier of the French guards. The latter, predisposed in favour of the people and against the Royal Germans, with whom they had a few days befi>re had a quarrel, were in barracks near the Place Louis XV. They fired upon the Royal Germans. The Prince dt; Lambesc, who command- ed this regiment, instantly fell back upon tlu' garden of the Tuiileries, charged the people who were quietly walking there, killed an old man amidst the confusion, and cleared the garden. Meanwhile, the troops surrounding Paris formed in the Champ de Mars and the Place Louis XV. Terror, before unbounded, was now changed into fury. People 64 HISTORY OF THE ran into the city, shouting " To arms !" The mob hurried to the H8tel de Ville to demand weapons. The electors composing the ge- neral assembly were there met. They delivered out the arms, which they could no longer refuse, and which, at tlie instant when they de- termined to grant them, the people had already begun to seize. These electors composed at the moment the only established authority. De- prived of all active powers, they assumed such as the occasion requi- red, and ordered the districts to be convoked. All the citizens instantly assembled, to consult upon the means of protecting themselves at one and the same time against the rabble and the attack of the royal troops. During the night, the populace, always ready for excitement, forced and burned the barriers, dispersed the gate-keepers, and afford- ed free access by all the avenues to the city. The gunsmiths' shops were plundered. Those brigands who had already signalized them- selves at Reveillon's, and who on all occasions are seen springing up, as it were, out of the ground, again appeared, armed with pikes and bludgeons, spreading consternation. These events took place on Sunday, the r2diof July, and in the night between Sunday and Mon- day, the 13th, On Monday morning, the electors, still assembled at the H8tel de Ville, thought it incumbent on them to give a more legal form to their authority : they accordingly summoned the attendance of the provost of the trades [pr^vot des marchands), the ordinary ad- ministrator of the city. The latter refused to comply unless upon a formal requisition. A requisition was in consequence issued ; a cer- tain number of electors were appointed as his assistants, and thus was composed a municipality invested with all necessary powers. This municipality sent for the lieutenant of police, and drew up in a few hours a plan for arming the civic militia. This militia was to consist of forty-eight thousand men, furnished by the districts. The distinctive sign was to be the Parisian cockade, red and blue, instead of the green cockade. Every man found in arms and wearing this cockade, without having been enrolled by his district in the civic guard, was to be apprehended, disarmed, and pun- ished. Such was the primary origin of the national guards. This plan was adopted by all the districts, which hastened to carry it into execution. In the course of the same morning, the people had plun- dered the house of St. Lazare in search of grain ; they had forced the armoury to obtain arms, and had rummaged out the ancient armour and put it on. The rabble, wearing helmets and carrying pikes, were seen inundating the city. The populace now showed itself hostile to pil- lage ; with its usual fickleness, it affected to be disinterested ; it spared money, took nothing but arms, and itself apprehended the brigands. The French guards and the night-watch had offered their services, and they had been enrolled in the civic guard. Arms were still demanded with loud shouts. Flesselles, the provost, who had at first resisted his fellow-citizens, now manifested great zeal, and promised twelve thousand muskets on that very day, and more on the following days. He pretended that he had made a contract with an unknown gunsmith. The thing appeared diflScult, consider- ing the short time that had elapsed. Meanwhile, evening drew on ; FRENCH REVOLUTION'. 65 the chests of arms announced by Flesselles were carried to the H8tel de Ville ; they were opened, and found to be full of old linen. At this sight the multitude was fired with indignation against the provost, who declared that he had been deceived. To appease them, he di- rected them to go to the Carthusians, with the assurance that arms would there be found. The astonished Carthusians admitted the furious mob, conducted them into their retreat, and finally convinced them that they possessed nothing of the sort mentioned by the pro- vost. The rabble, more exasperated than ever, returned with shouts of " Treachery !" To satisfy them, orders were issued for the manufac- ture of fifty thousand pikes. Vessels with gunpowder were descend- ing the Seine, on their way to Versailles ; these were stopped, and an elector distributed the powder amidst the most imminent danger. A tremendous confusion now prevailed at the Hotel de Ville, the seat of the authorities, the head-quarters of the militia, and the centre of all operations. It was necessary to provide at once for the safety of the town, which was threatened by the court, and its internal safety endangered by the brigands ; it Avas requisite every moment to> allay the suspicions of the people, who believed that they were be- trayed, and to save from their fury those who excited their disti-ust.. About this place were to be seen carriages stopped, wagons inter- cepted, travellers awaiting permission to proceed on their journey- During the night, the H8tel de Ville was once more menaced by the brigands. An elector, the courageous Moreau de St. Mery, to whose care it had been committed, caused barrels of powder to be brought, and threatened to blow it up. At this sight the brigands retired. Meanwhile the citizens, who had gone to their homes, held themselves in readiness for every kind of attack : they had unpaved the streets, opened the trenches, and taken all possible measures for resisting a siege. During these disturbances in the capital, consternation pervaded the Assembly. It had met on the morning of the 13th, alarmed bv the events that were in preparation, and still ignorant of what was passing in Paris. Mounier, the deputy, first rose and censured the dismissal of the ministers. Lally-Tollendal, who took his place in the tribune, pronounced a splendid panegyric on Necker, and both joined in proposing an address, for the purpose of soliciting the King to recal his disgraced ministers. M. de Virieu, a deputy of the nobi- lity, even proposed to confirm the resolutions of the 17th of .June bv a new oath. M. de Clennont-Tonnerre opi)osed this motion as useless ; and, referring to the engagements by which the Assembly had already bound itself, he exclaimed, " The constitution shall be, or we will perish !" The discussion had lasted some time, when news arrived of the disturbances in Paris during the morning of the 13th, and the calamities with which the capital was threatened between undisci- plined Frenchmen, who, according to the expression of the Duke de La Rochefoucault, were not in any one's hand, and disciplined foreigners, who were in the hand of despotism. It was instantly re- solved to send a deputation to the King, for the purpose of submitting VOL. I. — 9 <^ 3 66 HISTORY OF THE to him a picture of the desolation of the capital, and beseeching him to order the removal of the troops, and the estabUshment of the civic guards. The King returned a cold, dry answer, which was far from according with his disposition, and alleged that Paris was not capable of guarding itself. The Assembly then, exalting itself to the noblest courage, passed a memorable resolution, in which it insisted on the removal of the troops and the establishment of the civic guards; de- clared the ministers and all the agents of power responsible ; threw upon the counsellors of the King, of whatever rank they might be, the responsibility of the calamities that were impending, consolidated the [lubhc debt, forbade the mention of the infamous term bankruptcy, persisted in its preceding resolutions, and directed the president to ex- press its regret to jM. Necker and to the other ministers. After these measures, fraught alike with energy and prudence, the Assembly, in order to preserve its members from all personal violence, declared it- self permanent, and appointed M. de Lafayette vice-president, to relieve the worthy Archbishop of Vienne, whose age did not permit him to sit day and night. Thus passed the night between the 13th and 14th in agitation and ahirm. Fearful tidings were every moment brought and contradict- ed. AJl the plans of the court were not known; but it was ascertained that several deputies were threatened, and that violence was to be em- ployed against Paris and the most distinguished members of the Assembly. Having adjourned for a short time, the Assembly again met, at five in the morning of the 14th of July : with imposing calm- ness, it resumed the consideration of the constitution, and discussed with great propriety the means of accelerating its execution, and of conducting it with prudence. A committee was appointed to prepare the questions ; it was composed of the Bishop of Autun, the Arch- bisliop of Bordeaux, Messrs. Lally, Clermont-Tonnerre, Mounier, Sieyes, Chapelier, and Bergasse. The morning passed away. Intelli- gence more and more alai'ming continued to arrive. The King, it was said, was to set off in the night, and the Assembly would be left exposed to several foreign regiments. At this moment the princes, the Duchess de Polignac, and the Queen, were seen walking in the orangery, flatter- ing the officers and the soldiers, and causing refreshments to be distributed among them. It appears that a grand plan had been devis- ed for the night between the 14th and loth; that Paris was to be attacked on seven points, the Palais Royal suri-ounded, the Assembly dissolved, the declaration of the 23d of June submitted to the parlia- ment, and finally, thatthe wantsof the exchequer were to be supplied by bankruptcy and paper money. So much is certain, that the commaii dants of the troops had received orders to advance in the night between the 14th and 15th, that the paper money had been prepared, that the ban-acks of the Swiss were full of ammunition, and that the jrovernor of the Bastille had disfurnished the fortress, with the exception of some indispensable articles. In the afternoon, the terrors of the Assembly redoubled. The Prince de Lambesc was seen passing at full gallop. The report of cannon was heard, and people clapped their ears to the ground to catch the slightest sounds. Mirabeau then proposed to sus- FRKNCH REVOLUTION. 67 pend the discussions, and to send anotlier deputation to the King The deputation set c)iit immediately, to make fresh I'emonstrances. At this moment, two members of tiie Assembly, who had come from Paris in the utmost haste, declared that the people there were shuuditerino- one another ; one of them affirmed that he had seen the headless body of a man dressed in black. It began to grow dark. The arrival of two electors was annoiuiced. The most profoinid si- lence pervaded the hall ; the sound of their footfalls was heard amid the darkness ; and the Assembly learned from their lips that the Bas- tille was attacked, that cannon had been fired, tliat blood had been spilt, and that the city was threatened wiWi the direst calamities. A fresh deputation w-as instantly despatched before the return of the pre- ceding one. Just as it was about to depart, the first arrived, and brought the answer of the King. It reported that the King had ordered the troops encamped in tlie Champs de Mars to be withdrawn, and, having been apprized of the formation of the civic guard, had appoint- ed officers to command it. On the arrival of the second deputation, the King, more agitated than ever, said, " Gentlemen, you rend my heart more and more by the account you give of the calamities of Paris. It is not possible that the oi'ders given to the troops can be the cause of them." Nothing had yet been obtained but the removal of the army. It was now two in the morning. The answer returned to the city of Paris was, " that two deputations had been sent, and that the applications should be re- newed that day, until they had obtained the success which might justly be expected from the heart of the King, when extraneous impressions did not counteract its impidses." The sitting was suspended for a short time, and in the evening intelligence of the events of the 14th arrived. The populace, ever since the night of the 13th, had thronged about the Bastille. Some musket-shots had been fired, and it appears that ringleaders had repeatedly shouted " To tlie Bastille !" The wish for its destruction had been expressed in the instructions given to some of the deputies ; thus the ideas of the public had beforehand taken tliat direction. A cry for arms was still kept up. A report was spread that the H8tel des Invalides contained a considerable quantity. The mob instantly repaired thither. M. de Sombreuil, the governor, or- dered admittance to be denied, saying, that he must send for orders to Versailles. The populace, turning a deaf ear to all expostulation, rushed into the hotel, and carried off the cannon and a gi'eat quantity of muskets. A large concourse of people were already besieging the Bastille. They declared that the guns of the fortress were pointed at the city, and that they must take care to prevent their firing upon them. The deputy of a district solicited admission into the place, and obtained it of the commandant. In going over it, he found thirty-two Swiss and eighty-two invalids, and received a promise from the gar- rison not to fire unless it should be attacked. During this parley, the people, not seeing the deputy return, began to be exasperated, and the latter was obliged to show himself in order to appease the multitude. At length he retired, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. Half aa 6S HISTORY OF THE hour had scarcely elapsed, before a fresh mob arrived witli arms, shout- insf, " Let us storm the Bastille !" The garrison summoned the as- sailants to retire, but they persisted. Two men, with great intrepidity mounted the roof of the guard-house, and broke with axes the chains of the bridge, which fell down. The rabble rushed upon it, and ran to a second bridge, purposing to pass it in like manner. At this mo- ment a discharge of musketry brought it to a stand ; it fell back, but firing at the same time. The conflict lasted for a few moments. The electors, assembled at the H8tel de Ville, hearing the report of mus- ketry, became more and more alarmed, and sent two deputations, one on the heels of the other, to require the commandant to admit into the fortress a detachment of the Paris militia, on the ground that all the military force in the capital ought to be at the disposal of the city au- tliorities. These two deputations arrived in succession. Amidst this siege by the populace, it was with great difficulty that they could make themselves heard. The sound of the drum, the sight of a flag, for a time suspended the firing. The deputies advanced ; the garrison awaited them, but it was diflScult to understand each other. Musket- shots were fired, from some unknown quarter. The mob, persuaded that it was betrayed, then rushed forward to set fire to the building ; on this the garrison fired with grape. The French guards thereupon came up with cannon, and commenced an attack in form.* * " All morning, since nino, there has been a. cry every where : ' To the Bastille I' Repeated ' deputations of citizens' have been here, passionate for arms ; whom de Lauiiay has got dismissed by soft speeches through port-holes. Towards noon. Elector Tiiuriot de la Rosiere gains admittance: finds Delaunay indisposed for sur- render; nay, disposed for blowing up the place rather. Thtiriot mounts with him to the battlements : heaps of paving-stones, old iron, and missiles, lie piled: cannon all duly levelled ! in every embrasure a caimon, — only drawn back a little' But out- wards, behold, O Thuriot, how the multitude flows on, welling through every street; tocsin furiously pealing, all drums beating the g6n6r ale : the suburb Sainte-Antoine rolling hitherward wholly, as one man! Such vision (spectral yet real) thou, O Thiiriot, as from thy Mount of Vision, beholdest in this moment: prophetic of other phantasmagories, and loud-gibbering spectral realities which thou yet beholdest not, butslialt! " Q,ue vonlez-vous ?"' said Delaunay turning pale at the sight, with an air of reproach, almost of menace. ' Monsieur,' said Thuriot, rising irito the moral- sublime, 'what mean yuti? Consider if I could not precipitate hotk of us from this height,' — say only a hundred feet, exclusive of the walled ditch I Whereupon Delaunay fell silent. " Wo to thee, Delaunay, in such an hour, if thou canst not, taking some one firm decision, ndc circumstances ! Soft speeches will not serve ; hard grape-shot is ques- tionable ; but hovering between the two is iresentative of a great assembly, in presence of the majesty of the throne, he was less capable of withstanding the storms of a commonalty, where the 72 HISTORY or THE multitude struggled tumultuously against its magistrates. With exem- plary self-denial, however, he prepared to undertake the* difficult task of providing subsistence and feeding a populace who repaid him in the sequel witli such base ingratitude. A commandant of the militia yet remained to be appointed. There was in the hall a bust sent by enfranchised x\merica to the city of Paris : Moreau de St. Mery pointed to it witli his finger; all eyes were directed towards it. It was the bust of the Marquis de Lafayette. A general cry proclaimed him commandant. A Te Deum was instantly voted, and the assem- bly proceeded in a body to Notre-Dame. The new magistrates, the Archbishop of Paris, the electors, mingled with French guards and soldiers of the militia, walking arm in arm, repaired to the ancient cathedral, in a species of intoxication. By the way, the Foundlings threw themselves at the feet of Bailly, who had laboured zealously in behalf of the hospitals, and called him their father. Bailly clasped them in his arms, and called them his children. On reaching the church, the ceremony was performed, and the congregation then dispersed in the City, where a delirious joy had succeeded the terrors of the pre- ceding day. x4t this moment the people were flocking to see the den so long dreaded, to which there was now free access. They visited the Bastille with an eager curiosity, and with a sort of terror. They sought for the instruments of torture, for the deep dungeons. They went thither more particularly to see an enormous stone, placed in the middle of a dark and damp prison, to the centre of Avhich was fixed a ponderous chain. The court, as blind in its apprehensions as it had been in its con- fidence, felt such a dread of the populace, that it imagined every moment that a Parisian army was marching to Versailles. The Count d'Artois, and the Polignac family, so dear to the Queen, quitted France at that time, and were the first emigrants. Bailly came to cheer the King, and persuaded him to return to Paris, which he resolved to do, in spite of the resistance of the Queen and the court.* The King prepared to set out. Two hundred deputies were direct- ed to accompany him. The Queen took leave of him with profound grief. The body-guard escorted him to Sevres, where they stopped to await his return. Bailly, at the head of the municipality, received him at the gates of Paris, and presented to him the keys formerly offered to Henry IV. " That good King," said Bailly to him, " had conquered his people ; at present, it is the people who have re-con- quered their King." The nation, legislating at Versailles, Avas armed * "The day of the King's entry into Paris was the first of the emigration of the noblesse. The violent aristocratical party, finding all their coercive measures over- turned, and dreading the etTects of popular resentment, left the kingdom. The Count d'Artois, the Prince of Conde, the Prince of Couti, Marshall Broglio, and the whole family of the Polignacs, set off in haste, and arrived in safety at Brussels — a fatal example of defection, which, being speedily followed by the inferior nobility, pro- duced the most disastrous consequences. But it was the same in all the subsequent changes of the Revolution. The leaders of the royalist party, always the first to pro- pose violent measures, were at the same timeunal)le to support them when furiously opposed ; they diminisiied the sympathy of the world at their fall from so high a rank, by showing that they were unworthy of it." — Alison's French Revolution. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 73 at Paris. Louis XVI., on entering, found himself surrounded by a silent multitude, arrayed in military order. He arrived at the H&tel de Ville, passing under an arch of swords crossed over his liead, as a mark of honour. His address was simple and touching. The people, unable to contain themselves, at length burst forth, and lavished upon the King their accustomed applause. These acclama- tions somewhat soothed the heart of the prince; nevertheless, he could not disguise a feeling of joy on perceiving the body-guard stationed on the heights of Sevres; and, at his return, the Queen, throwing herself into his arms, embraced him as though she had been afraid that she should never see him again. Louis XVL, in order to satisfy completely the pubhc wish, ordered the dismissal of the new ministers, and the reinstatement of Necker. M. de Liancourt, the friend of the King, and his most useful adviser, was elected president by the Assembly. The noble deputies, who, though they attended the deliberations, still refused to take any part in tliem, at length yielded and gave their votes. Thus was consum- mated the amalgamation of the orders. From that moment the Revo- o lution might be looked upon as accomplished. The nation, possessed of the legislative power through the Assembly, and of the public force through itself, could henceforward carry into effect whatever was beneficial to its interest. It was by refusing the equality of im- posts that the government had rendered the States-General necessary ; it was by refusing a just division of authority among those states that it had lost all influence over them ; finally, it was in attempting to recover that influence that it had driven Paris to insurrection, and provoked the whole nation to appropriate to itself the public force. At this moment all was agitation in that immense capital, where a new authority had just been established. The same movement which had impelled the electors to set themselves in action, urged all classes to do the same. The Assembly had been imitated by the Hotel de Ville, the HStel de Ville by the districts, and the districts by all the corpora- tions. Tailors, shoemakers, bakers, domestic servants, meeting at the Louvre, in the Place Louis XV., in the Champs Elysees, delibe- rated in form, notwithstanding the repeated prohibitions of the muni- cipality. Amidst these contrary movements, the HStel de Ville, opposed by the districts, and annoyed by the Palais Royal, was encompassed with obstacles, and was scarcely adequate to the duties of its immense administration. It combined in itself alone the civil, judiciid, and military authority. The head-quarters of the militia were established there. The judges, at first, uncertain respecting their powers, sent thither accused persons. It possessed even the legislative power, for it was charged to form a constitution for itself. For this purpose, Bailly had demanded two commissioners for each district, who, by the name of representatives of the commune, were to draw up its constitution. The electors, in order that they might be able to attend to all these duties, had divided themselves into several committees. One, called the committee of research, superintended the police ; another, called the committee of subsistence, directed its attention to the §upply of provisions — the most diflScuIt and danger- voL. I. — 10 > 4 74 HISTORY OF THE ous task of all. It was in the latter that Bailly was himself obliged to labour night and day. It was necessary to make continual pur- chases of corn, then to get it ground, and afterwards carried to Paris through the famished country. The convoys were frequently stopped, and it required numerous detachments to prevent pillage by the way and in the markets. Though the state sold corn at a loss, that the bakers might keep down the price of bread, the multitude was not satisfied : it was found expedient to reduce the pi'ice still more, and the dearth of Paris was increased by this very diminution, because the country people flocked thither to supply themselves. Fears for the morrow caused all who could to lav in an abundant stock, and thus what was accumulated in some hands left nothing for others. It is confidence that accelerates the operations of commerce, that pro- duces an abundant supply of articles of consumption, and that renders their distribution equal and easy. But when confidence disappears, commercial activity ceases ; articles of consumption no longer arri- ving in sufficient quantity to meet the wants, those wants become importunate, add confusion to dearth, and prevent the proper distri- bution of the little that is left. The supply of subsistence was there- fore the most arduous duty of all. Bailly and the committee were a prey to painful anxieties. The whole labour of the day scarcely suf- ficed for the wants of the day, and they had to begin again on the morrow with the same perplexities. Lafayette, commandant of the civic militia, had as many troubles to encounter as Bailly. He had incorporated into this militia the French guards devoted to the cause of the revolution, a certain num- ber of Swiss, and a great quantity of soldiers who had deserted from their regiments in the hope of higher pay. The King had himself authorized this proceeding. These troops, collectively, formed what were called the companies of the centre. The militia assumed the name of the national guard, adopted a uniform, and added to the two colours of the Parisian cockade, red and blue, the white colour, which was that of the King. This was the tricoloured cockade, whose des- tinies Lafayette predicted, when he declared that it Avonld make the tour of the world. [t was at the head of these troops that Lafayette strove, for two consecutive years, to maintain the public tranquillity, and to enforce the execution of the laws which the Assembly daily enacted. Lafayette, the offspring of an ancient family which had remained uncontaminated amidst the corruption of the great, endowed with a firm' and upright mind, and fond of true glory, had become weary of the frivolities of the court and of the pedantic discipline of our armies. As his own country offered nothing noble to be attempted, he decided in favour of the most generous enterprise of the age, and embarked for Ame- rica, the day after that on which a report reached Europe that it was subdued. He there fought by the side of Washington, and decided the enfranchisement of the New World by the alliance of France. Returning to his own country with a European renown, welcomed at court as a novelty, he showed himself there, simple and free as an Ame- rican. When philosophy, which had been but a pastime for noble idlers. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 75 required sacrifices from them, Lafayette persisted almost alone in his opinions, demanded the States-General, contributed powerfully to tlie junction of the orders, and, by way of recompense, was appointed commandant-general of the National Guard. Lafayette had not the passions and tiie genius which frequently lead to the abuse of power: with an equable mind, a sound understanding, and a system of inva- riable disinterestedness, he was peculiarly fitted for the part which cir- cumstances had allotted to him — that of superintending the execution of the laws. Adored by his troops, though he had not captivated them by victory, ever calm and full of resources, amidst the ebulli- tions of the multitude he preserved order with indefatigable vigilance. The parties which had found him incorruptible, depreciated his abi- lities, because they could not attack his character. He formed, how- ever, no false estimate of men and events, appreciated the court and the party leaders at no more than their real value, and protected them at the peril of his life without esteeming them ; struggled, frequently without hope, against the factions, but with the perseverance of a man who is determined never to forsake the public weal, even when he deems it hopeless. Lafayette, notwithstanding his indefatigable vigilance, was not al- ways successful in his endeavours to check the popular fury. For, let a force be ever so active, it cannot show itself every where against a populace that is every where in agitation, and looks upon every man as an enemy. Every moment, the most absurd reports were cir- culated and credited. Sometimes it was said that the soldiers of the French guards had been poisoned ; at others, that the flour had been wilfully adulterated, or that its arrival had been prevented ; and those wlio took the greatest pains to bring it to the capital, were obliged to appear before an ignorant mob, who overwhelmed them with abuse or covered them with applause, according to the humour of the moment. Whether it was, however, that men were paid for aggravating the disturbances by instigating the rabble, or that they had still more de- testable motives, so much is certain, that they directed the fury of the people, who knew not either how to select or to seek long for their vic- tims. Foulon and Berthier were pursued and apprehended at a dis- tance from Paris. This was done with evident design. There was nothing spontaneous in the proceedings, except the fury of the mob by whom they were murdered. Foulon, formerly an intendant, a harsh and rapacious man, had committed horrible extortions, and had been one of the ministers appointed to succeed Necker and his colleagues. He was apprehended at Virey, though he had spread a report of his death. He was conveyed to Paris, and reproached by the way with having said that the people ought to be made to eat hay. A collar of nettles was put round his neck, a bunch of thistles in his hand, and a truss of hav at his back. In this state he was dratrijed to the Hotel de A'ille. At the same instant, his son-in-law, Berthier de Sauvigny, was appre- hended at Compiegne, by an order, as it was alleged, of the connnune of Paris, which had never issued any such order. The commune instantly wrote, directing that he should be released ; but this injunc- tion was not executed. He was bron ply the public necessities ; and, while he was thinking only of finan- cial questions, he was not aware that the Assembly was thinking ex- clusively of political questions. Necker and the Assembly, each en- grossed by their own object, perceived no other. If, however, the alarm of Necker was justified by the actual distress, so was the confi- dence of the Assembly by the elevation of its views. That Assembly, embracing France and its future fortunes, could not believe that this fine kingdom, though involved for the moment in embarrassments, was for ever plunged into indigence. Necker, when he entered upon ofl^ice in August, 1783, had found but four hundred thousand francs in the exchequer. He had, by dint of assiduity, provided for the most urgent wants; and circumstances had since increased those wants by diminishing the resources. It had been found necessary to purchase corn, and sell it again for less thaji the cost price ; to give away considerable sums in alms ; to under- take public works, in order to furnish cmploymeJit to the workmen. For this latter purpose, so much as twelve thousand francs per day had been issued by the exchequer. While the expenses had increased, the receipts had diminished. The reduction of the price of salt, the delay of payments, and in many cases the absolute refusal to pay the taxes, the smuggling carried on by armed force, the destruction of the barriers, nay, the plunder of the registers and the murder of the ckrks, had annihilated part of the public revenue. Necker, in con- sequence, demanded a loan of thirty millions. The first iiiiprcs.-ion was so strong, that the Assembly was about to vote the loan by accla- mation ; but this first impression soon subsided. A dislike was ex- pressed for new loans ; a kind of contradiction was committed by ap- pealing to the instructions, which had already been renounced, and which forbade the granting of imposts till the constitution had been framed : members even went so far as to enter into a calculation of the sums received since the preceding year, as if they distrusted the minister. However, the absolute necessity of providing for the wants of the state caused the loan to be carried ; but the minister's plan was changed, and the interest reduced to four and a half per cent., m false reliance upon a patriotism which was in the nation, but which couki not exist in money-lenders by profession, the only persons who in general enter into financial speculations of this kind. The first blun- der was one of those which assemblies usually commit, because they supersede the immediate views of the minister, who acts by the general views of twelve hundred minds which speculate. It was easy to per- ceive, therefore, that the spirit of the nation began already not to har- monize with the timidity of the minister. Having bestowed this indispensable care on the public tranquillity and the finances, the Assembly directed its attention to the dtclara- 86 HISTORY OF THE tion of rights. The first idea of it had been furnished bv Lafayette. who had himself borrowed it from the Americans. This discussion, interrupted by the revohition of the 14th of .Tuly, renewed on the Isi of August, a second time interrupted by the aboHtion of tlie feudal system, was anew and definitively resumed on the 12th of August. This idea had something important whicli struck the Assembly. The enthusiasm pervading the minds of the members disposed them to every thing that was grand ; this enthusiasm produced their sincerity, their couraore, their good and their bad resolutions. Accordinglv, they caught at this idea, and resolved to carry it into execution. Had they meant only to proclaim certain principles, particularly obnoxious to the authority whose yoke they had just shaken oft", such as the vo- ting of taxes, religious liberty, the liberty of the press, and ministerial responsibility, nothing would have been more easy. This was what America and England had formerly done. France might have com- pressed into a few pithy and positive maxims, the new principles which she imposed upon her government ; but, desiring to go back to a state of nature, she aspired to give a complete declaration of all the rights of the man and of the citizen. At first the necessity and the danger of such a declaration were discussed. Much was said and to no purpose on this subject, for there was neither utility nor danger in issuing a declaration composed of formulas that were above the com- prehension of the people. It was something only for a certain num- ber of philosophic minds, which never take any great part in popular seditions. It was resolved that it should be made, and placed at the head of the constitutional act. But it was necessary to draw it up, and that was the most difficult point. What is a right? — that which is due to men. Now all the good that can be done to them is their due ; every wise measure of government is therefore a right. Thus all the proposed plans contained a definition of the law, the manner in whicli it was to be made, the principle of the sovereignty, &-c. It was objected, that these were not rights, but general maxims. It was nevertheless of importance to express those maxims. Mirabeau, be- coming impatient, at length exclaimed, " Omit the word rights, and ^ say, ' For the interest of all it has been declared.' " The more impos- 9 ing title of declaration of rights was nevertheless preferred, and under it were blended maxims, principles, and declarations. Out of the whole was composed the celebrated declaration placed at the head of the constitution of 1791. In other respects, there was no great harm done in wasting a few sittings on a philosophic commonplace. But who can censure men for becoming intoxicated with an object by which they were so much engrossed. It was at length time to turn to the consideration of the constitu- tion. The fatigue occasioned by the preliminaries was general, and the fundamental questions beiran already to be discussed out of the Assembly. The English constitution was the model that naturally presented itself to many minds, since it was the compact made in England in coiiso(|uence of a similar struggle between the king, the aristocracy, and the people. This constitution resided essentially in the establishment of two chambers and in the royal sanction. Minds FRENCH REVOLUTION. 87 in their first flight go to the simplest ideas : a people declaring its will, and a king who executes it, appeared to tlieni the only legitimate form of government. To give to the aristocracy a share equal to that of the nation, by means of an upper chamber; to give to tlie king the right of annulling the national will ; seemed to them an absurdity. The nation wills, the king executes: they could not get beyond these sim- ple elements, and they imagined that they wished for a monarchy, because they left a king as the executer of the national resolutions. Real monarchy, as it exists even in states reputed free, is the rule of one, to which limits are set by means of the national concurrence. There the will of the prince in reality does almost every thing, and that of the nation is confined to the prevention of evil, either by dis- puting the taxes, or by concurring in the law. But the moment that the nation can order what it pleases, without the king's having the power to oppose it by a veto, the king is no more than a magistrate. It is then a republic, with one consul instead of several. The govern- ment of Poland, though it had u king, was never called a monarchy but a repul)lic ; there was a king also at Lacedaemon. Rlonarciiy, properly understood, requires therefore great conces- sions from opinion. But it is not after a long nullity, and in their first enthusiasm, that they are disposed to make them. Thus the republic existed in men's opinions, without being mentioned, and they were republicans without being aware of it. In the discussion, the members did not explain themselves with precision : accordingly, notwithstanding the genius and knowledge to be found by the Assembly, the question was superficially treated and imperfectly understood. The partisans of the English constitu- tion, Necker, Mounier, and Lally, could not see in what the monarchy ought to consist; and if they had seen it, they durst not have told the Assembly plainly that the national will ought not to be omnipotent, and that it ought to confine itself to prevention rather than take upon itself the executive. All they had to urge was, that it was necessary that the King should possess the power of checking the encroach- ments of an assembly; that, in order to his duly executing the law, and executing it cheerfully, it was requisite that he should have co- operated in it ; and, finally, that there ought to exist a connexion between the executive and legislative powers. These reasons were bad, or at any rate weak. It was ridiculous, in fiict, whilst recogni- sing the national sovereignty, to pretend to oppose to it the sole will of the Kinff.* •«=• * The reader will find in the sequel, at the comuiencemeiit of the history of the Legislative Assembly, a judgment that appears to me to be just concerning the faults imputed to the constitution of 1791. I have here but one word to say on the plan of establi^'hing, at this period, the English form of government in France. Tiiat form of governniont is a compromise between the three interests which divide modern states — royalty, the aristocracy, and the democracy. Now this compromise caiuiol take place, till after the parties have exhausted their strengtii, that is to say. after com- bat, or in other words, after a revolution. In England, in fact, it was not brought about till afler a long struggle, .after democracy and usurpation. To pretend to etl'ect the compromise before the combat, is to attempt to make peace before war. Tiiis is a melancholv, but at the sauie time an incontestable truth : men never treat till thev i 88 HISTORY Of THE They defended the two clmmbers more successfully, because there are, in fact, even in a republic, higher classes which must oppose the too rapid movements of the classes that are raising themselves, by defending the ancient institutions against the new institutions. But that upper chamber, more indispensable than the royal prerogative, since there is no instance of a republic without a senate, was more scouted than the sanction, because people were more exasperated against the aristocracy than against royalty. It was impracticable, then, to form an upper chamber, because nobody wished for it : the inferior nobility opposed it, because they could not obtain admission into it ; the privileged persons themselves, who were desperate, because they desired the worst ; the popular party, because it would not leave the aristocracy a post whence it might command the national will. Mounier, Lally, and Necker, were almost the only members who wished for this upper chamber. Sieyes, by an absolute error in judgment, would not admit either of the two chambers or of the royal sanction. He conceived society to be completely uniform ; according to him, the mass, without distinction of classes, ought to be charged to will, and the king, as the sole magistrate, to be charged to execute. He was, therefore, quite sincere when he said that, whether monarchy or republic, it was the same thing, since the difference consisted, in his opinion, only in the number of the magistrates charged with the execu- tion. The characteristic of the mind of Sieyes was concatenation ; that is to say, the strict connexion of his own ideas. He was in the best understanding with himself, but he harmonized neither with the nature of things, nor with minds different from his own. He subdued them by the empire of his absolute maxims, but rarely persuaded them : therefore, as he could neither break his systems into parts, nor cause them to be adopted entire, he naturally began soon to be in an ill humour. Mirabeau, a man of straightforward, prompt, supple mind, was not further advanced, in point of political science, than the Assembly itself; he was adverse to the two chambers, not from conviction, but from the knowledge of their then impracticability, and from hatred of the aristocracy. He defended the royal sanction from a monarchical predilection, and he had pledged himself to it at the opening of the states, when he said, that without the sanction he would rather live at Constantinople than in Paris. Barnave, Duport, and Lameth, could not agree in these sentiments of Mirabeau. They were for not admitting either of the upper chamber or of the royal sanction ; but they were not so obstinate as Sieyes, and consented to modify their opinion by allowing the King and the upper chamber a merely suspensive veto, that is to say, the power of temporarily opposing the national will, expressed in the lower chamber. Iiave exhausted their strength. The English constitution, therefore, was not practi- cable in France till after the revolution. It was no doubt well to preach it up, but those who did so went injudiciously to work; and, had they even shown better judg- ment, they might not have been more successful. I shall add, in order to diiuinisli regret, that, had even the entire English constitution been inscribed on our table of the law, this treaty would not have appeased men's passions, till the parties had come to blows, and the battle had been fought in spite of this preliminary treaty. I repeat it, then, war, that is, revolution, was indispensable. God has given justice to mini only at the price of battles. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 89 The first discussions took place on the 28th and 29th of August. The friends of Barnave were desirous of treating wit!j Moiiuier, whose obstinacy had made him leader of the party in favour of the English constitution. It behooved them to gain over the most inflexible, and to him therefore they addressed themselves. Conferences were held ; when it was found to be impossible to change an opinion that had been long cherished by him ; they assented to those English forms to which he was so wedded ; but on condition that, in opposing to the popular chamber an upper chamber and the King, only one suspensive veto should be given to the two, and that, moreover, the King should not have authority to dissolve the Assembly. Mounier replied, like a man whose mind is thoroughly convinced, that truth was not his property, and that he could not sacrifice one part to save the other. Thus did he wreck both institutions by refusing to modify them. And if it were true, which it was not, as we shall presently see, that the consti- tution of 1791 overturned the throne by the suppression of the upper chamber, Mounier would have occasion to reproach himself severely. Mounier was not passionate but obstinate ; he was as absolute in his system as Sieyes was in his, and preferred losing all to giving up any thing. The negotiations were broken off in anger. Mounier had been threatened with the public opinion of Paris, and his adversaries set out, he said, to exercise that influence with which he had been menaced.* * I am far from censuring the obstinacy of Mounier, for nothing i,* more respecta- ble than conviction ; but its a curious fact to ascertain. Here follows a passao'e on this subject, extracted from his Report to his Constituents : " Several deputies," says he, " resolved to obtain from me the sacrifice of this principle, (the royal sanc- tion,) or, by sacrificing it themselves, to induce me, out of gratitude, to grant them some compensation. They took me to the house of a zealous partisan of liberty, who desired a coalition between them and me, in order that liberty might meet with fewer obstacles, and who wished merely to be present at our conferences, without taking any part in the decision. With a view to try to convince them or to en- lighten myself, I assented to these conferences. They declaimed strongly against the al- leged inconveniences of the unlimited right which the King would possess to set aside a new law, and I was assured that, if this right were to be recognised by the Assem- bly, tliere would be a civil war. These conferences, twice renewed, were unsuccess- ful ; they were reconnnenced at the house of an American, known lor his abilities and his virtues, who had both the experience and the theory of the institutions proper for maintaining liberty. He gave an opinion in favour of my principles. AVhen they found that all their efforts to make me give up my opinion were useless, they at length declared that they attached but little importance to the question of the royal sanction, though they had represented it, a few days before, as a subject for civil war ; they offered to vote for the unlimited sanction, and to vote also for two chambers, but upon condition that I would not insist, in behalf of the King, on the right of dissolv- ing the chamber of representatives ; that I would claim only a suspensive veto for the first chamber, and that I would not oppose a fundamental law for convoking na- tional conventions at fixed epochs, or on the requisition of the a.sseinblv of the repre- sentatives, or on that of the provinces, for the purpose of revising the constitution and making such changes in it as should be deemed necessary. By nationnl conven- tions they meant assemblies to which should be transferred all the rights of the nation, which should combine all the powers, and would consequently have annihilated by their mere presence the authority of the sovereign and of the ordinary legislature ; which should have the power to dispose arbitrarily of all sorts of authorities, to over- throw the constitution at their pleasure, and to re-establish despotism or anarchy. Lastly, they desired in some measure to leave to a single assembly, which was to be called the national convention, the supreme dictatorship, and to expose the nation to a periodical recurrence of factions and tiiinult. VOL. I. — 12 feeble constitution, liis gloomy coiuitenance, his weak sight, and almost inaudible Vdi'ie, prepo.^sess or seduce the nuiltitude ; and althouirli, in public speakinir, lie had by louir habit attained some degree of lacility, he could never contend with the prin- cipal orators of the Convention : but nature seemed to supply all the resources tl):U she denied hitn, by granting him the art of profiting at the same time by the talents of others, and by the faults which they might commit. Strong in his integrity in pecu- niary matters, he always took care to open the path of honours, and especially of riches, to his rivals, that he might be furnished with additional means of ruining them, when tliev became obnoxious to him. Of all the men whom the Revolution brought into notice, none has left a name so generally abhorred as Robespierre." — E. In the Miunnirs of the Duchess d'Abrantes, the following highly characteristic anec- dote of Robespierre is related. " When Madame de Provence quitted France, the Countess Lamarliere could not accompany her, much as she wished to do so. But she was a wife and a mother, and to these ties she was obliged to sacrifice the senti- ments of gratitude which animated her heart. She remained in France to sutler persecution and misery. She saw her husband arrested at the head of the troops he commanded, cast into a dungeon, and conducted to the scaffold. She had the courage to implore the mercy of him who never knew mercy; she threw herself at the feet of Rohespierre. Madame Lamarliere had then the look of a young woman: a com- })lexion of dazzling brilliancy, a profusion of fair hair, fine eyes and teeth, could not f'i)l to renrier her exceedingly attractive. Her beauty was perhaps rather heightened than diminished by her despair, when she threw herself at the feet of the dictator, and with a faltering voice implored the pardon of the husband of her child. But the axe was in the hand of the executioner, and amidst a nuptial festival, liobespierre pro- nounced the sentence which made a widow and an orphan. It was on that very day, that Robespierre gave away in marriage the daughter of a carpenter, nanied Duplay, in whose house he lodged in the Rue St. Honore. This Duplay was president of the jury on the Queen's trial. The Countess Lamarliere arrived before the hour fix'id for the marriage ceremony, and she was obliged to wait in the dining-room, when the table was laid for the nuptial feast. Her feelings may easily be imagined! Tl'.i're she waited, and was introduced to the carpenter's wife. After she was gone, Robespierre merely said, ' That woman is very pretty — very pretty indeed,' accom- panying the observation with some odious remarks." E. \Ve subjoin the opinion entertained by Lucien Bonaparte, himself an ardent apos- tle of liberty, respecting Robespierre : "The first months of 171)3 beheld the Jacobins redouble their atrocities; and Robespierre, the most cruel hypocrite, and greatest coward of them all, obtained unlimited power. Some anhuit imaginations have not hesitated to celebrate the praises of that man, and of his Couthonaud St. Just: they have even dared to insinuate that Robespierre was a patriotic victim, immolated by various conspirators more guilty than himself They have stated that he fell, because he would not proceed in the path of crime. These assertions are contradicted bv facta. The revolutionary tribunal was nevermore active than during the last months of the power of that merciless tribune. Then were struck with hasty blows all those whom birth, fortune, or talents, distinguished from the crowd. In the mouth of April, Malcsherbes, one of the most virtuous of men, was dragged to the sc.itfold at seventy-two years of age, in the same cart with his sister, liis son-in-law, his daughter, his grand-daughter, and the husband of that young woman ! Robespierre was then at the height of his power. Because he afterwards decimated his accomplices, and because he struck at Danton and his partisans, was he for that reason to be consi- dered more excusable .' Blood cannot wash away blood ! And as for his festival of the Supreme Being, what else was it but a contempt for the religion of all French- men, and a denial of the gospel? Blood was not sufficient for the incorruptible ! He desired even to thrust his sacrilegious hands into the depths of our very con- science." — Memoirs of the Prince of Canino. E. * At this period i'etion was one of the most influential men of the Revolution. He was an advocatJat Chartres, and had been deputed to the States-General by the y her children; she was forced by threats to send them away. I mixed in the crowd, and beheld for the fir-t time that unfortunate Princess; she was dressed in white, her head was bare, and adorned with beautiful fair locks. Motionless, and in a modest and noble attitude, .she appeared to me like a victim on the block. The enraged populace were not nu)ved at the sight of wo in all its majesty. Imprecations increased, and the unfortunate Princess could not even find a support in the King, for his presence only augmented the fury of the multitude. At last preparations for departure did more towards appeasing them than promises could have done, and by twelve o'clock the frightful procession set ofi". I hope such a scene will never be witnessed again ! I have often asked myself how the metropo- lis of a nation, so celebrated for mbanity and elegance of manners — how the brilliant city of PatSs could contain the savage hordes I that day beheld, and who so long reigned over it I In walking through the streets of Paris, it seems to me, the feaUires even of the lowest and most miserable class of people do not present to the eye any thing like ferociousness, or the meanest passions in all their hideous energy. 110 HISTORY OF THE to attend it, refused, that he might not impose any restraint on the freedom of opinion. It was at length decided that the court sliould comply with the wish of the people. Slips of paper, containing this intimation, were thrown out of the windows. Louis XVI. then showed himself at the balcony, accompanied hy tlie general, and was greeted with shouts of " Long live the King I"" But the Queen did not fare the same : threatening voices were raised against her. Lafayette ac- costed lier. " Madame," said he, " what will you do 1" — "Accom- pany the King," undauntedly replied the Queen. " Come with me then," rejoined the general, and he led her in amaze to the balcony. Some threats were offered by the populace. A fatal shot might be fired ; words could not be heard ; it was necessary to strike tlie eye. Stooping and taking the hand of the Queen, the general kissed it res- pectfidly. The mob of Frenchmen was transported at this action, and confirmed the reconciliation by shouts of Long live the Queen ! Long live Lafayette ! Peace was not yet made with the life-guards. " Will you not do sometliing for my guards V said the King to La- fayette. The latter took one of them and led him to the balcony, clasped him in his arms, and put on him his own shoulder-belt, 'i he populace again cheered, and ratified by its plaudits this new reconci- liation. The Assembly had not deemed it consistent with its dignity to go to the monarch, though he had desired it to do so. It had contented itself with sending to him a deputation of thirty-six members. As soon as it was apprized of his intended departure, it passed a resolution purporting that the Assembly was inseparable from the person of the sovereign, and it nominated one hundred deputies to accompany him to Paris. The King received the resolution, and set out.* Can those passions alter the features so as to deprive them of alliikeness tolimii.inity? Or doe^ the terror inspired by the sight of a gnilty wretch give him the seiiibUmce of a wild heast? These madmen, dancing in the mire, and covered with mud. sur- ronndi^d the King's coach. The groups that marched foremost carried on long pikes the bloody heads of the lifc-gnardsmen butchered in the morning. Surely Satan himself first invented the placing of a human head at the end of a lance! The dis- figured and pale featin-es, the gory locks, the half-open mouth, the closed eyes, images of death added to the gestures and salntations which the executioners made them perform in horri(>le mockery of life, presented the most frightful spectacle that rage could have imagined. A troop of women, ugly as crime itself swarming like insects, and wearing grenadiers' hairy caps, went continually to and fro, hovvli ig barb;irong songs, embracing and insulting the life-guards. This scene lasted for eight hours before the royal fiuniiy arrived at the Place de Grcve. They alighted at the Hotel de Ville. their first-resting place during protracted misery, that terminated some years afterwards in a horrible death. Thus'ended the memorable 6th of October !"-^ilfe- moirs of LnraUcttc. E. * " The King did not leave Versailles till one o'clock. The hundred deputies in their carriages followed him. A detaclnnent of brigands, carrying in triumph the heads of the two life-guards, formed the advanced guard, which had set ofi'tvvo hours earlier. These rainiibals stopped for a moment at Sevres, and carried their ferocity to such a pitch as to force ainnifortuiiate barber to dress the hair of those two bleed- ing heads. The main body of the Parisian army immediately followed. Before the Kint''s carriage marched the poissardes, who had come the preceding evening froni I'aris, and that whole army of abandoned women, the scum of their sex, still drunk with fury and with wine. Several of them were astride upon the cannon, celebrating by the most abominable songs all the crimes which they had committed or witnessed. t FRENCH REVOLUTIOiV, 111 The principal bands of the mob had already gone. Lafayette had sent after them a detachment of the army, to prevent them from turn- in"- hack. He also issued orders for disarming the brigands who were carrvino- the heads of two life-guardsmen on the point of their pikes. These horrible trophies were taken from them, and it is not true that they were borne before the carriage of the King.* Others, nearer to the Kinsf's carriage, were singing allegorical airs, and ijy their gross gestures applying the insulting allusions in them to the Q,ueon. Carts laden with corn and flour, which had come to Versailles, formed a convoy escorted by grena- diers, and surrounded by women and market-porters armed with pikes, or carrying large poplar boughs. This part of the cort6gc produced at some distance the most singular effect : it looked like a moving wood, amidst which glistened pike-heads and gun-barrels. In the transports of their brutal joy, the women stopped the pa.sseu- gers and yelled in their ears, while pointing to the royal carriage, ' Courage, my friends ; we shall have plenty of bread now""that we have got the baker, the baker's wife, and the baker's boy.' Behind his majesty's carriage were some of his faithful guards, partly on foot, partly on horseback, most of them without hats, all disaruied, a7id exhausted with hunger "and fatigue. The dragoons, the Flanders regiment, the Cent-Suisses, and the national guards, preceded, accompanied, and followed the file of carriages. " I was an eyewitness of this distressing spectacle, this melancholy procession. Amidst this tumult, this clamour, these songs interrupted by frequent discliari(es of musketrv, which the hand of a monster or an awkward person might have rendered so fatal, I saw the Q,ueen retain the most courageous tranquillity of mind, and an air of inexpressible nobleness and dignity: my eyes filled with tears of admiration and - dernc. From this period Lafayette remained in comparative retirement till the breaking out of the second Revolution in 18:50, when he was again appointed com- mander of the national giuirds, which, however, he resigned, shortly after the acces- sion of Louis-Philippe to the throne. He died in the year 1834. at the age of 7fi. F,. * " Jeau Sylvain Bailly was one of the forty of the French Academy, and deputy of Paris to the States-General. Born in Paris on the 15th of September, 173(), nature had endowed him with all the talents which fit men for the study of the sciences, and the meditations of philosophy. After several essays, which were well received by the public, he publisl^ed a history of astronomy. When the Revolution broke out in 1789. the electors of Paris chose him as secretary, and then as deputy of the tkrs-f:tat to the States-General. He was president ofthis assembly in its first session. On the 16th of July he was appointed Mayor of Paris. When, after the flightof the King, VOL. I. — 15 t 114 HISTORY OF THE The royal family repaired to the palace of the Tuileries, which had not been inhabited for a century, and where there had not been time to make the necessary pi'eparations. The guard of it was confided to the Parisian militia, and Lafayette was thus made responsible to the nation for the person of the King, for which all the parties were contending. The nobles were desirous to carry him to some fortress, in order to exercise despotism in his name. The popular party, which had not yet conceived the idea of dispensing with him, wished to keep him, to complete the constitution, and to withdraw a chief from civil war. Hence the malignity of the privileged classes called Lafayette a gaoler ; and jet his vigilance proved only one thing — the sincere desire to have a King.* From this moment the march of the parties displayed itself in a new manner. The aristocracy, separated from Louis XVI., and in- capable of executing any enterprise by his side, dispersed itself abroad and in the provinces. It was from this time that the emigration be- gan to be considerable. A great number of nobles fled to Turin, to the Count d'Artois, who had found an asylum with his father-in- , law.t Here their policy consisted in exciting the departments of the parties were divided, and the more violent revohitionists wished to seize the opportunity of pronouncing the forfeiture of Louis, Bailly opposed tlie ferments excited in Paris in favor of the party of the forfeiture. An iuunense crowd hav- ing thronged to the Champ de.Mars to frame an address recommending the forfeiture, on the 17 th of July, 1791, Bailly caused martial law to be proclaimed against this assembly, which was dispersed by armed force. The National Assembly approved this step ; but, from this time, Bailly perceived that liis credit was sinking. He vacated the oilice of mayor early in November, and then went over to England, whence he returned shortly after to Paris, trusting to spend the rest of his days in retirement. He was, however, arrested in 1793, and brought to trial in November before the revolutionary tribunal, which condeunied him to death. On the day after the passing of his sentence, he was put into the liital cart, and, while proceed- ing to execution, was loaded with the insults of the people. It was resolved that he should die on the Champ de Mars, in the very place where he had caused the seditious people to be fired on. Here he fell down in a fainting-fit. When he re- covered, he demanded, haughtily, that an end might be put to his miseries. ' Dost thou tremble, Bailly '' said one of his executioners, seeing his limbs, weakened by age, quiver. ' Friend,' answered he, calmly, ' if I do tremble, it is with cold.' After having been subjected to every species of ignominy, he ran himsell" to the scaffold, which had been fixed upon a heap of dung. He died with great courage. Bailly was tall, his face long and serious, and his character by no means devoid of sensibility. There are several valuable works on astronomy by him. His widow died in ItiOO. — Biograplde Modcrne. E. * " The insurrection of the 5th and 6th of October was truly a popular move- ment; we must not seek for any secret causes of it, or ascribe it to concealed am- bition ; it was provoked by the imprudence of the court. The bancpiet of the body- guard, the rumors of the flight, the fear of civil war, and the famine, alone carried Paris on Versailles. If particular instigators, which the most interested in proving the fact have left doubtful, contributed to produce the commotion, they changed neither its direction nor its object. This event destroyed the ancient regime of the court ; ittook away its guard ; it transported it from the royal town to the capital of the revolution, and placed it under the surveillance of the people" — Mignct. E. t " The day of the King's entrance into Paris was the first of the emigration of the noblesse — a tatal example of defection, which, being speedily followed by the infe- rior nobility, produced the most disastrous consequences. But it was the same in all the subsequent changes of the Revolution. T'he royalist leaders, always the first to propose violent measures, were at the same time unable to support them when opposed; they diminished the sympathy of the world at their fall from so high a rank, by showing that they were unworthy of it." — Alison. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 115 the south, and in supposing that the King was not free. The Queen, wlio was an Austrian, and moreover an enemy to the new court form- ed at Turin, fixed her hopes on Austria. The King, amidst these macliinations, saw every thing, prevented nothing, and awaited his salvation, come from what cpiarter it might. From time to time he made the disavowals required hy the Assembly, and was not really free, any more than he would have been at Turin or at Coblentz, or than he was under Maurepas ; for it is the lot of weakness to be every where dependent. The popular party thenceforward triumphant, wasdivided amongthe Duke of Orleans, Lafayette, Mirabeau, Barnave, and the Lameths.* The public voice charged the Duke of Orleans and Mirabeau with be- ing the authors of the late insurrection. Witnesses who were not un- worthy of credit, asserted that they had seen the duke and Mirabeau on the deplorable field of battle of the 6th of October. These state- ments were afterward contradicted ; at the moment, however, they were believed. The conspirators had intended to remove the King, and even to put him to death, said the boldest calumniators. The Duke of Orleans, they added, had aspired to be lieutenant of the king- dom, and Mirabeau minister. As none of these plans had succeeded, Lafayette appearing to have thwarted them by his presence, was regarded as the saviour of the King, and the conqueror of the Duke of Orleans and Mirabeau. The court, which had not yet had time to become ungrateful, acknowledged Lafayette to be its preserver, and the power of the general at this moment seemed immense. The hotheaded patriots were incensed at it, and began already to mutter the name of Cromwell. Mirabeau, who, as we shall presently see, had no connexion with the Duke of Orleans, was jealous of Lafayette, and called him Cromwell Grandison. The aristocracy seconded these distrusts, and added to them its own calumnies. Lafayette, however, was determined, in spite of all obstacles, to uphold the King and the constitution. For this purpose he resolved in the first place to remove the Duke of Orleans, whose presence gave occasion to many reports, and might furnish, if not the means, at least a pretext, for disturb- ances. He had an interview with the prince, intimidated him by his firmness, and obliired him to withdraw. The King, who was in the scheme, feigned, with his usual weakness, to ))e forced into this mea- sure ; and wrhing to the Duke of Orleans, he told him that it was ab- solutely necessary for him or M. de Lafayette to retire ; that, in the state of opinions, the choice was not doubtful ; and that, in conse- quence, he gave him a commission for England. MVe havesince been informed that M. de Montmorin, minister for foreign affairs, in order * "At this epoch, the extremes on the liberal side wereDuport, Barnave, and La- nieth,who formed a triunivirato, whose opinions were formed by Diiport, supported by Barnave, and whose measnres were directed by Alexandre Lan)eth. This parly placed itself at once in a position a little in advance of that in which the Revolntiou had arrived. The I'^hof July had been the triumph of the middle class; the constit uent was its assembly ; the national guard its armed force; the mayoralty its popular power. Mirabeau, Lafayette, and Bailly, applied themselves to this class, and were the one its orator, tlie other its general, and the third its magistrate." — Miguel. E. 116 HISTORY OF THE to rid himself of tlie anibitioa of the Duke of Orleans, directed him towards the Netherlands, then in rebellion against Austria, and that he had held out hopes to him of acquiring the title of Duke of Bra- bant.* His friends, when apprized of this resolution, were indignant at his weakness. More ambitious than he, they would have persuaded him not to comply. They went to Mirabeau, and entreated him to denounce in the tribune the violence which Lafayette was committing against the prince. Mirabeau, already jealous of the general's popu- larity, sent word to him and to the duke that he would denounce both of them in the tribune if the departure for England should take place. The Duke of Orleans was shaken : a fresh summons from Lafayette decided him ; and Mirabeau, on receiving in the Assembly a note ac- quainting him with the retreat of the prince, exclaimed in vexation : " He is not worth the trouble that is taken about him."t This expres- sion and many others equally inconsiderate have caused him to be frequently accused of being one of the agents of the Duke of Orleans ; but this he never was. His straitened circumstances, the imprudence of his language, his familiarity with the Duke of Orleans, though in- deed he treated every body in the same manner, his pi'oposal relative to the Spanish succession, and lastly his opposition to the departure of the duke, could not but excite suspicions ; it is nevertheless true that Mirabeau had no party, nay, that he had no other aim but to des- troy the aristocracy and arbitrary power. The authors of these suppositions ought to have known that Mira- beau was at this time under the necessity of borrowing the most tri- fling sums, Avhich would not have been the case, if he had been the agent of a prince immensely rich, and who is believed to have been almost ruined by his partisans. Mirabeau had already foreboded the speedy dissolution of the state. A conversation with an intimate friend, which lasted a whole night, in the park of Versailles, caused liim to decide on adopting an entirely new plan ; and he determined for his glory, for the welfare of the state, and lastly for his own fortune — for Mirabeau was the man for attendino: to all these interests at once — to stand immoveable between the disaffected and the throne, and to consolidate the monarchy while making a place in it for himself. The court had tried to gain him, but the affair had been clumsily mana- * See Dumoiiriez's Memoirs. t I have already shown that there was scarcely any connexion whatever between Mirabeai: and tlie Duke of Orleans. Here follows a key to the signification of the celebrated expression, Ccj. ../..... no merite pas la peine qu'on se donne pourlui. The constraint exercised by Lafayette over the Duke of Orleans indisposed the popnlar [):irty, and irritated above all the friends of the prince who was doomed to exile. 'I'he latter conceived the idea of letting loose Mirabeau against Lafayette, by ta- king advantage of the jealousy of the orator against the general. Lauzun, a friend of the duke's svent one evening to Mirabeau, to urge him to take up the subject the very next morning. Mirabeau, who often gave way to persuasion, was about to yield. when his friends, more vigilant than himself over his own conduct, begged him not to stir. It was therefore resolved that he should not speak. Next morning, at the opening of the sitting, news arrived of the departure of the Duke of Orleans; and Mirabeau, who owed him a grudge for his compliance to Lafayette, and bethought himof the useless efforts of his friends, exclaimed, Ce j... /..... ne mdrite pas la peine qu'on se donne pour lui. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 117 ged, and without the deUcacy requisite towards a man of great pride, and desirous of retaining hi.s popularity, in dt-f.iult of the esteem which he did not yet possess. Malouet, a frieud of Necker, and connected with Mirabeau, wished to bring them into comniuiiication. Mira- beau had frequently declined this,* being certain that he could never atrree with the minister. He nevertheless assented. Malouet intro- duced him, and the incompatibility of the two characters was still more strongly felt after this interview, in which, according to the ad- mission of all present, Mirabeau displayed the superiority which he had in private life, as well as in the tribune. It was reported that he had manifested a wish to be bought, and that, as Necker made no overture, he said on going away : " The minister shall hear of me.'''' This again is an interpretation of the parties, but it is false. Malouet had pro- posed to Mirabeau, who was known to be satisfied with the liberty ac- quired, to come to an understanding with the minister, and nothing more. Besides, it was at this very period that a direct negotiation was opened with the court. A foreign prince, connected with men of all parties, made the first overtures. A friend, who served as inter- mediate agent, explained that no sacrifice of principles would be obtained from IMirabeau ; but that, if the government would adhere to the constitution, it would find in him a stanch supporter; that, as to the conditions, they were dictated by his situation ; that it was requi- site, even for the interest of those who wished to employ him, that that situation should be rendered honourable and independent — in other words, that his debts should be paid ; that, finally, it was neces- sary to make him attached to the new social order, and without ac- tually giving him the ministry, to hold out hopes of it at some future time.t The negotiations were not entirely concluded till two or three months afterwards, that is, in the first months of 17904 Ilisto- * Messrs. Malouet audBertrand de ]Molleville have not hesitated to assert the con- trary, but the fact here advanced is attested by witnesses of the highest credil)iiity. t In Mirabeau, as iu ail superior men, much littleness was united widi mucii jrreat- ness. He had a lively imagination, which it was requisite to amuse with hopes. It was impossible to give him the uiinistry witliout destroying his influence, and consequently without ruining hiui, and uuilifyiiig the aid thatniigiit be derived from him. Uu the other hand, lie needed this bait i'or his imagination. Those therefore who had placed themselves between hiui and the court, recoimnended that at least the hope of a port- folio should be left him. However, the personal interests of Mirabeau were never the subject of particular mention in the various conuniuiications which took jilace ; nothing in fact was ever said about money or favours, and it was ditliciiit to make Mirabeau understand what the court wished to convey to him. For this purpose a very ingenious method was suggested to the King. Mirabeau had so bad a reputa. tion that few persons would have been willing to serve as his colleagues. Tlie King, addressing M. de I.ianconrt, for whom he had a particular friendship, asked him. if in order to render him service, he would accept a portfolio in company with Mira beau. M. de Lianconrt, devoted to the monarcli, replied, that he was ready to do whatever the good of his service required. This question, which was soon reported to the orator, filled him with satisfaction, and he no longer doubted that he should be appointed minister, as soon as circumstances permitted. I " Disgusted with the fickleness of the nniltitude, Mirabeau had long made secret advances to the constitutional party, and entered into correspondence witli the King, fertile purpose of restraining the furtiier progress of the Revolution. He received for a short time, a pension of 20,000 francs, or 800/. a month, first from tiu; Count d'Artois, and afterwards from the King: but it was not continued till the time of his death, from finding that he was not so phant as the court party expected." — Alison. E. lis HISTORY OF THE rians unacqunintcd Avith these particulars, and misled by the perseve- rance of Mirabeau in opposing the government, have assigned a later period to this treaty. It was, however, nearly concluded at the com- mencement of 1790. We shall notice it in its proper place. The only way in which l^arnavc and the Lameths could rival Mirabeau, was by a greater patriotic austerity. Apprized of the nego- tiations which were in progress, they accredited the rumour already circulated, that the ministry was about to be conferred on him, in order that they might thus deprive him of the means of accepting it. An occasion for thwarting his views soon occurred. The ministers had no right to speak in the Assembly. Mirabeau was unwilling, when appointed minister, to lose the right of speaking, which was the chief instrument of his inlluence ; he wished moreover to bring Necker into the tribune, that he might crush him there. He proposed therefore to give a consultative voice to the ministers. The popular party, in alarm, opposed the motion without any reasonable motive, and ap- peared to have a dread of ministerial seductiqns. But its apprehen- sions were absurd ; for it is not by their public communications wivh the chambers,, that the ministers usually corrupt the national represen- tation. Mirabeau's motion was negatived, and Lanjuinais, pushing rigour still farther, proposed to forbid the existing deputies to ac- cept the ministry. A violent debate ensued. Though the motive of these propositions was known, it was not avowed ; ajid Mirabeau, who was incapable of dissimulation, at length exclaimed that it would be wrong, for the sake of a single individual, to take a measure per- nicious to the state ; that he supported the motion, on condition tiiat the ministry should be interdicted, not to all the present deputies, but only to M. de Mirabeau, deputy of the seneschalship of Aix. His frankness and boldness were of no avail, and the motion was unani- mously adopted. We have seen how the state was divided between the emigrants, the Queen, the King, and different popular chiefs, such as Lafayette, Mirabeau, Darnave, nnd Lameth. J\o decisive event, like that of the 14th of July or the 5th of October, was possible for a long time to come. It was requisite that fresh contrarieties should exasperate the court and the people, and produce a signal rupture. The Assembly had removed to Paris, after repeated assurances of tranquillity on the part of the commune, and the promise of entire liberty in the votes. Mounier and Lally-Tollendal, indignant at the events of the 5th and 6th of October, had resigned their seats, saying tiiat they would not be either spectators of, or accomplices in, the crimes of the factious. They must, have regretted this desertion of the public welfare, especially when they saw Maury and Cazaies, after seceding from the Assembly, soon return to it, and courageously support to the end the cause which they had espoused. Mounier, retiring to Daupliine, assembled the states of the province, but a decree soon caused them to be dissolved, Mithout any resistance. Thus Mounier and Lally, who, at the period of the junction of the orders and of the oath at the Tennis Court, had been the heroes of the people, were no longer held in any estimation by them. The FRENCH REVOLUTION. 119 parliaments had been first outstripped by the popular power; so had Mounier, Lally, and Necker, been after them ; and so many others were very soon destined to he. ""J'he dearth, the exaggerated but nevertlieless real cause of the dis- turbances, gave occasion also to a crime. A baker, named Fran<^ois, was murdered by some brigands. Lafayette succeeded in securing the culprits, and delivered them to the Chatelet, which was invested with an extraordinary jurisdiction over all oftences i-clative to the Revolution. Here Besenval, and all those who were accused of having a hand in the aristocratic conspiracy foiled on the 14th of July, were under trial. The Chatelet was authorized to try according to new forms. Till the introduction of the trial by jury, which was not yet instituted, the Assembly had ordered publicity, the contradic- tory defence, and all the measures which ojierated as safeguards to innocence. The murderers of Francois were condemned, and tran- quillity was restored. Upon this occasion, Lafayette and Bailiy propo- sed the adoption of martial law. The motion, though strongly opposed by Robespierre, who thenceforward showed himself a warm partisan of the people and the poor, was nevertheless approved by the majority. By virtue of this law, the municipalities were responsible for the public tranquillity ; in case of disturbance, they were directed to require the aid of the regular troops or the militia ; and they were enjoined, after three warnings, to employ force against seditious assemblaires. A committee of search was established in the com- mune of Paris and in the National Assembly, to look after the luime- rous enemies, whose machinations crossed each other in all directions. All these measures were not more than sufficient to control tlie host of adversaries leagued against the new revolution. The formation of the constitution was prosecuted with activity. The feudal system had been abolished, but there was still wanting a last measure for destroying those great bodies which had be»;n ene- mies constituted in the state against tlie state. The clergy possessed immense property. It had been conferred on them by princes as feudal grants, or by the pious by way of legacy. If the property of individuals, the fruit and object of their labour, ought to be respected, that wliicli had been given to bodies for a certain purpose might have another destination assigned to it by the law. It was for the service of religion, or at least upon this pretext, that it had been bestowed ; religion being a public service, the law had a right to provide for it in a totally different manner. 'J'he Abbe Maury here displayed his imper- turbable spirit: he gave the alarm to ihe landed ])roprietors, threatened them with speedy spoliation, and declared that the provinces were sacrificed to the stockjobbers of the capital. His sophistry was sin- gular enough to be recorded. It was to pay the pulilic d(>ht that the pro|)ertv of the clergy was disposed of; the creditors were the great capitalists of Paris ; the property which was sacrificed to them was in the provinces ; kence the bold reasoner concluded that it was sacri- ficing the country to the capita! ; as if the country were not on the con- trary a gainer by the new division of those immense estates hitherto reserved for the luxury of a few indolent churchmen. AH these efforts were useless. The bishop of Autun, the author 120 HISTORY OF THE of the proposal, and Thouret, the deputy, demolished these vain sophisms.* The Assembly was proceeding to resolve that all the possessions of the clergy belonged to the state ; the opposition, how- ever, still insisted on the question of property. They were told that if they were proprietors, the nation had a right to make use of their property, since this kind of property had frequently been em- ployed in cases of emergency for the service of the state. This they did not deny. Taking advantage of their assent, Mirabeau then moved that, for the words belong to, should be substituted, are at the disposal of, the state, and the discussion was instantly terminated by a great majority. The Assembly thus destroyed the formidable power of the clergy and the luxury of the high dignitaries of the order, and secured those immense financial resources which so long upheld the Revolution. At the same time, it provided for the subsistence of the cures, by resolving that their salaries should not be less than twelve hundred francs, adding, moreover, the use of a parsonage-house and garden. It declared that it ceased to recognise religious vows, and restored liberty to all the inmates of cloisters, leaving to those who preferred it the right of continuing the monastic life. Their property Avas withdi'awn, and pensions were granted in its stead. Carrying its forecast still farther, it established a difference between the wealthy orders and the mendicant orders, and proportioned the salary of both to their former condition. It pursued the same course in regard to pensions ; and when Camus, the Jansenist, desirous of returning to the evangelical simplicity, proposed to reduce all pensions to one very low standard, the Assembly, on the recommendation of Mirabeau, reduced them proportionably to their actual value, and suitably to the former state of the receiv'ers. It was impossible to carry attention to previous habits to a greater lengtli, and in this consists the real respect for property. In like manner, when the Protestants, expatriated ever since the edict of Nantes, reclaimed their possessions, the Assembly restored such only as had not been sold. Prudent and delicate in regard to persons, the Assembly treated things without ceremony, and was much bolder in matters relating to the constitution. The prerogatives of the great powers had been * " Talleyrand, Bishop of Antiiii, proposed to the clergy to renounce the property of the ecclesiastical benefices m favour of the nation, which would employ it in the support of the altars and the payment of its debt. He proved the justice and the propriety of this measure ; he showed the great advantages which would result from it to the "state. The clergy struggled against this proposition, but it was carried on the 2d of December. From that moment the hatred oi'&'i clergy to the Revolution broke forth. It had been less intractable than the noblesse at the commencement of the States-General, in the hope of preserving its wealth; afterwards it showed itself not less opposed to the new regime'' — Mignet. E. "M. de Talleyrand is the only bishop ever appointed by the choice, and at the re- quest of the clergy of France. He was then Abbe de Perigord, and agent of the clergy : bu', contrary to the usual custom, especially in the case of a man of such high birtii' Louis XVI. had delayed appointing him. The general assembly of the clergy expressly voted that a representation should be made to the King, in their name, ex- pressive of their astonishment that the Abbe de Perigord was not made a bishop ; and it was in consequence of this indication that the King at last gave him the bishopric of Autun." — Memoirs of Lafayette. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 121 fixed : the question now was, the division of the territory of the king- dom. It had always been divided into provinces, successively united with ancient France. These provinces, dift'ering from one another in laws, privileges, and manners, formed a most heterogeneous whole. Sieyes* conceived the idea of blending them together by a new divi- sion, which should annihilate the ancient demarcations, and introduce the same laws and the same spirit into all parts of the kingdom. This was accomplished by the division into departments. These were divided into districts, and the districts into municipalities. In all these degrees, the principle of representation was admitted. The depart- mental administration, that of the district, and that of the communes, were assigned to a deliberative council and to an executive council ; both were elective. These various authorities depended the one on the other, and they had the same powers, throughout their respective jurisdictions. The department made the assessments of the taxes upon the districts, the district upon the communes, and tlie commune upon individuals. The Assembly then fixed the quality of a citizen enjoying political rights. It required the age of twenty-five years, and the payment of contributions to the amount of one silver mark. Every man who combined these conditions had the title of active citizen, and those who did not, styled themselves passive citizens. These exti'emely simple denominations were turned into ridicule ; for it is names that people lay hold of when they want to depreciate things ; but they were natural, and aptly expressed their object. The active citizen concurred in elections, either for the formation of the admi- nistrations, or for that of the Assembly. The elections of the deputies had two degrees. No specific condition was required to constitute eligibility ; for, as it was observed in the Assembly, a man is an elec- tor by his existence in society, and he must be eligible from the mere confidence of tlie electors. These operations, interrupted by a thousand incidental discussions, were nevertheless prosecuted with great ardour. The right side (the party of the nobility and clergy) only contributed by its obstinacy to * " Sieyes was one of those men, who, in ages of enthusiasm, found a sect, and, in an age ofintelUgence, exercise theascendant ofa powerful understanding. Solitude and philosophic speculation had ripened it for a happy moment; his ideas were now, vigorous, various, hut little systematic. Society had in particular heen the object of his examination; ho had followed its progress and decomposed its machinery. The nature of government appeared to him less a question of right than a question of epoch, .'\ltiiough cool and deliberate, Sieyes had tlie ardour which inspires the investigation of truth, and the fearlessness to insist on its promulgation; thus he was absolute in his notions, despising the ideas of others because he found them incom- plete, and only, in his eyes, only the half truth, which was error. Contradiction irri- tated him; he was little communicative; he would have wished to make himself thoroughly understood, but he could not succeed with all the world. His disciples transmitted his systems to others — a circumstance which gave him a certain air of mysteriousness, and rendered him the object of a sort of adoration, lie had the authority which complete pohtical science bestows, and the constitution could have sprung from his heac(( all armed like the Minerva of Jupiter, or the legislation of the ancients, if in our times every one had not wished to assist in it, or to judge of it. Nevertheless, with some modifications, his plans were generally adopted, and he had in the committees more disciples llian fellow-labourers. " — Mignet. E. VOL. I. 16. 122 HISTORY OF THE impede them, the moment opportunity oifered to contest any portion of influence with the nation. The popular deputies, on the contrary, thougli forming several parties, acted in concert, or differed without animosity, agreeably to their private opinions. It was easy to per- ceive that among them conviction predominated over party consider- ations. Thouret, Mirabeau, Duport, Sieyes, Camus, Chapelier, were seen alternately uniting and dividing, according to their opinion, in each discussion. As for the members of the nobility and clergy, they never appeared but in party discussions. If the parliaments had issued decrees against the Assembly, if deputies or writers had insulted it, they then came forward, ready to support them. They supported also the military commandants against the people, the slave-traders against the negro slaves ; they were against the admission of Jews and Protestants to the enjoyment of the common rights. Lastly, when Genoa declared against France, on account of the enfranchise- ment of Corsica, and the union of that island with the kingdom, they were in favour of Genoa against France. In short, aliens, indifferent to all beneficial discussions, not listening to them, but conversing among themselves, they never rose but when there were rights or liberty to be refused.* * It will not be uninteresting to sliow the opinion of Ferrierea concerning the manner in which the deputies of his own party liehaved in the Assembly. " In the National Assembly," says Ferrieres, " there were not more than abont three hundred really upright men, exempt from party-spirit, not belonging to any club, wishing what was right, wishing it for its own sake, independent of the interest ofor- ders or of bodies, always ready to embrace tiie most just and the most beneficial pro- posal, no matter from wliat quarter it came, or by w'iiom it was supported. These were the men worthy of the honourable function to which they had been called, who made the few good laws thatproceeded fromthe Constituent Assembly ; it was they who prevented all the mischief which was not done by it. Invariably adopting what was good, as invariably opposing what was bad, they have frequently produced a ma- jority in favour of resolutions which, but for them, would have been rejected from a spirit of faction; and they have often defeated motions which, but for them, would have been adopted from a spirit of interest. " While on this subject, 1 cannot abstain from remarking on theimpolitic conduct of the nobles and the bishops. As they aimed only to dissolve the Assembly, to throw discredit on its operations, instead of opposing mischievous measures, they manifested an indifference on this point which is inconceivable. When the presi- dent stated the question they quitted the hall, inviting the deputies of their party to follow them ; or, if they stayed, they called out to them to take no part in the delibe- ration. The Clubbists, forming through this dereliction of duty a majority of the Assembly, carried every resolution they pleased. The bishops and the nobles, firmly believing tiiat the new order of things would not last, hastened, with a sort of impa- tience, as if determined to accelerate the downfall, both the ruin of the monarchy and their own ruin. With this senseless conduct they combined an insulting disdain both of the Assembly and of the people who attended the sittings. Instead of listen- ing, they laughed and talked aloud, thus confirming the people in the unfavourable opinion which it had conceived of them ; and, instead of striving to recover its con- fidence and its esteem, they strove only to gain its hatred and its contempt. All these follies arose solely from the mistaken notion of the bishops and the nobles, who could not persuade themselves that the Revolution had long been effected in the opinion and in the heart of every frenchman. They hoped, by means of these dykes, to set bounds to a torrent which was daily swelling. All they did served only to produce a greater accumulation of its waters, to occasion greater ravages; obsti- nately clinging to the old system, the basis of all their actions, of all their opposition, but which was repudiated by all. By this impolitic obstinacy they forced the Revo- lutionists to e.\tend the Jievolution beyond the goal which they had set up for them- FRENCH REVOLUTION 123 As we have already observed, it was no longer possible to attempt nny great conspiracy in favour of the King, since the aristocracy was put to flight, and the court was encompassed by the Assein1)ly, tlie people, and the national militia. Partial movements were, tlicrcfore, all that the malcontents could attempt. They fomented the discon- tent of the officers who adhered to the former order of things ; while the soldiers, having every thing to gain, inclined to the new. A'iolent quarrels look place between the army and the populace: the soldiers frequently gave their officers to the mob, who murdered them ; at other times, these mutual jealousies were happily appeased, and all again became quiet, when the commandants of towns could conduct them- selves with any address, and had taken the oath of fidelity to the new constitution. The cleriry had inundated Britanny Avith protestations against the alienation of its property. Attempts were made to excite a remnant of religious fanaticism in the provinces, where the ancient superstition still prevailed. The parliaments were also employed, and a last trial was made of their authority. Their vacation had been prorogued by the Assembly, because it did not wish to have any discus- sion with them during the interval that should elapse before it could dissolve them. The chambers of vacation administered justice in their absence. At Rouen, at Nantes, at Rennes, they passed resolu- tions, in which they deplored the ruin of the ancient monarchy and the violation of its laws ; and, whhout mentioning the Assembly, they seemed to point to it as the cause of all the prevailing evils. They were called to the bar, and delicately reprimanded. That of Rennes, as the most culpable, was declared incapable of fulfilling its functions. That of IMetz had insinuated that the King was not free. Such, as we have already observed, was the policy of the discontented : as they could not make use of the King, they sought to represent him as in a state of restraint, and for this reason they were desirous of annulling all the laws to which he appeared to assent. He seemed himself to second this policy. He would not recal his life-guards, who were dismissed on the 5th and 6th of October, and caused the duty about his person to be performed by the national militia, among whom he knew that he was safe. His intention was to appear to be u captive. The commune of Paris foiled this too petty artifice, by soliciting the King to recal his guards, which he refused to do upon frivolous pretexts, and through the medium of the Queen.* selves. TliR nobles and the bishops then exclaimed airainst injustice, tyranny. They talked of the antiquity and the legitimacy of their rights to men who had sapped the foiuidation of all rijrhts." — Ferriercs, tome ii., p. 12'^. * The question of the recal of the Kinij's n expressed, I began to substitute that kind of adnunistration for the one, whicfi ancient and long habit had sanctioned. Experience having taught me that I have not erred in the opinion which I had formed of the utility of these establishments, I strove to extend the same benefit to all die provinces of my kingdom; and, in order to insure gen- eral confidence to the new administrations, I determined that the members who were to compose them should be freely elected by all the citizens. You have improved upon these views in several ways; and the most essential, no doubt, is ilial equal and wisely-calculated subdivision, which, by breaking down the ancient i)arlitions between province and province, and establishing a general and complete system of equilibrium, more intimately unites all the parts of the kingdom in one and the same spirit, and one and the same interest. This grand idea, this salutarv design, are entirely your own . it required nothing less than a union of opinions on the part of the representatives of the nation ; it required nothing less than their just ascen- dency over the general sentiments, to undertake with confidence a clianjie of such vast importance, and to vanquish in the name of reason the opposition of habit and of private interests." AH that the King here says is perfectly just and sincere. It is true that he had formerly attempted all the improvemeiUs of his own accord, and that he had set a rare example among princes — that of anticipatnig the wants of their subjects. The com- mendations which he bestows on the new territorial division bear also the character of entire sincerity, for it was certainly beneficial to the government, by destroving the opposition which particular localities had frequently made to it. Every thing induces us therefore to believe that the King here speaks vvitii perf(;ct sincerity. He proceeds : " I will promote, I will second, by all the means in my power, the success of that vast organization, on which depends die welfare of France ; and I think it necessary to observe, that I am too attentive to the internal condition of the kingdom, my eyes are too open to the dangers of all kiiuls by which we are encompassed, not to be deeply sensible that, in the present disposition of minds, and considering the actual state of public affairs, it is requisite that a new order of things should be established quietly and peaceably, or the kingdom may be exposed to all the calamities of anarchy. " Let well-disposed citizens reflect on this, as I have done, fixing their attention ex- clusively on the welfare of the state, and they will perceive, even in spite of the in- ference of opinion, t^at a paramount interest must this day unite them all. Time 128 HISTORY OF THE Louis XVI. had enj^aged to uphold the constitution ; it was fitting that the deputies should bind themselves to do the same. The civic oath was therefore proposed, and every deputy came forward to swear to be faithful to the nation, to the law, and to the King ; and to uphold with will remudy what may yet remain defective in the collection of the laws which shall have heeii the work of this Assembly." This indirect and delicate censure proves that the King had no intention to flatter, but to speak the truth, observing at the same time the necessary measure. " But every enterprise that should tend to shake the principles of the constitution itself all concert tliat should aim at overthrowing them or diminishing their beneficial influence, would serve only to introduce among us the frightful evils of discord; and, supposing such an attempt against my people and myself to be successful, the result would deprive us of the various blessings of which a new order of things holds out a prospect to us, without supplying any substitute. " Let US then confidently indulge the hopes which we are justified in conceiving, and let us think of realizitig them only by unanimity. Let it be known every where that the monarch and the representativesof the nation are united in the same interest and in the same wish ; in order that this opinion, this firm belief, may diffuse through the provinces a spirit of peace and good will, and that all citizens distinguished for their honesty, all those who are capable of rendering the state essential service by their zeal and their talents, may be solicitous to take part in the different subdivisions of the general administration, the unanimity of which must efficaciously concur in the re-establishment of order, and in the» prosperity of the kingdom " We must not disguise it from ourselves ; there is much to be done to reach that goal. A persevering determination, a general and common effort, are absolutely ne- cessary to obtain real success. Continue your labours, then, without any other pas- sion than that of doing good; keep your chief attention constantly fixed on the con- dition of the people, and on the public liberty; but direct it also to the means of soothing, of tranquillizing, ail jealousies, and put an end as speedily as possible to the dilierent alarms which keep so many of her citizens aloof from France, and the effect of which is in such contrast with the laws of safety and liberty that you are desirous of establishing: prosperity will not return without the general consent. Weperceive on every side hopes; be impatient to see also on every side happiness, " Some day, I fondly believe, every Frenchman without exception will acknow- ledge the benefit of the total suppression of the differences of order and condition; when they have to labour in connnon for the public welfare, for the prosperity of the country which equally interests all the citizens; and every one must see without difficulty that, in order to be called henceforward to serve the state in any manner, it will be sufficient for a man to have rendered himself remarkable by his talents and by his virtues, " At the same time, however, all that reminds a nation of the antiquity and the continuity of the services of an honoured race is a distinction that nothing can de- stroy ; and, as it is united with the duties of gratitude, those who in all classes of so- ciety aspire to serve their country efficaciously, and those who have already had the happiness to do so, have an interest in respecting this transmission of titles or of recollections, the fairest of all the inheritances that can be bequeathed to one's children, " Neither must the respect due to the ministers of religion be allowed to be swept away ; and when their consideration shall be principally united to the sacred truths which are under the safeguard of order atid morality, all honest and enlightened citizens will have an equal interest in upholding and defending it, " No doubt those who have rdinquished their prcuniarij privileges, those who tmll no Icmger form, as of old, an order in the state, find themselves subjected to sacrifices, the im- portance of xchich I fully appreciate; hut I am persuaded that they will have generosity enough to seek an indemnification in all the public advantages of which the establishment of national assemblies holds out a hope." The Kins continues, as the reader perceives, to impress upon all parties the advan- tages of the new laws, and at the same time the necessity of retaining something of the ancient. What he says to the privileged classes proves his real opinion respect- ing the necessity and justice of the sacrifices that had been required of them, and their resistance will be everlastingly condemned by the words contained in this FRENCH REVOLUTION. 129 all his poioer the constitution decreed by the National Assembly^ and accepted by the King. The supplementary members, the deputies of commerce, desired to take the oath in their turn ; the tribunes and the a^alleries followed their example, and on all sides nothing was to be heard but the words, / swear it. speech. It would be v-. May this day, on which your Sovereign comes to unite with you in the most frnnk and cordial maimer, be a memorable epoch in the history of this empire ! It will be so, I hope, if my ardent wishes, if my earnest exhortations can be a signal of peace and of reconciliation between you. Let those who irouldstill keep aloof from a spirit of concord that is become so necessary, make a sacrifice to me ofallt/te recollections which afflict tliem ; I will repay them with my gratitude and my affection. " Profess, all of you, from this day forward ; profess, all of you — and I will set the example — but one opinion, -but one interest, but one will, attachment to the new con- atitution, and an ardent desire for the peace, the happiness and the prosperity of France." FRENCH REVOLUTION. 131 rabeaii, who possessed more influence, but was certainly a man of less irreproiicliahle character, than Lafayette. The communications of Mirabeau with the court still continued. He had even kept up an intercourse with Monsieur, whose o])inions rendered him more accessible to the popular party, and he had re- peated to him Avhat he never ceased to tell the Queen and M. dj Montmorin, that the monarchy could not be saved unless by liberty. Mirabeau at length came to terms with the court by means of an iii- termediate agent. He declared his principles in a kind of profession of faith ; he engaged not to swerve from them, and to support the court so long as it should follow the same line. A considerable sala- ry was giv(;n to him in return. Morality indeed condemns sucli trea- ties, and insists that a man ought to do his duty for the sake of duty alone. But was this selhng himself? A weak man would no doubt have sold himself by sacrificing his principles; but the mighty Mira- beau, so far from sacrificing his, brought power over to the court, and received from it that aid which his urgent necessities and his licentious passions rendered indispensable to him. Unlike those who give up for a high price mean talents and a cowardly conscience, Mirabeau, inflexible in his principles, combated by turns his own party and the court, as if he had not expected popularity from the former, or the means of existence from the latter. To such a point was this o]ipo- sition carried, that historians, tmable to believe him an ally of the court which he combated, have not fixed the date of his treaty earlier than the year 1791, though it was concluded in the very first moutlis of 1790. Mirabeau saw the Queen, charmed her by his superiority, and experienced from her a reception that flattered him exceedingly.* * Previously to this interview, the Qneen, though she dreaded his power. licKl Mirabeau in the utmost detestation, as appears from the followinij anecdote whicii the Duchess d' Abrantes has rehxted in her Moiwirs : " On the 7th of 3Iay, 1769, tlu- (iueen was informed of Mirabeau's hostile intentions. M. Necker was coiisiiltt'd about the expediency of entering into a negociation with him ; and his opinion was, that Mirabeau was possessed of extraordinary talent, but wanted judgment ; and .M. Necker considered him not very formidable. He therefore declined to have any thing to do with the matter, and merely yielded 16 the Queen's wish to place at lier disposrd a sum of money to assist the execution of her designs. Furnisiied with his instructions and a well-stocked purse, the Count de Reb — went one morning to Mi- rabeau, plied him with much art, and finally made him ofTors which he felt conti(l(!iit lie woidd not hesitate to accept. But fate ordained that the man who had ;ilways been needy and tormented by creditors, should be at that moment well supplied with money. What was the result ? He rejected the Count de Rch — 's olFer, and asketl him for whom he took him. He thus dismissed tlie count with all the dignity of an ancient Greek, telling him that oilers of money could not be listened to by liim. The count, though chagrined, did not lose hope. He knew Mirabeau well enough, and was sure he would not remain long in his present frame of mind. Shortly afterwards, a certain M. Jouvelet called on the Count de Reb — , and announced to him that Jlirabeau consented to place all his influence at the disposal of the court, but required an honourable treaty and not a paltry bargain; that he did not wish to supersede M. Necker, but that any other department of the ministry would suit him. On these term? he would devote himself to the court. The count, on hearing this, went to Mirabeau, was well received, and heard all the reasons he gave for his readi- ness to sncrificc himself by entering the ministry at such a moment. The same day, the count saw the individual who was to speak to the Q,ueen ; and he, on the first intelligence of the capitulation of Mirabeau — for he was really a tower of strength — ran immediately to acquaiht herniajesty with the news. The Count de Reb — followed, 132 HISTORY OF THE That extraordinary man had a koen rehsh for all pleasures, for those of vanity as well as for those of the passions. It was necessary to take him with his strength and his foibles, and to employ him for tiie benefit of the common cause. Besides Lafayette and Mirabeau, the court relied on Bouille, whom it is time to introduce to the reader.* Bouille, full of courage, integrity, and talent, had all the prejudices of the aristocracy, and was distinguished from it only by less infatua- tion and more experience in business. Having retired to Metz, where he commanded a vast extent of frontier and a great part of the army, he strove to foment jealousies between his troops and the national guard, in order that he might keep his soldiers steady to the court.t Placed there on the watch, he scared the popular party ; he seemed the general of the monarchy, as Lafayette was the general of the con- stitution. The aristocracy nevertheless displeased him, the weakness of the King disgusted him with the service, and he would have quitted it had he not been pressed by Louis XVL to continue in it. Bouille and when he entered the royal cabinet, the Queen advanced towards him, her coun- tenance beaming with pleasure. • The King will be gratified by your zeal, Monsieur, said she to the plenipotentiary : ' well, had you a good bargain of this man ? How much has he cost?' He replied that Mirabeau, with true magnanimity, had rejected ail propositions of a pecuniary nature. He then mentioned the appointment to the min- istry. At this the Queen reddened, and then turned deadly pale. She closed her eyes, and striking her forehead with her hand, exclaimed, 'A minister! Make Riquetli Mira- beau a minister! Never, never will I allow the threshold of the King's council to be sullied by the footsteps of such a man !' She trembled with rage. ' Let him have money — grant him all he asks for; but to make him a minister! Is it possible that my friends can give me this advice?' She then paced the room with every mark of agitation, re- peating the words, 'A minister, forsooth! a minister!' The negotiation was conse- quently broken off for a season ; for Mirabeau would not accept money, and the Queen would not, till long afterwards, consent to grant him an interview." E. * "The Marquis de Bouille was a gentleman of Auvergne, and a relative of La- fayette's. After having served in the dragoons, he became colonel of the regiment of Vexin infantry. Having attained the rank of major-general, the King appointed him Governor-general of the Windward Islands. In 1778 he took Dominica, St. Eustatia, and soon after St. Christopher's, Nevis, and Montserrat. On his return ho was made lieutenant-general. In 1789 he brought back to its duty the revolted gar- rison of Metz. On the 5th of September, in the same year, Grcgoire complained to the Assembly, that M. de Bouille had not administered the civic oath individually, and obtained a decree that he should be obliged to do it. In 1790 he was coiinms- sioned to bring under subjection the garrison of Nancy, which had risen against its chiefs; he advanced upon the town with four thousand men, and succeeded in this enterprise, in which he showed much bravery, and which at first gained him great praises from the National Assembly, and afterwards as many reproaches. Being chosen by the King to facilitate his escape from Paris in June, 1791, Bouille marched at the head of a body of troops to protect the passage of the royal family; but, by false advices or ill-executed orders, this enterprise failed, and M. de Bouille had great difficulty in leaving France. From Luxemburg he wrote to the Assembly a letter full of threats, and concluded by saying, that if a hair of Louis XVI. 's head was touched, he would not leave one stone on another in Paris. On the 13th of July the Assembly decreed that he should be tried for contumacy, and that the papers rel- ative to the ICing'sescapeshouldbesent to the high court of the nation. From Vienna, whither he had first gone, Bouille passed to the court of Sweden, which gave him em- ployment, and in the name of which he promised powerful assistance to the I-'reu'^h princes. After the death of Gustavus III. M. de Bouille went to England, where Ik; published some valuable papers on the Revolution. He died in London in 180:'.' Biogriiphie Modcrne. E. t This he admits himself in his Memoirs. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 133 was full of honour. After taking his oath, he thought of nothing but how to serve the King and the constitution. The court, therefore, needed I)ut to unite Lafayette, Mirabeau, and Bouille ; and through tlieni it would have had tlie national guards, the Assembly, and the army, that is to say, the three powers of the day. Some motives, it is true, divided these three personages. Lafayette, full of good nature, was ready to unite with all who were desirous of serving the King and the constitution ; but Mirabeau was jealous of Lafayette's power, dreaded his purity, which was so highly extolled, and seemed to re- gard it as a reproach. Bouille hated in Lafayette his enthusiastic cha- racter, and perhaps viewed in him an irreproachable enemy ; he pre- ferred Mirabeau, whom he deemed more manageable and less rigo- rous in his political creed. It was for the court to unite these three men by removing their particular motives for keeping aloof from each other. But there was only one bond of union, a free monarchy. The court ought therefore to have frankly resigned itself to this only course, :ind to have followed it up with all its might. But the court, ever unsteady, received Lafayette coldly, without repulsing him ; paid Mirabeau, who lectured it from time to time ; kept up Bouille's dis- like of the Revolution ; looked to Austria with hope ; and suftered the emifrants at Turin to take active measures. Such is the way Avith weakness. It strives to delude itself with hopes rather than to ensure success, and in this manner it ultimately ruins itself by exciting sus- picions which irritate parties as much as decided opposition. It is much better to strike than to threaten them. In vain Lafayette, who would fain have done what the court ne- glected to do, wrote to Bouille, his kinsman, exhorting him to serve the throne jointly with himself, and by the only possibh; means, those of frankness and liberty. Bouille, at the evil instigation of the court, replied coldly and evasively, and, without attempting any thing against the constitution, he continued to rend(;r himself formidable by the secrecy of his intentions and the strength of his army. The reconciliation of the 4th of February, which might have led to such important results, was therefore useless. The trial of Favras was concluded, and, whether from fear or from a conviction of his guilt, the Chatelet sentenced him to be hanged. Favras displayed in his last moments a firmness more worthy of a martyr than of an intri- guer. He protested his innocence, and demanded permission to make a declaration before he died. The scaffold was erected in the Place de Greve. He was conveyed to the H6tel de V^ille, where he remain- ed till night. The populace, eager to see a marquis hanged, impa- tiently awaited this example of equality in punishments. Favras re- lated that he had held communications with a high dignitary of the state, who had engaged him to dispose the public mind favourably to- wards the King. As this would have put him to considerable ex[)ense, the personage in question had given him one hundred louis, which he had accepted. He affirnied that this was the whole extent of his crime ; and he mentioned no names. He asked, however, if the con- fession of name^ could save him. Not satisfied with the answer that was returned, " In that case," said he, " I will take my secret with 134 HISTORY OF THE )iio ;" and he walked with great firmness, towards the place of execu- tion. It was night : the Place and the gibbet itself were lighted up. The populace enjoyed the sight, delighted to find equality even on the scaffold. It was to them a subject for cruel jests ; and they parodied in various ways the execution of this unfortunate man. The body of Favras was delivered to his family, and fresh events soon caused his death to be forgotten alike by those who had punished and those who had employed him. The exasperated clergy continued to excite petty disturbances throughout France. The nobility relied much upon its influence among tiie people. So long as die Assembly had proceeded no further than by a decree to place ecclesiastical property at the disposal of the na- tion, the clergy had hoped that the decree would not be carried into execution ; and, in order to render it useless, it proposed a variety of plans for supplying the wants of the exchequer. The Abbe Maury* luid proposed a tax on luxury, and the Abb6 Salside had replied, by * "Jean Siffrein Maury, prior of Lyons, abbot of La Frenade, and King's preach- er, was born at Vabreas, in tlie county of Avignon, on the 26th of June, 1746, of a lainily engaged in conimerco, and in the law. He came very young to Paris, where liis talent for preacliing gained him several benefices, and he acquired reputation and a seat in tiie Academy, by his sermons and panegyrics previous to the Revolution : at which period he employed all his eloquence in defence of the monarchy. It has been observed that he is almost the only person whom this line of conduct has not led to indigence or death. In 1789 the clergy of Peronne deputed him to the States-Gene- ral, where he displayed eloquence, erudition, and a talent for extempore speaking, which rendered liiiii formidable to the opposite party. In the chamber ofthe clergy he strongly objected to the union ofthe orders, and when it was etfected, he for some time abandoned Versailles, and was arrested at Peronne, but soon released by order ofthe Assembly, in which he again appeared. On the 13th of October, the Abbe Maury spoke eloquently in defence of the property ofthe clergy, which it was pro- posed to declare national. On the 9th of November, he occasioned a tremendous connnntion by accusing the president of exclusive partiality to the left side. On the 19th of December, ho, supported by a great part of his order, protested against the measure for making assignats payable from the property ofthe clergy. On the 23d, lie spoke with energy against tlie admission of Jews, executioners, and players, to the rii'^hts of citizens, representing the two latter professions as infamous. On the 24th of February, 1791, Maury made a vigorous attack on the motion for compelling the King and the presumptive heir to the crown to reside near the legislative body, and ended liis speech by a shout of ' God save the King!' which was repeated by the light side. On the 13th of May, he discussed the great question concerning the ad- mission of people of colour to the rights of citizens, which produced considerable effect on the Assembly, and gained him the applause of all parties. Leaving France after the Assembly closed, Maury went to Rome, where the Pope conferred on him the title of Bishop, and sent him to Friiiddbrt in 1792 to assist as apostolic nuncio at the corouation ofthe emperor. In 1792, after the 10th of August, tiie Legislative Assembly passed a decree of accusation against Maury; but it is worthy of remark that, though one ofthe most zealous defenders of the monarchy and the clergy, he was never an object of personal hatred to the populace. ' At least he does not seek to betray us, but openly supports the cause be has embraced,' said the people ofthe capital. Maury's presence of mind was remarkable. On one occasion when a Pa- risian mol) pursued him. with the fatid cry of ' 'I'o the lamp-post!' he coolly turned round and said, ' And when you have put me in the place ofthe lamp, do you ima- ifine you will see the bettor?" A general laugh fullowed this remark, and Maury was left unmolested. In 1793 he was appointed Archbishop of Nice, and the next year he received the cardinal's hat. In the beginning of 1^05, Manry addressed a letter to Napoleon, in which he recognised the new government. Although he himself "scaped the scaffold by (putting France before the reign ofthe Jacobins, yet almost the whole of Maury's family perished in one year." — Biographit Moderne. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 135 moving that no ecclesiastic should possess an income exceeding one thousand crowns. The weaUhy abbe was silenced by such a proposal On another occasion, in discussing tlie debt of the state, Cazalcs had proposed to investigate, not the titles of each credit, but the credit itself its origin, and its motive ; which would have been renewing bankrupt- cv by the odious and worn-out expedient of chambres ardcntcs. 'I'he clergy, inimical to the creditors of the state, to whom it deemed itself sacrificed, had supported the proposal, notwithstanding the strictness of its principles in regard to jiroperty. Maury had spoken with great warmth, and had even violated the respect due to tlie Assembly, by saying to some of its members that they had only the cotirage of shame. The Assembly had taken offence at this expression, and thought of expelling him. But Mirabeau, who had reason to suppose that the attack was aimed at him, represented to his colleagues that each depu- ty belonged to his constituents, and that they had uo right to exclude any individual. This moderation befitted real superiority. It was successful, and Maury was more severely punished by a reprimand, than he would have been by expulsion. All these expedients for putting the creditors of the state in the same condition as themselves, were useless to the clergy; and the Assendjly decreed the sale of property belonirinjj: to the crown and the church to the amount of four hundred millions. The clergy, rendered desperate, then circulated writings among the people, and declared that the plan of the revolutionists was to attack the Catholic religion. It was in the southern provinces that it hoped to be most successful. We have seen that the first emigration liad directed its course towards Turin. It was with Provence and Lan- guedoc that its principal communications were kept up. Calonne, so celebrated at the time of the Notables,* was the minister of the * " M. Calonne was the third who had succeeded to the office of comptroller of the flnance^^ from the dismissal of M. Necker. He was confessedly a man of ability, and had tilled successively the otlice of intendant of Metz, and of the province of Flanders and Artois. The public, however, saw with disftust and apjirehension the wealth of the nation fall into the hands of a man who had dilapidated his own patrimony ; who, inconsiderate in character, and immoral upon system, had dishonoured his talents hy his vices, and his dignities by the baseness of his conduct; and who, while he exer- cised the oilice of procurenr-general of the parliament of Douay, had deirraded him- self so far as to act the spy of the minister with respect to the procureur-general of the parliament of Bretagne, and had the insolence to sit as the judge of that respecta- ble niagi.-itrate, whom he had calumniated; anil who, grown gray in the intrigues of gallantry and of the court, came with a flock of needy sycophants to dexonr the reve- nues of the nation under the pretence of administeiing them. The first ])art of the career of M. Calonne was, notwithstanding, brilli;'.nt, but it was only a lirilliant de- ception. One of his first measures was to estai)lish a sinking fund, which, by a kind of niiniste'rial juggle, was, inacertaiu course ofyears, to discharge the whole national debt. It was even reported by his agents that he had discovered the miraculous se- cret of paying off the debts of the nation by — borrowing!" — Itiijjaiiial History uf th.c French Rv.volutiun. V.. In the memoirs ascribed to the unfortunate' Princess 144 HISTORY OF THE The Lametlis were aware of this, and liad charged Barnave to crush Mirabeau. The right side drew back, as it were, and left the field clear for those two rivals. The discussion was awaited with impatience : it commenced. After several speakers had thrown out merely preliminary ideas, Mi- rabeau addressed the Assembly, and placed the question in a new light. War, according to him, is almost always unforeseen. Hostil- ities commence before threats. The King, charged with the public safety, ought to repel them, and thus war is begun before the Assembly has time to interfere. The same is the case with treaties. The King alone can seize the proper moment for negotiating, for conferring, for disputing with other powers ; the Assembly can but ratify the condi- tions obtained. In either predicament, the King alone can act, and the Assembly approve or disapprove. Rlirabeau therefore thought that the executive power should be held bound to prosecute the hostilities commenced, and that the legislative power should, as the case might be, allow the war to continue, or demand peace. This opinion was applauded, because Mirabeau's opinion always was. Barnave nevertheless rose, and, without noticing the other speakers, merely answered Mirabeau. He admitted that tlie sword is frequently drawn before the jiation can be consulted, but he main- tained that hostilities are not war; that the King ought to repel them, and, as speedily as possible, to apprize the Assembly, which then, as sovereign, declares its own intentions. Thus the whole difterence lay in the words, for Mirabeau gave to the Assembly the right of disapprov- ing the war, and requiring peace, Barnave that of alike declaring both ; but in either case the decision of the Assembly was to be obligatory, and Barnave allowed it no more right than Mirabeau. Barnave was nevertheless applauded and carried in triumph by the populace, and it was alleged that his adversary was sold. A pamphlet, entitled " Great Treason of the (-ount de Mirabeau," was hawked about the streets with loud cries. The occasion was decisive ; every one ex- pected an effort from the terrible champion. He demanded permis- sion to reply, obtained it, ascended the tribune in the presence of an immense multitude assembled to hear him, and declared, as he went up to it, that he would come down again either dead or victorious. " I too," he began, " have been borne in triumph, and yet they are crying to-day, the great ti'eason of the Count de Mirabeau. I needed not this example to learn that it is but a step from the Capitol to the Tarpeian rock. Yet these strokes from below shall not stop me in my career." After this impressive exordium, he intimated that he should reply to Barnave only, and he thus proceeded : " Explain your- self," said he to him ; " you have in your opinion limited the King to the notification of hostilities, and you have given to the Assembly alone the right of declaring the national will on that point. There I stop you, and recal you to our principles, which share the expression of the national Avill between the Assembly and the King In attributing it to the Assembly alone, you have transgressed against the constitution. I call you to order . . . You answer not I shall continue." FRENCH REVOLUTION. 145 No answer could in fact be given. Throughout a long reply, Bar- nave remained exposed to these thundering apostrophes. Mirabeau answered him article by article, and demonstrated that Baniave had not given to the Assembly any thing more than he had himself given to it ; but that, by limiting the King to a mere notification, he had de- prived him of his necessary concurrence in the expression of the na- tional will. He concluded by reproaching Barnave with those ciili)a- ble rivalries between men, who, he said, ought to live like true com- rades in arms. Barnave had enumerated the partisans of his opinion, Mirabeau in his turn mentioned his. He pointed out among them those moderate men, the first founders of the constitution, and who tfilked to the French of liberty, while his base calumniators were sucking the milk of courts, (alluding to the Lameths, who had received favours from the Queen,) " men," added he, " who will boast while they live of their friends and of their enemies." Mirabeau's speech gained unanimous applause. There was in the Assembly a considerable number of deputies who belonged neither to the right nor to the left side, but who, without espousing any par- ty, decided upon the impression of the moment. It was they whO' gave the victory to genius and reason, because they created a majori- ty on which side soever they voted. Barnave would have i-eplied ;: the Assembly opposed his intention, and insisted that the question should be put to the vote. The decree of Mirabeau, ably amended by Chapelier, had the preference, and was finally adopted to the general satisfaction ; for these rivalries did not extend beyond tiie circle in whicii they originated, and the popular party conceived that it con- quered just as well with INIirabeau as with tiie Lameths. The decree conferred on the King and the nation the right of making peace and war. To the Ring was assigned the disposal of the forces. He was to notify the commencement of hostilities ; to c;ill together the Assembly if it was not sitting, and to propose the de- cree of peace or war. The Assembly was to deliberate an his ex- press proposition, and the King was afterwards to sanction its deliber- ation. It v/as Chapelier, who, by a very judicious amendment, liatl required the express proposition and the definitive sanction. This decree, conformable with reason, and with the principles already es- tablished, excited sincere joy among the constitutionalists, and foolish hopes among the counter-revolutionists, who imagined that the pub- lic mind was about to change, and that this victory of INIirabeau was to become their own. Lafayette, who, on this occasion, had joined Mirabeau, wrote on the subject to Bouill6, held out to him hopes of tranquillity and moderation, and strove, as he always did, to reconcile him to the new order of things. The Assembly continued its financial labours. They consisted in disposing to the best advantage of the property of the clergy, the sale of which, long decreed, coidd not be prevented, either by pro- tests, or by pastoral charges, or by intrigues. To dispossess a too powerful body of a great portion of the territory of the kingdom — to divide it in the best possible manner, so as to fertilize it by division ; to nuike landed proprietors of a considerable portion of the people VOL. I. 19 146 HISTORY OF THE who were not such ; lastly, to extinguish by the same operation the debts of the state and to restore order in the finances — such were the objects of the Assembly, and it was too sensible of their utility to be deterred by obstacles. The Assembly had already ordered the sale of crown and church property to the amount of four hundred mdlions, but it was necessary to find means to dispose of these possessions without lowering their value by putting them up to sale all at once. Bailly proposed, in the name of the municipality of Paris, a plan that was ably conceived, namely, to transfer these possessions to the municipalities, which should purchase them in a mass, for the pur- pose of selling them again by degrees, so that the sales of the whole might not take place at once. The municipalities not having funds to pay immediately, should give bills at a certain date, and the cre- ditors of the state were to be paid with bans on communes, which they were required to pay off in succession. These bons, which in the discussion were called municipal paper, furnished the first idea of the assignats. In following up Bailly's plan, the Church property was invaded ; it was to be divided among the communes, and the creditors were to be brought nearer to their pledge by acquiring a claim upon the mu- nicipalities, instead of having a claim upon the state. The guaran- tees would therefore be augmented, since the payment was to be brought nearer ; it would even depend upon the creditors to effect it themselves, since with these bons or assignats they could acquire a proportionable value in property put up to sale. Thus a great deal would have been done for them. But this is not all. They might not choose to convert their bons into land, either from scruples or from any other motive. They would then be obliged to keep their bons, which, as they could not circulate like money, would be mere unpaid obligations. There remained but one more measure to be taken, which was, to give to these bons or obligations the faculty of circulation. They would then become really and truly money, and the creditors, being enabled to pay with them, would be actually re- imbursed. Another consideration was decisive. There was a scar- city of specie. This was attributed to the emigration which carried away a great deal of ready money, to the payments that had to be made to foreigners, and lastly to malevolence. The real cause was the want of confidence occasioned by the disturbances. Specie is apparent by the circulation. When confidence prevails, the activity of the exchange is extreme ; money moves about rapidly, is seen every where, and is believed to be more considerable because it is more serviceable ; but when political commotions create alarm, capi- tal languishes, specie moves slowly ; it is frequently hoarded, and complaints are unjustly made of its absence. The desire to provide a substitute for metallic specie, which the Assembly considered scarce, by putting into the hands of the credit- ors, something better than a dead obligation, and the necessity of supplying a multitude of other urgent wants, caused the forced curren- cy of money to be given to these bo7is or assignats. The creditor was thereby paid, since he could oblige others to take the paper which he FRENCH REVOLUTION. 147 liad received, and thus supply all his wants. If he did not choose to purchase lands, those who had taken the circulating paper of him would eventually buy them. The assignats which should come in by this method were to be burned ; thus the lands of the clergy would soon be distributed, and the paper suppressed. The assignat.-? bore interest at so much per day, and acquired value by remaining in the hands of those who held them. The clergy, viewing this measure as an instrument of execution against its possessions, strongly opposed it. Its noble and other allies, adverse to every thing that facilitated the progress of the revolution, ojiposed it also and cried out against paper-money. The name of Law was brought forward, and the memory of his bankruptcy re- vived. The comparison, however, was not just, because the value of Law's paper-money depended on the profits to be gained by the India Company, while that of the assignats was founded on a territo- rial capital, real and easily convertible. Law had committed coiisid- eral)le frauds on the court, and had greatly exceeded the presumed amount of the Company's capital. The Assembly, on the contrary, could not believe that, with the Jievv forms which it had just establish- ed, such errors could take place. Lastly, the amount of the assig- nats created, formed but a very small portion of the capital allotted to them. But it is true enough that paper, however safe, is not like money, a reality, or according to Bailly's expression, " a physical ac- tuality." Specie carries its own value along with it. Paper, on the contrary, requires one more operation, a purchase of land, a realiza- tion. It must therefore be below specie, and as soon as it is below it, money, which nobody will give for paper, is hoarded, and at length disappears. If, moreover, abuses in the administration of the pro- perty, and in moderate issues of paper, destroy the proportion be- tween the circulating medium and the capital, confidence vanishes ; the nominal value is retained, but the real value ceases ; he who gives this conventional money robs him who receives it, and a great crises ensues. All this was possible enough, and with more experience would have appeared certain. As a financial measure, the issue of assignats was therefore highly censurable ; but it was necessary as a political measure ; for it supplied urgent wants, and divided property without the aid of an agrarian law. The Assembly, therefore, had no reason to hesitate ; and, in sjjite of Maury and his partisans, it decreed four hundred millions of forced assignats with interest. Necker had long since lost the confidence of the King, the former deference of his colleagues, and the enthusiasm of the nation.* * " In passing through Geneva, the First Consul had an interview with 51. Neck- er. I know not how it happened, but at the time he did not speak to nie of this in- terview. However, I was curious to know what he thouglit of a man who had ac- quired so much celebrity in France. One evening, when we were talking, first of one thing, and then of another, I managed to turn the conversation on that subject. " M. Necker," said ho. " appears to me very far below his reputation. He did not equal the idea I had formed of him. I tried all I could to get him to talk, but he said nothing remarkable. He is an ideologist — a banker. It is impossible that such a man, can have any l^U narrow views; and besides, all celebrated people lose on a close view."— Bourrienne's Memoirs of Napoleon. E. 1 IS HISTORY OF THE Engrossed by his calculations lie sometimes entered into discussion with the Assembly. His reserve for extraordinary expenses occasion- ed a demand for the production of the red book, the famous register, containing, it was said, a list of all the secret disbursements. Louis XVI. complied with pain, and caused seals to be put upon the leaves in which were entered the expenses of his predecessor, Louis XV. The Assembly respected his delicacy, and confined itself to the ex- penditure of the current reign. Nothing personally concerning the King was found. Every prodigality had been for the benefit of cour- tiers. The Lameths were found down for a gratuity of sixty thou- sand francs, granted by the Queen for their education. They sent back that sum to the public exchequer. The pensions were reduced according to the twofold proportion of services and the former con- dition of the persons. The Assembly showed in every point the great- est moderation. It petitioned the King to fix the civil list himself, and it voted by acclamation the twenty-five millions which he de- manded. The Assembly, strong in its number, in its intelligence, in its pow- er, in its resolutions, had conceived the immense plan of regenerating all the departments of the state, and it had just framed the new ju- dicial system. It had distributed the courts in the same manner as the local administrations, by districts and departments. The judges were left to the popular election. This last measure had been strong- ly opposed. Political metaphysics had been again enlisted on this occasion to prove that the judicial power was dependent on the execu- tive, and that the King ought to appoint the judges. Reasons had been found on both sides ; but the only one that should have been given to the Assembly, which was on the point of making a mon- archy, was that royalty, successively stripped of its prerogatives, be- comes a mere magistracy, and the state a republic. But to say what monarchy was would have been too bold, requiring concessions which a nation never consents to make in the first moment of its awaking. The fault of nations is to demand either too much or nothing. The Assembly sincerely wished well to the King ; it was full of deference for him, and manifested it on every occasion ; but it was attached to the person, and, without being aware of it, destroyed the thing. After introducing this uniformity into the law, and the administra- tion, the Assembly had still to regulate the service of religion, and to organize it like all the other systems. Thus, when it had established a court of appeal and a superior administration in every department, it was natural to place there a bishopric also. How, indeed, could certain episcopal sees be suffered to comprehend fifteen hundred square leagues, whilst others embraced but twenty ; — certain livings to be ten leagues in circumference, whilst others numbered scarcely fifteen houses ; and certain cures to have at the utmost but seven hun drcd livres, whilst there were beneficed ecclesiastics, who possessed incomes often and fifteen thousand livres "? The Assembly, in reforming abuses, was interfering neither with the doctrines of the Church, nor with the papal authority, since the circumscriptions had always belonged to the temporal power. It de- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 149 lermined, therefore, to form a new division, and to subject, as of old, both curts and bishops to the popular election. Here it was encroach- ing on the temporal power alone, since it was the King who chose, and the Pope who instituted the ecclesiastical dignitaries. This plan, which was called the civil constitution of the clergy, and which drew upon the Assembly more calumny than any thing it had yet done, was nevertheless the work of the most pious deputies. It was Camus, and other Jansenists, who, desirous of invigorating religion in the state, strove to bring it into harmony with the new laws. It is cer- taiji that, justice being every where else re-established, it would have been strange had it not also been introduced into the ecclesiastical administration. With the exception of Camus, and some others of liis stamp, the members of the Assembly, educated in the school of the philosophers, would have treated Christianity like all other reli- gions admitted into the state, and would not have bestowed a thought upon it. They entertained sentiments which in our present social state it is usual not to combat, even when we do not share them. They supported therefore the religious and sincerely Christian plan of Camus. The clergy opposed it, alleging that it encroached on the spiritual authority of the Pope, and appealed to Rome. The principal basds of the plan were nevertheless adopted, and inunedi- ately presented to the King, who asked for time that he miglit refer to the high Pontiff. Tiie King, whose enlightened religion recog- nised the wisdom of this plan, wrote to the Pope, with a sincere de- sire of obtaining his assent, and thus overthrowing all the objections of the clergy. We shall presently see what intrigues prevented the success of his wishes. The month of July approached. It was nearly a year since the Bastile was taken, since the nation had seized all power, since it had announced its intentions by the Assembly, and executed them itself, or caused them to be executed under its superintendence. Tiie 1 4th of July was considered as the day which had commenced a new era, and it was resolved that its anniversary should be celebrated with great festivity. The provinces and the towns had already set the ex- ample of confederating, to resist with united strength the enemies of the Revolution. The municipality of Paris proposed for the 14th of fuly a general federation of all France, which should be celebrated in the heart of the capital by the deputies of all the national guards and of all the corps of the army. This plan was hailed with enthusiasm, and immense preparations were made to render the festival worthy of its object. Other nations, as we have seen, had long turned their eyes upon France. The sovereigns began to hate and fear, the people to es- teem us. A party of foreign enthusiasts appeared before the Assem- bly in the costume of their respective nations. Their spokesman, Anacharsis Clootz, by birth a Prussian, a man of wayward ima- gination, demanded, in tlu! name of tin; human race, to be admitted into the Federation.* These scenes, which appear ridiculous to * "J. B. De Cloot^, a Prussian baron, known since the Revolution by the name loO HISTORY OF THE those who are not eye-witnesses of them, make a deep impression upon all who are. The Assembly C()ini)lie(i with the demand, and the l*resident replied to these Ibreigners tliat they should he admitted, in order tiiat they mi^ht be able to relate to their countrymen what they had seen, and to make them acquainted with the joys and the bless- ing's of liberty. The emotion caused by this scene produced another. An eques- trian statue of Louis XIV. represented him trampling upon the image of several conquered provinces. " In the days of liberty," exclaim- ed one of the Lameths, " these monuments of slavery ought not to be endured. It is not fit that the people of Franche-Comte, when they come to Paris, should see their image thus enchained." Maury opposed a measure in itself unimportant, but which it was necessary to concede to the public enthusiasm. At the same moment a mem- ber proposed to abolish the titles of count, marquis, baron, «fcc. ; to prohibit liveries ; in short, to suppress all hereditary titles. Young Montmorenci seconded the motion. A noble asked what they would substitute for the words, " Such a one was created count for services nf Aiiachar.sis Clootz, was born at Cleves on the 24th of June, 175"), and became tlie possessor of a considerable fortune, which he dissipated by his misconduct. He was not destitute of abihty, but was half-crazed by his fanatical love of liberty, and his constant habit of poring over the works of German metaphysicians. As he was the nephew of Cornelius Parr, author of several works, he thought he nuist also be a writer. He travelled in ditferent parts of Europe, and particularly cultivated the society of Burke, who was then a member of the opposition in the English parlia- ment. During the French Revolution, Clootz made himself notorious by the ab- surd e.xtravagance of his conduct. The masquerade, known by the name of the • Rmbassy of the Human Race,' was the first scene in which he attracted attention. He appeared on the 19th of June, 1790, at the bar of the National Assembly, follow- ed bv a considerable body of Parisian porters in foreign dresses, whom he presented as deputies from all nations. He styled himself the ' Orator of the human race,' and requested to be admitted to the Federation, which was agreed to. On t!ie 2'2d of Jan- uary, 1792, he wrote a letter to the Legislative Assembly, beginning thus : ' The ora- tor of the human race to the legislature of the human race sends greeting.' On the 2lst of April he delivered a ridiculous tirade at the bar relative to the declaration of war against the King of Hungary and Hohemia ; proposed to the Assembly to adhere for a year to a strict regimen ; and ended by olTering, what he called, a patriotic gift of twelve thousand livres. He in consequence obt;tined the honour of a seat among the members. On the r2t!i of .\ugust he came to congratulate the A.ssembly on the events of the 10th, and otiered to raise a Prussian legion. On the 27th, he beg- ged t!ie Assembly to seta price on the heads of the King of Prussia and the Duke (if Brunswick, and delivered a long speech, in which the following expressions oc- ■Mirred : ' Charles IX. had a successor ; Louis will have none,' — ■ You know how to value the heads of philosophers; a price yet remains to be set on those of ty- rants.'— 'My heart is French, and ray soul sans-culotte.' The hatred of this fanatic against the Christian religion was as fervent as that which he entertained against the monarchy. In September, 1792, he was deputed from the Oise to the Convention, where lie voted for the death of Louis XVI. in the name of the hiunan race ! In the -ame year he published a work entitled ' The Universal Republic,' wherein he laid it down as a principle ' that the people was the sovereign of the world — nay, that it was Cod!' — • that fools alone believed in a Supreme Being!' &.C. He soon afterwards fell under the suspicion of Robespierre, was arrested as a Hebertist, and (ondemned to death on the 24th of March. 1794. He died with great tirmness, and, on his way to execution, lectured Hebert on materialism, ' to prevent him,' as he said, 'from yielding to religious feelings in his last moments.' He even asked to be executed after all his accomplices, in order that he might have time ' to establish certain principles during the fall of their heads.' " — Biograpliie 3lo districts, in the name of the country, invited the good citizens to assist the workmiju. Tins civic invitation electrilied all heads; the women shared and ])r()pagatfd the enthusiasm; scminan^sts, scholars, nuns of the order called Sumrs da Put, Carthusians grown old in solitude, were seen quitting their cloisters, hurrying to the Champ de Mars, with .shovels upon their shoidders, bearing banners adorned with patriotic emblems. There all the citizens collected, blended together, formed an immense and incessantly moving mass of la- .bonrers, every point of which presented a varied group : the dishevelled courtesan is plac(!d beside the modest matron, tin,' Capuchin draws the truck with the chevalier of St. Louis ; the \)orU\r ■.indthapctU-mnitre oC l\\c Palais lioyal ; the sturdy lishwoman drives tli(; wheelbarrow filled by the hands of the delicate and nervous lady ; wealthy people, indigent people, well-dressed j)eoj)le, ragged people, old men. boys, come- dians, C''«i-S'Miss«s, clerks, working ami restin:;, actors and spectators, exhibited to the astonished eye a scene full of life and bustle; moving taverns, portable shops, in- creased the charm and gayety of this vast and exhilarating picture; songs, shouts of joy, the soinid of drums and military instruments, that of spades and wheelbarrows, the voic(;s of the labourers calling to and encouraging one another 'I'he mind lelt sinking luider the weight of a delicious intoxication at the sight of a whole people who had descended again to the sweet sentimentsot" a primitive fraternity. . . As soon as th;t<. There were a regatta on the river, fireworks, illumin.'ition, ball and refresh- ments iu the Flalle an Ble. arid a ball on the site of tlu; Bastille. At the entrance of the enclosure was an inscription, in large letters, Ici i.'ov davse ( Dancing here). Hapnv assemblage, which formed ;i stiiking coiurast with the antique image ofhorror and desnaiv called forth by tht* recollection of that odi(ms prison! 'I'he people went to aiul from one of these places to the other withoiU any impediment. The police, by jirotiibititig the circulation of carriages, prevented the accidents so common in public festivities, as well as the tumultuous noise of horses, and wheels, and shouts of Gave (Take care) — a noise which wearies and stuns the citizens, makes theiu every moment afraid of being run over, and gives to the most splendid and best-regulated fete the appearance of a flight. Public festivities are essentially for the people. It is they alone who ot^ght to be considered. If the rich are desirous of sharing their pleasures, let them put themselves on a level with the peoph- for that day ; so hy 158 HISTORY OF THE proceeilings commenced at the Cliattelet against the authors of the disturbances of the oth and 6th of October. The Duke of Orleans and Mirabeau were impUcatcd in them. Tliese singular proceedings, several times rehnquished and resumed, betrayed the different infiu- enct^s under which they had been carried on. They were full of con- tradictions, and present no sufficient charge against the two principal persons accused. Tlie court, in conciliating Mirabeau, had never- theless no settled plan in regard to him. It approached and with- drew from him by turns, and sought rather to appease him than to follow his advice. In renewing the proceedings of the 5th and 6th of October, it was not at him that it aimed, but at the Duke of Orleans, who had been mucli applauded on his return from London, and whom it had harsiilv repulsed, when he begged to be again taken into favour by the Ring. Chabroud was to report to the Assembly, that it might judge whetiier there was ground or not for the accusation. The court was desirous that Mirabeau should keep silence, and that he siiouid aban- don the Dnke of Orleans, against whom alone it bore a grudge. He nevertheless spoke, and showed how ridiculous were the imputations thrown out against him. He was accused, in fact, of having apprized Mounier that Paris was marching upon Versailles, and of having added tbis expression : " We want a king, but no matter whetiier it be Louis XVL or Louis XVII. ; of having gone through the Flanders regiment, sword in hand, and exclaimed at the moment of the departure of the Duke of Orleans : ' this j . . . / is not worth the trouble tiiat is taken about him.' " IVothing could be more frivolous than such allegations. Mirabeau showed their weak- ness and absurdity, said but a few words respecting the Duke of Orleans, and exclaimed, when concluding; " Yes, the secret of these infernal proceedings is at length laid bare ; it is yonder whole and entire (pointiuir to the right side) ; it is to be found in the interest of those whose evidence and whose calumnies have formed their tissue ; it is in the resources-which they have furnished to the enemies of the doing they will gain sensations to which tliey are strangers, and will not disturb the joy of their fellow-uitizonH. " It WHS in the Champs F.Iysees that persons of feeling enjoyed more satisfactorily this charming popular festival. Columns of lights hung from every tree, and fes- toons of lamps connected them together; pyramids of fire, placed at intervals, dif- fused a pure light, which the enormous mass of surrounding darkness rendered still more i)rill!nut hy its contrast. The people covered the alleys and the greensward. The citizen, seated with his ^vife, amidst his children, ate, chatted, walked about, and enjoyed him--eir. Here, young lads and lasses danced to the sound of several bands of iimsic. stationed in the open spaces which had been formed. Farther on, sailors, injacket and trousers, surrounded by numerous groups who looked on with inter- est, strove to climb up tall masts rubbed with soap, to gain a prize reserved for him who should reach and bring down a tricoloured flag fastened to the snnnnit. You should have seen the bursts of laughter wliich greeted those who were forced to ro- lin(|nish the attempt, and the encoiirageuijuts given to those, who, more lufkv or more adroit, appeared likely to reach the top. .\ soothing sentimental joy, ditiused over every face, b-iaming in every eye, reminded you of the peaceful pleasures of the happy shades in the Elysian fields of the ancients. The white dresses of a multi- tude of females, strolling imder the trees of those beautiful alleys, served to heighten the illusion." — Fcrricrcs, toni. ii., p. 89. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 159 Revolution ; it is — it is in the hearts of the judges sucli as it will soon be graven in history by the most just and the most implacable vengeance." Plaudits accompanied Mirabeau to his seat ; the Assembly resolved that there was no ground of accusation against the persons inculpated, and the court incurred the disgrace of a useless attempt. The Revolution was destined to run its course every where, in the army as well as among the people. The army, the last instrument of pf)\ver, was also the last fear of the popular party. All the military chiefs were enemies of the Revolution, because, being exclusive pos- sessors of promotion and favours, they saw merit admitted to equal privileges with themselves. From the contrary motive, the sohlicrs inclined to the new order of thinors; and no doubt the dislike of dis- cipline, and the desire of higher pay, acted as powerfully upon them as the spirit of liberty. A dangerous insubordination manifested itself throughout almost the whole army. The infantry, in particular, per- haps because it mingles more with the people, was in a state of absolute insurrection. Bouille, who was mortified to see his army slipping out of his hands, employed all possible means to ])revent this contagion of the revolutionary spirit. He had received the most ex- tensive powers from Latour du Pin, minister at war; he availed him- self of them to keep shifting his troops about continually, and thus to prevent them from contracting a familiarity with the people by staying in the same place. He forbade them, above all things, to frequent the clubs, and in short he neglected no means of maintaining military subordination. Bouille, after a long resistance, had at length tiiken the oath to the constitution. He was a man of honour, and from that moment he seemed to have formed the resolution to be faithful to the constitution and to the King. His dislike of Lafayette, whose disinterestedness he could not but acknowledge, was overcome, and he was more disposed to be on good terms with him. The national guards of the extensive country under his command, had proj)osed to appoint him their general. He had refused the offer in his first fit of pique, i)ut was sorry for having done so afterwards, when he thought of all the good that he should have had it in his power to do. Nevertheless, in spite of some denunciations of the clubs, he still maintained himself in the popular favour. Revolt first broke out at Metz. The soldiers confined their offi- cers, seized the colours and the military chests, and wished even to make the municipality contribute. Bouille exposed himself to the greatest danger, and succeeded in his efiorls to suppress the sedition. Soon afterwards, a similar mutiny took place at Nancy. Some Swiss reiriments were im[)licated in it, and there was reason to nppnhend that, if this example were followed, the whole kingdom would soon be a prey to the united excesses of the soldiery and the populace. The Assembly itself trembled at the prospect. An officer was charged to carry tin; decree passed against the rebels. He could nut put it into execution, and Bouille was ordered to march to Nancy, that the law mig^it have the assistance of force. He had but few soldiers on whonvlie could rely. Luckily the troops which had lately 160 HISTORY OF THE mutinied at Metz, humbled because he durst not trust them, offered to march against the rebels : the national guards made a similar offer, and he advanced upon Nancy with these united forces and a tolerably numerous body of ca- valry. His situation was perplexing, for he could not employ his cavalry, and his infantry was not strong enougli to attack the rebel? seconded by the populace. Nevertheless he addressed Avith the greatest firmness and con- trived to overawe them. They were even about to yield and to leave the city agreeably to his orders, when some musket-shots were fired from some unknown quarter. An action now became inevitable. Bouille's troops, under the idea of treachery, fought with the greatest ardour; but the engage- ment was obstinate, and they penetrated only step by step through a de- structive fire. Being at lengtli master of the principal squares, Bouille gained the submission of the revolted regiments, and compelled them to leave the city; he liberated the imprisoned officers and the authorities, and caused the principal ringleaders to be picked out, and delivered them up to the Na- tional Assembly. This victory diffused general joy, and allayed the fears which had been excited for the tranquillity of the kingdom. Bouille received congratulations and commendations from the King and the Assembly. He was subsequently calumniated, and his conduct charged with cruelty. It Avas nevertheless ir- reproachable, and at tbe moment it was applauded as such. The King aug- mented his command, which became very considerable, extending from Switzerland to the Sanibre, and comprehending the greatest part of the fron- tiers. Bouille, having more reliance on the cavalry than on the infantry, chose the Iianks of the Seille, which falls into the Moselle, for his canton- ments. He there had plains for manoeuvring his cavalry, forage for its sup- port, places of considerable strength for intrenching it, and above all, a thin population. Bouille had determined to take no step against the constitution, but he distrusted the patriots, and he took precautions with a view to suc- cour the King, if circumstances should render it necessary. The Assembly had abolished the parliaments, instituted juries, suppressed JKrandes, and was about to order a fresh issue of assignats. The property of the clergy offering an immense capital, and the assignats rendering it con- tinually disposable, it was natural that the Assembly should employ it. All the objections already urged were renewed with still greater violence. The Bishop of Autun himself declared against this new issue, and had the sagacity to foresee all the financial results of that measure.* Mirabeau, looking chiefly at the political results, obstinately persisted, and with success. Eight * M. de Talleyrand had predicted, in a very remarkable manner, the financial results of paper-money. In his speech he first showed the nature of that money, characterized it with the greatest justice, and explained the reasons of its speedy inferiority. " Will the National Assembly," said he, " order an issue of two thousand millions of money in assignats .' People judge of this second issue by the success of the first ; but they will not perceive that the wants of commerce, checked by the Revolution, naturally caused our first conventional issue to be received with avidity ; and these wants were such, that, in my opinion, this currency would have been adopted, had it even not been forced : to make an attack on this first success, which moreover, has not been complete, since the assignats are below par, in favour of a second and more ample issue, is to expose ourselves to great dangers ; for the empire of the law has its measure, and this measure is the interest which men have to respect or to infringe it. " The assignats will undoubtedly have characters of security which no paper-money ever had ; none was ever created upon so valuable a pledge, clothed with so solid a security : that I am far from denying. The assignat, considered as a title of credit, has a positive and ma- terial value ; this value of the assignat is precisely the same as that of the land which it re- presents ; but still it must be admitted above all, that never will any national paper be upon FRENCH REVOLUTION. Ifil hundred millions ill assignats were decreed; and this time it was deeided that they should not hear interest. It would have been useless in fact to add interest to a circulatinir medium. Let this be done for a paper which can- not circulate but remains idle in the haiuls of the holder — nothing is more just: but fur a value Avhich becomes actual by its forced currency, it is an error wliich the Assembly did not commit a second time. Necker opposed this new issue, and sent in a memorial which was not listened to. Times were materially changed for him, and he was no loigger the minister whose continuance in office was deemed by the people essential a par with the raotals; never will the supplementary sign of the first representative sign of wealth have the exact value of its model ; the very title proves want, and want spreads alarm and distrust around it. " Why will assignat-money he always helow specie ? In the first place, hecause there will always Ik; doubts of the exact application of its proportions between the mass of the assignats and that of the national property ; because there will long be uncertainty respecting the con- summation of the sales; because no concei)tion can be formed by what time two thousand millions of assignats, representing nearly the value of the d.miains, will be extinguished; be- cause, money being put in competition with paper, both become a marketable commodity ; and the more abundant any commodity is, the lower must be its price; because with money one will always be able to do without assignats, whilst it is impossible witli assignats to do without money : and fortunately the absolute want of money will keep some specie in circu- lation, for it would be the greatest of all evils to be absolutely destitute of it." Farther on the speaker added : " To create an assignat currency is not assuredly represent- ing a metallic commodity, it is merely representing a metallic currency : now a metal that is merely money, whatever idea may be attached to it, cannot represent that which is at the same time money and merchandise. Assignat-money, however safe, however .solid, it may be, is therefore an abstraction of paper-money ; it is consequently but the free or forced sign, not of wealth but merely of credit. It thence follows that to give to paper the functions of monev by making it like other money, the medium between all exchangeable ol)jects, is changing the quaiuity recognised as unit, otherwise called in this matter the mint standard ; it is operating in a moment what centuries scarcely operate in a state that is advancing in wealth ; and if, to borrow the exprossion of a foreign writer, money performs in regard to the price of things the same function as degrees, minutes, and seconds, in regard to angles, or scales in regard to geographit'al maps and plans of all kinds, I ask what must be the result from this alteration in the common measure 1" After showing what the new money was, M. de Talleyrand predicted with singular preci- sion the confusion which would result from it in private transactions. " I3ut, let us at length follow the assignats in their progress, and see what course they will have to take. The reimbursed creditor then must either jiurchase lands with the assignats, or he must keep them, or employ them for other acquisitions. If he purchases lands, then your object will be fulfilled: I shall applaud with you the creation of assignats, because they will not be thrown into circulation ; because, in short, they will only have made that which I propose to you to give to public credits, the faculty of being exchanged for public domains. But if this distrustful creditor prefers losing the interest by keeping an inactive title ; if ho converts assignats into metals for the purpose of hoarding them, or into bills on foreigners to carry them abroad ; if these latter classes are much more numerous than the first ; if, in short, the assignats remain a long time in circulation before they come to be extinguished in the chest of the sinking fund; if they are forced into currency and stoj) in the hands of persons who are obliged to take them at par, and who, owing nothing, cannot employ them but with loss ; if they are the occasion of a great injustice done by all debtors to all creditors anterior to the })assing of assignats at the par of money, whilst it will be contradicted in the security which it orders, since it will be impossible to oblige the sellers to take them at the par of specie, that is to say without raising the price of their commodities in {)roportion to the loss upon the assignats: how sorely then will this ingenious o[)eration have disappointed the pa- triotism of those whose sagacity has devised, and whose integrity defends it ! and to what in- consolable regret should we not be doomed !" It cannot then be asserted that the National Assembly was wholly unaware of the possible '■'•suit of its determination; but to these forebodings might be opposed one of those answers which one never dare give at the moment, but which would be peremptory and which be- come so in the sequel — the necessity of replenishing the exchequer and of dividing property Vol. I. — 21 o2 162 HISTORY OF THE to their welfare a year before. Deprived of tlie confidence of the King-, em- broiled with his coUeaffues, excepting Montmorin, he was neglected by the Assembly, and not treated by it with that attention which he had a right to expect. Necker's error consisted in believing that reason is sufficient for all thinirs, and that, combined with a medley of sentiment and logic, it covdd not fail to triumph over the infatuation of the aristocrats and the irritation of the patriots. Necker possessed that somewhat vain-glorious reason, Avhich sits in judgment on the vagaries of the passions, and condemns them ; but he lacked that other sort of reason, more lofty but less proud, wliich does not confine itself to condemning, but knows how to govern them also. Thus, placed in the midst of parties, he only irritated all, without being a bridle upon any. Left without friends, since the secession of Mounicr and Lally, he had retained none but the useless Mallouet. He had offended the As- sembly by reminding it continually and with reproaches of the most difiicult of all duties — that of attending to the finances. He had moreover incurred ridicule by the manner in which he spoke of himself. His resignation was accepted with pleasure by all parties. His carriage was stopped as it was quitting the kingdom by the same populace which had before drawn him in triumph; and it was necessary to apply to the Assembly for an order direct- ing that he should be allowed to ijo to Switzerland. He soon obtained this permission, and retired to Coppet, there to contemplate at a distance a Revo- kuion which he was no longer qualified to observe closely or to guide. The ministry was now reduced to as complete a cipher as the King, and chiefly busied itself with intrigues, which were eitlier futile or culpable. St. Priest communicated witli the emigrants ; Latour du Pin lent himself to all the schemes of the military chiefs ; INIontmorin* possessed the esteem of the * "Armaml Marc Count ile Montmorin St. Hercm, minister of finance, and secretary of state, was one of the Assembly of Notables held at Versailles, and had the administration of foreign aflairs at the time when the States-general opened. He was dismissed in 1789 with Necker, but was immediately recalled by order of the National Assembly, In September, 17n0, when all his colleagues were dismissed, he retained his place, and even the portfolio of the interior was for a time confided to him. In April, 1791, he sent a circular letter to all the ministers at foreign courts, assuring their sovereigns that the King was wholly unre- strained, and sincerely attached to the new constitution. In the beginning of June, he was struck from the list of Jacobins, and was afterwards summoned to the bar for giving the King's passport when he fled to Varennes; but he easily cleared himself from this charge by proving that the passport had been taken out under a supposititious name. M. de Montmo- rin soon after this, tendered his resignation; yet though withdrawn from public life, he con- tinued near the King, and, together with Bertrand de Molleville, Mallouet, and a few others, formed a kind of privy council, which suggested and prepared various plans for strengthen- ing the monarchy. This conduct drew on him the inveterate hatred of the Jacobins, who attacked him and Bertrand as members of the Austrian committee. M. de Montmorin was one of the first victims who fell in the massacres of September." — Biographie Maderne. E. " The unfortunate M. de Montmorin had taken refuge on the 10th of August at the house of a washerwoman in the fauxbourg St. Antoine. He was discovered in the early part of September by the imprudence of his hostess, who bought the finest fowls and the best fruit she could find, and carried them to her house, without taking any precautions to elude the observation of her neighbours. They soon suspected her of harbouring an aristocrat. This conjecture spread among the populace of the fauxbourg, who were almost all of them spies and agents of the Jacobins. M. de Montmorin was in consequence arrested, and conducted to the bar of the National Assembly. He answered the questions put to him in the most satisfactory manner; but his having concealed himself, and a bottle of laudanum having been found in his pocket, formed, said his enemies, a strong presumption that he was con- scious of some crime. After being detained two days in the committee, he was sent a prisoner to the Abbaye; and a few days afterwards was murdered in a manner too shocking to men- tion ; and his mangled body carried in triumph to the National Assembly." — Private Memoirs of Bertrand de Molleville. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 163 court but not its confidence, and he was employed in intrigues with the popular leaders witli whom his moderation made him aciiuaintcd. The ministers Avere all denounced on the plea of new plots. " I too," exclaimed Cazales, "I too would denounce them, if it were generous to attack such weak men ; I would charge the minister of the finances witli having kept the Assembly in the dark respecting the real resources of the state, and with not having directed a Revolution which he had provoked ; I would charge the minister at war with having suffered the army to be disorganized ; the mi- nister of the interior with not having enforced the observance of the King's orders; all, in short, with their nullity and the cowardly advice given to their master." Inactivity is a crime in the eyes of parties desirous of proceed- ing- to their soal. Accordinfflv, the risrht side condemned the ministers not for what they had done, but for what they had not done. Cazales and his supporters, though they condemned them, were nevertheless averse to ap- plying to the King for their dismissal, because they regarded such an appli- cation as an infrinsrement of the royal prerogative. The motion was not pressed ; but the ministers successively resigned, excepting ^lontmorin, who alone was retained. Duport-du-Tertre, who was merely an advocate, was appointed keeper of the seals, Duportail, recommended to the Kinuf l)y La- fayette, succeeded Latour du Pin in the war department, and showed him- self more favourably disposed towards the popular party. One of the mea- sures taken by him Mas to deprive I'ouille of all the liberty which he as- sumed in his command, and especially of the power of displacing the troops at his pleasure; — a power which Bouille employed, as we have seen, to pre- vent his soldiers from fraternizing with the people. The King had stutlicd the history of the English revolution with particu- lar attention. He hail always iieen powerfully struck by the fate of Charles I., and he could not help feeling sinister forebodinsfs. lie had particularly remarked the motive of Charles's condemnation. The motive was civil war. He had thence contracted an invincible horror of every measure that could produce bloodshed, and invariably opposed all the schemes of flight proposed by the Queen and the court. During the summer which he passed at St. Cloud in 1790, he had oppor- tunities enough for lliirht, but he never would listen to the mention of it. The friends of the constitution dreaded like him such a step, which seemed likely to lead to a civd war. The aristocrats alone desired it, because, in becoming masters of the King by withdrawing him from the Assembly, they llattered themselves with the prospect of governing in his name, and returning with him at the head of foreigners ; not yet knowing that in such cases one can never go anywhere but in the rear, AVitli the aristocrats were perhaps united some precocious imaginations, wliich already began to dream of a re- public, which no one else yet thought of, and the name of which had never yet been mentioned, unless bv the Queen in her fits of passion against La- fayette and the Assembly, whom she accused of urging it on with all their might, Lafayette, chief of the constitutional army and of all the sincere friends of liberty, kept incessant watch over the person of the monarch. Those two ideas, the departure of the King and civil war, were so strongly associated in all minds ever since the commencement of the Revolution, that such an event was .considered as the greatest calamity that could be appre- hended. ' Meanwhile the expulsion of the ministry, which, if it had not the confi- dence of Louis XVI. was at least his choice, indisposed him towards the Assembly, and excited his fears for the total loss of the executive power 164 HISTORY OF THE The new religious debates, to which the bad faith of the clergy gave rise on occasion of the civil constitution, affrighted his timid conscience, and thence- forward he thought of departure.* It was towards the end of 1790 that he wrote on the subject to Bouille, who at tirst opposed the scheme, but after- wards gave way, lest he should cause the luifortunate monarch to doul)t liis zeal. Mirabcau, on his part, had formed a plan for upholding the monarchy. In continual communication with Montmorin, he had hitherto undertaken nothing of consequence ; because the court, hesitating between emigration and the national party, was not cordially disposed towards anything, and dreaded, above all other schemes, that which would suijject it to a master so sincerely constitutional as Mirabeau. Nevertheless, at this period it cordially agreed with him. Everything was promised him if he succeeded. All possible resources were placed at his disposal. Talon, civil lieutenant to tlie Chiitelet, and Laporte, recently summoned by the King to manage the civil list, had orders to see him and to aid in the execution of his plans. Mirabeau condemned the new constitution. For a monarchy it was, accord- ing to him, too democratic, and for a republic, there was a king too much. Observing, above all, the popular violence, which kept continually increas- ing, he resolved to set bounds to it. At Paris, under the rule of tlie mob and of an all-powerful Assembly, any attempt of this sort was impossible. He felt that there was but one alternative, to remove the King from Paris, and place him at Lyons. There the King could have explained himself: be could have energetically stated the reasons which caused him to condemn the new constitution, and have given another, which was ready prepared. At the same instant a first session would have been convoked. Mirabeau, in conferring in writing with the most popular members, had had the art to draw from all of them the acknowledgment of their disapprobation of an article in the existing constitution. On comparing these ditl'erent opinions, it was found that the constitution was altogether condemned by its framers themselves.t He proposed to annex them to the manifesto of the King, to * "About this time MaJame de Staul invented a plan for his Majesty's escape, which she communicated to M. de Montmorin in a letter that he showed me. The plan was as follows: — The estate of Lamotte, on the coast of Normandy, belonging to the Duke of Orleans, was to be sold. Madame de StacI proposed, that she should publicly give out that she had an intention to purchase it ; and on this pretext, that she should make frequent journeys to that ])lace, always in the same carriage, and accompanied in the same maiinesr — namely, by a man of the same size and shape as the King, dressed in a gray coat, and a round })eriwig; by a waiting-woman resembling the Queen ; by a child of the age and figure of the Dauphin ; and by a footman on horseback. When these repeated journeys had accustomed the masters of the post-houses, and the postilions on the road, to the appearance of Madame de Stael and her travelling companions, she proposed that their places should be occupied by the King, Queen, and Dauphin, in the hope that they would arrive safely at the castle of Lamotte, where a fishing- vessel would be in readiness to transport them whither they pleased. This plan appeared to M. de Montmorin equally dangerous, romantic, and inconsistent with pro- priety ; he therefore never mentioned it to the King, in the fear that his majesty, who regarded Madame de StacM as an enthusiast, would reject every future plan of escape as wild and extravagant, merely because a similar measure had been proposed liy her." — Private Memoirs of Bcrlrand de Molkvil/e. E. j It is not possible that there should not be diversity of opinions in regard to a work com- posed collectively, and by a great number of persons. Unanimity having never taken place, excepting on certain very rare points, of course every part was disapproved by those who voted against it. Thus every article of the constitution of 1 79 1 must have met with some disa[)piovers among the very authors of that constitution ; the whole was nevertheless their real and incontestalile work. What luqipened in this instance would have been inevitable in ■any deliberative body, and the expedient of Mirabeau was but a trick. It may even be said, that his procedure was far from delicate, but great allowance must be made for a man of mighty FRENXII REVOLUTION. 165 insure its efTect and to cause the necessity for a new constitution to be the more stroni^ly f<'lt. We are not acquainted with all his means of execution: hut we know that, through tlie j)olicy of 'J'alon, civil lieutenant, he had secured pamphleteers, and club and mob orators ; and that by his immense correspondence he could have made sure of thirty-six departments of the south. No doubt he meant to gain the aid of IJouille, but he would not place himself at the mercy of that general. While Bouille should be encamped at Montmedv, he wished the King to stay at Lyons; and he himself was to be at liVons or Paris, according to circumstances. A foreign prince, a friend of IMirai)eau, saw Ijouille on behalf of the King, and com- municated to him this plan, but unknown to Mirabeau,* who had no thought of jMontmodv, for which place the King subsequently set out, Bouille, struck by the genius of Mirabeau, declared that everything ought to be done to win such a man, and that for his own part he was ready to second him with all his means. M. de Lafayette was unacquainted with this plan. Though sincerely attached to tiie person of the King, he had not the confidence of the court, and besides he excited the envy of Mirabeau, who was not desirous of hav- insr such a companion. M. de Lafayette, moreover, was known to pursue only the direct road ; and this plan was too bold, it deviated too much from the legal course, to suit him. IJe this as it may, Mirabeau wished to be the sole executer of his plan, and in fact he carried it on quite alone duriiiir the winter of 1790-1791. It is impossible to tell whether it would have suc- ceeded, but this much is certain, that without stemming the revolutionary torrent, it would at least have influenced its direction ; and that, though it would undoubtedly not have changed the inevitalde result of the revolution, it would have modified events by its powerful opposition. It is still a ques- tion, however, whether, had he even succeeded in quelling the popular party, he could have made himself master of the aristocracy and of the court. One of his friends mentioned to him this last oitjection. "They have promised me everything," said Mirabeau. "And if they should not keep their word ?" — " If they do not keep their word, I will soon turn them into a republic." 'i'he principal articles of the civil constitution, such as the new circum- scription of the bishoprics and the election of all the ecclesiastical function- aries, had been decreed. The King had referred to the Pope, who, after answering him in a tone half severe and half paternal, had appealed iu his turn to the clergy of France. The clerody duriuf the session, and at other times not to leave the kingdom. The In the spveii years' war hi' distinguished himself hy his skill and coiiriipe, and in 1762 gained a vioor nobles conformed with careless philosophy to this alti^ed state of things, choetfully enduring present privations in the san- guine expectation of speedily regaining all that they had lost. 'J'hey conlidently believed that the enil of autumn would lind them restored to their sj)len(lid homes, to their groves, to iheir forests, and to their old dove-cotes." — Chateaubriand's Memoirs of the Duke dt Bcrri. E. VOL. I.— 22 P ITO HISTORY OF THE penalty for all the functionaries, in case of their violating this law, was dis- missal from office. Another decree relative to emigration was demanded from the committee. Meanwhile the King, unable to endure the constraint imposed upon him, and the reductions of power to which he was subjected by the Assembly, enjoying moreover no peace of mind since the new decrees relative to priests, had resolved upon flight. The whole winter had been devoted to preparations for it: the zeal of Mirabeau was urged, and great promises were held out to him if he should succeed in setting the royal family at liberty. Mirabeau prosecuted his plan with tlie utmost activity. Lafayette had just l)roken with the Lameths. The latter thought him too much attached to the court ; and liis integrity being, unlilve that of JNIirabeau, above suspicion, they found fault with his understanding, and alleged that he suffered himself to be duped. The enemies of the Lameths accused them of being jealous of the military power of Lafayette, as they had envied the rhetorical power of Mirabeau. They joined, or seemed to join, the friends of the Duke of Orleans,* and it was asserted that they Avished to secure for one of them the command of the national guard. It was Charles Lameth who was said to be ambitious of obtaining tliis appoint- ment. To this motive were attributed the incessantly recurring difliculties that were subsequently thrown in the way of Lafayette. On the 28th of February, the populace, instigated it is said by the Duke of Orleans, repaired to the castle of Vincennes, which the municipality had appropriated for the reception of prisoners, with whom the prisons of Paris were too much crowded. The castle was attacked as a new Bastille. La- fayette hastened to the spot in time, and dispersed the populace of the faux- bourg St. Antoine, who were led upon this expedition by Santerre.t While he was restoring order in this quarter, other difficulties were preparing for him at the Tuileries. On the rumour of a commotion, the dependents of the palace, to the number of several hundred had repaired thither. They carried concealed weapons, such as hunting-knives and daggers. The na- tional guard, astonished at this concourse, took alarm, and disarmed and maltreated some of them. Lafayette having arrived, caused the palace to be cleared, and seized the weapons. The circumstance was immediately * The three brothers, Theodore, Charles, and Alexandre Lameth, were peculiarly called on to defend the cause of monarchy, for they had been loaded with benefits by the court, and educated under the special patronage of the Queen, to whom they had been recom- mended by their mother, who was the sister of Marshal Broglio. — Biographie Moilcrne. E. f Santerre, a brewer in the fauxbourg St. Antoine, at Paris, possessed a boldness and energy which gave him great weight in his own neighbourhood. Though ignorant, he knew well how to address a mob, which made him courted by the Orleanists. On the taking of the Bastille, he distinguished himself at the head of the forces of his fauxbourg, and when the national guard was formed, he was appointed commander of a battalion. In 1792 he began to obtain decided influence with the people, and on the 10th of August, becoming commander of the national guard, he conducted the King to the Temple. Yet, notwith- standing his democratic zeal, he was not considered fit to direct the massacres in the prisons. Marat said of him, that he was a man without any decided character. On the II th of De- cember he conducted the King to the bar of the National Convention, on the occasion of his trial; and in January, 1793, commanded the troops who superintended his execution. It was Santerre who interrupted the unfortunate monarch when he attempted to addiwss the people, liy ordering the drums to be beat. Wishing to figure as a warrior, Santerre de- parted, with 14,000 men, to tight the royalists in La Vendee; he was, however, continually unsuccessful ; and on one occasion, it having been reported that he was killed, this epitaph was made on him : " Here lies General Santerre, who had nothing of Mars but his beer." Santerre survived the troubles of the Revolution, and died in ohscauty.—Biog^rapkie Mo- {dsrne. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 171 rumoured abroad. It was said that daggers had been found upon them, Mheuce they -were afterwards called knights of the dagger. They asserted that they had only come to defend the person of the King, which was threatened. In reply, they were accused of an intention to carry off the King ; and the afiair ended, as usual, in reciprocal calumnies. This scene determined the real position of Lafayette. It was clearly shown on this occasion, that, placed between the most opposite parties, he was there to protect both the person of the King and the constitution. Ilis double vic- tory increased his popularity, his power, and the hatred of his enemies. Miral)eau, who wrongfully encouraged the distrust of the court towards him, represented his conduct as profoundly hypocritical. Under the ap- pearance of moderation and hostility to all parties, it tended, according to him, to usurpation. In his spleen, he described the Lameths as wicked and senseless men, associated wnth the Duke of Orleans, and having no more than aI)out thirtv ])artisans in the Assembly, As for the right side, he declared that he could make nothing of it, but that he relied on tlie three or four hundred members who were bound by no engagements, but decided from the impression of reason and eloquence which he produced at the moment. 'i'here was nothing true in this representation but his estimate of the re- spective force of the parties, and his opinions concerning the means of directing the Assembly. He virtually governed it, by influencing all who had not bound themselves by engagements. On this same day, the 28th of February, he exercised his sway almost for the last time, displayed his hatred to the Lameths, and brought his formidable power to bear against thorn. The law relative to emigration was about to be discussed. Chapelier presented it in tlie name of the committee, which, he said, participated in the general indignation against those Frenchmen who were forsaking their country ; but he declared that, after several days' consideration, the com- mittee had satisfied itself that it was impossible to make any law concerning emigration. It was in reality a difllcidt thing to do. It was necessary in the first place to inquire if they had a right to attach men to the soil. Thev certainly had a riu^ht to do so, if the welfare of the country demand it. Kut it was requisite to make a distinction between the motives of travellers, which became inquisitorial. It was requisite to make a distiuction between their quality as Frenchmen or foreigners, emigrants or mere mercantile men. Such a law then was extremely difficult, if not impossible. Chape- lier added that the committee, in comjjliance with the directions of the Asseml)ly, had neverth('less drawn up one, which he would read, if permit- ted, but which lie had no hesitation in declaring violated all principles. From all quarters issued cries of "Read!" "Don't read!" A great number of deputies asked leave to speak. Mirabeau demanded it in his turn, obtained permission, and, what is still more, commanded silence. He read a very eloquent letter, addressed some time before to Frederick Wil- liam, in which he advocated the liberty of emigration as one of the most sacred rights of man, who, not beiiiir attached by roots to the soiil, ought not to be attached to it by any thing hut by happiness. Mirabeau, perhaps to gratify the court, but still more from conviction, repelled as tyrannical every measure a;^ainst tlie liberty of entcrinir, or withdrawing from, the country. A bad use was no doulit made of this liberty at the moment; but the Assembly, confident in its strenirth, had winked at so many abuses of the p?ess committed against itself, had encountered so many vain attempts, 172 HISTORY OF THE and so victoriously overthrown tliem, that one might safely advise it to per- sist in the same system. ]\Iirubeau's opinion was applauded, but the members continued to insist on the reading of tlie proposed law. CMiapclier at length read it. It sug- gested, in case of disturbances, the appointment of a commission of three members, which should appoint by name, and at their pleasure, those who were to be at liberty to leave the kinn-doin. At this cuttintr ironv, which denounced the impossibility of a law, murmurs arose. " Your murmurs have soothed me," exclaimed Mirabeau ; " your hearts respond to mine, and oppose this absurd tyranny. As for me, I hold myself released from every oath towards those wdio shall be infamous enough to admit of a dictatorial commission." — Cries were raised on the left side. " Yes," he repeated, "I swear...." He was again interrupted. "That popularity," he resumed in a voice of thunder, " to wliich I have aspired, and which I have enjoyed as well as others, is not a feeble reed ; I will thrust it deep into the earth, and I will make it shoot up in the soil of justice and reason." Ap- plauses burst forth from all quarters. "I swear," added the orator, "if a law against emigration is voted, I swear to disobey you." He descended from tlie tribune, after astounding the Assembly, and over- awing his enemies. The discussion nevertheless continued. Some were for adjournment, that they might have time for making a better law ; others insisted that they should forthwith declare that none should be made, in order to pacify the people, and to put an end to the ferment. Murmurs, shouts, applauses, succeeded. Mirabeau asked, and seemed to require, to be heard. " What right of dictatorship is it," cried M. Goupil, " that M. de Mirabeau exercises here ?" — Mirabeau, without heeding him, hur- ried to the tribune. " I have not given you permission to speak," said the president. " Let the Assembly decide." But the Assembly listened with- out deciding. "I beg my interrupters," said Mirabeau, "to remember that I have all my life combated tyranny, aiul that I will combat it wherever I tind it." As he uttered these words he cast his eyes from the right to the left. Loud applause followed his words. He resumed. "I beg M. Goupil to recollect that he was under a mistake some time since in regard to a Cataline, whose dictatorship he this day attacks ;* I beg the Assembly to remark that the question of adjournment, though apparently simple, involves others : for example, it presupposes that a law is to be made." Fresh murmurs arose on the left. " Silence ! ye thirty voices !" exclaimed the speaker, fixing his eyes on the place of Barnav^e and the Lameths. " However," added he, " if it is wished, I too will vote for the adjourn- ment, on condition that it be decreed that, from this time until the expiration of the adjournment, there shall be no sedition." Unanimous acclamations folio v/ed the concluding words. The adjournment was nevertheless carried, but by so small a majority that the result was disputed, and a second trial demanded. Mirabeau, on this occasion, was particidarly striking by his boldness. Never, perhaps, had he more imperiously overruled the Assembly. But these were his last triumphs. His end approached. Presentiments of death minified witli his vast projects, and sometimes subdued his flights of fancy. His conscience, however, was satisfied; the public esteem was joined with his own, and assured him that, if he had not yet done enough • M. Goupil, when attacking Mirabeau upon a former occasion, had exclaimed with the right side, " Cataline is at our doors !" FRENCH REVOLUTION, 1"3 for the welfare of the state, he had at least done enough for his own glory. Philosopliy and gaiety divided his last moments between them. Pale, and with his eyes deeply sunk in their orbils, he appeared quite different in ihc tribune. Moreover, he was subject to frequent and sudden fainting fits. Excess in pleasure and in business, together with tlie excitement of the tribune, had in a short time undenuined his vigorous constitution. Baths, containing a solution of sublimate, had produced tliat greenish tint which was attributed to poison.* The court was alarmed ; all parlies were asto- nished, and, before his death, people intpiired the cause of it. On his last public appearance he spoke five ditlercnt times, left the Assembly exhausted, and never afterwards went abroad. Tlie bed of death received him, and he left it only for the Pantheon. He had enjoined Cabanis not to call in any physicians ; he was, nevertheless, disobeyed, and they found that death was approaching, and that it had already seized his lower extremities. His head was last attacked, as if nature had decreed that his genius should continue to «hine till the very last moment. An immense crowd collected around his abode, and filled all the avenues in the deepest silence. The court sent messenger after messenger ; the bulletins of his health were trans- milted from mouth to mouth, and each progressive stage of his disorder excited fresh grief. He himself, surrounded by his friends, expressed some regret at the interruption of his labours, and some pride at what he had accomplished, " Support," said he to his servant, " support this head, the greatest in France." He was aflecled by the sympathy of the people ; and the visit of his enemy, Barnave, who called upon him in tlie name of the Jacobins, excited in him a soothing emotion. He bestowed some more thoughts on public affairs. The Assembly Avas about to direct its attention to the right of making wills. He sent for M. de Talleyrand, and put into his hands a speech which he had just written. "It will be curious," said he, " to hear a man speaking against wills who is no more, and who has just made his own." The court liad, in fact, requested him to do so, pro- mising to pay all the legacies. Extending his vicAvs over Europe, and foreseeing the plans of England, " That Pitt," said he, " is the minister of • The author of the M^moirex (Tim Pair de France positively asserts that Mirabeau was poisoned. He say?, that iti 1 793, Roliespierre, at a moment when he was off his guard, ventured to boast of the share which he had taken in that crime. " Two parties," he adds, "were then labouring to accomplish the ruin of the King; a third wished it without de- claring itself: all of them Vv'ere concerned to sec that Louis XVI. inclined to a cordial reconciliation with the constitution, and all dreaded the sound advice which Mirabeau had it in his power to give him. It was well known that t!'.is man was the only person capable of directing affairs in such a manner as to keep the factions within the limits which they hoped to pass. As the issue of any attempt to strip him of ^lis popularity was uncertain, it was thought better to despatch him ; but as no assassin was to lie found, it was necessary to have recourse to poison. Marat furnished the receij)! for it; it was prepared under his super- itUendence, and he answered for its eiVect. How to aniES LA PATRIE RECONXAISSANTE.i Mirabeau was the first admitted into it, and placed by the side of Des- cartes. His funeral took place on the following day. AH the authorities, the department, the municipalities, the popular societies, the Assembly, and the army, accompanied the procession. This mere orator obtained more honours than had ever been paid to the pompous colli ns formerly conveyed to 8t. Denis. Such was the end of tliat extraordinary man, who, after boldly attacking and vanquishing the ancient race, dared to direct his efforts against the new, which had assisted him to conquer ; who checked them with his voice, and made them respect him even Avhde he employed his energies against them ; that man, in short, who did his duty from reason, and from the promptings of genius, but not for the sake of a handful of gold ; and who had the singular honour, when the popularity of all other statesmen terminated in the disgust of the people, to see his yield to death alone. But would he have infused resignation into the heart of the court, moderation into the hearts of the amlntious ? — would he have said to the popular triliunes, who sought to shine in their turn, " Remain in these ob- scure fauxbourgs ?" — would he have said to Danton, that second Mirabean of the populace,! " Stop in this section, and ascend no higher?" We can- • " Mirabeau bore much of his character imprinted on his person and features. ' Figure to your mind,' he said, describinu; his own countenance to a lady who knew him not, ' a tiger who has had the small-pox.' \V'heii he talked of confronting his opponents in the Assem- bly, his favourite phrase was, 'I will show them La Hure,' that is, the boar's head, meaning his own tusked and shag?y countenance." — Scutfs Life af Napuleon. E. ■\ " To great men the grateful country." t " Georges Jacques Danton, an advocate by profession, was born at Arcissur-Arbe, Oc- tober 2G, 1759, and beheaded April .'5, 1794. His external appearance was striking. His stature was colossal; his frame athletic; his features harsh, large, and disagreeable; his voice shook the Assembly ; his eloquence was vehement ; and his imagination as gigantic as his person, which made every one recoil, and at which, says St. Just, ' Freedom herself FRENCH REVOLUTION. 175 not tell : but in that case all wavering interests would have placed them- selves in his hands and have relied upon him. Long was the want of his presence felt. In the confusion of the disputes which followed, the eye trembled.' He was one of the founders of the club of the Cordeliers. His importance increased in 1792, when he became one of the instigators of the events of the 20th of June, and a leader on the 10th of .August. After the fall of Louis XVI. Danton was made minister of justice, and usurjjcd the aj)[)oiiitnients of oificers in the army and departments. He thus raised up a great number of creatures wholly devoted to his views. Money flowed from all sides into his hands, and was profusely squandered on his partisans. His violent measures led to the 8e])toniber massacres. The invasion of Champagne by the Pruseians spread consternation through Paris; and Danton alone preserved his courage. He assumed tho administration of the state; prepared measures of defence; called on all Frenchmen capable of bearing arms to march against the enemy ; and prevented the removal of the Assembly beyond the Loire. From this time forward he was hated by Robespierre, who could never pardon the superiority which Danton had shown on this occasion. On the oc- casion of the Festival of Reason, in which the Hebertists acted a conspicuous part, Danton declared himself against the attack on the ministers of religion, and subsequently united with Robes|)ierre to bring Hebert and his partisans to the scullold. But their connexion was not of long duration. Danton wished to overthrow the despotism of Robespierre, who, in his turn, was anxious to get rid of a dangerous rival. Danton was accordingly denounced to the committee of safety by St. Just, and imjirisoned with his adherents in the Luxem- bourg. When he was transferred thence to the Concicrgerie, he appeared dee[ilv mortified at having been dufied by Robespierre. On his trial, he said, composedly, ' I am Danton, sulTlcicnlly well known in the Revolution; I shall soon pass to nothingness; but my name will live in the Pantheon of history.' He was condemned to death by the revolutionary tribunal as an accom[)lice in a conspiracy for the restoration of monarchy, and his large pro- perty was confiscated. He mounted the car with courage ; his head was elevated, his look, commanding and full of pride. On ascending the scafl'old, he was for a moment softened. 'Oh, my wife, my dear wife, shall I never .see you again?' he said, but checked himself hastily, and exclaimed, 'Courage, Danton ! no weakness.' He was thirty-five years old at the time of his death.'' — Encyclupaed'ta Aiuericaiut. " During the short period that elapsed before his execution, Danton's mind, in a distracted state, reverted to the innocence of his earlier years. He spoke incessantlv about trees, flowers, and the country. Then giving Way to unavailing regret, he exclaimed, 'It was just a year ago that I was the means of instituting the revolutionary tribunal; may God and inan forgive me for what I then did; but it was not that it might become the scourge of humanity.' When his sentence was read to him in his cell, 'We are sacrificed,' said Danton, 'to a few dastardly brigands, but I drag Robespierre after me in my fall.'" — Alison. E. "Danton had sold himself to the court, on conditiim that they would purchase from him, for lOO.OOO livres, his place of advocate, which, after the suppression, was ordv worth 10,000 livres. Lafayette met Danton at M. de Montmorin's the same evening that the bargain was concluded. He was a man ready to sell himself to all parties. V\'hile he was making incendiary motions in the Jacobins, he was their s|)y at court, where he regularly reported whatever occurred. On the Friday previous to the 10th of .August, 50,000 crowns were given him, and Madame Elizabeth exclaimed, ' We are tranquil, for we may depend on Danton.' Lafayette was apprized of the first payment, but not of the ensuing ones. Danton spoke of it himself at the Hotel de \'ille, and, endeavouring to justify himself, said, ' General, I am a greater monarchist than you are yourself.' He was, nevertheless, one of the leaders of the 10th of August." — Lafdi/tttc'n Mcniuirs. E. " Danton was sometimes denominated the Mirabeau, sometimes the Alcibiades of the rabble. He may be said to have resembled both (with the differences only of the patrician order and the j)opulace) in his tempestuous jiassions, popular clociuence, dissipation, and debts, like the one; his ambition, his dariiic; ami inventive genius, like the other. He ex- erted his faculties, and indulged his voluptuary indolence aUernately, and by starts. His conceptions were isolated, but complete in themselves, and of terrific efficacy as practical agents in revolutions.> Danton's ambition was not personal. He would freely sacrifice him.self for the republic or his party. He was inhuman, not so much from instinctive cru- elty, as from a careless prodigality of blood. He viewed the Revolution as a great game, in which men played for their lives. He took those he won as freely as he would have paid those he lost." — British and Foreign Review. E. 176 HISTORY OF THE would turn to the place which he had occupied, and seemed to seek him who had been accustomed to terminate them with a victorious word. " Mi- rabeau is no longer here," exclaimed Maury one day, in ascending the tri- bune ; " I shall not be prevented from speaking." The death of Mirabeau deprived the court of all courage. Fresh events occurred to accelerate the flight of the royal family which it had resolved upon. On the 18th of April the King intended to go to St. Cloud. A re- port was spread, that, as he did not choose to employ a priest who had taken the oath for the duties of Easter, he had resolved to keep away during the Passion week. Others alleged that his intention was flight. The populace immediately collected and stopped the horses. Lahiyetle hastened to the spot, besought the King to remain in his carriage, assuring him that he would have a passage cleared for him. The King, nevertheless, alighted, and A\ould not permit any attempt to be made. It was his old policy not to appear to be free. By the advice of his ministers, he repaired to the Assembly to complain of the insult which he had just received. The Assembly greeted him with its ordinary warmth, promising to do every- thing that depended on it to insure his liberty. Louis XVI. withdrew, applauded by all sides excepting the right side. On the 2'.i(\ of April, agreealily to the advice given to him, he ordered a let- ter to be written to the foreign ambassadors by M. de Montmorin, in which he contradicted the intentions imputed to him of leaving the country, de- claring to the powers that he had taken an oatli to the constitution which he was determined to keep, and proclaiming as his enemies all M-ho shotdd in- sinuate the contrary. The expressions of this letter were voluntarily exao- gerated, that it might appear to have been extorted by violence. This the King himself ackuowlcilged to the envoy of the Emperor Leopold. That prince was then travelling in Italy, and was at this moment in IMantua. Calonne was in negotiation Avilh him. An envoy, M. Alexandre de Durfort, came from Mantua to the King and Queen to learn their real disposition. He first questioned them concerning the letter addressed to the ambassadors, and they replied that he might see from the language that it was wrunrr from them. He then inquired wliat were their hopes, and they answered that they had none since the death of Mirabeau ; lastly, he wished to know their disposition towards the Count d'Artois, and they assured him that it could not be more favourable. In order to comprehend the motive of these questions, it should be knoAvn that the Baron de Breteuil was the declared enemy of Calonne: that his enmity had not ceased at the time of the emigration ; and that, charged with the fall powers of Louis XVI.* to the court of Vienna, he crossed all the proceedings of the princes. He assured Leopold that the King would not consent to be saved by the emigrants, because he dreaded their rapacity, and that the Queen personally had quarrelled with Count d'Artois. lie always proposed for the welfare of the throne the very contrary to wliat Calonne proposed, and he neglected nothing to destroy the effect of this new nego- tiation. The Count de Durfort returned to Mantua, and on the 20th of May, 1791, Leopold promised to set in motion thirty-five thousand men in Flanders, and fifteen thousand in Alsace. He declared that a like n\iml)er of Swiss shotild march upon Lyons, as many Piedmontese upon Dauphine. and that Spain should assemble twenty tliou-and men. The Emperor pro- mised the co-operation of the King of Prussia and the neutrality of England. * See Bertrand de Molleville on this subject. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 177 A protest was to be drawn up in the name of the house of Bourbon, and signed by the King of Naples, the King of Spain, the Infant of Parma, and tiie expatriated princes. Until then the utmost secrecy was to be observed. It was recommended to Louis XVI. not to think, of withdrawing, though he had expressed a desire to do so. Breteuil, on the contrary, advised tlie King to set out. It is possible that this advice was well meant on both sides. Still it must be remarked that it was given with an eye to the inte- rest of each. Breteuil, with a view to counteract Calonne's negotiation at Mantua, recommended departure; and Calonne, whose rule would have been at an end if Louis XVI. had removed beyond the frontiers, caused it to be intimated to him that he ought to remain. Be this as it may, the King resolved to set out, and he frequendy said with displeasure, " It is Breteuil who insists on it."* Accordingly he wrote to Bouille that he was deter- mined to wait no longer. It was not his intention to leave the kingdom, but to retire to Montmedy, where he might, in case of need, be supported by Luxemburg, and receive foreign aid. The Chalons road, by Clermont and Varennes, was preferred, contrary to the advice of Bouille. All the preparations were made for starting on the 20tli of June. The general as- sembled ihe troops on which he cuzot, and Petion, repeated all the well known argimients against the inviolability. Duport, Barnavc, and ISalles, answered them, and it was at length resolved that the King could not be brought to trial on account of his flight. Two articles were merely added to the decree of inviolal)ility. No sooner was this resolution passed than Robespierre rose, and protested strongly against it, in tlienaine of humanity. On the evening preceding this decision, a great tumult had taken place at the .Tacobins. A petition to the Assembly was there drawn up, pravino" it to declare that the King was deposed as a perfidious traitor to his oaths, and that it would seek to supply his place by all the constitutional means. It was resolved that this petition should he carried on the following day to the Champ de ^lars, where every one might sign it on the altar of the country. Next day, it was accordingly carried to the place agreed upon, and the crowd of the seditious was reinforced by that of the curious, who wished to be spectators of the event. At this moment the decree was passed, so that it was now too late to petition. Lafayette arrived, broke down the barri- cades already erected, was threatened and even fired at. but, tliouirh almost close to the muzzle of the weapon, he escaped Mitlujut injury. The muni- cipal officers having joined him, at length prevailed on the populace to retire. National guards were posted to watch their retreat, and for a moment it was hoped they would disperse. But the tumult was soon renewed. Two invalids, who happened to be, nobody knows for what purpose, under the •altar of the country, were murdered, and then the uproar became unbounded. The Assembly sent for the municipality, and charged it to preserve public order. Bailly repaired to the Cliamp de Mars, ordered the red flag to be unfurled, and, by virtue of martial law, summoned the seditious to retire. early life he followed his father's business, and afterwards herame a f^rorer and eyri«eman at Lf'vvos, but was dismissed forkeopin;^ a tobarconist's shop, which was incompatible with his duties. In 1774 he went to America, and became editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine. Hostilities having commenced between Enfjland and the United States, he eom|)osed his celebrated [)amphlet, • Common Sense,' which was written with great vii^our, and for which the legislature of IVnnsylvania voted him five hundred pounds. He was soon afterwards a[)[iointed clerk to the committee for foreign affairs; when he published a series of jiolitical appeals, which he entitled the 'Crisis.' In 1787 he embarked for France, and, after visiting Paris, went to England. On the appearance of ' Burke's Reflections on the French Kevolu- tion,' he wrote his well known 'Rights of Man,' for which he was prosecuted.- but. while the trial was pending, he was chosen mendier of the National Convention for the depart- ment of Calais, and, making his escape, he set out for France. On the trial of Louis XVI. he voted against the sentence of death, which oiVended the .Tacobins, who in 17!'3 ordered him to be committed to the Luxembourg. Just previous to his confinement he had linished his 'Age of Reason;' whidi, when published, lost him the greater part of his American con- nexions. On the fall of'Ixobespierre he was released, and remained in France till 1S02, when he endiarked again for America. His subsequent life was by no means happy; for, though j)ossessed of a decent competence, yet his attacks on religion, and his habitual intemperance, had greatly narrowed the circle of his friends. He died in 1S09, in his sevcnty-thiril year." Encyclopscdia Americana, E. 190 HISTORY OF THE This summons, whatever has been said of it, was just. People eitlier agreed or did not agree to the new laws. If ihey agreed to them, it was requisite that they should be executed, that there should he something lixed, that insurrection should not be perpetual, and that the will of the Assembly should not be modified by the decisions of the mob. It was Bailly's duty, therefore, to carry the law into execution. He advanced, with that unslirink- ing courage which he had always displayed, was fired at several times with- out being hit, and at lengtli read the customary summons. Lafayette at first ordered a few shots to be fired in the air : the crowd quitted the altar of the country, but soon rallied. Thus driven to extremity, he gave the word, Fire! The first discharge killed some of ihe rioters. Their number has been exaggerated. Some have reduced it to thirty, others have raised it to four hundred, and others to several thousand. The last statement was believed at the moment, and the consternation became general. This severe example quieted the agitators for a short time. As usual all the parties were accused of having excited the commotion, and it is probable that seve- ral of them had a hand in it, for to several tumult was desirable. The King, the majority of the Assembly, the national guac^the municipal and depart- mental authorities, Avere then unanimous for the establishment of constitu- tional order; but thev had to combat the democracy at home, and the aristocracy abroad. The Assembly and the national guard composed that middle class, wealthy, intelligent, and prudent, which wished well to order and the laws; and they could not at the moment but naturally ally them- selves with the King, who, for his part, seemed to resign himself to a limited power. But, if it suited them to stop at the point at which they had arrived, it did not suit either the aristocracy, which desired a convulsion, or the people, who sought to gain and to raise themselves still more. Barnave was, as Mirabean had been before him, the mouthpiece of this wise and moderate middle class; and Lafayette was its military chief. Danton and Camille Desmonlins* were the spokesmen, and Santerre the general, of the rabble, that wished to reign in its turn. A few ardent or fanatic spirits represented this rabble either in the Assembly or in the new administrations, and hastened its rule by their declamations. * "B. Camille Desmoulins. a lawyer, born at Guise, in Picardy, in 1762, was the son of the lieutcnant-c^eneral of the bailiwick of Guise. His appearance was vulfrar, his complexion swarthy, and his looks unprepossessing. He made his first appearance at the bar to plead against his own father, whom he wanted to make him a greater allowance than he could afford. At the very commencement of the Revolution he formed an intimate acquaintance with Robespierre. In July, 1789, he harangued a large mob in the Palais Royal with a brace of pistols in his hand, and assumed the appellation of attorney-general of the lamp-post. In 1792 he was appointed secretary to Danton, and organized with him the Septemlier mas- sacres. He asserted frequently that society consisted of two classes of men — gentlemen and sans-culottes ; and that, in order to save the republic, it was necessary to take the purses of the one, and put arms into the hands of the other. His connexion with Danton was his ruin ; and his sentence of death, the word 'clemency,' which he recommended in his journal of the ' Old Cordelier.' He was arrested in 1794, and, during his imprisonment he gave himself up alternately to rage and despair. His favourite studies were the works of Young and Hervey. When led to execution, at the age of tiiirty-three, he made the most violent efforts to avoid getting into the cart. His shirt was in talters, and his shoulders bare; his eyes glared, and he foamed at the month, crying out while he ascended the scaffold, 'This, then, is the reward reserved for the first apostle of lilierty ! The monsters who assassinate me will not survive me long.' His wife, whom he adored, and by whom he was as warmly beloved, beautiful, courageous, and sensiltle, begged to share his fate, and ten days afterwards, Robespierre sent her to the scaffold, where she exhibited much more firmness than her hus- band." Biographic Moderne. E. FRENCH REVOLUTIOX. 191 Lafayette and Bailly were vehemently reproached for the proceedings in tlie Champ de Mars; but both of tlicm, considering it tlieir duty to oltserve the law, and to risk popularity and life in its execution, felt neitlier regret, nor fear, for Avhat they had done.* The Mictions were overawed by the energy which they displayed. Tiie most conspicuous began already to think of recoiling from the blows Aviiich they conceived to be aimed at them. RoI)espierre, whom we have hitherto seen suppordng the most extravagant propositions, trembled in his obscure habitation; and, notwithstanding his inviolability as a deputy, applied to all his friends for an asylum. Thus the example had the desired etlect, and for a moment all the turbulent spirits were quieted by fear. About this time the Assemlily came to a determination which has since been censured, but the result of whic;h did not prove so mischievous as it has been supposed. It decreed that none of its members should be re-elected. Robespierre was the proposer of this resolution, and it was attributed to the envy which he felt against his colleagues, among whom he had not shone. It was at least natural that he should b(>ar them a grudge, having always been opposed by them : and in his sentiments there might have been at once conviction, envy, and hatred. The Assemldy, which was accvised of a de- sign to perpetuate its powers, and which, moreover, displeased the rabble by its moderation, was anxious to reply to all censures by a disinterestedness that was perhaps exaggerated ; and it decreed tliat its members should be excluded from the next legislature. Tlie new Assembly was thus deprived of men whose enthusiasm was somewhat abated, and whose legislative science was matured by an experience of three years. However, when we see by and by the cause of tlie subsequent revolutions, we shall be able to judge wliat was the importance of that measure which has been so frequently condemned. This was the moment for completing the constitutional labours of the Assembly, and for bringing its stormy career to a calm conclusion. The members of the left side intended, by means of an agreement among them- selves, to amend certain parts of the constitution. It had been resolved that it should be read throughout, in order to judge of the whole together, and to have an opportunity of making its different parts harmonize. This was called the revision, which Avas afterwards, in the days of the republican fer- vour, considered as most calamitous. IJarnave and the Lametlis had agreed with Malouet to modify certain articles, which trenched upon the royal pre- rogative and what was termed the stability of the throne. It was even said that the plan was to re-establish the two chambers. It was arranged that, the moment the readini was finished, Malouet should make his attack; that Carnave sjioidd then reply with vehemence, in order the better to disguise his intentions ; but that, in defending most of the articles, he should give up some as evidently dangerous, and condemned by known experience. Such were the conditions agreed upon wlien the ridiculous and dangerous protests of the right side, which had resolved to vote no more, transpired. Accommodation then became impossible. The left side would bear no more, and, when the concerted attempt was made, the cries which burst from • " Bailly did i#it spok the Rcvplulion, l>ut it soui^ht liim, liy making him play a political part ajTairist liis will ; ¥ul from the niomctit tiiat he coiiccivcd lie might he useful to his country, he would not refuse to serve it. He devoted to it momenta most valuahle lor science ; and when we deplored the suspension of his labours, he said to us, ' I am a Frenchman, and if I can co-operate in the enactment of a good law, that is preferable to a hundrrd astrono- mical calculations.' " — Memoirs of a Peer of France, E. 192 HISTORY OF THE all quarters, prevented Malouet and his partisans from proceeding.* The constitution was therefore completed witli some haste, and submitted to the Kino; for his acceptance. From that moment his freedom was restored to him; or, if that expression be objected to, the strict watch kept over the * Bouille had an intimate friend in Count de Gouvernet ; and, though they differed widely in their opinions, each entertained a hi^h esteem for the other. Bouille, who does not spare the constitutionahste, expresses himself in the most honourable manner towards M. de (iou- vernet, and seems to place the utmost confidence in him. To give in his Memoirs an idea of what was passing in the Assembly at this period, he quotes the following letter, addressed to him by Count de Gouvernet on the 26th of Aui,'ust, 1791 : " I have held out hopes to you which I no longer entertain. That fatal constitution, which was to be revised and amended, will not be touched. It will remain what it is — a code of anarchy, a source of calamities ; and, owing to our unlucky staf, at the moment when the democrats themselves begin to be sensible of some of their errors, it is the aristocrats, who, by refusing their support, oppose their reparation. In order to enlighten you and to justity myself for having perhaps imparted to you a fdse hope, I must go back a little in my account of things, and tell you all that has passed, since I have to-day a safe opportunity of writing to you. " On the day of the King's departure, and the following day, the two sides of the Assembly were closely watching each other's movements. The po|)ular party was in great consterna- tion ; the royalist parly extremely uneasy. The least indiscretion would have been liable to awaken the fury of the people. All the members of the right side were silent, and those of the other left their leaders to propose measures, which they called measures oi safety, and which were not opposed by any one. On the second day after the King's departure, the Jacobins became menacing, and the constitutionalists moderate. They were then and they still are much more numerous than the Jacobins. They talked of accommodation, of a depu- tation to the King. Two of them proposed to M. Malouet conferences which were to be opened the following day ; hut news arrived of the King's apprehension, and then no further mention was made of them. Their opinions, however, having been manifested, they found themselves, from that very circumstance, separated more than ever from the furious. The return of Barnave, the respect which he had paid to the King and Queen, while the ferocious Petion insulted their misfirtunes, and the gratitude which their majesties testified to Barnave, have irt some measure changed the heart of that young man, which till then knew no pity. He is, as you know, the ablest and one of the most influential of his party. He had, there- fore, rallied around him four-fifths of the left side, not only to save the King from the fury of the Jacobins, but to restore to him part of his authority, and to furnish him also with the means of defending himself in future, by keeping in the constitutional line. In regard to the latLi^r part of Barnave's plan, noliody was in the secret but Lamelh and Duport ; for the constitutional crowd still gave them so much uneasiness that they could not reckon upon a majority of the Assembly, without including the right side; and they conceive that they might rely upon it, when, in revising their constitution, they should give greater latitude to the royal authority. "Such was the state of things when I wrote to you. But convinced as I was of the awkwardness of the aristocrats and their continual blunders, I was not aware how far they could go. " When the news of the King's apprehension at Varennes arrived, the right side, in the secret committees, determined to vote no more, and to take no further part in the deliberations or the discussions of the Assembly. Malouet disapproved this course. He represented to them that, whilst the session lasted and they attended it, they were bound to make an active opposition to measures injurious to public order and to the fundamental principles of the monarchy. All his remonstrances were useless; they persisted in their resolution, and secretly drew up a protest against all that was doing. Malouet declared that he would con- tinue to protest in the tribune, and to make ostensibly all possible efforts to prevent the evil. He told me that he had not been able to bring over to his opinion more than thirty-five or forty members of the right side, and that he much feared that this false step of the most zeal- ous royalists would be productive of mischievous consequences. "The general dispositions of the Assembly were then so favourable '^o the King, that, while be was coming back to Paris, Thouret, having ascended the tribune to determine the manner in which the King should be guarded (I was at the sitting), the utmost silence pre- vailed in the hall and in the g:dleri.»s. Almost all the deputies, even of the left side, looked confounded, during the reading of that fatal decree, but no one spoke. The president was FRENCH REVOLUTION. 193 palace ceased, and he liad liberty to retire whithersoever he pleased, to ex- amine the constitutional act and to accept it freely. What was Louis XVI. to do in this case ? To reject the constitution would have been to abdicate in favour of a republic. The safest way, even according to his own system, was to accept it, and to expect from time those restitutions of power which he considered as due to him. Accordingly, after a certain number of days, he declared that he accepted the constitution. An extraordinary jov burst forth at this intelligence, as if in fact some obstacle had been anticipated on the part of the King, and his assent had been an unhoped-for concession. He repaired to the Assembly, where he was received as in the most brilliant times. Lafayette, who never forgot to repair the inevitable evils of political troubles, proposed a general amnesty for all acts connected with the Revolu- tion, wliif'h was proclaimed amidst shouts of joy, and the prisons were instantly thrown open. At length, on tlie 3()th of September, Thouret, the last president, declared that the Constituent Assembly had terminated its sittings. going to put it to the vote, when Malouet abruptly rose, and with indignant look, exclaimed. * Whiit are you about, gentlemen ] After apprehemling the King, it is |)ro|)o.scd that you should constitute him prisoner by a decree. Whither will this step lead you 1 Have you considered that 1 Would you order the King to be imprisoned V — ' No ! No !' cried several members oF tlie left side, rising tuinultuously ; ' we mean not that the King should be a pri- soner ;' and the decree was on the point of being rejected almost unanimously, when Thouret hastily added ; — 'The last speaker has not justly comprehended the terms and the object of the decree. We have no intention, any more than he, to imprison the King; it is for his safety and that of the royal family that we propose these measures.' And it was not till after this explan;ilion that the decree [lassed, though the imprisonment became an absolute reality, and is continued to this day without shame. " At the end of July, the constitutionalists, who suspected the protest of the right side, without having any certainty of it, proceeded leisurely with their plan of revision. 'J'hey dreaded the Jacobins and the aristocrats more than ever. Malouet went to their committee of revision. He at first addressed them as men who had nothing to learn respecting the dangers and the faults of their constitution ; but he found them less disposed in favour of great reforms. Tliey weie afraid of losing their popularity. Target and Duport opposed hia arguments, and defended their work. Ne t day he met Chapelier and Barnave, who at first disdainfully refused to answer his provocations, and at length agreed to the plan of attack, all the risks of which he was ready to incur. He proposed to discuss, in the silting of the 8th, all the principal points of the constitutional act and to point out all its vices. ' You, gentle- men,' said he, ' answer me. Overwhelm mo unanimously with your indignation. l>pfend your work with advantage on the least dangerous articles, even on the plurality of the pointj!, against which my censure will be levelled ; and as for those which I shall characterize as anti-monarchical, as preventing the action of the government, say that neither the Assembly nor the committee needed my remarks on that head ; that you intend to propose their reform ; and forthwith pro|)ose it. Be assured that it is our only resource for ui)liolding the monarchy, and for returning in time to give all the support that is necessary for it.' This was accord- ingly agreed u[)on : but, the protest of the right side having become known, and its persever- ance in not voting hav||g deprived the constitutionalists of all hope of succeeding in their plan of revision, which the Jacobins o|iposed with all their might, they gave it up. Malouet, who had no regular communications with them, nevertheless made his attack. He solemidy rejected the constitutional act as anti-monarchical, and as impracticable of execution in several points. The development of his motives had begun to produce a considerable im- pression, when Chapelier, who had no further hope from the execution of the as^reemcnt, broke it, crying blasphemy, interrupting the sjieaker, and requiring that he should be ordered to leave the tribune: which was accordingly done. Next day he acknowledged that he was in the wrong ; hut he said that he and his partisans had lost all hope, from the moment when they had no further aid to expect from the right side. '• I was obliged to relate to you this long history lest you should lose all confidence in my prognostics. 'J'hey are gloomy, now : the evil is extreme ; and to repair it, I perceive, either within or without, but one remedy, which is the union of force with reason." — Memoires de Botiille, J). 288, et seq. VOL. I. — 25 R 194 HISTORY OF THE THE NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. The Constituent Assembly had now terminated its long- and laborious career ; and, notwithstanding its noble courage, its perfect equity, and its immense toils, it was hated as revolutionary at Coblentz, and as aristocratic at Paris. In order to form a proper judgment of this memorable Assembly, which combined talents so great and so diversified, the resolutions of Avhich were so bold and so persevering, and in which were seen, perhaps for the first time, all the enlightened men of a nation assembled witli the will and the power to realize the wishes of philosophy, we must consider the state in which it had found France, and that in which it left her. In 1789 the French nation knew and felt all the evils it suffered under, but it did not conceive the possibility of curing them. All at once, on the unforeseen demand of the parliaments, the States-general were convoked, the Constituent Assembly was formed and came into the presence of the throne, proud of its ancient power, and disposed at most to put up with a few complaints. Thoroughly impressed with its rights, it then declared itself to i)e the nation, and dared to declare this to the astonished govern- ment. Threatened by the aristocracy, by the court, and by an army, not yet foreseeing the popular commotions, it declared itself inviolable, and forbade power to touch it. Convinced of its rights, it addressed itself to enemies who were not convinced of theirs, and, by the mere expression of its determination, gained the ascendancy over a power of several centu- ries, and an army of thirty thousand men. Such was the Revolution. Such was its first and noblest act. It was just — it was heroic ; for never did nation act with greater propriety, or amid greater dangers. Power being vanquished, it became necessary to reconstitute it in a just and suitable manner. But, at the sight of that social ladder, on the summit of which there is a superabundance of everything — power, honours, wealth ; whilst at the bottom everything is wanting, even to the bread that is indis- pensable for life — the Constituent Assembly experienced a violent reaction in its ideas, and was for reducing all to one level. It decided, therefore, that the mass of the citizens, placed on a complete equality, should express their will, and that the King should be charged only with its execution. Its error here consists, not in having reduced royalty to a mere magis- tracy, for the King had still sufficient power to uphold the laws, and more than magistrates possess in republics, but in having imagined that a King, with the recollection of what he had been, could resign himself to be what he was ; and that a nation, scarcely awakened, which had recovered part of the popular power, would not determine to conquer it entirely. History proves, in fact, that it is necessary to divide magistracies to infinity, or that, if a single chief be appointed, he must be so Avell endowed as to have no temptation to usurp. When nations, engrossed by their private interests, find it necessary to transfer the cares of government to a chief, thev do riffht to give them- selves one ; but, in this case, that chief must, like the kings of England, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 195 u possess in reality the greatest part of the sovereignty, and the power of convoking and dissolving the national assemblies, without being compelled to obey their mandates, sanctioning them only when he thinks lit, and being prevented only from doing what is mischievous. The dignity of man can still be preserved under such a government, when the law is stricdy ob- served, when every citizen feels his own value, and knows that powers so extensive left to the prince have only been granted as a concession to human weakness. But it is not at the moment when a nation suddenly bethinks itself of its rights that it can renounce all its prerogatives, submit to take a secondary part, and yield the supreme power to a chief, lest he should feel an inclina- tion to usurp it. The Constituent Assembly was equally incapable with the nation itself of consenting to such an abdication. It reduced the King, therefore, to a mere hereditary magistrate, hoping that the nation would leave him that, and that he would himi-elf be content with this magistracy, still resplendent with honours, wealth, and power. But, whether the Assembly hoped this or not, could it in such a state of uncertainty, evade the question ? Could it abolish royalty, or could it con- fer on it all the power that England grants to her monarchs ? It could not, on the one hand, depose Louis XVI.; for, if it is always necessary to introduce a spirit of justice into a government, it is not so to change its form, when that spirit exists in it, and suddenly to convert a mo- narchy into a republic. Moreover, possession carries with it authority, and if the Assembly had despoiled the reigning dynasty, what would not its enemies have said, who accused it of violating property because it attacked feudal rights ? On the other hand, it could not confer on the King the absolute veto, the appointment of the judges, and other similar prerogatives, because public opinion was adverse to such concessions ; and, as this opinion constituted its only strength, the Assembly was obliged to defer to it. With regard to the establishment of a single chamlier, its error was, per- haps, more real, but just as inevitable. If it was dangerous to leave nothing but the remembrance of power to a king who had possessed it entire, while legislating for a people desirous of Avresting from him the last remnant of it; much more false was it in principle not to recognise social inequalities and gradations, when they are admitted by republics themselves, and when in all of them there is a senate eidier hereditary or elective. But we must not require of men and minds more than they are capable of at the time. How can the necessity of ranks be recognised at the moment of a revolt against their injustice? How is it possible to constitute an aristocracy at the moment when war is proclaimed against aristocracy ? To constitute royalty would have been an easier task, because, placed apart from tlie peo- ple, it would have been less oppressive, and because it moreover performs functions which seetn more necessary. But, I repeat it, if these errors had not existed in the Assembly, they ex- isted in the nation ; and the course of events will prove that, if the Assem- bly had left the King and the aristocracy all the powers which it did not leave them, the Revolution would, nevertheless, have taken place, even to its greatest excesses. To be convince(^of this, we must make a distinction between the revolu- tions which have taken place among nations Ion? in a state of subjection, and those which have taken place amonff free people, that is to say, people in possession of a certain political activity. At Rome, at Athens, and else- 196 HISTORY OF THE where, we see the people and their chiefs disputing for the greater or less share of authority. Among modern nations entirely stripped of it, the course is different. Completely subjected, their slumber is long. The more enliglitened classes are the first to awake. Tlrese rouse themselves and recover a portion of poAver. The awakening is progressive. Ambition is progressive too, and keeps spreading to the lowest classes, till the whole mass is in motion. Presently, satisfied with what they have obtained, the eniighted classes wish to stop ; but they can no longer do so, and are inces- santly pushed forward by tliose behind them. Those who stop, were they in the very last rank but one, if they pretend to oppose the last, are to it an aristocracy, and are stigmatized with the name. The mere tradesman is called aristocrat by the artisan, and hated as such. The Constituent Assembly represented that class which first awakes and cries out against power while yet all-powerful. Sagacious enough to per- ceive what was due to those who had everything and to those who had no- thing, it wished to leave the former part of wb.at they possessed, because they had always possessed it, and to procure for the latter, above all things, knowledge, and the rights which it confers. But regret sways the one, am- bition the other. Regret wishes to recover all, ambition to conquer all, and a war of extermination commences. The constituents then, are those first good men, who, shaking off slavery, attempt to establish a just system, try it without apprehension, nay, accomplish this immense task, but fail in endea- vouring to persuade the one to yield something, the other not to grasp at everything. The Constituent Assembly, in its equitable allotments, had shown for- bearance towards the former possessors of power. Louis XVI., with the title of King of the French, an income of thirty millions, the command of the armies, and the right of suspending tlie national decrees, still possessed extensive prerogatives. The recollection of absolute power alone can excuse him for not having been content with so brilliant a remnant of abso- lute power. The clergy, stripped of the immense possessions which had formerly been given to it, on condition of relieving the poor whom it did not relieve, and of performing that divine worship which it left to be performed by poor curates, was no longer a political order. But its ecclesiastical dignities were preserved, its dogmas respected, its scandalous wealth changed into a sufficient, nay, we may say, an abundant revenue, for it still possessed con- siderable episcopal luxury. The nobility was no longer an order ; it no longer possessed the exclusive right of killing game and the like ; it was no longer exempt from taxes ; but could it make these things a subject of rea- sonable regret? Its immense possessions were left to it. Instead of the favour of the court, it had a certainty of the distinctions conferred on merit. It had the privilege of being elected by the people, and of representing it in the state, if it could but show the slightest good-will and resignation. The robe and the sword were insured to its talents : why then was it not all at once inspired with a generous emulation ? What an avowal of inca- pacity did it not make in regretting the favours of former times ! The old pensioners had been spared ; the ecclesiastics had received in- demnities ; every one had been treated with indulgence : was then the lot which the Constituent Assembly had assigned to all so intolerable ? The constitution being completed, the King had no hope left of recover- ing, by means of the legislation, the prerogatives which he regretted. He had but one course to pursue, to be resigned and to uphold the constitution, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 197 unless he reckoned upon the foreign powers. But he hoped very little from their zeal, and distrusted the emigrants. He decided, therefore, in favour of the former line of conduct, and what proves his sincerity is, that he meant frankly to point out to the Assembly the defects which he found in the constitution. But he was dissuaded from doing so, and he resolved to trust to time for those restitutions of power wliich he deemed his due. The Queen was not less resigned. " Courage !" said she to Bertrand, the minis- ter, who waited upon her, " all is not yet lost. The King is determined to adhere to the constitution : that course is certainly the best." And there is every reason to believe that, if she had had other thoughts to utter, she would not have hesitated to express them before BertrSnd de MoUe- ville.* The old Assembly had broken up. Its members had returned to the • This minister has given such an account of the dispositions of the King and Queen, at the comrnencenient of the first legislature, as leaves but little doubt of their sincent}'. He relates the first interview with these august personages as follows : " After replying to some general observations whiih I had made on the difficulty of cir- cumstances and on the numberless faults which I was liable to commit in a department with which I was unacquainted, the King said to me, ' Well, have you still any objcclion !' — 'No, sire ; the wish to please and to obey your majesty is the only sentiment that I feel ; but, to know if I can flatter myself with the prospect of serving you usefully, it would be necessary that you should let me know what is your plan relative to the constitution, and what the line of conduct which you wish your ministers to pursue.' — ' Very true,' replied the King, ' I consider that constitution as by no means a masterpiece ; in my opinion it has very great defects, and if I had been at liberty to address some observations to the Assembly, very beneficial reforms might have resulted from them ; but now it is too late, and I have accepted it such as it is. I have sworn to cause it to be executed, and I ought and will be strictly faith- ful to my oath ; and the more so, as I believe the most rigorous execution of the constitution to be the surest means of making the nation acquainted with it, and rendering it sensible of the changes that it would be well to introduce in it. I have not, neither can I have, any other plan than this ; I will assuredly not deviate from it, and it is my wish that the ministers should conform to it.' — ' This plan, sire, appears to me infinitely prudent: I feel myself capa- ble of following it, and I engage to do so. I have not sufficiently studied the new constitu- tion either as a whole, or in its details, to have a decided opinion u|)on it, and I will abstain from adopting one, be it what it may, before its execution has enabled the nation to appre- ciate it by its efi'ects. But, may I be permitted to ask your majesty if the Queen's opinion on this point agrees with the King's]' — ' Yes, precisely ; she will tell you so herself.' " I went down stairs to the Queen, who, after declaring with extreme kindness that she felt under as much obligation to me as the King, for having accepted the ministry under such critical circumstances, added these words : 'The King has acquainted you with his intentions relative to the constitution ; do you think that the only plan he has to follow is to adhere to his oath V — ' Most certainly, madam.' — ' Well, be assured that nothing shall induce us to change. Come, M. Bertrand. courage ! I hope that with patience, firmness, and perseverance, all is not yet lost.' " — Bertrand (Je MoUeville, tome vi., p. 2'2. The testimony of M. Bertrand is corroborated by that of Madame Campan, which, though sometimes suspicious, has on this occasion very much the air of truth. " The constitution had been, as I have said, [iresented to the King on the 3d of September; I recur to this presentation because it furnished a very imjiortant subject of deliberation. All the ministers, except M. de Montmorin, insinted on the necessity of accepting the constitu- tional act in its entire state. Such, too, was the* opinion of the Prince de Kaunitz. Malouet wished that the King would frankly point out the vices and dangers which he discovered in the constitution. But Duport and Barnave, alarmed at the sj)irit which prevailed in the association of the Jacobins, and even in the Assembly, where Robespie.re had already de- nounced them as traitors to the country, and apprehensive of great calamities, agreed in opinion with the maj<^rity of the ministers and M. de Kaunitz. ^J'hose who sincerely wished to uphold the constitution, advised that it should not be accepted purely and simply : of this number were, as I have mentioned, Messrs. Montmorin and Malouet. The King appeared to like their advice ; and this is one of the strongest proofs of the sincerity of the unfortu nate monarch." — Memoires de Madame Campan, tome iL, p. 161. k2 198 HISTORY OF THE bosom of their families, or were scattered througliout Paris, Some of tlie most conspicuous, such as Lametli, Duport, Barnave, communicated with the court, and gave it their advice. But the King, resolved as he was to observe the constitution, could not make up his mind to follow the advice that he received ; for not only was it recommended to him not to violate that constitution, but by all his acts to induce the belief that he was sin- cerely attached to it. These members of the late Assembly, joined by Lafayette since the revision, were the chiefs of that first revolutionary generation, which had laid down the first rules of liberty, and desired that they should be adhered to. They were supported by the national guard, whom long service under Lafayette had strongly attached to him and to his principles. The constituents then fell into an error — that of disdaining the new Assembly, and frequently irritating it by their contempt. A sort of aristocratic vanity had already seized these first legislators ; and it seemed as though all legislative science had disappeared along with them. The new Assembly was composed of dilTerent classes of men. It in- cluded enlightened partisans of the first Revolution : Ramond, Girardin, Vaublanc, Dumas, and others, who called themselves constitutionalists, and occupied tlie right side, where not one of the late privileged class was to be found. Thus, by the natural and progressive march of the Revolution, the left side of the first Assembly was destined to become the right of the second. Next to the constitutionalists came many distinguished men, whose heads were heated, and whose expectations were exaggerated by the Re- volution. Witnesses of the labours of the Constituent Assembly, and im- patient as lookers-on, they were of opinion that enough had not yet been done. They durst not avow themselves republicans, because, on all sides, people mutually exhorted one another to be faithful to the constitution ; but the experiment of a republic which had been made during the journey of Louis XVL, and the suspicious intentions of the court, were incessantly leading their minds back to that idea ; and they could not but attach them- selves to it more and more from their continual hostilities with the govern- ment. Among this new generation of talents, the most remarkable were the deputies of La Gironde, from whom the whole party, though composed of men from all the departments, derived the name of Girondins. Condorcet,* * " Marie Jean Nicholas Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet, was born in 1743. His was one of the oldest families in Dauphine. He was educated in the coileffe of Navarre, at Paris, and from early youth devoted himself to the study of the exact sciences. The Duke of Eochefoucault was his patron; and introduced him into the world at the age of nineteen. With astonishing facility Condorcet treated the most difficult problems in mathematics, and gained such celebrity as a man of science, that, in 1777, he was made secretary to the Aca- demy of Sciences. He contributed several articles to the ' Encyclopedia,' and was intimate with most of the writers of that great work. Under a cold exterior, Condorcet concealed the most violent passions. D'Alembert compared him to a volcano covered with snow. On the intelligence of the King's flight, he defined the royal dignity as an anti-social insti- tution. In 1792 he was appointed President of the Assembly, and composed the proclama- tion addressed to the French and to Europe, which announced the abolition of royalty. On the trial of Louis he voted for the severest sentence not capital : at the same time he voted for the abolition of capital punishments, except in crimes against the state. In 1793 he was accused of being an accomiilice with Brissot, and, to save his life, concealed himself in the house of Madame Verney, where he remained eight months, during which period, though in constant fear of discovery, he wrote one of his best philosophical treatises. Having"at length learned that death was denounced against all who harboured a proscribed imiividual, he left his generous hostess, and fled in disguise from Paris. He wandered about for some time, until, driven by hunger, he entered a small inn at Clamar, where he was arrested as a FRENCH REVOLUTION. 199 a writer celebrated for tlie comprehensiveness of his ideas, and for an ex- treme austerity of mind and eiuiracler, was its writer; and Vergniaud,* a pure and persuasive extempore speaker, was its orator. Tiiis party, in- creased continually by all who despaired of the court, did not want such a republic as fell to it in 1793. It dreamt of one with all its fascinations^ with its severe virtues and manners. Enthusiasm and vehemence were of course its principal characteristics. Such a party could not but have its extremes. There were Bazire, iNIerlin de Thionville, and others ; who, though its inferiors in talent, were its superiors in bohhiess. They became the party of the Mountain, when, after the overtlirow of tlie throne, they separated from the Girondins. This second Assembly had also, like the first, a middle mass, which, without being bound to any party, voted first with the one and then with the other. Under the Constituent Assemlily, when real liberty still prevailed, this mass liad remained independent ; but, as it was not so from energy but from in- dill'frence, in the sul)sequent Assemblies, and during the reign of violence, it became cowardly and contemptible, and received the trivial and igno- minious name of bclhi [ventre). The clubs gained at tliis period a very difi'erent kind of importance. Agitators under the Constituent, they became rulers under the Legislative, Assembly. The National Assembly could not contain all tlie ambitious; they l)elook themselves therefore to the clul)s, where they found a theatre for their declamation and passions. Thither resorted all who longed to speak, to take an active part, to agitate themselves, that is to say, almost the whole nation. The people ran to this new sight : they filled the tribunes of all the Assemblies, and there found, iVom this time forward, a lucrative employment, for they began to be paid for their applause. Bertrand, the minister, confesses that he paid them himself. 'J'lie oldest of the clubs, that of the Jacobins, had acquired extraordinary importance. A church was scarcely sufficient to hold the crowd of its members and auditors. An immense amphitheatre rose in the form of a circus and occupied the whole great nave of the church of the Jacobins. A desk was placed in the centre, at which sat the president and the secretaries. Here the votes were collected, and here reports of the deliberations were entered in a register. An active corresj)ondcnce kept up the zeal of the societies whicli were scattered over the entire surface of France, and were called afiiliated societies. This club, from its seniority and persevering violence, had constantly maintained an ascendancy over all those that liad su.>i)ic'ious person, and thrown into prison. On the following morning. March 28, 1704, he was found dead on the floor of iiis room, having afiparcntly swallowed poison, which he always carried about hiin, anly rcijuested the King to write to the princes and to exhort them to rolurn to France. The King directed the Abtie de .Montesquieu to draw up for hitn the letter which he purposed sending. This letter, admirably written, in a touching and simple style, suitable to the character of Louis XVI., and full of very strong arguments on the advantage of rallying around the principles of the constitution, was put into my hands by the King for the puri)Ose of making a copy of it. " At this period, M. Mor .... one of the intcndants of Monsieur's household, obtained from the Assembly a passport to go to the ))rince, on account of some work that was abso- lutely necessary to be done to his house. The tjnecn selected him to carry this letter; she determined to deliver it to him herself, and acquainted him with her motive for doing so. The choice of this courier surprised me: the t^ueen assured me that there could not be a filter, that she even reckoned upon his indiscretion, and that it was merely essential that the public should know o^ the King's letter to his brothers. Tlie princes were no doubt fore- ivamed hij the privatk correspondence. Monsieur, nevertheless, showed some surprise, and the messenger returned more afflicted than pleased by such a mark of confidence, which had well-nigh cost him his life during the years of terror." — Meinoires de Madame Campan, tome ii., p. 172. 204 HISTORY OF THE himself, whose principles were anything but constitutional. " It was neces- saiy," says he, " to use all possible means to increase the popularity of the King. The most efficacious and the most useful of all, at this moment, was to recall the emigrants. Their return, generally desired, would have revived in France the royalist party, Avhich the emigration had completely disor- ganized. This party, strengthened by the luipopularity of the Assembly, and recruited by numerous deserters from the constitutional party, and by all the discontented, would soon have become powerful enough to render decisive in favour of the King the explosion, more or less speedy, which there was every reason to expect."* Louis XVI., conformably with this advice of his ministers, addressed ex- hortations to the principal officers of the army and navy, to recall them to their duty, and to keep them at their posts. Ilis exhortations, however, were useless, and the desertion continued without intermission. The minis- ter at war reported that nineteen hundred officers had deserted. The As- sembly could not moderate its wrath, and resolved to take vigorous measures. Tiie Constituent Assembly had gone no further than to decree that public functionaries who were out of the kingdom should be superseded, and that the property of emigrants should be burdened with a triple contribution, to indemnify the state for the services of which they deprived it by their absence. The new Assembly proposed more severe penalties. Several plans were presented. Brissot distinguished three classes of emigrants: the leaders of the desertion, the public functionaries who aban- doned their duties, and lastly, those who out of fear had fled from their country. They ought, he said, to deal severely with the former, to despise and pity the others. It is certain that the liberty of man does not allow him to be chained down to the soil, but when a certainty is obtained, from a multitude of circum- stances, that the citizens who forsake it are going to assemble abroad for the purpose of declaring war against it, then, indeed, it is justifiable to take pre- cautions against such dangerous projects. The debate was long and warm. The constitutionalists condemned all the measures proposed, and asserted that they ought to despise useless attempts, as their predecessors had invariably done. The opposite party however, carried their point; and a first*decree was passed, enjoining Mon- sieur, llie King's brother, to return within two months, in default of which he should lose his eventual right to the regency. A second and more severe decree was levelled against the emigrants in general : it declared that the French assembled beyond the frontiers of the kingdom were suspected of conspiring against France; that, if on the 1st of January next they still con- tinued assembled, they should be declared guilty of conspiracy, prosecuted as such, and punished widi death ; and that the revenues of those who refused to comply shoidd be levied during tlieir lives for the benefit of the nation, without prejudice to the rights of wives, children and lawful creditors. The act of emigration not being in itself reprehensible, it is difficult to characterize the case in which it becomes so. All that the law could do was to apprize people tliat they would become culpable in such and such cases ; and all who wished not to be so, had only to obey. Those who, when apprized of the term lieyond which al)sence from the kingdom became a crime, should not return, would consent by this very circumstance to pass • Tome vi., p. 42. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 205 for criminals. It was incunil)ent on those who, w ithout any hostile or political motive, were out of the kingdom, to hasten their return : in fact it is a very trifling sacrifice to tlie safety of a state to abridge a journey of pleasure or profit. Louis XVL, in order to satisfy the Assembly and public opinion, assented to the decree requiring Monsieur to return upon pain of losing his right to the regency; but he ailixed his veto to tiie law against the emigrants. The ministers were directed to go in a body to the Assembly, for the purpose of communicating the pleasure of the King, They first read several decrees to which the sanction was mven. AVhcn they came to that relative to the emigrants, profound silence pervaded the Assembly ; and when the keeper of tlie s(!al.s pronounced the official formula, Tlit Kiua; will examine it, great discontent was expressed on all sides. He would have entered into a deveiopomentof the forms of the veto, but a great number of voices were raised, and told the minister that tlie constitutidu granted to the King the right of opposing, but not that of assigning motives for opposition. The minister was therefore obliged towitlidraw, leaving behind him a deep irrita- tion. This first resistance of the King to tlie Assembly was a definitive rupture ; and though he had sanctioned the decree which deprived his brother of the regency, yet people could not help discovering in his rejection of the second decree an affection for the insurgents atCoblentz. They considered that he was their kinsman, their friend, and in some degree their co-partner; and thence concluded that it was impossible for him not to make common cause with them against the nation. The very next day, Louis XVL published a proclamation to the emigrants, and two separate letters to his two brothers. The reasons which he stated to both were excellent, and a.ppeared to be sincerely urged. He exhorted them to put an end by tlieir return to the distrust which evil disposed persons took delight in spreading. He besought them not to compel him to employ severe measures against them; and, as to his want of liberty, which was made a pretext for not obeying him, he adduced as an evidence of the contrary the veto which he had just afiixed in their favour. •• Be this as it • Letter from the King to Louts Stanislas Xavier, French Prince, the King's Brother. Paris, Niivcmber 11, 1791, I wrote to you, my brother, on the IGth of October last, an J you ought not to have had any doubt of my real sentiments. I am surprised that my letter has not produced the effect which I had a ri^ht to expect from it. In order to recall you to your duty, I have used all the argumriits that ought to touch you most. Your absence is a pretext for all the evil dis- posed, a sort of excuse for all the deluded French, who imacrine that they are servine me by keeping all France in an alarm and an agitation which are the torment of my life. 'J'he Revolution is finished; the constitution is completed; France wills it, I will maintain it; upon its consolidation now depends the welfare of the monarchy. The constitution has con- ferred rights upon you; it has attached to them one condition which you ought to lose no time in fulfilling. Believe me, brother, and repel the doubts which pains are taken to excite in you respecting my liberty. I am going to prove to you by a most solemn act, and in a circumstance which interests you, that I can act freely. Prove to me that you are my brother and a Frenchman, by com[)lying with my entreaties. V'our proper place is by my side ; your interest, your sentiments alike urge you to come and resume it; I invite you, and, if I may, I order you, to do so, (Signed) Louis. Answer of Monsieur to the King. <^ Coblentz, December 3, 1791 Sire, my brother and lord. The Count de Vergennes has delivered to me in the name of your majesty, a letter, the address of which, notwithstanding my baptismal names which it contains, is so unlike mine s 206 HISTORY OF THE might, those reasons produced neither at Cohlentz nor at Paris the effect which they were, or appeared to be, intended to produce. The emiorrants did not return; and in the Assembly tlie tone of the proclamation was deemed too mild; nay, the power of the executive to issue one was called in question. That body was in fact too much irritated to be content with a proclamation, and above all to suffer the King to substitute a useless measure for the vigorous resolutions which had just been adopted. A similar trial was at the same moment imposed upon the King, and pro- duced an equally unfortunate residt. Tlie first religious disturbances had broken out in the West ; the Constituent Assembly had sent thither two commissioners, one of whom was Gensonne, afterwards so celebrated in the party of the Gironde. Tiieir report had been made to the Legislative Assembly, and, though very moderate, this report had filled it with indigna- tion. It will be recollected that the Constituent Assembly, in depriving the that I had some thoughts of returning it unopened. However, upon his positive assertion that it was for me, I opened it, and the name of brother which I found in it having left me no further doubt, I read it with the respect which I owe to the handwriting and the signature of your majesty. The order which it contains to return and resume my place by your majesty's person is not the free expression of your will ; and my honour, my duty, nay, even my affection, alike forbid me to obey. If your majesty wishes to be acquainted with all these motives more in detail, I beg you to refer to my letter of the 10th of September last. I also entreat you to receive with kindness the homage of the sentiments equally tender and respectful, with which I am, &c., &c., &c. Letter from the King to Charles Philippe, French Prince, the King's Brother. Paris, November 11, 1791. You must certainly be aware of the decree which the National Assembly has passed relative to the French who have left their country. I have not thought it right to give my consent to it, fondly believing that mild means will more ellectually accomplish the end which is proposed, and which the interest of the state demands. The various communications which I have made to you cannot leave you in any doubt respecting my intentions or my wishes. The public tranquillity and my personal peace are interested in your return. You could not persist in a conduct which disturbs France and which grieves me, without disregarding your most essential duties. S[)are me the regret of recurring to severe measures against you ; consult your true interest; sutler yourself to be guided by the aUachment which you owe to your country, and yield, in short, to the wish of the French, and to that of your King. This step, on your part, will be a proof of your sentiments for me, and will insure to you the con- tinuance of those which I always entertained for you. (Signed) Louis. Answer of the Count d'Artois to the King. Coblentz, Decembers, 1791. Sire, my brother and lord, Count De Vergennes delivered to me yesterday a letter, which, he assured me, had been addressed to me by your majesty. The superscription which gives me a title that I cannot admit, led me to suppose that this letter was not destined for me ; however, having recognised the seal of your majesty, I opened it, and paid respect to the handwriting and the signature of my King; but the total omission of the name of brother, and, above all, the decisions referred to in this letter, have furnished me with a fresh proof of the moral and physical cap- tivity in which our enemies dare to hold your majesty. After this declaration, your majesty will think it natural that, faithful to my duty, and the laws of honour, I should not "obey orders evidently wrung from you by violence. Besides, the letter which 1 had the honour to write to your majesty, conjointly with Mon- sieur, on the 10th of September last, contains the sentiments, the principles, and the resolu- tions, from which I shall never swerve; I refer to it, therefore, absolutely ; it shall be the basis of my conduct, and I here renew my oath to that effect. I entreat your majesty to receive the homage of the sentiments equally tender and respectful, with which I am, &c., &c., &c. > y FRENCH REVOLUTION. 207 nonjurin^ priests of their functions, had nevertheless left them a pension, and liberty to perform relij^ioiis service apart. They had ever since en- deavoured to excite the people against their colleagues who had taken the oath, and inveighed against them as impious wretches, whose ministry was null and dangerous. They drew the peasants after them to great distances for the purpose of saying mass to tliem. The latter were irritated to see their churches occupied by a worship which they were taught to consider as had, and to be obliged to go so far in quest of that which they looked upon as good. Civil war was imminent.* Fresh information communi- * The Report of Messrs. Gallois and Gensonne is indisputably the best historical authority concerning the commencement of the disturbances in La Vendee. The origin of those dis- turbances is the most interesting part of it, because it makes us acquainted with their causes. I I have thought it necessary, therefore, to sulijoin this Report. It seems to me to tlirow hght on one of the most curious portions of that melancholy history. Report of Messrs. Gallnis and Gensonne, Ciinl Commissioners sent into the Departments of La Vendee and Deux-Sevres, In/ virtue of Decrees of the Constituent Assembly, made to the Legia/afive Assembly, October 9, 1791. Gentlemen, the National Assembly decreed, on the 16th of July last, on the report of its committee of research, that civil commissioners should be sent to the department of La Vendee, to collect all the information they could obtain respecting the causes of the recent disturbances in that country, and to concur with the administrative bodies in the restoratioQ of the public tranquillity. On the 23d of July we were charged with this mission, and we set out two days after- wards for Fontenay-le-Comte, the chief town of that department. After conferring for some days with the administrators of the directory upon the state of things and the disposition of people's minds ; after concerting with the three admitjistrative bodies some preliminary measures for the maintenance of jxiblic order; we determined to visit the different districts composing this department, in order to examine how much was true or false, real or exaggerated, in the complaints which had already reached us — to ascer- tain, in short, with all possible accuracy, the state of this department. W'c have travelled over almost every part of it, sometimes for the purpose of obtaining information that we needed, at others, to maintain peace, to obviate public disturbances, or to prevent the violence with which some of the citizens believed themselves to be threatened. We have examined in several district directories all the municipalities of which each of them is composed ; we have listened with the greatest attention to all the citizens who had either facts to communicate or suggestions to propose to us; we have carefully collected and compared together all the particulars that have come to our knowledge; but, as these details are more numerous than diversified, as the facts, complaints, and observations have been everywhere alike, we shall present to you in one general point of view, a:id in an abridged but accurate manner, the result of this multitude of particular facts. We deem it unnecessary to submit to you the information which we obtained concerning anterior disturbances ; they have not appeared to us to have any very direct influence on the present state of this department ; besides, the law of amnesty having put a stop to the dif- ferent pro.secutions to which those disturbances gave occasion, we could present to you only, vague conjectures and uncertain results concerning those matters. The epoch of the taking of the ecclesiastical oath was the first epoch of the disturbances in the department of La Vendee : till then the people there had enjoyed the greatest tran- quillity. Remote from the common centre of all action and all resistance, disjjoscd by their natural character to the love of peace, to the sentiment of order, to respect for the law, they reaped the benefits of the Revolution without experiencing its storms. In the country, the dilHculty of the communications, the sim[)licily of a purely agricul- tural life, the lessons of childhood and of the religiou.s emblems destined incessantly to engage our attention, had opened the soul to a multitude of superstitious impressions, which, in the present state of things, no kind of instruction can either destroy or moderate. Their religion, that is to say, religion such as they conceive it, is become to them the .strongest, and indeed Ve may .say, the only moral habit of their lives; the most essential object which it holds forth to them is the worship of images ; and the minister of this wor- ship, he whom the country-people consider as the dis[)enser of the Divine favour, who can, by the fervour of his prayers, mitigate the inclemency of the seasons, and has at bis 208 HISTORY OF THE cated to the Assembly proved lliat the danger had become still greater. It then determined to adopt measures against these new enemies of the con- peculiar disposal the happiness of a future life, soon secures to himself the softest as well as the strongest atfections of their souls. The constancy of the people of this department in the kind of their religious acts, and the uidnnited confidence possessed by the priests to whom they are accustomed, are one of the principal elements of the disturbances which have agitated and are still likely to agitate them. It is easy to conceive with what assiduity either misguided or factious priests have con- trived to avail themselves of these dispositions of the people towards them. Nothing has been neglected to kindle their zeal, to alarm their consciences, to strengthen weak characters, to encourage decided characters: in some have been awakened uneasiness and remorse, in others hopes of happiness and salvation : and upon almost all the influence of seduction and fear has been tried with success. Many of these ecclesiastics are upright and sincere; they appear to be deeply impressed both with the ideas which they disseminate and with the sentiments which they inspire: others are accused of cloaking with zeal for religion interests dearer to their hearts; these latter have a political activity, which increases or relaxes according to circumstances. A powerful coalition has been formed between the late Bishop of Lu^nn, and part of the former clergy of his diocese: they have concerted a plan of opposition to the execution of the decrees which were to be carried into effect in all the parislies ; pastoral charges and in- flammatory papers sent from Paris have been addressed to all the cures, to fortify them in their resolution, or to engage them in a confederation which is presumeii to be general. A circular letter written by M. Beauregard, grand-vicar of M. de Merci, late Bishop of Lugon, dei>osited in the office of the tribunal of Fontenay, and which that ecclesiastic avowed at the time of his examination, will fix your opinion, gentlemen, in an accurate manner, both resjiecting the secret of that coalition, and the skilfully combined proceedings of those who have formed it. It is as follows: Letter, dated Ltignn, May 31, 1791, under envelope, addressed to the Cure of La Rcorihe. A decree of the National Assembly, sir, dated 7ih May, grants to the ecclesiastics whom it has pretended to remove for refusing to take the oath, the use of the parish churches for saying mass there only. The same decree authorizes the Roman Catholics as well as all the nonconformists, to meet for the exercise of religious worship in any place which they shall have chosen for that purpose, on condition that in their public instructions nothing shall be said against the civil constitution of the clergy. The liberty granted to the legitimate pastors by the first article of this decree ought to be considered as a snare so much the more dangerous, because true believers would not find in the churches of which the intruders have gained possession any other instructions but those of their false pastors ; because they could not receive the sacraments there but from their hands; and thus they would have with these schismatic pastors a communication which the laws of the church interdict. To obviate so great an evil, gentlemen, the cures will feel the necessity of securing as soon as possible a place where they can, by virtue of the second article of this decree, exercise their functions and assemble their faithful parishioners, as soon as their pretended successors have taken possession of their churches. Without this precaution, the Catholics, fearful of being deprived of the mass and the divine offices, and 'called by the voice of false pastors, might soon be induced to communicate with them, and be ex|)osed to the risk of an almost inevitable seduction. In the parishes where there are few wealthy proprietors, it will no doubt be difiicult to find a suitable building and to procure sacred vessels and ornaments: then a mere barn, a moveable altar, a surplice of muslin or any other common stuff, and vessels of tin, will suffice, in this case of necessity, for the celebration of the sacred mysteries and of divine service. This simplicity, this poverty, by reminding us of the first ages of the Church and of the cradle of our holy religion, may he a [lovverfiil means of exciting the zeal of the ministers and the fervour of the faithful. The first Christians had no other temples but their houses; there the pastors and their (lock met to celebrate the sacred mysteries, to hear the word of God, and to sing the praises of the Lord. In the persecutions with which the Church was alHicled, obliged to forsake their churches, they retired into caverns and even into tombs; and for the true believers these times of trial wore periods of the greatest fervour. There are very few parishes where messieurs the cures could not procure a building and ornaments FRENCH REVOLUTION. 209 stitution, similar to those which it had taken against the armed enemies beyond the Rhine, and to put tiie disposition of tlie King to a new test. such as I have just mentioned, and till they can provide themselves with needful things, such of their neighbours as shall not be displaced will be able to assist them with what they can epare from their churches. We shall have it in our power immediately to supply with sacred stones those who want them, and at this moment we can cause the cups, or the vessels employed as substitutes for them, to be consecrated. M. the Bishop of Lugon, in the particular instructions which he has transmitted to us, by way of supplement to those of M. the Bishop of Langres, and which will be circulated in like manner in the (liferent dioceses, proposes to messieurs the cures,- 1. To keep a double register, in which shall be entered the acts of baptism, marriage, and burial of the Catholics of the parish: one of these registers shall remain in their hands; the other shall be by them deposited every year in the hands of a confidential person. 2. Besides this register, messieurs the cures will keep another, likewise double, in which shall be entered the acts of dispensation concerning marriages, which they shall have granted by virtue of the powers which shall be given them by Article 18th of the Instructions. These acts shall be signed by two trusty and faithful witnesses, and, to give them greater authenticity, the registers destined to contain them shall be approved, numbered, and signed by M. the Bishop, or in his absence by one of his vicais-general. A duplicate of this register shall be delivered, as above mentioneii, to a confidential person. 3. Messieurs the cures will wait, if possible, before they retire from their church and their ministry, till their pretended successor has notified to them the act of his appointment and institution, and till they protest against all that may be done in consequence. 4. They shall draw up privately a report (proces verbal) of the intrusion of the pre- tended cure and of the invasion made by him upon the parish church and the living; in this report, the model of which I annex, they will formally protest against all the acts of jurisdic- tion which he may choose to exercise as cure of the parish : and to give to this act all pos- sible authenticity, it shall be signed by the cure, his vicar, if he has one, and a neiglibouring priest, and even by two or three pious and discreet layman, taking nevertheless the utmost precaution not to betray the secret. 5. iSuch of messieurs the cures whose parishes shall be declared suppressed without the intervention of the legitimate bishop, shall adopt the same means ; they shall consider them- selves as being still the only legitimate pastors of their parishes, and, if it be absolutely im- possiiile for them to remain there, they shall endeavour to procure a lodging sufficiently near to be able to supply the s[)iritual wants of their parishioners, and they shall take great care to forewarn and to instruct them in their duties on that head. 6. If the civil power should o[)pose the faithful Catholics having one general cemetery, or if the relatives of deceased persons manifest too strong a repugnance to their being inter- red in a separate place, though specially consecrated, as it is said in Article 19 of the Instruc- tions, after the legitimate pastor or one of his representatives shall have said at the house the prayers prescribed by the ritual, and shall have drawn up the certificate of death, which shall be signed by the relatives, the body of the deceased may he carried to the door of the church, and the relations shall be at liberty to accom])any it; but they shall be warned to retire at the moment when the intruding cure and vicars come to have the body lifted up, that they may not participate in the ceremonies and prayers of these schismatic priests. 7. In the acts, when the displaced cures are denied their title o( cure, they shall sign lliose acts with their christian and family name, without losing any quality. I beg you, sir, and such of your colleagues to whom you may think it right to communi- cate my letter, to have the goodness to inform us of the moment of your removal, if it does take place, of the installation of your pretended successor, and of its most remarkable circum- stances, of the dispositions of your j)arishioners on this head, of the means which you think it right to adopt for the service of your parish, and of your residence, if you are abso- lutely obliged to leave it. You cannot doubt that all these particulars will deeply interest us ; your griefs are ours, and our most ardent wish is to be able, by sharing them, to mitigate tlieir bitterness. I have the honour to be, with a respectful and inviolable attachment, } our most humble and most obedient servant. These manoeuvres were powerfully seconded by missionaries established in the village of St. Laurent, district of Montaigu ; nay, it is to the activity of their zeal, to their underhand dealings, to their indefaligable and secret exhortations that, we are of opinion, the disposition VOL. I. — 27 s 2 210 HISTORY OF THE The Constituent Assembly had required all priests to take the civic oath. Those who refused to comply, though they lost the character of ministers of a very great part of the population in almost the whole of the department of La Vendee and in the district of Chatiilon, department of the Deux-Sevres, is principally to be attri- buted. It is of essential importance to fix the attention of the National Assembly on the conduct of these missionaries and the spirit of their institution. This establishment was founded, about sixty years ago, for a society of secular priests, living by alms, and destined as missionaries to the duty of preaching. These missionaries, who have won the confidence of the people by artfully distributing rosaries, medals, and indulgences, and by setting up Calvaries of all forms upon the roads of all this part of France ; these missionaries have since become numerous enough to form new establishments in other parts of the kingdom. They are to be found in the late provinces of Poitou, Anjou, Bretagne, and Aunis, labouring with the same activity for the success, and in some measure for the eternal duration, of this sort of religious practices, which have become, through their assiduous endeavours, the sole religion of the people. The village of St. Laurent is their head-quarters ; they have recently built there a spacious and handsome monastic house, and acquired, it is said, other territorial property. This congregation is connected by the nature and spirit of its institution with an esta- blishment of gray nuns, founded in the same place, and known by the name oi fJlcs ds ij. iagesse (nuns of wisdom). Devoted in this department and in several others to attendance on the poor, particularly in the hospitals, they are a very active medium of general corros- j)ondence for these missionaries throughout the kingdom. The house of St. Laurent has become their place of refuge, when the intolerant fervour of their zeal or other circum- stances have obliged the managers of the hospitals which they attend to dispense with their services. To determine your opinion respecting the conduct of these ardent missionaries and the religious morality which they profess, it will be sufficient, gentlemen, to lay before you a brief summary of the maxims contained in various manuscripts found upon them by the national guard of Angers and Cholet. These manuscripts, drawn up in the form of instructions for the country-people, lay it down as a rule that they must not apply to the constitutional priests, stigmatized as intruders, for the administration of the sacraments; that all those who partake therein, even by their mere presence, commit a deadly sin, for which nothing but ignorance or defect of understand- ing can be an excuse ; that those who shall have the audacity to get married by intruders will not be really married, and that they will draw down the divine malediction upon them- selves and their children ; that things will be so arranged that the validity of the marriages performed by the late cures will not be disputed ; but that, meanwhile, they must make up their minds to the worst ; that if the children do not pass for legitimate, they will neverthe- less be so ; that, on the contrary, the children of those who shall have been married by the intruders will be really bastards, because God will not have ratified the union, and because it is better that a marriage should be invalid in the sight of men than in the sight of God ; that they ought not to apply to the new cures in cases of burial ; and that, if the former aire cannot otlrciate without risking his life and liberty, the relatives or friends of the de- ceased ought privately to perform the duty of interment. On this subject it is observed that the late cure will take care to keep an accurate register for the registration of these different acts; that, in fact, it is impossible for the civil tribunal to pay any attention to this point, but that it is a misfortune to which people must submit ; that the civil registration is a great advantage, which must nevertheless be dispensed with, because it is better to be deprived of it than to turn apostate by applying to an intruder. Lastly, all true believers are exhorted to have no communication with an intruder, and to take no part in his intrusion ; it is declared that the municipal officers who shall install him will be apostates like himself, and that the very sextons, singers, and bell-ringers, ought that very moment to resign their places. Such, gentlemen, is the absurd and pernicious doctrine which is contained in those manu- scripts, and of which the public voice accuses the missionaries of St. Laurent of having been the most zealous propagators. They were denounced at the time to the committee of research of the National Assembh/^, and the silence observed in regard to them, has served only to ii.crease the activity of their •eflbrts and to extend their baneful infiuence. We have deemed it indispensably necessary to lay before you an abridged analysis of the principles contained in these writings, as displayed in an arrcle of the department of Maine FRENCH REVOLUTIOX. 211 of public worship paid by the state, retained their pensions ns mere eccle- siastics and the liberty of exercising their ministry in private. Nothing and Loire, of tho 5th June, 1791, because it is sufRcient to compare them with the circular letter of the grand-vicar of the late Bishop of Lucon to be convinced that they belong to a general system of opposition to the decrees on the civil organization of the clergy ; and the pre- sent state of the majority of the parishes of this department exhibits only the development of this system and the principles of this doctrine, sot almost everywhere in action. The too tardy removal of the cures has greatly contributed to the success of this coalition: this delay has been occasioned, in the iirst place, by the refusal of M. Servant, who after having been appointed to the bishofjric of the department, and accepted that oflice, declared, on the UJth of April, that he withdrew his acceptance. M. Rodrigue, the present bishop of the department, whose moderation and firmness arc almost his sole support in a chair sur- rounded by storms and embarrassments — M. Kodrigue could not be nominated till the first days in the month of May. At that time the acts of resistance had been calculated and determined upon agreeably to a uniform plan ; the opposition was commenced and in full activity; the grand-vicars and the cure's had agreed and bound themselves closely together by the same bond ; the jealousies, the rivalstiips, the quarrels, of the old ecclesiastical hierarchy had had time to subside, and all interests had been blended into one general interest. The removal could only be in part effected : the very great majority of the old public ecclesiastical functionaries still remains in the parishes invested with its former functions; the last appointments have been almost wholly unsuccessful ; and the persons lately elected, deterred by the prospect of the ntimberless contradictions and disagreements prepared for tliem by their nomination, reply to it by refusals alotje. This division of sworn and nonjuring priests has formed an absolute division between the people of their parishes : families too are divided : wives have been seen, and are daily seen, parting from their husbands, children leaving their parents : the state of citizens is in most cases certified only upon loose pieces of paper, and the individual who receives them, not being clothed with any public character, cannot give any legal authenticity to this kind of proof. The municipalities have disorganized themselves, and the greater number of them that they might not concur in the removal of nonjuring cures. A great [lortion of the citizens has renounced the service in the national guard, and that which remains could not be employed without danger in any operations having for their principle or object acts concerning religion, because the people would then view the national guards not as the unimpassioned instruments of the law, but as the agents of a party hostile to its own. In several parts of the department, an administrator, a judge, a member of the electoral body, arc objects of aversion to the people, because they concur in the execution of the law relative to the ecclesiastical functionaries. This disposition of mind is the more deplorable, as the means of public instruction are daily becoming more diiricult. The general laws of the state are confounded by the people with the particular regulations for the civil organization of the clergy, and this renders the reading and the publication of them useless. The malcontents, the men who dislike the new system, and those who in the new system dislike the laws relative to the clergy, studiously keep up this aversion of the people, strengthen by all the means in their power the inllucnce of the nonjuring i)riests, and weaken the intluencc of the others; the pauper obtains no relief, the artisan cannot hope to obtain any employment for his talents and industry, unless he promises not to attend mass said by a priest who has taken the oath ; and it is by this concurrence of confidence in the former priests, on the one hand, and of threats and seductive arts on the other, that at this moment the churches where priests who have taken the oath ofliciate are deserted, and that people throiig to those where, for want of candidates, the removals have not yet been carried into eflecl. Nothing is more common than to see in parishes of five or six hundred persons ten or twelve only attending mass said by the sworn priest; the proportion is the same in all the places of the department. On Sundays and holidays may he seen whole villages and ham- lets whose inhabitantS-leave their hmnes to go to the distance of a league, and sometimes ten leagues, to hear mass said by a nonjuring jiriest. These habitual desertions have appeared to us the most powerful cause of the firment, sometimes secret, at others open, which exist in almost all the parishes served by priests who have taken the oath : it is easy to conceive 212 HISTORY OF THE could be milder or more moderate tlian such a restriction. The Legislative Assemljly required the oath to be taken anew, and deprived those who that a multitude of persons who consider themselves obliged by their conscience to go to a distance to obtain the spiritual succours which they need, must see with aversion, when they return home exhausted with fatigue, the five or six individuals who find at hand the priest of their choice; they view with envy and treat with harshness, nay frequently even with violence, the men who seem to them to possess an exclusive privilege in matters of religion. The comparison which they make between the facility which they formerly had to find by their side priests who enjoyed their confidence, and the trouble, fatigue, and loss of time occasioned by these repeated journeys, greatly diminishes their attachment to the constitution, to which they attribute all the discomforts oi' their new situation. It is to this general cause, more active perhaps at this moment than the secret provocation of the nonjuring priests, that in our opinion ought to be attributed more especially the state of internal discord in which we have found the greater number of the parishes of the depart- ment served by priests who have taken the oath. Several of them have presented to us, as well as to the administrative bodies, petition9 praying that they may be authorized to hire particular edifices for the use of their religious worship; but as thr-se petitions, which we knew to be instigated with the greatest activity by persons who did not sign them, appeared to us to belong to a more general and more secret system, we have not deemed it right to take any measure tending to a religious separation, which we conceived at the time, considering the state of this department, to involve all the characters of a civil breach between the citrzens. We have thought and publicly said that it was for you, gentlemen, to determine in a precise manner how, and by what concurrence of moral inlluences, laws, and means of execution, the exercise of the liberty of religious opinions ought on this point, and in the present circumstances, to ally itself to the maintenance of the public tranquillity. It is certainly matter of surprise that the nonjuring priests who reside in their old parishes do not avail tliemseives of the liberty allowed by the law to say mass in the church where the new cure officiates, and are not eager to make use of that faculty, in order to spare their old parishioners, and those who have remained attached to them the loss of time and the inconveniences of these numerous and compulsory journeys. To explain this conduct, appa- rently so extraordinary, it is of importance to recollect that one of the things which had been most strongly recommended to the nonjuring priests, by the able men who have directed this grand religious enterprise, is to abstain from all communication with the priests whom they call intruders and usurpers, lest the people, who are struck only by sensible signs, should at length become accustomed to see no difference between the priests who should perform in the same church the exercises of the same worship. Unfortunately, this religious division has produced a political breach between the citizens, and this breach is further widened by the appellation given to each of the two parties : the small number of persons who go to the church of the priests who have taken the oath call themselves and are called pa^7o/s ; those who attend the church of the nonjuring priest are called and call themselves aristocrats. Thus, with the poor country-peojile, love or hatred of their country consists now-a-days not in obeying the laws, and in respecting the legitimate authorities, but in going or not going to mass said by a sworn priest. On this point igno- rance and prejudice have struck such deep root, that we have had great difiiculty to make them comprehend that the political constitution of the state was not the civil constitution of the clergy ; that the law did not tyrannize over consciences ; that every one was at perfect liberty to go to the mass that he liked best and to the priest in whom he had most confidence ; that they were all equal in the sight of the law, and that on this point it imposed on them no other obligation than to live in peace, and to bear mutually with the difference of each others' religious opinions. We have done all in our power to banish this absurd denomination from the minds and from the language of the country-people, and we have endeavoured to do so the more assiduously, because it was easy for us to calculate at that period all the conse- quences of such a demarcation, in a department where these pretended aristocrats formed more than two-thirds of the population. Such, gentlemen, is the result of the facts that have come to our knowledge in the depart- ment of La Vendee, and such are the reflections to which these facts have given rise. We have taken on this subject all the measures that were in our power, both to maintain the general tranquillity, and to prevent or suppress the violations of public order: organs of the law, we have everywhere spoken its language. At the same time that we established means of order and security, we took pains to explain or to elucidate, before the adiuinistra- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 213 refused of nny salary whatever. As they ahused their liberty by excitin"^ civil war, it ordered that, according to their conduct, they should be removed tive bodies, the tribunals, or individuals, the difficulties incident either to the right under- standing of the decrees or to their mode of execution ; we exhorted the administrative bodies and the tribunals to redouble their vigilance and zeal in the execution of the laws which pro- tect the safety of persons and property, to use, in short, with firmness, the authority which the law has conferred on them; we distributed part of the public force which was at our disposal ill places where the danger was described to us as being more serious or niori' immi- nent: we repaired to every place on the first tidings of disturbance ; we ascertained the state of things with more calmness and reflection ; and after having either by the language of peace and consolation, or by the firm and just expression of the law, pacified this momentary tumult of individual passions, we were of opinion that the mere presence of the public force would be sufiicient. It is to you, gentlemen, and to you alone, that it belongs to take truly effica- cious measures respecting a matter which, from the relation into which it has been brought \yith the constitution of the state, exercises at this moment a much greater influence upon that constitution than the first and most simple notions of reason, apart from the experience of facts, could lead one to imagine. In all our operations relative to the distribution of the public force, we have been seconded in the most active manner by a general officer well known for his patriotism arid his intelli- gence. No sooner was M. Dumouriez apprized of our arrival in the department than he came to associate himself with us in our labours, and to concur with us in the maintenance of the public peace: we were on the point of being totally deprived of troops of the line at a moment when we had reason to believe that they were more necessary for us than ever; it was to the zeal and to the activity of M. Dumouriez that we were indebted for immediate succour, which, owing to the delay of the organization of the gendarmerie, was in some me:isure the sole guarantee of the tranquillity of the country. We had just finished our mission in this department of La Vendee, gentlemen, when the decree of the National Assembly of the 8th of August, which, on the application of the admi- nistrators of the department of the Deux-Sevres, authorized us to proceed to the district of Chatillon, reached us as well as the directory of this department. We had been informed, on our arrival at Fontenay-le-Comte, that this district was in the same state of religious agitation as the department of La Vendee. Some days before the receipt of the decree for our commission, several citizens, electors and public functionaries of that district, came to make a written complaint to the directory of the department of the Deux-Sc'vres respecting disturbances which, as they alleged, existed in different parishes; they declared that an insurrection was on the point of breaking out: the remedy which to them appeared the most certain and the most prompt, and which they most earnestly pro- posed, was to compel all the cures, who had not taken the oath and been superseded, and all vicars who had not taken the oath, to quit the district within three days. The directory, after having long hesitated to adopt a measure which appeared to it to be contrary to the principles of strict justice, conceived at length that the public character of the complainants was suffi- cient to prove both the reality of the evil and the urgent necessity of the remedy. A resolu- tion (arrcfe) was in consequence passed on the oth of September, and the directory ordered all ecclesiastics to quit the llectcd, and the observations which ^e have made, in the course of the mission with which we have been intrusted. The most pleasing reward of our labours would be to have facilitated for you the means of establishing, on solid foundations, the tranquillity of these departments, and having responded by the activity of our zeal to the confidence with which we have been honoured. 216 HISTORY OF THE procured its aj)probaUon of their advice : and when the council had decided, to the great satisfaction of Louis XVI., that the veto shoukl be affixed, he added, as his opinion, that it wouhl be well to surround the person of the King with priests who were not liable to suspicion. To this proposal Louis XV'L, usually so flexible, manifested invincible obstinacy, and said that the freedom of religious worship, decreed for everybody, ought to be allowed to him as w'ell as to his subjects, and that he ought to have the liberty of appointing about him such priests as he approved. The ministers did not insist, and, without as yet communicating the circumstance to the Assembly, the veto was decided upon. The constitutional party, to wdiich the King seemed to consign himself at this moment, broug-ht him a fresh reinforcement. This was the directory of the department, which was composed of the most esteemed members of the Constitutional Assembly. Among them were the Duke de Larouche- foucault, the Bishop of Autun, Baumets, Desmeuniers, Ansons, &c. It presented a petition to the King, not as an administrative body, but as a meeting of petitioners, and called for the affixing of the veto to the decree against the priests. " The National Assembly," they said, " certainly meant well ; we love to avenge it here on its guilty detractors ; but so laudable a design has pro- pelled it towards measures of which neither the constitution, justice, nor prudence can approve. It makes the payment of the pensions of all eccle- siastics not in office depend on the taking of the civic oath, whereas the constitution has expressly and literally classed those pensions with the public debts. Now, can the refusal to take any oath whatever destroy the tide of an acknowledged credit ! The Constituent Assembly has done what it could do on behalf of the nonjuring priests ; they refused to take the pre- scribed oath, and it has deprived them of their functions ; in dispossessing them, it has reduced them to a pension. The Legislative Assembly pro- poses that the ecclesiastics who have not taken the oath, or Avho have retracted it, may, during religious disturbances, be temporarily removed, and imprisoned if they fail to obey the order which shall be intimated to them. Is not this renewing the system of arbitrary orders, since it permits the punishing with exile, and soon afterwards with imprisonment, one who has not yet been convicted of having oflended against any law ? The National Assembly refuses all those who shall not take the civic oath the free exer- cise of their religious worship. Now, this liberty cannot be wrested from any person. It is guaranteed forever in the declaration of rights." These reasons were certainly excellent, but it is impossible to allay with argum.cnts either the animosities or the fears of parties. How persuade an Assembly that it ought to permit refractory priests to excite disturbance and civil war? The directory was abused, and its petition to the King was combated by a multitude of others addressed to the legislative body. Ca- mille Desmoulins presented a very bold petition at the head of a section ; in which misht be already perceived an increasing violence of langiiage, and a renunciation of all the respect hitherto paid to the authorities and to the King. Desmoulins told the Assembly that a signal example was re- qutred ; that the directory ought to be tried ; that it was the leaders who ouglit to be prosecuted ; that it ought to strike at the head, and launch thunderbolts at the conspirators ; that the power of the royal veto had a limit, and that a veto would not prevent the taking of a Bastille. Louis XVI., though determined to refuse his sanction, hesitated to ac- quaint the Assembly with his resolution. He wished first, by certain acts, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 217 to conciliate the public opinion, lie selected his ministers from among the constitutional party. Montniorin,* weary of his laborious career under the Constituent Assembly, and of his arduous negotiations with all the parties, could not be induced to encounter tlie storms of a new legislature, and had retired in spite of the entreaties of the King. Tlie ministry for foreign affairs, refused by several persons, was accepted by Delessart, who, in order to assume it, relinquislu-d that of the interior. Delessart, an upright and enlightened man, was under tlie inlluence of the Constitutionalists, or Feuil- lans ; but he was too weak to fix the will of the King, and to overawe foreign powers and domestic factions. Cahier de Gerville, a decided patriot, but rather rough than persuasive, was appointed to tlie interior, to gratify public opinion. Narbonne, a young man, full of activity and ardour, a zealous constitutionalist, and who understood the art of making himself popular, was placed at the head of the war department by tlie party which then composed the ministry. He might have had a benelicial influence upon the council, and reconciled the Assembly with the King, if he had not had an adversary in Bertrand de MoUeville, a counter-rcvolutiouary minister, who was preferred by the court to all the others.! Bertrand de MoUeville, detesting the constitution, artfully wrapped himself up in the letter for the purpose of attacking its spirit, and sincerely desired that the King woidd attempt to execute it, "merely," as he said, "to prove that it was not practicable." The King coidd not make up his mind to dismiss him, and with this mixed ministry he endeavoured to pursue his course. After he had endeavoured to gratify public opinion by these appfiintments, he tried other means for attaching it to him still more ; and he appeared to accede to all the diplomatic and military measures proposed against the assemblages formed upon the Rhine. The last repressive laws had been prevented by the veto, and yet e\ery day fresh denunciations apprized the Assembly of the preparations and the threats of the emigrants. The reports [proces-verbecatx) of the munici- palities and departments on the frontiers, and the accounts given by com- mercial men coming from beyond the Rhine, attested that the Viscount de Mirabeau, brother of the celebrated member of the Constituent Assembly, was at the head of six hundr(>d men in tlie bishopric of Strasliurg ; that, in the territory of the elector of Mentz, and near Worms, there were numerous corps of emigrants, under the command of the Prince of Conde ; that the same was the case at Coblentz and throughout the whole electorate of Treves ; that outrages and acts of violence had been committed upon Frenchmen ; and lastly, that a proposal had been made to General \Yiin])fen to deliver up New Brisach. These accounts, in addition to many other circumstances that were matter * "Of all the men who played an important part in the Rovolulion, M. de Montmorin is perhaps the person who is least iinown, and has been judged with the greatest severity. He was neither constitutionalist nor democrat, but a real royalist. The extreme weakness of his charactrr prevented him from l)einn; useful to his majesty in eireuinslaiiees that re(|uired much euorgy. This moral weakness had its source in a sickly constitution, and can P'^ more be imputed to him as a crime, than his being of a low stature, and slender frame of boihr—fierlrandde Mo/leville. E. •j- "Two of the ministers were zealous patriots; two others were moderate, but hooest; the fifth, IJertrand de MoUeville, minfcler of the navv. was a decided aristocrat ; the sixth, M. de Narboime, a c^hstitufiorialist, full of ardour and activity, 'i'he latter had cause to be dissatisfied with I\l. llerirand. Narbonne was disj)leasing to the court, from the frankness of his disposition, the patriotism of his conduct, and his attachment to Latayctle." — La- fai/etles Memoirs. E. VOL. I.— 28 T 218 HISTORY OF THE of public notoriety, drove the Assembly to the last degree of irritation. A decree was immediately proposed, to require of the electors the disarming of the emigrants. The decision was deterred for two days, that it might not appear to be too much hurried. After this delay the discussion com- menced. Isnard* was the first speaker. He insisted upon the necessity of in- suring the tranquillity of the kingdom, not in a temporary, but in a durable manner ; of overawing by prompt and vigorous measures, whicii should attest to all Europe the patriotic resolutions of France. "Fear not," said he, " to bring upon yourselves a war -with the great powers. Interest has already decided their intentions. Your measures will not change them, but will oblige them to explain themselves. The conduct of the Frenchman ought to correspond with his new destiny. A slave under Louis XVI., he was nevertheless intrepid and great. Now that he is free, ouglit he to be weak and timid ? They are mistaken, said Montesquieu, who imaoino that a people in a state of revolution are disposed to be conquered. They are ready, on the contrary, to conquer others, {.^pplame.) " Capitulations are proposed to you. It is proposed to increase the power of the King — of a man whose will can paralyze that of the whole nation, of a man who receives thirty millions, while thousands of citizens are perishing from want ! [Fresh applause.) It is proposed to bring back the nobility. Were all the nobles on earth to attack us, the French, holding their gold in one hand and the sword in the other, would combat that hauffhty race, and force it to endure the punishment of equality. "Talk to the ministers, to the King, and to Europe, the language befitting the representatives of France. Tell the ministers that, so far, you are not satisfied with their conduct, and that by responsibility you mean death. {Prolonged applause.) Tell Europe that you will respect the constitutions of all other countries, but that, if a war of kings is raised against France, you will raise a war of people against kings." The applause was here renewed. " Say," he added, " that the battles which nations fight at the command of despots are like the blows which two friends, excited by a per- fidious instigator, strike at each other in the dark. The moment a light appears they embrace, and take vengeance on him Avho deluded them. In like manner, if. at the moment when the hostile armies shall be engaged with ours, the light of philosophy bursts upon their sight, the nations will emlirace one another before the face of dethroned tyrants, of consoled earth, and of deliffhted Heaven !" The enthusiasm excited by these words was such that the members thronged around the speaker to embrace him. The decree which he sup- ported was instantly adopted. M. de Vaublanc w^as directed to carry it to * " M. Isnard, a wholesale perfumer at Draa^uicrnan. was deputed from Var to the legis- lature ; and afterwards to the convention. His father, who was rich, had taken great pains with his education. In 1793 he voted for the King's death, oliservin[;, that 'were the lightnings of heaven in his hands, he would blast with them all those who should aUack the sovereignty of the people.' Isnard was outlawed as a Girondin, on the fall of that |)arty, but succeeded in making his escape, and, after the overtlirow of the Pvlountaineers, resumed his seat in the Convention. Being then sent to the department of the Bouches du Rhone, he there declaimed vehemently against the Terrorists, who afterwards accused him of having encouraged the bloodv reprisals made on them in the South, and of having addressed the people as follows : ' If you meet any Terrorists, strike them : if you have not arms, you have sticks; if you have not sticks, dig up your parents, and with their bones knock down the monsters!' In 1796, Isnard became a member of the Council of Five Hundred. In 1801 he published a work on the Immortality of the Soul." — Biographle Modcrne. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 219 the King, at the head of a deputation of twenty-four members-. By this dscree the Assembly dechu-ed tliat it considered it indispensably necessary to require the electors of Treves and Mentz, and the other princes of the empire, to break up die assemblages formed on the frontiers. At the same time it prayed the King to accelerate the negotiations commenced respecting the indemnities due to the princes who had possessions in Alsace. M. de Vaublanc accompanied this decree with a firm and respectful address, Avhich was hiirhly applauded by the Assembly. "Sire," said he, " if the French, drivei\ from their country by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, had assembled in arms on the frontiers, and had been protected by German princes, we ask you, sire, whai would have been the conduct of Louis XIV.? Would he have su tiered these assemblages ? What he would have done for the sake of his authority, your majesty cannot hesitate to do for the maintenance of the constitution." Louis XVL, havinir determined, as we have said, to counteract the effect of the veto by acts which should gratify public opinion, resolved to go to the Assembly and personally reply to its message in a speech likely to give it satisfaction. On the 11th of December, in the evening, the King accordingly went, after having announced his intention in the morning by a mere note. He said that the message of the Assembly deserved mature consideration, and that, in a circum.stance in which French honour was involved, he deemed it right to come in person ; that, sharing the intentions of the Assembly, but dread- ing the scourge of war, he had endeavoured to bring back the misled French ; that friendly remonstrances having proved ineffectual, he had anticipated the message of the representatives, and signified to the electors, that if, before the 15th of January, the assemblage of troops should nothave ceased, they should ])e considered as enemies of France; that he had written to the emperor to claim his interference as head of the empire ; and that, in case satisfaction were not obtained, he should propose war. He concluded Avith saying that it would be vain to attempt to surround the exercise of his aiithority with disgust ; that he Avould faithfully guard the deposit of the constitution ; and that he deeply felt how glorious it was to be King of a free people. Applause succeeded the silence, and made the King amends for the reception which he had experienced on entering. The Assembly having resolved in the morning that he should be answered by a message, could not immediately express its satisfaction, but gave orders that his speech should be sent to the eighty-three departments. Narbonne soon allerwards entered, to communicate the means which liad been adopted to insure the effect of the intimations addressed to the empire. One hundred thousand men were to be assembled on the Rhine ; and this, he added, was not impossil)le. Three generals were appointed to command them, Luckner, Rochambeau, and Lafayette.* The last name was received with applause. • " T^urknor hail benn tlie most clisitingni.^hod pnrtisan of the sevpn years' wnr. After the pence of 1763, tlie Duke of (Jhoii^cul drew him into our service. He was much attached to the new constitution, hut witliout f)rclendinK to understand it; and when the .Iiicohins wished to exalt his liberal opinions, he often en)barrasscd them by making the most absurd blunders. He had not the ])ower of forming great combinations, but he had a quick eye, the habit of military mctics. and all the activity of youth. Rochambeau, who had made his fortune by arms, had lieen en^aiied in the war of Khuiders, and distint;uishcd himself also in tlie seven years' wnr. He never lost si^ht of the points most important to the soldier's trade. These two raarbhals had one fauU in common — ihey were too distrustful of their new and 220 HISTORY OF THE » Narbonne added that he should set out immediately to inspect the frontiers, to ascertain the state of tlie fortresses, and to give the greatest activity to defensive operations ; that no doubt the Assembly would grant the necessary fund-^, and not cheapen liberty. Cries of " No, no," burst from all sides. Lastly, he asked the Assembly if, though the legal number of marshals was complete, it would not permit the King to confer that rank on the two gene- rals, Luckner, and Rochambeau, who were charged to save liberty. Accla- mations testified the consent of the Assembly and the satisfaction caused by the activity of the young minister. It was by persevering in such conduct that Louis XVL might have succeeded in gaining popularity and reconciling the republicans, who wished for a republic solely because they believed the King to be incapable of loving and defending liberty. Advantage was taken of the satisfaction produced by these measures to notify the veto affixed to the decree against the priests. Care was taken to pulilish in the journals of the same morning, the dismissal of the former diplomatic agents accused of aristocracy, and the appointment of new ones. Owing to these precautions, the message was received without a murmur. The Assembly, indeed, expected it, and the sensation was not so untavour- able as might have been apprehended. AVe see how extremely cautious the King was obliged to be in making use of his prerogative, and what danger he incurred in employing it. Had the Constituent Assembly, which is accused of having ruined by stripping him of his authority, conferred on him the absolute veto, would he have been more powerful on that account? Had not the suspensive veto in this case all the effect of the absolute veto"? Was it legal power that the King lacked, or the power of opinion ? We see, from the effect itself, that it was not the want of sufficient preroffa- tives which ruined Louis XVL, but the indiscreet use of those which Avere left him. The activity promised to the Assembly was not delayed. The proposi- tions for the expenses of the war and for the nomination of the two mar- shals, Luckner, and Rochambeau, followed without interruption. Latayette, forced from the retirement which he had sought, in order to recruit himself after three years' fatigues, presented himself before flie Assembly, where he was cordially received. Battalions of the national guard escorted him on leaving Paris, and every thing proved to him that the name of Lafayette was not forgotten, but that he was still regarded as one of the founders of liberty. Meanwhile Leopold, naturally peaceful, was not desirous of war, for he knew tliat it was not consistent with his interests ; but he wished for a con- gress backed by an imposing force, in order to bring about an accommoda- tion and some modifications in the constitution. The emigrants wished not to modify but to destroy it.* More prudent and better informed, the empe- inexperienced troops. LafayeUe did not share this feeling. He augured better of the enthusiasm for liberty, having been an American general officer at tlie age of nineteen. With the exception of these three genenals, there was not an officer in the French army who had ever fought at the head of two thousand men." — Lfifat/effe's Memoirs. E. * "The emigrants were unanimous in their desire for an invasion, and in their exertions at all foreign courts. M. de Caloniie, the principal agent of the princes, had publicly said at Brussels, 'If the powers delay making war, we shall know how to make the French declare it.' The King and Queen hesitated between various parties The Queen especially, who would have consented to owe her deliverance to Austrian or even Prussian arms, was with- held by her reluctance to lay herself under obligations to Monsieur, whom she never liked, aud the Count d'Artois, whom she no longer liked. ''J'he Count d'Artois will tiien become a hero !' she exclaimed, in a tone of bitterness," — Lafayeilt's Memoirs. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 221 ror knew that it was necessary to concede a great deal to tlie new opinions, and tliat the utmost that could be expected was to restore to the King certain prerogatives, and to modify the composition of the legislative body by the establishment of two chamljers instead of one.* * I have already had occasion to refer several times to the sentiments of Leopold, of Louis XVI., and of the emigrants: I shall now quote some extracts, which will leave no doubt respecting them. Bouille, who was abroad, and whose reputation and talents had caused him to he courted by the sovereif^ns, had opportunities of learning better than any other per- son the sentiments of the ditferent courts, and his testimony is above suspicion. In dillerent parts of his Memoirs he thus expresses himself: " It may be inferred from this letter that the King of Sweden was quite uncertain respect- ing the real plans of the emperor and his allies, which ought then to have been not to inter- fere any more in the affairs of France. The empress (of Russia) was no doubt informed of Ihem, but she had not communicated them to him. I knew that at the moment she was exerting all her influence with the emperor and the King of Prussia to induce them to declare war against France. She had even written a very strong letter to the former of these sove- reigns, in which she represented to him that the King of Prussia, for a mere incivility oifered to his sister, had sent an army into Holland, whilst he (the emperor) patiently sulTered the insults and afironts heaped upon the Queen of France, the degradation of her rank and dig- nity, and the overthrow of the throne of a King, who was his brother-in-law and aliv. The empress acted with the like energy towards Spain, which had adopted pacific (irinciplcs. Meanwhile the emperor, after the acceptance of the constitution by the King, had received the new ambassador of France, whom he had previously forbidden to appear at his court. He was even the first to admit the national flag into his ports. 'J'he courts of Madrid, Petersburg, and Stockholm, were the only ones which at this period withdrew their ambas- sadors from Paris. All these circumstances tend to prove that the views of Leopold were directed towards peace, and that they were the result of the influence of Louis XVI. and of the Queen." — Menuvres ih Bouille, p. 314. In another place Bouille says : " Meanwhile several months elapsed without my perceiving any progress in the plans which the emperor had entertained for assembling armies on the frontiers, for forming a congress, and for opening a negotiation with the French government. I presumed that the King had hoped that his acceptance of the new constitution would restore to him his personal liberty, and re-establish tranquillity in the nation, which an armed negotiation might have disturbed ; and that he had consequently prevailed upon the emperor and the other sovereigns, his allies, not to take any step liable to produce hostilities, which he had constantly studied to avoid. I was confirmed in this opinion by the unwillingness of the court of Spain to furnish the fifteen millions of livres, which she had engaged to give him towards the expenses of his expedition. This prince had prevailed on me to write on his behalf to the Spanish minister, from whom I received only vague replies. I then advised the King of Sweden to open a loan in Holland, or in the free maritime cities of the north, under the guarantee of Spain, whose dispositions, however, in regard to the affairs of France, a[)pearcd to me to be changed. '• I learned that the anarchy was daily increasing in France, and this was but too plainly proved by the multitude of emigrants of all classes who sought refuge on the foreign frontiers. They were armed and formed into regiments on the banks of the Rhine, and they composed a little army which threatened the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. These measures awakened the fury of the people, and aided the destructive projects of the Jacobins and anarchists. The emigrants had even planned an attem|)t upon Strasburg, where they imagined that they had supporters who could be relied on, and partisans who would open the gates to them. The King, who was informed of the scheme, employed commands and even entreaties to stop them, and to prevent them from committing any act of hostility. To this end he sent to the princes, his brothers, the Baron de Viomeiiil, and the Chevalier de Cogny, who signified to them, in his name, his disapprobation of tiie arming of the French nobility, to which the en)j>eror opposed all possible obstacles, but which was nevertheless continued.'' — Ibid., p. 309. Lastly, Bouille gives, from the lips of Leopold himself, his plan of a congress: "At length, on the 12ih of September, the Emperor Leopold sent me word to call on him, and to bring with mtf^the plan of the arrangements for which he had previously asked me. He desired me to step into his cabinet, and told me that he could not speak to me earlier on the subject concerning which he wished to see me, because he was wailing for answers from Russia, Spain, England, and the principal sovereigns of Italy ; that he had received them, and t2 222 HISTORY OF THE This last measure was the most dreaded, and it was with tlie plan of it that the Feuillant or constitulioiial party was most I'requeiUly reproaclied. It is certain that, if this party had, in tlie early time of the Constituent As- sembly, opposed the upper chamlier, because it jusdy apprehended that t!ie nobility would there intrench themselves, it had not now the same fears. On the contrary, it had just hopes of filling such a chamber almost of itself. Many constituents, reduced to mere ciphers, would there have found occa- sion to appear again on the political stage. If then this upper chamber did not accord v/ilh their views, still less did it accord with tlieir interests. It is certain that the newspapers frequently adverted to it, and that this report was universally circulated. How rapid had been the progress of the Revo- lution ! The right side at this time was composed of members of the former left side ; and the plan so dreaded and condemned, was not a return to the old system but the estal)lishment of an upper chamber. AVhat a ditierence from 1789 ! How swifdy a foolish resistance had hurried on events ! Leopold perceived then no other poss-ible amelioration for Louis XVI. Meanwhile, his object was to protract the negotiations, and, without break- ing with France, to awe her by his firmness. But this aim he thwarted by his answer. This answer consisted in a notification of the resolutions of the diet of Ratisbon, which refused to accept any indemnity for the princes wlio had possessions in Alsace. Nothing could be more absurd than such a de- cision ; for the whole territory subject to one and the same rule ought also to be subject to the same laws. If princes of the empire had estates in France, it was right that they sliould be comprehended in the abolition of feudal rights, and the Constituent Assembly had done a great deal in grant- ing indemnities for them. Several of those princes having already treated on this point, the diet annulled tlieir agreements, and forbade them to accept any composition. The empire thus pretended not to recognise the Revolu- tion in as far as itself was concerned. AVith regard to the assemblao-cs of they were conformable with his intentions and his plans; that he was assured of their assist- ance in the execution, and of their agreement ; exceptinar. however, the cabinet of t^t. .luTnes's, which had declared its determination to preserve the strictest neutrality. He had taken the resolution to assemble a congress, to treat with the French government, not only concerning the redress of the grievances of the Germanic body, whose rights in Alsace and in other parts of the frontier provinces had been violated, but at the same time concernintr the means of restoring order in the kingdom of France, the anarchy of which disturbed the tranquillity of all Europe. He added, that this negotiation should be supported by formidaiile armies, with which France would be encompassed ; that he hoped this expedient would succeed and pre- vent a sanguinary war, the very last resource that he would employ. I took the liberty of asking the emperor if he was informed of the real intentions of the King, He was acijiiainted with them ; he knew that this prince disliked the employment of violent means. He told me that he was, moreover, informed that the charter of the new constitution was to be pre- sented to him in a few days, and that it was his opinion that the King could not avoid accepting it without restriction, from the risks to which he would subject his life and the lives of his family, if he made the least dilRculty, and if he hazarded the slightest observation ; but that his sanction, forced at the time, was of no importance, as it was possible to rescind all that should have been done, and to give France a good government, which should satisfy the people, and leave to the royal authority a latitude of powers sufficient to maintain tranquillity at home and to insure peace abroad. He asked me for the plan of disposition of the armies, assuring me that he would examine it at leisure. He added, that I might return to Mentz, where Count de Brown, who was to command his troops, and who was then in the Ni'thcr- lands, would send word to me, as well as to Prince Kohenlohe, who was going into Franco- nia, in order that we might confer together, when the time should arrive. "I judged that the emperor had not adopted this pacific and extremely reasonable plan, since the conference of Pilnitz, till he had consulted Louis XVI., who had constantly wished for an arrangement, and to have recourse to negotiation rather than the violent expedient of arms:'— Ibid., p. 299. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 223 emisrrants, Leopold, without eiilerinjr into explanation on the subject of their disp^^rsion, answered Louis XV'L that, as tlis Elector of Treves miglit, ac- cording to the intimations of the French government, be exposed to speedy hostilities, he had ordered General Bonder to give him prompt assistance. Nothing- could have been more injudicious than this answer. It obliged Louis XVL, in order that he might not compromise himself, to adopt vigor- ous measures and to propose war. Delessart was immediately sent to the Assembly to communicate this answer, and to express tlie astonishment which the King iblt at the conduct of Leopold. The minister alleged that the emperor had probably been deceived, and that he had been falsely per- suaded that the elector had performed all the duties of a friendly neighbour. Delessart communicated also the reply returned to Leopold. It was inti- mated to liim that, notwithstanding his answer and the orders given to Mar- shal Bender, if the electors had not, by the time prescribed, namely, the 15th of January, complied with the requisition of France, arms would be employed against them. "If," said Louis XVL, in his letter to the Assembly, "this declaradon fails to produce the effect wliich I have reason to hope from it, if it is the destiny of France to be obliged to fight her own children, and lier allies, I will make known to Europe the justice of our cause: the French people will uphold it by their courage, and the nation will see that I have no other interest but its interest, and that I shall ever consider the maintenance of its dignity and safety as the most essential of my duties." These words, in which the King seemed in the common danger to unite with the nation, were warmly applauded. The papers were delivered to the diplomatic committee, with directions to make a speedy report upon them to the Assembly. The Queen was once more applauded at the Opera as in the days of her splendour and her pow-er, and, quite overjoyed, she told her husband on her return that she had been received as formerly. But this was the last homage paid to her by a people Avhich had once idolized her royal graces. That feeling of equality, which remains so long dormant in men, and which is so capricious when it does awake, began already to manifest itself on all sides. It was very near the conclusion of the year 1791 ; the Assembly abolished the ancient ceremonial of new year's day, and decided that the homage paid to the King on that solemn day should thenceforth cease. Just aljout the same time, a deputation complained that the folding-doors of the council- chamber had not been opened for it. The discussion was scandalous, and the Assembly in writing to tlie Kinjr, suppressed the titles of sire and ma- jesty. On another occasion, a deputy entered the King's apartment with his hat on, and in a very unsuitable dress. This conduct was frequently provoked by the rude reception iriven by the courtiers to the deputies ; and in these reprisals the pride of both was determined not to be outdone. Narbonne prosecuted his tour with extraordinary activity. Three armies were formed on the threatened frontier. I?ochambeau, a veteran general, who had formerl}'' displayed ability in war, but who was now ailinsr, ill-hu- moured, and discontented, commanded the army stationed in Flanders, and called the army of the North. Lafayette had the army of , the centre, and was encamped near Metz. liuckncr, an old warrior, an ordinary general, a brave soldier, ai^d very popular in the army for his exclusively military manners, commanded the corps which occupied Alsace. These were all the generals that a long peace and a general desertion had left us. Rochambeau, dissatisfied with the new system, and irritated with the 224 HISTORY OF THE want of discipline which prevailed in the army, was constantly complaining and held out no hope to the ministers. Lafayette, young, active, and anx- ious to distinguish himself forthwith in the defence of the country, re-esta- l)lished discipline among his troops, and overcame all the difficulties raised by the ill-will of the officers, who were the aristocrats of the army. He called them together, and, addressing them in the language of honour, he told them that they must quit the camp if they would not serve loyally ; that, if any of them wished to retire, he would undertake to procure them either pensions in France, or passports for foreign countries ; but that, if they persisted in serving, he expected from them zeal and fidelity. In this manner he contrived to introduce into his army better order than that which prevailed in any of the others. As for Luckner, having no political opinion, and being consequently indifferent to all systems, he promised the Assem- bly a great deal, and actually succeeded in gaining the attachment of the soldiers. Narbonne travelled with the greatest expedition, and returned to give an account of his rapid journey to the Assembly. He reported that the repair of the fortresses was already considerably advanced ; that the army, from Dunkirk to Besan^on, presented a mass of two hundred and forty battalions, and one hundred and sixty squadrons, with artillery requisite for two hun- dred thousand men, and supplies for six months. He bestowed the liighest encomiums on the patriotism of the volunteer national guards, and declared that in a short time their equipment would be complete. The young minis- ter no doubt gave Avay to the illusions of zeal, but his intentions were so noble, and his operations so prompt, that the Assembly loaded him with applause, held forth his report to the public gratitude, and sent it to all the departments — the usual way of expressing esteem for those with whom it was satisfied. War then was the great question of the moment. For the Revolution it was a question of existence itself. Its enemies being now abroad, it was there that it became necessary to seek and to conquer them. Would the King, as chief of the armies, act cordially against his relatives and his former cour- tiers ? Such was the doubt which it was of importance to clear up to the satisfaction of the nation. This question of war was discussed at the Jacobins, which suffered none to pass without pronouncing a sovereign de- cision upon it. What will appear singular is, that the outrageous Jacobins, and Robespierre, their leader, were in favour of peace, and the moderate Jacobins, or Girondins, for war.* Brissot and liouvet were at their head. Brissot advocated war with his talents and influence. He thought witli Louvet and all the Girondins that it was desirable for the nation, because it would put an end to a dangerous uncertainty, and unveil the real intentions of the King. These men, judging of the result by their own enthusiasm, could not believe that the nation would be contjuered ; and they thought that if, through the fault of the King, it experienced any transient check, it would instantly be enlightened and depose an unfaithful chief. How happened it that Robespierre and the other Jacobins opposed a determina- tion which must produce so speedy and so decisive a denouement? In • " The Jacobins attached to Robespierre, were opposed to war, because they feared its being directed by their political rivals, and also because several of them, from pecuniary inte- rests, like Danton, or from causes of which they themselves were ignorant, were under the puidancfi of that small party of the couit who were engaged in secret negotiations. The Girondins, at that period, wished for war at any price, in the hope that it would facilitate their vague projects of ambition." — Lafaydtts Memoirs. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 225 answer to this question nothing but conjectures can be offered. Was the timid Robespierre afraid of war f Or did he oppose it only because Brissot, his rival at the Jacobins, supported it, and because young Louvet had de- fended it witli ability ? Be tliis as it may, he fought with extreme obstinacy for peace. The Cordeliers, who were Jacobins, attended the discussion, and supported Robespierre. They seemed more especially afraid lest war should.give too many advantages to ITafayette, and soon procure for him thfi._military dictatorship. This was the continual fear of Camille Desniou- lins, who never ceased to figure him to himself at the head of a victorious army, as in the Champ de Mars, crushing Jacobins and ('ordeliers. Louvet and tlie Girondins attributed a dillerenl motive to the Cordeliers, and sup- posed them to be hostile to Lafayette, because he was an enemy of the Duke of Orleans, with whom they were said to be secretly united. The Duke of Orleans, now again brought before the public by the suspi- cions of his enemies rather than by the Revolution, was then nearly eclipsed. At the commencement, his name miffht have had some weight, and he him- self misht have conceived some hope of those to whom he lent it ; but evcrvtliinir had since irrcatlv changed. Feelina- himself how much he was out of his place in the popular party, he had endeavoured to obtain the par- don of the court during the latter days of the Constituent Assembly, and had been repulsed. Under the liCgislative, lie had been retained in tlie list of admirals, and he had made fresh solicitations to the King. On this occa- sion he was admitted to his presence, had a long conversation with him, and was not unfavourably received. He was to return to the palace. lie re- paired thither. The Queen's dinner was served, and numerous courtiers were in attendance. No sooner wa^ he perceived than the most insulting expressions were uttered. " Take care of tlie dislies !" was the general crv, as though they had been afraid that he would throw poison into them. They pushed him, trod on his toes, and obliged him to retire. As he went down stairs, he received fresh insults, and departed in deep indignation, conceiving tliat the King and Queen had prepared for him this humiliating scene. They, however, were totally ignorant of it, and were extremely shocked at the imprudence of the courtiers.* That prince had a right to be * The following is Bertram] de Mollcville's account of this circumstance : " I made a report on the same day to the council of the visit paid me by the Duke of Or- leans and of our conversation. 'J'he King determined to receive him, and on the next day he had a conversation with him of more than half an hour, with which iiis majesty ajipeareil to us to bo much i)lcaspd. ' I think, like yon,' said the Kiii}^, ' that he is jx-rfectly sincere, and that he will do all that lies in his power to repair the mischief which he has done, and in which it is possible that he may not have taken so large a part as vvc have imagined.' " On the following Sunday, became to the King's levee, where he met with the most hu- miliating reception from the courtiers, who were ignorant of what had passed, and from the royalists, who were in the habit of repairing to the palace in great numbers on that day, to pay their court to the royal family. 'I'hey crowded around him, making believe to tread upon his toes and to thrust him towards the door, so as to prevent him from entering. He went down stairs to the (oiucen, whose table was already laid. The moment he appeared, a cry was rai^^ed on all sides of Gentlemen, take care of the dishes! as though they had been sure that his pockets were full of poison. " The insulting niurmurs which his presence everywhere excited forced him to retire with- out seeing the royal family. He was pursued to the C^ueen's staircase, where some one spat on his head and several times u])on his coat. Kage and vexation were depicted in his face ; and he left the palace convinced that the instigators of the outrages which he had received were the King and Queen, ^ho knew nothing of the matter, and who indeed were extremely angry about it. He swbre implacable haired against them, and kept but too faithfully this horrible oath. I was at the palace that day, and witnessed all the circumstances that I have here related." — Bcrtrand de MolkviUe, tome vi., p. 290. E. VOL. I. — 29 226 HISTORY OF THE more exasperated than ever, but he certainly became neither a more active nor a more able party -leader than before. His friends at the Jacobins and in the Assembly, no doubt, thought fit to make a little more noise ; hence it was supposed that his faction was again raising its head, and it was thought that his pretensions and his hopes were renewed by the dangers of the throne. The Girondins imagined that the extreme Cordeliers and Jacobins advo- cated peace with no other view than to deprive Lafayette, the rival of the Duke of Orleans, of the reputation which war might give him. Be this as it may, war, deprecated by the Jacobins, but supported by the Girondins, could not fail to be adopted by the Assembly, in which the latter had the ascendancy. The Assembly began by putting under accusation, from tlie first of January, Monsieur, the King's brother, the Count d'Artois,* the Prince of Conde, Calonne, Mirabeau the younger,tand Lequeille, as charged with the commission of hostilities against France. As a decree of accusa- tion was not submitted to the King for his sanction, no veto was in this case to be apprehended. The sequestration of the property of the emigrants, and the application of their revenues to the benefit of the state, enacted by the unsanctioned decree, were prescribed anew by another decree, to which the King made no opposition. The Assembly took possession of the reve- nues as indemnities for the war. Monsieur was deprived of the regency by virtue of the resolution previously adopted. The report of the last despatch of the emperor was at length presented to the Assembly by Gensonne. He represented that France had always lavished her treasures and her troops for Austria without ever obtaining any return; that the treaty of alliance concluded in 1756 had been violated by the declaration of Pilnitz, and the subsequent declarations, the object of which was to raise up an armed coalition of sovereigns ; that this had like- wise been done by the arming of the emigrants, permitted and even seconded by the princes of the empire. Gensonne, moreover, insisted that, though orders had recently been given for the dispersion of such assemblages, those apparent orders had not been executed ; that the white cockade had not ceased to be worn beyond the Rhine, the national cockade to be insulted, and French travellers maltreated ; that, in consequence, it behoved the As- sembly to demand of the emperor a final explanation relative to the treaty of 1756. The report was ordered to be printed, and the consideration of it adjourned. • Monsieur, afterwards Louis the Eighteenth, who died in the year 1824. Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles the Tenth, who died in exile at Gratz, in Styria, in the year 1836. E. I " Vicompte de Boniface de Riquetti Mirabeau was brother of the famous Mirabeau, and served with distinction in America. His celebrated relative said of him one day, ' In any other family the Vicompte would be a good-for-nothing fellow and a genius : in ours, he is a blockhead and a worthy man.' In 1789 the younger Mirabeau was deputed to the States- general, and defended his order with an energy equal to that with which his brother attacked it. On one occasion, when he had kept possession of the tribune above an hour, the latter, after the sitting was concluded, went to his house, and gently reproached him with often drinking to excess, which led him into unpleasant embarrassments. ' What do you com- plain of!' answered the Viscount, laughing ; ' this is the only one of all the family vices that you have left me.' In 1790 the younger Mirabeau emigrated, levied a legion, and served under the Prince of Conde. His singular conformation had gained him the nickname of ' Hogshead ;' and indeed he was almost as big as he was tall, but his countenance was full of intelligence. In the beginning of the Revolution he wrote a satire entitled the ' Magic Lantern,' and left behind him a collection of tales the versification of which is sprightly and igraceful." — Biographic Moderne. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 227 On the same day, January 14, 1792, Guadet ascended the tribune. " Of all tlie facts," said he, "communicated to the Assembly, that by which it has been most struck is the plan of a congress to be assembled for the pur- pose of obtaining the modification of the French constitution — a plan long suspected, and at length denounced as possible by the committees and the ministers. If it be true," added Guadet, " that tliis intrigue is conducted by men who fancy that tliev discover in it tiie means of emerging from that political non-entity into wliich tiiey have just sunk; if it be true that some of the agents of the executive power are seconding with all the influence of their connexions this abominable plot; if it be true that they think to bring us by delay and discouragement to accept this ignominious mediation — ought the National Assembly to shut its eyes to such dangers ? Let us swear," exclaimed the speaker, " to die all of us on this spot, rather . . . ." He was not allowed to finish: the wliole Assembly rose, crying, " Yes, yes, we swear it;" and withenlhusiasin it declared every Frenchman who should take part in a congress the object of which was to modify the constitution, infamous and a traitor to his country. It was more especially against the members of the late Constituent Assembly, and Delessart, the minister, that this decree was directed. It was Delessart who was accused of protracting the negotiations. On the 17th, the discussion on Gensonne's report was resumed, and it was resolved that the King should not treat further, unless in the name of the French nation, and that he should require of the empe- ror a definite explanation before the 1st of March ensuing. The King replied that it was more than a fortnight since he had demanded positive explanations from Leopold. During this interval, news arrived that the Elector of Treves, alarmed at the urgency of the French cabinet, had issued fresh orders for the dispersion of the assemblages of troops, for the sale of the magazines formed in his domi- nions, and for prohibiting recruiting and military exercises ; and that these orders were, in fact, carried into execution. In the then prevailing disposi- tion, this intelligence was coldly received. The Assembly would not regard these measures in any other light than as emptv demonstrations without re- sult : and persisted in demanding the definitive answer of Leopold. Dissensions existed in the ministry between Bertrand de Molleville and Narboime. Bertrand was jealous of the popularity of the minister at war, and found fault with his condescension to the Assembly. Narbonne com- plained of the conduct of Bertrand de Molleville and of his unconstitutional sentiments, and wished that the King would dismiss him from the ministry. Cahier de Gerville held the balance between them, l)ut without success. It was alleged that the constitutional party were desirous of raising Narbonne to the dignity of prime minister ; it would even appear that the King was imposed upon, that the popularity and the ambition of Narbonne were em- ployed as bugbears to frighten him, and that he was represented to him as a presumptuous younsf man who wanted to govern the cabinet. The news- papers were informed of these dissensions, Brissot and the Gironde warmly defended the minister who was threatened with disgrace, and as warmly attacked his colleagues and tlie King. A letter, written by the three generals of the north to Narbonne, in which thcv expressed their apprehen- sions respecting his dismissal, wiiich was said to be near at hand, was pul>- lished. The King, irritated at this, immediately dismissed him; but, to counteract the effect nf this dismissal, he declared his determination to remove Bertrand de Molleville also. The effect of the first, however, was not weakened by the latter step. It excited an extraordinary sensation, and the 228 HISTORY OF THE Assembly resolved to declare, agreeably to tlie form previously adopted in Necker's case, that Narhonne carried with him the confidence of the nation, and that the entire ministry had lost it. From that condemnation, however, it proposed to except Cahier de Gerville, who had always been hostile to Bertrand de MoUevdle, and who had even just had a violent quarrel with him. After much agitation, Brissot oHered to prove that Delessart had be- trayed the confidence of the nation. This minister had communicated to the diplomatic committee his correspondence with Kaunitz. It was witliout dignity, and even gave Kaunitz a very unfavourable notion of the state of France, and seemed to have authorized the conduct and the language of Leopold. It should be observed that Delessart and his colleague, Duj)ont- Dutertre, were the two ministers who belonged more particularly to the Feuil- lans, and wlio were most disliked, because they were accused of favouring the plan of a congress. In one of the most stormy sittings of the Assemldy, the unfortunate De- lessart was accused by Brissot of having compromised the dignity of the nation, of having neglected to apprize the Assembly of the concert of the powers and the declaration of Pilnitz ; of having professed unconstitutional doctrines in liis notes : of having given Kaunitz a false notion of the state of France ; of having protracted the negotiation, and conducted it in a man- ner contrary to the interests of the country. Vergniaud joined Brissot, and added new grievances to those imputed to Delessart. lie reproaclied him for having, when minister of the interior, kept too long in liis portfolio the decree which incorporated the Comtatwith France, and thus having caused the massacres at Avignon.* " From this tribune from which I address you," added Vergniaud, "may be seen the palace where perverse advisers mislead and deceive the Kino- whom the constitution has given us. I see the win- dows of the palace wliere they are hatching counter-revolution, where they are combining the means of plunging us back into slavery. In ancient times terror has often stalked forth in the name of despotism from this famous palace ; let us now return thither, in the name of the law; let it there seize every heart ; let all those who dwell in it know that our constitution grants inviolability to the King alone." The decree of accusation was immediately put to the vote and carried. Delessart was sent to the high national court, established at Orleans, whieli was empowered by the constitution to try crimes against the state. The King felt the greatest pain at his departure. He had given him his confi- dence, and been delighted with his moderate and pacific sentiments. Duport- Dutertre, minister of the constitutional party, was also threatened with an accusation, but he anticipated it, demanded permission to justify himself, was absolved by the order of the day, and immediately afterwards resigned. Cahier de Gerville also gave in his resignation, and thus the King found himself deprived of the only one of his ministers who had a reputation for patriotism with the Assembly. * "On Sunday, the 30th of October, 1791, the gates were closed, the walls guarded so as to render escape impossible, and a band of assassins, commanded by the barbarous Jourdan, sought out in their own houses the individuals destined for death. Sixty unhappy wretches were speedily thrust into prison, where, during the obscurity of the night, the murderers wreaked their vengeance with impunity. One young man put fourteen to death with his own hand, and only desisted from excess of fatigue! Twelve women perished, after having undergone tortures which my pen cannot describe. When vengeance had done its worst, the remains of the victims were torn and mutilated, and heaped up ifi a ditch, or thrown into the Rhone." — Lacreklle. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 229 Separated from the ministers whom the FciiiUans had given him, and not knowing to whom to cling amidst this storm, Louis XVI., who had diMiiissed NarI)onne because he was too popular, thought of connecting himself with the Gironde, which was republican. It is true that it was so only from dis- trust of the King; and it was possible that, when he had once committed himself to this parly, it might attach Jtself to him. But it would have been requisite that he should give himself up sincerely ; and that everlasting question of sincerity arose here as on all other occasions. No doubt liOuis XVI. was sincere when he consigned himself to a party, but it was not with- out ill-humour and regret. Thus, when this party imposed upon him a diffi- cult but necessary condition, he rejected it. Distrust instantly sprang up, animosity followed, and very soon a rupture was the consequence of those unhappy alliances between iiearts which were exclusively occupied by two opposite interests. Thus it was that Louis XVI., after admitting the Feuil- lanl party to his presence, had, in a fit of ill-humour, dismissed Narbonne, wlio was its most conspicuous chief, and now found himself reduced to the necessity of giving himself up to the Gironde, in order to allay the storm. The example of England, where the King frequently takes his ministers from the opposition, was one of the motives of Louis XVI. Tiie court then conceived a hope — for people cannot help forming hopes, even in the most gloomy conjectures, that Louis XVI., by taking incapable and ridiculous demagogues, would ruin the reputation of the party from which he should have selected them. This hope, however, was not realized ; and the new ministry was not such as the malice of the courtiers would have desired, / Above a month before this time, Delessart and Narbonne had selected a / man whose talents they held in high estimation, and placed him near them * for the purpose of availing themselves of his abiliues. This was Dumouriez, who, having successfully commanded in Normandy and in La Vendee, had everywiicre displayed extraordinary firmness and intelligence. He had first offered himself to the court, and then to the Constituent Assembly, because all parties were the same to him, provided he had opportunities to exercise his activity and his superior talents. Dumouriez, kept down by the times in which he lived, had spent part of his life in diplomatic intrigues. With his bravery, and his military and political genius, he was still, at the age of fifty, and at the commencement of the Revolution, only a brilliant military adventurer.* He had nevertheless retained the fire and tiie hardihood of youth, and, as soon as there appeared a prospect of war or a revolution, he formed plans and addressed them to all the parties, ready to act for any, provided he could but act. He was thus accustomed not to take any account of the nature of a cause; but though too litde swayed by conviction, he was generous, sensible, and capable of attachment, if not for principles, at least for persons. Yet, with such a jrracefid, prompt, and comprehensive mind, and courage alternately calm aning alone with her, he had thrown himself at her feet, and told her that he had put on the red cap, and even pulled it down over his ears, but that he neither was, nor ever could be, a Jacobin ; that the Revolution had been suffered to roll on to that mob of disorganizers, who, aspiring only to pillage, were capable of everything, and had it in their power to furnisli the Assembly with a tbrmidablo army, ready to sap the remains of a throne already too much shaken. While speaking with extreme warmth, he had taken hold of the Queen's hand, and kissed it with transport, saying, * Allow yourself to be saved.' The Queen told me that it was impossible to believe the protestations of a traitor ; that all his conduct was .so well known, that the wisest plan indisputably was not to trust him ; and, besides, the princes earnestly recommended that no eontidence should be placed in any proposal from the interior." — Tome ii., p. 20'-. The account of that conversation here differs, as the reader may perceive, in some re- spects: yet the groundwork is the same. In passing through the lips of the Queen and those of Madame Campan, it could not fail to accjuire a col()uring rather unfavourable to Dumouriez. The narrative of Duinouriez describes, in a much more probable manner, the agitations of the imfortunate Marie Antoinette; and, as it contains nothing injurious to that princess, or that does not correspond with her character, I have j)rcferred it. It is possible, however, that the preSjumplion of Dumouriez may have caused him to record in preference the particulars most flattering to himself. 236 HISTORY OF THE explanation put an end to so many evils ? Why did not the palace com- prehend the fears of the people ? Why did not the people comprehend the afflictions of the palace ? But, why are men men ? At this last question we must pause, submissively resign ourselves to human nature, and pursue our melanciioly story. Leopold II. was dead. The pacific dispositions of that prince were to be regretted for the tranquillity of Europe, and the same moderation could not be hoped for from his successor and nephew, the King of Bohemia and Hungary. Gustavus, King of Sweden, had just been assassinated during an entertainment.* The enemies of the Jacobins attributed this murder to them ; but it was fully proved to be the crime of the nobility, humbled by Gustavus in the last Swedish Revolution. Thus the nobility, who in France cried out against the revolutionary fury of the people, gave in the north an example of what it had formerly been itself, and of what it still was in countries where civilization was least advanced. What an example for Louis XVI., and what a lesson, if at the moment he could have compre- hended it! The death of Gustavus thwarted the enterprise which he had meditated against France — an enterprise for which Catherine was to furnish soldiers and Spain subsidies. It is doubtful, however, if the perfidious Catherine would have performed her promise, and the death of Gustavus, from which most important consequences were anticipated, was in reality a very insignificant event.t Delessart had been impeached on account of the feeble tone of his despatches. It was not consonant either with the disposition or the interest of Dumouriez to treat feebly with the powers. The last despatches appeared to satisfy Louis XVI. on account of their aptness and their firmness. M. de Noailles, ambassador at Vienna, and by no means a sincere servant, sent his resignation to Dumouriez, saying that he had no hope of making the head of the empire listen to the language that had just been dictated to him. Dumoui'iez lost no time in communicating the circumstance to the Assem- bly, wliich, indignant at this resignation, immediately passed a decree of accusation against M. de Noailles. A new ambassador was instandy sent with fresh despatches. Two days afterwards, Noailles recalled his resigna- tion, and sent the categorical answer which he had required from the court of Vienna. Among all the faults committed by the powers, this note of M. de Co- bentzel's is one of the most impolitic. M. de Cobentzel insisted, in the name of his court, on the re-establishment of the French monarchy on the basis fixed bv the roval declaration of the 23d of June, 1789. This was equivalent to requiring the re-establishment of the three orders, the restitu- tion of the property of the clergy, and that of the Comtat-Venaissin to the * " Gustavus in., Kin^ of Sweden, was liorn in 1746, and assassinated hy Ankarstrom at a masked bull at Stockholm on the ni^ht of Mari^h 15, 1792." — EncycJops'dia A>ner!rinin. E. j- Bouille, whose Memoirs I have already quoted, and whose situation enabled him to form a correct judgment of the real intentions of the powers, utterly disbelieved both the zeal and the sincerity of Catherine. On this subject he expresses himself as follows: "It is obvious that this prince (Gustavus) relied much on the dispositions of the Empress of Russia, and on the active part which she was to take in the confederacy, and which was contitied to demonstrations. The Kiii^ of Sweden was deceived ; and I doubt whether Catherine would ever have entrusted him with the eighteen thousand Russians she had pro- mised. I am (lersuaded, moreover, that the Emperor an 250 HISTORY OF THE Your majesty possessed great prerogatives, which you considered as per- taining to royalty. Brought up in the idea of retaining them, you could not see them taken from you with pleasure. The desire of recovering them was therefore as natural as regret on seeing them annihilated. These senti- ments, inherent in llie nature of the liuman heart, must have entered into the calculation of the enemies of the Revolution ; they reckoned, tlierefore, upon a secret favour, till circumstances sliould admit of a declared pro- tection. This disposition could not escape the nation, nor fail to excite its jealousy. " Your majesty has therefore been constantly under the alternative of yielding to your tirst habits, to your private alfections, or of making sacri- fices dictated by phUosophy, and required by necessity ; consequently of encouraging rebels by alarming the nation, or of appeasing the latter by uniting yourself with it. Everything has its time, and that of uncertainty has at length arrived. " Can your majesty at the present day ally yourself openly with those Avho pretend to reform the constitution, or ought you generously to strive without reserve to render it triumphant? Such is the real question, the solution of which the present state of affairs renders inevitable. As for that highly metaphysical one, whether the French are ripe for liberty, its dis- cussion is not to the purpose here, for it is not the point to judge M'hat we shall become in a century, but to discover what the present generation is capable of. "Amidst the agitations in which we have been living for four years past, what has happened ? Privileges burdensome to the people have been abolished. Ideas of justice and equality have been universally diffused. The opinion of the rights of the people has justified the feeling of its rights. The recognition of the latter, solemnly proclaimed, has become a sacred doctrine ; the hatred, inspired for ages by feudalism, has been exasperated by the manifest opposition of most of the nobles to the constitution, which destroys that system. " During the first year of the Revolution, the people beheld in those nobles, men odious for the oppressive privileges which they had possessed, but whom they would have ceased to hate after the suppression of those privileges, if the conduct of the nobility since that time had not strengthened every possible reason for dreading it and for combating it as an irrecon- cilable enemy. "Attachment to the constitution has increased in the like proportion. Not only are the people indebted to it for manifest benefits, but they have judged that it was preparing for them still greater ; since those who were accus- tomed to make them bear all the burdens were striving so powerfully to overttirow or to modify it. " The declaration of rights is become a political gospel, and the French constitution a religion for which the people are ready to perish. " Thus zeal has sometimes proceeded so far as to take the place of the law ; and, when the latter was not sufficiently restrictive to repress dis- turbances, the citizens have ventured to punish them themselves. " Thus it is that the property of emigrants has been exposed to ravages instigated by revenge. Hence too, so many departments have deemed themselves constrained to pursue severe measures against the priests whom public opinion had proscribed, and of whom it would have made victims. " In this collision of interests, the sentiments of all have taken the tone of passion. The country is not a word which the imagination has delighted FRENCH REVOLUTION. 251 to embellish. It is a being to which people have made sacrifices, to which they are becoiiiiiig' daily more and more strongly attached on account of the anxieties wliich it occasions, wliich they have created with mighty eH'orts, which rises from amidst alarms, and which is loved as much for what it has cost as for what is lioped from it. All the attacks made upon it are but means of kindling enthusiasm in its behalf. To what a height will this enthusiasm attain, at the moment when hostile forces, assembled without, coml)ine with internal intrigues for the purpose of striking the most fatal blows! In all parts of tlie empire, the ferment is extreme; it will burst forth in a terrible manner, unless a well-founded confidence in the intentions of your majesty can at length allay it : but this confidence cannot be established upon protestations ; it can no longer have anything but facts for its basis. " It is evident to the French nation that its constitution can go alone, that the ijfovernment will have all the strcncfth that is necessary for it, the moment that your majesty, absolutely bent on the triumpli of that constitution, shall support the legislative body with all the power of the executive, sliall re- move all pretext for the alarm of the people, and take away all hope from the discontented. " For example, two important decrees liave been passed. Both essen- tially concern the public tranquillity and the welfare of the stale. The delay in their sanction excites distrust. If it be furl]u;r prolonged, it will cause discontent; and I am obligetl to confess that, in the present ellervescence of opinions, discontent may lead to any consequences. " It is too late to recede, and tliere are no longer any means of tem- porizing. The Kevolution is accomplislied in people's minds. It will be consummated at the expense of their blood, and cemented with it, if pru- dence does not prevent the calamities which it is yet possible to avoid. " I know that it may he imagined that everythino- may be elTected and everything repressed by extreme measures ; but when force has been em- ployed to overawe the Assembly, when terror has been spread throughout Paris, and dissension and stupor in its environs, all France will rise with indignation, and, t(>aring herself in pieces amidst the horrors of a civil \var, Avill develope that stern energy, which is the parent alike of virtues and of crimes, and is always fatal to those by whom it has been called forth. "The welfare of the state and the happiness of your majesty are inti- mately connected. No power is capable of separating them. Cruel pangs and certain calamities will environ your throne, if it is not placed by your- self upon the bases of the constitution, and strengthened liy the peace which its maintenance must at length procure us. 'i'hus tlie state of opinion, the course of events, motives for any particular line of policy, the interest of your majesty, render indispensal)le tite oblisjation of uniting yourself with the legislative body and respoiuling to the wish of the nation, who make a necessity of that which priiu-iples present as a duty. But the sensibility natural to this affectionate people is ready to find in that necessity a motive for gratitude. You have been cruelly deceived, sire, when you have been filled with aversion or distrust for a people so easily toiu-hed. It is by being kept in perpetual uneasiness that you yourself have been led to a conduct cahnilated to alarm. liCt them see that you are determined to aid the pro- gress of that constitution to which they have attached their felicity, and you will soon become the oliject of their thaidvsgiving. " 'J'he conduct of the priests in many places, and the pretexts with which fanaticism furnislied the discontented, have caused a wise law to be enacted 252 HISTORY OF THE against the disturbers. Be pleased, sire, to give it your sanction. The piihlic tranquillity claims it. The safety of the priest solicits it. If this law be not put in force, tlie departments will be constrained to substitute for it, as they do in every instance, violent measures, and the incensed people vi^ill, for want of it, have recourse to outrages. " The attempts of our enemies, the commotions which have broken out in the capital, the extreme uneasiness excited by the conduct of your guard, and which is still kept up by the testimonies of satisfaction which your ma- jesty has been induced to bestow upon it, in a proclamation truly impolitic under existing circumstances, and the situation of Paris, and its proximity to the frontiers, have caused the want of a camp in its vicinity to be felt. This measure, the prudence and urgency of which have struck all well- meaning persons, is still waiting only fur your majesty's sanction. A¥hy should delays be allowed to produce the appearance of reluctaiice, when celerity would deserve gratitude ? " Already have the proceedings of the staff of the national guard of Paris against this measure, awakened a suspicion that it was acting from superior instigation. Already are the declamations of certain furious demagogues raising surmises of their connexion with the parties concerned for the over- throw of the constitution. Already is public opinion compromising the intentions of your majesty. A little longer delay, and the disappointed peo- ple will imagine that in their King they behold the friend and accomplice of the conspirators. " Gracious Heaven ! hast thou stricken with blindness the powers of the earth, and are they never to have any counsels but such as shall lead them to perdition ! " I know that the austere language of truth is seldom relished near the throne. I know, too, that it is because it is scarcely ever proclaimed there that Revolutions are become necessary ; and above all, I know that it is my duty to hold such language to your majesty, not only as a citizen subject to the laws, but as a minister honoured by your confidence, or clothed with functions which suppose it ; and I know nothing that can prevent me from performing a duty of which I am conscious. " It is in the same spirit that I shall repeat my representations to your majesty on the utility of executing the law which directs that there shall be a secretary to the council. The mere existence of the law speaks so power- fully that it would seem that the execution ought to follow without delay ; but it is of importance to employ all the means of insuring to the delil^era- tions the necessary gravity, discretion, and maturity ; and for the responsible ministers there ought to be a medium of recording their opinions. Had such a medium existed, I should not on this occasion have addressed myself in writing to your majesty. " Life is not a consideration with the man who prizes his duties above all things; but, next to the happiness of having performed them, the highest satisfaction he can enjoy is diat of thinking that he has performed them faithfully; which is an obligation incumbent on the public man. "Paris, June 10, 1792, the fourth year of liberty. " (Signed) Roland, " The King listened to this lecture with the utmost patience, and withdrew saying that he would communicate his intentions. Dumouriez was summoned to the palace. The King and Queen were together. " Ought we," said they, "to endure any longer the insolence of these three ministers ?"— " No," replied Dumouriez. " Will you undertake FRENCH REVOLUTION. 253 to rid us of them?" asked the King. "Yes, sire," answered the bold mi- nister; "but in order to succeed, your majesty must consent to one condi- tion. I have become unpopular, and I sluiU make myself still more so, by dismissing three colleagues, the leaders of a powerful party. There is but one way of persuading the public that they are not dismissed on account of their patriotism." — "What is that?" inquired tlie King. " It is," replied Dumouriez, " to sanction the two decrees;" and he repeated the reasons which he had already given in full councU. The Queen exclaimed that the condition was too hard : but Dumouriez represented to her that the twenty tliousand men were not to be feared ; that tlie decree did not mention the place where they were to be encamped ; tliat tliey might be sent to Soissons, for instance ; that tliere they might be employed in military exercises, and after- wards marched off l)y degrees to the armies, when the want of them began to be feit. " But then," said the King, " it is necessary lliat you should be minister at war." — " Notwithstanding the responsibility, I consent to it," replied Dumouriez, "but your majesty must sanction the decree against the priests. I cannot serve you unless at that price. This decree, so far from being injurious to tlie ecclesiastics, will place them beyond the reach of the popular fury. Your majesty could do no otlier than oppose the first decree of the Constituent Assembly which prescribed the oath ; now you can no longer recede." — "I was wrong then," exclaimed Louis XVI, ; "I must not commit a second fault." The Queen, who did not share the religious scruples of her husband, joined Dumouriez, and for a moment tlie King appeared to comply. Dumouriez pointed out the new ministers to supply the places of Servan, Clavieres, and Roland. These were Mourgues for the interior, and Beaulieu for the finances. The war was consigned to Dumouriez, who, for the mo- ment, held two departments, till that of foreign affairs should be filled. The ordinance was immediately issued, and on the 13th, Roland, Clavieres, and Servan, received tlieir official dismission, Roland, who possessed all the nerve necessary for executing wliat the bold spirit of his wife was capable of conceiving, repaired immediately to the Assembly, and read to it the letter which he had written to the King, and for which he was dismissed. This step was certainly allowable when once hostilities were declared ; but, as a promise had been given to the King to keep the letter secret, it was by no means generous to read it pul)licly. The Assembly bestowed the greatest applause on Roland's letter, and ordered it to be printed and sent to the eighty-three departments. It declared moreover that the three displaced ministers carried with them the confidence of the nation. It was at tliis very moment that Dumouriez, nothing daunted, ventured to appear in the triljune with liis new title of minister at war. lie had drawn up in the utmost haste a circumstantial report of the state of the army, of the faidts of the administration and of the Assembly. He did not spare those whom he knew to be disposed to give him the most unfavourable reception. Tlie moment he appeared, he was assailed with violent hootings by the Jacobins. The Feuillants maintained the most profound sihMice. He first gave an account of a slight advantage gained by Lafayette and of the death of Gouvion, an officer, a deputy, and an upright man, who, driven to despair by the calamities of the country, had purposely sought death. The Assembly bestowed its regrets on the loss of this generous citizen ; but listened coldly to those of Dumouriez, and above all to the wish that he ex- pressed to escape the same calamities by the same fate. But when he announced his report as minister at war, a refusal to listen to him was mani- Y 254 HISTORY OF THE fested on all sides. He coolly desired to be heard, and at leng'th obtained silence. His remonstrances irritated some of the deputies. " Do you hear him ?" exclaimed Guadet: " he is lecturing us !" — " And why not?" coldly replied the intrepid Dumouriez. Quiet was restored; he finished readinsr, and was by turns hooted and applauded. As soon as he had done, he folded up the paper for tlie purpose of taking it with him. " He is running awav !" cried one. "No," rejoined he; and, boldly laying his memorial upon the desk, again, he calmly signed it, and walked through the Assembly with unshaken composure. Some of the members, who thronged round him as he passed, said, " You will be sent to Orleans." — " So much tlie better," he replied; "for I shall then take baths and curds, and get a little rest, which I stand in need of." His firmness cheered the King, who expressed his satisfaction; but the unhappy prince was already shaken and tormented with scruples. Beset by false friends, he had already taken up his former determinations, and refused to sanction the two decrees. The four ministers met in council, and entreated the King to give his double sanction, which he had seemed to promise. The King drily replied, that he could assent only to the decree relative to the twenty thousand men ; that, as for that concerning the priests, he was determined to oppose it; that his mind Avas made up ; and that threats could not frighten him. He read the letter communicating his determination to the President of the Assembly. "One of }'ou," said he to his ministers, "will countersign it;" and these words he uttered in a tone which he had never been known to use before. Dumouriez then wrote to him, soliciting his dismissal. " That man," exclaimed the King, " has made me dismiss three ministers because they wanted to oblige me to adopt the decrees, and now he insists on my sanc- tioning them !" This reproach was unjust, for it was onlj^ on condition of the double sanction that Dumouriez had consented to remain in office after his colleagues. Louis XVI. saw him, and asked if he persisted. " In that case," said he, " I accept your resignation." The other ministers had given in theirs also. The King, however, detained Lacoste and Duranthon, and prevailed on them to remain. Messrs. Lajard, Chambonas, and Terrier de Mont-Ciel, selected from among the Feuillans, were appointed to the vacant ministerial departments. " The Kingf," says Madame Campan, " sunk about this time into a despondency that amounted even to physical debility. He was for teii days together without uttering a word even in the midst of his family, excepting at a game at backgammon, which he played with Madame Elizabeth after dinner, when he merely pronounced the words which are used in that game. The Queen roused him from this state, so ruinous in a crisis when every minute brought with it the necessity for acting, by throwing herself at his feet, and sometimes by employing images calculated to terrify him, at others, expressions of her affection for him. She also urged the claims which he owed to his family ; and went so far as to say that, if they must perish, they ought to perish with honour, and not wait to be both stifled on the floor of their own apartment."* It is not dilUcult to guess the disposition of liOuis XVI. when he re- covered his spirits and returned to business. After having once forsaken the party of the Feuillans to throw himself into the arms of the Girondins, he could not go back to the former with much cordiality and hope. He had • Madame Campan, tome ii., p. 205. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 255 made the twofold experiment of liis incompatibility with both, and, what was still worse, he had caused them all to make it, too. Thenceforward he could not but think more than ever of foreign powers, and rest all his hopes upon them. This disposition became evident to all, and it alarmed those who beheld in the invasion of France the fall of liberty, the execution of its defenders, and perhaps the partition and dismemberment of the kinirdom. TiOuis XVI. saw none of these thing's, for we always shut our eyes to the inconveniences of the course that we prefer. Alarmed at the tumult produced by the route of Mons and Tournay, he had sent Mallet dn Pan to Germany, with instnictions in his own hand- writing, lie there recommended to the sovereigns to advance cautiously, to treat the inhabitants of the provinces through which they should pass with the titmost indulgence, and to send forth before them a manifesto pro- fessing their pacific and conciliatory intentions.* Moderate as was this * The mission given by the Kins;- to Mallet du Pan is one of the facts which it is of the greatest importance to confirm ; and, from the allusions of Bertrand de MoUeville, no doubt can be entertained on the subject. A minister at this period, Bertrand de Molleviile must have possessed accurate information, and, as a counter-revolutionary minister, he would rather have concealed than avowed such a fact. This mission proves the moderation of Louis XVI., but likewise his communications with f )reigners. " So far from sharing this patriotic security, the King saw with the deepest grief France engaged in an unjust and sanguinary war, which the disorganization of her armies seemed to render it impossible for her to maintain, and which more llian ever exposed our frontier provinces to the dangers of invasion. Above ail things liis majesty dreaded civil war, and had no doubt that it would break forth on the intelligence of the lirst advantage over the French troops gained by the corps of emigrants forming part of the Austrian army. It was, in fact, but too much to be apprehended that the Jacobins and the enraged populace would exercise the most cruel reprisals against the priests and the nobles remaining in France. These fears, which the King expressed to me in the daily corres[)ondence that I had with his majesty, determined me to propose to him to send a confidential person to the em- peror and the King of Prussia, to endeavour to prevail on their majesties not to act offen- sively but at the last extremity ; and, before the entrance of their armies into the kingdom, to issue a well-written manifesto, in which it should be declared that ' the emperor and the King of Prussia, being forced to take up arms by the unjust aggression that had been made upon them, attributed neither to the King nor to the nation, but to the criminal faction which oppressed both, the declaration of war which had been notified to them ; that, in conse- quence, so far from renouncing the sentiments of friendship which united them to the King and to France, their majesties would fight only to deliver them from the yoke of the most atrocious tyranny that had ever existed, and to assist them in re-establishing the legitimate authority forcibly usurped, order, and tranquillity, without at all intending to interfere in any way whatever in the form of government, but to insure to the nation the liberty of choosing that which was best suited to it; that all idea of conquest was, therefore, far from the thoughts of their majesties ; that private property should be not less respected than national property ; that their majesties took under their s{)ccial safeguard all the pca(;eable and faithful citizens; that their only enemies, as well as those of France, were the factious and their adherents, and that their majesties wished to find out and to fight those alone.' Mallet du Pan, whom the King esteemed for his abilities and integrity, was charged with this mission. He was the more fit for it, inasmuch as he had never been seen at the palace, had no connexion with any of the persons belonging to the court, and, bv taking the route of Geneva, to which he was in the habit of making frequent journeys, his departure could not give rise to any suspicion." The King give Mallet du Pan instructions in his own handwriting, which are quoted by Bertrand de MoUeville : " L The King joins his entreaties to his exhortations, to prevail on the princes and the emigrant French not to take from the present war, by a hostile and offensive concurrence on their part, the character of a foreign war waged by one power against another; "2. He recommends to them to rely upon him and the interfering courts for the discussion and securing of their interests, when the moment for treating shall arrive; '• 3. It is requisite that they appear only as parlies and not arbiters in the quarrel, as that 256 HISTORY OF THE plan, it was nevertheless an invitation to advance into the country ; and, besides, if such was the wish of the King, was that of the foreign princes and rivals of France and of tlie inveteralely hostile emigrants the same ? Was Louis XVI. assured that he should not be hurried away beyond his intentions ? The ministers of Prussia and Austria themselves expressed to Mallet du Pan the apprehensions which they felt on account of the vio- lence of the emigrants, and it appears that he had some difficulty to satisfy tliem on this head.* The Queen felt equally strong apprehensions on the arbitration ought to be reserved for his majesty when Uberty shall be restored to him, and for the powers who shall demand it; "4. Any other conduct would produce a civil war in the interior, endanger the lives of the King and of his family, overturn the throne, cause the royalists to be slaughtered, rally around the Jacobins all the revolutionists who have seceded and are daily seceding from them, rekindle an enthusiasm which is tending towards extinction, and render more obstinate a resistance which will give way before the first successes, when the fate of the Revolution shall not appear to be exclusively committed to those against whom it has been directed, and who have been its victims ; " 5. To represent to the courts of Vienna and Berlin the utility of a manifesto jointly with the other states which have formed the concert; the importance of so wording this manifesto as to separate the Jacobins from the rest of the nation, and to give confidence to all those who are capable of renouncing their errors, or who, without wishing for the present constitution, desire the suppression of abuses and the reign of moderate liberty, under a monarch to whose authority the law sets limits ; '• 6. To obtain the insertion in that document of this fundamental truth, that war is made on an anti-social faction and not on the French nation ; that the allies take up the defence of legitimate governments and nations against a ferocious anarchy, which breaks all the bonds of sociability among men, all the conventions under the shelter of which liberty, peace, public safety at home and abroad repose ; to dispel all apprehensions of dismembar- ment; not to impose any laws, but to declare energetically to the Assembly, to the adminis- trative bodies, to the municipalities, to the ministers, that they shall be held personally and individually responsible, in their bodies and goods, for all outrages committed against the sacred person of the King, against that of the Queen and of the royal family, and against the persons or property of any citizens whatever ; " 7. To express the wish of the King that, on entering the kingdom, the powers declare that they are ready to give peace, but that they neither will nor can treat unless with the King ; that in consequence they require that the most complete liberty be restored to him, and that afterwards there be a congress assembled, in which the different interests shall be discussed on bases already laid down, to which the emigrants shall be admitted as com- plaining parties, and at which the general plan of claims shall be negotiated under the auspices and the guarantee of the powers." — Bertrund de MnUeville, tome viii., p. 39. * Bertrand de MoUeville, from whom I have borrowed the facts relative to Mallet du Pan, thus expresses himself respecting the reception and the dispositions which he met with : "On the 15th and 16lh of July, Mallet du Pan had had long conferences whh Count de Cobentzel, Count de Haugwitz, and M. Heymann, ministers of the emperor and the King of Prussia. After examining the credentials of his mission, and listening with extreme attention to the reading of his instructions and of his memorial, those ministers acknow- ledged that the views which he proposed perfectly agreed with those which the King had previously expressed to the courts of Vienna and Berlin, which had respectively adopted them. They had, in conseq\iencc, testified their entire confidence, and had approved in every point the plan of the manifesto which he had proposed to them. They had declared to him, in the most positive terms, that no views of ambition, no personal interest or design of dis- memberment, entered into the plan of the war, and that the powers had no other view or interest than the re-establishment of order in France, because no peace could exist between her and her neighbours while she was a prey to the anarchy which prevailed, and which obliged them to keep cordons of troops on all the frontiers, and to take extraordinary and very expensive precautions of safety ; but that, so far from pretending to impose upon the French any form of government whatever, the King should be left at perfect liberty to con- cert with the nation on this subject. They had applied to him for the most circumstantial information relative to the dispositions of the interior, the public opinion concerning the old system, the parliaments, the nobility, &c., &c. They informed him in confidence that the FRENXH REVOLUTION. 257 same subject. She dreaded Calonne in particular, as the inosl dangerous of her enemies;* but she nevertheless conjured her family to act with the greatest celerity for her deliverance. From tliat moment the popular party could not help considering the court as an enemy so much the more dan- gerous, because it had at its disposal all the forces of the state ; and the combat that was commencing became a combat for life and death. The King, in composing his new ministry, did not select any conspicuous man. In expectation of his speedy deliverance, he had only to wait a few days more, and for that interval the most insignificant ministry was sufficient. The Feuillans thouglit to profit by the occasion to unite themselves again to the court, less, it must be confessed, from personal ambition of party, than Jhe interest which they felt for the King. They were far from reckoning npon an invasion. Most of them regarded it as a crime, and pregnant, more- over, with equal danger to the court and tlie nation. They rightly foresaw that the King must succumb before succour could arrive ; and they dreaded lest the invasion should be followed by the atrocities of revenge, perhaps the dismemberment of the territory, and certainly tlie abolition of all liberty. Laily-Tollendal, who, as we have seen, quitted France as soon as the formation of tlie two chambers became impossible ; Malouet, who had made a last attempt in their favour at the time of die revision ; Duport, Lamolh, Lafayette, and others, who were desirous that things should remain as they were, united to make a last effort. This party, like all the other parties, was not in perfect harmony with itself. It united Avitli one view only, that of savino" the King from liis errors, and of saving the constitution Avith him. Every party, obliged to act in secret, is forced to resort to proceedings Avhich are termed intrigues when they are not successful. In this sense the Feuillans intrigued. As soon as they saw the dismissal of Servan, Cla- vieres, and Roland, effected by Dumouriez, they sought the latter, and offered him tlieir alliance, on condition that he would sign the vflo to the decree against the priests. Dumouriez, perhaps from spleen, perhaps from want of confidence in their means, and no doubt also, on account of the engagement he had made to obtain the King's sanction of the decree, refused this alliance, and repaired to the army, wishing, as he wrote to the Assem- bly, that some cannon-ball might reconcile all the opinions respecting him. emigrants were destined to form an army to be given to the King when he should be set at liluTty. The French princes had been spoken of in an ill-natured and prejudiced manner : they were supposed to harbour intentions directly contrary to those of the King, and espe- cially those of acting independently and creating a rejjent. [Mallet du Pan strongly com- bated this supposition, and observed, that the intentions of the princes ought not to be inferred from the silly or extravagant language of some of those around them.] Lastly, after having fully discussed the dilfi rent demands and proposals on which Mallet du Pan was directed to insist, the three ministers had unanimously acknowledged their prudence and justice, had each desired to have a note or summary of them, and had given the most formal assurances that the views of the King, being perfectly accordant with those of the powers, should be strictly followed." — liirtrand de Mvlltvi/le, tome viii., p. .320. * " The party of the princes," says Madame Campan, " having been informed of the coalition of the remains of the constitutional f)arty with the Queen, was greatly alarmed at it. The Queen, for her part, always dreaded the parly of the princes, and the pretensions of the French who composed it. She did justice to Count d'Artois, and freiiuently said that his party would act in a spirit contrary to his own sentiments for the King, her brother, and for herself, but that he would be led away by persons over whom Cal')nne had the most mischievous ascendency. She reproached Count d'Eslerhazy, on whom favours had been heaped through her means, with having become so decided a partisan of Calonne's, that she could even consider mm as an enemy," — Mentoircs de Madame Campan, tome ii., p. 193. VOL. I.— 33 V 2 258 HISTORY OF THE The Feuillans still had Lafayette left. Without taking part in their secret proceedings, he had shared iheir dislike of Dumouriez, and was, above all, desirous of saving the King, without injuring tlie constitu- tion. Their means were feeble. In the first place, the court which they strove to save would not be saved by them. The Queen, who cheerfully confided in Barnave, had always adopted the greatest precautions in her interviews with him, and had never admitted him except in secret. The emigrants and the court would not have forgiven her for seeing constitu- tionalists. They recommended to her, in fact, not to treat with them, and rather to prefer the Jacobins, because, as they said, it would be necessary to make concessions to the former, but it would not be bound to any terms with the latter.* If to this oft-repeated advice be added the personal hatred of the Queen for M. de Lafayette,! it will be easy to conceive that the court Avould be very reluctant to accept the services of constitutionalists and Feuillans. Besides this aversion of the court to them, we must also consider the feebleness of the means which they had to employ against the popular party. Lafayette, it is true, was adored by his soldiers, and could rely upon his army ; but he was in front of the enemy, and he could not leave the frontier uncovered for die purpose of marching into the interior. Old Luckner, by whom he was supported, was weak, fickle, and easily intimi- dated, though very brave in the field. But could they even have reckoned upon their military resources, the constitutionalists possessed no civil means. The majority of the Assembly belonged to the Gironde. The national guard was in part devoted to them, but it was disunited and disorganized. In order to employ their military forces, they would therefore have been compelled to march from the frontiers upon Paris ; that is to say, to attempt an insurrection against the Assembly ; and insurrections, however advan- tageous for a violent party which adopts the offensive side, are unsuitable and ruinous to a moderate party, which, in resisting, supports itself by the laws. Many, nevertheless, rallied round Lafayette, and concerted with him the plan of a letter to the Assembly. Tliis letter, written in his name, was intended to express his sentiments relative to the King and the constitution, and his disapprobation of every thing that tended to attack either. His friends were divided. Some excited, others restrained his zeal. But think- ing only of what was likely to serve the King, to whom he had sworn fidelity, he wrote the letter; and defied all the dangers which were about to threaten his life. The King and Queen, though determined not to make use of him, allowed him to write, because they beheld in this step only an • " Meanwhile the emigrants betrayed great apprehension of all that might be done at home, in consequence of the coalition with the constitutionalists, whom they described as existing only in idea, and as mere ciphers in regard to the means of repairing their blunders. The Jacobins were to be preferred to them, because, it was alleged, there would be no occasion to treat with any one at the moment when the King and the royal family should be rescued from the abyss into which they were plunged." — Mcmoires de Madame Carnpan, tomeii., p. 194. I " On one occasion, when Madame Elizabeth advised the Queen to place confidence in Lafayette, her majesty made answer, that it was better to perish than to be saved by Lafay- ette and the constitutionalists. 'We know that the general will save the King, but he will not save royalty,' was the public language of the Tuileries. The Queen remembered that Mirabeau, shortly before his death, had predicted to her that, in case of a war, 'Lafayette would desire to keep the King a prisoner in his tent.' She was in the habit of replying to those who spoke to her in the general's favour, ' It would be too hard upon us to be twice indebted to him for our lives.' " — Lafayette's Memoirs. E. I FRENCH REVOLUTION. 259 exchange of reproaches between the friends of liberty. The letter reached the Assembly on the 18th of June. Lafayette, disapproving in tlie first place of the late minister, whom, he said, he meant to denounce at the moment when he was informed of his dismissal, proceeded in these terms: " It is not enough that this branch of the government be delivered from a baneful influence; the pul)lic weal is in danger; the fate of France depends chiefly on her representatives: from them the nation expects its salvation; but, in giving itself a constitution, it has marked out for them the only route by which they are to save it." Then, protesting his inviolable attachment to the law which had been sworn to, he expatiated on the state of France, which he saw placed be- tween two kinds of enemies, those abroad, and those at home. " Both must be destroyed. But you will not have the power to destroy them, unless you be constitutional and just. Look around you ; can you deny that a faction, and, to avoid every vague denomination, that the .Jaco- bin faction, has caused all these disorders ? It is to this faction that I loudly attribute them. Organized like a separate empire, in its principal society and its alhliations, blindly directed by a few ambitious leaders, this party forms a distinct corporation amongst the French people, whose powers it usurps by overawing its representatives and its functionaries. " It is there that, in the pul)lic sittings, love of the laws is called aristo- cracy, and their violation, patriotism ; — there the assassins of Desilles re- ceive triumphs, the crimes of .Tourdan* find panegyrists; — there the account of the murder which has sullied the city of Metz has but just now excited infernal acclamations. " Will they expect to escape from these reproaches by bragging of an Austrian manifesto in which these sectaries are mentioned ? Have they become sacred since Leopold has pronounced their name ? And, because we must combat foreigners who interfere in our quarrels, are we to dispense with the duty of delivering our country from a domestic tyranny ?" Then, recapitulating his former services for liberty, and enumerating the guarantees which he had given to the country, the general answered for himself and his army, and declared that the French nation, if it was not the vilest in the world, could and ought to resist the conspiracy of the kings who had coalesced against it. " But," added he, " in order that we, soldiers of liberty, should fight with eflicacy, and die with benefit for her, it is re- quisite that the number of the defenders of the country should be speedily proportioned to that of its adversaries ; that supplies of all kinds be multi- plied to facilitate our movements ; that tiie well-being of the troops, their equipments, their pay, and the arrangements relative to their health, be no longer subject to fatal delays." Then followed other advice, the principal and last of which was this : " Let the reign of the chilis, annihilated liy you, give place to the reign of the law; their usurpations to the linn and independent exercise of the constituted authorities ; their disorganizing * " M. Jouve .lourdan, entitled the ' Bchcader,' was bom in 1749. He was sucresslvcly a butcher, a blacksmith's journeyman, a smuggler, a servant, general of the army of Vaucluse in 1791, and tliially leader of a squadron of national gendarmerie. In the massacres of A''er- sailles he cut off the heads of two of the King's body guards. He boasted also of having torn out the hearts of Foulon and Rertier, and called on the National Assembly to reward him for this deed with a civic medal I He was also one of the chief instigators of the mas- sacres at Avignon. In 1794 he was condemned to death as a federalist. Jourdan was remarkable for wearing a long beard, which was often besprinkled with blood." — Biographie Moderne. E. ^ 260 HISTORY OF THE maxims, to the genuine principles of liberty ; their frantic fury, to the calm and persevering courage of a nation wliicli knows its rights and defends them ; and lasdy, their sectarian combinations to the true interests of the country, whicli, in this moment of danger, ought to rally around them all those to wliom its subjugation and ruin are not objects of atrocious satisfac- tion and infamous speculation !" This was saying to exasperated passions, " Stop !" to the parties them- selves, " Put an end to your own existence !" to a torrent, " Cease to flow !" But though the advice was useless, it was not the less a duty to give it. The letter was highly applauded by the riglit side. The left was silent. No sooner was the reading of it finished, than it was proposed to print and send it to the departments. Vergniaud asked and obtained permission to speak. According to him it was of importance to that liberty, which M. de Lafayette had hitherto so ably defended, to make a distinction between the petitions of private citi- zens, who offered advice or claimed an act of justice, and the lectunjs of an armed general. Tlie latter ought never to express his sentiments unless through the medium of the ministry, otherwise liberty would be undone. It was, therefore, expedient to pass to the order of the day. M. Thevenot replied, that the Assembly ought to receive from die lips of M. de Lafayette tiniths which it had not dared to tell itself. This last observation excited a great tumult. Some members denied tlie authenticity of the letter. " Even if it were not signed," exclaimed M. Coube, " none but M. de Lafayette could have written it." Guadet demanded permission to speak upon a matter of fact, and assei-ted that die letter could not be that of M. de Lafay- ette, because it adverted to the dismissal of Dumouriez, which had not taken place till the 16th, and it was dated die very same day. " It is therefore im- possible," he added, " tliat the person whose name is signed to it should have made mention of a fact which could not have been known to him. Either the signature is not his, or it Avas attached to a blank, which was left for a faction to fill up at its pleasure." A great uproar followed these words. Guadet resumed : he said that M. de Lafayette was incapable, according to his known sentiments, of having written such a letter. " He must know," added he, " that when Crom- Avcll ..." Dumas, the deputy, unable to contain himself, at this last word, desired to be heard. Agitation prevailed for a considerable time in the As- sembly. Guadet, however, regained possession of die tribune, and began : " I was saying . . ." Again he was interrupted. " You were at Crom- well," said some one to him. " I shall return to liim," he replied. " I was saying that M. de Lafayette must know that when Cromwell held a similar language, liberty was lost in England. It is expedient either that we ascertain whether some coward has not sheltered himself beneath the name of M. de Lafayette, or prove by a signal example lo the French people that we have not taken a vain oath in swearing to maintain the con- stitution." A great number of members attested the signature of M. de Lafayette. The letter was, nevertheless, referred to the committee of twelve for the purpose of ascertaining its authenticity. It was thus deprived of the honour of being printed and sent to the departments. This generous procedure then proved absolutely useless, and could not be otherwise in the existing state of the public mind. From that moment, tlie general became almost as unpopular as the court ; and if the leaders of the Gironde, more enlightened dian the populace, did not believe M. de Lafay- FRENCH REVOLUTIOX. 261 ctte capable of betraying his country because he had attacked the Jacobins, the mass nevertheless believed him to be so, because it was constantly re- peated in the clubs, in the newspapers, and in the public places, that he was. Thus the alarm which the court had excited in the popular party was heightened by that which M. de Lafayette had just added to it by a step of his own. This party tiien became absolutely desperate, and resolved to strike a blow at the court before it could carry into execution the plots of which it was accused. We have already seen how the popular party was composed. In speak- ing out more decidedly, it also manifested a more decided character, and several additional persons rendered themselves conspicuous in it. Robes- pierre has already been mentioned at the Jacobins, and Danton at the (Jor- deliers. The clubs, the municipality, and the sections, comprised many men who, from the ardour of their disposition and opinions, were ready for any enterprise. Among these were Sergent and Panis, whose names, at a later period, were connected with a terrible event. In the fauxbourgs were remarked several commanders of battalions, who had rendered themselves formidable. The principal of these was a brewer named Santerre. By his stature, his voice, and a certain fluency of speech, he pleased the people, and had acquired a kind of sway in the fauxbourg St. Antoine, the battalion of which he commanded. Santerre had already distinguished himself in the attack on Vincennes, repulsed by Lafayette in February, 1791 ; and, like all men who are too easily wrought upon, he was capable of becoming very dangerous, according to the excitement of the moment.* He attended all the Aictious meetings held in the distant fauxbourgs. There, too, were to be found Carra, the journalist, prosecuted for an attack on Bertrand de MoUeville and Montmorin ; Alexandre, commandant of the fauxboursj St. Marceau ; a person well known by the name of Fournier the American ; Le- gendre,t the butcher, who was afterwards a deputy of the Convention ; a journeyman goldsmith, named Rossignol ; and several others, who, by their communications with the populace, set all the fauxbourgs in commotion. * " M. Grammont, assured me he was positively informed that Santerre had entertained a project to have the Queen assassinated, and that a grenadier of his battalion had engaged to perpetrate the crime for a considerable sum of money, a small part of which he had already received. The grenadier in question, added M. Grammont, was sufficiently remarkable by a scar in his left cheek. The 14th of July, the day of the Federation, was the time fixed on for the execution of the project. On that day, accordingly, M. Grammont went himself to the palace. The grenadier appeared at eight o'clock at night, and, though he was perceived by the sentinel, yet he had the address to make his escape. He returned, however, the same night in his uniform, and was taken up at the bottom of the stair leading to the Queen's apartment. He was recognised by the scar, and conducted to the guard-room. On search- ing him, a cutlass was found concealed in the lining of his coat. The next morning, just as he was going to be brought before the justice of peace, he waa carried off by a band of ruffians, who came to the palace on purpose to rescue him." — Private Memoirs «f Bertrand de MoUeville. E. ■j- '• L. JiCgendre was ten years a sailor, and afterwards a butcher at Paris. At the break- ing out of the Revolution he was one of the earliest and most violent leaders of the mob. In 1791 he was deputed by the city of Paris to the Convention. In 1793 he voted for the King's death, and, the day before his execution, proposed to the Jacobins to cut him into eighty-four pieces, and send one to each of the eighty-four departments ! He was one of the chief instigators of the atrocities of Lyons; and at Die])pe, when some persons complained of the want of bread, he answered, ' Well, eat the aristocrats !' Legendre died at Paris in 1797, aged forty-one, and bequeathed his body to the surgeons, ' in order to be useful to mankind after his de^h.' " — Biugruphie Muderne. E. 262 HISTORY OF THE By the most conspicuous among tliem they communicated with the chiefs of the popular party, and were tlms able to conform their movements to a superior direction. It is impossible to designate in a precise manner such of the deputies as contributed to this direction. The most distinguished of them were strangers to Paris, and possessed no other influence there but that of their eloquence. Guadet, Isnard, Vergniaud, were all natives of the provinces, and commu- nicated more with their departments than with Paris. Besides, though extremely ardent in the tribune, they were not at all active out of the Assembly, and were not capable of exciting the multitude. Condorcet and Brissot, deputies of Paris, were not more active than those just mentioned, and, by the conformity of their opinions with those of the deputies of the West and South, they had become Girondins. Roland, since the dismissal of the patriot ministry, had returned to private life. He occupied an humble and obscure dwelling in the Rue St. Jacques. Persuaded that the court entertained the design of delivering up France and liberty to foreigners, he deplored the calamities of his country in conjunction with some of his friends, who were members of the Assembly. It does not. however, appear that any plans were formed in his society for attacking the court. He merely promoted the printing of a paper entided La Sentinelle, which was con- ducted in a patriotic spirit by Louvet, already known at the Jacobins by his controversy with Robespierre. Roland, during his ministry, had allowed funds for the purpose of enlightening the public opinion by means of the press, and it was with a remnant of these funds that La Sentinelle was carried on. About this period there was, at Paris, a young native of Marseilles, full of ardour, courage, and republican illusions, and who, on account of his extraordinary beauty, was called the Antinous. He had been deputed by his commune to the legislative Assembly, to complain of the directory of his department ; for this division between the inferior and superior authori- ties, between the municipalities and the directories of departments, was general throughout all France. The name of this young man was Barba- roux.* Possessing intelligence and great activity, he was likely to become very serviceable to the popular cause. He met Roland, and deplored with him the dangers with which the patriots were threatened. They agreed that, as the danger was daily growing greater in the north of France, they ought, if driven to the last extremity, to retire to the south, and there found a republic, which they might some day extend, as Charles VII. had formerly extended his kingdom from Bourges. They examined the map with Ser- van, the ex-minister, and said to each other that. Liberty, if beaten upon the Rhine and beyond it, ought to retire behind the Vosges and the Loire ; that, driven from these intrenchments, she would still have left, in the east, the Doubs, the Ain, and the Rhone ; in die west, the Vienne and the Dordogne ; * " Charles Barbaroux, deputy to the Convention, was born at Marseilles. He embraced the cause of the Revolution with uncommon ardour, and came to Paris in July, 1792, with a few hundred Marseillais, to bring about a revolution against the court. He had a con- siderable share in the insurrection of the 10th of August. He belonged to the party of the Girondins, and was guillotined in Bordeaux in 1794." — Riographie Moderne. E. "Barbaroux's ingenious disposition and ardent patriotism inspired us with confidence. Discoursing on the bad situation of afTairs, and of our apprehensions of despotism in the North under Robespierre, we formed the conditional plan of a republic in the South. Bar- baroux was one whose features no painter would disdain to copy for the head of an Anti- nous." — Madame Roland's Memoirs. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 263 in the centre, the rocks and the rivers of the Limousin. "And beyond these," added Barbaroux, " we have the Auvergne, its steep hills, its ravines, its aged forests, and the mountains of the Velay, laid waste of old by fire, now covered with pines ; a wild country, where men plough amidst snow, but where they hve independently. The Cevennes would offer us another asylum too celebrated not to be formidable to tyranny ; and in the extreme south, we should find for barriers the Isere, the Durance, the KhOne from Lyons to the sea, the Alps, and the ramparts of Toulon. Lastly, if all these points were forced, we should have Corsica left — Corsica, where neither Genoese nor French have been able to naturalize tyranny ; which needs but hands to be fertile, and philosophers to be enlightened."* It was natural that the natives of the South should think of betaking themselves to their provinces in case the North should be invaded. They did not, however, neglect the North, for they agreed to write to their departments, to induce them to form spontaneously a camp of twenty thou- sand men, though the decree relative to this camp had not yet been sanctioned. They reckoned much upon Marseilles, an opulent city, with a numerous population, and extremely democratic. It had sent Mirabeau to the States- general, and it had since diffused over all the South the spirit with which it •was itself animated. The mayor of that city was a friend of Harbaroux, and held the same opinions as he did. Barbaroux wrote, desiring him to provide supplies of corn, to send trusty persons into the neighbouring depart- ments as well as to the armies of the Alps, of Italy, and of the Pyrenees, in order to prepare the public opinion there ; to sound Montesquiou, the commander of the army of the Alps, and to turn his ambition to the advan- tage of liberty ; lastly, to concert with Paoli and the Corsicans, so as to secure a sure aid and a last asylum. It was also recommended to the same mayor to retain the produce of the taxes in order to deprive the executive government of it, and in case of need to employ it against the latter. What Barbaroux did for Marseilles, others did for their departments, and thought of insuring a refuge for themselves. Thus distrust, converted into despair, paved the way for a general insurrection, and, in the preparations for insurrection, there was already a marked difference between Paris and the departments. Petion, the mayor, connected with all the Girondins, and subsequently classed and proscribed with them, had from his functions much intercourse with die agitators of Paris. He had great composure, an appearance of coldness which his enemies mistook for st\ipi(lity, and an integrity which was extolled by his partizans and never attacked by his slanderers. The people, who give distinctive appellations to all those who engage their atten- tion, called him Virtue Petiun. "We have already mentioned him on occa- sion of the journey to Verennes, and of the preference given him by the court to liafayette for the mayoralty of Paris. The court hoped to bribe him, and certain swindlers promised to accomplish this matter. They demanded a sum of money, which they kept, without having even made overtures to Petion, whose well known character would have rendered diem useless. The jov felt by tlie court at the prospect of gaining a supporter and corrupting a popular magistrate, was of short duration. It soon disco- vered that it had been cheated, and that its adversaries were not so venal as it had imagined. Petion had been one of the first to take for granted that the propensities if * Memoires de Barbaroux, pp. 38, 39. 264 HISTORY OF THE of" a King, born to absolute power, are not to be modified. He was a re- publican before any one ever dreamt of a republic ; and in the Constituent Assembly he was from conviction, what Robespierre was from the acerbity of his temper. Under the liCgislative Assembly, he became still more con- vinced of the incorrigibleness of the court. He was persuaded that it would call in foreigners, and, as he had before been a republican from system, he now became so for the sake of safety. Thenceforward he resolved in his mind, as he said, how to promote a new revolution. He checked ill-directed movements, favoured on the contrary such as were judicious, and strove above all thino-s to reconcile them with tlie law, of which he was a strict observer, and which he was determined not to violate but at the last ex- tremity. Though we are not well acquainted with the extent of the participation of Petion in the movements which were preparing, and know not whether he consulted his friends of the Gironde for the purpose of promoting them, we are authorized by his conduct to assert that he did nothing to impede them. It is alleged that, in the latter part of June, he went to the house of Santerre with Robespierre, Manuel, procureur syndic of the commune, Sillery, ex-constituent, and Chabot, ex-capuchin and deputy ; that the latter harangued the section of the Quinze-Vingts, and said that the Assembly was waiting for it. Whether these circumstances be true or noi, it is certain that clandestine meetings were held ; and from the well-known opinions and subsequent conduct of the persons above named, it is not to be believed that they had any scruple to attend them.* From that moment a fete for the * Among the depositions contained in the proceedings instituted against the authors of the 20th of June, is one that is extremely curious, on account of the particulars which it fur- nishes — I mean that of Lareyiiie. It comprehends almost everything that is repeated by the other witnesses, and therefore we quote it in preference. These proceedings were printed in quarto. "Before us appeared Sieur Jean Baptiste Marie Louis Lareynie, a volunteer soldier of the battalion of the Isle St. Louis, decorated v^ith the military cross, dwelling in Paris, Quai Bourbon, No. 1 ; " Who, deeply afflicted at the disturbances which have recently taken place in the capital, and conceiving it to be the duly of a good citizen to furnish justice with all the information that it can need in these circumstances, for the purpose of punishing the abettors and instiga- tors of all manojuvres against the public tranquillity and the integrity of the French constitu- tion, has declared that, for a week past, he has known, from acquaintance that he has in the fauxbourg St. Antoine, that the citizens of that fauxbourg were worked up by the Sieur Santerre, commandant of the i)attalion of the Enfans-Trouves, and by other persons, atnong whom were the Sieur Fournier, calling himself an American, and elector, in 1791, of the department of Paris; the Sieur Rotondo, who calls himself an Italian; the Sieur Legendre, butcher, living in the Rue des Boucheries. fauxbourg St. Germain ; the Sieur Cuirette Ver- rieres, living over the coffee-house of Rendez-Vous, Rue du Theatre-Franpais; who held by night secret meetings at the Sieur Santerrc's, and sometimes in the committee-room of the section of the Enfans-Trouves ; that the deliberations were there carried on in the presence of a very small numlier of trusty persons of the fiiuxbourg, such as the Sieur Rossignol, lately a journeyman goldsmith ; the Sieur Nicolas,sapper of the said battalion of the Enfans-Trouves ; the Sieur Brierre, wine merchant; the Sieur Gonor, who calls himself the conqueror of the Bastille, and others whom he could name; that there they determined upon the motions which should be discussed by the groups at the Tuileries, the Palais Royal, the Place de Greve, and especially at the Porte St. Antoine; that there were drawn up the incendiary pla- cards posted from time to lime in the fauxbourgs, and the petitions destined to be carried by deputations to the patriotic societies of Paris ; and laslly, that there was framed the famous petition, and there hatched the plot of the '20th of this month. That on the preceding night there was held a secret committee at the Sieur Santerre's, which began almost at midnight, and at which witnesses, whom he can bring forward when they have returned from the errand on which they have been sent by the Sieur Santerre to the neighbouring country, declare FRENCH REVOLUTION. 265 20th of June, the anniversary of the oath at the Tennis Court, was talked of in the fauxbourgs. It was said that a tree of liberty was to be planted on the terrace of the Feuillans, and a petition presented to the Assembly as well as to the King. This petition, moreover, was to be presented in arms. It they saw present Messrs. Petion, mayor of Paris; Robespierre; Manuel, solicitor of the nom- mune; Alexandre, comitiamlant of the battalion of St. Michel; and SiJlery, ox-deputy of the National Assembly. That, on the 20th, the Sieur Santerre, seeing that several of his people, and especially the leaders of his party, deterred by the resolution {arreti') of the directory of the department, refused to go down armed, alleging that they should be fired upon, assured them that they had n reserve camp, has at his disposal for this purpose in his army ten squadrons of horse artillery. Two forced marches may bring this whole division to Compiegne. If, contrary to all jjrobaliility, his majesty should be prevented from leaving the city, the laws being most manifestly violated, the two generals would march upon the capital with an army. The consequences of this plan are sufficiently obvious. Peace with all Europe, through the mediation of the King; The King reinstated in all his legal power: A great and necessary extension of his sacred prerogatives ; A real monarchy, a real monarch, real liberty ; A real national representation, of which the King shall be the head and an integral part ; A real executive power ; A real national representation, elected from among persons of property; The constitution revised, partly abolished, partly improved, and founded on a better basis ; The new legislative body sitting for three months only in the year: The old nobility reslS^red to its former privileges, not political but civil ; depending on opiuion, such as titles, arms, liveries, &c. I execute my commission without presuming to add either advice or reflection. My imagination is too full of the rage which will seize all those perverse heads at the loss of 292 HISTORY OF THE Whether this plan required too great boldness, and Louis XVI. had not enougli of that quality, or whether the dislike of the Queen to Lafayette the first town that shall be taken from us, not to have my misgivings ; and these are so strong, that the scene of Saturday, which appears to have (juieted many people, has doubled my uneasiness. All those kisses reminded me of that of Judas. I merely solicit permission to be one of the eighty or one hundred horse who shall escort his majesty, if he approves the plan; and I flatter myself that I have no occasion to assure him that his enemies should not get at him or at any member of his royal family before they had passed over my corpse. I will add one word : I was a friend of M. liafayelte's before the Revolution. I broke off all intercourse with him since the 22d of March in the second year. At that period, I wished him to be what he is at this day ; I wrote to him that his duty, his honour, his inte- rest, all prescribed to him this line of conduct; I detailed the plan to him at length, such as my conscience suggested it. He gave me a promise ; I saw no effect from that promise. I shall not examine whether this was owing to inability or insincerity ; I renounced all further connexion with him, telling him so, and nobody had yet told him more severe truths than myself and my friends, who were also his. These same friends have now renewed my correspondence with hnn. His majesty knows what has been the aim and the nature of this correspondence. I have seen his lettr^s; I had a conference of two hours with him in the night before he left Paris. He acknowledges his errors ; he is ready to devote himself for liberty, but at the same time for the monarchy ; he is willing to sacrifice himself if need be, for his country and for his King, whom he no longer separates ; he is attached, in short, to the principles which I have expounded in this note; he is attached to them completely, with candour, conviction, sensibility, fidelity to the King, disregard of himself — I answer for him on my integrity. I forgot to say that he begs that nothing may be said on this subject to such of the ollicers as may be in the capital at this moment. All may suspect that some plans are in agitation ; but none of them is apprized of that which he proposes. It is sufficient for them to know it on the morning for acting ; he is afraid of indiscretion if it should be mentioned to them beforehand, and none of them is excepted from this observation. P. S. May I venture to say that, in my opinion, this note should be perused by him only, who, on an ever-memorable day, vanquished by his heroic courage a whole host of assassins; by him who, the day after that unexampled triumph, himself dictated a proclamation as sub- lime as his actions had been on the preceding day, and not by the counsels which drew up the letter written in his name to the legislative body intimating that he should attend the ceremony of the 14th; not by the counsels which obtained the sanction of the decree re- specting feudal rights, a decree equivalent to a robbery committed upon the highway ? M. Lafayette does not admit the idea that the King, when once out of the capital, has any other direction to follow but that of his conscience and his free will. He conceives that the first operation of his majesty ought to be to create a guard for himself; he conceives also that his plan is capable of being modified in twenty different ways ; he prefers a retreat to the North to a retreat to the South, as being nearer at hand to render assistance on that side, and dreading the southern faction. In these words, the liberty nf the King and the destruc- tion of the fadioji!^, is comprehended his aim in all the sincerity of his heart. What is to follow will follow. Copy of a letter from Lafayette. July 8, 1792. I had disposed my army in such a manner that the best squadrons, the grenadiers, and the horse artillery were under the command of M — , in the fourth division ; and, had my pro- posal been accepted, I should have brought in two days to Compiegne fifteen squadrons and eight pieces of cannon, the rest of the army being placed in echelons, at the distance of one march ; and any regiment which would not have taken the first step would have come to my assistance, if my comrades and myself had been engaged. I had overcome Luckner so far as to obtain a promise from him to march with me to the capital, if the safety of the King had required it, and he had issued orders to that effect ; and I have five squadrons of that army at my absolute disposal, Languedoc and ; the commandant of the horse artillery is also exclusively devoted to me. I reckoned that these would also march to Compiegne. The King has given a promise to attend the federal festival. I am sorry that my plan has not been adopted ; but the most must be made of that which has been preferred. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 293 prevented him from accepting his aid, he again refused it, and directed a very cold answer, and one very unworthy of the zeal which the general The steps which I have taken, the adhesion of many departments and communes, that of M. Luckner, my influence with my army and even with the other troops, my popularity in the kingdom, which has rather increased than diminished, though very hmited in the capital ; all these circumstances, added to several others, have, by awakening honest men, furnished a subject of reflection for the factious; and I hope that the physical dangers of the 14th of July are greatly diminished. I think myself that they are nothing, if the King is accompa- nied by Luckner and me, and surrounded by the picked battalions which I am getting ready for him. But, if the King and his family remain in the capital, are they not still in the hands of the factions] We shall lose the first battle; it is impossible to doubt that. The recoil will be felt in the capital. I will go further and assert that the supposition of a correspondence between the Queen and the enemy will be sufficient to occasion the greatest excesses. At least they will be for carrying off the Kinir to the South ; and this idea, which is now revolt- ing, will appear simple when the leagued kings are approaching. I see, therefore, a series of dangers commencing immediately after the i4th. I again repeat it, the King must leave Paris ! I know that, were he not sincere, this course would be attended with inconveniences; but when the question is about trusting the King, who is an honest man, can one hesitate a moment ? I am impressed with the necessity of seeing the King at Corapiegne. Here then are the two objects to which my present plan relates : !. If the King has not yet sent for Luckner and myself, he should do so immediately. We have Luckner. He ought to be secured more and more. He will say that we are together ; I will say the rest. Luckner can come to fetch me, so that we may be in the capital on the evening of the 12th. The 13th and 14th may furnish offensive chances, at any rate the defensive shall be insured by your presence ; and who knows what may be the effect of mine upon the national guard ? We will accompany the King to the altar of the country. The two generals, representing two armies, which are known to be strongly attached to them, will prevent any insults that there may be a disposition to offer to the dignity of the King. As for me, I may find again the habit which some have so long had of obeying my voice ; the terror which I have always struck into others, as soon as they became factious, and perhaps some personal means of turning a crisis to advantage, may render me serviceable, at least for obviating dangers. My application is the more disinterested, since my situation will be disagreeable in comparison with the grand Federation ; but I consider it as a sacred duty to be near the King on this occasion, and my mind is so bent on this point, that 1 absolutely require the minister at war to send for me and that this first part of my proposal be adopted ; and I beg you to commu- nicate it through mutual friends to the King, to his family, and to his council. 2. As for my second proposition, I deem it equally indispensable, and this is the way in which I understand it. The King's oath and ours will have tranquillized those persons who are only weak: consequently the scoundrels will be for some days deprived of that support. I would have the King write secretly to M. Luckner and myself one letter jointly to us both, which should find us on the road on the evening of the II th, or the morning of the 12th. 'J'he King should there say, ' that, after taking our oath, it was expedient to think of proving his sincerity to foreigners ; that the best way would be for him to pass some days at Com- piegne; that he directed us to have in readiness there some squadrons to join the national guard of that place, and a detachment from the capital; that we shall accompany him to Compit'gne, whence we shall proceed to rejoin our respective armies; that he desires us to select such squadrons the chiefs of which are known for their attachment to the conslilutioii, and a general officer who cannot leave any doubt on that head.' Agreeably to this letter, Luckner and I will appoint M to the command of this exf)e- dition ; he shall take with him four pieces of horse artillery ; eight, if preferred ; but the King ought not to allude to this subject, because the odium of cannon ought to fail upon us. On the 15th, at ten in the morning, the King should go to the Assembly, accompanied by Luckner and myself; and whether we had a battalion, or whether we had but fifty horse, consisting of men devoted to the King, or friends of mine, we should see if the King, the royal family, Luckner, and myself, should be stopped. Let us suppose that^we were. Luckner and I would return to the Assembly, to complain and to threaten it with our armies. When the King should have returned, his situation would not be worse, for he would not have transgressed the constitution ; he would have 2 B 2 294 HISTORY OF THE manifested for him, to be returned. " The best advice," to use the words of that answer, " whicli can be given to M. Lafayette is to continue to serve as a bugbear to the factions, by the able performance of his duty as a general."* The anniversary of the Federation approached. The people and the As- sembly were desirous that Petion should be present at the solemnity of the 14th. The King had already endeavoured to throw upon the Assembly the responsibility of approving or disapproving the resolution of the department ; but the Assembly had, as we have seen, constrained him to speak out him- self; urging him daily to communicate his decision, that this matter might be settled before the 14th. On the 12th, the King confirmed the suspension. The Assembly lost no time in taking its own course. What that was may easily be conceived. Next day, that is on the 13th, it reinstated Petion. But, from a shadow of delicacy, it postponed its decision respecting Manuel, who, amidst the tumult of the 20th of June, had been seen walking about in his scarf, without making any use of his authority. The 14th of July, 1792, at length arrived. How times had changed since the 14th of July, 1790! There was neither that magnificent altar, with three hundred officiating priests, nor that extensive area, covered by sixty thousand national guards, richly dressed and regularly organized, nor those lateral tiers of seats, crowded by an immense multitude, intoxicated with joy against him none but the enemies of that constitution, and Luckner and I should easily bring forward detachments from Compiegne. Take notice that this does not compromise the King so much as he must necessarily be compromised by the events which are preparing. The funds which the King has at his disposal have been so squandered in aristocratic fooleries that he cannot have much money left. There is no doubt that he can borrow, if necessary, to make himself master of the three days of the Federation. There is still one case to be provided against : the Assembly may decree that the generals shall not come to the capital. It will be sufficient for the King to refuse his sanction im- mediately. If, by an inconceivable fatality, the King should have already given his sanction, let him appoint to meet us at Compiegne, even though he should be stopped at setting out. We will open to him the means of coming thither free and triumphant. It is superfluous to observe that, in any case, on his arrival at Compiegne, he will there form his personal guard on the footing allowed him by the constitution. In truth, when I find myself surrounded by inhabitants of the country, who come ten leagues and more to see me and to swear that they have confidence in none but me and that my enemies are theirs; when I find myself beloved by my army, on which the Jacobin elforts have no influence; when I see testimonies of adherence to my opinions arriving from all parts of the kingdom — I cannot believe that all is lost and that 1 have no means of being serviceable. * The following answer is extracted from the collection of documents quoted in the last note: Answer in the handwriting of the King. You must answer him that I am infinitely sensible to the attachment which would induce him to put himself thus in the front ; but that the manner appears to me impracticable. It is not out of personal fear ; but everything would be staked at once, and, whatever he may say of it, the failure of this plan would plunge all into a worse state than ever, and reduce it more and more under the sway of the factions. Fontainbleau is but a cul-de-sac, it would he a bad retreat, and towards the South ; towards the IVorth, it would have the appearance of going to meet the Austrians. Respecting the summons for him, an answer will be returned from another quarter, so I have nothing to say here on that subject. The presence of the generals at the Federation might be useful ; it might besides have for its motive to seethe new minister and to confer with him on the wants of the army. The best advice which can be given to M. Lafayette is to continue to serve as a bugbear to the factions by the able per- formance of his duty as a general. He will thereby secure more and more the confidence of his army, and be enabled to employ it as he pleases in case of emergency. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 295 and delight ; nor lastly, that balcony, where the ministers, the royal family, and the Assembly, were accommodated at the first Federation. Everythinjr was changed. People hated each other as after a hollow reconciliation, and all the emblems indicated war. Eighty-three tents represented the eighty-three departments. Beside each of these stood a poplar, from the top of which Avaved Hags of the three colours. A large tent was destined for tlie Assem- bly and the King, and another for the administrative bodies of Paris, Thus all France seemed to be encamped in the presence of the enemy. The altar of the country was but a truncated column, placed at the top of those tiers of seats which had l)cen left in tlie Champ de Mars, ever since the first cere- mony. On one side was seen a monument for those who had died or who were destined soon to die, on the frontiers; on the other an immense tree, called the tree of ieudalism. It rose from the centre of a vast pile, and bore on its branches crowns, blue ribbons, tiaras, cardinals' hats, St. Peter's keys, ermine mandes, doctors' caps, basjs of law proceedings, tides of nobility, es- cutcheons, coats of arms, bespierre, who then seemed to feel a friendship for him." — Memoirs of a Feer of France. E. VOL. I. — 38 29S HISTORY OF THE over it.* They entered into arransfements with Rarbaroux, who promised the co-operation of his Marsellais, whose arrival was impatiently expected. They placed themselves in communication with Petion, the mayor, and obtained IVom him a promise not to prevent the insurrection. In return they promised him to protect his residence and to place a guard upon it, in order to justify his inaction by an appearance of constraint, if the enterprise should miscarry. * Particulars of the events of the lOth of August. These particulars are extracted from a paper inserted in the Annales Politiques, signed Carra, and entitled, Historical Sketch if the Origin and real Authors of the celebrated In- surrection if the \Olh of August, which has saved the Republic. The author asserts that the mayor had no hand whatever in the success, but that he happened to be in place, on this occasion, like a real Providence for the patriots. "Those men, says Jerome Petion, in his excellent speech on the proceedings instituted against Maximilien Robespierre, who have attributed to themselves the glory of that day, are those to whom it least belongs. It is due to those who prepared; it is due to the imperative nature of things; it is due to the brave federalists and to their secret directory, which had long concerted the plan of the insurrection ,- it is due, in short, to the guardian genius which has constantly governed the destinies of France ever since the first meeting of its repre- sentatives. " It is of this secret directory which Jerome Petion speaks, and of which I shall speak in my turn, both as a member of that directory and as an actor in all its operations. This secret directory was formed by the central committee of federalists, which met in the correspondence- room at the Jacobins, St. Honore. It was out of the forty-three members, who daily assem- bled since the commencement of July in that room, that five were selected for the insurrec- tional directory. These five members were Vaugeois, grand-vicar of the Bishop of Blois ; Debesse, of the department of La Drome; Guillaume, professor at Caen; Simon, journalist of Strasburg ; and Galissot, of Langress. I was added to these five members at the very moment of the formation of the directory ; and, a few days afterwards, Foamier, the Ameri- can ; Westermann ; Kienlin, of Strasburg; Santerre ; Alexandre, commandant of the faux- bourg St. Marceau ; Antoine of Metz, the ex-constituent; Legrey ; and Garin, elector in 1789, were invited to join it. "The first meeting of this directory was held in a small public-house, the Soleil d'Or, rue St. Antoine, near the Bastille, in the night between Thursday and Friday, the 26lh of July, after the civic entertainment given to the federalists on the site of the Bastille. Gorsas, the patriot, attended at the public-house, which we left at two in the morning, when we repaired to the column of liberty, on the site of the Bastille, to die there, in case of need, for the country. It was to this public-house, the Soliel d'Or, that Fournier the American brought us the red flag, the invention of which I had proposed, and upon which I had got inscribed these words : Martial Law of the Sovereign People against the Rebellion of the Executive Power. It was also to the same house that I took five hundred copies of a posting-bill containing these words : Those who fire on the columns of the people shall instantly be put to death. This bill, printed in the office of Buisson, the publisher, had been carried to Santerre's, whither I went at midnight to fetch it. Our plan failed this time through the prudence of the mayor, who probably conceived that we were not sutficiently guarded at the moment ; and the second active meeting of the directory was adjourned to the 4th of August following. " Nearly the same persons attended this meeting, and in addition to them Camille Des- moulins. It was held at the Cadran Bleu, on the boulevard ; and, about eight in the evening, it removed to the lodgings of Antoine, ex-constituent, rue St. Honore, opposite to the As- sumption, in the very same house where Robespierre lives. His landlady was so alarmed at this meeting that she came, about eleven o'clock at night, to ask Antoine if he was going to get Robespierre murdered. ' If any one is to be murdered,' replied Antoine, ' no doubt it will be ourselves ; Robespierre has nothing to fear from us ; let him but conceal himself.' '• It was in this second active meeting that I wrote with my own hand the whole plan of the insurrection, of the march of the columns, and of the attack of the palace. Simon made a copy of this plan, and we sent it to Santerre and Alexandre, about midnight ; but a second time our scheme miscarried, because Alexandre and Santerre were not yet sufficiently pre- pared, and several wished to wait for the discussion fixed for the 10th of August on the sus- pension of the King. " At length, the third active meeting of this directory was held in the night between the FRENCH REVOLUTION. 299 The plan definitively adopted was to repair in arms to the palace, and to depose the King. But it Avas requisite to set the people in motion, and, to succeed in this purpose, some extraordinary exciting cause was indispensably necessary. Endeavours were made to produce one, and the subject was dis- cussed at the Jacobins. Chabot,* the deputy, expatiated with all the ardour of his disposition on tlie necessity for a great resolution, and he said that, in order to bring about such a one, it was desirable that the court should attempt the life of a deputy. Grangeneuve, himself a deputy, heard this speech. lie was a man of limited understanding, but resolute disposition. He took Chabot aside. " You are right," said he; "it is expedient that a deputy should perish, but the court is too cunning to give us so fair an occa- sion. You must make amends, and put me to death as soon as possible in tlie environs of the palace. Prepare the means and keep your secret." Chabot, seized witli enthusiasm, oll'ered to share his fate. Grangeneuve assented, observing that two deaths would produce a greater effect than one. Tliey agreed upon the day, the hour, and the means, of putting an end to their lives, without maiming themselves, as they said ; and ihey separated, resolved to sacrifice themselves for the success of the common cause. Gran- geneuve, determined to keep his word, put his domestic affairs in order, and proceeded at half-past ten o'clock at night, to the place of meeting. (Jhabot was not there. lie waited. As Chabot did not come, he conceived that he had changed his mind, but he hoped that, in regard to himself at least, the execution would take j)hice. He walked to and IVo several times in expecta- tion of the mortal blow, but was oblifred to return, safe and sound, with- out enjoying the satisfaction of immolating himself for the sake of a calumny. t Tiie occasion so impatiently looked for did not occur, and the parlies 9th and lOth of August last, at the moment when the tocsm rang, anJ in three Jifferent places at the same time; namely, Fournier the American, with some others, at the fauxhoure: St. Marceau ; VVestcrmatin, Santerre, and two others, at the fauxl)ourg St. Antoine; Garin, jour- nalist of Strasliurg, and myself, in the barracks of the .Marseillais, and in the very chaniber of the commandant, where we were seen by the whole battalion. " In this sketch, wliich contains nothing but what is strictly true, and the minutest details of which I defy any j)erson whatever to contradict, it is seen that nothing is said of Marat or of Robespierre, or of so many others who desire to pass for actors in that atfair ; and that those who may directly ascribe to themselves the glory of the famous day of the 10th, arc the persons whom I have named, and who formed the secret directory of the federalist." * " F. Chabot, a Capuchin, born in the department of Aveyron, eagerly i>rofited by the opportunity of breaking his vows, which the decree of the Constituent Assembly oHered him. In 1792 he was appointed deputy of Loire et Cher to the legislature. In the same year, he %vent so far as to cause himself to he slightly wounded by six conlideniial men, in order that he might accuse the King of being the author of this assassination. It is asserted that he even pressed Merlin and Bazire to murder him, and then to carry his bloody corpse into the fauxbourg, to hasten the insurrection of the people, and the destruction of the n)onarch. ('habot was one of the chief instigators of the events of the 10th of August, and voted afterwards for the death of the King. He was condennied to death by Robespierre as a par- tizan of the Dantonisl faction. When he knew what his fate was to he, he poisoned himself with corrosive sublimate of mercury ; but the dreadful pain he suffered having extorted shrieks from him, he was conveyed to the infirmary, and his life prolonged till Ajiril, 17'J1, when he was guillotined. Chabot died with firmness at the age of thirty-five." — Biographic Mod erne. E. •|-" J. A. Grangeneuve, a lawyer, was a deputy from the Gironde to the legislature. He was one of those who, in concert with the Capuchin, Chabot, agreed to cause themselves to he mangled by men whom they had in pay, in order to exasperate the people against the court ; but he was afF^id of being mangled too elYectually, so gave up his project. He was condemned to death asaGirondin in 1793. Grangeneuve was forty-three years old, and was born at Bordeaux." — Biographie Moderne. E. , 300 HISTORY OF THE began mutually to accuse each other of want of courage, intelligence, and unity. The Girondin deputies, Petion the mayor, and, in short, all persons of any eminence, and who were obliged, either in the tribune or in the per- formance of their official duties, to speak the language of the law, kept them- selves more and more aloof, and condemned these incessant agitations, which compromised them without producing any result. They reproached the subaltern agitators with exhausting their strength in partial and useless movements, which exposed the people without leading to any decisive event. The latter, on the contrary, who did in their respective spheres all that they could do, reproached the deputies and Petion, the mayor, for their public speeches, and accused them of repressing the energy of the people. Thus the deputies reproached the mass with not being organized, and the latter complained that the deputies themselves were not. The want most sensibly felt was that of a leader. We need a man, was the general cry, but who is it to be ? No fit person was to be found among the deputies. They were all of them rather orators than conspirators ; and, besides, their elevated situation and their mode of life removed them too far from the mul- titude, on whom it was necessary to act. In the same predicament were Roland, Servan, and all those men whose courage was undoubted, but whose rank lifted them too high above the populace. Petion might, from his office, have had opportunity to communicate easily with the multitude ; but he was cold, passionless, and capable of dying rather than acting. By means of his system of checking petty agitations, for the benefit of a de- cisive insurrection, he thwarted the dady movements, and lost all favour with the agitators, whom he impeded without controlling. They wanted a leader who, not having yet issued from the bosom of the multitude, had not lost all power over it, and who had received from nature the spirit of persuasion. A vast field had been opened in the clubs, the sections, and the revolu- tionary papers. Many had there distinguished themselves, but none had yet gained a marked superiority. Camille Desmoulins had acquired notice by his energy, his cynical spirit, his audacity, and his promptness in attacking all those who seemed to flag in the revolutionary career. He was known to tlie lower classes ; but he had neither the lungs of a popular speaker, nor the activity and powers of persuasion of a party-leader. Another public writer had gained a frightful celebrity. This was Marat, known by the name of the Friend of the People, and who, by his instiga- tions to murder, had become an object of horror to all those who yet retained any moderation. A native of Neufchatel, and engaged in the study of the physical and medical sciences, he had boldly attacked the most firmly-esta- blished systems, and had shown an activity of mind tliat might be termed convulsive. He was physician to the stables of Count d'Artois when the Revolution commenced. He rushed without hesitation into a new career, and soon acquired distinction in his section. He was of middle height, with a large head, strongly-marked features, livid complexion, a piercing eye and careless in his personal appearance. It was necessary, he asserted, to strike off several thousand heads, and to destroy all the aristocrats, who rendered liberty impossible. Horror and contempt were alternately excited by him. People ran against him, trod upon his toes, made game of his wretched-looking figure ; but accustomed to scientific squabbles and the most extravagant assertions, he had learned to despise those who despised him, and he pitied them as incapable of comprehending him. Thenceforward he difi'used in his papers the horrid doctrine with which FRENCH REVOLUTIOX. 301 he was imbued. Tlie subterraneous life to which he was doomed in order to escape justice had lieated his temperament, and the public horror served still more to excite it. Our polished manners were, according to his notions, but vices which were hostile to republican equality; and, in his ardent hatred for the obstacles, he saw but one means of safety — extermination. His studies and his observations on the physical man must have accustomed him to conquer the sight of pain ; and his ardent mind, unchecked by any instinct of sensibility, proceeded directly to its goal by Avays of blood. That same idea of operating by destruction had gradually become systematized in his head. He proposed a dictator, not for the purpose of conferring on him the pleasure of omnipotence, but of imposing upon him the terrible task of purifying society. This dictator was to have a cannon-ball attached to his leg, that he might always be in the power of the people. He was to have but one faculty left him, that of pointing out victims and ordering death as their only chastisement. Marat knew no other penalty, because he was not for punishing but for suppressing the obstacle. Perceiving aristocrats on all sides conspiring against liberty, he collected here and there all the facts that gratified his passion. He denounced with fury, and wilh a levity, which was the result of that very fury, all the names mentioned to him, and which frequently had no existence. He denounced them without personal hatred, without fear, nay, even without danger to himself; because he was out of the pale of human society, and because the relations between the injured and the injurer no longer existed between him and his fellow-men. Being recendy included in a decree of accusation wilh Royou, the King's friend, he had concealed himself in the house of an obscure and indigent advocate, who had afforded him an asylum, Barbaroux was requested to call upon him. Barbaroux had cultivated the physical sciences, and had formerly been acquainted with INTarat. He could not refuse to comply with his request, and conceived, when he heard him, tliat his mind was deranged. The French, according to this atrocious man, were but paltry revolutionists. "Give me," said he, "two hundred Neapolitans, armed with daggers, and bearing on the left arm a muff by way of buckler; with them I will traverse France and produce a revolution." He proposed that, in order to mark the aristocrats, the Assembly should order them to wear a white ribbon on the arm, and that it should be lawful to kill them Avlien three were found toge- ther. Under the name of aristocrats, he included the royalists, the Feuil- lans, and the Girondins ; and when, by chance, the difficulty of recognising and distinguishing- them was mentioned, he declared that it was impossible to mistake ; that it was only necessary to fall upon those who had carriages, servants, silk clothes, and who were coming out of the theatres. All such were assuredly aristocrats. Barbaroux left him horror-struck. Marat, full of his atrocious system, concerned himself but little about the means of insurrection, and was more- over incapable of preparing them. In his murderous reveries, he feasted himself on tlie idea of retiring to Marsedles. 'I'he repul)lican enthusiasm of that city led him to hope that there he should be better understood and more cordially received. He had thoughts, therefore, of seeking refuge there, and begged Barbaroux to send him thither with his recommendation. But the latter, having no desire to make such a present to his native city, left that insensate wretch, whose apotheosis he was then far from foreseeing, where he found him. The systematic and bloodthirsty Marat was not therefore the active chief 2C 302 HISTORY OF THE who could have united these scattered and confusedly fermenting masses. Robespierre would have been more capable of doing so, because he liad gained at the Jacobins a patronizing circle of auditors, usually more active than a patronizing circle of readers. But neither did he possess the requisite qualities. Robespierre, an advocate of litde repute at Arras, had been sent by that city as its deputy to the States-general. There lie had connected himself with Petion and Buzot, and maintained with bitterness the opinions which they defended with a deep and calm conviction. At first, he appeared ridiculous, from the heaviness of his delivery and the mediocrity of his elo- quence ; but his obstinacy gained him some attention, especially at the epoch of the revision. When it was rumoured, after the scene in the Champ de Mars, that the persons who had signed the petition of the Jacobins were to be prosecuted, his terror and his youth excited the pity of Buzot and Roland. An asvlum was offered to him, but he soon recovered from his alarm : and, the Assembly having broken up, he intrenched himself at the JacoI)ins, where he continued his dogmatic and inflated harangues. Being elected public accuser, he refused that new office, and thought only how to acquire the doul:)le reputation of an incorruptible patriot and an eloquent speaker.* His first friends, Petion, Buzot, Brissot, and Roland, admitted him to their houses, and observed with pain his mortified pride, which was betrayed by his looks and by his every motion. They felt an interest for him, and regretted that, thinking so much of the public welfare, he should also think so much of himself. He was, however, a person of too little importance for people to be angry with him for his pride ; and it was forgiven on account of his mediocrity and his zeal. It was particularly remarked that, silent in all companies, and rarely expressing his sentiments, he was the first on the following day to retail in the tribune the ideas of others which he had thus collected. This observation was mentioned to him, but unaccompanied with any reproach ; and he soon began to detest this society of superior men, as he had detested that of his constituents. He then betook himself entirely to the Jacobins, where, as we have seen, he difTered in opinion from Brissott • " Robespierre felt rebuked and humiliated among the first chiefs of the Revolution ; he vowed within himself to be one day without a rival, and started for the goal with an unde- viating, passionless, pitiless fixedness of purpose, which seems more than human. He is a proof what mediocre talents suffice to make a tyrant. His views were ordinary — his thoughts were low — his oratory was wretched. But he was a man of a single ruling idea, and of in- defatigable perseverance. His devouring ambition was not to be confounded with that of a common usurper aspiring at political tyranny. It was rather that of the founder of a sect, and even a fanatic in his way. He seems to have formed for himself a system out of the boldest and wildest visions of Rousseau, domestic, social, and political. But he had not a particle of the fervour, eloquence, or enthusiasm of that philosopher. To propagate the new creed by persuasion, was, therefore, not thought of by him ; but he had craft, hypocrisy, im- penetrable reserve, singleness of purpose, and apathetic cruelty ; and, accordingly, he resolved to effect his vast scheme of reform by immolating a whole generation. Robespierre was severe, frugal, and insensible to the pomps, vanities, seductions, and allurements which cor- rupt or influence the great mass of the world." — Brithh and Foreign Review. E. j- The following is the opinion entertained of Brissot by Lafayette, who knew him well : " It is impossible not to be struck with various contrasts in the life of Brissot: a clever man, undoubtedly, and a skilful journalist, but whose talents and influence have been greatly over- rated both by friends and enemies. In other times, before he became a republican, he had made the old regime a sulijcct of eulogy. It seems pretty well proved that, a few days before the lOlh of August, he, and some agitators of his party, had been intriguing with the vaiets- de-chambre of the Tuileries ; even after this insurrection, their only desire was to govern in the name of the prince royal. Brissot, on the very eve of denouncing Lafayette, told the Abbe Duvernet, then member of the society of Jacobins, that the person he was going to accuse, was the man of all others whom he esteemed and revered the most. Even while FRENCH REVOLUTION. 303 and Lou vet on the question of war, and called them, nay, perhaps believed them to be, bad citizens, because their sentiments did not coincide with his, and they supported their opinions with eloquence. Was he sincere, when he inimedialcly suspected those who had opposed hiin, or did he slander them wiltuUy? These are the mysteries of minds. But, with a narrow and common intellect, and with extreme susceptibility, it was easy to ^ive him unfavourable impressions and diilicult to correct them. It is therefore not impossible that a hatred from pride may have changed in him to a hatred from principle, and that he soon believed all those to be wicked who had offended him. Be this as it may, in the lower sphere in which he moved, he excited enthusiasm by his dogmatism and by his reputation for incorruptilnlity. He thus founded his po])ularity upon lilind passions and moderate understand- ings. Austerity and cold dogmatism captivate ardent characters, nay, often superior minds. 'I'here were actually men who were disposed to discover in Robespierre real energy and talents superior to those wliich he pos- sessed. Camille Desmoulins called him his Aristides, and thought him eloquent. Others, without talents, but subdued by his pedantry, went about repeating that he was the man who ought to be put at the head of the Revolution, and that without such a dictator it could not go on. For his part, winking at all these assertions of his partisans, he never attended any of the secret meetings of the conspirators. He complained even of bciuir compromised, because one of them dwelling in the same house as himself had occasionally brought thither the insurrectional committee. He kept himself, therefore, in the back-ground, leaving the business of acting to his panegyrists, Panis, Sergent, Osselin, and other members of the sections and of the municipal councils. Marat, who was looking for a dictator, wished to ascertain if Robespierre was fit for the office. The neglected and cynical person of IMarat formed a striking contrast to that of Robespierre, who was particularly attentive to external appearance. In the retirement of an elegant cabinet, wliere his image was repeated in all possible ways, in painting, in engraving, and in sculpture, he devoted himself to assiduous study, and was continually read- ing Rousseau, in order to glean ideas for his speeches. Marat saw him, found in him nothing but petty animosities, no great system, none of that sanguinary audacity which he himself derived from his monstrous convic- tions — in short, no genius. He departed, filled with contempt for this little man, declared him incapable of saving the state, and became more firmly persuaded than ever that he alone possessed the grand social system. The partisans of Robespierre surrounded Barbaroux, and wished to con- duct the latter to him, saying that a man was wanted, and that Robespierre alone could be that man. This language displeased Barbaroux, whose bold spirit could not brook the idea of a dictatorship, and whose ardent imao^ina- tion was already seduced by the virtue of Roland and the talents of his friends. He called nevertheless on Robespierre. They talked, during the interview, of Petion, whose popularity threw Robespierre into the shade, and who, it was alleged, was incapable of serving the Revolution. Barba- roux replied witli warmth to the reproaches urged against Petion, and, as warmly defended a character which he admired. Robespierre talked of the continuing to calumniate Lafayette, he testified in private for him the same esteem to varioua persons — Lord Lauderdale, anionc: others — a witness whose evidence will hardly be refused aad who often spoke of it in London." — Lafayette's Memoirs. E. 304 HISTORY OF THE Revolution, and repeated, according to his custom, that he had accelerated its march. He concluded, as everybody else did, by saying that a leader was wanted. Barbaroux replied that he wanted neither dictator nor King. Freron observed that Brissot was desirous of being dictator. Thus reproaches were bandied from one to the other, and tliey could not agree. As they went away, Panis, wishing to counteract the bad effect of this interview, said to Barbaroux that he had mistaken the matter, that it was but a mo- mentary authority that was contemplated, and that Robespierre was the only man on whom it could be conferred. It was these vague expressions, these petty rivalries, which falsely persuaded tlie Girondins that Robespierre de- signed to act the usurper. An ardent jealousy was mistaken in him for ambition. But it was one of those errors which the confused vision of par- ties is continually committing. Robespierre, capable at the utmost of hating merit, had neither the strcngtli nor the genius of ambition, and his partisans raised pretensions for him which he himself would not have dared to con- ceive. Danton was more capable than any other of being the leader whom all ardent imaginations desired, for the purpose of giving unity to the revolu- tionary movements. He had formerly tried the bar, but without success. Poor and consumed by passions, he tiien rushed into the political commotions with ardour, and probably with hopes. He was ignorant, but endowed with a superior understanding and a vast imagination. His athletic figure, his flat and somewhat African features, his thundering voice, his eccentric but grand images, captivated his auditors at the Cordeliers and the sections. His face expressed by turns the brutal passions, jollity, and even good-nature. Danton neidier envied nor hated anybody, but his audacity was extraordinary ; and, in certain moments of excitement, he was capable of executing all that the atrocious mind of Marat was capable of conceiving. A Revolution, the unforeseen but inevitable effect of which had been to set the lower against the upper classes of society, could not fail to awaken envy, to give birtli to new systems, and to let loose the brutal passions. Robespierre was the envious man, Marat the systematic man, and Danton the impassioned, violent, fickle, and by turns cruel and generous man. If the two former, engrossed, the one by a consuming envy, the other by mis- chievous systems, could not have many of those wants which render men accessible to corruption, Danton, on the contrary, the slave of his passions, and greedy of pleasure, must have been nothing less tlian incorruptible. Under pretext of compensating him for the loss of his former place of advo- cate to the conned, the court gave him considerable sums. But, though it contrived to pay, it could not gain him.* He continued, nevertheless, to harangue and to excite the mob of the clubs against it. When he was reproached with not fulfilling his bargain, he replied that, in order to retain * " I never saw any countenance that so strongly expressed the violence of brutal passions, and the most astonishing audacity, half-disguised by a jovial air, an atrectation of frankness, and a sort of simplicity, as D.mton's. In 1789 he was a needy lawyer, more burdened with debts than causes. He went to Belgium to augment his resources, and, after the 10th of August, had the hardihood to avow a fortune of 158,333/., and to wallow in luxury, while preaching sans-culottism, and sleeping on heaps of slaughtered men." — Madame RolancTa Memoirs. E. " Danton was an exterminator without ferocity ; inexorable with regard to the mass, but humane and even generous towards individuals. At the time when the commune was meditating the massacres of September, he saved all who came to him ; and, of his own accord, discharged from prison Duport, Barnave, and Charles Lameth, who were in some measure his personal antagonists.'" — Mignei, E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 305 the means of serving the court, lie was obliged in appearance to treat it as an enemy, Danton was therefore the most formidable leader of those bands which were won and guided by pidjlic oratory. But, audacious and fond of hurry- ing forward to the decisive moment, lie was not capable of that assiduous toil which the diirst of rule requires ; and, though he possessed great influ- ence over the conspirators, he did not yet govern them, lie was merely capable, when they hesitated, of rousing their courage and propelling them to a goal by a derisive plan of operation. The different members of the insurrectional committee had not yet been able to agree. The court, apprized of their sliglitest movements, took, on its part, some measures for screening itself against a sudden attack, so tliat it might be enabled to await in safety the arrival of the coalesced powers. It had formed a club, called the French club, which met near the palace, and Avas composed of artisans and soldiers of the national guard. They had all tiieir arms concealed in the very building in whicli they assembled; and they could, in case of emergency, hasten to the aid of the royal family. This single association cost the civil list ten thousand francs per day. A Marseil- lais, named Lieutaud, kept moreover in pay a band which alternately occu- pied the tribunes, the public places, the coffee-houses, and the public-houses, for the purpose of speaking in favour of the King, and opposing the continual tumults of die patriots. *^ Quarrels occurred, in fact, everywhere, and from words die parties almost always came to blows ; but, in spite of all the efforts of the court, its adherents were thinly scattered, and that portion of the national guard which was attached to it was reduced to the lowest state of discouragement. A great number of faithful servants, who had till then been at a distance from the dirone, had come forward to defend the King and to make a ram- part for him willi their bodies. Tlieir meetings at the palace were numerous, and they increased the public distrust. After the scene in February, 1790, they were called knights of tlie dagger. Letters had been delivered for the purpose of calling secredy together the constitutional guard, wliich, though disbanded, had always received its pay. During this time, conflicting opi- nions were maintained around the King, which produced the most painful perplexities in his weak and naturally wavering mind. Some intelliirent friends, among others, Malesherbes,t advised him to abdicate. Others, and these constituted the majority, recommended flight. For the rest, they were far from agreeing eidier upon the means, or the place, or the result of the invasion. In order to reconcile these different plans, the King desired Bcr- trand de MoUeville to see and to arrange matters wiUi Duport, tlie constituent. The King had great confidence in the latter, and he was obliged to give a positive order to Bertrand, who alleged that he disliked to have any com- munication with a constitutionalist such as Duport. ± To Uiis committee belonged also Lally-ToUendal, JNIallouet, Clermont-Tonnerre, Gouvernet, and others, all devoted to Louis XVI., but otherwise differing widely as to • See Bertrand de MoUeville, tomes TJii. and ix. -j- See Ibid. t " Bertrand de MoUeville, a stanch royalist, was, first controller of Breta^ne, and after- wards minister of marine, to which post he was appointed in 1791. After the events of the 10th of August, he was imprisoned by the Jacobins, but succeeded in making his escape to London, where he publLshcd a voluminous history of the Revolution, which met with great success. He did not return to Paris after the 18th of Brumaire (1799), but followed the fortunes of the Bourbons." — Biographic Muderne. E. VOL. I 39 2c2 306 HISTORY OF THE the part wliich royalty ouglrt to be made to act, if they could contrive to save it. The flight of the King and his retreat to the caslle of Gaillon, in Nor- mandy, were tlien resolved upon. The Duke de Liancourt, a friend of the King, and possessing his unlimited confidence, commanded that province. He answered for his troops and for the inhabitants of Rouen, who had, in an energetic address, declared tliemselves against the 20th of June. He oflered to receive the royal family, and to conduct it to Gaillon, or to con- sign it to Lafayette, who would convey it into the midst of his army. He offered, moreover, his whole fortune for the purpose of seconding this pro- ject, asking permission to reserve for his children merely an annuity of one hundred louis. This plan was liked by the constitutional members of the committee, because, instead of placing the King in the hands of the emigrants, it put him under the care of the Duke de Liancourt and Lafayette. For the same reason it displeased others, and was likely to displease the Queen and the King. Still, the castle of Gaillon possessed the important advantage of being only thirty-six leagues from the sea, and of offering an easy flight to England through Normandy, a favourably-disposed province. It had also another, namely, that of being only twenty leagues from Paris. The King could therefore repair thither without violating the constitutional law ; and this had great weight with him, for he was extremely tenacious of not com- mitting any open infringement of it. M. de Narbonne and Necker's daughter, Madame de Stael,* likewise de- vised a plan of flight. The emigrants, on their part, proposed another. This was to carry the King to Compiegne, and thence to the banks of the Rhine, throught the forest of the Ardennes. Every one is eager to offer ladvice to a weak King, because every one aspires to impart to him a will which he has not. So many contrary suggestions added to the natural inde- cision of Louis XVL; and this unfortunate prince, beset by conflicting coun- sels, struck by the reason of some, hurried away by the passion of others, tortured by apprehensions concerning the fate of his family, and disturbed by scruples of conscience, wavered between a thousand projects, and beheld the popular flood approaching without daring either to flee from or to con- front it.t • " The Baroness de Stael-Holstein, was the daughter of the well-known Necker. Her birth, her tastes, her principles, the reputation of her father, and above all, her conduct in the Revo- lution, brought her prominently before the world : and the political factions, and the literary circles with which she has been connected, have by turns disputed with each other for her fiime. After the death of Robespierre, she returned to Paris, and became an admirer of Bona- parte, with whom she afterwards quarrelled, and who banished her from France. She went to live at Coppet, where she received the last sighs of her father, and where she herself died. She published many works, the best of which is her novel of' Corinne.' When in England, in 1812, she was much courted by the higher classes." — Biographic Moderne. E. -j- " The errors of Louis XVI. may truly be said to have originated in a virtuous principle. As to his weaknesses, I shall not endeavour to conceal them. I have more than once had occasion to lament the indecision of this unfortunate prince; his repugnance to adopt the bold measures which might have saved him; and his want of that energy of character, and self-confidence which impose on the multitude, who are ever prone to believe that he who commands with firmness and an air of authority possesses the means of enforcing obedience. But I will venture to say, that the very faults above enumerated did not belong to his natural character, but were ingrafted on it by the selfish indolence of M. de Maurepas." — Private Memoirs of Btrtrand de Mulkville. E. " Louis XVL was the grandson of Louis XV., and the second son of the dauphin by his second wife, Marie Josephine, daughter of Frederick Augustus, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Louis was born in 1754, and in 1770 married Marie Antoniette of Austria FRENCH REVOLUTION. 307 The Girondiii deputies, wlio had so boldly broached the question of the forfeiture of tlie crown, continued, nevcrtlieles.s, undecided on the eve of an insurrection ; and, tliough the court was almost disarmed, and the supreme power was on the side of the people, still the approach of the Prussians, and the dread always excited by an old authority, even after it is disarmed, per- suadetl them that it would be better to come to terms with the court than to expose themselves to the chances of an attack. In case this attack siiould even prove successful, ihev feared lest the arrival of the Prussians, which was very near at hand, should destroy all the results of a victory over the palace, and cause a momentary success to be followed by terrible vengeance. Notwitlistanding-, however, this disposition to treat, they opened no nego- tiations on the subject, and durst not venture to make the first overtures; but they listened to a man named Boze, painter to the King, and very intimate with Thierry, valet-de-chambre of Louis XVI. Boze, alarmed at the danjrers which threatened the public weal, exhorted them to write what they thought proper, in this extremity, to save the King and liberty. They accordingly drew up a letter, which was signed by Guadet, Gensonne, and Vergniaud, and which began with these words. "You ask us, sir, what is our opinion respecting the present situation of France." This exordium sutficiendy proves that the explanation had been called for. It was no longer time, said the three deputies to Boze, for the King to deceive himself, and he would do so most egregiously, if he did not perceive that his conduct was the cause of the general agitation, and of that violence of the clubs of which he was continually complaining. New protestations on his part would be useless, and appear derisory, for at the point to which things had come, de- cisive steps were absolutely necessary to give confidence to the people. Everybody, for instance, was persuaded that it was in the power of the King to keep the foreign armies away. He ought, therefore, to begin by making them draw back. He shouhl then choose a patriotic ministry, dismiss Lafayette, who, in the existing state of affairs, could no longer serve him use- fully, issue a law for the constitutional education of the young dauphin, sub- mit to the public accountability of the civil list, and solemnly declare that he would not accept any increase of power without the free consent of the nation. On these conditions, added the Girondins, it was to be hoped that the irritation would subside, and that, in time and by perseverance in this sys- tem, the King would recover the confidence which he had then entirely lost. Assuredly, the Girondins were very near the attainment of their aim, if a With the best intentions, but utterly inexperienced in government, he ascended the throne in 1774, when he was hardly twenty years of ae^e. In his countenance, which was not desti- tute of dignity, were delineated the prominent features of his character — integrity, indecision, and weakness. He was somewhat stitf in demeanour; and his manners had none of the grace possessed by almost all the princes of the blood. He was fond of reading, and en- dowed with a most retentive memory. He trnn.slated some parts of Giblion's history. It was the fault of this unfortunate monarch to yield too easily to the extravagant tastes of the Queen and the court. The latter years of bis reign were one continued scene of tumult and con- fusion ; and he was guillotined in 179:}, in the 99th year of his age. He was buried in the Magdalen church-yard, Paris, between the graves of tho.se who were crushed to death in the crowd at the Louvre, on the anniversary of bis marriage in 1774, and of the Swiss who fell on the 10th of August, 1792." — Enci/clopiedia Americana. E. " The Revolution was an inheritance bequeathed to Louis by his ancestors. He was more fitted than any of those who preceiled him, to prevent or terminate it; for he was capable of being a reformer before it broke out, or of being a constitutional monarch after it. He is per- haps the only prince wlio, destitute of passions, had not even that of jiower. With a little iQore strength of mind, Louis would have been a model of a king." — Mignet. E. SOS HISTORY OF THE republic had been a system for which they had long and steadily conspired. And, when so near this goal, would they have stopped short, and even have renounced it, to obtain the ministry for three of their friends ! This was not likely, and it becomes evident that a republic was desired only from despair of the monarchy, that it never was a iixed plan, and that, on the very eve of attaining it, those who are accused of having long paved the way to it would not sacrifice the public weal for its sake, but would have consented to a con- stitutional monarchy, if it were accompanied witli suflicient safeguards. The care taken by the Girondins to demand the removal of the foreign troops plainly proves that tliey were wholly engrossed by the existing danger; and the attention wliich they paid to the education of the dauphin atlbrds as strong a proof that monarchy was not to them an insupportable prospect for the future. It has been asserted that Brissot, on his part, had made offers to prevent tlie dethronement of the King, and that the payment of a very large sum was one of the conditions. This assertion is advanced by Bertrand de MoUeville, who always dealt in calumny for two reasons — malignity of heart, and false- ness of mind. But he adduces no proof of it; and the known poverty of Brissot and his enthusiastic principles ought to answer for him. It is, to be sure, not impossible that the court might have consigned money to the care of Brissot; but this would not prove that the money was either asked for or received by him. The circumstance already related respecting Petion, whom certain swindlers undertook to bribe for the court — this circumstance, and many others of the same kind, sufficiently prove what credit ought to be at- tached to these charges of venality, so frequently and so easily hazarded. Besides, let matters stand as they will in regard to Brissot, the three deputies, Guadet, Gensonne, and Vergniaud, have not even been accused, and they were the only persons who signed the letter delivered to Boze. The deeply wounded heart of the King was less capable than ever of list- ening to their prudent advice. Thierry handed him the letter, but he harshly pushed it back, and returned his two accustomed answers, that it was not he but the patriotic ministry who had provoked the war, and that, as for the constitution, he adhered to it faithfully, whilst others were exerting all their efforts to destroy it.* These reasons were not the most just; for, though he had not provoked the war, it was not the less his duty to carry it on Mith vigour; and, as for his scrupulous fidelity to the letter of the law, the observ- ance of tliat letter was of little consequence. It behoved him not to com- promise the thing itself by calling in foreigners. * Copy of the Letter written to Citizen Boze, by Guadet, Vergniaud, and Gensonne. You ask us, sir, what is our opinion respecting the present situation of France, and the choice of the measures that are capable of protecting the public weal from the urgent dangers with which it is threatened ; this is a subject of uneasiness to good citizens and the object of their profoundest meditations. Since you question us upon such important interests, we shall not hesitate to explain our sentiments with frankness. It can no longer be denied that the conduct of the executive power is the immediate cause of all the evils that afflict France and of the dangers that surround the throne. They only deceive the King, who strive to persuade him that exaggerated opinions, the effervescence of the clubs, the manoeuvres of certain agitators, and powerful factions, have occasioned and keep up those commotions, the violence of which each day is liable to increase, and the con- sequences of which it will perhaps be no longer possible to calculate: this is placing the cause of the disorder in its symptoms. If the people were easy respecting the success of a revolution so dearly bought, if the public liberty were no longer in danger, if the conduct of the King excited no distrust, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 309 To the hopes entertained by the Girondins that their counsels would be followed must no doubt be attributed the moderation which they displayed opinions would find iheir level of themselves ; the great mass of the citizens would only think of enjoying the benefits insured to them by the constitution; and if, in this state of things, factions should still exist, they would cease to be dangerous — they would no longer have either pretext or object. But, so long as the public liberty shall be in danger, so long as the alarms of the citizens shall be kept up by the conduct of the executive power, and conspiracies hatched within and without the realm shall appear to be more or less openly encouraged by the King, this state of things necessarily produces disturbances, disorder, and factions. In the best-constimted stales, stales that have been constituted for ages, revolutions have no other principle ; and with us the effect must be the more prompt, inasmuch as there has lieen no interval between the movements which led to the first and those which seem at this day to indicate a second revolution. It is, therefore, but too evident that the present state of things must lead to a crisis, almost all the chances of which will be against royalty. In fact, the interests of the King are sepa- rated from those of the nation : the first public functionary of a free nation is made a party-leader, and, by this horrible policy, the odium of all the evils that afflict France is thrown upon him. Ah ! what can be the success of the foreign powers, even though, by means of their inter ventioii, the authority of the King should be enlarged, and a new form given to the govern- ment ? Is it not evident that those who have entertained the idea of this congress, have sacrificed to their prejudices, to their private interest, the very interest of the monarch ; that the success of these manoeuvres would impart a character of usurpation to powers which the nation alone delegates, and which nothing but its confidence can uphold 1 Why have they not perceived that the force which should bring about this change would long be necessary for its conservation ; and that there would thus be sown in the bosom of the kingdom the seed of dissensions and discord, which the lapse of several agts could alone stifle! Alike sincerely and invariably attached to the interests of the nation, from which we never shall separate those of the King so long as he does not separate them himself, we think that the only way of preventing the evils with which the empire is threatened and to restore tranquillity, would be for the King, by his conduct, to put an end to all cause for alarm, to speak out by facts in the most frank and unequivocal manner, and to surround himself, in short, with the confidence of the people, which alone constitutes his strength and can alone constitute his happiness. It is not at this time of day that he can accomplish this by new protestations; they would be derisory, and in the present circumstances they would assume a character of irony, which, so far from dispelling alarm, would only increase the danger. There is only one from which any effect could be expected ; nameJy, a most solemn declaration that in no case would the King accept any augmentation of power that was not voluntarily granted by the French people, without the concurrence and intervention of any foreign power, and freely discussed according to the constitutional forms. On this head it is even remarked that several members of the National Assembly know that such a declaration was proposed to the King, when he submitted the proposition for war against the King of Hungary, and that he did not think fit to make it. But it might perhaps suflfice to re-establish confidence, if the King were to prevail on the coalesced powers to acknowledge the independence of the French nation, to put an end to all hostilities, and to withdraw the cordons of troops which threaten the frontiers. It is impossible for a very great part of the nation to help feeling convinced that the King has it in his power to dissolve this coalition ; and, so long as it shall endanger the public liberty, we must not flatter ourselves that confidence can revive. If the efforts of the King for this purpose were unavailing, he ought at least to assist the nation, by all the means in his power, to repel the external attack, and not neglect anything to remove from himself the suspicion of encouraging it. In this supp<«ition, it is easy to conceive that suspicion and distrust originate in unfortu- nate circumstances, which it is impossible to change. To make a crime of these, when the danger is real and cannot be mistaken, is the readiest way to increase suspicion : to complain of exaggeration, to attack the clubs, to inveigh against agitators, wheij^the effervescence and agitation are the natural elfect of circumstances, is to give them new strength, to augment the perturbation of the people by the very means tlial are employed to calm it. 310 HISTORY OF THE when it was proposed to take up the question of the forfeiture of the crown — a question daily discussed in the chibs, amon^ the groups out of doors, and in petitions. Whenever they came, in the name of the commission of twelve, to speak of the danger of the country and the means of preventing it, they were met by the cry of " Go back to the cause of the danger" — " To the cause," repeated the tribunes. Vergniaud, Brissot, and the Gi- rondins, replied that they had their eyes upon the cause, and that in due time it should be unveiled ; but for the moment it behoved them not to throw down a fresh apple of discord. In consequence of an entertainment given to the federalists, the insurrec- tional committee resolved that its partizans should meet on the morning of the 26th of July, for the purpose of proceeding to the palace, and that they should march with tiie red flag, beai'ing this inscription : '■'■Those ivJio fire upon the columns of the people shaliinstantly be put to death.'''' The inten- Whilst there shall be a subsisting anil known action against liberty, reaction is inevitable, and the development of both will be equally progressive. In so arduous a situation, tranquillity can be restored only by the absence of all danger; and, until this happy period shall arrive, it is of the utmost importance to the nation and to the King that these unhappy circumstances be not imbittered by conduct, at least equivocal, on the part of the agents of the executive power. 1. Why does not the King choose his ministers from among those who are most decided in favour of the Revolution? Why, in the most critical moments, is he surrounded only by men who are unknown or suspected^ If it could be advantageous to the King to increase the distrust and to excite the people to commotions, could he pursue a more likely course to foment them 1 The selection of ministers has been at all times one of the most important prerogatives of the power with which the King is invested ; it is the thermometer according to which the pui)lic opinion has always judged of the dispositions of the court ; and it is easy to conceive what might be at this day the efTect of that choice, which, in very different times, would have excited the most violent murmurs. A thoroughly patriotic ministry would, therefore, be one of the best means that the King can employ to restore confidence. But he would egregiously deceive himself, who should suppose that by a single step of this kind it could be easily recovered. It is only in the course of time and by continued efforts that one can flatter oneself with the prospect of erasing impressions too deeply engraven to be removed at the instant to the very slightest vestige. 2. At a moment when all the means of defence ought to be employed, when France cannot arm all her defenders, why has not the King offered the muskets and the horses of his guard ? 3. Why does not the King himself solicit a law for subjecting the civil list to a form of accountability, which can assure the nation that it is not diverted from its legitimate purpose and applied to other uses T 4. One of the best means of making the people easy respecting the personal dispositions of the King would be for him to solicit himself a law relative to the education of the prince- royal, and thus hasten the moment when the care of that young prince shall be consigned to a governor possessing the confidence of the nation. 5. Complaints are still made that the decree for disbanding the staff" of the national guard is not sanctioned. These numerous refusals of sanction to legislative measures which public opinion earnestly demands, and the urgency of which cannot be mistaken, provoke the examination of the constitutional question respecting the application of the velu to laws of circumstance, and are not of such a nature as to dispel alarm and discontent. 6. It is of great importance that the King should withdraw the command of the army from M. Lafayette. It is at least evident that he cannot usefully serve the public cause there any longer. We shall conclude this slight sketch with a general observation : it is this, that whatever can remove suspicion and revive confidence cannot and ought not to be neglected. The constitution is saved if the King lakes this resolution with courage, and if he persists in it with firmness. We are, &c. FREN'CH REVOLUTION. 311 tion was to make tlie Kin? prisoner and to confine him at Vincennes. The national jrirard at Versailles had been requested to second this movement ; but the application had been made so late, and there Avas so little concert with that corps, that its officers came on the very same morning to the mayor's residence at Paris, to inquire how they were to act. The secret was so ill kept that the court was already apprized of it. All the royal family was stirring, and the palace was full of people. Petion perceiving that the measures had not been judiciously taken, fearful of some treachery, and considering moreover diat the Marseillais had not yet arrived, repaired in the utmost haste to the fauxbourg, to stop a movement which nmst have ruined the popular party if it had not succeeded. The tumult in the fauxbourgs was tremendous. The tocsin had been ringing there all night. The rumour spread for the purpose of exciting the people was, that a quantity of arms had been collected in the palace, and they were urged to go and bring them away. Petion succeeded, with great difficulty, in restoring order, and Champion de Cice, keeper of tlie seals, who also repaired to the spot, received several sabre strokes. At length the people consented to stay, and the insurrection was deferred. The petty quarrels and wranouis XVL, Bailly, and Lafayette, from the hall of the general council. The new class which was raising itself thus displaced the first eml)lems of the Revolution, in order to substitute its own in their stead. The insurgents of the commune had to place themselves in communica- tion with the Assembly. They reproached it with wavering, nay, even with royalism ; but they regarded it as the only existing sovereign authority, and were not at all disposed to undervalue it. On the morning of the 10th, a deputation appeared at the bar, to acquaint it with the formation of the insurrectional commune, and to state what had been done. Danton was one of the deputies. " The people who send us to you," said he, " have charged us to declare that they still think you worthy of their confidence, but that they recognise no other jud^c of the extraordinary measures to which neces- sity has forced tliem to recur, than Uie French nation, our sovereign and your's, convoked in the primary assemblies." To these deputies the As- sembly replied, dirough the medium of its president, that it approved all that 334 HISTORY OF THE had been done, and that it recommended to them order and peace. It more- over communicated to them the decrees passed in the course of the day, and begg-ed that they woukl circulate them. After this, it drew up a proclama- tion for the purpose of enjoining the respect due to persons and properlv, and commissioned some of its members to convey it to the people. Its first attention, at this moment, was naturally directed to the supply of a substitute for royalty, whicli had been destroyed. The ministers, assem- bled under the name of the executive council, were charged by it, ad interim, with the duties of the administration and the execution of the laws. Tlie minister of justice, the keeper of the seal of state, was to affix it to the decrees, and to promulgate them in the name of the legislative power. It was dien requisite to select the persons who should compose the ministry. The first idea was to reinstate Roland, and Clavieres, and Servan, who had been removed on account of their attachment to the popular cause ; for the new Revolution could not but favour all that royalty had disapproved. Those tliree ministers were, therefore, unanimously reappointed ; Roland to the interior, Servan to the war-department, and Clavieres to the finances. It was requisite also to appoint a minister of justice, of foreign affairs, and of the marine. Here the choice was free, and the wishes formerly con- ceived in favour of obscure merit and patriotism, ardent, and for that reason disagreeable to the court, could be realized without impediment. Danton, who possessed such infiuence over the multitude, and who had exerted it with such effect during the last forty-eight hours, was deemed necessary ; and, though he was disliked by the Girondins as a delegate of the populace, he was nominated minister of justice by a majority of two hundred and twenty-two votes, out of two hundred and eighty-four. After this satisfaction given to the people, and this post conferred on energy, care was taken to place a man of science at the head of the marine. This Avas Monge, the mathematician, known to and appreciated by Condorcet, and chosen at his suggestion. Lastly, Lebrun* was placed at the head of tlie foreign affairs, and in his person was recompensed one of those industrious men who had before performed all the labour of which the ministers reaped the honour. Having thus reconstituted the executive power, the Assembly declared that all the decrees to which Louis XVI. had affixed his veto should receive the force of law. The formation of a camp below Paris, the object of one of these decrees, and the cause of such warm discussions, was immediately ordered, and the gunners were authorized that very day to commence espla- nades on the heights of Montmarte. After effecting a revolution in Paris, it was requisite to insure its success in the departments, and, above all, in the armies, commanded as they were by suspected generals. Commissaries, selected from among the members of the Assembly, were directed to repair to the provinces and to the armies, to enlighten them respecting the events of the 10th of August ; and they were authorized to remove, in case of need, all the officers, civil and military, and to appoint others. A few hours had been sufficient for all these decrees ; and, while tlie Assembly was engaged in passing them, it was constandy interrupted by the necessity of attending to other matters. The valuables carried off from the Tuileries were deposited within its precincts. The Swiss, the servants of the palace, and all those who had been apprehended in their flight, or saved from the fury of the people, were conducted to its bar as to a sanctuary. A * "Lebrun passed for a prudent man, because he was destitute of any species of enthusi- asm ; and for a clever man, because he was a tolerable clerk ; but he had no acti>'ity, no •talent, and no decision." — Madame Roland's Memoirs. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 335 great number of petitioners came, one after another, to report what they had done or seen, and to relate their discoveries concerning the supposed plots of the court. Accusations and invectives of all kinds were brought forward ao-ainst the royal family, whicli heard all this from the narrow space to which it was confined. That place was the box of the short-hand writer. liOuis XVI. listened witli composure to all the speeches, and conversed at times with Vergniaud and other deputies, wiio were placed close to him. Shut up there for fifteen hours, he asked for some refreshment, which he shared with his wife and his children ; and this circumstance called forth ignoble observations on the fondness for the table which had been imputed to him. Every one knows how far victorious parties are disposed to spare misfortune. The young dauphin was lying on his mother's lap, fast asleep, overcome by the oppressive heat. The young princess and Madame Elizabeth,* their eyes red with weeping, were by the side of the Queen. At the back of the box were several gentlemen devotedly attached to the King, who had not abandoned misfortune. Fifty men, belonging to the troops which had escorted the royal family from die palace to the Assembly, served as a guard for this spot, from which the deposed monarch beheld the spoils of his palace, and witnessed the dismemberment of his ancient power, and the distribution of its relics among the various popular authorities. The tumult continued to rage with extreme violence, and, in the opinion of the people, it was not sufficient to have suspended royalty, it behoved them to destroy it. Petitions on this suljject poured in ; and, while the multitude, in an uproar, waited outside die hall for an answer, they inun- dated the avenues, beset the doors, and twice or thrice attacked them with such violence as nearly to burst diem open, and to excite apprehensions for the unfortunate family of which the Assembly had taken charge. Henri Lariviere, wlio was sent, with other commissioners, to pacify the people, returned at that moment, and loudly exclaimed, " Yes, gendemen, I know it, I have seen it ; I assure you that the mass of the people is determined to perish a thousand times rather than disgrace liberty by an act of inhumanity ; and most assuredly there is not one person here present — and everybody must understand me," he added, " who cannot rely upon French honour." These cheering and courageous words were applauded. Vergniaud spoke in his turn, and replied to the petitioners, who insisted that the suspension should be changed into dethronement. " I am graUfied," said he, " that I am furnished with an occasion of explaining the intention of the Assembly in presence of the citizens. It has decreed the suspension of the executive power, and appointed a convention which is to decide irrevocably the great quesUon of the dethronement. In so doing, it has confined itself widiin its powers, which did not allow it to consdlule itself die judge of royalty ; and it has provided for the welfare of the state, by rendering it impossible for the executive power to do mischief. It has thus satisfied all wants, and at the same time kept widiin the limits of its prerogatives." These words pro- • " Madame Elizabrth Philippine Marie Helene, sister to Louis XVL, was born at Ver- sailles in the year 1764. She was the youngest child of Louis, Dauphin of France, and Marie Josephine of Saxony. At the commencement of the Revolution, Madame Elizabeth saw with terror the convocation of the States-general; but when it was found to lie inevita- ble, she devoted herself from that moment entirely to the welfare of her brother and the royal family. She was condemned to death in 1794, and ascended the scaffold with twenty-four other victims, not one c^ whom she knew. She was thirty years old at the time of her execution, and demeaned herself throughout with courage and resignation." — Biographic Moderne. E. 336 HISTORY OF THE duced a favourable impression, and tlie petitioners themselves, pacified by their effect, undertook to enlighten and to appease the people. It was requisite to bring this long sitting to a close. It was therefore ordered that the effects brought from the palace should be deposited with the commune ; that the Swiss and all other persons apprehended should either be guarded at the Feuillans or carried to different prisons ; lastly, that the royal family should be guarded at tiie Luxembourg till the meeting of the National Convention, but that, while the necessary preparations were making there for its reception, it should lodge in the building appropriated to the Assembly. At one o'clock in the morning of Saturday, the 11th, the royal family was removed to the quarters which had been prepared for them, and which consisted of four cells of the ancient Feuillans. The gentlemen who had not quitted the King took possession of the first, the King of the second, the Queen, her sister, and her children, of the two others. The keeper's wife waited on the princesses, and supplied the place of the numerous train of ladies, who, but the preceding day, were disputing the honour of attending upon them. The sitting was suspended at three o'clock in the morning. Paris was still in an uproar. To prevent disturbance, the environs of the palace were illuminated, and the greater part of the citizens were under arms. Such had been that celebrated day, and the results which it had pro- duced. The King and his family were prisoners at the Feuillans ; the three dismissed ministers were reinstated in their functions ; Danton, buried the preceding day in an obscure club, was minister of justice ; Petion was guarded in his own residence, but to his name, shouted with enthusiasm, was added die appellation of Father of the People. Marat had issued from the dark retreat where Danton had concealed him during tlie attack, and now, armed with a sword, paraded through Paris at the head of the Marseilles battalion. Robespierre, who has not been seen figuring during these terrible scenes — Robespierre was haranguing at die Jacobins, and expatiating to some of the members who remained with him on the use to be made of the victory, and on the necessity of superseding the existing Assembly and of impeaching Lafayette. The very next day it was found necessary again to consider how to pacify the excited populace, who still continued to murder such persons as they took for fugiuve aristocrats. The Assembly resumed its sitting at seven in the morning. The royal family was replaced in the short-hand writer's box, that it might again witness the decisions about to be adopted, and the scenes that were to occur in the legislative body. Petion, liberated and escorted by a numerous concourse, came to make a report of the state of Paris, which he had visited, and where he had endeavoured to restore tranquillity. A body of citizens had united to protect his person. Petion was warmly re- ceived by the Assembly, and immediately set out again to continue his pacific exhortations. The Swiss, sent the preceding day to the Feuillans, were threatened. The mob, with loud sliouts, demanded their death, calling diem accomplices of the palace and murderers of the people. They were at length appeased by the assurance that the Swiss should be tried, and that a court- martial should be formed to punish those who were afterwards called the conspirators of the 10th of August. "I move," cried the violent Chabot, " that they be conducted to die Abbaye to be tried In die land of equality, the law ought to smite all heads, even those that are seated on the throne." The officers had already been removed to the Abbaye, Avhither the soldiers were conveyed in dieir turn. This was a task of infinite difficulty, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 337 and it was necessary to promise the people that they should speedily be broui^ht to trial. Already, as we see, did the idea of taking revenge on all the defenders of royally, and punishing them for the dangers that liad been incurred, possess people's minds ; and it was soon destined to produce cruel dissensions. In following the progress of the insurrection, we have already remarked the divisions that began to arise in the popular party. We have already seen the Assembly, composed of sedate and cultivated men, placed in opposition to the clubs and the municipalities, in which were collected men inferior in education and in talents, but from their position, their less dignified manners, their aspiring ambition, disposed to act and to huny on events. We have seen that the nifjht before the 10th of August, Chabot had differed in opinion from Petion, who, in unison with the majority of the Assembly, recom- mended a decree of dethronement in preference to an attack by main force. Those men who had been advocates for the utmost possible violence were, therefore, on the following day, in presence of the Assembly, proud of a victory won almost in spite of that body, and reminding it with expressions of equivocal respect that it had absolved Lafayette, and that it must not again compromise the welfare of the people by its weakness. They filled the commune, where they were mingled with ambitious tradesmen, with subal- tern agitators, and with members of clubs. They occupied the halls of the Jacobins and the Cordeliers, and some of them had seats on the extreme benches of the legislative body. Chabot, the Capuchin, the most ardent of them, passed alternately from the tribune of the Assembly to that of the Jacobins, constantly holding forth tlireats of pikes and the tocsin. Tiie Assembly had voted the suspension, and the clubs were for dethrone- ment. In appointing a governor for tlie dauphin, the former had presup- posed the continuance of royalty, and the latter were for a republic. The majority of the Assembly thought, that it behoved it to make an active defence against foreigners, but to spare the vanquished. The clubs, on the contrary, maintained that it was right not only to defend themselves against foreign foes, but to deal severely with those who, intrenched in the palace, had intended to massacre the people and to bring the Prussians to Paris. Rising in their ardour to extreme opinions, they declared that there was no need for electoral bodies to form the new Assembly, that all the citizens ought to be deemed qualified to vote ; nay, one Jacobin even proposed to give political rights to the women. Lastly, they loudly insisted that the people ought to come in arms to manifest their wishes to the legislative body. Marat excited this agitation of minds and provoked people to vengeance, because he thought, according to his atrocious system, that France required purgingr. Robespierre, not so much from a system of purification, nor from a bloodthirsty disposition, as from envy of the Assembly, excited against it reproaches of weakness and royalism. Extolled by the Jacobins, proposed, before the 10th of August, as the dictator who was wanted, he was now pro- claimed as the most eloquent and the most incorruptible defender of the rights of the people.* Danton, taking no pains either to gain praise or to gain a hearinsr, having never aspired to the dictatorship, had nevertheless decided the result of the 10th of Auofust by his boldness. Even still neglecting all display, he thought only of ruling the executive council, of which he was a member, by controlling or influencing his colleagues. Incapable of hatred • " When speaking at the olubs, Robespierre had a trick of addressing the people in such honeyed terms as ' Poor people !' — ' Virtuous people!' — which never failed of producing an effect on his ferocious aSdience." — Lacretelle. E. VOL. I.— 43 2 F 33S HISTORY OF THE or envy, he bore no ill-will to those deputies whose lustre eclipsed Robes- pierre ; but he neglected them as inactive, and preferred to them those bold spirits of the lower classes on whom he relied more for maintaining and completing the Revolution. Nothing was yet known of these divisions, especially out of Paris. All that the public of France in general ha 1 yet perceived of them was the re- sistance of the Assembly to wishes that were too ardent, and the acquittal of Lafayette, pronounced in spite of the commune and the Jacobins. But all this was imputed. to the royalist and Feuillantine majority. The Giron- dins were still admired. Brissot and Robespierre were equally esteemed ; but Petion, in particular, was adored, as the mayor who had been so ill treated by the court : and it was not known that Petion appeared too moderate to Cliabot, that he wounded the pride of Robespierre, that he was regarded as an honest but useless man by Danton, and as a conspirator doomed to purifi- cation by Marat. Petion, therefore, still enjoyed the respect of the multi- tude ; but, like Bailly, after the 14th of July, he was destined soon to become troublesome and odious by disapproving the excesses which he was unable to prevent. The principal coalition of the new revolutionists was formed at the Jaco- bins and the commune. All that was to be done was proposed and discussed at the Jacobins ; and the same persons then went to the Hotel de Ville, to execute, by means of their municipal powers, what they could only plan in their club. The general -council of the commune composed of itself a kind of assembly, as numerous as the legislative body, having its tribunes, its bureaux, its much more tumultuous plaudits, and a power de facto mucli more considerable. The mayor was its president, and the procurew syndic was the official speaker, whose duty it was to make all the necessary requi- sitions. Petion had already ceased to appear there, and confined his atten- tion to the supply of the city with provisions. Manuel, the procurew, suffering himself to be borne along by the revolutionary billows, raised liis voice there every day. But the person who most swayed this assembly was Robespierre. Keeping aloof during the first three days that followed the 10th of August, he had repaired thitlier after the insurrection had been consummated, and, appearing at the bureau to have his powers verified, he seemed rather to take possession of it than to come for the purpose of sub- mitting his titles. His pride, so far from creating displeasure, only inci'eased the respect that was paid him. His reputation for talents, incorruptibility, and perseverance, made him a grave and respectable personage, whom these assembled tradesmen were proud of having among them. Until the Convention, to which he was sure of belonging, should meet, he came thither to exercise a more real power than that of opinion which he enjoyed at the Jacobins. The first care of the commune was to get the police into its hands ; for, in time of civil war, to imprison and to persecute enemies is the most im- portant and the most envied of powers. The justices of the peace, charged with the exercise of it in part, had given offence to public opinion by their proceedings against the popular agitators ; and, either from sentiment, or from a necessity imposed by their functions, they had set themselves in hostility against the patriots. It was recollected, in particular, that one of them had, in the afi'air of Bertrand de Molleville and Carra, the joiirnalist, dared to summon two deputies. The justices of the peace were therefore removed, and such of their functions as related to the police were transferred rto the municipal authorities. In unison, in this instance, with the commune FRENCH REVOLUTION. 339 of Paris, the Assembly decreed that the police, called the police of general safety, s^hould be assigned to tlie departments, districts, and municipalities. It consisted in inquiring into all misdemeanors threatening the internal and external welfare of the state, in making a list of tlie citizens suspected for their opinions or their conduct, in apprehending them for a time, and in even dispersing and disarming them, if it were necessary. It was the councils of the municipalities that performed these duties ; and the entire mass of the citizens was thus called upon to watch, to denounce, and to secure, the hos- tile party. It is easy to conceive how active, but rigorous and arbitrary, this police, democratically exercised, must have been. The entire council received tlie denunciation, and a committee of siirveil/ance examined it, and caused the accused to be apprehended. The national guarils were in per- manent requisition, and the municipalities of all towns containing more than twenty thousand souls had power to add particular regulations to tliis law of general safety. Assuredly the Legislative Assembly had no notion that it was thus paving the way to the sanguinary executions which not long afterwards took place ; but, surrounded by enemies at home and abroad, it called upon all the citizens to watch them, as it had called upon them all lo attend to the civil administration, and to tight. The commune of Paris eagerly availed itself of these new powers, and caused many persons to be apprehended. Here we see the conquerors, still exasperated by the dangers of the preceding day and the still greater dangers of the morrow, seizing their enemies, now cast down, but soon likely to rise ajjain by the aid of foreigrners. The committee of svrveilla/ice of the com- nmne of Paris was composed of the most violent men. Marat, who in the Revolution had made such audacious attacks on persons, was at the head of this committee ; and in such an office, he of all men was most to be dreaded. Besides this principal committee, the commune of Paris instituted a par- ticular one in each section. It ordered that passports should not be delivered till after the deliberation of the assemblies of sections ; that travellers should be accompanied, either to the municipality or to the gates of Paris, by two witnesses, who should attest the identity of the person who had obtained tlie passport with him who made use of it for the purpose of departing. It thus strove, by all possible means, to prevent the escape of suspected persons under fictitious names. It then directed a list of the enemies of the Revolu- tion to be made, and enjoined the citizens, in a proclamation, to denounce all who had shared in the guilt of the lOlh of August. It ordered those writers who had supported the royal cause lo be apprehended, and gave their presses to patriotic writers. Marat triumphantly obtained the restitu- tion of four presses, which, he said, had been taken from him by order of the traitor Lafayette. Commissioners went to the prisons to release those Avho were confined for shouts or language hostile to the court. Lastly, the commune, always ready to interfere in everything, sent deputies, after the example of the Assembly, to enlighten and to convert the army of Lafayette, which excited some uneasiness. To the commune was assigned moreover a last and not least important duty — the custody of the royal family. The Assembly had at first ordered its removal to the Luxembourg, but, upon the observation that this palace Avas dithcult to guard, it had preferred the hotel of the ministry of justice. But the commune, which had already in its hands the police of the capital, and which considered itself as particularly charged with the custody of the King, proposed the 'J"'emple, and declared that it could not answer for his safe custody, unless^ the tower of that ancient abbey were selected for his 340 HISTORY OF THE dwelling. The Assembly assented, and committed the custody of the illus- trious prisoners to the mayor and Santerre, the commandant-general, upon their personal responsibility. Twelve commissioners of the general council were to keep watch, without interruption, at the 'J'emple. It had been con- verted by outworks into a kind of fortress. Numerous detachments of the national guard alternately formed the garrison, and no person was allowed to enter without permission from the municipality. The Assembly had decreed that five hundred thousand francs should be taken from the treasury for tlie maintenance of the royal family till the approaching meeting of the National Convention. The functions of the commune were, as we see, very extensive. Placed in the centre of the state where the great powers are exercised, and impelled by its energy to do of its own accord whatever seemed to it to be too gently done by the high authorities, it was hurried into incessant encroachments. Tlie Assembly, convinced of the necessity of keeping it within certain limits, ordered the re-election of a new departmental council, to succeed that which had been dissolved on the day of the insurrection. The commune, perceiv- ing that it was threatened with the yoke of a superior authority, whicii would probably restrain its flights, as the former department had done, was incensed at this decree, and ordered the sections to suspend the election which had already commenced. Manuel, the prociireiir syndic, was immediately de- spatched from the Hotel de Ville to the Feuillans, to present the remon- strances of the municipality. " The delegates of the citizens of Paris," said he, " have need of unlimited powers. A new authority placed between them and you would onlv serve to sow the seeds of dissension. It is requisite that the people, in order to deliver themselves from that power destructive to their sovereignty, should once more arm themselves with their ven- geance." Such was the menacing language which men already had tlie hardihood to address to the Assembly. The latter complied with tlie demand ; and, Avhether it believed it to be impossible or imprudent to resist, or that it con- sidered it to be dangerous to fetter at that moment the energy of the com- mune, it decided that the new council should have no authority over tlie municipality, and be nothing more than a commission of finance, charged Avith the superintendence of the public contributions in the department of the Seine. Another more serious question engaged the public mind, and served to demonstrate more forcibly the difference of sentiment prevailing between the commune and the Assembly. The punishment of those who had fired upon the people, and who were ready to show themselves as soon as the enemy should draw near, was loudly demanded. They were called by turns "the conspirators of the 10th of August," and "the traitors." The court-martial appointed on the 11th to try the Swiss did not appear suffi- cient, because its powers were limited to the prosecution of the Swiss soldiers. The criminal tribunal of the Seine was thought to be fettered by too slow formalities, and besides, all the authorities anterior to the 10th of August were suspected. The commune therefore prayed the erection of a tribunal which should be empowered to take cognizance of the crimes of tlie loth of August, and have sufficient latitude to reach all who were called the traitors. The Assembly referred the petition to the extraordinary com- mission appointed in the month of .July to propose the means of safety. On the 14th, a fresh deputation of the commune was sent to the legislative body, to demand the decree relative to the extraordinary tribunal, declaring FRENCH REVOLUTION. 341 that, as it was not yet passed, they were directed to wait for it. Gaston, the deputy, addressed some severe observations to this deputation, which withdrew. The Assembly persisted in refusing to create an extraordinary tribunal, and merely assigned to the established tribunals the cognizance of the. crimes of the lOth of ^^k gust. At this intelligence, violent agitation spread through Paris. The section of the Quinze-Vingts repaired to the general council of the commune, and intimated that the tocsin would be rung in the fauxbourg St. Antoine, if the decree applied for were not immediately passed. The general council then sent a fresh deputation, at the head of which was Robespierre. He spoke in the name of the municipality, and made the most insolent remonstrances to the deputies. " The tranquillity of the people," said he, " depends on the punishment of the gviilty, and yet you have done nothing to reach them. Your decree is insufficient. It does not explain the nature and the extent of the crimes to be punished, for it specifies only the crimes of the lOth of August, and the crimes of the enemies of the Revolution extend far beyond the 10th of August and Paris. With such an expression, the traitor Tia- fayette would escape the vengeance of the law. As for the form of the tribunal, the people can no longer tolerate that which you have retained. The twofold degree of jurisdiction causes numberless delays, and, besides, all the old autliorities are suspected; new ones are required; it is necessary that the tribunal demanded be composed of deputies taken from the sections, and that it be empowered to try the guilty, sovereignly, and without appeal." This imperative petition appeared still more harsh from the tone of Robes- pierre. The Assembly answered the people of Paris in an address, in which it rejected any proposal for an extraordinary commission and chambre ardente, as unworthy of liberty, and fit only for despotism. These reasonable observations produced no efiect. They served only to increase the irritation. Nothing was talked of in Paris but the tocsin; and, the very next day, a representative of the commune appeared at the bar, and said to the Assembly, "As a citizen, as a magistrate of the people, I come to inform you Uiat at twelve o'clock this night the tocsin will be rung and the alarm beaten. The people are weary of not being avenged. Beware lest they do themselves justice. I demand," added the audacious petitioner, "that you forthwith decree that a citizen be appointed by each section to form a criminal tribunal." This threatening apostrophe roused the Assembly, and particularly the deputies Choudieu and Thuriot, who warmly reprimanded the envoy of the commune. A discussion, however, ensued, and the proposal of the com- mune, strongly supported by the hotheaded members of the Assembly, was at length converted into a decree. An electoral bodv was to assemble, to choose the members of an extraordinary tribunal, destined to take coofnizance of crimes committed on the 10th of August, and other crimes and circum- stances connected n-ifh it. This tribunal, divided into two sections, was to pronounce sentence finally and without appeal. Such was the first essay of the revolutionary tribimal, and the first spur given by vengeance to the forms of justice. This tribunal was called the tribunal of the 17th of August. The effect produced on the armies by the recent revolution, and the man- ner in which they had received the decrees of the 10th, were slill unknown. This was the most important point, and the fate of the new revolution depended upon it. The fronti(^ was still divided into three armies, the army of the North, the army of the cenlre, and the army of the South. Luckner commanded the first, Lafayette the second, and Montesquieu the third. Since the unfortu- 2 f2 342 HISTORY OF THE nate affairs at Mons and Tournay, Luckner, urged by Dumouriez, had ag lin attempted the offensive against the Netherlands, but had retreated, and, iu evacuating Courtray, had burned the suburbs, which was made a seriaus charge against the ministry the day before the dethronement. The armies had since remained in a state of complete inactivity, living in intrenched camps, and confining themselves to slight skirmishes. Dumouriez, ai"ter resigning the ministry, had gone as lieutenant-general under Luckner, and been unfavourably received by the army, where the spirit of Lafayette's party predominated. Luckner, wholly under tliis influence for a moment, sent Dumouriez to one of these camps, that of Maulde, and there left him, witli a small number of troops, to amuse himself with intrenchments and skirmishes, v*^ Lafayette, wishing, amidst the dangers that encompassed the King, to be ' nearer to Paris, had been desirous of taking the command of the North. He was, nevertlieless, unwilling to quit his troops, by whom he was greatly beloved, and he agreed with Luckner to change positions, each with his division, and to decamp, the one for the North, the other for the centre. This operation, in the presence of an enemy, might have been attended with danger, if, very luckily, the war had not been so completely inactive. Luck- ner had therefore repaired to Metz, and Lafayette to Sedan. During this cross-movement, Dumouriez, who was directed to follow with his little corps the army of Luckner, to which he belonged, halted suddenly in presence of the enemy, who had threatened to attack him ; and he was obliged to remain in his camp, lest he should lay open the entry to Flanders to the Duke of Saxe-Teschen. He assembled the other generals who occupied separate camps near him ; he concerted with Dillon,' who came up with a portion of Lafayette's army, and insisted on a council of war at Valenciennes, for the purpose of justifying, by the necessity of the case, his disobedience to Luckner. Meanwhile Luckner had arrived at Metz, and Lafayette at Sedan; and, but for the events of the 10th of August, Dumouriez would probably have been put under arrest, and brought to a military trial for his refusal to advance. Such Avas the situation of the armies when they received tidings of tlie overthrow of the throne. The first point to which the Legislative Assembly turned its attention was, as we have seen, to send three commissioners to carry its decrees and to make the troops take the new oath. The three commissioners, on their arrival at Sedan, were received by the municipality, which had orders from Lafayette to cause them to be apprehended. The mayor questioned them concerning the scene of the 10th of August, required an account of all the circumstances, and declared, agreealily to the secret instructions which he had received from Lafayette, that evidently the Legis- lative Assembly was no longer free when it decreed the suspension of the King ; that its commissioners were but the envoys of a factious cabal ; and that they should be put into confinement in the name of the constitution. They were actually imprisoned, and Lafayette, to exonerate those who exe- cuted his order, took upon himself the sole responsibility. Immediately afterwards, he caused his army to take anew the oath of fidelity to tlie law and to the King ; and ordered the same to be done by all the corps under * " The Count Arthur de Dillon, a general officer in the French service, was deputed from Martinieplember, 1792, he presided in the meeting at the Abbaye to regulate the massacre of the prisoners ; and it has been said that he seized on the spoils of those who were murdered by his order. He afterwards became one of the denunciators of the prisons, and, during the Reign of Terror, appeared several tiinesv-at La Force, to mark the victims who were to be coi)deained by the revolutionary tribunal.'' — Biographic Moderne. E. VOL. I. — 45 2 a 2 354 HISTORY OF THE On Saturday, the 1st of September, the forty-eight hours fixed for tlie closing of the barriers and the execution of the domiciliary visits having elapsed, the communications were re-established. Bat, in the course of the day, all at once a rumour of the taking of Verdun was circulated. Verdun, however, was only invested; still it was believed that the place was cap- tured, and that a fresh treachery had delivered it up like the fortress of Longvvy. Under the influence of Danton, the commune immediately re- solved that, on the following day, September the 2d, the generate sliould be beaten, the tocsin rung, and alarm-guns fired, and that all the disposable citizens should repair armed to the Champ de Mars, encamp there for the remainder of the day, and set out on the next for Verdun. From these terri- ble preparations it became evident that something very diff'erent from a levy en masise was contemplated. Relatives hastened to make eiforts to obtain the enlargement of the prisoners. Manuel, the procKreur syndic, at the solicitation of a generous woman liberated, it is said, two female prisoners of the family of Latremouille. Another lady, Madame Fausse-Lendry, im- portunately solicited permission to accompany her uncle, the Abbe de Ras- tignac, in his captivity. " You are very imprudent," replied Sergent; " ?/d one another to adopt it, when it should come to our turn to be butchered. — One o'clock, Tuesday morn- ins;. After enduring inconceivable tortures of mind, I was brought, before my judges, firo- claimed innocent, and set free." — Extracted from a Journal entitled "it/y Thirty-eight Hours' Agony," by M. Jourgniac de Saint-Mtard. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 361 the Bemardins, St. Firmin, La Salpetriore, and the Bicetrc, the same mas- sacres had been perpetrated, and streams of blood had flowed, as at the Abbaye.* Next morning-, Monday, the 3d of September, day threw a light upon the horrid carnarr-e of the nifjlit, and consternation pervaded all Paris. Biliaud-V'arennes again repaired to the Abbaye, where, on the preceding evening, he had encouraged what were called the labourers. He again ad- dressed them. " My friends," said he, " by taking the lives of villains you have saved the country. France owes you everlasting gratitude, and the municipality knows not how to remunerate you. It ofi'ers you twenty-four livres apiece, and you shall be paid immediately." These w^ords were received with applause, and those to whom they were addressed then fol- lowed I}illaud-V'arennes to the committee to receive tlie pay that was pro- mised them. "Where do you imagine," said the president to Billaud, "that we are to find funds for payino-?" Billaud then pronounced a fresh eulogy on the massacres, and told the president that the minister of the in- terior must have money for that purpose. Messengers were sent to Roland, who, on rising, had just received intelliorence of the crimes of the night, and who refused the demand with indil>on across the principal gate as a bar against them ; and that for sir hours it was very doubtful whether the royal family would be massacred or not." — Clery. E. \ 364 HISTORY OF THE plot." — " Swear to love liberty and equality ; swear to hate the King, the Queen, and royalty." — " I will take the first oath ; the second I cannot take ; it is not in my heart." — '' Swear, however," said one of the bystand- ers, who wished to save her. But the unfortunate lady coidd no longer either see or hear. "Let Madame be set at liberty,'''' said the chief of the wicket. Here, as at the Abbaye, a particular word had been adopted as the signal of death. The princess was led away, not as some writers assert, to be put to deatli, but for the purpose of being actually liberated. At the door, however, she was received by wretches eager after carnage. At the first stroke of a sabre on the back of her head, the blood gushed forth. She still advanced, supported by two men, who perhaps meant to save her: but a few paces further, she fell from the effect of a second blow. Her beautiful form was torn in pieces.* It was even mangled and mutilated by the mur- * " The Princess de Lamballe, having been spared on the night of the second, flung her- self on her bed, oppressed with every species of anxiety and horror. She closed her eyes, but only to open them in an instant, startled with frightful dreams. About eight o'clock next morning, two nati()nal guards entered her room, to inform her that she was going to be re- moved to the Abbaye. She slipped on her gown, and went down stairs into the sessions- room. When she entered this frightful court, the sight of weapons stained with blood, and of executioners whose hands, faces, and clothes were smeared over with the same red dye, gave her such a shock that she fainted several times. At length she was subjected to a mock examination, after which, just as she was stepping across the threshold of the door, she re- ceived on the back of her head a blow with a hanger, which made the blood spout. Two men' then laid fast hold of her, and obliged her to walk over dead bodies, while she was faint- ing every instant. They then completed her murder by running her through with their spears on a hea[) of corpses. She was afterwards stripped, and her naked body exposed to the insults of the populace. In this state it remained more than two hours. When any blood gushing from its wounds stained the skin, some men, placed there for the purpose, imme- diately washed it off, to make the spectators take more particular notice of its whiteness. I must not venture to describe the excesses of barbarity and lustful indecency with which this corpse was defded. I shall only say that a cannon was charged with one of the legs ! To- wards noon, the murderers determined to cut off her head, and carry it in trium|>h round Paris. Her other scattered limbs were also given to troops of cannibals who trailed them along the streets. The pike that supported the head was planted under the very windows of the Duke of Orleans. He was sitting down to dinner at the time, but rose from his chair, and gazed at the ghastly spectacle without discovering the least symptom of uneasiness, ter- ror or satisfaction." — Peltier. E. " One day when my brother came to pay us a visit, he perceived, as he came along, groups of people whose sanguinary drunkenness was horrible. Many were naked to the waist, and their arms and breasts were covered with blood. Their countenances were inflamed, and their eyes haggard ; in short, they looked hideous. My brother, in his uneasiness about us, determined to come to us at all risks, and drove rapidly along the Boulevard, until he arrived opposite the house of Beaumarchais. There he was stopped by an immense mob, composed also of half-naked people, besmeared with blood, and who had the appearance of demons. They vociferated, sang, and danced. It was the Saturnalia of Hell ! On perceiving Albert's cabriolet, they cried out, ' Let it be taken to him ; he is an aristocrat.' In a moment, the cabriolet was surrounded by the multitude, and iVom the middle of the crowd an object seemed to arise and approach. My brother's troubled sight did not at first enable him to perceive long auburn tresses clotted with blood, and a countenance still lovely. The object came nearer and nearer, and rested upon his face. My unhappy brother uttered a piercing cry. He had recog- nised the head of the Princess de Lamballe I" — Duchess d'Abruntts. E. " It is sometimes not uninstructive to follow the career of the wretches who perpetrate such crimes to their latter end. In a remote situation on the sea-coast, lived a middle-aged man, in a solitary cottage, unattended by any human being. The police bad strict orders from the First Consul to watch him with peculiar care. He died of suffocation produced by an acci- dent which had befallen him when eating, uttering the mos^t horrid blasjihemies, and in the midst of frightful tortures. He had been the principal actor in the murder of the Princess de Lamballe." — Duche.^s d' Abrantcs, E. " Madame de Lamballe's sincere attachment to the Queen was her only crime. In the midst \ FRENCH REVOLUTION. 365 deters, who divided the fragments among tliem. Her head, her heart, and other parts of her body, were borne through Paris on the point of pikes ! " We must," said tlie wretclies, in their atrocious language, " carry them to the foot of the throne."" They ran to the Temple, and with shouts awoke the unfortunate prisoners. They inquired in alarm what was the matter. The municipal officers wished to prevent Uiem from seeing the horrilde crew under their window, and the bloody head uplifted on the point of a pike. At length one of the national guards said to the Queen, " It is the head of Lamballe wliich they are anxious to keep you from seeing." At these words, the Queen fainted. Madame Elizabeth, the King, and Clery, the valet-de-chambre, carried away the unfortunate princess, and for a considera- ble time afterwards, the shouts of the ferocious rabble rang around the walls of the Temple. The whole day of the 3d, and the succeeding night continued to be sullied by these massacres. At the Bicetre, the carnage was longer and more terri- ble than any wh(!re else.* There some thousands of prisoners were confined, as everybody knows, for all sorts of misdemeanors. They were attacked, endeavoured to defend themselves, and cannon were employed to reduce them. A member of the general council of the commune even had the audacity to apply for a force to reduce the prisoners, who were defending themselves. He was not listened to. Petion repaired again to the Bicetre, but to no purpose. The thirst for blood urged on the multitude. The fury of fighting and murdering had superseded political fanaticism, and it killed for the sake of killing. There the massacre lasted till Thursday, the 5th of September.! of our commotions she had played no part; nothing could render her suspected by the people, to whom she was only known hy repeated acts of beneficence. When summoned to the bar of La Force, many among the crowd bcsouyht pardon for her, and the assassins for a mo- ment stood doubtful, but soon murdered her. Immediately they cut off her head and her breasts; her body was opened, her heart torn out ; and the tigers who had so mangled her, took a barbarous pleasure in going to show her head and heart to Louis XVI. and his family, at the Temple. Madame de Lamballe was beautiful, gentle, obliging, and moderate.'" — Mercter. E. " Marie Thercse Louise de Savoie Carignan Ijamballc, widow of Louis Alexander Joseph Stanislas de Bourbon Penthiere, Prince de Jjamballe, was born in yeptember, 1749, and was mistress of the household to the Queen of France, to whom she was united by bonds of the tenderest affection." — Biographie Muderne. E. * " The Bicetre Hospital was the scene of the longest and the most bloody carnage. This prison might be called the haunt or receptacle of every vice; it was an hospital also for the cure of the foulest and most ofilicting diseases. It was the sink of Paris. Every creature there was put to death. It is impossible to calculate the number of victims, but I have heard them calculated at six thousand. The work of death never ceased for an instant during eight days and nights. Pikes, swords, and guns, not beitig sutlicient for the ferocity of the mur- derers, they were obliged to have recourse to cannon. Then, for the first time, were prisoners seen fighting for their dungeons and their chains. They made a long and deadly resistance, but were all eventually assassinated." — Peltier. E. \ Subjoined are some valuable details respecting the days of September, which exhibit those horrid scenes under their genuine aspect. It was at the Jacobins that the most im- portant disclosures were made, in consequence of the disputes which had arisen in the Con- vention : Sitting of Monday, October 29, 1792. " Chabot. — This morning Louvet made an assertion, which it is essential to contradict- He told us that it was not the men of the lOih of August who were the authors of the 2u of September, and I, as an eyewitness, can tell you that it was the very same men. He told us that there were notf more than two hundred persons acting, and 1 will tell you that I passed under a steel arch of ten thousand swords. For the truth of this I appeal to Bazire, Colon, 2 h2 366 HISTORY OF THE At length almost all the victims hiid perished ; the prisons were empty. The infuriated wretches still demanded blood, but the dark, directors of so and the other deputies who were with me : from the Cour des Moines to the prison of the Abbaye, people were obliged to squeeze one another to make a passage for us. I recogr)ised for my part one hundred and fifty federalists. It is impossible that Louvet and his adherents should not have been present at these popular executions. Yet a man who can coolly deliver a speech such as I^ouvet's, cannot have much humanity. At any rate, I know that, since that speech, I would not lie down by him for fear of being assassinated. I summon Pelion to declare if it be true that there were not more than two hundred men at that execution ; but it was to be expected that intriguers would fall foul of that day, respecting which all France is not yet enlightened They want to destroy the patriots in detail. They want de- crees of accusation against Robespierre, Marat, Danton, and Santerre. They will soon attack Baziro, Merlin, Chabot, Montaut, ani even Grangeneuve, if he had not reconciled himself with them ; they will then propose a decree against the whole fauxbourg St. Antoine, and against the forty-eight sections, and there will be eight hundred thousand of us decreed under accusation: but let them beware of miscalculating their strength, since they demand the ostracism." Sitting of Monday, November 5. " Fabre d'Eglantine made some observations on the events of the 2d of September. He declared that it was the men of the 10th of August who broke into the prisons of the Abbaye, of Orleans, and of Versailles. He said that in these moments of crisis he had seen the same men come to Danton's, and express their satisfaction by rubbing their hands together: that one of them even desired that Morande might be sacrificed : he added, that he had seen in the garden of the minister for foreign affairs, Roland, the minister, pale, dejected, with his head leaning against a tree, demanding the removal of the Convention to Tours or Blois. The speaker added that Danton alone displayed the greatest energy of character on that day ; that Danton never despaired of the salvation of the country ; that by stamping upon the ground he made ten thousand defenders start from it; and that he had sufficient moderation not to make a bad use of the species of dictatorship with which the National Assembly had invested him, by decreeing that those who should counteract the ministerial operations should be punished with death. Fabre then declared that he had received a letter from Madame Roland, in which the wife of the minister of the interior begged him to lend a hand to an expedient devised for the purpose of carrying some decrees in the Convention. The speaker proposed that the society should pass a resolution for drawing up an address comprehending all the historical details of the events which had occurred from the acquittal of Lafayette to that day." " Chabot. — These are facts which it is of importance to know. On the 10th of August, the people, in their insurrection, designed to sacrifice the Swiss. At that time, the Brissotins did not consider themselves as the men of the 10th of August, for they came to implore us to take pity on them — such was the very expression of Lasource. On that day I was a god, I saved one hundred and fifty Swiss. Single-handed, I stopped at the door of the Feuillans the people eager to penetrate into the hall for the purpose of sacrificing those unfortunate Swiss to their vengeance. The Brissotins were then apprehensive lest the massacre should extend to them. After what I had done on the 10th of August, I expected that, on the 2d of September, I should be deputed to the people. Well, the extraordinary commission under the presidency of the supreme Brissot did not choose me. Whom did it choose ] Dussaulx, with whom, it is true, Bazire was associated. At the same time, it was well known what men were qualified to influence the people, and to stop the effusion of blood. The deputa- tion was passing me ; Bazire begged me to join it, and took me along with him Had Dussaulx private instructions T I know not ; but this I know, that he would not allow any one to speak. Amidst an assemblage often thousand men, among whom were one hundred and fifty Marseillais, Dussaulx mounted a chair; he was extremely awkward: he had to address men armed with daggers. When he at length obtained silence, I said hastily to him, ' If vou manage well, you will put a stop to the effusion of blood : tell the Parisians that it is to their interest that the massacres should cease, that the departments may not be alarmed for the safety of the National Convention, which is about to assemlile at Paris.' Dussaulx heard me ; but, whether from insincerity or the pride of age, he would not do what I told him; and this is that M. Dussaulx who is proclaimed the only worthy man in the deputation of Paris ! A second fact not less essential is, that the massacre of the prisoners of Orleans was not committed by the Parisians. This massacre ought to appear much more odious, FRENCH REVOLUTION. 367 many murders began tliemselves to be accessible to pity. The expressions of the comniiine assumed a milder tone. Deeply moved, it is said, by the rigour exercised against the prisoners, it issued fresh orders for stopping them ; and this time it was better obeyed. There were, however, but very few unhappy individuals left to benefit by its pity ! All the reports of the time difler in their estimate of tlie numlier of the victims, Tliat estimate varies from six to twelve thousand in the prisons of Paris.* But if the executions spread consternation, the audacity which could avow and recommend the imitation of tliem, excited not less surprise dian the exe- cutions themselves. The committee of surveillance dared to address a circular to all the commmies of France, M'hich history ought to preserve, together with the names of the seven persons who did not hesitate to sign it. From this document the reader may form some conception of the fanaticism produced by the public danger. ••Paris, September 2, 1792. " Brethren and friends, "A horrid plot, hatched by the court, to murder all the patriots of the French empire, a plot in which a great number of members of the National because it was farther distant from the lOlh of August, and was perpetrated by a smaller number of men. The intriguers, nevertheless; have not mentioned it ; they liave not said a word about it, and why ? Because there perished an enemy of Brissot, the minister for fo- reign affairs, who had ousted his protege, Narbonne If I alone, at the door of the J^euillans, stopped the people who wanted to sacrilice the Swiss, how much greater is the probability that the Legislative Assembly might have prevented the effusion of blood ! If, then, there be any guilt, to the Legislative Assembly it must be imputed, or rather to Brissot, who was then its leader." • " Recapitulation of the persons massacred in the different prisons at Paris, from Sunday, the 2d, till Friday, the 7th of September, 1792: 211 at the Convent of the Carmelites, and Saint Firmin's Seminary; 180 at the Abbey of St. Germain ; 73 at the Cloister of the Bernardins; 45 at the Hospital of La Salpetriere ; 8.5 at the Conciergerie ; 214 at the Chatelet; 164 at the Hotel de la Force. lOOu To these should be added the poor creatures who were put to death in the Hospital of Bice- tre, and in the yards at I, a Saljiotriere ; those who were drowned at the Hotel de la Force ; and all those who were dragged out of the dungeons of the Conciergerie and the Chatelet, to be butchered on the Pont-au-Change, the number of whom it will ever be impossible wholly to ascertain, but which may, without exaggeration, be computed at eight thousand individuals!" — Peltier. E. "The small number of those who perpetrated these murders in the French capital under the eyes of the legislature is one of the most instructive facts in the history of revolutions. The number actually engaged in the massacres did not exceed 300 ; and twice as many more witnessed and encouraged their proceedings : yet this handful of men governed Paris and France with a despotism, which 300.000 armed warriors afterwards strove in vain to effect. The immense majority of the well disposed citizens, divided in o[nnion, irresolute in conduct, and dispersed in various (juarters, were incapable of arresting the progress of assassination. It is not less worthy of observation, that these atrocities took place in the heart of a city where above fifty thousanci men were enrolled in the national guard, and had arms in their hands! When the murders had ceased, the remains of the victims were thrown into trenches previously prepared by the municipality for their reception. They were subse- quently conveyed to the catacombs, where they were built uj); and still remain the monu- ment of crimes unfi^ to be thought of, and which France would gladly bury in oblivion." — Alison. 368 HISTORY OF THE Assembly are implicated, liaving, on tlie 9th of last month, reduced the com- mune of Paris to the cruel necessity of employing the power of the people to save the nation, it has not neglected anything to deserve \ve\\ of the coun- try. After the testimonies which the National Assembly itself had just given, could it liave been imagined that fresh plots were hatching in secret, and that they would break fort!i at the very moment when the National As- sembly, forgetting its recent declaration that the commune of Paris had saved the country, was striving to cashier it as a reward for its ardent patriotism ? At these tidings, the public clamour raised on all sides rendered the National Assembly sensible of the urgent necessity for joining the people, and restor- ing to the commune, with reference to the decree of destitution, the power ■with wiiich it had invested it. " Proud of enjoying in the fullest measure the national conlidence, Avhich it will strive to deserve more and more, placed in the focus of all con?pira- cies, and determined to perish for the public welfare, it will not boast of having done its duty till it shall have obtained your approbation, ■which is the object of all its wishes, and of which it will not be certain till all the departments have sanctioned its measures for the public weal. Professing the principles of the most perfect equality, aspiring to no other privilege than that of being the first to mount the breach, it will feel anxious to reduce itself to the level of the least numerous commune of the empire as soon as tliere shall be nothing more to dread, "Apprized that barbarous hordes are advancing against it, the commune of Paris hastens to inform its l^retliren in all the departments that part of the ferocious conspirators confined in the prisons has been put to death by the people — acts of justice which appear to it indispensable for repressing by terror the legions of traitors encompassed by its walls at the moment when they were about to march against the enemy ; and no doubt the nation, after the lonor series of treasons which have broutjht it to the brink of the abvss, will eagerly adopt this useful and necessary expedient ; and all the French will say, like the Parisians — "We are marching against the enemy, and we ■will not leave behind us brigands to murder our wives and our children. " (Signed) Duplaix, Panis, Sergent, Lenfant, JMarat, Lefort, JouRDEuiL, Administrators of the Committee of Sur- veillance, constituted at the 3Iairie." Dumouriez, as we have seen, had already held a council of war at Sedan. Dillon had there proposed to fall back to Chalons, for the purpose of placing the Marne in our front, and of defending the passage of that river. The disorder prevailing among the twenty- three thousand men left to Dumouriez ; their inability to make head against eighty thousand Prussians, perfectly organized and habituated to war ; the intention altrilniled to the enemy of making a rapid invasion 'without stopping at the fortresses — these were the reasons which led Dillon to conceive it to be impossible to keep the Prus- sians in check, and that no time should be lost in retiring before them, in order to seek stronger positions ■which might make amends. The council was so struck by these reasons that it coincided unanimously in Dillon's opinion, and Dumouriez, to whom, as general-in-chief, the decision belonged, replied that he would consider it. This was on the evening of the 28th of Ausfust. A resolution was here taken which saved France. Several persons dispute the honour of it. Every- thing proves tlvat it is due to Dumouriez. The execution, at any rate, ren- ders it entirely his own, and ought to earn for him all the glory of it. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 369 France, as every reader knows, is defended on the east by llie Rhine and the Vosges, on the north by a cliain of fortresses created by the genius of Vau- ban, and by the Meuse, the Moselle, and various streams, which, combined with the fortified towns, constitute a sum total of obstacles sufiicient to pro- tect that frontier. The enemy had penetrated into France from the north, and had directed his march between Sedan and Metz, leaving the attack of the fortresses of the Netherlands to the Duke of Saxe-Teschen, and masking Metz and Lorraine by a body of troops. Consistently with this plan, he ought to have inarched rapidly, profited by the disorganization of the French, struck terror into them by decisive blows, and even taken Lafayette's twenty- three thousand men, before a new general had again given them unity and confidence. But the struggle between the presumption of the King of Prussia and the prudence of Brunswick forbade any resolution, and prevented the allies from being either bold or prudent. The reduction of Verdun in- flamed still more the vanity of Frederick-William and the ardour of the emigrants, but without giving greater activity to Brunswick, who was far from approving of the invasion, with the means which he possessed, and with the disposition of the invaded country. After the capture of Verdun, on the 2d of September, the allied army spread itself for some days over the plains bordering the Meuse, and contented itself with occupying Stenay, without advancing a single step. Dumouriez was at Sedan, and his army encamped in the environs. From Sedan to Passavant a forest extends, the name of which ought to be for ever famous in our annals. This is the forest of Argonne, which covers a space of from thirteen to fifteen leagues, and which, from tlie inequalities of the ground, and tlie mixture of wood and water, is absolutely impenetrable to an army, except by some of the principal passes. Through this forest the enemy must have penetrated, in order to reach Chalons and afterwards take the road to Paris. AVith such a plan it is astonishing that he had not yet thought of occupying the principal passes, and thus have anticipated Dumouriez, who, from his position at Sedan, was separated from them by the whole length of the forest. The evening after the council of war, tho French general was considering the map with an ofllcer, in whose talents he had the greatest confidence. This was Thouvenot. Pointing with his finger to the Argonne and the tracks by which it is intersected, — -' That," said he, " is the Thermopyla; of France. If I can but get thither before the Prussians, all will be saved." Thouvenot's genius took fire at this expression, and both fell to work upon the details of this grand plan. Its advantages were immense. Instead of retreating, and have notliing but the Marne for the last line of defence, Du- mouriez would, by its adoption, cause the enemy to lose valuable time, and oblige him to remain in Champagne, the desolate, muddv. sterile soil of which could not furnish supplies for an army: neither woidd he give up to the in- vaders, as would happen if he retired to Chalons, the Trois-Eveches, a rich and fertile country, where they might winter very comfortably, in case they should not have forced the IMarnc. If the enemy, after losing some time before the forest, attempted to turn it, aiul directed his course towards Sedan, he would meet with the fortresses of the Netherlands, and it was not to be supposed that he could reduce them. If he tried the other extremity of the forest, he Avould come upon Metz and the army of the centre. Dumouriez would then set out in pursuit of him, and, by joining the army of Kellermann, he might form admass of fifty thousand men, supported by Metz and several other fortified toivns. At all events, this course would disappoint him of the VOL. I. — 47 370 HISTORY OF THE object of his march, and cause him to lose this campaign ; for it was already September, and, at tliis period, people began at that season to talce up winter quarters. This plan was excellent, but the point was to carry it into execu- tion ; and the Prussians ranged along the Argonne, while Dumouriez was at one of its extremities, might have occupied its passes. Thus then the issue of this grand plan and the fate of France depended on accident and a fault of the enemy. The Argonne is intersected by five defiles, called Chene-Populeux, Croix- aux-Bois, Grand-Prey, La Chalade and Islettes. The most important are those of Grand-Prey and Islettes ; and unluckily these were the farthest from Sedan and tlie nearest to the enemy. Dumouriez resolved to proceed thither with his whole force. At the same time, he ordered General Dubouquet to leave the department of the Nord, and to occupy the pass of Chene-Populeux, which was of great importance, but very near Sedan, and the occupation of wliich was less urgent. Two routes presented themselves to Dumouriez for marching to Grand-Prey and Islettes. One was in the rear of the forest, the other in front of it, and in face of the enemy. The first, passing in the rear of the forest, was the safer, but the longer of the two. It would reveal our designs to the enemy, and give him time to counteract them. The other was shorter, but this too would betray our intentions, and expose our march to the attacks of a formidable army. It would in fact oblige the French general to skirt the woods, and to pass in front of Stenay, where Clairfayt* was posted with his Austrians. Dumouriez, nevertheless, preferred the latter route, and conceived the boldest plan. He concluded that, with Austrian prudence, the general would not fail, on the appearance of the French, to intrench himself in the excellent camp of Brouenne, and that he might in the meantime give him the slip and proceed to Grand-Prey and Islettes, Accordingly, on the 30th, Dillon put himself in motion, and set out with eight thousand men for Stenay, marching between the Meuse and the forest. He found Clairfayt occupying both banks of the river, with twenty-five thousand Austrians. General Miaczinsky, with fifteen hundred men, attacked Clairfayt's advanced posts, while Dillon, posted in rear, marched to his sup- port with his whole division. A brisk firing ensued, and Clairfayt, imme- diately recrossing the Meuse, marched for Brouenne, as Dumouriez had most happily foreseen. jNIeanwhile Dillon boldly proceeded between the Meuse and the Argonne. Dumouriez followed him closely with the fifteen thousand men composing liis main body, and both advanced towards the posts which were assigned to them. On the 2d Dumouriez was at Beffu, and he had but one march more to make in order to reach Grand-Prey. Dillon was on the same day at Pierremont, and kept advancing with extreme boldness towards Islettes. Luckily for him, General Galbaud, sent to reinforce the garrison of Verdun, had arrived too late and fallen back upon Islettes, which he thus occupied beforehand. Dillon came up on the 4th, with his ten thousand * " Count de Clairfayt, a Walloon officer, field-marshal in the Austrian service, and knight of the Golden Fleece, served with great credit in the war with the Turks, and in 1791 was employed against France. He assisted in taking Longwy in August, and in November lost the famous battle of Jemappes. In 1793, the Prince of Coburg took the chief command of the Austrian army, yet its successes were not the less owing to Clairfayt. In 1794 he con- tinued to command a body of men, and met Pichegru in West Flanders, with whom he ■fought seven important battles before he resigned the victory to him. In 1796 Clairfayt ■entered the aulic council of war, and died at Vienna in 1798. Military men consider him the best general that was ever opposed to the French during the revolutionary war." — Bio' ^aphie Moderne. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 371 men, established himself there, and moreover occupied La Chalade, another secondary pass, which was committed to his charge. Dumoiiricz, at the same time, reached Grand-Prey, found the post vacant, and took possession of it on the 3(1. Thus the third and fourth of the passes were occupied by our troops, and the salvation of France was considerably advanced. It was by this bold march, which was at least as meritorious as the idea of occupying the Argonne, diat Dumouriez placed himself in a condition to resist the invasion. IJut this was not enough. It was necessary to render those passes inexpuirnal)le, and to this end to make a great number of dispo- sitions depending on many chances. Dillon intrenched himsef at the Islettes. He made abattis, threw up ex- cellent intrenchments, and, skilfully placing the French artillery, which was numerous and excellent, formed batteries which rendered the pass inacces- sible. At the same time he occupied La Chalade, and thus made himself master of the two routes leading to St. Menehould and from St. Menehould to Chalons. Dumouriez esta!)lished himself at Grand-Prey in a camp, ren- dered formidable both by nature and art. The site of this encampment con- sisted of heights rising in the form of an amphitheatre. At the foot of these heights lay extensive meadow^s, before which flowed the Aire, forming the Ute du camp. Two bridges w^ere thrown over the Aire, and two very strong advanced guards were placed there, with orders to burn them and to retire in case of attack. The enemy, after dislodging these advanced troops, would have to effect the passage of the Aire, without the help of bridges and under the fire of all our artillery. Having passed the river, he would then have to advance through a basin of meadows crossed by a thousand fires, and lastly to storm steep and almost inaccessible intrenchments. In case all these ob- stacles should be overcome, Dumouriez, retreating by the heights which he occupied, would descend the back of them, find at their foot the Aisne, another stream which skirted them on that side, cross two bridges which he would destroy, and thus again place a river between himself and the Prus- sians. Tliis camp might be considered as impregnable, and there the French general would be sutHciently secure to turn his attention quiedy to the whole theatre of the war. On the 7th, (ieneral Dubouquet, with six thousand men, occupied the pass of ('hene-Populeux. There was now left only the much less important passofCroix-aux-Bois, which lay between Chene-Popideux and Grand-Prey. There Dumouriez, having first caused the road to be broken up and trees felled, posted a colonel with two battalions and two squadrons. Placed thus in the centre of the forest, and in a camp that was impregnable, he defended the principal pass with fifteen thousand men. On his right, at the distance of four leagues, was Dillon, who guarded the Islettes and T^a Chalade with eight thousand. On his left Dubouquet, who occupied tlie ('hcne-Populeux with six thousand ; and a colonel with a few companies walcduMl the road of the Croix-aux-Bois, which was deemed of very inferior importance. His whole defence being thus arranged, he had time to wait for reinforce- ments, and he hastened to give orders accordingly. He directed Beurnon- ville* to quit the frontier of the Netherlands, where the Duke of Saxe-Teschen * " Pierre Rycl de Beurnonville, was born at Champipneul in 1752, and intended for the church, but was bent on becoming a soldier. He was employed in 1792 as a general under Dumouriez, who called him his Ajax. During the war he was arrested, and conveyed to the head-quarters of the Prince of Coburg, but in 1795 he was exchanged for the daughter of Louis XVL In 1797 Beurnonville was appointed to the command of the French army in Holland ; and in \.\xi following year, was made inspector-general by the Directory. He was 372 HISTOrx.Y OF THE was not attempting any thing of importance, and to be at Rethel on the 13th of September, with ten thousand men. He fixed upon Chalons as the depot for provisions and ammunition, and for the rendezvous of the recruits and reinforcements which had been sent ofl' to him. He thus collected in his rear all the means of composing a sufficient resistance. At the same time, he informed the executive power tliat he had occupied the Argonne. " Grand- Prey and the Islettes," he wrote, " are our Thermopylae ; but I shall be more fortunate than Leonidas." He hessed that some regiments mijrht be detached from the army of the Rhine, which Avas not threatened, and that they might be joined to the army of the centre, now under tlie command of Kellermann. The intention of the Prussians being evidently to march upon Paris, because they masked Montmedy and Thionville, without stopping before them, he proposed that Kellermann should be ordered to skirt their left, by Ligny and Barle-Duc, and thus take them in flank and rear during their offensive march. In consequence of all these dispositions, if tlie Prus- sians should go higher up without attempting to force the Argonne, Dumou- riez would be at Revigny before them, and would there find Kellermann arriving from Metz witli the army of the centre. If they descended towards Sedan, Dumouriez would still follow them, fall in with Beurnonville's ten thousand men, and wait for Kellermann on the banks of the Aisne ; and, in both cases, the junction would produce a total of sixty thousand men, capable of showing themselves in the open field. The executive power omitted nothing to second Dumouriez in his excel- lent plans, Servan, the minister at war, though in ill health, attended witli- out intermission to the provisioning of the armies, to the despatching of necessaries and ammunition, and to the assemblage of the new levies. From fifteen hundred to two thousand volunteers daily left Paris. A military enthusiasm seized all classes, and people hurried away in crowds to join the army. The halls of the patriotic societies, the councils of the commune, and the Assembly, were incessandy traversed by companies raised sponta- neously, and marching off for Chalons, the general rendezvous of the volun- teers. These young soldiers lacked nothing but discipline and familiarity with the field of battle, in which they were yet deficient, but which they were likely soon to acquire under an able general. The Girondins were personal enemies of Dumouriez, and they had given him but little of their confidence ever since he expelled them from the minis- try. They had even endeavoured to supersede him in the chief command by an officer named Grimoard. But they had again rallied round him as soon as he seemed to be charged with the destinies of the country. Roland, the best, the most disinterested of them, had written him a touching letter to assure him that all was forgotten, and that his friends all wished for nothing more ardently than to have to celebrate his victories. Dumouriez had thus vigorously seized upon tliis frontier, and made him- self the centre of vast movements, till then too tardy and too unconnected. He had happily occupied the defiles of the Argonne, taken a position which aflTorded the armies time to collect and to organize themselves in his rear ; he was bringing together all the corps for the purpose of forming an imposing mass ; he had placed Kellermann under the necessity of coining to receive one of those who sided with Bonaparte, when the latter brought about a new revolution in 1799, and afterwards received from him the embassy to Berlin. He was at a subsequent period sent as ambassador to Mailrid ; and in 180,5, was chosen a senator. From the year 1791 to 1793, Beurnonville was present in not less than 172 engagements." — Biographic Moderne. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 373 his orders ; he commanded with vigour, he acted with promptness, he kept up the spirits of his soldiers by appearing- in the midst of thorn, by testifying great confidence in them, and by making them wish for a speedy rencounter with the enemy. Such was the state of affairs on the 10th of September. Tlie Prussians passed along all our posts, skirmished on the front of all our intrenchinents, and were everywhere repulsed. Dumouriez had formed secret communica- tions in the interior of the forest, by which he sent to the points that were threatened unexpected reinforcements, which caused tlie enemy to believe our army to be twice as strong as it really was. On the lltli, there was a general attempt upon Grand-Prey; but General Miranda, posted at Mor- taume, and General Stengel at St. Jouvion, repulsed all the attacks with complete success. On several points, the soldiers, encouraged by their posi- tion and the attitude of their leaders, leaped over the intrenchments and met the approaching assailants at the point of the bayonet. These combats occu- pied the army, which was sometimes in want of provisions, owing to the disorder inseparable from sudden service. But the cheerfulness of the gene- ral, who fared no better than his troops, produced universal resignation ; and though dysentery began to make its appearance, still the camp of Grand- Prey was tolerably healthy. The superior officers only, who doubted the possibility of a long resistance, and the ministry, who had no conception of it either, talked of a retreat behind the Marne, and annoyed Dumouriez with their suggestions. He wrote energetic letters to the ministers, and imposed silence on his officers, bv telling them that, when he wanted their advice, he would call a council of war. It is impossil)le for a man to escape the disadvantages incident to his qualities. Thus the extreme promptness of Dumouriez's mind frequently hurried him on to act without due reflection. In his ardour to conceive, it had already happened that he had forgotten to calculate the material obsta- cles to his plans ; especially when he ordered Lafayette to proceed from Metz to Givet. Here he committed a capital fault, which, had he possessed less energy of mind and coolness, might have occasioned the loss of the cam- paign. Between the Chene Populeux and Grand-Prey, there was, as we have stated, a secondary pass, which had been deemed of very inferior con- sequence, and was defended by no more than two battalions and two squad- rons. Wholly engrossed by concerns of the highest importance, Dumouriez had not gone to inspect that pass with his own eyes. Having, moreover, but few men to post there, he had easily persuaded himself that some hun- dreds would be sufficient to guard it. To crown the misfortune, the colonel whom Dumouriez had placed there persuaded him that part of the troops at that post might be withdrawn, and that, if the roads were broken up, a few volunteers would suffice to maintain the defensive at that point. Dumouriez suffered himself to be misled by this colonel, an old oflicer, whom he deemed worthy of confidence. Meanwhile, Brunswick had caused our different posts to be examined, and for a moment he entertained the design of skirting the forest as far as Sedan, for the purpose of turning it towards that extremity, it appears that, during this movement, the spies discovered the negligence of the French general. The Croix-aux-Bois was attacked by the Austrians and the emi- grants commanded by the Prince de Ligne. The abattis had scarcely been made, the roads were not broken up, and the pass was occupied without resistance on the^^morning of the 13th. No sooner had the unpleasant tidings reached Dumouriez, than he sent General Chasot, a very brave oflicer, with 21 374 HISTORY OF THE two brigades, six squadrons, and four eight pounders, to recover possession of the pass, and to drive the Austrians from it. He ordered them to be at- tacked as briskly as possible with the bayonet, before they had time to intrench themselves. The 13th and 14th passed before General Chasot could execute the orders which he had received. At length on the 15th, he attacked with vigour, and repulsed the enemy, who lost the post, and their com- mander, the Prince de Ligne. But, being attacked two hours afterwards by a very superior force, before he could intrench himself, he was in his turn repulsed, and entirely dispossessed of the Croix-aux-Bois. Chasot was, moreover, cut off from Grand-Prey, and could not retire towards the main army, which was thus weakened by all the troops that he had with him. He immediately fell back upon Youziers. General Dubouquet, command- ing at the Chene-Populeux, and thus far successful in his resistance, seeing himself separated from Grand-Prey, conceived that he ought not to run the risk of being surrounded by the enemy, who, having broken the line at the Croix-aux-Bois, was about to debouch en masse. He resolved, therefore, to decamp, and to retreat by Attigny and Somme-Puis, upon Chalons. Thus the fniit of so many bold combinations and lucky accidents was lost. The only obstacle that coukl be opposed to the invasion, the Argonne, was sur- mounted, and the road to Paris was thrown open. Dumouriez, separated from Chasot and Dubouquet, was reduced to fifteen thousand men; and if the enemy, debouching rapidly by the Croix-aux- Bois, should turn the position of Grand-Prey, and occupy the passes of the Aisne, which, as Ave have said, served for an outlet to the rear of the camp, the French general would be undone. Having forty thousand Prussians in front, twenty-five thousand Austrians in his rear, hemmed in with fifteen thousand men, by sixty-five thousand, by two rivers, and by the forest, he could do nothing but lay down his arms, or cause his soldiers to the very last man to be uselessly slaughtered. The only army upon Avhich France relied, would thus be annihilated, and the allies might take without impedi- ment the road to the capital. In this desperate situation, the general was not discouraged, but maintained an admirable coolness. His first care was to think the very same day of retreating, for it was his most urgent duty to save himself from the Caudine forks. He considered that on his right he was in contact with Dillon, who was yet master of the Islettes and the road to St. Menehould ; that, by retiring upon the rear of the latter, and placing his back against Dillon's, they should both face the enemy, the one at the Islettes, the other at St. Menehould, and thus present a double intrenched front. There they might await the junction of the two generals Chasot and Dubouquet, detached from the main body, that of Beurnonville, ordered from Flanders to be at Rethel on the 13th; and lasdy, thatof Kellermann, who, having been more than ten days on his march, could not fail very soon to arrive with his array. This plan was the best and the most accordant with the system of Dumouriez, which consisted in not falling back into the interior, towards an open country, but in maintain- ing his ground in a difficult one, in gaining time there, and in placing himself in a position to form a junction with the army of the centre. If, on the con- trary, he were to fall back on Chalons, he Avould be pursued as a fugitive; he would execute Avith disadvantage a retreat which he might have made more beneficially at first ; and above all he would render it impossible for Keller- mann to join him. It shoAved great boldness, after such an accident as had befallen him at the Croix-aux-Bois, to persist in his system ; and it required at the moment as much genius as energy not to give way to the oft-repeated FRENCH REVOLUTION. 375 advice to retire behind the Marne. But then airain, how many lucky acci- dents does it not require to succeed in a retreat so difficult, so closely watched, and executed with so small a force in the presence of so powerful an enemy !*' He immediately sent orders to Beurnonville, who was already proceeding towards Rethel, to Cliasot, from M'hom he had just received favourable tidings, and to Dubouquet, who had retired to Atligny, to repair all of them to St. Menehould. At the same time he despatched fresh instructions to Kellermann to continue his march; for he was afraid lest Kellermann, on hearinof of the loss of the defdes, should determine to return to Metz. Hav- ine: made these arrangements, and received a Prussian officer, who demanded a parley, and shown him tlie camp in the best order, he directed the tents to be struck at midnight, and the troops to march in silence towards the two bridges which served for outlets to the camp of Grand-Prey. Luckily for him, the enemy had not yet thought of penetrating by the Crois-aux-Bois, and overwhelming the French positions. The weather was stormy, and covered the retreat of the French with darkness. They marched all night on the most execrable roads, and the army, which, fortunately, had not had time to take alarm, retired without knowing the motive of this change of position. By eight in the morning of the next day, the 16th, all the troops had crossed the Aicne. Dumourioz had escaped, and he halted in order of battle on the heights of Autry, four leagues from Grand-Prey. He was not pur- sued, considered himself saved, and was advancing towards Dammartin-sur- Hans, with the intention of there choosing an encampment for the day, when suddenly a number of runaways came up shouting that all was lost, and that the enemy, falling upon our rear, had put the army to the rout. On hearing this clamour, Dumouriez hastened to the spot, returned to his rear-guard, and found Miranda, the Peruvian,! and old General Duval, rallying the fugi- tives, and with great firmness restoring order in the ranks of the armv, which some Prussian hussars had for a moment surprised and broken. 'J'he inex- perience of these young troops, and the fear of treachery which then filled all minds, rendered panic terrors both very easy and very frequent. All, however, was retrieved, owing to the efforts of the three generals, Miranda, Duval, and Stengel, who belonged to the rear-guard. The army bivouacked at Damrnartin, with the hope of soon backing upon the Islettes, and thus happily terminating this perilous retreat. Dumouriez had been for twenty hours on horseback. He alighted at six in the evening, when, all at once, he again heard shouts of Sanve qui peut! and imprecations against the generals who betrayed the soldiers, and espe- • " Never was the situation of an army more desperate than at this critical period. France was within a hair's-breadlh of destruction." — Dumouriez' s Memoirs. E. ■\ " Dumouriez says that Miranda was born in Peru ; others, that he was a native of Mexico. He led a wandering Uf'e for some years, traversed the greatest part of Europe, lived much ill England, and was in Russia at the time of the French Revolution ; which event opening a career to him, he went to Paris, and there, protected by Petion, soon made his way. He had good natural and ac(]uircd abilities, and was particularly skilful as an engineer. In 1792 he was sent to command the artillery in Cham[)agne under Dumouriez, wliom he afterwards accompanied into the Low Countries. While there, he intrigued against that general in the most perfidious manner, and was brought before the rcvolulionary tribunal, by whom, however, he was acquitted. In 1803 he was arrested at Paris, on suspicion of form- ing plots against the consular government, and was sentenced to transportation. The battle of Nerwiiide, in 17^3, was lost entirely by the folly or cowardice of Miranda, who withdrew almost at the beginning of the action, and abandoned all his artillery." — Bingraphie Modeme. E. 376 HISTORY OF THE cially against the commander-in-chief, who, it was said, had just gone over to the enemy. The artillery had put horses to the guns and were about to seek refuge on an eminence. All the troops were confounded. Dumouriez caused large fires to be kindled, and issued orders for halting on the spot all night. Thus tliey passed ten hours more in mud and darkness. More than fifteen hundred fugitives running off across the country, reported at Paris and throughout France that the army of the North, the last hope of the country, was lost and given up to the enemy. By the following day all was repaired. Dumouriez wrote to the National Assembly with his usual assurance. "I have been obliged to abandon the camp of Grand-Prey. The retreat Avas accomplished, when a panic terror seized the army. Ten thousand men fled before fifteen hundred Prussian hussars. The loss amounts to'no more than fifty men and some baggage. All is retrieved, and I make myself responsible for everything." Nothing less was requisite to dispel the terrors of Paris and of the executive council, which was about to urge the general afresh to cross the Marne. St. Menehould, whither Dumouriez was marching, is situated on the Aisne, one of tlie two rivers which encompassed the camp of Grand-Prey. Dumouriez had therefore to march along that river against the stream ; but, before he reached it, he had to cross three deep rivulets which fall into it, — Tourbe, the Bionne, and the Auve. Beyond these rivulets was the camp which he intended to occupy. In front of St. Menehould rises a circular range of heights, three-quarters of a league in length. At their foot extend low grounds, in which the Auve forms marshes before it falls into the Aisne. These low grounds are bordered on the right by the heights of the Hyron, faced by those of Ie dated the commencement of that career of victory which carried their armies to Vienna and tlie Kremlin." — Alisoti. E. 3S0 HISTORY OF THE invasion, they attempted to march for Paris, Dumouriez was in force to pur- sue and to surround them, when they should have penetrated farther. These views were replete with justice and sagacity : but in the camp, where the officers were tired of enduring privations, and where Kellermann was dissatisfied at being subjected to a superior authority ; at Paris, where people found themselves separated from the principal army, where they could perceive nothing between them and the Prussians, and within fifteen leagues of which Hulans were seen advancing, since the forest of Argonne had been opened, they coukl not approve of the plan of Dumouriez. The Assembly, the council, complained of his obsdnacy, and wrote him the most imperative letters to make him abandon his position and recross the Marne. The camp of Montmarte and an army between Chalons and Paris, were the double rampart required by their terrified imaginations. " The Ilulans annoy you," wrote Dumouriez ; " well then, kill them. That does not concern me. I shall not change my plan for the sake of nous ardoilles.'" Entreaties and orders nevertheless continued to pour in upon him. In the camp, the officers did not cease to make observations. The soldiers alone, cheered by the high spirits of the general, who took care to visit their ranks, to encourage them, and to explain to them the critical position of the Prussiaus, patiently endured the rain and privations. Kellermann at one time insisted on depart- ing, and Dumouriez, like Columbus, soliciting a few days more for his equipment, was obliged to promise to decamp if, in a certain number of days, the Prussians did not be-at a retreat. The fine army of the allies was, in fact, in a deplorable condition. It was perishing from want, and still more from the destructive effect of dysentery. To these afflictions the plans of Dumouriez had powerfully contributed. The firing in front of the camp being deemed useless, because it tended to no result, it was agreed between the two armies that it should cease ; but Dumouriez stipidated that it should be suspended on the front only. He immediately detached all his cavalry, especially that of the new levy, to scour the adjacent country in order to intercept the convoys of the enemy, who, having come by the pass of Grand-Prey and proceeded along die Aisne to follow our retreat, was obliged to make his supplies pursue the same circuit- ous route. Our horse took a liking to this lucrative warfare, and prosecuted it with great success. The last days of September had now arrived. The disease in the Prus- sian army became intolerable, and officers were sent to the French camp to parley.* They confined themselves at first to a proposal for the exchanyfe of prisoners. The Prussians had demanded the benefit of this exchange for the emigrants also, but this had been refused. Great politeness had been observed on both sides. From the exchange of prisoners the conversation turned to the motives of the war, and on the part of the Prussians it was almost admitted that the war was impolitic. On this occasion the character * " The proposals of the King of Prussia do not appear to offer a basis for a nee;otiation, but they demonstrate that the enemy's distress is very great, a fact sufficiently indicated by the wretchedness of their bread, the multitude of their sick, and the langour of their attacks. I am persuaded that the King of Prussia is now heartily sorry at being so far in advance, and would readdy adopt any means to extricate himself from his embarrassment. He keeps so near me, from a wish to engage us in a combat as the only means he has of escaping; for if I keep within my intrenchments eight days longer, his army will ilissolve of itself from wnnt of pnivisions. I will undertake no serious negotiation without your authority, and without receiving from you the basis on which it is to be conducted. All that I have hitherto done, is to gain time, and commit no one." — Damouriez's Despatch to the French Govern- ment. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 381 of Dumouriez was strikingly displayed. Having no longer to fight, he drew up memorials for the King of Prussia, and demonstrated how disadvantage- ous it was to him to ally himself with the house of Austria against France^ At the same time he sent liim a dozen pounds of coffee, being all that was left in bolii camps. His memorials, which could not fail to be appreciated, nevertheless met, as might naturally be expected, with a most unfavourable reception. Brunswick replied, in the name of the King of Prussia, by a declaration as arrogant as the lirst manifesto, and all negotiation was broken Oii'. The Assembly, consulted by Dumouriez, answered, like the Roman senate, that they would not treat with the enemy till he had quitted France. These negotiations had no other effect than to bring calumny upon tlie general, who was thenceforth suspected of keeping up a secret correspond- ence with foreigners, and with a haughty monarch, humbled by the result of the war. But such was Dumouriez. With al)undant courage and intel- ligence, he lacked that reserve, that dignity, which overawes men, while genius merely conciliates them. However, as the French general had fore- seen, by the 15th of October the Prussian army, unable to struggle longer against want and disease, began to decamp. To Europe it was a subject of profound astonishment, of conjectures, of fables, to see so mighty, so vaunted an army, retreating before those raw artisans and tradesmen, who were to have been led back with drums beating to their towns, and punished for hav- ing quitted them. The sluggishness with which the Prussians were pursued, and the kind of impunity wiiich they enjoyed in repassing the defiles of the Argonne, led to the supposition of secret stipulations and even a bargain with the King of Prussia. The military facts will account for the retreat of the allies better than all these suppositions. It was no longer possible for them to remain in so unfortunate a position. To continue tlie invasion in a season so far advanced and so inclement, w'ould be most injudicious. The only resource of the allies then was to retreat towards Luxemburg and Lorraine, and there to make themselves a strong base of operations for recommencing the campaign in the following year. Tliere is, moreover, reason to believe that at tliis moment Frederick William was thinking of taking his share of Poland ; for it was then that this prince, after exciting the Pules against Russia and Austria, prepared to share the spoil. Tims the state of the season and of the country, disgust arising from a foiled enterprise, regret at having allied himself with the house of Austria against France, and lastly, new interests in the iVorth, were, with the King of Prussia, motives suflicient to determine his retreat. It was conducted in the best order, for the enemy who tluis consented to depart was nevertheless very strong.* To attempt absolutely to cut oif his retreat, and to oblige him * "The force with which the Prussians retired, was about 70,000 men, and their retreat was conducted throughout in the most imposing manner, taking position, and facing about on occasion of every halt. Verdun and Longwy were successively ahandoned. On getting possession of the ceded fortresses, the commissaries of the Convention took a bloody revenge on the royalist party. Several young women who had presented garlands of flowers to the King of Prussia during the advance of his army, were sent to the revokitionary triliunal, and condeumed to death. The Prussians left bihind them on their route most melancholy proofs of the disasters of the campaign. All the villages were filled with the dead and dying. With- out any considerable fighting, the allies had lost by dysentery and fevers more than a fourth of their numbers." — Alisun. E. "The Prussians had engaged in this campaign as if it had been a review, in which light it bad been represent^ to them by the emigrants. They were unprovided with stores or provisions; instead of an unprotected country, they found daily a more vigorous resistance; 382 HISTORY OF THE to open himself a passage by a victory, Avould have been an impnulcncp which Dumouriez would not commit. He was obliged to content himself with harassing him, but this he did with too little activity, through his own fault and that of Kellermann. The danger was past, the campaign was over, and each reverted to him- self and his projects. Dumouriez thought of his enterprise against the Netherlands, Kellermann of his command at Metz, and the two generals did not pay to the pursuit of the Prussians that attention which it deserved. Du- mouriez sent General d'Harville to the Chene-Populeux to chastise the emi- grants; ordered General Miaczin^ki to wait for them at Stenay as they issued from the pass, to complete their destruction ; sent Chasot in the same direc- tion to occupy the Longwy road ; placed Generals Beurnonville, Stengel, and Valence, with more than twenty-five thousand men, on the rear of the grand army, to pursue it with vigour ; and at the same time directed Dillon, who had continued to maintain his ground most successfully at the Islettes, to advance by Clermont and Varennes, in order to'cut off the road to Verdun. These plans were certainly excellent, but they ought to have been executed by the general himself. He ought, in the opinion of a very sound and com- petent judge, M. Jomini, to have dashed straightforward to the Rhine, and then to have descended it with his whole army. In that moment of success, overthrowing everything before him, he would have conquered Belgium in a single march. But he was thinking of returning to Paris, to prepare for an invasion by way of Lille. The three generals, Beurnonville, Stengel, and Valence, on their part, did not agree very cordially together, and pursued the Prussians but faindy. Valence, who was under the command of Kellermann, all at once received orders to return, to rejoin his general at Chalons, and then to take the road to Metz. This movement, it must be confessed, was a strange conception, since it brought Kellermann back into the interior, to make him thence resume the route to the Lorraine frontier. The natural route would have been forward by Vitry or Clermont, and it would have accorded Avith the pursuit of the Prussians, as ordered by Dumouriez. No sooner was the latter apprized of the order given to Valence than he enjoined him to continue his march, saying that, so long as the armies of the North and centre were united, the supreme command belonged to himself alone. He remonstrated very warmly with Kellermann, who relinquished his first determination, and consented to take his route by St. Menehould and Cler- mont. The pursuit, however, was continued with as litde spirit as before. Dillon alone harassed the Prussians with impetuous ardour, and, by pursuing them too vigorously, he had very nearly brought on an engagement. The dissension of the generals, and the particular views which occupied their minds after the danger had passed, were evidendy the only cause that procured the Prussians so easy a retreat. It has been alleged that their de- parture was purchased; that it was paid for by the produce of a great robbery, of which we shall presendy give an account ; that it was concerted wiUi Du- mouriez ; and that one of the stipulations of the bargain was the free retreat of the Prussians; and lasdy, that Louis XVI. had, from the recesses of his pri- son, insisted upon it. We have seen what very sufficient reasons must have occasioned this retreat ; but, besides these, there are other reasons. It is not credible that a monarch whose vices were not those of a base cupidity would submit to be bought. We cannot see why, in case of a convention, Dumou- the continual rains had laid open the roads ; the soldiers marched in mud up to their knees : and for four days together they had no other nourishment than boiled corn." — Mignet. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 383 riez should not have justified himself in tlie eyes of military men, for not having pursued the enemy, by avowing a convention in Avhicli there was nothing disgraceful to himself: lasdy, Clery, the King's valet-de-chambre, asserts that nothing like the letter said to have been addressed by Louis XVI. to Fredericiv William, and transmitted by Manuel, the procureiir of the com- mune, was ever written and delivered to the latter.* All this then is a false- hood ; and tlie retreat of the allies was but a natural effect of the war. Dumouriez, notwithstanding his faults, notwithstanding his distractions at Grand-Prey, notwithstanding his negligence at the moment of the retreat, was still the saviour of France, and of a revolution which has perhaps ad- vanced Europe several centuries. It was he who, assuming the command of a disorganized, distrustful, irritated army, infusing into it liarmony and confidence, establishing unity and vigour along that whole frontier, never despairing amidst the most disastrous circumstances, holding forth, after the loss of the defiles, an example of unparallelled presence of mind, persisting in his first ideas of temporizing, in spite of the danger, in spite of his army, and in spite of his government, in a manner which demonstrates the vigour of his judgment and of his character — it was he, we say, who saved our country from foreign foes and from counter-revolutionary resentment, and set the magnificent example of a man saving his fellow-citizens in spite of themselves. Conquest, however vast, is neither more glorious nor more moral. • " It has been reported that Manuel came to the Temple, in the month of September, in order to prevail upon his majesty to write to the King of Prussia, at the time he marched his army into Champagne. I can testify that Manuel came but twice to the Temple while I was there, first on the 3d of September, then on the 7th of October ; that each time he was ac- companied by a great number of municipal officers ; and that he never had any private con- versation with the King." — Clery. E. 384 HISTORY OF THE THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. ASSEMBLING AND OPENING OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION- INVASION OF BELGIUM. While the French armies were stopping the march of the allies, Paris was still the theatre of disturbance and confusion. We have already wit- nessed the excesses of the commune, the prolonged atrocities of September, the impotence of the authorities, and the inactivity of the public force, during those disastrous days. We have seen with what audacity the committee of surveillance had avowed the massacres, and recommended the imitation of them to all the other communes in France. The commissioners sent by the commune had, however, boen everywhere repelled, because France did not participate in that fury which danger had excited in the capital. But in the environs of Paris, all the murders were not confmed to those of which we have already given an account. There had been formed in that city a band of assassins, whom the massacres of September had familiarized with blood, and who were Iient on spilling more. Some hundreds of men had already set out with the intention of taking out of the prisons of Orleans the pei»ons accused of high treason. A recent decree had directed tliat those unfortunate prisoners sliould be conveyed to Saumur. Their destination was, however, changed by the way, and they were brought towards Paris. On the 9lh of Septeml)er, intclUgcnce was received that they were to ar- rive on the 10th at Versailles. Whether fresh orders had been given to the band of murderers, or the tidings of this arrival was sulTicient to excite their sanguinary ardour, they immediately repaired to Versailles on the night be- tween the 9th and 10th. A rumour was instantly circulated that fresh massacres were about to be committed. The mayor of Versailles took every precaution to prevent new atrocities. The president of the criminal tribunal hastened to Paris, to inform Danton, the minister, of the danger which threatened the prisoners; but to all his representations he obtained no other answer than, "Those men are very guilty." — "Granted," rejoined Alquier, the president, " but the law alone ought to punish them." — " Do you not see," resumed Danton, " that I would have already have answered you in another manner if I could ? Why do you concern yourself about these prisoners ? Return to your functions, and trouble your head no more with tliem." On the following day the prisoners arrived at Versailles. A crowd of strange men rushed upon the carriages, surrounded and separated them from the escort, knocked Fournier, the commandant, from his horse, carried off the mayor, who had nobly determined to die at his post, and slaughtered the unfortunate prisoners to the number of fifly-two. There perislied Delessart, and D'Ahancour, placed under accusation as ministers, and Brissac, as com- mander of the constitutional guard, disbanded in the time of the Legislative Assembly. Immediately after this execution, the murderers ran to the prison FRENCH REVOLUTION. 385 of the town, and renewedthe scenes of the first days of September, employ- ing the same means, and copying, as in Paris, the judicial forms.* This event, happening within five days of the first, increased the consternation which already prevailed. In Paris, the committee of surveillance did not abate its activity. As the prisons had been jnst cleared by death, it began to fill them again by issuing fresh orders of arrest. These orders were so nu- merous, that Roland, minister of the interior, in denouncing to the Assembly these new arbitrary acts, had from five to six hundred of them to lay on the bureau, some signed by a single individual, others by two or three at most, the greater part of them without any alleged motives, and many founded on the bare suspicions of incivinm. While the commune was exercising its power in Paris, it despatched com- missioners to the departments, for the purpose of justifying its conduct, ad- vising the imitation of its example, recommending to the electors deputies of its own choice, and decrying those who were averse to it in the Legislative Assembly. It afterwards secured immense funds for itself, by seizing the money found in the possession of Septenil, the treasurer of die civd list, the plate of the churches, and the rich moveables of the emigrants, and lasdy, by drawing considerable sums from the exchequer, under the pretext of keeping up the fund of aids, [cai-sse de serour.s,) and completing the works of the camp. All the effects of the unfortunate persons murdered in the prisons of Paris, and on the road to A^ersailles, had been sequestrated, and deposited in the extensive halls of the committee of surveillance. Never would the commune furnish any statement either of those articles or their value, and it even refused to give any answer concerning them, either to the minister of the interior, or to the directory of the department, which, as we have seen, had been converted into a mere commission of contributions. It went still furdier, and began to sell on its own authority the furniture of the great mansions, to which seals had been affixed ever since the departure of the owners. To no purpose did the superior administration issue prohi- bitions. The Avhole class of the subordinate functionaries charged with the execution of its orders either belonged to tin; nnmicipality, or was too weak to act. The orders, therefore, were not carried into execution. The national guard, composed anew under the denomination of armed sections, and full of all sorts of men, was in a state of complete disorganiza- tion. Sometimes it lent a hand to mischief, and at others sufiered it to lie committed by neglect. Posts were totally abandoned, because die men on duty, not being relieved even at the expiration of forty-eight kours, retired, worn out with fatigue and disgust. AH the peaceable citizens had with- • " As soon as the prisoners reached the grand square at Versailles, ten or twelve men laid hold of the reins of the horses in the first wagon, crying out, "OlTwith their heads!" There were a few curious spectators in the streets, but the whole escort was under arms. Fifteen assassins surrounded and attacked the first wagon, renewing the cries of death. The puMic functionary, who liad taken this wagon under his care, was the mayor of Versailles. He attempted, hut in vain, to harangue the murderers; in vain did he get up into the wagon, and use some efforts to guard and cover with his own person the two first of the prisoners who were killed. The assassins, masters of the field of slaughter, killed, one after another, with their swords and hangers, forty-seven out of fifty-three of the prisoners. This massacre lasted for at least an hour and a (juarter. The dead bodies experienced the same indignities as those of the persons who had been massacred at the Abbey prison, and in llie 'J'uileries. Their heads and limbs were cut off, and fixed upon the iron rails round the palace of Versailles. When the assassins thought they had despatched all those who were accused of treason against the state, they Retook themselves to the prison at Versailles, where they killed about twelve persons." — Peltiar. E. VOL. I. — 49 2 K 386 HISTORY OF THE drawn from that body, once so regular and so useful ; and Santerre, its commander, possessed neither energy nor intelligence sufficient to or- ganize it. The safety of Paris was thus abandoned to chance, and the commune on one hand, and the populace on the other, had fidl scope to do what they pleased. Among the spoils of royalty, the most valuable, and consequendy the most coveted, were those kept at the Garde Meuble, the rich depot of all the effects which formerly contributed to the splendour of the throne. Ever since the 10th of August, it had excited the cupidity of the multitude, and more than one circumstance had sharpened the vigilance of the inspector of the establishment. He had sent requisition after requisition for the purpose of obtaining a sufficient guard ; but, whether from disorder, or from the diffi- culty of supplying all the posts, or, lastly, from wilful negligence, he had not been furnislied with the force that he demanded. One night, the Garde Meuble was robbed, and the greater part of its con- tents passed into unknown hands, which the authorities afterwards made useless efforts to discover. This new event was attributed to the persons who had secretly directed the massacres. In this case, however, they could not have been impelled either by fanaticism or by a sanguinary policy ; and the ordinary motive of theft can scarcely be ascribed to them, since they had in the stores of the commune wherewithal to satisfy the highest ambition. It has been said, indeed, that this robbery was committed for the purpose of paying for the retreat of the King of Prussia, which is absurd, and to defray the expenses of the party, wliich is more probable, but by no means proved. At any rate, the robbery at the Garde Meuble is of very litde consequence in regard to the judgment that must be passed upon the commune and its leaders. It is not the less true that the commune, as the depository of pro- perty of immense value, never rendered any account of it ; that the seals affixed upon the closets were broken without the locks being forced, which indicates a secret abstraction and not a popular pillage ; and that all these valuables disappeared for ever. Part was impudently stolen by subalterns, such as Sergent, surnamed Agate, from a superb jewel with which he adorned himself; and another part served to defray the expense of the extra- ordinary government which the commune had instituted. It was a war waged against the old order of things, and every such war is sullied with murder and pillage. Such was the state of Paris while the elections for the National Conven- tion were going forward. It was from this new assembly that the upriglit citizens expected the means and energy requisite for restoring order. They hoped that the forty days of confusion and crimes which had elasped since the 10th of August, would be but an accident of the insurrection — a deplor- able but transitory accident. The very deputies, sitting with such feebleness in the National Assembly, deferred the exercise of energy till the meeting of that Convention — the common hope of all parties. A warm interest was taken in the elections throughout France, The clubs exercised a powerful influence over them. The Jacobins of Paris had printed and distributed a list of all the votes given during the legislative ses- sion, that it might serve as a guide to the electors. The deputies who had voted against the laws desired by the popular party, and those in particular who had acquitted Lafayette, were especially distinguished. In the pro- vinces, however, to which animosities of the capital had not yet penetrated, •Girondins, and even such of them as were most odious to the agitators of Paris, were chosen on account of the talents which they had displayed. FRENCH REVOLUTION. 387 Almost all the members of the late Assembly were re-elected. Many of the constituents, whom the decree of non-re-election had excluded from the first legislature, were called to form part of tliis Convention. In the number were distinguished Huzot and Petion. Among the new members naturally figured men rToted in their departments for their energy or their violence, or writers who, like Louvet, had acquired reputation by their talents both in the capital and in the provinces. In Paris, the violent faction which had domineered ever since the 10th of August, seized the control over the elections, and brought forward all the men of its clioice. Robespierre and Danton were the first elected. The Jacobins and the council of the commune hailed this intelligence with ap- plause. After them were elected Camille Desmoulins, celebrated for his writings ; David, for his pictures ;* Fabre-d'Eglantine,t for his comic works and an active participation in the revolutionary disturbances ; Legcndre, Panis, Sergent, and Billaud-Varennes for their conduct at the commune. To these were added Manuel, the procureur syndic ; the younger Robespierre, brother of the celebrated Maximilien ; Coliot-d'Herbois,^ formerly an actor; * "J. L. Davi'l, a celebrated painter, elector of Paris in 1792, was one of the warmest friends of Rol)es[)ierre. He voted for the death of Louis XVL He contrived the Mountain on which Robespierre gave a public festival in the field of Mars. In 1794 he presided in the Convention. In 1800 the consuls made him the national artist, when he painted for the Hospital of the Invalids a picture of General Bonaparte. In 1805 he was appointed to paint the scene of the emperor's coronation. David was unquestionably the first French jiainter of the modern school; and this consideration had some weight in obtaininsj his pardon in 1794, when he had been accused of being a Terrorist. A swelling which David had in his cheeks rendered his features hideous. He was a member of the Legion of Honour; and his daughter, in 1805, married a colonel of infantry." — Bun^raphie Modf-rne. E. I " Fabre-d'Iiglaniine was a native of Carcassone. He was known at the commencement of the Revolution by works which had liUle success, and since that time, by comedies not destitute of merit; but, above all, by criminal conduct both as a public and a private man. Of low birth, he possessed a vanity which rendered him intolerable. He could not endure the nobility. While he was obliged to bend before it, he was content with abusing it, as he could do no more : but when the course of events had placed him in a position to crush those he hated, ho rushed on them with the rage of a tiger, and tore them to pieces with delight. I have heard him say, nearly like Caligula, that he wished the nobles had but one head, that he might strike it otfat a single blow. In 1793, during the trial of Louis XVI., he was soli- cited to be favourable to that unfortunate prince. 'You will enjoy the pleasure of doing a good action,' said the applicant. ' I know a pleasure far superior to that,' replied Fabre; 'it is the pleasure felt by a commoner in condemning a king to death.' " — Memoirs of a Peer of France. E. t "J. M. CoIlot-d'Herbois first appeared on the stage, and had little success. He played at Geneva, at the Hague, and at Lyons, where, having been often hissed, he vowed the most cruel vengeance against that town. The line of acting in which he played best was that of tyrants in tragedies. He went to Paris at the beginning of the Revolution, and embraced the popular cause. Possessed of a fine face, a powerful voice, and great boldness, he became one of the oracles at the .Jacobin Club. He was no stranger to the September massacres. During the King's trial he sat at the to[) of the Mountain, by Robespierre's side, and voted for the monarch's death. It has been said of this man, who was surnamed the Tiger, that he was the most sanguinary of the Terrorists. In 179.3 he took his departure for Lyons, protested that the 8outh should soon be purified. It is from the time of this mission that his horrible celebrity takes its rise. He sent for a column of the revolutionary army, and organized the demolitions and the employment of cannon in order to make up for the slowness of the guil- lotine at Lyons. The victims, when about to be shot, were bound to a cord fixed to trees, and a picket of infantry marched round the [ilace, firing successively on the condemned. The mifrai Hades, the executions by artillery, took place in the Brotteaux. Those who were destined for this punislynent were ranged two by two on the ed^e of the ditches that had been dug to receive theit bodies, and cannons, loaded with small bits of metal, were fired upon them ; after wliich, some troops of the revolutionary army despatched the wounded with 388 HISTORY OF THE and the Duke of Orleans, who had relinquished his titles and called himself Philippe Egalite. Lastly, after all these names there was seen with astonish- ment tliat of old Dussaulx, one of the electors of 1789, who had so strongly opposed the fury of tlie inob, and shed so many tears over its atrocities, and who was re-elected from a last remembrance of 89, and as a kind inoffensive creature to all parties. In this strange list there was only wanting the cynical and sanguinary Marat. This singular man had, from the boldness of Ins writings, some- thing about him that was surprising even to those wlio had just witnessed the events of September. Chabot, the Capuchin, who by his energy bore sway at the Jacobins, and there sought triumphs which were refused him in the Legislative Assembly, was obliged to step forth as the apologist of Ma- rat ; and as everything was discussed beforehand at the Jacobins, his election proposed there was soon consummated in the electoral assembly. Marat, Freron,* another journalist, and a few more obscure individuals, completed Its. (tv rs, Coll. swords or bayonets. [Two women and a young girl having solicited the pardon of their hus- bands and brothers, Collot-d'Herbois had them bound on the scaffold where their relations expired, and their blood spouted out on them. \ On his return to Paris, being denounced to the National Convention by petitioners from Lyons, he answered, that 'the cannon had been fired but once on sixty of the most guilty, to destroy them with a single stroke.' The Con- vention approved of his measures, and ordered that his speech should be printed. In the year 1791, returning home at one o'clock in the morning, Collot was attacked by Admiral, who fired at him twice with a pistol, but missed his aim. The importance which this adventure gave him, both in the Convention of which he was nominated president, and elsewhere, irritated the self-love of Robespierre, whom Collot afterwards denounced. In 1795 he was transported to Guiana, where he endeavoured to stir up the blacks against the whites. Ho died in the following year of a violent fever, which was increased by his drinking a bottle of brandy. Collot published some pamphlets and several theatrical pieces, but none of them deserve notice." — Biographie Moderne. E. * " L. S. Freron was son of the journalist Freron, the antagonist of Voltaire and of the philosophic sect. Brought up at the college Louis-le-Grand with Robespierre, he became in the Revolution his friend, his emulator, and, at last, his denouncer. In 1789 he began to edit the 'Orator of the People,' and became the coadjutor of Marat. Being sent with Barras on a mission to the South, he displayed extreme cruelty and activity. On their arrival at Marseilles, in 1793, they published a proclamation announcing that Terror was the order of the day, and that to save Marseilles, and to rase Toulon, were the aims of their labours. * Things go on well here,' wrote Freron to Moses Bayle ; we have required twelve thousand masons to rase the town ; every day since our arrival we have caused two hundred heads to fall, and already eight hundred Toulonese have been shot. All the great measures have been neglected at Marseilles ; if they had only shot eight hundred conspirators, as has been done here, and had appointed a committee to condemn the rest, we should not have been in the condition we now are." It was at first intended to put to death all who had accepted any oflice, or borne arms, in the town during the siege. Freron consequently signified to them that they must all go, under pain of death, to the Champ de Mars, The Toulonese, thinking to obtain pardon by this submission, obeyed, and eight thousand persons were assembled at the appointed place. All the representatives (Barras, Salicetti, Ricord, Robespierre the younger, cScc.) were shocked at the sight of this multitude ; Freron himself, surrounded by a formidable train, saw these numerous victims with terror; at last, by the advice of Barras, a jury was appointed, and a great number of the most guilty instantly shot. The shooting with muskets being insufficient, they had afterwards recourse to the mitraillade; and it was in another execution of this nature, that Freron, in order to despatch the victims who had not perished by the first discharge, cried out, ' Let those who are still living, rise ; the republic pardons them.' Some unhappy creatures trusting to this promise, he caused them to be im- mediately fired upon. On quitting Toulon, Freron went with his coadjutors to finish the de[)opulation of Marseilles, which they declared a commune without a name, and where they destroyed more than 400 individuals, by means of a criminal tribunal, and afterwards of a military committee. At the same time they caused the finest edifices of the city to be de- stroyed. Returning from his proconsulship, Freron soon became an object of suspicion to FRENCH REVOLUTION. 389 that famous deputation, which, embracing mercantile men, a butcher, an actor, an engraver, a pahiter, a lawyer, three or four writers, and an abdicated prince, correctly represented the confusion and the various classes whicli were struggling in the immense capital of France. The deputies arrived successively in Paris, and, in proportion as tlieir num- ber increased, and the days which had produced such profound terror became more remote, people began to muster courage, and to exclaim against the excesses of the capital. The fear of the enemy was diminished by the atti- tude of Dumouriez in the Arwonne. Hatred of the aristocrats was converted into pity, since the horrible sacrifice of them at Paris and Versailles. Tliese atrocities, which had found so many mistaken approvers or so many timid censurers — these atrocities, rendered still more hideous by the robbery which had just been added to murder, excited general reprobation. The Girondins, indignant at so many crimes, and exasperated by the personal oppression to which they had been subjected for a whole month, became more firm and more energetic. Resplendent by their talents and courage in the eyes of France, invoking justice and humanity, they could not but have public opinion in their favour, and they already began loudly to threaten their adversaries with its influence. If, however, all alike condemned the outrages perpetrated in Paris, they did not all feel and excite those personal resentments which imbitter party animosities. Possessing intelligence and talents, Brissot produced consider able effect, but he had neither sufficient personal consideration nor sufficient ability to be the leader of a party, and the hatred of Robespierre aggrandized him by imputing to him that character. When, on the days preceding the insurrection, the Girondins wrote a letter to Bose, the King's painter, the rumour of a treaty was circulated, and it was asserted that Brissot was going to set out for London laden with money. The rumour was unfounded ; but Marat, with whom the slightest and even the falsest reports were a suffi- cient ground for accusation, had nevertheless issued an order for the appre- hension of Brissot, at the time of the general imprisonment of the alleged conspirators of the 10th of August. A great sensation was the consequence, and the order had not been carried into effect. The Jacobins, nevertheless, persisted in asserting that Brissot had sold himself to Brunswick. Robes- pierre repeated and believed this, so disposed was his warped judgment to believe those guilty who were hateful to him. Louvet had equally excited his hatred for making himself second to Brissot at the Jacobins and in the Journal de la Senfinel/c. Louvet, possessing extraordinary talent and bold- ness, made direct attacks upon individuals. His virulent personalities, re- newed every day through the channel of a journal, made him the most dan- gerous and the most detested enemy of Robespierre's party. Roland, the minister, had displeased the whole Jacobin and municipal party by his courageous letter of the 3d of September, and by his resistance to the encroachments of the commune ; but he had never been the rival of any individual, and excited no other anger than that of opinion. lie had person- Robespierre, whom he attacked in return, and contributed greatly to his ruin. From this period he showed himself the enemy of the Terrorists, and pursued them with a fury worthy of a former companion. He proposed in the ('onvention that death should no lontjer he inflicted for revolutionary crimes, except for emicjration, promotion of the royal cause, ami military treason, and that transportation should be substituted instead. At the time of the expedition to St. Domingo in 1802, Freron was a[)pointed prefect of the South, and went with General Loclei^; but he sunk under the influence of the climate, after an illness of six days." — Blugruphie Modcrne. E. 2k2 390 HISTORY OF THE ally ofTended none but Danton, by opposing him in the council, and there was but little danger in so doing, for, of all men living, Danton was the one whose resentment was least to be dreaded. But in the person of Roland it Avas his wife who was principally detested — his wife, a proud, severe, cou- rageous, clever woman, rallying around her those highly-cultivated and bril- liant Girondins, animating them by her looks, rewarding them with her esteem, and keeping up in her circle, along with republican simplicity, a politeness hateful to vulgar and obscure men. These already strove to make Roland the butt of their low ridicule. His wife, they said, governed for him, directed his friends, and even recompensed them with her favours. Marat, in his ignoble language, styled her the Circe of the party.* Guadet, Vergniaud, and Gensonne, though they had shed great lustre on the Legislative Assembly, and opposed the Jacobin party, had, nevertheless, not yet roused all the animosity which they subsequently excited. Guadet had even pleased the energetic republicans by his bold attacks upon Lafayette and the court. Guadet, ardent, and ever ready to dash forward, could dis- play at one moment the utmost vehemence, and in tlie next, the greatest coolness ; and, master of himself in the tribune, he distinguished himself there by his seasonable and spirit-stirring harangues. Accordingly, he, like all other men, could not but delight in an exercise in which he excelled, nay, even abuse it, and take too much pleasure in launching out against a party which was soon destined to stop his mouth by death. Vergniaud had not gained so much favour with violent spirits as Guadet, because he had not shown such hostility to the court; but, on the other hand, he had run less risk of offending them, because, in his ease and care- lessness, he had not jostled others so much as his friend Guadet. So little was tliis speaker under the sway of the passions, that they allowed him to take his nap quietly amidst the contentions of parties ; and, as they did not urge him to outstrip others, they exposed him but little to their hatred. He was, however, by no means indifferent. He had a noble heart, a sound and lucid understanding, and the sluggish hre of his being, kindling it at titnes, warmed and elevated him to the most sublime energy. He had not the same briskness of repartee as Guadet, but he became animated in the tribune, where he poured forth a torrent of eloquence ; and, owing to the flexibility of an extraordinary voice, he delivered his thoughts with a facility and a fecundity of expression unequalled by any other member. The elocution of Mirabeau was, like his character, coarse and unequal; that of Vergniaud, always elegant and noble, became, with circumstances, grand and energetic. But all the exhortations of Roland's wife were not always capable of rousing this champion, frequently disgusted with mankind, frequently opposed to tlie imprudence of his friends, and, above all, by no means convinced of the uti- lity of words against force. Gensonne, full of good sense and integrity, but endowed with a moderate facility of expression, and capable only of drawing up good reports, had not as yet distinguished himself in the tribune. Strong passions, however, and * " To a very beautiful person, Madame Roland united great powers of intellect ; her repu- tation stood very high, and her friends never spoke of her but with the most profound respect. In character she was a Cornelia; and, had she been blessed with sons, would have edu- cated them like the Gracchi. The simplicity of her dress did not detract from her natural grace and elegance : and, while her pursuits were more adapted to the other sex, she adorned them with all the charms of her own. Her personal memoirs are admirable. They are an imitation of Rousseau's Confessions, and often not unworthy of the original." — Du- mont. E. FRE^XH REVOLUTION. 391 an obstinate character, could not but gain him considerable influence among his friends, and from his enemies that hatred which is always excited more by a man's character than by his talents. Condorcet, once a marquis, and always a philosopher, a man of elevated mind, an unbiassed judge of the faults of his party, unqualified for the terrible agitations of democracy, and who had taken no pains to push liimself forward, had as yet no direct enemy on his own account, and reserved him- self lor all those kinds of labour wliich required proi'ound meditation. Buzot,* endued with good sense, elevation of soul, and courage, combining a firm and simple elocution witli a handsome face, awed the passions by the nobleness of his person, and exercised the greatest moral ascendency on all around him. Barbaroux, elected by his fellow-citizens, had just arrived from the South with one of his friends, like himself a deputy to the National (.'onvention. The name of this friend was Kebccqui. With a mind but little cultivated, he was bold and enterprising and wholly devoted to Barbaroux. It will be recollected that tlie latter worshipped Roland and Petion, that he looked upon Marat as an atrocious maniac, and Robespierre as an ambitious man, especially ever since Petion liad proposed tlie latter to him as an indis- pensable dictator. Disgusted with the crimes committed during his absence, he was ready to impute them to men whom he already detested, and he spoke out, immediately after his arrival, with an energy which rendered reconciliation impossible. Inferior to his friends in the qualities of mind, but endued with intelligence and facility, handsome, heroic, he vented him- self in threats, and in a few days drew upon himself as much hatred as those M'ho, during the whole existence of the Legislative Assembly, had never ceased to wound opinions and their holders. The person around whom the whole party rallied, and who then enjoyed universal respect, was Petion. Mayor during the legislature, he had, by his struggle witli the court, gained immense popularity. He had, it is true, on the 9lh of August, preferred deliberation to combat; he had since declared against the deeds of September, and had separated himself from the com- mune, as did Bailly, in 1790 ; but this quiet and silent opposition, without embroiling him still more with tlie faction, had rendered hini formidable to it. Possessing an enlarged understanding, and a calm mind, speaking but seldom, and never pretending to rival any one in talent, he exercised over all, and over Robespierre himself, the ascendency of a cool, equitable, and universally respected reason. Though a reputed Girondin, all the parties were anxious for his sufi'rage. All feared him, and in the new Assembly he had in his favour not only the right side, but the whole central mass, and even many of the members of the left side. Such then was the situation of the Girondins in presence of the Parisian • " F. N. L. Buzot was born at Evreux in 1760, and was an advocate in that city at the time of the Revnhuion, which he embraced with ardour. In 1792 he was deputed by the Eure to the National Assembly. At ttie time of the King's trial he voted for his death, though not for his immediate execution, and he was even one of those who most warmly solicited a reprieve for him. In the March following, he more than once gave warning of the despotism of the mob of Paris, and ended one of his speeches by threatening that city with the sight of the grass growing in the streets if confusion should reign there much longer. In A[)ril he contended against the Jacobins, who, he said, were inlluenced by men of blood. Having been denounced as a Girondin, he made his escape from Paris, and after wandering about some time, was found, together with Petion, dead in a field, and half-eaten by wolves." — Biographic Moilerne. E 393 HISTORY OF THE faction. They possessed the public opinion, which condemned the late excesses ; they had gained a great part of the deputies who were daily arriving in Paris ; they had all the ministers, excepting Danton, who fre- quently governed the councd, but did not employ his power against them ; lastly, they could boast of having at their head the mayor of Paris, than whom none was at the moment more highly respected. But in Paris they were not at home. They were in the midst of their enemies, and they had to apprehend the violence of the lower classes, which were agitated beneath them, and, above all, the violence of the future, which was soon to increase along with the revolutionary passions. The first reproach levelled at them was, that they wanted to sacrifice Paris, A design of seeking refuge in the departments and beyond the lioire had already been imputed to them. The wrongs done them by Paris, having been aggravated since the 2d and 3d of September, they were, moreover, accused of an intention to forsake it ; and it was alleged that they wished to assemble the Convention in #ome other place. These suspicions, gradually arranging themselves, assumed a more regular form. It was pretended that the Girondins were desirous to break the national unity, and to form out of the eighty-three departments as many states, all equal among themselves, and united by a mere federative compact. It was added that by this mea- sure they meant to destroy the supremacy of Paris, and to secure for them- selves a personal domination in their respective departments. Then it was, that the calumny of federalism was devised. It is true, that when France was threatened vv'ith invasion by the Prussians, they had thought of intrench- ing themselves, in case of necessity, in the southern departments ; it is likewise true that, on beholding the atrocities and tyranny of Paris, they had sometimes turned their eyes to the departments : but between this point and the plan of a federative system, there was a very great distance. And, besides, as all the difference between a federative government and a single and central government consists in the greater or less energy of the local institutions, the crime of such an idea was extremely vague, if it had any existence. The Girondins, perceiving nothing culpable in this idea, did not disavow it ; and many of them, indignant at the absurd manner in which this system was condemned, asked if, after all, the new American States, Holland, and Switzerland, were not free and happy under a federative government, and if there would be any great error, any mighty crime, in preparing a simdar lot for France. Buzot, in particular, frequendy maintained this doctrine : and Brissot, a warm admirer of the Americans, likewise defended it, rather as a philosophic opinion than as a project applicable to France. These con- versations being divulged, gave jjreater weisfht to the calumny of federalism. At the Jacobins, the question of a federal system was gravely discussed, and a thousand furious passions were kindled against the Girondins. It was alleged that they wished to destroy the fasces of the revolutionary power, to take from it that unity which constituted its strength : and this for the pur- pose of making themselves kings in their respective provinces. The Girondins, on their part, replied by reproaches in which there was more reality, but which unfortunately were likewise exaggerated, and which lost in I'brce, in proportion as they lost in truth. They reproached the com- mune with having made itself the supreme authority, with having by its usurpations encroached on the national sovereignty, and with having arro- gated to itself alone a power which belonged only to entire France. They reproached it with a design to rule the Convention, in the same manner as FRENXH REVOLUTION. 393 it had oppressed the Legislative Assembly. They declared that it would be unsafe for the national representatives to sit beside it, and that they would be sitting amidst the murderers of September, They accused it of having dishonoured the Revolution daring the forty days succeeding the 10th of August, and with having selected for deputies of Paris none but men who had siclamation, the trumpets sounded again, and I went to the window. The eyes of the populace were immediately turned upon me; I was taken for my royal master, and overwhelmed with abuse. 'J'he same evening, I informed the King that curtains and more clothes were wanting for the dauphin's bed, as the weather began to be cold. He desired me to write the demand for them, which he signed. I used the same ex- pressions that I had hitherto done — ' 'J'he King requires for his son,' and so forth. ' It is a great piece of assurance in you,' said Destournelles, ' thus to j)ersist in a title, abolished by the will of the people, as you have just heard.' I replied, that I had heard a proclamation, but was unacquainted with the object of it. ' It is,' rejoined he, 'for the abolition of royalty; and you may tell the irentleinmi' — pointing to the King — ' to give over taking a title, no longer acknowledged by the people.' I told him I could not alter this note, which was already signed, as the King would ask me the reason, and it was not my part to tell him. ' i'ou will do as you likeJ' continued Destournelles, ' but I shall not certify the demand.' "^ Ckry. E. ' 396 HISTORY OF THE members of the administrative bodies and of the tribunals, and that the con- ditions of eligibility fixed by the constitution of 1791 should be considered as null. It was no longer necessary to select judges from among the law- yers, or administrators from a certain class of proprietors. The Legislative Assembly had already abolished the marc of silver, and extended the electo- ral qualitication to all citizens who had attained the age of majority. The Convention now removed the last demarcations, by calling all the citizens to all the functions of every kind. Thus was introduced the system of absolute equality.* On the 23d, all the ministers were heard. Cambon, the deputy, made a report on the state of the finances. The preceding assemblies had decreed the issue of assignats to the amount of two thousand seven hundred millions ; two thousand five hundred millions had been expended ; there remained two hundred millions, of which one hundred and seventy-six were yet to be made, and the other twenty-four were still in the exchequer. The taxes were withheld by the departments for the purchase of corn ordered by the last Assembly ; fresh extraordinary resources were required. The mass of the national property being daily increased by emigration, the Convention was not afraid to issue paper representing that property, neither did it hesi- tate to do so. A new creation of assignats was therefore ordered. Roland was heard on the state of France and of the capital. Equally severe and still bolder than on the 3d of September, he expatiated with energy on die outrages in Paris, their causes, and the means of preventing them. He recommended the prompt institution of a strong and vigorous government, as the only guarantee of order in free states. His report, listened to with favour, was followed by applause, but nevertheless excited no explosion among those who considered themselves as accused where it treated of the disturbances in Paris. But scarcely was this first survey taken of the state of France, when news arrived of the breaking out of commotions in certain departments. Roland addressed a letter to the Convention, denouncing these fresh outrages and demanding their repression. As soon as this letter was read, the depu- ties Kersaint and Buzot rushed to the tribune to denounce the acts of vio- lence of all sorts that began to be everywhere committed. " The murders," said they, " are imitated in the departments. It is not anarchy that must be accused of them, but tyrants of a new species, who are raising themselves above scarcely-emancipated France. It is from Paris that these fatal exhortations to crime are daily emanating. On all the walls of the capital are posted bills instigating to murder, to conflagration, to pillage, and lists of proscriptions, in which new victims are daily pointed out. How are the people to be preserved from the most abject wretchedness, if so many citizens are doomed to keep themselves concealed ? How make France • " The name of citizen was now the universal salutation amons all classes. Even when a deputy spoke of a shoeblack, that symbol of equality was regularly exchanged between them ; and in (he ordinary intercourse of society, there was a ludicrous affectation of repub- lican brevity and simplicity. 'When thou conquerest Brussels,' said Collet-d'Herbois, the actor, to General Dumouricz, ' my wife, who is in that city, has permission to reward thee with a kiss.' Three weeks afterwards the general took Brussels, but he was ungallant enough not to profit by this flattering permission. His quick wit caught the ridicule of such an ejaculation as that which Camus addressed to him. ' Citizen-general,' said the deputy, ' thou dost meditate the part of Cassar, but remember, I will be Brutus, and plunge a poniard into thy bosom.' — ' My dear Camus,' replied the lively soldier, who had been in worse dan- gers than were involved in this classical threat, ' I am no more like Ca;sar than you are like Brutus; and an assurance that I should live till you kill me would be equal to a brevet of immortality." — Scott's Life of Napoleon. E. I FRENCH REVOLUTION. 397 hope for a constitution, if the Convention, which ought to decree it, deHbe- rates under uplifted daggers ? A stop must, for the honour of the Kevohition, be put to all these excesses, and a distinction made between the civic bravery which defied despotism on the lOlh of August, and the cruelty which, on the 2d and 3d of September, obeyed a mute and hidden tyranny." The speakers, in consequence, proposed the establishment of a committee for the purpose — 1. Of rendering an account of the state of the republic, and of Paris in particular; 2. Of presenting a projet de loi against the instigators of murder and assassination ; 3. Of reporting on the means of placing at the disposal of the National Convention a public force raised in the eiglitv-three departments. On this motion, all the members of the left side, on which were ranged the most ardent spirits of the new assembly, set up tumultuous shouts. The evils prevailing in France were, according to them, exaggerated. The hypocritical complaints, which they had just heard, issued from the depths of the dungeons in which were justly immured those suspected persons who, for three years, had been invoking civil war upon their country. 7'he evils complained of were inevitable. The people were in a state of re- volution, and it was their duty to take energetic measures for their welfare. Those critical moments were now past, and the declarations just issued by the Convention would suillce to allay the disturbances. Besides, where- fore an extraordinary jurisdiction ? The old laws were still in force, and were sufficient for pro\'ocations to murder. Was it a new martial law that members were desirous of establishing ? By a contradiction very common among parties, those who had demanded the extraordinary jurisdiction of the 17th of August, those who \vere about to demand that of the revolutionary tril)unal, inveighed against a law^ whicli, they said, was a law of blood. " A law of blood !" exclaimed Kersaint ; *' when it is, on the contrary, the spilling of blood that I wish to prevent !" An adjournment, however, was vehemently called for. " To adjourn the repression of murders," cried Vergniaud, "is to order them. The foes of France are in arms upon our territory, and you would have the French citizens, instead of fighting them, slaughter one another like the soldiers of Cadmus !" At length the motion of Kersaint and Buzot was adopted entire. A decree was passed ttiat laws should be prepared for the punishment of instigators to murder, and for the organization of a departmental guard. This sitting of the 24th had caused a great agitation in the pulilic mind ; yet no name had been mentioned, and the charges brouglit forward were but general. Next day, the deputies met with all the resentments of the preced- ing day rankling within them, the one party murmuring as'ainst the decrees that had been passed, the other regretting that it had not said enough against what it termed the disors;amzin2; faction. While some thus attacked and others defended the decrees. Merlin, formerly usher and municipal officer of Thionville, afterwards a member of the Legislative Assembly, where he signalized himself among the most determined patriots — Merlin, famous for his ardour and his intrepidity, demanded permission to speak. " The order of the day," said he, " is to ascertain if, as Lasomre yesterday assured me, there exists in the bosom of the National Convention a faction desirous of establishing a triumvirate or a dictatorship. Let all suspicions cease, or let Lasource point out the guilty persons, and I swear to stab them before the face of the Assembly." Lasource, thus pointedly called upon to explain 2L 398 HISTORY OF THE himself, reported his conversation with Merlin, and again designated, but without naming them, the ambitious men who wished to exalt themselves upon the ruins of demolished royalty. " It is they who have instigated to murder and plunder, who have issued orders of arrest against members of the liegislative Assembly, who point the dagger against the courageous members of the Convention, and who impute to the people the excesses perpetrated by themselves." He added that, when the time should arrive, he would tear off the veil which he had only lifted, were he even to perish under their blows. Still, however, the triumvirs were not named. Osselin ascended the tri- bune, and mentioned the deputation of Paris of which he was a member. He said that it was against that body that jealousy was so studiously excited, but that it was neither profoundly ignorant enough, nor profoundly wicked enough, to have conceived plans of a triumvirate or a dictatorship ; that he would take his oath to the contrary ; and he called for ignominy and death against the first who should be caught meditating such plans. " Let every one," added he, " follow me to the tribune, and make the same declaration." — " Yes," exclaimed Rebecqui, the courageous friend of Barbaroux; "yes, that party charged with tyrannical projects exists, and I will name it — it is Kobespierre's party. Marseilles knows this, and has sent us hither to oppose it." This bold apostrophe produced a strong sensation in the Assembly. All eyes turned towards Robespierre. Danton hastened to speak, for the pur- pose of healing divisions, and of preventing accusations which he knew to be in part directed against himself. "That day," said he, "will be a glo- rious one for the republic, on which a frank and brotherly explanation shall dispel all jealousies. People talk of dictators, of triumvirs ; but that charge is vague, and ought to be signed." — " I will sign it !" airain exclaimed Re- becqui, rushing to the bureau. "Good," rejoined Danton; "if there be guilty persons, let them be sacrificed, even though they were my dearest friends. For my part, my life is known. In the patriotic societies, on the 10th of August, in the executive council, I have served the cause of liberty, without any private view, and with the energy of my disposition. For my own person, then, I fear no accusations ; but I wish to save everybody else from them, Tliere is, I admit, in the deputation of Paris, a man who might be called the Royou of the republicans — that is Marat. I have frequently been charged with being the instigator of his placards ; but I appeal to the president, and beg him to declare if, in the communes and the committees, he has not seen me frequently at variance with Marat. For the rest, that writer, so vehemently accused, has passed part of his life in cellars and pri- sons. Suffering has soured his temper, and his extravagances ought to be excused. But let us leave mere individual discussions, and endeavour to render them subservient to the public welfare. Decree the penalty of death against any one who shall propose either a dictator or a triumvirate." This motion was hailed with applause. " That is not all," resumed Danton ; " there is another apprehension dif- fused among the public. That, too, ought to be dispelled. It is alleged that part of tlie deputies are meditating the federative system and the division of France into a great number of sections. It is essential that we should form one whole. Declare, then, by another decree, the unity of France and of its government. These foundations laid, let us discard our jealousies, let us be united, and push forward to our goal." Buzot, in reply to Danton, observed that the dictatorship was a thing that FRENCH REVOLUTION. 399 might be assumed and was not likely to be demanded ; and that to enact laws against sucli a demand was illusory ; that, as lor the federative system, nobody dreamt of it; that the plan of a departmental guard was a mean of unity, since all the departments would be called upon in common to guard the national representation ; that, for ihe rest, it mi^lit l)e well to make a law on that subject, but that it ouglit to be maturely weighed, and in consequence the propositions of Danton ought to be referred to the committee of six de- creed on t!ie preceding day. Robespierre, personally accused, asked leave to speak in his turn. He set out with declaring that it was not himself that he was going to defend, but the public weal, attacked in his person. Addressing Rebecqui, " Citi- zen," said he, " who have not been afraid to accuse me, I thank you. In your courage I recognise the celebrated city which has deputed you. The country, you, and myself, will be gainers by this accusation. "A party," he continued, "has been pointed out as meditating a new tyranny, and I liave been called its chief. The charge is vague ; but, thanks to all that I have done for liberty, it will be easy for me to reply to it. It was I, who, in the Constituent Assembly, for three years combated all the factions, whatever name they borrowed. It was I who combated the court, and disdained its gifts. It was I " — " That is not the question," exclaimed several deputies. " Let him justify himself," replied Tallien. "Since I am accused of ti'cason against the country," resumed Robespierre, " have I not a right to rebut the charge by the evidence of my whole life ?" He then began again to enumerate his two-fold services against the aristo- cracy, and the false patriots who assumed the mask of liberty. As he uttered these words, he pointed to the right side of the Convention. Osselin, him- self tired of this enumeration, interrupted Robespierre, and desired him to give a frank explanation. "The question," said Lecointe-Puiravaux, "does not relate to what you b.ave done, but to what you are charsfed of doing at the present moment." Robespierre then fell back upon the lilicrty of opinion, upon the sacred right of defence, upon the public weal, equally compromised with himself in this accusation. Affain he was exhorted to be brief, but he proceeded with the same diffuseness as before. Referring to the famous decrees passed on his motion against the re-election of the Constituents, and against the nomination of deputies to places in the gift of the government, he asked if those were proofs of aml)ition. Then, recriminating on his ad- versaries, he renewed the accusation of federalism, and concluded by de- manding the adoption of the decrees moved by Danton, and a serious investigation of tlie charge preferred against himself. Barbaroux, out of patience, hastened to the bar. " Barbaroux of Marseilles," said he, " comes to sign the denunciation made against Robespierre by Rebecqui." He then related a very insignificant and oft-repeated story, namely, that before the 10th of August, Panis took him to Robespierre's, and that, on leaving, after this interview, Panis presented Rol)espierre to him as the only man, the only dictator, capable of saving the public weal ; and that, upon this, he, Barba- roux, i-eplied that the Marsellais would never bow their heads before either a king or a dictator. We have already detailed these circumstances, and the reader has had an opportunity of judiriiiL'' whether tliese vaafue and trivial expressions of Robes- pierre's friends furnished sudicient ground for an accusation. Barbaroux reviewed, one after another, the imputations tlirown out against the Giron- dins. He pro^sed that federalism should be proscribed by a decree, and that all the members of the National Convention should swear to sutler them- 400 HISTORY OF THE selves to be blockaded in tlie capital, and to die there, rather than leave it. After prolonged plaudits, Barbaroux resumed, and said that, as for the design of a dictatorship, it could not be disputed ; that the usurpations of the com- mune, the orders issued against members of the national representation, the commissioners sent into the departments, all proved a project of domination; but that the city of Marseilles watched over the safety of its deputies ; that, ever prompt to anticipate beneficial decrees, it despatched the battalion of federalists, in spite of the royfil veto, and that now it was sending off eight hundred of its citizens, to whom their fathers had given a brace of pistols, a sword, a musket, and an assignat of five hundred livres; that to these it had joined two hundred cavalry, well equipped, and that this force would serve to commence the departmental guard proposed for the safety of the Conven- tion. As for Robespierre," added Barbaroux, "I deeply regret having accused him, for I once loved and esteemed him. Yes, we all loved and esteemed him, and yet we have accused him. Let him acknowledge his faults, and we will desist. Let him cease to complain, for, if he has saved liberty by his writings, we have defended it with our persons. Citizens, when the day of perU shall arrive, then people will be able to judge us ; then we shall see if the writers of placards have the courage to die along with us !" Numerous plaudits accompanied Barbaroux to his seat. At the word pla- cards, Marat demanded permission to speak. Cambon also asked it and obtained the preference. He then denounced placards in which a dictator- ship was proposed as indispensable, and which were signed with Marat's name. At these words, every one moved away from him, and he replied with a smile to the aversion that was manifested for him. Cambon was fol- lowed by other accusers of Marat and of the commune. Marat long strove to obtain permission to speak; but Panis gained it before him in order to an- swer the allegations of Barbaroux. Panis, in a clumsy manner, denied real acts, but which proved lilde, and which it would have been better to admit, and to insist on their insignificance. He was then interrupted by Brissot, who asked him the reason of the order of arrest issued against himself. Panis appealed to circumstances, which, he said, had been too readily for- gotten, to the terror and confusion which then overwhelmed men's minds, to the multitude of denunciations against the conspirators of the 10th of August, to the strong rumours circulated against Brissot, and the necessity for inves- tigating them. After tliese long explanations, every moment interrupted and resumed, Marat, still insisting on being heard, at length obtained permission to speak, when it was no longer possible to refuse it. It was the first time that he had appeared in tlie tril)une. The siglit of him produced a Inirst of indignation, and a tremendous uproar was raised against him. " Down ! down !" was the general cry. Slovenly in his dress, Avearing a cap, which he laid down upon the tribune, and surveying his audience with a convulsive and con- temptuous smile, " I have," said he, " a great number of personal enemies in this Assembly.". . . " All ! all !" cried most of the deputies. " I liave in this Assembly," resumed Marat, with the same assurance, " a great number of personal enemies. I recall them to modesty. Tiet them spare their ferocious clamours against a man who has served liberty and themselves more than they imagine. " People talk of a triumvirate, of a dictatorship — a plan which they attri- bute to the deputation of Paris. AVell ; it is due to justice to declare that my colleagues, and especially Robespierre and Danton, have always been FRENCH REVOLUTION. 401 hostile to it, and that I have always had to combat them on this point. I was the first and the only one among all the political writers of France, who thought of this measure as the only expedient for crushing traitors and con- spirators. It is I alone who ought to be punished; but, before you punish, you ought to hear." These words were followed by some plaudits from a few members. Marat continued ; " Amidst the everlasting machinations of a perfidious King, of an abominable court, and of false patriots, who, in both Assemblies, sold the public liberty, will you reproach me for having devised the only means of salvation, and for having called down vengeance upon guilty heads? No; for the people would condemn you. It has felt that it^'had but this expedient left, and it is by making itself dictator that it has delivered itself from traitors. " I have shuddered more than any other at the idea of these terrible move- ments, and it is that they might not prove for ever vain that I should have wished them to be directed by a just and firm hand. If, at the storming of the Bastille, the necessity of that measure had been understood, five hundred guilty heads would have fallen at my bidding, and peace would have been insured from that time. But, for want of the display of this energy, equally wise and necessary, one hundred thousand patriots have been slaughtered, and one hundred thousand more are threatened with slaughter. As a proof that it was not my wish to convert this dictator, tribune, triumvir — the name is of no consequence — into a tyrant such as stupidity might conceive, but a victim devoted to the country, whose lot no ambitious man would have envied, is, that I proposed at the same time that his authority should last for- a few days only, tliat it should be limited to the power of condemning traitors, and even that a cannon-ball should, during that time, be fastened to his leg, that he might always be in the power of the people. My ideas, revolting as may appear to you, tended only to the public welfare.* If you were yourselves not enlightened enough to comprehend me, so much the worse for you !" The profound silence which had prevailed thus far was interrupted by some bursts of laughter, which did not disconcert the speaker, who was far more terrible than ludicrous. He resumed. " Such was my opinion, writ- ten, signed, and publicly maintained. If it were false, it would have been right to combat it, to enlighten me, and not to denounce me to despotism. " I have been accused of ambidon ; but look at and judge me. Had I but condescended to set a price upon my silence, I might have been gorged with gold — and I am poor. Persecuted without ceasing, I wandered from cellar to cellar, and I have preached truth from a wood-pile. " As for you, open your eves. Instead of wasting time in scandalous discussions, perfect the declaration of riglits, establish the constitution, and lay the foundations of the just and free government which is the real object of your labours." A general attention had been paid to tliis strange man, and the Assembly, stupified by a system so alarming and so deeply calculated, liad kept silence. « "There is no kind of folly which may not come into the head of man. and. what is worse, which may not for a moment be realized. Marat had several ideas which were unal- terable. The Revolution had its enemies, and, according to him, in order to insure its dura- tion, these were to be destroyed ; he thou But those inhahitants of Lille and Thionville, who coolly await the red-hot balls, who continue immnveahle amid the bursting of bombs and the destruction of their houses — is not this the development of all the virtues ] Ah, yes, those virtues are above all triumphs! A new manner of making war is now invented, and our enemies will not find it out: tyrants will not he able to do anything so long as freemen shall be resolved to defend themselves. " A great number of our brethren have fallen in the defence of liberty ; they are dead, but their memory is dear to us. They have left examples which live in our hearts — but do they live who have attacked us ? No: they are crushed, and their cohorts are hut heaps of car- casses, which are rotting on the spot where they fought; they are but an infectious dunghill, which the sun of liberty wdl have great dilliculty to purify. . . . That host of walking skeletons closely resembles the skeleton of tyranny ; and like it they will fail to succumb. . . What is become of those old generals of high renown 1 ']''heir shadow vanishes before the almighty genius of liberty ; they flee, and they have but dungeons for their retreat, for dun- geons will soon be the only palaces of des[)ots : they flee because the nations are rising. " It was not a king who appointed thee, Dumouriez ; it was thy fellow-citizens • recollect that a general of the rei»u!)lic ought never to treat with tyrants; recollect that such generals as thyself ought nevtjr to serve any but liberty. Thou hast heard of Themistocles; he had saved Greece by the hattle of Salamis; he was calumniated — thou hast thy enemies, Dumou- riez ; thou shalt be calumniated, and that is the reason I talk to thee — Themistocles was 416 HISTORY OF THE Danton then retired with Duinouriez, whom he seized upon, and to whom he did, as it were, the honours of tlie new republic. Danton having shown at Paris as firm a countenance as Duinouriez at St. Menehould, they were regarded as the two saviours of the Revolution, and they were applauded together at all the public places where they made their appearance. A cer- tain instinct drew these two men towards one another, notwithstanding the difference of their habits. They were the rakes of the two systems, who united with the like genius the like love of pleasure, but with a different sort of corruption. Danton had that of the people, Dumouriez that of courts; but, more lucky tluui his colleague, the latter had only served generously and sword in hand, while Danton had been so unfortunate as to sully a great character, bv the atrocities of September. Those brilliant saloons where the celebrated men of former days enjoyed their glory ; where during the whole of the last century, Voltaire, Diderot, d'Alembert, Rousseau, had been listened to and applauded — those saloons no longer existed. There was left the simple and select society of Madame Roland, wliich brought together all the Girondins, the handsome Barbaroux, the clever Douvet, the grave Buzot, the brilliant Guadet, the persuasive Vergniaud. and where still a pure language prevailed, conversations replete with interest, and elegant and polished manners. The ministers met there twice a Aveek, and dined together off a single course. Such was the new republican society, which joined to the graces of old France the gravity of the new, and wliich was so soon to be swept away by demagogue coarseness. Dumouriez attended one of these simple repasts, felt an unpleasant sensa- tion at first in the presence of those former friends whom he had driven from the ministry, and of that woman who appeared to him too austere, and calumniated; he was unjustly punished by his fellow-citizens; he found an asylum among tyrants, but still he was 'J'heniistocles. He was asked to bear arms against his country. ' My sword,' said he, ' shall never serve tyrants !' and he plunged it into his heart. I will also remind thee of Scipio. Antiochus endeavoured to bribe that great man by offering him a most valuable hostage, his own son. ' Thou hast not wealth enough to purchase my con- science,' replied Scipio, 'and nature knows no love superior to the love of country.' " Nations are groaning in slavery. Thou wilt soon deliver them. What a glorious mis- sion ! Success is not doubtful ; the citizens who are waiting for thee, hope for thee; and those who are here urge thee on. We must, however, reproach thee with some excess of generosity towards thine enemies; thou hast conducted back the King of Prussia rather too much ill the French manner — in the old French manner, that is to say. {Applause.) But let us hope that Austria will pay double ; she has money; don't spare her; thou canst not make her pay too much for the outrages which her race has committed upon mankind. " Thou art going to Brussels, Dumouriez {applause) ; thou wilt pass through Courtrai. There the French name has been profaned ; the traitor Jarry has burned houses. Thus far I have spoken only to thy courage. I now speak to thy heart. Be mindful of those unfor- tunate inhabitants of Courtrai ; disappoint not their hopes this time; promise them the jus- tice of the nation ; the nation will stand by thee. " When thou shalt be at Brussels ... I have nothing to say to thee concerning the con- duct which thou hast to pursue ... If thou there findest an execrable woman, who came to the fjot of the walls of Lille to feast her ferocity with the sight of red-hot balls . . . but that woman will not await thee ... If thou shouldst find her, she would be thy prisoner; we have others belonging to her family . . . thou wouldst send her hither ... let her be shaved in such a manner that she never again could wear a wig. "At Brussels, liberty will revive under thy auspices. A whole nation will give itself up to joy ; thou wilt restore children to their fathers, wives to their husbands ; the sight of thy happiness will be a recreation to thee after thy labours. Boys, citizens, girls, women, will throng around thee, will all embrace thee as their father ! Ah ! how happy wilt thou be, Dumouriez ! . . My wife, she comes from Brussels ; she will embrace thee, too." This speech was frequently interrupted by vehement applause. 1 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 417 to whom he appeared too licentious : but he supported this situation with his accustomed spirit, and was touched in particular by the sincere cordiality of Roland. Besides the society of the Girondins, that of the artists was the only one which had survived the dispersion of the ancient aristocracy. Almost all the artists had warmly embraced a revolution, which avenged them of high-born disdain and promised favour to genius alone. They wel- comed Duniouriez, in their turn, and gave him an entertainment at which all the talents that the capital containetl were assembled. But, in the very midst of this entertainment, a strange scene occurred to interrupt it, and to produce as much disgust as surprise. Marat, ever prompt to outstrip revolutionary suspicions, was not satisfied with the general. The merciless denouncer of all those who enjoyed the public favour, he had always anticipated by his disgusting invectives the disgrace incurred by the popular leaders. Mirabeau, Bailly, Lafayette, Petion, the Girondins, had been assailed by his abuse, while yet in posses- sion of all their popularity. Since the 10th of August, in particular, he had indulged all the extravagances of his mind ; and, though revolting to upright and reasonable men, and strange at least to hot-headed revolutionists, he had been encouraged by success. He failed not, therefore, to consider himself as in some measure a public man, essential to the new order of things. He spent part of his time in collecting reports, in circulating them in his paper, and in visiting the bureaux for the purpose of redressing the wrongs com- mitted by administrators against the people. Communicating to the public the particulars of his life, he declared in one of his numbers* that his avocations were overwhelming; that, out of his twenty-four hours in the day, he allowed but two for sleep, and one only to the table and to hie domestic concerns ; that, besides the hours devoted to his duty as a deputy, he reiTularlv spent six in collecting the complaints of a multitiule of unfortunate and oppressed persons, and in endeavouring to obtain redress for them ; that he passed the remaining hours in reading and answering a multitude of letters, in writing his observations on pul)lic events, in receiving denunciations, in ascertaining- the veracity of the denouncers : lasdy, in editing his paper and superintend- ing the printing of a great work. For three years, he said, he had not taken a quarter of an hour's recreation ; and it makes one shudder to think what so inordinate a mind, coupled with such unceasing activity, is capable of producing in a revolution. Marat pretended to discover in Duraonriez nothinof but an aristocrat of dissolute manners, who was not to be trusted. As an addition to his motives, he had been informed that Dumouriez had recendy proceeded with the utmost severity against two battalions of vohmteers, who had slaughtered some emi- grant deserters. Repairing immediately to the .Jacobins, he denounced the general in their tribune, and asked for two commissioners to go with him and question him concerning his conduct. Montaat and Bentabolle were instandy appointed, and away he went with them. Uumouricz was not at home. Marat hurried to the diUcrent theatres, and at lenij-tli learned tliat Dumouriez was attending an entertainment given to him by die artists at the house of Mademoiselle Candcille, a celebrated woman of that dav. Marat scrupled not to proceed thither notwithstanding his disgusting costume. Tiie car- riages, the detachments of the naUonal guard, which he found at the door of the house where the dinner vvas given, the presence of Santerre, the com- mandant, and of a great number of deputies, and the arrangements of the • Journal de la Republique Franjaise, No. xciii., Jan. 9, 1793. VOL. I. — 53 4 IS HISTORY OF THE entertainment, excited his spleen. lie boldly went forward and asked for Diimouriez. A sort of murmur arose at his approach. The mention of his name caused the disappearance of a number of faces, whicli, he said, could not endure his accusing looks. Proceeding straightforward to Dumouriez, he loudly accosted him, and demanded an explanation of liis treatment of the two battalions. The general eyed him, and then said with a contemptuous curiosity : " Aha ! so you are the man they call Marat !" He then surveyed him again from head to foot, and turned his back upon him, without saying another word. As, however, the Jacobins who accompanied Marat appeared milder and more respectable, Dumouriez gave them some explanations, and sent them away satisfied. Marat, who was far from being so, made a great noise in the ante-rooms, abused Santerre, who, he said, acted the part of lackey to the general ; inveighed against the national guard, which contributed to the splendour of the entertainment, and retired, threatening vengeance against all the aristocrats composing the assembly. He instandy hastened to describe in his journal this ridiculous scene, which so correctly delineates the situation of Dumouriez, the fury of Marat, and the manners of that period.* * The following account of the visit paid by Marat to Dumouriez at Mademoiselle Can- (leille's is extracted from the Journal de la R/publtque Frangaise,- it was written by Marat himself, and published in his paper of Tuesday, October 17, 1792 " Declaration of the Friend of the People. "Less surprised than indignant at seeing- former valets of the court, placed by the course of events at the head of our armies, and, since the 10th of August, kept in their places by in- fluence, intrigue, and stupidity, carry their audacity so far as to degrade and treat as crimi- nals two patriot battalions, upon the ridiculous and most probably false pretext that some individuals had murdered four Prussian deserters; I presented myself at the tribune of the Jacobins, to expose this odious proceeding, and to apply for two commissioners distinguished for their civism, to accompany me to Dumouriez, and to be witnesses of his answers to my questions. I repaired to him with citizens Bentabolle and Monteau, two of my colleagues in the Convention. We were told that he was gone to the play and was to sup in town. " We knew that he had returned from the Varietes; we went in quest of him to the club of D. Cypher, where we were told that he was expected to be. Labour lost. At length we learned that he was to sup at the little house of Talma, in the Hue Chantereine. A file of carriages and brilliant illuminations pointed out to us the temple where the children of Thalia were entertaining a son of Mars. We were surprised to find Parisian national guards within and without. After passing through an antechamber full of servants, intermixed with heiduks, we arrived at a saloon containing a numerous company. " At the door was Santerre, general of the Parisian army, performing the office of lackey, or gentleman-usher. He announced me in a loud voice the moment he saw me, which dis- pleased me exceedingly, inasmuch as it was likely to drive away certain masks which one would like to be acquainted with. However, I saw enough to gain a clue to the intrigues. 1 shall say nothing of half a score of fairies destined to grace the entertainment. Politics were probably not the object of their meeting. Neither shall I say anything of the national officers who were paying their court to the great general, or of the old valets of the court wha formed his retinue, in the dress of aides-de-camp. — And lastly, I shall say nothing of the master of the house, who was among them in the costume of a player. But I cannot help declaring, in illustratiwn of the operations of the Convention, and of the character of the jugglers of decrees, that, in the august company were Kersaint, the great busy-body Lebrun, Koland, Lasource, . . . Chenier, all tools of the faction of the federative republic, and Dulaure and Gorsas, their libelling errand-boys. As there was a large party, I distinguished three conspirators only ; perhaps they were more numerous ; and, as it was now still early, it is probable that they had not all arrived, for the Vergniauds, the Buzots, the Camuses, the Rabauts, the Lacroix, the Guadets, the Barbaroux, and other leaders were no doubt of the party, since they belong to the secret conclave. " Before I proceed to our conversation with Dumouriez, I shall here pause a moment, to make with the judicious reader some observations that will not be misplaced. Ls it to be FRENCH REVOLUTION. 419 Dumouriez had spent four days at Paris, and during that time he had not been able to come to a good understanding with the Girondins, though he conceived that this peneraiissimo of the republic, who has suffered the Kinir of Prussia to escape fronj Verdun, and who has capitulated with the enemy, whom he niii;ht have cooped up in his camps, and forced to lay down his arms, instead of favouring his retreat, should have chosen so critical a moment to abandon the armies under his command, to run to play- houses, to get himself applauded, and to indulge in orgies at an actor's with nymphs of the opera 1 " Dumouriez has disguised the secret motives which call him to Paris under the pretext of concerting with the ministers the plan of the operations of the campaign. What! witli a Roland, a frcre cnupe-cftoiix and petty intriguer, acquainted only with the mean ways of lying and low cunning! with a Lepage, a worthy disciple of his patron, Roland ! with a Clavieres, who knows nothing but the terms of stock-brokering ! with a Garat, who compre- hends nothing but the affected phrases and the tricks of an academic parasite. I shall say nothing of Alonge ; he is deemed a patriot ; but he is just as ignorant of military operations as his colleagues, who know nothing at all about them. Dumouriez is come to coi,cert with the leaders of the party which is caballing for the establishment of a federative republic. That is his errand. " On entering the saloon where the entertainment was given, I perceived plainly that my presence damped the gaiety of the guests, which is not to be wondered at, when it is consi- dered that I am a t)Ugbear to the enemies of the country. Dumouriez, in particular, appeared disconcerted. I begged him to step with me into another room, as I wished to converse with him a few moments in private. I addressed him, and our conversation was word for word as follows: ' We arc inemliers of the National Convention, and we come, sir, to bes you to give us some explanation relative to the affair of the two batttalions, the Mauconseil and the Re- puhlican, accused by you of having murdered four Prussian deserters in cold blood. We have searched the offices of the military committee and those of the war department ; we caimot there find the least proof of the crime; and nobody can furnish information on all these points but yourself." — 'Gentlemen, I have sent all the documents to the minister." — 'We assure you, sir, that we have in our hands a memorial, drawn up in his office and in his iiam(!, purporting that there are no facts whatever for pronouncing upon this alleged crime, and that for such we must address ourselves to you.' — 'But, gentlemen, I have in- formed the Convention, and to it I refer you.' — ' Permit us, sir, to observe, that the informa- tion furnished is not sulTicient, since the committees of the Convention, to which this matter has been referred, have declared in their report that it was impossible for them to pronounce for want of particulars and proofs of the crime denounced. We beg you to say whether you know all the circumstances of this affair.' — 'Certainly, of my own knowledge.' — 'Then it is not merely a confidential denunciation made by you on the faith of M. Duchaseau V — ' But, gentlemen, when I assert a thing, I think I ought to be believed.' — 'Sir, if we thought as you do on that point, we should not have taken the step that has brought us hither. We have great reasons to doubt ; seveial members of the military committee have informed us that these pretended Prussians were four French emigrants.' — ' Well, gentlemen, if that were the case?' — ' Sir, that would absolutely change the state of the matter, and, without approving beforehand the conduct of the battalions, perhaps they are absolutely innocent : it is the cir- cumstances which provoked the murder that it is important to know. Now, letters from the army state that these emigrants were discovered to be spies sent by the enetny, and t'lat they even rose against the national guards.' — ' What, sir, do you then approve the insubordination of the soldiers V — ' No, sir, I do not aj)prove the insubordination of the soldiers, but I detest the tyranny of the officers; I have too much rca^^on to helieve that this is a machination of Duchas(}au against the patriot battalions, anil the manner in which you have treated them is revolting.' — ' Monsieur Marat, you are too warm ; I cannot enter into ex[)lanations with you.' Here Dumouriez, finding himself too closely pressed, extricated himself from the dilemma by leaving us. My two colleagues followed him. and, in the conversation which they had with him, he confined himself to saying that he had sent the documents to the minister. While they were talking, I found myself surrounded by all the aides-de-camp of Dumouriez, and by the officers of the Parisian guard. Santerre strove to appease me: he talked to me about the necessity of subordination in the troops. ' I know that as well as you,' I replied ; ' but I am disgusted at the manner in which the soldiers of the country are treated : I have still at heart the massacres at Nanc^ and in the Champ de Mars.' Here some aides-de-ca/np of Dumou- riez began to declaim against agitators. ' Cease those ridiculous exclaniati(ms !" I exclaimed ; ' there are no agitators in our armies but the infamous officers, their spies, and the perfidious 420 HISTORY OF THE had among them an intimate friend in the person of Gensonne. He had merely advised tlie latter to reconcile himself with Danton, as with the most powerful man, and tlie one who, notwithstanding his vices, might become most serviceable to tlie well-meaning. Neither was Dumouriez on better terms with the Jacobins, with whom he was disgusted, and to whom he was an object of suspicion, on account of his supposed friendship M'ith the Girondins. His visit to Paris had, therefore, not served him much with either of the parties, but it had proved more beneficial to him in a military respect. According to his custom, he had drawn up a general plan, which had been adopted by the executive council. Agreeably to this plan, Montesquieu* was to maintain his position along the Alps, and to secure the great chain as a boundary by completing the conquest of Nice, and striving to keep up the neutrality of Switzerland. Biron was to be reiniorced, in order to guard the Rhine from Basle to Landau. A corps of twelve thousand men, under the command of General Meusnier, was destined to move to the rear of Custine, in order to cover his communications. Kellermann had orders to leave his quarters, to pass rapidly between Luxemburg and Treves, to hasten to Coblentz, and thus to do what he had already been advised, and what he and Custine had so long neglected to do. Then, taking the offen- sive with eighty thousand men, Dumouriez was to complete the French territory by the projected acquisition of Belgium. Keeping thus the defen- sive on all the frontiers protected by the nature of the soil, the French would boldly attack only on the open frontier, that of the Netherlands, where, according to the expression of Dumouriez, a man could defend himself only by staining battles. He obtained, by means of Santerre, compliance with his suggestions that courtiers, whom we have had the folly to leave at the head of our troops.' I spoke to Moretoii Chabriliant and to Bourdoin, one of whom was formerly a valet of the court, and the other a spy of Lafayette. "I was indignant at all that I heard, and at all the atrocity that I suspected in the odious conduct of our generals. As I could not bear to stay any longer, I left the party, and I beheld with astonishment in the adjoining room, the doors of which were ajar, several of Dumouriez's heiduks, with drawn swords at their shoulders. I know not what could be the object of this ridiculous farce; if it was contrived for the purpose of intimidating me, it must be admitted that the valets of Dumouriez entertain high notions of liberty. Have patience, gentlemen, we will teach you to know it. Meanwhile be assured that your master dreads the point of my pen much more than I fear the swords of his ragamuffins." * "Anne Pierre Montesquiou Fezenzac, born in 1741, was a major-general, a member of the French Academy, and deputy from the nobility of Paris to the States-general. In 1791, at the time of the King's flight, he declared himself devoted to the Assembly, and, renewing his civic oath, was sent into the departments of the Moselle, the Meuse, and the Ardennes, in order to dispose the minds of the people in favour of the Assembly. Some time after he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army of the South ; he was soon afterwards denounced by Barrere as having sought to favour the King of Sardinia, and hurt the interest of the patriots in his treaty with the republic of Geneva. A decree of accusa- tion was then passed against him, but when the commissioners appointed to seize him arrived at the gates of Geneva, they learned that he was gone into Switzerland, and had carried with him the military chest, to compensate for the property he had left in France. A decree of 179.5 left Montesquiou at liberty to return to France; and, in 1797, he reap- peared in the constitutional circle, which the Directory then endeavoured to oppose to the Clichyan party. He died at Paris in 1798." — Biographic Moderne. E. " Montesquiou wrote, in 1798, a work entitled 'On the Administration of Finance in a Republic,' which shows a true zeal for the government under which he lived, and a degree of talent well calculated to serve it. Never was he heard to utter a word that could betray the faintest regret for his station before the Revolution ; and yet he was, perhaps, one of those who had lost by it most power, most honours, and most wealth." — Rcederer. E. I FRE^•CH REVOLUTION. 421 the absurd idea of a camp near Paris should be relinquished ; that the men, artillery, ammunition, provisions, and necessaries for encamping collected there, should be despatched to Flanders for the use of his army, which was in want of everything ; that to tliese should- be added shoes, great-coats, and six millions in cash to supply the soldiers with ready money, till they should enter the Netherlands, after which he hoped to be able to provide for him- self. He set out, about the 16th of October, with somewhat different notions of what is called public gratitude, on rather worse terms with the parties than before, and at the utmost indemnified for his journey by certain military arrangements made with the executive council. During this interval, the Convention had continued to act against the commune, by urging its renewal and closely watching all its proceedings. Petion had been elected mayor by a majority of 13,899 votes, while Robes- pierre had obtained but twentv-three, Billaud-Varennes fourteen, Panis eighty, and Danton eleven. The popularity of Robespierre and Petion must not, however, be measured according to this difference in the number of votes ; because people were accustomed to see in the one a mayor, and in the other a deputy, and did not care to make anything else of eitber ; but this immense majority proves the popularity which the principal chief of the Girondin party still possessed. We should not omit to mention that Bailly obtained two votes — a singular memento bestowed on that worthy magistrate of 1789. Petion declined the mayoralty, weary of the convulsions of the commune, and preferring the functions of deputy to the National Con- vention. The three principal measures projected in the famous sitting of the 24th were a law against instigations to murder, a decree relative to the formation of a departmental guard, and, lastly, an accurate report of the state of Paris. The two former, intrusted to the commission of nine, excited a continual outcry at the Jacobins, at the commune, and in the sections. The commis- sion of nine nevertheless proceeded with its task ; and from several depart- ments, among others Marseilles and Calvados, there arrived, as before the lOtli of August, battalions which anticipated the decree respecting the de- partmental guard. Roland, to whom the third measure, namely, the report on the state of the capital, was allotted, performed his part without weakness and with the strictest truth. He described and excused the inevitable con- fusion of the first insurrection ; but he delineated with energy, and branded with reprobation, the crimes added by the 2d of September to the revohition of tbe 10th of August. He exposed all tbe excesses of the commune, its abuses of power, its arbitrary imprisonments, and its immense peculations. He concliuled with these words : " A wise department, but possessinir little power; an active and despotic commune ; an excellent population, but the sound part of which is intimi- dated or under constraint, while the other is wrought upon by datterers and inflamed by calumny; confusion of powers; abuse and contempt of the autborities; the public force weak or reduced to a cipher by being badly commanded ; — such is Paris !" His report was received with applause by the usual majority, though, during the reading of it, some murnuirs had been raised by the Mountain. A letter, written by an individual to a magistrate, communicated by that ma- gistrate to the executive council, and unveiling the design of a new 2d of September against a part of the Convention, excited great agitation. In that letter there was this expression relative to the plotters ; " Tbev are deter- mined to let none speak but Robespierre." At these words, all eves were 2N 422 HISTOR'i OF THE fixed upon him. Some expressed their indignation, others urged him to speak. He accordingly addressed the Assembly, for the purpose of counter- acting the impression produced by Roland's report, which he termed a defamatory romance ; and he insisted that publicity ought not to be given to that report, before those who were accused, and himself in particular, had been heard. Then, expiating on so much as related to him personally, he began to justify himself; but he could not gain a hearing on account of the noise which prevailed in tlie hall. Robespierre, having succeeded in quell- ing the uproar, recommenced his apology, and challenged his adversaries to accuse him to his face, and to produce a single positive proof against him. At this challenge, Louvet started up. " It is I," said he ; " I who accused thee." He was already at the foot of the tribune when he uttered these words, and Barbaroux and Rebecqui had followed him thither to support the accusation. At this sight Robespierre was agitated, and his countenance betrayed his emotion.* He proposed that his accuser should be heard, and that he should then have leave to reply. Danton, who succeeded him in the tribune, complained of the system of calumny organized against the com- mune and the deputation of Paris, and repeated, concerning Marat, who was the principal cause of all these accusations, what he had already declared, namely, that he disliked him, that he had experienced his volcanic and un- sociable temper, and that all idea of a triumviral coalition was absurd. He concluded by moving that a day should be fixed for discussing the report. The Assembly ordered it to be printed, but deferred its distribution among the departments till Louvet and Robespierre should have been heard. Louvet was a man of great boldness and courage. His patriotism was sincere, but his hatred of Robespierre was blended with resentment occa- sioned by a personal quarrel, begun at the Jacobins, continued in La Senti- 7ielle, revived in the electoral assembly, and rendered more violent since he was face to face with his jealous rival in the National Convention. With extreme petulance of disposition, Louvet united a romantic and credulous imagination, which misled him and caused him to suppose concerted plans and plots, where there was nothing more than the spontaneous effect of the passions. He firmly believed in his own suppositions, and strove to force his friends also to put faith in them. But in the cool good sense of Roland and Petion, and in the indolent impartiality of Vergniaud, he had to encoun- ter an opposition which mortified him. Buzot, Barbaroux, Guadet, without being equally credulous, without supposing such complicated machinations, believed in the wickedness of their adversaries, and seconded Louvet's attacks from indignation and courage. Salles, deputy of La Meurtho, an inveterate enemy to anarchists in the Constituent Assembly and in the Con- vention — Salles, endowed with a sombre and violent imagination, was alone accessible to all the suggestions of Louvet, and, like him, was a believer in vast plots, hatched in the commune, and extending to foreign countries. Passionate friends of liberty, Louvet and Salles could not consent to impute to it so many evils, and they were fain to believe that the party of the Moun- tain, and Marat in particular, were paid by the emigrants and England to \irge on the Revolution to crime, to dishonour, and to general confusion. More uncertain relative to Robespierre, they saw in him at least a tyrant * " RoViRspierre, whose countenance haJ till then been firm, and his manner composed, was now profoundly agitated. He had once measured his powers at the .lacohins with thii" redoubtable adversary, whom he knew to be clever, impetuous, and regardless of conse- quences." — Mignet. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION 423 actuated by pride and ambition, and aspiring, no matter by what means, to the supreme power. Louvet, having resolved to attack Robespierre bohlly, and to allow him no rest, had his speech in readiness, and had brought il v.iih liini on the day ■when Roland was to present his report. Thus he was quite prepared to support the accusation when he obtained permission to speak. He instantly availed liimself of it, and immediately after Roland. The Girondins were already sulliciently disposed to form false notions of events, and to find a plot where nothing but violent passions really existed : but to the credulous Louvet the conspiracy appeared much more evident and more intimately coniljined. In tlie growing exaggeration of the Jacobins, and in the favour which Robespierre's superciliousness had found with them during the year 1792, he beheld a plot framed by the ambitious tribune. He pictured hhn surrounded by satellites to whose violence he gave up his op- ponents ; erecting himself into the object of an idolatrous worship ; causing it to be rumoured before the lOih of August, that he alone could save liberty and France, and, when the 10th of August arrived, hiding himself from the light, coming forth again two days after the danger, proceeding direct to the commune, notwithstanding his promise never to accept any place, and, of his sole authority, seating himself at the bureau of the general council ; there, seizing tlie control over a blind bourgeoisie, instigating it at pleasure to all sorts of excesses, insulting for its sake the Legislative Assembly, and demand- ing decrees of that Assembly upoi: penalty of tlie tocsin ; directing, but without showing himself, the massacres and the robberies of September, in order to uphold the municipal authority by terror ; and afterwards despatchinsr emis- saries over all France to recommend the same crimes and to induce tlie pro- vinces to acknowledge the supremacy and the authority of Paris. Robes- pierre, added Louvet, wished to destroy the national representation, in order to substitute for it the commune which he swayed, and to give us the govern- ment of Rome, where, under the name of mtaiicipiti, the provinces were subject to the sovereignty of the metropolis. Thus, master of Paris, which would have been mistress of France, he would have become the successor of overthrown royalty. Seeing, however, the meeting of a new assembly near at hand, he had passed from the general council to the electoral assem- bly, and directed the votes by terror, in order to make himself master of the Convention by means of the deputation of Paris. It was he, Robespierre, who had recommended to the electors that man of blood whose incendiary placards had iilled France witli surprise and hor- ror. That libeller, with whose name Louvet would not, he said, soil his lips, was but the spoiled child of murder, who possessed a courage for preaching up crime and calumniating the purest citizens, in which the cau- tious Robespierre was delieient. As for Danton, Louvet excluded him from the accusation, nay, he was astonished that he should have ascended the tribune to repel an attack which was not directed ag-ainst him. He did not, however, separate him from the perpetrations of September, because, in those disastrous days, when all the authorities, the Assembly, the ministers, the mayor, spoke in vain to stop the massacres, the minister of justice alone (lid not apeak: because, lastly, in tlie notorious placards, he alone was ex- cepted from the calumnies poured forth upon the purest of the citizens. "And canst thou," exclaimed Louvet, "canst thou. Danton, clear thyself in the eyes of posterity from this dishonourintr exception?" These words, equally generous and imprudent, were loudly cheered. This accusation, continually applauded, had not, however, been heard 424 HISTORY OF THE without many murmnrs. " Procure silence for me," Louvet had said to the president, '■'■for I am going to touch the sore, and the patient will cry out." "Keep your word," said Danton ; "touch the sore." And whenever mur- murs arose, there were cries of " Silence ! silence, sore ones!'''' Louvet at last summed up his cliarges. " I accuse thee, Robespierre," he exclaimed, "of having calumniated the purest citizens, and of having done so on the day when calumnies were proscriptions. I accuse thee of having put thyself forward as an object of idolatry, and of having spread abroad that thou wert the only man capable of saving France. I accuse thee of having vilified, insulted, and persecuted the national representation, of having tyran- nized over the electoral assembly of Paris, of having aimed at the supreme power by calumny, violence, and terror — and I demand a committee to in- vestigate thy conduct." Louvet then proposed a law condemning to banish- ment every one who should make his name a subject of division among the citizens. He proposed that to the measures the plan of which the commis- sion of nine Avas preparing, should be added a new one, for placing the armed force at the disposal of the minister of the interior. " Lastly," said he, " I demand on the spot a decree of accusation against Marat! . . . Heavens!" he exclaimed, " O heavens ! I have named him !" Robespierre, stunned by the applause lavished on his adversary, desired to be heard. Amidst the uproar and murmurs excited by his presence, he hesitated ; his features were distorted, his voice faltered. He nevertheless obtained a hearing and demanded time to prepare his defence. He was allowed time, and his defence was adjourned to die 5th of November. This delay was fortunate for the accused, for the Assembly, excited by Louvet, was filled with strong indignadon. \n the evening, there was great agitation at die Jacobins, where all the sittings of the Convention were reviewed. A great number of members hurried in dismay to relate the horrid conduct of Louvet, and to demand the erasure of his name. He had calumniated the society, inculpated Dan- ton, Santerre, Robespierre, and Marat. He had even demanded an accusa- tion against the two latter, proposed sanguinary laws, which attacked the liberty of the press, and lasUy, proposed the Athenian ostracism. Legendre said that it was a concerted trick, since Louvet had his speech ready pre- pared, and that Roland's report had evidendy no other object than to furnish an occasion for this diatribe. Fabre d'Eglantine complained diat scandal was dady increasing, and that people were bent on calumniating Paris and die patriots. "By connecting," said he, "petty conjectures with petty suppositions, people make out a vast conspiracy, and yet they will not tell us either where it is, or who are the agents and what the means. If there were a man who had seen everything, appreciated everything, in both parties, you could not doubt tliat this man, a friend to truth, would be die very person to make known the truth. That man is Pedon. Force his virtue to tell all that he has seen, and to speak out concerning the crimes imputed to the patriots. Whatever delicacy he may feel for his friends, I dare affirm that intrigues have not corrupted him. Petion is still pure and sincere. He wanted to speak to-day. Force him to explain himself."* • Among the coolest and most impartial minJs of the Revolution must be placed Petion, No one has formed a sounder judi^ment of the two parties which divided the Convention. His equity was so well known, that both sides agreed to choose him for their umpire. The accusations which took place at the very opening of the Assembly excited warm disputes at the Jacobins. Fabre d'Eglantine proposed that the matter should be referred to Pe FRENCH REVOLUTIOX. 425 Merlin disapproved of making Petion judge between Robespierre and Louvet because it was violating equality thus to set up one citizen as the lion's decision. On this subject he thus expressed himself in the sitting of October 29, 1792: "There is another way which I think useful and which will produce a greater elTect, Almost always when any vast intrigue has been on foot, it has had need of power. It has been obliged to make great eHorls to attach a great personal credit to itself. If there existed a man who had seen everything, who had appreciated everything in both parties, you could not doubt that this man, a friend to truth, would be most fit to make it known, ^\■('ll, I propose that you invite this man, a member of your society, to pronounce upon the crimes that are imputed to the patriots. Force his virtue to tell all that he has seen — that man is Petion. Whatever partiality a man may have for his friends, I venture to assert that intriguers have not corrupted Petion ; he is still pure, still sincere. I say so here. I fre- quently talk to him in the Convention, in moments of agitation, and he always tells me that he grieves. I see that he does grieve — inwardly. 'J'his morning he determined to ascend the tribune. He cannot refuse to write you his opinion, and we shall see if intriguers can divert him from it. " Observe, citizens, that this step of itself will prove that you seek nothing but the truth. It is an homage which you pay to the virtue of a good patriot, with the more urgent motives, since liars have wrapped themselves up in his virtue to give themselves consequence. I demand that the motion be put to the vote." {Applause.) Legeridre then spoke. " The thing was contrived, that is evident. The distribution of Brissol's speech, the report of the minister of the interior, the speech of Louvet, brought in his pocket, all proved that the matter was concerted. The speech of Brissot on the erasure contains all that Louvet has said. The report of Roland was intended to furnish Louvet with an opportunity for speaking. I approve of Fabre's motion; the Convention will soon pronounce; Robespierre is to be heard on Monday. I beg the society to suspend the deci- sion. It is impossible that in a free country virtue should succumb to crime.'' .\fter this quotation, I think it right to introduce the paper written by Petion, relative to the dispute between Louvet and Robespierre. 'J'his paper and the extracts given elsewhere from Garat, contain the most valuable particulars respecting the conduct and character of the men of that time, and they are documents which history ought to preserve as most capable of conveying just ideas of that epoch. " Citizens, I had determined to observe the most absolute silence relative to the events which have occurred since the 10th of August; motives of delicacy and solicitude for the public welfare decided me to use this reserve. " But it is impossible to be silent any longer : on both sides my testimony is called for ; every one urges me to declare my sentiments ; I will tell with frankness what I know of men, what I think of things. " I have been a near spectator of the scenes of the Revolution. I have seen the cabals, the intrigues, the tumultuous struggles between tyranny and liberty, between vice and virtue. " When the working of the human passions is laid bare, when we perceive the secret springs which have directed the most important operations, when we know all the perils wliicli liberty has incurred, when we penetrate into the abyss of corrujition which threatened every moment to ingulf us, we ask ourselves with astonishment by what series of prodigies we have arrived at tiie point where we this day are! " Revolutions ought to be seen at a distance ; this veil is highly necessary to them ; sees efface the stains which darken them ; posterity perceives only the results. Our descendants will deem us great. Let us render them better than ourselves. " I pass over the circumstances anterior to that ever-memorable day, which erected liberty upon the ruins of tyranny, and changed the monarchy into a republic. " 'J'he men who have attributed to themselves the glory of that day are the men to whom it least belongs: it is due to those who prepared it ; it is due to the iiii[)erious nature of things; it is due to the brave federalists, and to their secret directorv, whii-h had long been concerting the plan of ihe insurreclion ; it is due to the people ; lastly, it is due to the guardian spirit which has constantly presided over the destinies of France ever since the tirst as.sembly of her representatives. " Success, it miyit be admitted, was for a moment uncertain ; and those who are really acquainted with tPie piirticulars of that day know who were the intrepid defenders of the country, that prevented the Swiss and all the satellites of despotism from remaining masters VOL. I. — 54 2 N 2 426 HISTORY OF THE supreme judge of others. "Besides," said he, " Pedon is no doubt a respectable man, but, should he swerve ! ... is he not man ? Is not Potion of the field of battle, and who they were that rallied the civic legions, which were for a mo- ment staggered. " That day had been brought about too without the concurrence of the commissioners of several sections assembled at the house of the commune. The members? of the old municipality, who had not separated the whole night, were still silling at half-past nine in the morning. " These commissioners conceived, nevertheless, a grand idea, and took a bold step by pos- sessing themselves of all the municipal powers, and in stepping into the place of a general council, of whose weakness and corruption they were apprehensive. They courageously risked their lives in case success should not justify the enterprise. " Had these commissioners been wise enough to lay down their authority at the right time, to return to the rank of private citizens after the patriotic action which they had performed, they would have covered themselves with glory ; but they could not withstand the allurement of power, and the ambition of governing took posi-ession of them. " In the first intoxicating moments of the triumph of liberty, and after so violent a com- motion, it was impossible that everything should be instantly restored to tranquillity and to its accustomed order; it would have been unjust to require this: the new council of the commune was then assailed with reproaches that were not well founded, and that proved an ignorance both of its situation and of circumstances; but these comniissioners began to deserve them, when they themselves prolonged the revolutionary movement beyond the proper time. " The National Assembly had spoken out ; it had assumed a grand character ; it had passed decrees which saved the empire ; it had suspended the King; it had elTiiced the line of demarcation which divided the citizens into two classes ; it had called together the Con- vention. The royalist party was cast down. It was necessary thenceforth to rally round it, to fortify it with opinion, to environ it with confidence ; duty and sound policy dictated this course. " The commune deemed it more glorious to vie with the Assembly. It began a struggle likely only to throw discredit on all that had passed, to induce a belief that the Assembly was under the irresistible yoke of circumstances; it obeyed or withstood decrees according as they favoured or thwarted its views; in its representations to the legislative body it used imperious and irritating language; it affected power, and knew not either how to enjoy its triumphs or to cause them to be forgiven. " Pains had been successfully taken to persuade some that, so long as the revolutionary state lasted, power had reverted to its source, that the National Assembly was without cha- racter, that its existence was precarious, and that the communal assemblies were the only legal depositories of authority. "To others it had been insinuated that the leaders of opinion in the National Assembly entertained perfidious designs, and intended to overthrow liberty, and to deliver the republic into the hands of foreigners. " Hence a great number of members of the council conceived that they were exercising a legitimate right when they usurped authority, that they were resisting oppression when they opposed the law, and that they were performing an act of civism when they were violating their duties as citizens; nevertheless, amidst this anarchy, the commune from lime to time passed salutary resolutions. "I had been retained in my office; but it was now merely an empty title; I sought its functions to no purpose ; they were dispersed among a thousand hands, and everybody exer- cised them. '• I went during the first days to the council. I was alarmed at the tumult which prevailed in that assembly, and still more at the spirit by which it was swayed. It was no longer an administrative body, deliberating on the communal affairs ; it was a political assembly, deem- ing itself invested with full powers, discussing the great interests of the state, examining the laws enacted, and promulgating new ones; nothing was there talked of but plots against the public liberty; citizens were denounced; they were summoned to the bar, they were publicly examined, they were tried, they were dismissed, acquitted, or confined ; the ordinary rules were set aside. Such was the agitation of the public mind, that it was impossible to control this torrent ; all the deliberations were carried on with the impetuosity of enthusiasm ; they followed one another with frightl'ul rapidity ; night and day there was no interruption ; the council was continually sitting. FRENXH REVOLUTION. 427 a friend of Brissot, and of Roland ? Does not Pelion admit to his house La- source, Vergniaud, Barbaroux, all the intriguers who are compromising liberty ?" " I would not have my name attached to a multitude of acts so irregular, so contrary to sound principles. " I was equally sensible how wise and how useful it would be not to approve, not to sanction by my presence, all that was done. Those members of the council who were afraid to see me there, who were annoyed at my attendance, strongly desired that the people, whose cotifKlunce I retained, should believe that I presided over its operations, and that no- thing was done but in concert with me; my reserve on this point increased their enmity ; but they durst not display it too openly, for fear of displeasing the people, whose favour they coveted. " I rarely attended ; and the conduct which I pursued in this very delicate situation between the old municipality, which complained of its removal, and the new one which pretended to be legally instituted, was not unserviceable to the public tranquillity ; for, if I had then pro- nounced decisively for or against, I should have occasioned a rupture that might have been attended with most mischievous consequences. In everything there is a point of maturity which it is requisite to know how to seize. "'i'he administration was neglected; the mayor was no longer a centre of unity; all the threads that I held in my hand were cut; the power was dispersed; the action of superin- tendence was destitute of power ; the restraining action was equally so. " Robespierre assumed, then, the ascendency in the council, and it could scarcely have been otherwise under the circumstances in which we were, and with the temper of his mind. I heard him deliver a speech, which grieved me to the soul ; t!>e decree for opening the bar- riers was under discussion, and on this topic he launched out into extremely animated decla- mations, full of the extravagances of a gloomy imagination; he saw precipices beneath his feet, plots for the destruction of liberty ; he pointed out the alleged consj)irators ; he ad- dressed himself to the people, heated their minds, and produced in his hearers the strongest ferment. " I replied to this speech for the purpose of restoring calmness, dispelling those dark illu- sions, and bringing back the discussion to the only point that ought to occupy the attention of tlie assembly. '• Robespierre and his partisans were thus hurrying the commune into inconsiderate pro- ceechngs — into extreme courses, '• I was not on lliis account suspicious of the intentions of Robespierre. I found more fault with his head "than with his heart ; but the consequences of these gloomy visions excited in me not the less apprehension. "The tribunes of the council rang every day with violent invectives. The members could not persuade llieinselves that they were magistrates, appointed to carry the laws into execu- tion ami to maintain order. They always considered themselves as forming a revolutionary association. " The assembled sections received this inlluence, and communicated it in their turn, so that all Paris was at once in a ferment. "'i'he committee of ,VMrce///«/ice of the commime filled the prisons. It cannot be denied that, if several of its arrests were just and necessary, others amounted to a stretch of the law. The chiefs were not so much to be blamed for this as their agents ; the police had bad ad- visers ; one man in particular, whose name has become a by-word, whose name alone strikes terror into the souls of all peaceable citizens, seemed to have seized the direction of its move- ments. Assiduous in his attendance at all conferences, he interfered iti all matters ; he talked, he ordered, like a master. I comjilained loudly of this to the commune, and I con- cluded my opinion in these words : ' Marat is either the most wrongheaded or the most wicked of men.' From that day I have never mentioned him. "Justice was slow in pronouncing upon the fate of the prisoners, and the prison became more and more crowiled. On the 2:3d of August, a section came in deputation to the council of the commune, and formally declared that the citizens, tired of and indignant at the delay of judgment, would break open the doors of those asylums, and sacrifice the culprits confined in them to their vengeance Tliis petition, couched in the most furious language, met with no censure ; nay, it received applause ! " On the ^oih, fmm one thousand to twelve hundred armed citizens set out from Paris to remove the state prisoners confined at (Jrleans to other places. 428 HISTORY OF THE Fabre's motion was witlidrawn, and Robespierre the young-er, assuming a lugubrious tone, as the relatives of accused persons were accustomed to do " Disastrous intelligence arrived to increase still more the agitation of the public mind ; the treason of Longwy became known, and some days afterwards, the siege of Verdun. " On the 27lh, the National Assembly invited the department of Paris, and those contiguous to it, to furnish thirty thousand armed men, to be despatched to the frontiers, 'i'his decree excited a fresh sensation, which combined wilh that already prevailing. ^ "On the 31st, the acquittal of Montmorin produced a popular commotion. It was ru- moured that he had been saved through the perfidy of an emissary of the King, who had led the jurors into error. " At the same moment a revelation of a plot made by a condemned person was published — a plot tending to eifect the escape of all the prisoners, who were then to spread themselves through the city, to commit all sorts of excesses, and to carry off the King. " Agitation was at its height. The commune, in order to excite the enthusiasm of the citizens, and to induce them to enrol themselves the more freely, had resolved that they should assemble with great parade in the Champ de Mars amidst the discharge of cannon. " The 2d of September arrived. Oh, day of horror ! 'I'he alarm-gun was fired, the tocsin rang. At this doleful and alarming sound, a mob collected, broke into the prisons, munier- ing and slaughtering. Manuel and several deputies of the National Assembly repaired to those scenes of carnage. Their efforts were useless; the victims were sacrificed in their very arms ! I was, meanwhile, in a false security ; I was ignorant of these cruelties ; for some time past, nothing whatever had been communicated to me. At length I was informed of them, but how ! in a vague, indirect, disfigured manner. I was told at the same time that all was over. The most afflicting particulars afterwards reached me; but I felt thoroughly convinced that the day which had witiiessed such atrocious scenes could never return. They nevertheless continued: I wrote to the commandant-general. I required him to despatch forces to the prisons ; at first he gave me no answer. I wrote again. He told me that he had given his orders; nothing indicated that those orders were attended to. Still they con- tinued : I went to the council of the commune ; thence I repaired to the hotel of La Force with several of my colleagues. The street leading to that prison was crowded with very peaceable citizens; a weak guard was at the door; I entered Never will the spectacle that I there beheld be effaced from my memory. I saw two municipal ollicers in their scarfs ; I saw three men quietly seated at a table, with lists of the prisoners lying open before them ; these were calling over the names of the prisoners. Other men were examining them, others performing the office of judges and jurors; a dozen executioners, with bare arms, covered with blood, some with clubs, others with swords and cutlasses dripping with gore, were executing the sentences forthwith ; citizens outside awaiting these sentences — with impa- tience observing the saddest silence at the decrees of death, and raising shouts of joy at those of acquittal. " And the men who sat as judges, and those who acted as executioners, felt the same security as if the law had called them to perform those functions. They boasted to me of their justice, of their attention to distinguish the innocent from the guilty, of the services which they had rendered. They demanded — will it be believed 1 — they demanded pay- ment for the time they had been so employed I .... I was really confounded to hear them ! "I addressed to them the austere language of the law. I spoke to them with the feeling of profound indignation with which I was penetrated. I made them all leave the place before me. No sooner had I gone myself than they returned ; I went back to the places to drive ihern away; but in the night they completed their horrid butchery. "Were these murders commanded — were they directed, by any persons'? I have had lists before me, I have received reports, and I have collected particulars. If I had to pro- nounce as judge, I could not say, This is the culprit. " It is my opinion that those crimes would not have had such free scope, that they might have been stopped, if all those who had power in their hands and energy had viewed them with horror; I)UL I will affirm, because it is true, that several of these public men, of these defenders of the country, conceived that those disastrous and disgraceful proceedings were necessary, that they purged the empire of dangerous persons, that they struck terror into the souls of the conspirators, and that these crimes, morally odious, were politically serviceable. " Yes this is what cooled the zeal of those to whom the law had committed the mainte- nance of order — of those to whom it had assigned the protection of persons and property. "It is obvious how the 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th of September may be connected with the ira- FRENCH REVOLUTION. 429 at Rome, complained that he was not calumniated like his brother. " It is a moment," said he, '• of the greatest danger. All the people are not for mortal 10th of August ; how the former may be represented as a sequel to the revolutionary movement ini(iarted on that day, the first in the annals of the republic ; but I cannot bring myself to confound glory with infamy, and to stain the 10th of August with the atrocities of the 2d of September. "The committee of surveillance actually issued an order for the arrest of Roland, the minister. This was on the 4th, and the massacres still continued. Danton was informed of it; he came to the mairie .- he was with Robespierre; he warmly inveighed against this arbitrary, this mad act ; it woulil have ruined, not Roland, but those who decreed it ; Danton obtained its revocation ; it was buried in oblivion. "I had an explanation with Robespierre; it was very warm. To his face I have never spared those reproaches which friendshij) has tempered in his absence. I said to him, ' Ro- bespierre, you arc doing a great deal of mischief. Your denunciations, your alarms, your animosities, your sus|)icions, agitate the people. But come, explain yourself. Have you facts ? have you proofs 1 I am ready to meet you ; I am attached to truth alone ; I want but liberty.' " ' You suffer yourself to be surrounded, you suffer yourself to be preposse.ssed,' said he ; 'you are biassed against me; you see my enemies every day; you see Brissot and his party.' " ' You are mistaken, Robespierre. No man is more on his guard than myself against prepossessions, or judges more coolly of men and things. I see Brissot, it is true, though very rarely : but you do not know him, whereas I have known him from a boy. I have seen him in those moments when the whole soul exhibits itself to view, when it abandons itself without reserve to friendship and confidence. I know his disinterestedness, I know his principles, and I protest to you that they arc pure. Those who make a party leader of him have not the sligliiest idea of his character ! he possesses intelligence, and knowledge, hut he has neither the reserve, nor the dissimulation, nor the insinuating marmers, nor that spirit of sequence, which constitute a party leader, and what will surprise you is that, instead of leading others, he is very easily misled himself.' " Robespierre persisted in his opinion, but confined himself to generalities. ' Do let us understand one another,' said I: ' tell me frankly what you have upon your mind, what you know.' " ' Well, then,' he replied, ' I believe that Brissot is with Brunswick.' " ' What an egregious mistake !' I exclaimed : ' nay, it is truly insanity : that is the way in which your imagination misleads you: would not Brunswick be the first to cut off his head 1 Brissot is not silly enough to doubt it. Which of us seriously can capitulate? which of us does not risk his life] Let us banish unjust sus[)icions,' " I return to the events of which I have given you a faint sketch. These events, and some of those which preceded the celebrated 10th of August, an attentive consideration of the facts and of a multitude of circumstances, have induced a belief that intriguers were striving to make a tool of the people, in order with the people to make themselves masters of the suijremc authority. Robespierre has been oj)enly named ; his connexions have been exa- mined, his conduct analyzed ; an expression dropped, it is said, by one of his friends, has been caught up, and it has been inferred that Robespierre cherished the mad ambition of becoming the dictator of his country. " The character of Robespierre accounts for his actions. Robespierre is extremely suspi- cious and distrustful. He everywhere perceives plots, treasons, preci[)ices. His hiliuus temperament, his splenetic imagination, present all objects to him in gloomy colours. Impe- rious in his opinion, listening to none but himself, impatient of CDiitradiclion, never forgiving any one who may have hurt his self-love, and never acknowledging himself in the wrong; denouncing on the slightest grounds and irritating himself on the slightest suspicion, always conceiving that people are watching and designing to persecute him ; boasting of himself and talking without reserve of his services; an utter stranger to decorum, and thus injuring the cause which he defends ; coveting above all things the favour of the people, continually paying court to them, and earnestly si-eking their applause; it is this, it is, above all, this last weakness that, mixing itself up with all the acts of his public life, has induced a belief that Robespierre aspired to high destinies, and that he wanted to usurp the dictatorial power. " For my part^I cannot persuade myself that this chimera has seriously engaged his thoughts, that it hks been the object of his wishes and the aim of his ambition. " He is, nevertheless, a man who has intoxicated himself with this fantastic notion, who 430 HISTORY OF THE us. It is only the citizens of Paris who are sufficiently enlig-htened : the others are so but in a very imperrecl degree. It is possible, therefore, that innocence may succumb on Monday ; ibr the Convention has heard out the long lie of Louvet. " Citizens !" he exclaimed, " I have had a terrible fright. Mcthoiiglit assassins were going to butcher my brother. I have heard men say that he would perish by such hands only. Another told me that he would ghidly be his executioner."* At these words, several mem- bers rose, and declared that they too had been threatened, that it was by Barbaroux, by Rebecqui, and by several citizens in the trilnines ; that those who threatened them said, "We must get rid of Marat and Robespierre." Tlie members then thronged around the younger Robespierre and promised to protect his brother; and it was determined that all those who had friends or relatives in the departments should write for the purpose of enlightening- the public opinion. Robespierre the younger, on leaving the tribune, did not fail to add a calumny. Anacharsis Cloots, he said, had assured liirn that he was every day l)reaking lances at Roland's against federalism. Next came the fiery Chabot. What particularly offended him in Louvpt's speech was, that lie attributed the 10th of August to himself and his friends, and the 2d of September to two hundred murderers. " Now," said Cliabot, " I myself well remember that, on the evening of the 9th of August, I addressed myself to the gentlemen of tlie riglit side, to propose the insurrec- tion to them, and that they replied by curling up their lips into a smile. I know not then what right they have to attribute to themselves the 10th of August. As for the 2d of September, its author is also that same populace which produced the 10th of August in spite of them, and wliich, after the victory, wished to avenge itself. Louvet asserts that there were not two hundred murderers, and I can assure liim that I passed with the commis- sioners of the Legislative Assembly, under an arch of ten thousand swords. I recognised more than one hundred and fifty federalists. There are no crimes in revolutions. Marat, so vehemently accused, is persecuted solely for revolutionary acts. To-day Marat, Danton, Robespierre, are accused. To-morrow it will be Santerre, Chabot, Merlin," &c. Excited by this audacious harangue, a federalist present at the sitting did wliat no man had yet publicly dared to do. He declared that he was at tvork with a great numlier of his comrades in the prisons, and that he believed he was only putting to death conspirators and forgers of false assignats, and saving Paris from massacre and conflagration. He added that he thanked the society for the kindness which it had sliown to them all, that they should set out the next day for the army, and should carry witli them but one regret, that of leaving patriots in such great dangers. This atrocious declaration terminated the sitting. Robespierre had not made his appearance, neither did he appear during the whole week, being engaged in arranging his answer, and leaving his partisans to prepare the public opinion. The commune of Paris persisted meanwhile in its conduct has never ceased to call for a dictatorship in France, as a blessinq;, as the only government that could save us from the anarchy that he preached, that could lead us to liberty and hap- piness ! He solicited this tyrannical power, for whom T You would never believe it; you are not aware of the full extent of the delirium of his vanity ; he solicited it for whom, yes, for whom, hut Marat! If his folly were not ferocious, there would be nothing so ridiculous as that creature on whom Nature seems purposely to have set the seal of reprobation." * " Young Robespierre was, what might he called, an agreeable young man, animated by no bad sentiments, and believing, or feigning to believe, that his brother was led on bv a parcel of wretches, every one of whom he would banish to Cayenne, if he were in his place." — Duchass (TAbrantes. FRENCH REVOLUTIOX. 431 and its system. It was alleged tlrat it had taken not less than ten millions from the chest of Septeuil, treasurer of the civil list ; and at that very mo- ment it was circulating a petition to tlie forty-four municipalities against the plan for giving- a guard to tlie Convention, liarbaroux immediately pro- posed four formidable and judiciously conceived decrees: By the first, the capital was to lose the right of being the seat of the na- tional representation, when it could no longer find means to protect it from insult or violence. By the second, the federalists and the national gendarmes were, conjointly with the armed sections of Paris, to guard the national representation and the public establishments. By the third, the Convention was to constitute itself a court of justice for the purpose of trying the conspirators. By the fourth and last, the Convention was to cashier the municipality of Paris. These four decrees were perfectly adapted to circumstances, and suitable to the real dangers of the moment, but it would have required all the power that could only be given by the decrees themselves in order to pass them. To create energetic means, energy is requisite ; and every moderate party which strives to check a violent partv is in a vicious circle, which it can never get out of. No doubt tl;e majority, inclining to tlie Girondins, might have been able to carry the decrees ; but it was its moderation that made it incline to them, and this very moderation counselled it to wait, to temporize, to trust to the future, and to avoid all measures that were prematurely ener- getic. The Assembly even rejected a much less rigorous decree, the first of those which the commission of nine had been charged to draw up. It was proposed liy Buzot, and related to tbe instigators of murder and confla- gration. All direct instigation was to be punished with death, and indirect instigation with ten years' imprisonment. Tlie Assembly considered the penalty for direct instigation too severe, and indirect instillation too vaguely defined and too difiicult to reach. To no purpose did Buzot insist that revolutionary and consequently arbitrary measures were required against the adversaries who were to be combated. He was not listened to, neither could he be, when addressing a majority which condemned revolutionary measures in the violent party itself, and was therefore very unlikely to employ them against it. The law was consequently adjourned; and the commission of nine appointed to devise means of maintaining good order, became, in a manhur, useless. The Assembly, however, manifested more energy, when the question of checking the excesses of the commune came under discussion. It seemed then to defend its authority with a sort of jealousy and energy. The gene- ral council of the comnume, sununoned to the bar on occasion of the petition against the plan of a departmental guard, came to justify itself. It was not the same body, it alleged, as on the 10th of August. It had contained pre- varicators. They had been justly denounced and were no longer among its members. "Confound not," it added, "the innocent with the guilty. Bestow on iis the confidence whicli we need. We are desirous of restor- ing the tranquillitv necessary for tiie Convention, in order to tlie enactment of good laws. As for the presentation of this petition, it was the sections that insisted upon it ; we are only their agents, but we will persuade them to withdraw it." This submission disarmed the Girondins themselves, and, at the request of Gensonnc, the honours of the sitting were granted to the general council. 432 HISTORY OF THE This docility of the administrators might well gratify the pride of the As- sembly, but it proved iiolliing as to the real disposition of Paris. The tumult increased, as the 5th of November, the day tixed for hearing Robespierre, approached. On the preceding day there were outcries in a contrary spirit. Bands went through the streets, some shouting : " To the guillotine, Robes- pierre, Danton, Marat!" — others, '* Death to Roland, Lasource, Guadet!" Complaints were made on this suhject at the Jacobins, but no notice was taken, except of the cries against Robespierre, Danton, and Marat. These cries were laid to the charge of dragoons and federalists, who at that time were still devoted to the Convention. Robespierre the younger again appeared in tlie tribune, deplored tlie dangers which beset innocence, con- demned a plan of conciliation proposed by a member of the society, saying that the opposite party was decidedly counter-revolutionary, and that neither peace nor truce ought to be made with it; that no doubt innocence would perish in the struggle, but it was requisite that it should be sacrificed, and Maximilien Robespierre must be suffered to fall, because the ruin of one individual would not be attended with that of liberty. All the Jacobins applauded these fine sentiments, assuring the younger Robespierre that nothing of the sort would happen, and that his brother should not perish. Complaints of a contrary kind were preferred to the Assembly, and there the shouts against Roland, liasource, and Guadet, were denounced. Roland complained of the inefticacy of his requisitions to the department and to the commune, to obtain an armed force. Much discussion ensued, reproaches were exchanged, and the day passed without the adoption of any measure. At length, on the following day, November the 5th, Robespierre appeared in the tribune. The concourse was great, and the result of this solemn discussion was awaited with impatience. Robespierre's speech was very long and care- fully composed. His answers to Louvet's accusations were such as a man never fails to make in such a case. "You accuse me," said he, "of aspir ing to tyranny; but, in order to attain it, means are required; and where are my treasures and my armies ? You allege that I have reared at the Jacobins the edifice of my power. But what does this prove ? Only that I have been heard with more attention, that I appealed perhaps more forci- bly than you to the reason of that society, and that you are but striving here to revenge the wounds indicted on your vanity. You pretend that this celebrated society has degenerated ; but demand a decree of accusation against it, I will theri take care to justify it, and we shall see if you will prove more successful or more persuasive than Leopold and Lafayette You assert that I did not appear at the commune till two days after the 10th of August, and that I then, of my own authority, installed myself at the bureau. But, in the first place, I was not called to it sooner, and when I did appear at the bureau, it was not to instal myself there, but to have my powers verified. You add that I insulted the Legislative Assembly, that I threatened it with the tocsin. The assertion is false. Some one placed near me accused mi"! of sounding the tocsin. I replied to the speaker that they were the ringers of the tocsin, who by injustice soured people's minds ; and then one of my colleagues, less reserved, added that it would be sounded. Such is the simple fact on which my accuser has built this falile. In the electoral assembly, I have spoken, but it was agreed upon that this libertj. might be taken. I made some ol)servations, and several otliers availed them selves of the same privilege. I have neither accused nor recommended any one. That man, whom you charge me with making use of, was never FRENCH REVOLUTION. 433 either my friend, or rocommended by me. Were I to judge him by those who attack him, lie would stand acquitted, but I decide not. I shall merely say that he has ever been a stranger to me ; that once he came to my house, when I made some observations on his Avritings, on their exaggeration, and on the regret felt bv the patriots at seeing him compromise our cause by the violence of his opinions ; but he set me down for a politician having narrow views, and published this the very next day. It is a calumny then to sup- pose me to be the instigator and the ally of this man." Passing from these personal accusations to the general charges directed against the commune, Robespierre repeated, with all his defenders, that the 2d of September was the sequel to the 10th of August ; that it is impossible, after the event, to mark the precise point where the billows of popular insur- rection must have broken ; that the executions were undoubtedly illegal, but that without illegal measures despotism could not be shaken off; that the whole Revolution was liable to the same reproach ; for everything in it was illegal, both the overthrow of the throne and the capture of the Bastille. He then described the dangers of Paris, the indignation of the citizens, their concourse around the prisons, and their irresistible fury, on thinking that they should leave behind them conspirators who would butcher their families. "It is afhrmed that one innocent man has perished," exclaimed the speaker with emphasis, " one only, and that one a great deal too much, most assuredly. Lament, citizens, this cruel mistake ! We have long lamented it ; this was a good citizen ; he was one of our friends ! Lament even the victims who ought to have been reserved for the vengeance of the laws, but who fell beneath the sword of popular justice ! But let your grief have an end, like all human things. Let us reserve some tears for more touching calamities. Weep for one hundred thousand patriots immo- lated by tyranny ! Weep for our citizens expiring beneath their blazing roofs, and the children of citizens slaughtered in their cradles or in the arms of their mothers ! Weep humanity bowed down beneath the yoke of tyrants ! . . . But cheer up, if, imposing silence on all base passions, you are resolved to insure the happiness of your country, and to prepare that of the world ! " I cannot help suspecting that sensibility which mourns almost exclu- sively for the enemies of liberty. Cease to shake before my face the bloody robe of the tyrant, or I shall believe that you intend to rivet Rome's fetters upon her again !" • It was with this medley of subtle logic and revolutionary declamation, that Robespierre contrived to captivate his auditory and to obtain unanimous ap- plause. All that related to himself personally was just, and it was imprudent on the part of the Girondins to stigmatize as a plan of usurpation that which was as yet but an ami)ition of indueuce, rendered hateful by an envious dis- position. It was imprudent to point out in the acts of the commune the proofs of a vast conspiracy, when they exhibited nothing but the agitation of popular passions. The Girondins thus furnished the Assenildy with an occasion to charge them with wronging their adversaries. Flattered, as it were to see the alleged leader of the conspirators forced to justify himself, delighted to see all the crimes accounted for as the consequence of an insur- rection thenceforward impracticable, and to dream of a happier future, the Convention deemed it more dignified, more prudent, to put an end to all these personalities.^ Tlie order of the day was therefore moved. Lou vet rose to oppose it, and demanded permission to reply. A great number of members presented themselves, desirous of speaking for, on, or against, the VOL. I. — 55 2 O 434 HISTORY OF THE order of the day. Barbaroux, liopeless of gaining a hearing, rushed to the bar that he might at least address the Assembly as a petitioner. Lanjuinais proposed that the important questions involved in Roland's report should be taken into consideration. At length, Barrere ■■ obtained permission to speak. " Citizens," said he, " if there existed in the republic a man born with the genius of Cajsar or the boldness of Cromwell, a man possessing the dan- gerous means together Avith the talents of Sylla : if there existed here any legislator of great genius, of vast ambition, or of a profound character ; a general, for instance, his brow wreathed with laurels, and returning among you to dictate laws or to violate the rights of the people, I should move fur a decree of accusation against him. But tliat you should do this honour to men of a day, to petty dabblers in commotion, to those whose civic crowns are intwined with cypress, is what I am incapable of comprehending." This singular mediator proposed to assign the following motive for tlie order of the day : " Considering that the National Convention ought not to occupy itself with any other interests than those of the republic." — "I oppose your order of the day," cried Robespierre, if it contains a preamble injurious to me." The Assembly adopted the pure and simple order of the day. The partisans of Robespierre hastened to the Jacobins to celebrate tliis victory, and he was himself received as a triumphant conqueror.t As soon as he appeared, he was greeted with plaudits. A member desired that he migiit be permitted to speak, in order tliat he miglit relate die proceedinjrs of the day. Another declared that his modesty would prevent his compli- ance, and that he declined speaking. Robespierre, enjoying this entluisiasm in silence, left to another the task of an adulatory harangue. He was called Aristides. His natural and 'inanly eloquence was lauded widi an affectation •which proves how well known was his fondness for literary praise. Tlie Convention was reinstated in the esteem of the society, and it was asserted that the triumph of truth had begun, and that there was now no occasion to despair of the salvation of the republic. Barrere was called to account for the manner in which he had expressed himself respecting petty dabblers in commotion: and he laid bare his character most completely by declaring tliat he alluded in those words not to the ardent patriots accused with Robespierre, but to their adversaries. Such was the result of that celebrated accusation. It was an absolute im- • "Barrere is a sort of undefinable creature — a species of coffee-house wit. He used to go every day, after leaving tfie committee, to visit a female with whom Champcenetz lived. He would remain with her till midnight, and would fre(iuently say, ' To-morrow we shall get lid of fifteen, twenty, or thirty of them.' When the woman expressed her horror of these murders, he would reply, ' We must grease the wheels of the Revolution,' and then depart, laughing." — Monfgailtard. E. ■f- "Robespierre, who afterwards played so terrible a part in our Revolution, began from this memorable day to figure among its foremost ranks. This man, whose talents were but of an ordinary kind, and whose disposition was vain, owed to his inferiority his late appearance on the stage, which in revolutions is always a great advantage. Robespierre had all the quali- ties of a tyrant; a mind which was without grandeur, but which, nevertheless, was not vulgar. He was a living proof that, in civil troubles, obstinate mediocrity is more powerful than the irregularity of genius. It must also be allowed that Robespierre possessed the sup- port of an immense fanatical sect, which derived its origin from the eighteenth century. It took for its political symbol the absolute sovereignty of the ' Conf rat Social' of J. J. Rousseau ; and in matters of belief the deism contained in the Savoyard Vicar's confession of faith; and succeeded for a brief space in realising them in the constitution of 1793, and in the worship of the Supreme Being. There were, indeed, in the various epochs of the Revolution, more egotism, and more fanaticism than is generally believed." — Mignet. E. FRENCH REVOLUTION, 435 prudence. The whole conduct of tlie Girondins is characterized by tliis step. They felt :i £renerous indignation ; they expressed it with talent, but tliey mixed up with it so many personal aniniosiiie?, so inativ false conjec- tures, so many chimerical suppositions, as to liirnish lliosc who loved to deceive themselves with a motive for disbelieving them, those who dreaded an act of energy with a motive for concluding that there was no immediate danger, and, lastly, tliose who affected impartiality witli a motive for refusing to adopt their conclusions : and these classes comprehended the whole IMain. Among them, however, the wise Petion did not participate in their exagge- rations : he printed the speech which he had prepared, and in whirh all circumstances were duly appreciated. Yergniaud, whose reason and dis- dainful indolence raised him above the passions, was likewise exempt from their inconsistencies, and he maintained a profound silence. At the moment the only result for the Girondins was that they had rendered reconciliation impossible ; that they had even expended on a useless combat their most powerful and only means, words and indignation ; aiul that they had aug- mented the hatred and the fury of their enemies without gaining for them- selves a single additional resource.* •"The Girondins flattered themselves thnt a simple passing to the order of the day would extinguish Roliespierre's induence as completely as exile or death; and they actually joined with the Jacobins in prevr ntinp the reply of Louvet — a fatal error, which France had cause to lament in tears of hlood ! It was now evident that the Girondins were no matrh for their terrihle adversaries. 'I'he men of action on their side in vain strove to rouse them to the necessity of vigorous measures. 'JMieir constant reply was, that they would net he the iirst to commence the shrddine^ of hlood. Their whole vin:our consisted in declamation — their whole wisdom in abstract discussion. They were too honourable to believe in the wickedness of their opponents; too scrupulous to adopt the means requisite to crush them." — Alison. E. END OF VOL. L UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. n^v \ s '^^'' OCT 1^ REC'D EP 1 6 1961 I D-IIPI n 13 »AM 81975 ul SEP 241982 Form L9-100m-9,'52(A3105)444 J^Lj^I 1 3 1158 00780 9980 ^ m liiW ' i t S ! 1 1 > ^ ■